Thinking activity : Jude the Obscure

 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy :-

Thomas Hardy's last finished novel, Jude the Obscure, is widely considered to be his best. Hardy explore allthe big issues : class, faith, love, hope. In the process, this seemingly simple story of a doomed love affair transcends the Victorian era, in which it is set, making it a timeless classic, a universal tale of longing and despair.

Hardy's strongest point in Jude the Obscure is his female character  development. Sue Bridehead and Arabella Donn are completely rounded individuals. It is this that gives the novel its realistic feel as well as a certain depth.

Sue Bridehead :-

In 'Jude the Obscure', a novel in which skilful characterization eventually wins the day over laborious editorializing, Thomas Hardy comes close to genius in the portrayal of Sue Bridehead. Sue was the first delineation in  fiction of the woman who was coming into notice int housands every year, the liberated woman of the feminist movement, who defies social norms. She was in other words, 'The new woman'. As Dr. Noorul Hasan observes." In her conscious personality Sue is a product of new conditions 'the slight pale' bachelor girl – the intellectualized, emancipate bundle of nerves that just modern conditions were producing. Her representative role as the new woman consists not just in her sexual independence and fickleness, but in her doctrinal justification of a nomadic and preferably a sexual state of

being."1

Sue is among those women characters of Thomas Hardy whom he has drawn with attentive care and fascination. She can be ranked with Tess and such women characters in whose portrait Hardy's imagination finds its full play. "The character of Sue, at first sight, one of the most innovators aspects of the book, is in some respects only a more extreme, much franker treatment of a type Hardy had portrayed many times before."2

Sue emerges as a more important character even than the hero of the novel Jude, because she is stronger, more complex and more significant. In 'Jude the Obscure, Hardy shows more insight into the female heart than he had ever shown before. In one sense nothing could be finer than the way Hardy had delineated Tess, yet Sue is by far the more complex psychological invention. Sue is a woman of 'tight strained nerves’, an epicure of emotions' and while she hates the Gothic and is inclined to Greek joyousness she constitutionally shrinks from physical contacts.

Sue's representative character as the 'New Woman' is to be found in her two great reservations around which the plot of the novel revolves – first, her denial of sex and second, her strong misgivings sexual intercourse with him. She marries Phillotson but she refuses to have sexual intercourse with him. She is a rebel. She does not surrender her body to her husband, desserts him and goes to live with her lover – Jude , In fact, when she apprehends that he wants to have sex with her. she leaps out of the bedroom window. She says to Phillotson.

Arabella Donn :-

Jude’s first wife, a vain, sensual woman who is the daughter of a pig farmer. She decides to marry Jude and so tricks him into marrying her by pretending to be pregnant. Arabella sees marriage as a kind of entrapment and as a source of financial security, and she uses whatever means necessary to get what she wants. After Jude fails to provide for her, Arabella goes to Australia and takes a new husband there. She is often contrasted with the pure, intellectual Sue, as Arabella is associated with alcohol and sexual pleasure. When she wants Jude back she gets him drunk and forces him to marry her, and when he dies (or even just before) she immediately starts seeking a new husband.

And so, standing before the aforesaid officiator, the two swore that at every other time of their lives till death took them, they would assuredly believe, feel, and desire precisely as they had believed, felt, and desired during the few preceding weeks. What was as remarkable as the undertaking itself was the fact that nobody seemed at all surprised at what they swore.

References :-

Media.neliti.com

https://www.litcharts.com

Word count :- 702

Assignment paper no.105 History of English Literature from 1350 to 1900

 Edmund Spenser (1552 ?- 1599):-

Spenser was  poet and administrator in Ireland, was born in London but his family possibly came from Burnley in north-east Lancashire. His origins are unclear and his immediate family not established beyond doubt, although a number of possible ancestors and relatives are recorded.

Edmund's father may have been the John Spenser who moved fromHurstwood to London, where he became a member of the Merchant Taylors' Company. John is recorded working as a free journeyman clothmaker in the service of Nicholas Peele, 'sheerman', of Bow Lane, London, in October 1566. He may have been the John Spenser who became an alderman in 1583, owned a house formerly in the possession of the duke of Gloucester, near the Merchant Taylors' Hall,constructed a warehouse nearby, was made lord mayor in 1594, and subsequently received a knighthood. It is also possible that Edmund was the son of an ordinary journeyman, as his claims to gentleman status came through his own achievements-a university degree-and acquisition of land in Ireland. Nothing is known of his mother other than her name, Elizabeth, to which he refers in Amoretti, sonnet 74. Spenser probably had a number of siblings. Gabriel Harvey refers to him as 'your good mother's eldist ungraciaus son' in his Letter Book. There were perhaps two sisters, named Elizabeth and Sarah, the latter of whom later lived in Ireland. A John Spenser who matriculated as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, at Easter 1575 and graduated in 1577–8 may well have been a younger brother. A John Spenser, perhaps the same person, is recorded as attending Merchant Taylors' School in 1571, and a John Spenser is recorded as serving as constable of Limerick in 1579, the coincidences suggesting, assuming both are the same person, that he was probably related to Spenser in some way.

Early years and education:-

It is not certain where in London Spenser was born. Early eighteenth-century antiquarians claimed that he came from East Smithfield but, given the low population of this area, it is more plausible that he was born in West Smithfield. He was probably born in 1552, since he matriculated at Cambridge University in 1569, at a time when the usual age at matriculation was sixteen or seventeen. First he attended the recently founded Merchant Taylors' School, probably from 1561, the year in which it opened, although the sole record of his attendance is for his last year there, 1569. The headmaster was the humanist educational theorist Richard Mulcaster, whose rigorous pedagogical methods and intellectually demanding approach to the curriculum strongly influenced Spenser. Mulcaster was also interested in the development of the English language, advocating its widespread use but recognizing its need to borrow words and phrases from other languages. It is perhaps significant that this problem was one which Spenser examined throughout his literary career. The school was housed in an old mansion, the Manor of the Rose, in the parish of St Laurence Pountney. Other pupils included Thomas Kyd, Lancelot Andrewes, and Thomas Lodge.

Secretary to Lord Grey in Ireland:-

In 1580 Spenser became private secretary to Arthur, Lord Grey of Wilton, who was appointed lord deputy of Ireland in July. Spenser probably arrived with Lord Grey on 12 August. His salary, as recorded on 31 December, was pound20 p.a. He was also paid pound 43 19s. 3d. for carrying messages, and paid out pound 18 16s. 10d. to messengers. He now lived in Ireland until his death, returning to England at regular intervals for official and literary business. He may not have wished to leave for Ireland, as some have conjectured. It is likely that he incurred the wrath of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, for his hostile portrait in Mother Hubberds Tale, which appears to have circulated in manuscript in the late 1570s or 1580. 

Faerie Queens:-

Spenser is most well known for his book-length epic poem, The Faerie Queene. It was one of the first attempts at an English epic poem, which he based on the Italian classics. An epic poem is a long, historical work that attempts to document the events and heroes of a time and place, a country and its culture. Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid are examples of classical epics. Spenser and his contemporary, Philip Sidney, wrote the first English epics, distinguishing them as poets who fundamentally defined and shaped a distinct English poetry of their time.

 Spencer wrote the The Faerie Queene in honor of Queen Elizabeth, who was characterized as the Faerie Queen Gloriana, his heroine. His ambition was to write a beautiful work that exalted her reign, while creating a poem cycle of fantasy adventures rooted in the Arthurian legends of knights, damsels and dragons, and whose characters exemplified Spenser's definition of virtue.

 This type of symbolism, where a character or place or event represents or parallels an idea, is called an allegory. In this case, Queen Elizabeth's kingdom is allegorized, and major figures in her kingdom are allegorized as certain virtues, such as friendship, courtesy and justice.

 Spenser also hoped to gain patronage by the court for his writing career. In other words, he was trying to flatter the court so that he could gain recognition and monetary support for his writing. He accomplished this to some extent, but not enough to quit his day job, which was to serve the crown by protecting its interests in Ireland. His genocidal views on Ireland, as written in his A View of the Present State of Ireland, published 1633, postmortem, are brutal and incredibly disturbing, but that does not detract from the rich body of poetry he has left us.

Marriage and later works:-

On 11 June 1594, St Barnabas day, Spenser married, as his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle, a relative of Richard Boyle, later earl of Cork. They had one child, Peregrine,  born possibly in 1595. The courtship and marriage are represented in the sonnet sequence Amoretti and the marriage hymn Epithalamion, entered into the Stationers' register on 19 November 1594 and published as a single volume in early 1595, when they were advertised as poems 'Written not long since'. The dedicatory note by Spenser's usual publisher, William Ponsonby, to Sir Robert Needham claims that he has taken responsibility for publishing the poems in the absence of the poet. Needham, according to Ponsonby's dedication, had brought them from Ireland to London,  and it is possible that he also brought over the completed second edition of The Faerie Queene. Sonnet 80 of Amoretti states that Spenser had already finished the six completed books of The Faerie Queene, which were to be published in 1596, giving the newly married Spenser time to turn his attentions from Elizabeth, the queen, to his wife  of the same name.

A View of the Present State of Ireland:-

It is likely that Spenser completed A View of the Present State of Ireland in June and July 1596, possibly before he travelled to London to attend the weddings celebrated in the Prothalamion. The work recommends that a lord lieutenant be appointed to oversee Irish affairs and refers to 'such an one I Coulde name uppon whom the ey of all Englande is fixed and our last hopes now rest'. Many commentators have suggested that Spenser-through his character, Irenius-was referring to the earl of Essex, a supposition made plausible by other indications that he had started to move in the large Essex circle.

Final years:-

Spenser was still active in acquiring land, despite the mounting threat to the Munster plantation from Hugh O'Neill's forces in the Nine Years' War. In 1597 he purchased the castle of Renny, in the south of co. Cork, and its surrounding lands for his young son, Peregrine, for pound200. Buttevant Abbey also came into his possession. On 7 February 1598 he was noted as being in arrears for the rent of this property. On 30 September, with the Munster plantation on the brink of being overrun by O'Neill's forces, he was made sheriff of Cork by the privy council 'for his good and commendable parts.

Spenser's lands were under serious threat from the rebels when he was appointed, indicating that his elevation was a desperate measure and might not have happened in quieter times. On 4 October Sir Thomas Norris, James Goold, and George Thornton wrote to the privy council from Kilmallock that a force of 2000 Irish rebels were marching towards the area of Kilcolman. By 7 October the plantation was effectively overrun. On 15 October Kilcolman was sacked and burnt. A letter by Sir Thomas Norris of 23 October noted that the son of the Lord Roche with whom Spenser had been in dispute, David Roche, was one of the prominent rebels in the area. Spenser and his family escaped through an underground tunnel, known as the fox hole, leading to caves north of the estate.   The family fled to Cork for refuge.

Reputation:-

Spenser's work has had an enormous influence over the course of English poetry in the four centuries since his death. His most widely read poem has been The Faerie Queene, which any aspiring English poet has felt obliged to read carefully and imitate. But The Shepherds Calender and much of Complaints have also had a major impact.   Spenser's principal strands of influence have been to create an oppositional, protestant-inspired, anti-courtly poetry in the seventeenth century; to define the style and subject matter of mainstream canonical writers within a central tradition of English writing; to establish the Gothic in art and literature in the eighteenth century; and to help fashion a protestant Anglo-Irish identity in Ireland.

But perhaps it is true to suggest that Spenser became more of a scholar's poet in the twentieth century and had little impact on a wider reading public. As David Hill Radcliffe has pointed out, 'In the first three decades of the twentieth century, more was written about Spenser than in the previous three hundred years. Spenser became one of the key major authors central to university English courses and a writer with whom the aspiring university teacher was expected to struggle.

References :-

www.oxforddnb.com

Study.com

Word count :- 1678

Assignment paper no.104 Literature of Victorians

 Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892):-

Alfred, Lord  Tennyson was the most renowned poet of the Victorian era. His work includes 'In Memoriam',' The Charge of the Light Brigade's and Idylls of the king'.

Who was Alfred Tennyson ?

Born in England in 1809, Alfred, Lord Tennyson began writing poetry as a boy. He was first published in 1827, but it was not until the 1840s that his work received regularpublic acclaim. His "In Memoriam" (1850), which contains the line "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," cementedhis reputation. Tennyson was Queen Victoria's poet laureate from 1850 until his death in 1892.

More than any other Victorian-era writer, Tennyson has seemed the embodiment of his age, both to his contemporaries and to modern readers. In his own day he was said to be - with Queen Victoria and Prime Minister William Gladstone - one of the three most famous living persons, a reputation no other poet writing in English has ever had. As official poetic spokesman for the reign of Victoria, he felt called upon to celebrate a quickly changing industrial and mercantile world with which he felt little in common, for his deepest sympathies were called forth by an unaltered rural England; the conflict between what he thought of as his duty to society and his allegiance to the eternal beauty of nature seems paculiarly Victorian. Even his most severe critics have always recognized his lyric gift for sound and cadence, a gift probably unequaled in the history of English poetry.

Early years and family:-

Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England on August 6, 1809. He would be one of his family's 11 surviving children . Tennyson grew up with two older brothers, four younger brothers and four younger sisters.

Tennyson's father was a church rector who earned a decent income, but the size of the family meant expenses had to be closely watched. Therefore, Tennyson only attended Louth Grammar School for a few years. The rest of his pre-university education was overseen by his well-read father. Tennyson and his siblings were raised with a love of books and writing; by the age of 8, Tennyson was penning his first poems.

However, Tennyson's home wasn't a happy one. His father was an elder son who had been disinherited in favour.  of a younger brother, which engendered resentment. Even worse, his father was an alcoholic and drug user who at times physically threatened members of the family.

In 1827, Tennyson had his first poetry published in Poems by Two Brothers. That same year, Tennyson began to study at Trinity College at Cambridge, where his two older brothers were also students.

It was at university that Tennyson met Arthur Hallam, who became a close friend, and joined a group of students who called themselves the Apostles. Tennyson also continued to write poetry, and in 1829, he won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for the poem "Timbuctoo." In 1830, Tennyson published his first solo collection: Poems, Chiefly Lyrical.

Tennyson's father died in 1831. His death meant straitened circumstances for the family, and Tennyson did not complete his degree. As a younger son, Tennyson was encouraged to find a profession, such as entering the church like his father. However, the young man was determined to focus on poetry.

Struggles of a Poet:-

At the end of 1832 (though it was dated 1833), he published another volume of poetry: Poems by Alfred Tennyson. It contained work that would become well known, such as "The Lady of Shalott," but received unfavourable reviews. These greatly affected Tennyson, and he subsequently shied away from publication for a decade, though he continued to write during that time.

After leaving Cambridge, Tennyson had remained close to Arthur Hallam, who had fallen in love with Tennyson's sister Emily. When Hallam died suddenly in 1833, likely from a stroke, it was a devastating loss for the poet and his family.

Tennyson developed feelings for Rosa Baring in the 1830s, but her wealth put her out of his league. In 1836, Tennyson fell in love with Emily Sellwood, sister to his brother Charles's wife; the two were soon engaged. However, due in part to concerns about his finances and his health - there was a history of epilepsy in the Tennyson family, and the poet worried he had the disease - Tennyson ended the engagement in 1840.

Tennyson finally published more poetry in the two-volume Poems (1842). Highlights included a revised "The Lady of Shalott," and also "Locksley Hall," "Morte d'Arthur" and "Ulysses". This work was positively reviewed. Unfortunately, in 1842, Tennyson lost most of his money after investing in an unsuccessful wood-carving venture. 

Poetic Success :-

"The Princess" (1847), a long narrative poem, was Tennyson's next notable work. But he hit a career high note with "In Memoriam" (1850). The elegiac creation, which contains the famous lines, "’Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all," incorporated Tennyson's sorrow about his friend Arthur Hallam's death. It greatly impressed readers and won Tennyson many admirers.

In addition to addressing his feelings about losing Hallam, "In Memoriam" also speaks to the uncertainty that many of Tennyson's contemporaries were grappling with at the time. Geologists had shown that the planet was much older than stated in the Bible; the existence of fossils also contradicted the story of creation. Having read books such as Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33), Tennyson was well aware of these developments.

Tennyson, who had learned he did not have epilepsy and was feeling more financially secure, had reconnected with Emily Sellwood. The two were married in June 1850. Later that year, Queen Victoria selected Tennyson to succeed William Wordsworth as England's new poet laureate.

Fame and Fortune :-

Tennyson's poetry became more and more widely read, which gave him both an impressive income and an ever-increasing level of fame. The poet sported a long beard and often dressed in a cloak and broad-brimmed hat, which made it easy for fans to spot him. A move to the Isle of Wight in 1853 offered Tennyson an escape from his growing crowds of admirers, but Tennyson wasn't cut off from society there - he would welcome visitors such as Prince Albert, fellow poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Hawaii's Queen Emma.

An episode in the Crimean War led to Tennyson penning "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in 1854; the work was also included in Maud, and Other Poems (1855). The first four books of Tennyson's Idylls of the King, an epic take on the Arthurian legend, appeared in 1859. In 1864, Enoch Arden and Other Poems sold 17,000 copies on its first day of publication.

    Who  are wise in love, love most, say least.

             " from “Idylls of the King” 1859

Tennyson became friendly with Queen Victoria, who found comfort in reading "In Memoriam" following the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861. He also continued to experience the downside of fame: As the Isle of Wight became a more popular destination, people would sometimes peer through the windows of his home. In 1867, he bought land in Surrey, where he would build another home, Aldworth, that offered more privacy.

Characteristics of Tennyson's Poetry :-

1. Tennyson is essentially the artist. No other in his age studied the art of poetry so constantly or with such singleness of purpose.

2. Like all the great writers of his age, he is emphatically a teacher, often a leader. In the preceding age, as the result of the turmoil produced by the French Revolution, lawlessness was more or less common, and individuality was the rule in literature.

3. Tennyson’s theme, so characteristic of his age, is the reign of order, − of law in the physical world, producing evolution, and of law in the spiritual world, working out the perfect man.

Later years :-

In 1874, Tennyson branched out to poetic dramas, starting with Queen Mary (1875). Some of his dramas would be successfully performed, but they never matched the impact of his poems.

Though he had turned down earlier offers of a baronetcy, in 1883 Tennyson accepted the offer of a peerage. He thus became Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, better known as Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Tennyson and his wife had had two sons, Hallam (b. 1852) and Lionel (b.1854). Lionel predeceased his parents; he became ill on a visit to India, and died in 1886 onboard a ship heading back to England. Tennyson's Demeter and Other Poems (1889) contained work that addressed this devastating loss.

Death and Legacy:-

The poet suffered from gout, and experienced a recurrence that grew worse in the late summer of 1892. Later that year, on October 6, at the age of 83, Tennyson passed away at his Aldworth home in Surrey. He was buried in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.

Tennyson was the leading poet of the Victorian age; as that era ended, his reputation began to fade. Though he will likely never again be as acclaimed as he was during his lifetime, today Tennyson is once more recognized as a gifted poet who delved into eternal human questions, and who offered both solace and inspiration to his audience.

When the best of his poetry is separated out from the second-rate work of the kind that any writer produces, Tennyson can be seen plainly as one of the half-dozen great poets in the English language, probably far above any other Victorian. And that is precisely what his contemporaries thought.

References :- 

https://www.biography.com

https://www.poetryfoundation.org

Word count :- 1573 

Assignment paper no. 103 Literature of Romantics

 Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in all characters:-

Introduction:-

As Pride and Prejudice is a very well-known novel, innumerable critics have analysed it and given their opinion of it.   Everett Zimmerman is one of those critics; he states in his article “Pride and Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice” that this novel is Jane Austen’s best novel. He praises it in the following way: 

  "The moral concerns of this novel are, it must be admitted, narrower than those of the later novels,but this very limitation leads to the happy resolution which tempts critics of pride and prejudice to compare it to a composition."

Personally, I like Pride and Prejudice because it has so many interesting components: an intriguing plot, humurous language full of irony, and many well-described characters with original personality traits and common flaws. I particularly like how Jane Austen describes the actions of the peripheral characters; she speaks about their peculiarities in a very amusing way, and she is very good at making the reader picture just how ridiculous the characters are.

About Author:-

Austen   began writing Pride and Prejudice under the title First impressions in 1796, at the age of twenty-one. She probably wrote the first draft as an epistolary novel, meaning the plot unfolded through an exchange of letters. In 1797, Austen's father offered his daughter's manuscript to a publishing company,   but they refused to even consider it.

Shortly after completing First Impressions, Austen began writing Sense and Sensibility, which was not published until 1811. she also wrote some shorter stories during this time, which she later expanded into full novels. Between 1810 and 1812, Austen rewrote Pride and Prejudice for publication. While the original ideas in the novel came from a 21-year-old girl, the final version reflects theliterary and thematic maturity of a thirty-five year old woman who had spent years painstakingly drafting and revising, as Austen did with all of her novels. Pride and Prejudice is the most popular of Austen's novels.

Let's discuss the characters analysis of the Pride and prejudice

Elizabeth Bennet:

The second daughter in the Bennet family, and the most intelligent and quick-witted, Elizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous- she is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone. Her honesty, Virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behaviour that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society.

          "Oh! you are a great deal too apt, 

         you know, to like people in general. 

        You never see a fault in anybody.

        All the world are good and agreeable

       in your eyes. I never heard you speak

      ill of a human being in your life."

Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgements often lead her astray; Pride and Prejudice is essentially the story of how she overcome all obstacles-including their own personal failings- to find romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father, two badly behaved younger siblings, and several snobbish, antagonising females, she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognise the nobility of Darcy’s character, she realises the error of her initial prejudice against him.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: 

The son of a wealthy, well-established family and the master of the great estate of Pamberley, Darcy is Elizabeth’s   male counterpart. The narrator relates Elizabeth’s point of view of events more often than Darcy’s, so Elizabeth often seems a more sympathetic figure. The reader eventually realises, however, that Darcy is her ideal match. Intelligent and forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too hastily and harshly, and his high birth and wealth make him overly proud and overly conscious of his social status. Indeed, his haughtiness makes him initially bungle his courtship. When he proposes to her, for instance, he dwells more on how unsuitable a match she is than on her charms,  beauty,  or anything  else complimentary.

Elizabeth's rejection of his advances builds a kind of humility in Darcy. Darcy demonstrates his continued devotion to Elizabeth, in spite of his distaste for her low connections, when he rescues Lydia and the entire Bennet family from disgrace, and when he goes against the wishes of his haughty aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, by continuing to pursue Elizabeth. Darcy proves himself worthy of Elizabeth, and she ends up repenting her earlier, overly harsh judgement of him.

George Wickham :

A handsome, fortune-hunting militia officer. Wickham’s good look sand charm attract Elizabeth initially, but Darcy’s revelation about Wickham’s disreputable past clues her in to his true nature and simultaneously draws her closer to Darcy.

Mr. William Collins :

A pompous,generally idiotic clergyman who stands to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property. Mr. Collins’s own social status is nothing to brag about, but he takes great pains to let everyone and anyone know that Lady Catherine de Bourgh serves as his patroness. He is the worst combination of snobbish and obsequious.

Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley :

Elizabeth’s beautiful elder sister and Darcy’s wealthy best friend, Jane and Bingley engage in a courtship that occupies a central place in the novel. They first meet at the ball in Meryton and enjoy an immediate mutual attraction. They are spoken of as a potential couple throughout the book, long before anyone imagines that Darcy and Elizabeth might marry.

Despite their centrality to the narrative, Jane and Bingley are vague characters, sketched by Austen rather than carefully drawn. Indeed, they are so similar in nature and behavior that they can be described together: both are cheerful, friendly, and good-natured, always ready to think the best of others; they lack entirely the prickly egotism of Elizabeth and Darcy. Jane’s gentle spirit serves as a foil for her sister’s fiery, contentious nature, while Bingley’s eager friendliness contrasts with Darcy’s stiff pride. Their principal characteristics are goodwill and compatibility, and the contrast of their romance with that of Darcy and Elizabeth is remarkable. Jane and Bingley exhibit to the reader true love unhampered by either pride or prejudice, though in their simple goodness, they also demonstrate that such a love is mildly dull.

Lydia Bennet:

Lydia is the youngest and wildest Bennet daughter. She is her mother’s favorite because like Mrs. Bennet, she is preoccupied with gossip, socializing, and men. Lydia is described as having “high animal spirits and a sort of natural self-consequence.” She is attractive and charismatic, but she is also reckless and impulsive. Lydia’s behavior frequently embarrasses her older sisters, and when Lydia receives the invitation to go to Brighton, Lizzy makes an impassioned speech about her sister’s character. She explains that “our respectability in the world must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia’s character” Lizzy also articulates her fear that Lydia is on the road to becoming “a flirt in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation.” Lydia has an innate tendency toward wild and selfish behavior, but as a character she also sheds light on the failings of her parents, and father in particular. Because of her young age and lack of education, Lydia is presented as not entirely culpable for her behavior because she lacks parental guidance and discipline.

Although Lydia seems initially a harmless and entertaining character, her elopement with Wickham shows that her selfish actions can cause real damage. In the note explaining that she has run off with Wickham, Lydia writes “What a good joke it will be!” From Lizzy’s point of view, however, the focus is “the humiliation, the misery, she was bringing on them all.” Lydia does not think about the repercussions of her actions for herself or for her sisters. She does not learn any responsibility or sense of propriety over the course of the plot. Although Lydia’s reputation is barely salvaged through a hasty marriage, she focuses on her own importance, declaring, “Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married woman.” She spends her married life relying on the generosity of her sisters and “moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation.” In a novel where many other characters experience psychological development and growth, Lydia remains foolish and headstrong throughout.

Mrs.  Bennet:

Mrs. Bennet is a miraculously tiresome character. Noisy and foolish, she is a woman consumed by the desire to see her daughters married and seems to care for nothing else in the world. Ironically, her single-minded pursuit of this goal tends to backfire, as her lack of social graces alienates the very people (Darcy and Bingley) whom she tries desperately to attract. Austen uses her continually to highlight the necessity of marriage for young women. Mrs. Bennet also serves as a middle-class counterpoint to such upper-class snobs as Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley, demonstrating that foolishness can be found at every level of society. In the end, however, Mrs. Bennet proves such an unattractive figure, lacking redeeming characteristics of any kind, that some readers have accused Austen of unfairness in portraying her—as if Austen, like Mr. Bennet, took perverse pleasure in poking fun at a woman already scorned as a result of her ill-breeding.

Mr. Bennet:

Mr. Bennet is the patriarch of the Bennet household—the husband of Mrs. Bennet and the father of Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kitty, and Mary. He is a man driven to exasperation by his ridiculous wife and difficult daughters. He reacts by withdrawing from his family and assuming a detached attitude punctuated by bursts of sarcastic humor. He is closest to Elizabeth because they are the two most intelligent Bennets.

Initially, his dry wit and self-possession in the face of his wife’s hysteria make Mr. Bennet a sympathetic figure, but, though he remains likable throughout, the reader gradually loses respect for him as it becomes clear that the price of his detachment is considerable. He is in fact a weak father who, at critical moments, fails his family. In particular, his foolish indulgence of Lydia’s immature behaviour nearly leads to general disgrace when she elopes with Wickham. Further, upon her disappearance, he proves largely ineffective. It is left to Mr. Gardiner and Darcy to track Lydia down and rectify the situation. Ultimately, Mr. Bennet would rather withdraw from the world than cope with it.

Lady  Catherine de Bourgh:

A rich, bossy noblewoman; Mr. Collins’s patron and Darcy’s aunt. Lady Catherine epitomizes class snobbery, especially in her attempts to order the middle-class Elizabeth away from her well-bred nephew. 

Charlotte Lucas:

Elizabeth’s dear friend. Pragmatic where Elizabeth is romantic, and also six years older than Elizabeth, Charlotte does not view love as the most vital component of a marriage. She is more interested in having a comfortable home. Thus, when Mr. Collins proposes, she accepts.

Mr. Gardiner and Mrs. Gardiner:    

Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife. The Gardiners, caring, nurturing, and full of common sense, often prove to be better parents to the Bennet daughters than Mr. Bennet and his wife

Georgiana Darcy:

Darcy’s sister. She is immensely pretty and just as shy. She has great skill at playing the pianoforte.

References:-

Studyguide.com

Sparknotes.com

Word count :- 1885

                   

Assignment paper no. 102 Literature of Neoclassical Period

 Life and Works of Alexander Pope (1688- 1744):-

Alexander Pope, the greatest poet and verse satirist of the Augustan Period, was born to Alexander Pope and Edith Turner on May 21, 1688, in London where his Roman Catholic father was a prosperous linen merchant. He had a Catholic upbringing. Ironically, young Pope was born at a time when rights of the Catholics to teaching, education, voting and holding public office was banned due to the enactment to the Test Acts which uplifted the status of the Church of England.

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 his family moved out of London and settled about 1700 at Binfield in Windsor Forest. He had little formal schooling, largely educating himself through extensive reading. Additionally, he equipped himself with studying various languages. It was with the know-how of the language that he read works of various poets as such English, French, Italian, Latin and Greek. Sir William Trumbull, a retired statesman of literary interests who lived nearby, did much to encourage the young poet. So did the dramatist and poet William Wycherley and the poet-critic William Walsh, with whom Pope became acquainted when he was about 17 and whose advice to aim at "correctness" contributed to the flawless texture and concentrated brilliance of Pope's verse.

A sweet-tempered child with a fresh, plump face, Pope contracted a tubercular infection in his later childhood and never grew taller than 4 feet 6 inches. He suffered curvature of the spine and constant headaches. His features, however, were striking, and the young Joshua Reynolds noticed in his "sharp, keen countenance … something grand, like Cicero's." His physical appearance, frequently ridiculed by his enemies, undoubtedly gave an edge to Pope's satire; but he was always warmhearted and generous in his affection for his many friends.

He was best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of the works of Homer. He was raised as a Catholic, which proved to be a matter of concern as Catholics were barred of their fundamental rights and forcefully ousted from London. He nevertheless did not let this hamper his learning ability and read on everything he could lay his hands on. Since an early age, he was inspired by the works of classical literary figures Horace, Juvenal, Homer, Virgil, William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer and John Dryden.

Career:

His first ever work entitled, Pastorals was published in 1709 in the sixth part of Tonson’s Poetical Miscellanies. The work was widely appreciated and guaranteed him much fame and publicity.

It was after the positive reception of his work Pastorals that he was inspired to write further. In 1711, he came up with An Essay on Criticism. Much like its predecessor, this work too was much appreciated and liked. Written in a heroic couplet style, which was a developing genre of poetry then, the work was written as a response to whether poetry should be written in a style that is natural or follow the predetermined rules of the classical works. No other poet in the history of English literature has handled the heroic couplet with comparable flexibility and brilliance which he inherited from John Dryden.

Same year, he made friends with Tory writers John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell and John Arbuthnot. Together with them, he formed the satirical Scriblerus Club. The main aim of the club was to bring upon works with satirical take on ignorance and pedantry through the creation of a fictional character of Martinus Scriblerus.

Year 1712 witnessed the release of two of his poetry works, Messiah and The Rape of the Lock. The following year, he came up with the poetry, Windsor Forest. Furthermore, he even wrote articles in the publications, ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Spectator’. From 1715 to 1720, he indulged in translating the works like Illiad. In the meanwhile, the political situation worsened with the death of Queen Anne and the rise of the conflict between Hanoverians and the Jacobites. In 1717, he came up with three works, Eloisa to Aberland, Three Hours After Marriage and Elegy to the Memory of the Unfortunate Lady. From 1723 to 1725, he penned The Works of Shakespeare in six volumes. From 1725 to 1726, he came up with the work, Translations of the Odyssey. It was the success of his earlier Translations of the Illiad that inspired him to come up with this work. In 1727, he came up with the work, Peri Bathous or the Art of Sinking in Poetry.Year 1728 witnessed the release of his work, The Dunciad. From 1733 to 1734, he worked on ‘Essay on Man’, which was a philosophical poem written in heroic couplet style.Though he originally intended the work to be a centrepiece of the proposed system of ethics,he did live long to expand it or complete it.In 1735,he came up with his work, ‘The Prologue to the Satires’. From 1733 to 1738, he came up with ‘Imitations of Horace’. Post 1738, he limited his work. He worked towards coming up with a patriotic epic in blank verse, titled Brutus, he could not succeed further than the opening lines.

 Personal Life and Legacy: 

Though he never went into the nuptial bliss, he allegedly was romantically involved with Martha Blount. He suffered from major health complications ever since he was a child. At the age of twelve, he was inflicted with the Pott’s disease which caused deformation of his body. Furthermore, it inhibited his growth at 4ft 6 inches and caused a hunchback. It was due to the disease that he faced other health complications such as respiratory problems, high fevers, inflamed eyes and abdominal pain. His health worsened in 1740s and consequently led to his demise on May 30, 1944 in his villa. He was surrounded by friends at the time of his death. Remarkably, a night before his death, he called on a priest and received his Last Rites of the Roman Catholic Church. He was interred in the nave of the Church of England Church of St Mary the Virgin in Twickenham.

Pastorals:

The Pastorals, published in 1709, had been written some years earlier, when the poet was between 16 and 17. These are four artificial poems on the seasons in imitation of Virgil. Windsor Forest, published in 1713, is a descriptive poem of four hundred lines, combining pastoral descriptions with historical and political passages.

Diadectic Poems:

The Essay on Criticism was written in 1709 and published in 1711. It was the first real evidence of his great qualities. Moral Essays are ethical poems in the form of epistles. Essay on Man is a philosophical poem dealing with man’s relation to the universe, to himself, to society and to happiness. Besides the Essay on Man there are five other epistles known as Moral Essays. These are respectively theCharacter of Man, the Characters of Woman, Of the Use of Riches, Of Taste and A Letter to Addition.

Satiric Poetry:

The Rape of the Lock (1712, two cantos) is a mock-heroic poem. Describing with admirable gravity and raillery the incidents connected with the rape of a lock of Belinda. The Poem is a dainty little gem and Pope’s most perfect piece. It is the epic of the reign of Queen Anne. The Dunciad is  long satire in the form of an epic on cheap literary writers and persons who had offended  Pope. Imitations of Horace(1733) are a group of biting satires depicting contemporary figures and manners, in imitation of Horace. An Epistle to DrArbuthnot (1735) is a cutting satire on some of Pope’s enemies.

Lyrical: 

The Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day (1713) shows that intense lyric feeling and the lyric form were beyond his powers. Eloisa to Abelard (1717) is more emotional than anything else Pope wrote. It is based on the well-known story of the lovers who, after a long course of calamities, retired each to a different convent and devoted the remainder of their days to religion. The Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady (1717) is about a woman who finds in suicide an escape from a hopeless love.

Translation:

Pope also engaged in poetic imitations and translations. His Messiah (1712), published by Sir Richard Steele in the Spectator, was an imitation of Virgil's fourth Eclogue, based on passages from Isaiah; and his early "translations" of Chaucer included the Temple of Fame (1715). In later life Pope published reworkings of several of John Donne's satires. But Pope's versions of Homer were his greatest achievement as a translator. The Illiad of Homer and The Odessey of Homer were looked upon by Pope’s contemporary as the finest poetical achievement of the time. He undertook the translation because he needed money—the result of a sharp drop in the interest from his father's French annuities. The translation occupied him until 1720, and it was a great financial success, making Pope independent of the customary forms of literary patronage. Parnell and William Broome were among those who assisted with the notes, but the translation was entirely Pope's own. It has been highly praised by subsequent critics.

Editorial Work:

Pope also undertook several editorial projects. Parnell's Poems (1721) was followed by an edition of the late Duke of Buckingham's Works (1723),subsequently suppressed on account of its Jacobite tendencies. The trial of his friend Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, for complicity in a Jacobite plot also caused Pope a good deal of concern. Then, in 1725, Pope's edition of William Shakespeare appeared. Pope's emendations and explanatory notes were notoriously capricious, and his edition was attacked by Lewis Theobald in Shakespeare Restored (1726), a work that revealed a superior knowledge of editorial technique and that gained for its author the unenviable distinction of becoming the original hero of the Dunciad.

As Pope grew older, he came to rely more and more on the faithful Martha Blount, and to her he left most of his possessions. He described his life as a "long disease" and asthma increased his sufferings in his later years. At times during the last month of his life he became delirious. He died on May 30, 1744, and was buried in Twickenham Church.

References:-

https://www.magadhuniversity.ac.in

Word count:- 1687

Assignment: Paper no. 101

 The Rover by Aphre Behn

All Characters:

Introduction:

The Rover, published and first produced in 1677,was Aphre Behn's most successful play. The original full title, The Rover,or The Banished Cavaliers, indicates that the play was tribute to the formerly exiled cavalier and newly reinstated King Charles ll. The Rover is a dark comedy that mixes themes of prostitution and rape with comic buffoonery. The play expresses is author's objection to the vulnerability of women in Restoration society. Perhaps ironically, it also appeals to puritan interests of the audience by putting women ironically, compromising situations. Based loosely on her contemporary Thomas killigrew's 1564 Thomaso; or, The Wanderer Behn's play is leaner, less lewd, and more profound. The plot follows the fortunes of opposing lovers, one a woman of quality masquerading as a courtesan and one a wandering rake whose philandering days end when he falls in love with her. Several near- rapes and the tragic case of a jilted courtesan,another character in the play, balance the comic treatment of sexual politics in the seventeenth century. The Rover of the title in Willmore, an exiled English sea captain on shore leave to enjoy the carnival,or Hellena, a young woman hoping to experience life and the love before being committed to a convent by her brother. These two lovers- Willmore and Hellena- fall in love amid witty debates and sexual maneuvering. Willmore has many parallels to Charles ll, whose exploits during his twenty- year banishment from England were well known. Charles ll enjoyed the play so much that he commissioned a private viewing. Let's discuss the characters analysis.

Willmore :

An upper-class soldier called a cavalier, Willmore is loyal to the English monarchy, and has therefore been exiled from his homeland.He comes to Naples excited about the free-for-all atmosphere of Carnival. A classic rake, and the Rover of the play’s title, he is called so not just because of his travelling, but also because of his roving eye. He constantly lusts for women, and seeks out different ways to seduce them, leaving a trail of broken hearts wherever he goes. Reckless and rash, Willmore often quarrels with other men, and is quick to draw his sword. During the play, he wins the love of both the noble, unladylike, intelligent Hellena and the high-priced courtesan Angelica. Witty and charming, Willmore also has a dark side, which becomes obvious when he almost rapes Florinda, the beloved of his friend Belvile. Although he eventually vows to marry Hellena, his intellectual equal, it is difficult to believe that wedding vows will end Willmore’s promiscuous behaviour.

  "  Love and Mirth are my Business in Naples;

              and if I mistake not the Place,

             here’s an excellent Market for 

            Chapmen of my Humour."

Hellena:

The strong, witty, brave heroine, and sister to Florinda and Don Pedro, Hellena starts the play determined to venture out into the Carnival and fall in love, although her brother Don Pedro wishes for her to become a nun. When she meets Willmore, she is entranced by his wit and charm, and seemingly unafraid of his flirtatious, promiscuous ways. As the plot progresses, she repeatedly uses different masks and disguises in order to ensnare her faithless beloved, even as she repeatedly fends off his attempts to seduce her and take her virginity. At the play’s end, Hellena has apparently gotten what she wants-Willmore’s hand in marriage. Their bantering and bickering, however, along with their vows to be unfaithful to each other, makes it clear that they will have, at the very least, an interesting union.

"I am resolv’d to provide myself this Carnival,if there be e’er a handsomeFellow of my Humourabove Ground, tho I ask first."

Angelica: 

A beautiful and wealthy courtesan, Angelica is desired by all men in Naples, including Don Antonio, Don Pedro, and Willmore, all of whom duel over her at various points throughout the play. Although she initially vows to charge one thousand crowns a month for her company and sexual favors, putting out pictures of herself to display her own beauty, she succumbs to Willmore’s charms, and ends up falling in love with him and giving him money. When she finds that Willmore has been courting Hellena, the humiliated Angelica vows revenge, almost shooting her former lover with a pistol.

Florinda :

The sister of Hellena and Don Pedro, Florinda is ladylike and modest, in contrast to her sister’s nontraditional forwardness. She is in love with the cavalier Belvile, who saved her from rape at the hands of soldiers during the Spanish civil wars, but has been forbidden to marry him by her father (who wishes her to marry the elderly Don Vincentio) and by her brother (who wants to wed her to his highborn friend Don Antonio). Florinda shows bravery as she tries to reunite with Belvile using various masks and disguises, but is constantly menaced by men like Willmore and Blunt, who repeatedly attempt to rape her. Despite these obstacles, she does end the play happily married to her beloved.

Belvile:

A dashing cavalier, and the epitome of a gentleman, Belvile is in love with Florinda, a noblewoman whom he met during the Spanish civil wars. Belvile’s attempts to reunite with Florinda, who has been forbidden to marry him by her family, are repeatedly foiled by his indiscreet companions, especially the foolhardy Willmore. After a series of misadventures, during which he is mistakenly forced to fight Florinda’s brother Don Pedro, Belvile is at last joined in matrimony with Florinda.

Don Pedro :

Don Pedro is a hot-headed Spanish nobleman. Though he is not technically the head of his household, he commands his sisters and the servants as if he were. He intends to marry Florinda to his friend rather than their father's choice. He desires Angellica, and he challenges his friend Don Antonio to a duel over her as much as over his sister's honor. Though he is watchful and suspicious, both Florinda and Hellena are able to fool him and pursue romances of their own choosing. Don Pedro is sensitive of slights to his honor and quick to call a duel. However, honor in others impresses him, and Belvile's conduct in their duel raises him in Don Pedro's estimation. Likewise, Don Antonio's disregard of honor is a major factor in Don Pedro approving of Florinda's marriage to Belvile. The other factor is Willmore's threats. For all his talk of bravery, Don Pedro can be intimidated

The main antagonist of the play, the rigid and controlling Don Pedro wishes for his sister Florinda to marry his friend Don Antonio, and for his sister Hellena to become a nun, in order to safeguard their virtues. He, hypocritically, desires the beauteous prostitute  Angelica, and eventually quarrels with both Antonio and Willmore over her affections. After being tricked and threatened by the Englishmen, Don Pedro is forced to allow his sisters to marry Belvile and Willmore  - but only after, at one point, he unintentionally menaces the disguised Florinda,  unaware that she is his sister.

Frederick:

An English gentleman who is good friends with Willmore and Belvile, Frederick is the common sense of the group, often trying to get his friends out of scrapes and duels.  Even he, however, can act impulsively and maliciously, as when he almost helps the oafish Blunt to rape Florinda . His romance with Valeria, Florinda’s and Hellena’s cousin, is one of the  subplots of the play, and he ends up marrying her at its end.

         " I begin to suspect something; 

           and ’twou’d anger us vilely to 

           be  truss’d up for a Rape upon 

           a Maid of Quality, when we only 

           believe we ruffle a Harlot."

Ned Blunt:

An English gentleman like Frederick, Blunt is an oafish idiot, mocked and disdained by his friends, and valued only for his money. During the play, he believes himself in love with lucetta, a prostitute, who  tricks him out of his clothes and money with the help of her pimp Sancho and her lover Philippo. Humiliated and naked, Blunt attempts to revenge himself on the female sex by raping and beating florinda but, upon  learning that she is of noble birth and Belvile’s beloved, begs her forgiveness.

Don Antonio:

Although Don Pedro wishes for Antonio, the highborn son of a viceroy, to marry his sister Florinda, Antonio only has eyes for the seductive prostitute Angelica. He pays her thousand-crown price, and even duels for her, although he is wounded in the process, and ends up asking Belvile to fight in his place. In fact, his devotion to Angelica is part of the reason that an angry Pedro finally stands aside and allows Florinda to marry Belvile.

               Minor Characters :

Valeria :

Cousin to Florinda and Hellena, Valeria is braver than the former, but more ladylike than the latter. Providing her relatives with masks and helping them in their romantic schemes, she eventually finds herself in love with Frederick, and marries him in a double ceremony with Florinda and Belvile.

Lucetta: 

The prostitute who tricks Blunt out of his clothes and money, Lucetta is a scheming, wily, and seductive woman; exactly the kind of woman whom the men of the play fear and loathe.

 

Moretta :

The elderly servant of Angelica, and a former prostitute herself, Moretta hates all men, and is dismayed when her mistress succumbs to Willmore’s charms.

Callis:

The softhearted governess of Florinda and Hellena, Callis initially allows them to go out to the Carnival, despite Don Pedro’s orders to the contrary. Later in the play, when she tries to stop the girls from leaving, Valeria locks her in a wardrobe.

Don Vincentio:

Although he never appears onstage, Vincentio is the wealthy but elderly man whom Florinda’s father wishes her to marry.Hellena repeatedly mocks both his age and his dark complexion.

Officers and Soldiers:

During a duel outside Angelica’s house, these keepers-of-the-peace part the fray and mistakenly arrest Belvile.

References :

http://panchthupihcollege.in

Litcharts.com

Word count:

(1639)