Friday 29 January 2021

The Rover By Aphra Behn.

 Hello, 
              
             In this blog I am going to discuss What did Virginia Woolf say about Aphra Behn? Do you agree with her? Why? 'The Rover' is the Restoration comedy and somewhere describe the meaning of that age. 



The Rover is the restoration comedy written by Aphra Behn. 




About the drama :-

"The Rover," alternatively known as "The Banish't Cavaliers," is the most frequently read and performed of Aphra Behn's plays (Burke, 118). First performed by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in 1677, the play was initially published anonymously (Burke, 118). Only in the prologue of the third edition did Behn finally take credit for the play. It is believed that it took her this long to claim authorship because she was afraid of potential plagiarism charges, as the play closely resembles Thomas Killigrew's "Thomaso."

' THE ROVER' follows the escapades of a band of banished English cavaliers as they enjoy themselves at a carnival in Naples. The story strings together multiple plotlines revolving around the amorous adventures of these Englishmen, who pursue a pair of noble Spanish sisters, as well as a mistress and common prostitute.

The titular character is a raffish naval captain, Willmore. He falls in love with a wealthy noble Spanish woman named Hellena, who is determined to experience love before her brother, Pedro, sends her to a convent. Hellena falls in love with Willmore, but difficulties arise when a famous courtesan, Angellica Bianca, also falls in love with Willmore.

As this plot unravels, Hellena's older sister, Florinda, attempts to avoid an unappealing arranged marriage to her brother's best friend, and devises a plan to marry her true love, Colonel Belvile. Finally, the third major plot of the play concerns English countryman Blunt, a naive and vengeful man who becomes convinced that a girl, Lucetta, has fallen in love with him. When she turns out to be a prostitute and thief, he is humiliated and attempts to rape Florinda as revenge against all women for the pain and damage that Lucetta has caused him


- What did Virginia Woolf say about Aphra Behn? Do you agree with her? Why?


Whenever Aphra Behn is written about, Virginia Woolf's entreaty is usually pulled out to act as the opening line: "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds."


Behn had a few female contemporaries but, unlike her, they were aristocratic and certainly not doing anything as vulgar as writing for money. These hobbyist writers would also usually warn potential readers with a notice that the following work was written by a member of the "fair sex", as though apologising in advance. Aphra Behn made no such apologies. She did not ask for permission or acceptance - and it was because she did neither that she proved to be so popular among the ordinary playgoers whose opinion so often goes unrecorded. Operating with striking success outside gender conventions, it was she who paved the way for other women to do the same. What's more, she included as much wit and bawdiness as she could muster, along with a sharp insight into both sex and politics. She was the Restoration's very own combination of Dorothy Parker and Mae West.


Today, though, I'm concerned only with what I consider to be not just her finest work, but also the first novel: Oroonoko. This is despite the fact that Behn has been totally overlooked not just by male critics of long ago, but most recently by Terry Eagleton, something which surprised me when I was researching a paper I was writing on Behn and Daniel Defoe last year. In his The English Novel: An Introduction he begins, like most, with Daniel Defoe, despite a gap of almost 30 years between Robinson Crusoe and Oroonoko. A shameful omission. (I emailed Eagleton to tell him so. I received no reply).


In fact, Oroonoko is more than just a "novel". It was also the first novel of ideas. It was a call to abolish slavery more than 100 years before Letitia Barbauld's Epistle to William Wilberforce on the Rejection of the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.


Behn was not just determined to stick two fingers up at convention, she was very clever at managing to turn the tables entirely. Oroonoko didn't simply suggest that slavery was vile and immoral but that, far from being savages, slaves were the ones with the grace, tradition and morals. It was, she makes clear, the colonists who were the barbarous savages steeped in hypocrisy, and it was they who should be learning a thing or two from the people they held captive. At the same time she also managed to include a powerful statement on the political powerlessness of women.


Here she was, the incomparable Aphra. She had worked as a spy for King and country, served time in debtors' prison, and been called a slut as a writer, not just in her own time but by a whole series of (male) critics since. Here was a woman who did not just appease and beg to be allowed to write to earn a living.


On a previous blog on literary time travel, Aphra Behn was mentioned as someone whom it would be an adventure to visit. But what if we could bring her here, to the present, just for the day? What would she think of a traipse around the bookshops and the writing of noughties women; booksellers' tables groaning under the weight of pastel book covers that, far from defying convention and questioning and confronting, actually conform to the oldest patriarchal conventions?


I'd like to think that her answer would be so bawdy and cutting that, even today, it would be unprintable.



 Words :- 960

 Character :- 5583 

Sunday 24 January 2021

MOST ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER OF THE ' THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST'

   1. Which of the following character is the most attractive to you among Lady Bracknell, Gwedolen Fairfex, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism ? Giving reason sor she being the most attractive among all. 


Answer :- 

 ' The Importance of Being Ernest' is well known play by Oscar Wild. 


Some Impotent facts about the drama :-

Acts :- Play divided into 3 acts and each act has 2 parts.

Produced :- 1895, England

Published :- 1899

Literary Period :- Victorian 

Setting :- London & Countryside.

Genre :- Comedy of Manner 

About The Play :-




At the beginning of the play a wealthy Algernon (Algy) is waiting for his aunt, Lady Bracknell and her daughter Gwendolen to visit him in his flat in London. Before they arrive, Jack Worthing, Algy's friend arrives. Jack calls himself 'Earnest' and Algy is curious about it. Jack clarifies that his real name is Jack Worthing and has a daughter named Cecily.


He further states that he is going to propose Gwendolen. He loves being called Earnest. Algy too confesses that he visits his imaginary friend Bunbury whenever he needs a break from the hectic life of the town. He, too, employs deception when it is convenient.

When Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen arrive, Algy explains that he cannot attain the reception of lady Bracknell since he has to visit his friend Bunbury. Algy distracts Lady Bracknell in another room, at the same time, Jack proposes Gwendolen. But, she says she loves to marry a man whose name is Earnest because for her it sounds so aristocratic. However, she accepts his proposal and later on wants to rechristen Earnest. But, Lady Bracknell is not happy with the proposal and interrogates Jack about his social status. When she finds him lacking same social status, she rejects the engagement. While leaving, she tells Jack to find some acceptable parents.  When Gwendolen asks for his country's address, Algy secretly writes it down on his shirt cuff. He is curious about Cecily and decides to go "bunburying" in the country.


In the country of Jack, Cecily is being taught by Miss Prism. She praises Jack for being responsible, but shuns his brother, Earnest for being wicked. When Canon, the local vicar, takes Miss Prism for romance, Algy appears pretending to be Earnest, Jack's wicked brother. Algy has a plan to stay for a week to know more about Cecily, but Jack returns early in mourning clothes claiming that his brother Ernest has died in Paris. He is shocked to find Algy there posing as Ernest. Jack’s plan to send Algy back to London fails. Algy in the same day proposes Cecily. From her diary, it is clear that Cecily, too, wants to marry someone named Earnest. Algy too needs to rechristen like that of Jack.


Gwendolen arrives in the country of Jack and meets Cecily. In the course of their talk, they both mention that they are engaged to Earnest Worthing. The situation becomes tense and a battle When Lady Bracknell hears the name Prism she immediately calls for Prism and reveals her as the governess who lost Lady Bracknell's nephew 28 years earlier on a walk with the baby carriage. She inquires about the boy. Miss Prism explains that in a moment of distraction she placed the baby in her handbag and left him in Victoria Station, confusing him with her three-volume novel, which was placed in the baby carriage. After Jack asks for details, he quickly runs to his room and comes back with the handbag. Miss Prism identifies it, and Lady Bracknell reveals that Jack is Algernon's older brother, son of Ernest John Moncrieff, who died years ago in India. Jack now truly is earnest, and Algernon/Cecily, Jack/Gwendolen, and Chasuble/Prism fall into each other's arms as Jack realizes the importance of being earnest.follows. Jack and Algernon arrive, and, in an attempt to solve out the Ernest problem, they alienate both women. The two men follow, explaining that they are going to be rechristened Ernest, and the women agree to stay engaged.

Lady Bracknell gives permission to Algy to engage with Cecily after discovering the extent of Cecily's fortune, however, Jack's parentage is still a problem in getting Gwendolen. Jack tells Lady Bracknell that he will not agree to Cecily's engagement until she is of age (35) unless he can marry Gwendolen. Dr. Chasuble announces for the christenings but Jack explains it is of no use now. The minister states that he will return to the church where Miss Prism is waiting to see him.




 
 Brief Introduction about all Women Characters :- 

 1. Lady Augusta Bracknell :-


Called Aunt Augusta by her nephew Algernon, she is Gwendolen’s stuffy and judgmental mother. Lady Bracknell’s views are entrenched in Victorian social mores, so she will not allow Jack to marry Gwendolen until he finds some suitable “relations.”

2. Gwendolen Fairfaix;- 

More than any other female character in the play, Gwendolen suggests the qualities of conventional Victorian womanhood. She has ideas and ideals, attends lectures, and is bent on self-improvement. She is also artificial and pretentious. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest, and she is fixated on this name. This preoccupation serves as a metaphor for the preoccupation of the Victorian middle- and upper-middle classes with the appearance of virtue and honor. Gwendolen is so caught up in finding a husband named Ernest, whose name, she says, “inspires absolute confidence,” that she can’t even see that the man calling himself Ernest is fooling her with an extensive deception. In this way, her own image consciousness blurs her judgment.

Though more self-consciously intellectual than Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen is cut from very much the same cloth as her mother. She is similarly strong-minded and speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality, just as Lady Bracknell does. She is both a model and an arbiter of elegant fashion and sophistication, and nearly everything she says and does is calculated for effect. As Jack fears, Gwendolen does indeed show signs of becoming her mother “in about a hundred and fifty years,” but she is likeable, as is Lady Bracknell, because her pronouncements are so outrageous





5. Miss prism :-


Cecily’s prim and pedantic governess, she espouses such rigid views on morality that they seem quite ridiculous. Her love interest is Dr. Chausible.
 

Most Attractive Character of the Drama is Cecily Cardew. 



Detailed information About Cecily Cardrew :-

Cecily is Jacke's ward. Mr. Thomas Cerdew's grad-daughter, and Algernon's love interested. Cecily is a starry-eyed young lady who prefers writing in her diary to studying. She dreams of meeting Jack's cousin. " Ernest ", and constructs an elaborate, fictional engagement between herself and this elusive persona.


the wickedness. She is obsessed with the name If Gwendolen is a product of London high society, Cecily is its antithesis. She is a child of nature, as ingenuous and unspoiled as a pink rose, to which Algernon compares her in Act II. However, her ingenuity is belied by her fascination wiErnest just as Gwendolen is, but wickedness is primarily what leads her to fall in love with “Uncle Jack’s brother,” whose reputation is wayward enough to intrigue her. Like Algernon and Jack, she is a fantasist. She has invented her romance with Ernest and elaborated it with as much artistry and enthusiasm as the men have their spurious obligations and secret identities. Though she does not have an alter-ego as vivid or developed as Bunbury or Ernest, her claim that she and Algernon/Ernest are already engaged is rooted in the fantasy world she’s created around Ernest. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play, and she is the only character who does not speak in epigrams. Her charm lies in her idiosyncratic cast of mind and her imaginative capacity, qualities that derive from Wilde’s notion of life as a work of art. These elements of her personality make her a perfect mate for Algernon.

Analysis of both main heroin, Gwedelon and Cecily :-

Gwendolen and Cecily are two completely different sides of a woman. While Gwendolen is concerned about appearances and the ways in which people view her, Cecily is innocent and beautiful, at one point compared to a "pink rose." Gwendolen shows the reader the way in which people of her time period (the Victorian Age) were concerned about things on the "surface" - she looks for a man named Ernest because she thinks the name will ensure the kind of person he is. On the other hand, Cecily is a bit devious, wanting to live in a fantasy world that creates the man she wants to love and then sets her up to create fantasies around that man. Still, she is relatively innocent and more real than Gwendolen who will, in all likelihood, grow up to be just like her mother, full of outrageous ideas but likable nevertheless.



Reasons :- 

- She is the only character who is the realistic.

- Not disguised her self in any other character.

- Pure heart person. 

- She is more wise, beautiful and joyous person.

- She is young Victorian Lady.

- She is also in love with name 'Ernest'.

- She is Clever and witty. 

Characters :- 9167
Words :- 1510




Friday 22 January 2021

CHARACTER ANALIYSIS OF BALINDA- poem ' The Rape of the Lock' by Alexander pope.

Hello,

   

In this blog I will discuss the character of Belinda and analysis of her character with 21th century keeping in mind. Balinda is the protagonist of the poem ‘ The Rape of the Lock’ by Alexander Pope. It was written as the result of a quarrel between two Roman Catholic families, friends of the Carylis. 






The young and impetuous Lord peter who was twenty-two years old, cut off a lock from the head of Miss Arabella Fermor, the famous beauty. Miss Faramor was naturally exceedingly angry. Here people were also in the same mood ; the battle grew in size, and Lord Fermor’s family joined in. Character of Balinda is very significant  and the most important character. Balinda of that time behaved like poor women instead of taking strong action against Lord Peter.


Considering twenty fi century Balinda, if this incident takes place what will be the reaction of Balinda ? Thing is that like some rich family has arranged the great party and some renowned celebrity’s hair was cut down by another celebrity so the reaction will be full of trouble. Balinda of this time will go to court and file the case against Lord Pete and against Clarrisa also because she helped him for plot. Maybe Lord Peter will be arrested  and Clarrisa also and it will turn into a court case. Lord peretti might imprison and so many rumors will come out. Lord Peter has to repent Balinda and he will receive dishonour and trouble during this time. 

Sunday 17 January 2021

Quotes Discussion of Absalom and Achitophel

     Hello, 


         I am Nidhi Jethava and in this blog I am going to discuss two important quotes from the well known political satire ' Absalom and Achitophel' by well known poet John Dryden. 


So before discussing quotes as satire, let's put some light on biography of John Dryden. 



 John Dryden :-

Dryden is the most important character in the time of Charles II.


 He was born near Oundle in Northamptonshire. Dryden is English poet, satirist, translator, literary critic and play writer.


In 1668 he was appointed as poet laureate of England. Dryden belonged to Restoration Age and Edward Albert in his history book introduces whole age on his name.


He is also well-known poet especially his best poem ' Absalom and Achitophel'  


Dryden is also the best satirist and his work ' An Essay on Dramatic poesy' is the best satirical drama. 



About The poem ' Absalom and Achitophel' :-


The poem ' Absalom and Achitophel' is world renowned poem by John Dryden.

 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44172/absalom-and-achitophel 


 The text is that of the second edition, which appeared in the same year (1681)as the first, but to which Dryden made important additions: the twelve lines on Shaftesbury, beginning "So easy proves still it proves in factious times" (180-910), and the four on Monmouth, beginning " But on that yet he would repent and lives!"(957-60).


Here I'm giving the character list with bible and allegorical references, it will help for illustrate well.


Bibalical Character

What or who this character in Bibal Time

Allegorical Representation

What or who is the character during Dryden time ?

David

The third king of Israel

King Charles II of England

The king of England

Absalom

David’s illegitimate son

James Scott

the 1st Duke of Monmouth

Achitophel

A deceitful counselor to King David

Anthony Ashley Cooper

the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury

Saul

The first king of Israel

Oliver Cromwell

the Commonwealth of England after Charles I was executed

David’s Brother

The heir presumptive of Israel

James II

next heir to the throne of England

Corah

Corah is a priest

Titus Oates

he Englishman who engineered the Popish Plot

Shimei

Shimei is a dishonest crook

Slingsby Bethel

the sheriff of London and a member of Parliament during Dryden’s time who also supported the Exclusion Bill.

Zimri

The leader of Egypt and David’s ally

George Villiers

2nd Duke of Buckingham

The Pharaoh

The leader of Egypt and David’s ally

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV was Catholic

Ishbosheth

Saul’s son and the king of Israel briefly before David’s reign

Oliver Cromwell’s son Richard

who ruled England for a short time

Jonas

Jonas is a prophet in the Bible

Sir William Jones

a member of Parliament who prosecuted many of the Catholics falsely accused in the Popish Plot and also supported the Exclusion Bill.

Barzillai

David’s oldest and most trusted friend

James Butler

1st Duke of Ormond

Barzillai’s Eldest Son

The son of one of David’s trusted men

Thomas Butler

Earl of Ossory

Jotham

Jotham is the king of Judah and the grandson of Zadock

George Savile

the nephew of the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury

Amiel

Amiel is an important member of the Sanhedrin

Edward Seymour

the speaker of the House of Commons in Parliament during Dryden’s time and a famous supporter of King Charles II and an opponent of the Exclusion Bill.

Balaam

Balaam is a prophet in the Bible

Theophilus Hastings

a Member of Parliament and proponent of the Exclusion Bill

Caleb

Caleb is a spy in the Bible

Arthur Capel

Earl of Essex, a prominent advocate of the Exclusion Bill

Nadab

In the Bible, Nadab disobeys God and is consumed by fire

William

Lord Howard Esrick, a Puritan preacher who supported the Exclusion Bill.

Zadock

Zadock is the High Priest of Israel

William Sancroft

Archbishop of Canterbury, a supporter of Charles II.

Sagan of Jerusalem

Sagan of Jerusalem is a priest

Henry Compton

Bishop of London and supporter of Charles II

Adriel

Adriel is a nobleman in Israel and another of Barzillai’s sons

John Sheffield

3rd Earl of Mulgrave, who opposed Monmouth’s succession to the crown and supported James II.

Hushai

Hushai is David’s friend who agrees to spy on Absalom during his rebellion

Lawrence Hyde

Earl of Rochester, who fought against the Exclusion Bill in Parliament.

Amnon

Absalom’s half-brother



Michal / David’s Wife

The Queen of Israel.

Catherine of Braganza

represents Charles II’s wife

Annabel

Absalom’s wife

Anne, Countess of Buccleuch.

the Duke of Monmouth’s wife


Let's Discuss two important quotes from the poem :


1. Quote                      


In pious times, ere priest-craft did begin,

Before polygamy was made a sin;

When man, on many, multipli'd his kind,

Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd:

When Nature prompted, and no Law deni'd

Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;

Then, Israel's monarch, after Heaven's own heart,

His vigorous warmth did variously impart

To wives and slaves: and, wide as his command,

Scatter'd his Maker's image through the land. 

                                                           - lines 1 to 10 


 These are the beginning lines of the poem. As we knew that Dryden is well known satirist this poem represented his achievement as the greatest satirist. 


This poem is the political allegory. In this poem Dryden take a story from the Bible and represented his own time. The poem is written on heroic couplet - iambic pentameter where pairs of lines from rhyme. There is an AABB rhyming scheme. 


Before evaluating these line I would like to give light on the term of satire and allegory 


Allegory :- An allegory is a narrative, whether in prose or verse, in which the agents and actions, and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived by the author to make coherent sense on the " literary," or primary, level of signification, and at the same time to communicate a second, correlated order of signification. - M.H. Abrahams


Satire :- Satire can be described as the literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn, or indignation. 


 Illustration of the lines :-


The poem begins by evoking the "pious times" in which David, " Israel monarch," ruled. Polygamy was not sinful, " priest-craft" had not begun, and the Law did not forbid a man from taking both concubine and bride. David scattered his seed throughout the land though he was married to Michal. Michal did not give him a son, and although several women bore the god-like David sons, they were illegitimate and thus could not ascend the throne. 


This is just summary but through this admiring words like "pious time". This poem is political allegory reflect the time of James II. Dryden put satire that polygamy and having many relationship were not sin that time. The King David had many illegitimate son. Dryden described that time as "pious time". pious means holy time. Through this beginning lines poet put light on time and character. With the help of biblical characters poet says about king Charles II. Contemporary situation of England and this character who is full of vices, but by the help of literary element, these praising words reflected the darker side of king's character.


2.Quote 


 These Adam-wits, too fortunately free,

Began to dream they wanted liberty:

                                                     lines 51-52

These lines described the nature of Jews. Jews were a headstrong, moody, murm'ring race. Poet especially mentioned that they are the child of God. The most desirable child of god. according to one key for the poem, this passage is " Apparently a reference to those who, like Adam, could not be satisfied with true freedom under God's law and wrongly yearned for more. To Dryden the English of the late seventies and early eighties who complained of arbitrary government, like their predecessors of the forties, would have been Adam-wits ." This is the example  of how skillfully Dryden utilized biblical allusions and law how he was able to subtly but compelling use them to comment on the people and events of his one day. Not all of his phrases are easily accessible to modern readers, but once they are defined, they yield continual revelations as to Dryden's wit .

Here I am putting  two videos which will be helpful to evaluate further. 






Conclusion :- 

 In nutshell we can say that this poem is the masterpiece of Dryden. Whole poem has allegorical references and satire. The poem tells biblical tale of the Absalom against his step-father King David. In this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the execution crisis(1679-81). The poem also references the Popish Plot and the Monmouth Rebellion. Dryden was poet laureate of that time so he didn't directly satirized on the character and nature of the king. So Dryden choose smart way and with the help of the biblical story he discusses vices of that time. How king, Civilizations and society were connected. At the end of the poem King David won the faith of people and the chain of great beings remained safe. The Heaven wanted King David and that is why all goes in favor of king David. Somewhere this poem is very similar to our time as well. Literature always calls past in present but this poem presented previous past in past and past in present. 


Characters :- 9523 

Words :- 1540 

Sentences :- 183 

Paragraphs :- 151 











 




 



                                     

One Week FDP: 'Literature, Media and Films: Theory and Praxis'

  Hello everyone, last week was full of amazing and knowledgeable. I have attended one week(22nd to 27th July 2024) of a faculty development...