Comment on Bankim's treatment of the theme of marriage in Rajamohan's Wife - CU English Honours Notes

The theme of marriage in Rajamohan's Wife

Marriage has always been a great and noble institution. It’s always based on some principles and ideals. For Bankimchandra marriage has proved to be a matter of experiment. In Bankimchandra’s other vernacular language based novels he has shown that how the institution of marriage imbibes all other emotions as well as faith along with. In ‘Durgeshnandini’ there is a matter of love triangle. So as to say in Bankimchandra’s Rajamohan’s Wife he has presented us one of the finest element of love, marriage and sexuality. Actually the characters of his novel are all interwoven by some clear sense saturation as found in characters of Matangini, Rajamohan, Madhav and Mathur also. But their intentions are circled around some false passion or some are of true passion to some extent. The theme of the novel remains in its own part but things are getting imbibed into it consequently.

For the first thing to say that the conjugal relationship between Rajamohan and Matangini is not satisfactorily for both of them. They don’t share the common ground of feelings. All the way Rahamohan goes to humiliate his wife. He does not pay any respect to her. Her help from Madhav assists Rajamohan to prosper in life. Rajmohan’s reaction as well his marriage with Matangini is a fallen consequence. It does not help them to cope up with the situation. Matangini proves to be a little understanding at the beginning of the novel. But later on her fierceness comes out of her soul to prove herself a potent character. Her relation with Madhav is rather clandestine. Even Madhav does not approve their reaction as because of society. The social boundness and constraint fail to maintain the density of their relationship. They love each other but they do not express to them each. Matangini venture at night rises over the social constraint of marriage. There was fear and humiliation in the marriage between Matangini and Rajmohan. But it is said the institution of marriage should have respect and understanding at first to succeed. But the water was running almost in another direction. Bankimchandra perhaps consciously forbidden the freeness of their marriage just to prepare the ground for a new birth of Matangini. Matangini was forbidden to go out of their colloquial boundary. It was the story of every Indian housewife. Their suffering and endurance were reflected through symbolic representative, Matangini.

Matangini escape from the house is bold step by her even socially as well as morally. The characteristic boldness as well as the potentially force Matangini to go out of the string artificial and virtual boundary of the nineteenth century marriage. It was done with the help of oneself. Matangini in our common opinion was not guilty for the consequences or whatever happened between them. Madhav’s sensible or better be said over conscious figure neglected the unconscious love of Matangini. He raises the social duty and responsibility over petty love emotion. She easily or rather emotionally removes from her life. 

Now, we come to the matter of Mathur. Mathur is a lustrous character. His feelings for his wife Tara lacks in the matter of his sexual order. The theory of polygamy was present in the age. So the writer Bankimchandra has also shown in his novel the sense of polygamy as Mathur marries more than one. His second wife champak is a mean of sexuality to him. He marries her only to satisfy his sexual quench. In fact, in the matter of Mathur his respect for marriage was almost at the bottom. His first wife Tara was a gentle lady but his second wife Champak was relegated to the position of commodity. He used to use her only for his satisfaction. Mathur is such a person with extraordinary outcome but in negativity. To Mathur marriage is only a way of personal intent and he made this likewise. Mathur’s incorporation in Matangini’s life is truly a heinous job. In spite of having two seductive wives at home he desires for Matangini. He even plots to kidnap her and lock her in his own house. Mathur’s love for Tara or Champak is not purely one but his temptation for Matangini proves him a bad character. At the beginning of the novel Mathur makes unconstitutional comment of Matangini as she was returning to fetch water with Kanak.

The society changes its colour according to its need. Mathur’s character is really a knave one. He is socially upstart. However, Mathur’s heart is void of sense and mature sensibility. He comes with a pervert mind. He wants to win the whole world with his own perspective. It is the lust for Matangini that makes him reprehensible. His desires for her is not only that he wants her in her life but he can’t control over his own desire. The world of desire does no longer hold the society in a virtuous way. But the way in the other character of the novel is turned into vice. It is defined by the choices people make. Thus the institution of marriage is shown vulnerable.

Karunamayee’s perversion is an another instance of the falsification of marriage. After the of the arrival of zamindar, Karunamayee decides to change her mind as well as she feels the need for someone who can prove to be her partner for the rest of her life. To justify her decision, she chooses to give the instance of Sita who is in her period of bereavement made the idol of her husband Ram to dedicate her platonic love. But here Karunamayee going to make her love with the servant of the house, Bangshibadan. But here the way she is making love with Bangshibadan is really not an instance of platonic love but a love of sexual desire. The destruction of the ideals and notions of marriage is notably important in this context. The false showing of the concreteness of contemporary social system as well as its forceful consequences come to happen with the same thing. Karunamayee is a lady of symbolism of the mindset of the women of the contemporary society who used to hold the same feelings for some other ones. 

Actually the main point of thinking lies in the fact that a tactful escape from the institution of marriage is due to her manipulation from the marital system that almost blocked one part of the society. The continual neglection of the women and the regardence of marriage like this is really an insulting one for the society. However, the ending of the novel is really a tragic one because of the downfall of each and every character or rather the consequences happen due to their husband. Mathur hangs himself and Tara seems to spend a life of false luxurious. Rajamohan goes to the jail and Matangini seems to spend a mourning life. For all these reasons in the novel the institutions of marriage are stigmatized. The masterful handling as well as the plot of the novel is credited to Bankimchandra.

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Use of symbols in Bravely Fought The Queen - CU English Honours Notes

How does Dattani use symbols to enhance the dramatic impact of Bravely Fought the Queen?

Symbol is a powerful means of communication in literary work. Mahesh Dattani excels in art and craft of symbolic exuberances and imagery. The play Bravely Fought the Queen is moulded by craft of imagery or symbolism. The play replete with rich symbols, imagery, rhythm, sound etc.

The title itself is symbolic. The Queen in the title of the play refers to the legendary warrior queen Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Alka, the much trodden-upon younger daughter-in-law in the Trivedi family, dreamily identifies with the Rani of Jhansi and longs to put on the costume of the Queen at the masquerade ball being planned. She attempts to rebel against the claustrophobic atmosphere in her home where she is virtually a prisoner. She has been tricked into marriage with a closet homosexual (her sister’s brother-in-law) by her brother (who has been his partner). She has already been thrown out of the house once due to the machinations of her mother-in-law and is in peril of a repetition now. At the end, she bravely fights back.

The bonsai Lalitha brings as a gift for Dolly becomes a central symbol in the play. The bonsai represents a cruel miniaturization of a free spirit. As Lalitha explains innocently and gleefully to Dolly, it involves minimizing the amount of earth that the plant has to grow in, pruning its stem and branches and regularly snipping its roots so that its growth becomes stunted. The dwarfed plant is an artificial creation of human will. It may appear beautiful to some but it is a deformed plant. The symbol begs for a comparison with the situation of women in the Indian scenario – also under grown and stunted in terms of the development of their independent identities. Lalitha points out that the plant gets habituated to its changed ethos and accepts it and moulds itself to it. This is the sad situation of women socially conditioned by their men folk over the ages. 

The bonsai is meant for Dolly, thus associating its symbolism with her. It is also appreciated by Alka, thus pointing to her situation too. Yet another bonsai seen on Sridhar’s desk is described as “odd” and “grotesque”, surely pointing to its basic unnaturalness. What has been accepted (and even found attractive) by the women seems odd in the sphere of the men who have never been restricted or manipulated. Almost all the characters in the play are made to comment on the bonsai in a deliberate attempt at drawing parallels. Daksha, the spastic child of Dolly and Jiten, is an obvious parallel to the stunted and dwarfish bonsai, a deformed child born in pain due to violence inflicted upon her mother.

The interpolated tale of Kanhaiya, the alluring cook, also functions as the potent symbol which denotes disappointment, emptiness and trauma in the women of the Trivedi household. The young cook projected as Dolly’s lover, is merely a figment of her imagination. Apart from this, the face mask, Baa’s bell and wheelchair etc. are the imageries used for expressing some thoughts and idea in the play. The failure of ReVa Tee advertisement symbolizes that the men have failed to understand and recognize the feminine self and equity as human being.

In Act I and in Act III Dolly has Naina Devi’s thumri playing. The symbolism of Naina Devi’s bold decision to sing love songs usually the preserve of tawaifs is central to the play. Dolly tells Lalitha that she married into royalty but still chose to sing like a tawaif. She would surely have been marginalized by society but the wonderful thing is that her husband supported her. Together, they faced all the social ostracism and reproofs that came their way until finally she came to be celebrated as the queen of thumri.

The title of the third and final act, “Free for All” is very symbolic and suggestive. There is a free flow of emotions and passion, anger and hatred, blaming and counter blaming. The women express, assert, and move freely in this act. Dattani presents a kind of familial court in which contention and counter contention takes place till the truth is revealed. The Trivedi brothers are dismissed as scheming and gay, violent and unfaithful. The dramatist disproves the idea of varied spaces for man and woman showing them human beings equal in all respects.

Thus symbolism plays a crucial role in Bravely Fought the Queen to bring home the entire gamut of meaning and implications to the audience. 

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Themes in the Shooting an Elephant: C.U. English Honours Notes

We are bringing one of the best notes which we had collected from the various sources on the internet. This note on the Shooting of the Elephant is best suited for the C.U. English Honours students preparing for the second year university examinations.

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Themes in the Shooting an Elephant

Shooting an Elephant is an essay written by George Orwell first published in the autumn of 1936. The essay mainly describes a white British imperial police officer’s experience in Burma when he ought to encounter a ravaging elephant while he was on duty. The story is set in the British-conquered Burma, providing images and portrayal of imperialism during the era. The narrator describes the way he feels toward the natives and how the natives respond toward the European throughout his retelling of experiences. The description and portrayal of imperialism show that being a conqueror does not necessarily means total control—the conquered might as well control the conqueror in a different way—and being in charge of controlling simply means lending out freedom to the occupation.

As a police officer, the narrator was hated by many people. The beginning part of the work describes how bitter was the feeling of anti-European in Moulmein, the place in which the story takes place. The narrator actually thought that “imperialism was an evil thing,” and he was “all for the Burmese and all against the oppressors.” However, the attributes and the status in which he belong to make him a subject of hate, bait, and jeering. This sympathy toward the oppressed and the hate toward the oppressors “oppressed [him] with an intolerable sense of guilt.” These all show that the Europeans sent oversees as overseer are merely agents of the empire and some of them does not even like what they are doing, but the natives would not care about that as the anti-European sentiment already precedes in their mindset.

Imperialism was seen in many different views: some (mainly European, maybe) view it as a noble thing in which the empire brings culture, religion, and civilization for the savages, and some other view it as an evil thing—like the narrator of this story. It is considered as a cruel domination of less-powered nation by others who are stronger and more advanced. The narrator’s hate toward the empire is actually unsurprising. He does not get any benefit from the empire. What he gets is the position where everybody hates him, with high risks, and high level of stress, away from his home, where he can see the “dirty work of Empire at close quarter.” These descriptions show that imperialism is mainly the government’s interest but not the people’s.

However, despite his view toward the empire, and his previous statement of sympathy toward the Burmese, does not make him to like the natives as well. He said that “he was stuck between [his] hatred of the empire [he] served and [his] rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make [his] job impossible.” This statement obscured his alignment as he buried his last statement with this one. This vague alignment of the narrator shows the instability of personality which leads him to a personal conflict when he is faced with the situation where he should quickly decide whether to shoot the elephant or not.

This duplicity of thought finally brought him to a state of epiphany where he realizes how pointless his presence for his colony. He was only an “absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the yellow faces behind.” This fact actually apply also to his relationship with his empire, being merely an agent of imperialism who does not even like the empire, he is only a puppet which the empire used to control the colony. While facing the dilemma whether to shoot the elephant or not, he realizes that despite the fact that he is the European, now the natives are controlling him through the pressure. He finally concludes that “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.”
Imperialism is closely related to domination, this is what distinguishes imperialism and colonialism. Imperialism usually includes economical, political, or even military dominance over the colonized country, not to mention the territorial domination. When it comes to an event where the natives are the one who controls the conqueror, it is imperialism upside-down, and this essay shows that this is the nature of imperialism. An imperial agent such as the narrator of the story is nothing more than a puppet in-between the conqueror and the conquered. Ironically the status and alignment which the agent has does not help him to gain control over anything. He is at the same time controlled by the conqueror and the conquered, making him simply out of place:

“And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East. Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd – seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.”

Why shoot an elephant? The reason why he shoots the elephant is simply “to avoid looking fool.” The native crowds expect him to shoot the elephant to get “a bit of entertainment.” He hates both the natives and the empire, now his whole life in the colonial country is all about avoiding the native’s jeers and that is what he exactly does. If he ran out, or do nothing about the elephant, the natives obviously will laugh at him. That is the only reason why he shot the elephant, why he does it against his better judgment.

Just like his view toward the Burmese, he has a difficulty in making his own mind. He did not want to shot the elephant, but he did not want the natives to laugh at him. He decided not to shot it, but the decision changes a minute later.

“But I did not want to shoot the elephant. . . . It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. . . . Besides, there was the beast’s owner to be considered. . . . But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking Burmans who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing: he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.”

The passage above shows his consideration before he shot the elephant. However, this passage shows the reason why he finally chose to shot it:

“To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing — no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.”

Rather than high-powered advanced army and violence, this story shows how psychological pressure and social status have more power to control a man. The natives would not have a gut to raise a riot, because raising a riot obviously would cost them a lot, even their lives. However, by giving the European a social pressure they succeeded in gaining control over the European, consciously or not.

The most important part of the story, in my opinion, is the juxtaposition of power and control. It shows that to gain power does not necessarily mean gaining control. Control takes more than just power, and power takes careful control in order to be applied. In addition, like the narrator said in the story, being tyrant, which can also be interpreted as being one who have dominance and power against another, means destroying your own freedom. Power can be a double edged sword if not used properly. Excessive power means excessive pressure, and to follow the pressure means all those power are controlling the owner. The colonization does not affect the powerless natives only, but also the colonizer. As we can see from the story, excessive power ruins one’s better judgment and moral. The narrator had said that he could not stand to kill, or to watch the elephant dying, but in the end, given an invulnerable position in front of the law, and his successful attempt to maintain his pride, now he is glad that the Indian coolie is dead.

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Character in James Joyce Araby: C.U. English Honours Notes

The Araby by James Joyce is an interesting and peculiar kind of short story which revolves around a boy's quest of ideal. It is an important and quite entertaining short story which forms the part of the C.U. English Honours Part-II Paper-4 syllabus. Here is a notes in simple and straight-forward language which can help you in answering the questions related to the change in the character as well how he matures over the time.

FROM INNOCENCE TO KNOWLEDGE:CHARACTER IN JAMES JOYCE'S "ARABY"

In his brief but complex story, "Araby," James Joyce concentrates on character rather than on plot to reveal the ironies inherent in self-deception. On one level "Araby" is a story of initiation, of a boy's quest for the ideal. The quest ends in failure but results in an inner awareness and a first step into manhood. On another level the story consists of a grown man's remembered experience, for the story is told in retrospect by a man who looks back to a particular moment of intense meaning and insight. As such, the boy's experience is not restricted to youth's encounter with first love. Rather, it is a portrayal of a continuing problem all through life: the incompatibility of the ideal, of the dream as one wishes it to be, with the bleakness of reality. This double focus-the boy who first experiences, and the man who has not forgotten-provides for the dramatic rendering of a story of first love told by a narrator who, with his wider, adult vision, can employ the sophisticated use of irony and symbolic imagery necessary to reveal the story's meaning.

The boy's character is indirectly suggested in the opening scenes of the story. He has grown up in the backwash of a dying city. Symbolic images show him to be an individual who is sensitive to the fact that his city's vitality has ebbed and left a residue of empty piety, the faintest echoes of romance, and only symbolic memories of an active concern for God and fellow men. Although the young boy cannot apprehend it intellectually, he feels that the street, the town, and Ireland itself have become ingrown, self-satisfied, and unimaginative.

It is a world of spiritual stagnation, and as a result, the boy's outlook is severely limited. He is ignorant and therefore innocent. Lonely, imaginative, and isolated, he lacks the understanding necessary for evaluation and perspective. He is at first as blind as his world, but Joyce prepares us for his eventual perceptive awakening by tempering his blindness with an unconscious rejection of the spiritual stagnation of his world.

The boy's manner of thought is also made clear in the opening scenes. Religion controls the lives of the inhabitants of North Richmond Street, but it is a dying religion and receives only lip service.The boy, however, entering the new experience of first love, finds his vocabulary within the experiences of his religious training and the romantic novels he has read. The result is an idealistic and confused interpretation of love based on quasi religious terms and the imagery of romance. This convergence of two great myths, the Christian with its symbols of hope and sacrifice and the Oriental or romantic with its fragile symbols of heroism and escape, merge to form in his mind an illusory world of mystical and ideal beauty. This convergence, which creates an epiphany for the boy as he accompanies his aunt through the market place, lets us experience with sudden illumination the texture and content of his mind. 

We see the futility and stubbornness of his quest. But despite all the evidence of the dead house on a dead street in a dying city the boy determines to bear his "chalice safely through a throng of foes." He is blindly interpreting the world in the images of his dreams: shop boys selling pigs' cheeks cry out in "shrilllitanies"; Mangan's sister is saintly; her name evokes in him "strange prayers and praises." The boy is extraordinarily lovesick, and from his innocent idealism and stubbornness, we realized that he cannot keep the dream. He must wake to the demands of the world around him and react. Thus the first half of the story foreshadows (as the man later realizes) the boy's awakening and disillusionment.

The account of the boy's futile quest emphasizes both his lonely idealism and his ability to achieve the perspectives he now has. The quest ends when he arrives at the bazaar and realizes with slow, tortured clarity that Araby is not at all what he imagined. It is tawdry and dark and thrives on the profit motive and the eternal lure its name evokes in men. The boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a world that does not exist except in his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and realizes his self-deception. He feels he is "a creature driven and derided by vanity" and the vanity is his own.

The man, remembering this startling experience from his boy-hood, recalls the moment he realized that living the dream was lost as a possibility. That sense of loss is intensified, for its dimension grows as we realize that the desire to, live the dream will continue through adulthood.

At no other point in the story is characterization as brilliant as at the end. Joyce draws his protagonist with strokes designed to let us recognize in "the creature driven and derided by vanity" both a boy who is initiated into knowledge through a loss of innocence and a man who fully realizes the incompatibility between the beautiful and innocent world of the imagination and the very real world of fact. In "Araby," Joyce uses character to embody the theme of his story.

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The Justification Of Title- The Rivals: C.U. English Honours Part-II Notes

A very befitting title

This comedy of intrigues has a very befitting title because almost all intrigues in it refer to the rivalry of different characters for winning their prize. The title thus refers to the central theme of the play. Although at its face it might seem a comical title but in essence it is deeply satirical. In other way, the title can also be taken as a satire on the husbands in general who were suspicious of unknown rivals and the foolishly romantic girls who found pleasure in surrounding themselves with contending rivals.

The main rivals in the play

Some critics opine that the title The Rivals does not carry a very precise relevance. It has however been suggested that by his title Sheridan was referring to the pseudo rivalry of Captain Absolute and Ensign Beverly. Captain Absolute has to assume the personality of a poor sub-lieutenant to tickle the humour of Lydia Lnguish, the romantic heroine, who according to Fag is a lady of a very singular taste, a lady who like him better as half-pay ensign than if she knew he was son and heir to Sir Anthony Absolute, a baronet of three thousand a year.” Lydia is dissuaded from marrying Beverly by her caperon Mrs. Malaprop, who intercepts his letters written to her. Later she herself brings with the help of Sir Anthony, his son Captain Absolute as a suitor to Lydia and so rival to Ensign Beverly is provided. He is therefore at the same time in Lydia’s eyes, the two rivals—the adored Beverly and the detested Captain Absolute.

However, there are two pretenders to Lydia’s hand, even if neither one plays an important part in the love plot. Bob Acres versus Ensign Beverly and Sir Lucius O’Trigger versus Captain Absolute are the avowed duels to be fought in the course of the play. Acres was encouraged by Mrs. Malaprop to become the suitor of Lydia and he thus hold the rivalry with Beverly. Acres is the type of the rich landlord of the countryside who tries to pose himself to be a city dandy by changing his country dress and style of hair and learning fashionable French dances. He is a coward at heart and does not like to fight a duel for the sake of his beloved Lydia though egged on by the fiery Lucius he sends a challenge to Ensign Beverly. 

A third rival is Sir Lucius O’Trigger, a poor Irish baronet who is duped by Lucy into believing that he has been corresponding with Lydia, and not Mrs. Malaprop though it was actually the reverse. He wishes to marry the rich heiress for the sake of improving his finances. The Irishman had been a permanent comic figure on the contemporary English stage and Sir Lucius is no exception. He is always eager to fight a duel and he also cites other to do same. Unlike Acres, he is not a coward and is ready to risk his life for the sake of making his fortune.

Problem of rivalry is finally solved

The tangle of the three rivals is finally cleared at King’s Mead Fields, where the three are about to be engaged in duels. The main problem of rivalry is solved when the identity of Captain Absolute is discovered by all. After that nothing much remains to be done than to bring Lydia round to accept Captain Absolute in his own person, and his rivalry with Beverly in the main plot ends. Bob Acres’s rivalry with Captain Absolute ends as soon as he comes to know his real identity. He takes the first opportunity to back out from the duel and promptly gives up all claims on Lydia. Sir Lucius also, when discovers his mistake of confusing Delia with Lydia, remains no more a rival of Captain Absolute.

Then there are imaginary rivalry is too in Faulkland’s mind. And, being foolishly jealous of them, he not only prepares his bitter cup for himself but also tortures Julia. He too is purged of his suspicious nature in the end. The complications of the play end on a happy note as was typical of all comedies of manners. Hence we can say that the title of the play is not only befitting but the theme it suggests, serves to interlink the three plots.

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Edward II Abdication Scene: C.U. English Honours Part-II Notes

The Abdication Scene (Act V, Scene I.)

Write a commentary on the Abdication Or Deposition Scene Or,

Attempt a critical analysis, with a note of dramatic significance of the Deposition or Abdication scene.

Critical Analysis:

The Abdication or Deposition scene is considered the most admirable piece of Marlowe’s dramatic art in his historical tragedy of Edward II. The scene appears almost as a long soliloquy of the fallen weak king. Yet, in dramatic action and suspense, in dramatic poetry and pathos, it has but a few peers in the dramatic literature of England.

The scene (Act V,Sc I)  is set in the castle of Killingworth (Kneilworth), where the king is kept imprisoned under the custody of Duke of Leicester.

The scene opens with the pleading of Leicester with the king to have repose and security in mind. This is followed by a long soliloquy of the king in which he dwells on his fallen state and on the deep pathos of hid riyal fall. The king, enraged by the secret working of Mortimer and Isabella, expresses his determination to cling to his crown. He will not yield his crown to make Mortimer the king of England.

The Bishop of Winchester who has come from Mortimer and Isabella to take his crown, along with the Duke of Leicester, entreats the king to yield his crown. But the king, still flaming with his passion and rage, is most unwilling and holds the crown dearly. He gives vent, in impulsive an imaginative poetry, to his profound eagerness for retaining the crown, and fondly puts on the same.

The followers of Mortimer who are extremely anxious to carry the crown safely away, are sparing of words, but they threaten that the prince may lose his right because of the obstinacy of the king to yield his crown. Now the king agrees to give crown, but his passion and resentment remain unabated. He makes over the crown most unwillingly, as he feels that his abdication is an inescapable doom.

As the Bishop of Winchester and others are about to leave, the king gives them a handkerchief, soaked with his tears and dried by his sighs, for presenting to Isabella.

The scene concludes with the arrival of Lord of Berkeley who comes with an order from the queen. The king, under his order, is placed under his custody and goes with him.

This pic is taken from ancestryimages.com.

Dramatic Significance:

 The Abdication Scene is truly an epitome of Marlowe’s dramatic genius. From the structural standpoint, the action reaches here the climax, no doubt. The king is presses for abdication in favour of his son. With a severe mental pan, the unfortunate sovereign is compelled to give up that which he considers more precious than his life even. The Abdication Scene completes the fall of king, and the retribution against Mortimer starts hereafter.

The scene well represents Edward’s nature in which much of Marlovian poetry is conspicuously evident. The king speaks here, like a poet, and her, his parallelism with Shakespeare’s Richard II is distinct. The king dwells, with a remarkable poetic passion, on his acute suffering and torment. He reflects on the greatness of his rank which sets him always much above average man, in adversity as well as in prosperity.

“The griefs of private men are soon allayed,

But not of kings.”

He muses, with no less poetic vigour, on the irony of his lot, as a helpless captive at the hands of his powerful nobles,--

“ My noble rule, I bear the name of King;

I wear the crown, but I am controlled by them.”

The scene brings out clearly Edward’s passionate nature in which his violent and ineffectual fits of anger are particularly noticeable. His soliloquy, rich in his poetic vigour, records his vehement passion. The very thought of the younger Mortmier irritates him and makes him reiterate his resolve to keep the crown at all costs. As the crown is made over to Mortimer’s followers, the king gives way to another passionate outburst—

“But stay a while, let me be the king till night.

That I may gaze upon this glittering crown.”

The scene is well employed to win for the king sympathy and compassion. Marlowe’s hero in this play is nothing of the grandeur of a typical tragic hero, and he is found too weak to be a hero of a high tragedy. Marlowe’s conception of the character of Edward is much controlled by his historical materials, and consequently his weak king never mounts to heroism. Yet Marlowe has the craft of a born dramatist to derive pity even for his weak king. One of the effective means by which this is achieved is this Abdication Scene. The pang of the fallen sovereign, compelled to give up his cherished crown, touches everyone with compassion. The king now appears no more foolish or inactive man, but a pitiful victim of a tyrannical ambition. His faults and follies are now the matters of the past. In his poetry and passion, he is not simply pathetic, but tragic, too. He does not win here the pity that a tragic hero deserves, but a feeling of sympathy and a sense of awe dominate this scene of abdication, and is found to be an effective measure to change the attitude of the audience to one whose doom is implied in his character.

This grand and moving scene has, however, one discordant note, and this is the incident of the handkerchief. It offends the cult of refinement and proves a ridiculous element in the otherwise brilliant scene. It also degenerates the tragic grandeur to which the character of Edward II partly reaches in this scene.

In conclusion, it need to be noted that the scene is a necessary prelude to the tragic end of the king. The custody of the king is taken away from Leicester and given to Berkley by Mortimer. Mortimer’s purpose is to accomplish the execution of the king smoothly and secretly. This is his preparation to fulfil his tyrannical design. 

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Character of the Boss- The Fly: C.U. English Honours Part-II Notes

Give an estimate of the character of the Boss in Katherine Mansfield short story ‘The Fly’.

Katherine Mansfield’s short story is a classic short story as it belongs to a class in itself. This short story is taken from the collection ‘Dove’s Nest’ and inspired by her dear brother Leslie’s death, it is indeed one of her finest short stories. “The Fly” is the story of person haunted for six years by the death of his son. It is the deception of anguish. Mansfield’s technique in her stories was to make her characters how their thoughts by a kind of mental soliloquy, ‘fluttering, gossipy, breathless with questions and answers’. Moreover like Lawrence she creates an intense atmosphere through suggestive details.

The character of the Boss in the story The Fly is represented through a dialogue, monologue and symbolism. These are the three clear cut sections in the story. The first introduction to boss is to his outside appearance. The second ventures into his mind. The third presents a thoroughly complex character that one has to think over.

The Boss is introduced through a conversion with his friend Woodifield. Woodifield is old, retired, physically weak, and financially not very well off. Boss is presented through the method of contrast. The Boss is stout, rosy, healthy, although five year senior to him, but still going strong and in control of affairs. He has a comfortable office with new carpet, new furniture, electric heating and with all the physical comforts that would give him ‘solid satisfaction’.

The Boss in this story represents the irony of human life. Irony consists in the difference between appearance and reality. The existence of boss is a sort of caricature or parody of the actual reality. In fact his life is a deception with himself. The Boss has been dreaming of building up an empire for his son so that he could step into his shoes. But he is a victim of what Aristotle called “perepetia” or reversal of situation. He hoped that his son would replace him as his successor. But it changed with news of his son being killed in the battlefield. Mr. Woddifield had accepted his son’s death and could talk about it freely. While the boss, before the exit of the Woodifield from his chambers, is for an instance of a tragic father who has been trying hard to forget the bitter memory through material pre-occupation. That is why he is found to be quite complacent, confident and at ease with himself.


The tragedy of the boss’s life is of course a generalization of human existence. It gives an extra dimension to his character i.e. his realization of the futility and fragility of human endeavour. He has been endeavouring for the last six years to forget the memory of his dead son. But a casual remark by Woodifield brings him back to reality. What he has been successful so far has been destroyed by the whims of a moment. The boss surrenders to the inevitability of human fate. He develops a kind of pessimism and nihilism.

The Fly episode projects the Boss as the Caprious God who kills small fly not for sport but for negative pleasure. From this point onwards the Boss starts paralleling the plight of the fly with that of his son. Perhaps his son too had struggled like that on the battlefield.  But the killing of the Fly by the boss is a kind of self killing. The Boss negates possibilities and promises of new life. It is very simplistic to describe the boss as a tragic figure. He minimizes the tragic greatness by resulting to uncontrollable despair and depression. 

The final impression of boss character that emerges at the end of the story is that of insignificance, helplessness and denial of life. The boss thus has the streak of Dostoyevsky’s resignation of death.

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