Friday, November 25, 2016
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Roll Of 'Brahmo Samaj' In Renaissance In India
Assignment Paper 4
Indian Writing In English
Ajit A. Kaliya
M.A. Sem 1
Roll No. 3
Enrollment No. 2069108420170013
Batch: 2016-18
Email- kaliyaajitbhai@gmail.com
Department Of English, MKBU
To evaluate this assignment please Click Here
Role Of 'Brahmo Samaj' In
Renaissance In India
Indian Renaissance can be
consider as great bless for Indian people. Because before that there were lots
of criminal practices and beliefs like Satipratha, idolatery, caste system,
untouchability, illiteracy, and so many other. There was intellectual darkness
all over India. So, it was necessary to awake people and stop those foolish
practices. And fluid of new thoughts came during British rule over India. Many
great prominent figures were influenced by Western culture and they started to
spread their thoughts house to house and religious and social awakening took
place. This is called Renaissance in India.
There were many people and
organisations who played great role in Indian reformation like Henry Derozeo,
Swami Vivekananda, Rammohan Roy, Aurobindo Ghose, Syed Ahmed Khan, Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, Dadabhai Navroji, Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophical
society and so on. The list is very long. All had played great role to awake
people against social and religious darkness. But among them one organisation
did more than others. And that's why when we talk about Indian Renaissance,
first names come in our minds are Raja Rammohan Roy and Brahmo Samaj.
Raja Rammohan Roy was
attracted to the west, he also had been repelled by Hindu practices and
beliefs. But he was cast in a different mould, and was always able to look
beneath the appearance and see into the truth of things. He saw that in the
West too, Christian profession and practice could be widely divergent. As for
Hinduism, he went to the Vedas and the Upanishads. Many gods were no doubt
mentioned, but transcending them all was Brahman. 'All is Brahman; I am
Brahman, that thou art'. These basic affirmations of the Hindu faith had
nothing to do with idolatry, caste, sari and the many other foolish, futile, or
criminal practices and beliefs in the Hindu fold. Back, then to the fount of
Hinduism, the deep well of its living waters would be seen to mix and merge
with the springs of other religions
also. In his time Rammohan stood almost alone, while the storms of detraction
blew around him. With a few selected friends he held counsel from time to time
on the perennial truths of all religions, and so the Brahma Sabha or Brahmo
Samaj was found in 1828. His work was continued by Dwaraknath Tagore, an
intrepid figure who also paid a visit to England, and his son Maharshi
Debendranath Tagore. In its great days, members of the Brahmo Samaj were
required to take these seven vows-
1. By loving God and
performing the works which he loves, I will worship God, the creator, the
preserver, and the destroyer, the giver of salvation, the omniscient, the
omnipresent, the blissful, the good, the formless, the one only without a
second.
2. I will worship no
created object as the creator.
3. Except the day of
sickness or tribulation, every day, the mind being undisturbed, I will engage
in love and veneration of God.
4. I will exert myself to
perform righteous deeds.
5. I will be careful to
keep myself from vicious deeds.
6. If, through the
influence of passion, I have committed any vice I will, wishing redemption from
it be careful not to do it again.
7. Every year, and on the
occasion of every happy domestic event, I will bestow gifts upon the Brahmo
Samaj. Grant me, O God, power to observe the duties of this great faith.
A great event in the history
of the Brahmo Samaj was the meeting of Debendranath and Keshub Chundar Sen in
1857. For the next ten years the two worked together, and the Brahmo Samaj was
a power in Bengal. The meeting point of both the religious and cultural
renaissance. But Keshub was more and more attracted to Christ and his gospel
and organised his own church in 1866. Many of the leaders of the community were
Samajists of one or another hue, and thus the Samaj may be truly said to have
played a vital role in Bengal's and India's cultural history during the 19th
century.
Raja Rammohan Roy had
started on several fronts the great task of national reconstruction, and
different men were destined to follow his lead in the different directions.
Thus Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar became the most determined social reformer after
Rammohan. The task of religions regeneration was taken up by Keshub Chundar
Sen. He sincerely felt that Christianity was not incompatible with the spirit
of Hinduism, and he felt also that a close understanding between India and
England was possible. He was an impassioned speaker, and his oratory made a
profound effect on his hearers in India as well as in England. How adroitly
Keshub tried to forge the links between England and India, and Christianity and
Hinduism, may be seen from these few extracts-
"Let then, India learn
from England practical righteousness. Let England learn from India devotion,
faith and prayer."
"You will find on
reflection that the doctrine of divine humanity is essentially a Hindu
doctrine, and the picture of Christ's life and character I have drawn is
altogether a picture of ideal Hindu life. Surely the idea of absorption and
immersion in the deity is one of those ideas of Vedantic Hinduism which prevail
extensively in India..."
"Let India, beloved
India, be dressed in all her jewellery-those 'sparkling orient gems' for which
this land is famous, so that at the time of the wedding we may find her a
really happy and glorious bride. The bridegroom is coming. Let India be ready
in due season."
"The Hindu shall eat
thy (Christ's) flesh in rice and drink thy blood in pure water, so that the
scripture may be fulfilled in this land."
But Keshub could also speak
in another stain, paint a vivid picture of the sorrowing East, and peremptorily
call Europe to order. His lecture on 'Asia's message to Europe' given in 1883,
the last year of his life, was typical of the man and his powers of oratory-
"Behold the sweet angel
of the East, into whose beauty the very colours of heaven seem to have been
woven the fair East in russet mantle clad lies prostrate, a bleeding
prisoner!... The desperate onslaughts of Europe's haughty civilisation, she
says, have brought sorrow into her heart, ignominy on her fair name, and death
to her cherished institutions... Alas! before the formidable artillery of
Europe's aggressive civilisation, the scriptures and prophets, the language and
literature of the East, nay her customs and manners, her social and domestic institutions,
and her very industries have undergone a cruel slaughter. The rivers that flow
eastward and the rivers that flow westward are crimson with Asiatic gore; yes,
with the best blood of Oriental life. Enough. Start, Europe, desist from this
sanguinary strife..."
This is no doubt the style
of an earlier day, but in his time Keshub seems to have created a great
impression on his hearers. He was boldly classed with Gladstone and Gambetta,
and the Rev. Joseph Cook declared: "He is an orator born, not made. He has
a splendid physique, excellent quality of organisation, capacity of sudden heat
and of tremendous impetuosity, and lighting like swiftness of thought and
expression, combined with a most iron self control."
This type of doctrines of
Brahmo Samajists affected every aspect of social, economic, cultural and
political life of the country. From the late 18th century, number of European
and Indian scholars began the study of ancient India's philosophy, science,
religious and literature. This growing knowledge of India's past gave to the
Indian people a sense of pride in their civilisation. For their struggle
against social evils, superstitions and inhuman practices and customs, the
reformers used the authority of the ancient texts. While doing so, most of them
based themselves on reason rather than mere belief and faith. Thus they made
use of their knowledge of Western ideas as well as of ancient learning.
The greatest achievement in
the field of social reform was the abolition of Satipratha in 1829. Rammohan
had seen how the wife of his elder brother was forced to commit Sati. His
campaign against Sati aroused the opposition of the orthodox Hindus who
bitterly attacked him. Rammohan Roy realised that the practice of Sati was due
to the extremely low position of Hindu women. He advocated the abolition of
polygamy and wanted women to be educated and given the right to inherit
property.
The influence of Brahmo
Samaj spread and branches were opened in different parts of the country.
Debendranath Tagore and Keshub Chundar Sen traveled throughout Madras and
Bombay presidencies and later, the northern India.
In 1866, there was a split
in the Brahmo Samaj when Keshub and his group held views which were more
radical than those of the original Brahmo Samajists. They proclaimed freedom
from the bondage of caste and customs, and from the authority of scriptures.
They advocated and performed inter caste marriages and widow remarriages,
opposed the custom of pardah and condemned caste divisions. They attacked caste
rigidity, started taking their food with the people of the so called lower
castes and other religions, opposed restrictions about food and drink, devoted
their life to the spread of education.
Today we can see that many
good changes has made in our society, like girls education, widow remarriage,
untouchability, Satipratha has banished. The root is those social reformers,
who fought for making the society better. Influence of West is very prominent.
But it was Brahmo Samaj who understood what is good in them and so what should
accept? They accepted good things from West and today we have better society
than that dark age of evil beliefs.
References:
Indian writing in English -
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar
Wikipedia
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Types Of Literary Criticism
Assignment Paper 3
Literary Theory & Criticism
Ajit A. Kaliya
M.A. Sem 1
Roll No. 3
Enrollment No. 206910820170013
Email: kaliyaajitbhai@gmail.com
Department Of English, MKBU
To evaluate this assignment please Click Here
Types Of Literary Criticism
Everybody is a critic.
you, me, and all. Because all have the habit of see good and bad things in
anything. In literary criticism we see literature in good or bad way. It is our
perspective to see literary works. Since ancient time authors have been
debating on literature. Greeks may believe that comedy and tragedy should be
separated, while Dryden comes with the word tragicomedy and considers it
better. It was their perspective to see towards literature. There are so many
ways to look towards literature like feminist point of view, Marxism,
psychoanalytic and so many others. They can be consider as varies types of
literary criticism.
Meaning of literary criticism:
Ø Literary criticism is the
study, evolution and interpretation of literature[Wikipedia]
Ø Literary criticism is the
overall teem for studies concerned with defining, classifying, analysing,
interpreting, and evaluating works of literature[H.M.Abrams, Glossary of
literary terms]
That is enough for
understanding the meaning of literary criticism. Now let us see several types
of Criticism.
Ø Traditional criticism
In traditional criticism
you examine how the author's life, his or her biographical information is
reflected in the work. You research all facets of his background and find
Traces of his or her experiences shown in the text. Question how the work shows
pieces of the author's past, his or her interests.
The adventures of
Huckleberry Finn is a great example of traditional criticism.
Ø Mythological/Archetypal Criticism
In literary criticism the
term archetype denotes re-current narrative designs, patterns of action,
character types, themes, and im-
ages which are
identifiable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as in myths,
dreams, and even social rituals. An archetype is a motif or image which is
found in myths of people widely separated by Time or place. Because of this, it
has universal significance, situations, conflicts, and characters can be
archetypal.
Ø Theoretical criticism
Theoretical criticism proposes
an explicit theory of literature, in the sense of general principles, together
with a set of terms, distinctions, and categories, to be applied to identifying
and analyzing works of literature, as well as the criteria (the standards, or
norms) by which these works and their writers are to be evaluated. The
earliest, and enduringly important, treatise of theoretical criticism was
Aristotle's Poetics (fourth century B.C.). Among the most influential
theoretical critics in the following centuries were Longinus in Greece; Horace
in Rome; Boileau and Sainte-Beuve in France; Baumgarten and Goethe in Germany;
Samuel Johnson, Coleridge, and Matthew Arnold in England; and Poe and Emerson
in America. Landmarks of theoretical criticism in the first half of the twentieth
century are I. A. Richards, Principles of Literary Criticism (1924); Kenneth
Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form (1941, rev. 1957); Eric Auerbach,
Mimesis (1946); R. S. Crane, ed., Critics and Criticism (1952); and Northrop
Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (1957).
Ø Practical or applied criticism
It concerns with
particular works and writers. The theoretical principles controls the mode of
analysis, interpretation, and evaluation are often left implicit, or brought in
only as the occasion demands. Some influential works are the literary essays of
Dryden in the Restoration; Dr. Johnson's Lives of the English Poets (1779-81);
Coleridge's chapters on the poetry of Wordsworth in Biographia Literaria (1817)
and his lectures on Shakespeare; William Hazlitt's lectures on Shakespeare and
the English poets, in the second and third decades of the nineteenth century;
Matthew Arnold's Essays in Criticism (1865 and following); I. A. Richards'
Practical Criticism (1930); T. S. Eliot's Selected Essays (1932); and the many
critical essays by Virginia Woolf, F. R. Leavis, and Lionel Trilling.
Practical criticism is
sometimes distinguished into impressionistic and judicial criticism
Ø Impressionistic criticism
It attempts to represent
in words the felt qualities of a particular passage or work, and to express the
responses (the "impression") that the work directly evokes from the
critic. As William Hazlitt put it in his essay "On Genius and Common
Sense" (1824): "You decide from feeling, and not from reason; that
is, from the impression of a number of things on the mind .. . though you may
not be able to analyze or account for it in the several particulars." And
Walter Pater later said that in criticism "the first step toward seeing
one's object as it really is, is to know one's own impression as it really is,
to discriminate it, to realize it distinctly," and posed as the basic
question, "What is this song or picture .. . to me?'' (preface to Studies
in the History of the Renaissance, 1873). At its extreme this mode of criticism
becomes, in Anatole France's phrase, "the adventures of a sensitive soul
among masterpieces."
Ø Judicial criticism
It analyses and explains
the effect of the work by reference to its subject, organisation, techniques
and style and to base the critic's individual judgement on specified criteria
of literary excellence.
Ø Mimetic Criticism
Mimetic criticism views
the literary work as an imitation, or reflection, or representation of the
world and human life, and the primary criterion applied to a work is the "truth"
of its representation to the subject matter that it represents, or should
represent. This mode of criticism, which first appeared in Plato and (in a
qualified way) in Aristotle, remains characteristic of modern theories of
literary realism.
Ø Pragmatic criticism
It views the work as
something which is constructed in order to achieve certain effects on the
audience (effects such as aesthetic pleasure, instruction, or kinds of
emotion), and it tends to judge the value of the work according to its success
in achieving that aim. This approach, which largely dominated literary
discussion from the versified Art of Poetry by the Roman Horace (first century
B.C.) through the eighteenth century, has been revived in recent rhetorical
criticism, which emphasizes the artistic strategies by which an author engages
and influences the responses of readers to the matters represented in a
literary work. The pragmatic approach has also been adopted by some
structuralists who analyze a literary text as a systematic play of codes which
effect the interpretative responses of the reader.
Ø Expressive criticism
It treats a literary work
primarily in relation to its author. It defines poetry as an expression, or
overflow, or utterance of feelings, or as the product of the poet's imagination
operating on his or her perceptions, thoughts, and feelings; it tends to judge
the work by its sincerity, or its adequacy to the poet's individual vision or
state of mind; and it often seeks in the work evidences of the particular
temperament and experiences of the author who, consciously or unconsciously,
has revealed himself or herself in it. Such views were developed mainly by
romantic critics in the early nineteenth century and remain current in our own
time, especially in the writings of psychological and psychoanalytic critics
and in critics of consciousness such as George Poulet and the Geneva School.
Ø Objective criticism
It deals with a work of
literature as something which stands free from what is often called
"extrinsic" relations to the poet, or to the audience, or to the
environing world. Instead it describes the literary product as a
self-sufficient and autonomous object, or else as a world-in-itself, which is
to be contemplated as its own end, and to be analyzed and judged solely by
"intrinsic" criteria such as its complexity, coherence, equilibrium,
integrity, and the interrelations of its component elements. The general
viewpoint of the self-sufficiency of an aesthetic object was proposed in Kant's
Critique of Aesthetic Judgment (1790)—see distance and involvement—-was taken
up by proponents of art for art's sake in the latter part of the nineteenth
century, and has been elaborated in detailed modes of applied criticism by a
number of important critics since the 1920s, including the New Critics, the
Chicago School, and proponents of European formalism.
Ø Feminist Criticism
feminist criticism was not
inaugurated until late in the 1960s. Behind it, however, lie two centuries of
struggle for the recognition of women's cultural roles and achievements, and
for women's social and political rights. 5). Much of feminist literary
criticism continues in our time to be interrelated with the movement by
political feminists for social, legal, and cultural freedom and equality.
An important precursor in
feminist criticism was Virginia Woolf, who, in addition to her fiction, wrote A
Room of One's Own (1929) and numerous other essays on women authors and on the
cultural, economic, and educational disabilities within what she called a
"patriarchal" society that have hindered or prevented women from
realizing their productive and creative possibilities.
Ø Marxist Criticism
Marxist literary
criticismis a loose term describingliterary criticismbased on socialist and
dialectic theories. Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of
the social institutions from which they originate.
According to Marxists,
even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific ideological
function, based on the background and ideologyof the author.The English
literary critic and cultural theorist,Terry Eagleton, defines Marxist criticism
this way:
"Marxist criticism is
not merely a 'sociology of literature', concerned with how novels get published
and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary
work more fully; and this means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles and,
meanings. But it also means grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the
product of a particular history."
The simplest goals of
Marxist literary criticism can include an assessment of the political
'tendency' of a literary work, determining whether its social content or its
literary form are 'progressive'. It also includes analyzing the class
constructs demonstrated in the literature.
Ø Psychological Criticism
Psychoanalytic literary
criticism is literary criticism or literary theory which, in method, concept,
or form, is influenced by the tradition of psycho analysis begun by Sigmund
Freud. Psychoanalytic reading has been practiced since the early development of
psychoanalysis itself, and has developed into a heterogeneous interpretive
tradition. As Celine Surprenant writes, 'Psychoanalytic literary criticism does
not constitute a unified field. However, all variants endorse, at least to a
certain degree, the idea that literature is fundamentally entwined with the
psyche'.
The object of
psychoanalytic literary criticism, atits very simplest, can be the
psychoanalysis of the author or of a particularly interesting character in a
given work. The criticism is similar to psychoanalysis itself, closely
following the analytic interpretive process discussed in Freud'sThe
Interpretation of Dreamsand other works. Critics may view the fictional
characters as psychologicalcase studies, attempting to identify such Freudian
concepts as the Oedipus complex, ,Freudian slips, Id, ego and superego and so
on, and demonstrate how they influence the thoughts and behaviors of fictional
characters.
Ø TextualCriticism
Textual criticism is a
branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is
concerned with the identification of textual variants in either manuscripts or
printed books. Ancient scribes made alterations when copying manuscripts by
hand. Given a manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original
document, the textual critic might seek to reconstruct the original text (the
archetype or autograph) as closely as possible. The same processes can be used
to attempt to reconstruct intermediate versions, or recensions, of a document's
transcription history. The ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is
the production of a "critical edition" containing a scholarly curated
text.
Ø New Criticism
New Criticism developed as
a reaction to the older philological and literary history schools of the US
North, which, influenced by nineteenth-century German scholarship, focused on
the history and meaning of individual words and their relation to foreign and
ancient languages, comparative sources, and the biographical circumstances of
the authors. These approaches, it was felt, tended to distract from the text
and meaning of a poem and entirely neglect its aesthetic qualities in favor of
teaching about external factors. On the other hand, the literary appreciation
school, which limited itself to pointing out the "beauties" and
morally elevating qualities of the text, was disparaged by the New Critics as
too subjective and emotional. Condemning this as a version of Romanticism, they
aimed for newer, systematic and objective method.
These are various types of
literary criticism. Of course these are not all and there is also no certainty.
Literature is evolutionary, tomorrow will other term be existed. But these are
some terms of Criticism which can help you to see literature in deeper way.
References:
Glossary of literary terms
- H.M.Abrams
Wikipedia
Scribd.com
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Political Satire In 'Gulliver's Travels'
Assignment Paper 2
The Neoclassical Literature
Ajit A. Kaliya
M.A. Sem 1
Roll No. 3
Enrollment No. 2069108420170013
Email: kaliyaajitbhai@gmail.com
Department Of English, MKBU
To evaluate this assignment please Click Here
Political Satire In 'Gulliver's Travels'
'Gulliver's Travels.'
children, youngsters or old aged, people of all the ages would have heard this
name. Even if they are not English literature lover or don't even know English
language, they have been aware about Gulliver's journey. Because this is a
unique novel, the great satirical novel, perhaps the greatest satirical novel
of all the time. Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels'. If someone want to know
what satire is, he should read this book. Children might find it only great
adventure story, but it is not so. It bitterly satires on human nature,
politics, class conflicts, science and so on. But here I will highlight only
satire on politics which can find in this novel.
Swift has at least two aims
in 'Gulliver's Travels' besides merely telling a wonderful adventure story.
behind the disguise of his narrative, he is satirizing the pettiness of human
nature in general and attacking the Whigs in particular. By emphasising the six
inch height of the Lilliputians, he graphically diminishes the stature of
politicians and indeed the stature of all human nature. And in using the fire
in the Queen's chambers, the rope dancers, the bill of particulars drawn
against Gulliver, and the inventory of Gulliver's pockets, he presents a series
of allusions that were identifiable to his contemporaries or critical of Whig
politics.
In his first voyage when
Gulliver wakes, he finds himself bound by ropes on the island of Lilliput.
Lilliputians were very small among Gulliver, but they had bound Gulliver. The
Lilliputians are the embodiment of England of the time period. Gulliver says,
"When in an instant I felt above a hundred arrows discharged into my left
hand which pricked me like so many needles, and besides they shot another flight
into the air as we do bombs in Europe."
These words indicates that
England had been continuously throwing bombs on Europe. England was a small
country that had Europe represented by Gulliver and many other parts of the
world under their control.
On island of Lilliput
Gulliver fights against Blefuscu and they win also, but what was the reason for
fighting? How to cut an egg? Here Swift satires that how nations are fighting
with each other for no reason and by fighting they gets nothing. Swift relates this
trait to the situations where a dominant ruler oppresses nations. It also shows
how a simple, ridiculous things can bring forth war. For Swift, Lilliput is
analogous to England and Blefuscu to France. With this event of the story Swift
satirizes the needless fighting between two nations. By Lilliputians and
Blefuscudians Swift indicates war between Tories and Whigs. It was the rise of
political parties and two main parties were Whigs and Tories. Swift also had
been writing for Whig party. So Swift was well aware about political activities
and that's why he was able to write this work. By this journey Swift also
satires on war between England and France.
Another very good example
of political allegory is the rope dancers who are Lilliputians seeking employment
in the government. All candidates are asked to dance on the rope and and
whoever jumps the highest without failing is offered a high office. This
jumping game may sound innocent to the children, however, politically it's
significance is far from innocent. Obviously, Swift makes a satire on the way
in which political offices were distributed among the candidates by George 1,
how government employes people without
skill and what people do for getting place in government. In genera, Jonathan
Swift want to infer that England's system is arbitrary and corrupted.
Here two Lilliputians
parties stand for English political parties. The high heels represent Tories,
the low heels Whigs. These two massacre the English soil both politically and
byreligion. In Swift's voice- "we computed the Tramecksan , or High heels
, to exceed us in number; but the power wholly on our side" refersto the
succession of Whigs in 1714 (i.e. the Hanoverian succession) though the Tories
were large in number. Here, it should be mentioned that at first Swift was Whig
and later joined the Tory. Again the king was sympathetic to the Whigs. He used
them to support Hanover against France and appointed them to official positions
to strengthen his position against the House of Lords. Thus the Lilliputians
empire, who is George i, wears low heels which is censured by Swift.
The scene of searching
Gulliver's pockets creates laughter and
amusement. But it has a deeper satirical platform in which the search reminds
readers of the Whigs diligent search in the public and private affairs of the
Tories after queen Anne's death. The Whigs hope is to see the destruction of
the Tory leaders. For this he needs to discover treason in the efforts of Tory
to end the war of Spanish succession in 1711-13 and in their contacts with the
court of the Stuart pretenders to English thorne.
On the island of
Brobdingnag one farmer finds Gulliver and asks Gulliver to dance. And Gulliver
does because he has no power. He can't do anything, he was powerless here. The
farmer represents people who are in power and Gulliver represents common
people. Politicians are powerful people and so they can uses common people for
their entertainment. And common people has to do whatever powerful people says.
Ordinary people can not raise their voice against power. They must dance as
Gulliver did.
Then farmer uses Gulliver
for his profit, for making money. Satire is that politicians uses inferior
people for their profit and becomes reach and reach and poor becomes poor and
poor. Since ancient time, who are king or ruler, they are reach and citizens
were poor even they works hard. Most of the profit have been taking by rulers.
They uses these poor people for making money. This is because of unequal
distribution of money, which remains big problem today also.
On this island Gulliver
talks with the king. He tells about England's ministers, court, lawyers, and
other things. After listen it king becomes very angry and says that your
country is nothing except conspiracies, murder, hypocrisy, wars, vices,
ignorance, malice, and so on. Here, by words of king, Swift wants to express
his thoughts about England. He satirizes by king's words that what ministers
and politicians are doing? They were full of conspiracies, they are war
mangers. England's motives were ruling all over the world. Politics was full of
conspiracies and cold war. So, Swift by this wants to say that though you
believe your country as great as Gulliver was believing, but reality is
different. Reality is what king said about it England in novel.
In his third journey
Gulliver reaches on the flying island of Laputa. People of Laputa were not
practical, they were just keep thinking useless things. In this journey we can
find great political satire. When Laputians reaches above one island, they
attacks on them by throwing big stones on them. Here, which is above represents
power and which is below, represents powerless. So, who are superior,attacks on
inferior. England has ruled over many countries. It shows mentality of English
people.
The political satire
becomes very bitter when we come to the Flying Island. The country practiced by
England in his treatment of the people of Ireland is brought into focus in the
meant out by the king of Laputa to his subjects living in Balnibarbi. The lord
lived in Laputa and had their lands in the lower island. The people of
Balnibarbi were thoroughly exploited and were living in want and destitution.
If they dared to revolt they were mercilessly dealt with. The Flying Island
would continue to hover over the continued to resist, it was crushed down by
the adamantine bottom of the Flying Island.
Then Gulliver reaches on
the island of Balnibarbi. There he visits room of language, room of politics,
room of answers etc. Gulliver wanted to know his way to home, but nobody
answered him. All were busy in doing useless things. Satire is that who are in
authority, do not do their work. They have no concern with people. They doesn't
care for anybody. They are busy in making money. Politicians are busy to fulfill
their bloody ideas. It is duty of rulers to listen problems of their people and
solve it, but as Gulliver could not get answers, we also never gets answers.
So, these are some examples
of satire on politics found in 'Gulliver's Travels.' In first three journey we
can find satire on politics, fourth journey is about satire on human nature.
So in this book Jonathan
Swift suggests some political themes from that time. It reflects political
background of neo classical age. It shows political conspiracies and
hypocrisies. It is not only the book of that time, it is the book of all time.
It is Swift's foresight so we can apply all the satires today also. Same issues
can be found in modern time also. It is a book which will remain classic
because of it has portrayed some universal issues.
References:
allrfree.blogspot.com
123HelpMe.com
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Gender Discrimination In 'Paradise Lost'
Assignment Paper 1
The Rennaissance Literature
Ajit A. Kaliya
M.A. Sem 1
Roll No. 3
Enrollment No. 2069108420170013
Batch: 2016-18
Email- kaliyaajitbhai@gmail.com
Department Of English, MKBU
Department Of English, MKBU
To evaluate this assignment, please click here
Sub. Gender Discrimination In "Paradise Lost"
'Gender Discrimination.' This word is not new, since
we can find reference of this word in practice from the origin of human race. We all are aware about the story of genesis. How God creates earth, animals,
garden of Eden and first humans Adam and Eve? This story we can find in Bible,
and John Milton also has taken this story for his epic poem, 'Paradise Lost'.
But he makes it interesting by adding character of Satan. And also we found
Eve's character more inferior than which has portrayed in Bible. We can find
Discrimination in this epic very clearly. Different values of man and woman.
There is Adam who represents men and Eve represents women. So let us see if we
can find this problem in 'Paradise Lost' which is today also remains as a
problem. But before going through this first let us make clear the meaning of this word.
Meaning Of Gender
Discrimination
Ø A situation in which someone is treated less well
because of their sex, usually when a woman is treated less well than a man. [Cambridge English Dictionary]
Ø The belief that one gender is superior to the
other, especially that men are superior to women. [American Heritage Dictionary Of The English
Language]
Ø Discrimination on the basis of sex, especially the
oppression of women by men. [Collins English Dictionary]
So now we have clear meaning
of the word so we can analyse if there is less value of Eve in ''Paradise Lost'
than Adam?
Gender Discrimination in 'Paradise
Lost'
The first human being
created on the earth by god, was Adam, a man, not woman. Usually women
considers as the mother of human race, but God created Eve, the first woman on
the earth, by taking rib from Adam's side. Thus, she was inferior to Adam. Adam
considers himself superior. In Bible We can find his authoritative nature in
his words,
"And Adam said, This is
now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because
she was taken out of man." [2:23]
So, from beginning Adam's
mentality was that he is superior and Eve is inferior, because she was created
from him. Milton's Adam is also same type as in Bible. 'She was taken out of
man.' These words are very significant. Why God did not create woman first
and then man? It is mother who gives birth, so God should be created Eve first
and by taken her rib should create Adam. In creation of Adam it might possible
that God's psychology had played a role. As being a man he can not think to
create woman first and give importance to her, naturally he would create man first and give him more
importance.
Adam's superior nature
towards Eve also reflects in these lines,
In woman, then to studie
houshold good,
And good workes in her
Husband to promote.[9.233-34]
Adam belives that woman's
work is doing household works and promote her husband. Today also many people
belives that women should not go outside and work, they should take care of
house. So Adam's those words are problematic.
When Eve asks for doing the
work separately, Adam says,
The Wife, where danger or
dishonour lurks,
Safest and seemliest by her
Husband staies,
Who guards her, or with her
the worst endures.[9.267-69]
So, Adam's belief was that
danger and dishonour moves around woman. So she should stay with man and man
can guard her. Now what was the reason for believing this? Eve was not coward.
She was even more courageous than Adam. When Adam says her to look for Satan,
he might attempt to tempt us, Eve argues that if we live in fear than where is
freedom? And she separates from Adam. So she was not timid girl, then what is
the reason for believing Adam that wife should stay with husband that he can
protect her. Reason is his superior nature as examples given above.
Milton has portrayed Eve
every way inferior to Adam except her beauty. In characterisation of Adam Milton
has not put any defect, but in characterisation of Eve he put many
deficiencies. She was very proud for her beauty. She falls in love with her own
image when she sees her reflection in water. Satan identifies this demerit and
decides to tempt her, and he also succeeds easily. Apart from her, Milton
portrayed Adam's character as a strong, intelligent, rational thinker, and as
perfect as a human being can be. He has an enormous capacity for reason, and
can understand the most sophisticated ideas instantly.
God cursed Eve for eating
the fruit of knowledge, but Adam was cursed because he followed his wife.
'On ADAM last thus judgement
he pronounc’d.
Because thou hast heark’nd to
the voice of thy Wife,' [10.197-98]
What does this reflex? God
does not want that Adam submits to Eve. There is also proof in these lines,
"Wherein God set thee
above her made of thee,
And for thee, whose
perfection farr excell’d" [10.150-51]
So, we can find God's love for Adam and hatred for
Eve. words of God's son are proof that God knowingly created Adam better than Eve.
In punishment also he punishes Eve harder than others. After being disobedient, three characters were cursed as God ordered. First the serpent, whose form Satan had taken.
Because thou hast done this, thou art accurst
Above all Cattel, each Beast of the Field;
Upon thy Belly groveling thou shalt goe,
And dust shalt eat all the days of thy Life. [10.175-78]
Then to Eve,
Thy sorrow I will greatly multiplie
By thy Conception; Children thou shalt bring
In sorrow forth, and to thy Husbands will
Thine shall submit, hee over thee shall rule. [10.193-96]
And last to Adam he says,
On ADAM last thus judgement he pronounc’d.
Because thou hast heark’nd to the voice of thy Wife,
And eaten of the Tree concerning which
I charg’d thee, saying: Thou shalt not eate thereof,
Curs’d is the ground for thy sake, thou in sorrow
Shalt eate thereof all the days of thy Life;
Thornes also and Thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid, and thou shalt eate th’ Herb of th’ Field,
In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eate Bread,
Till thou return unto the ground, for thou
Out of the ground wast taken, know thy Birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust returne. [10.197-208]
It was Satan who deceived Eve, but he never cursed.
It is snake cursed whose form Satan had taken. After succeeds in his mission
Satan was greeting with cheers in pandemonium. Eve cursed that she will suffer
from the pain of childbirth and man will rule over you. Now earlier was not she
submitted to Adam? Will she not give birth to the child if curse was not given?
She was Adam had been already ruling over her, and she will give birth to child
even if she was not cursed. So for Eve curse was only formality.
And if eating fruit of knowledge is sin, then Adam's
sin is greater than Eve. Because he eats it for his own purpose to not loosing
Eve. Eve was tempted but not Adam. He eats fruit willingly. So God should
punish him harder than Eve.
After they cursed, Adam blames Eve and says why God
ever created Eve? Adam also says that she is crooked by nature, created with
flaws, and designed to tempt him.
Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears,
More to the part sinister from me drawn, [10.885-86]
Was she really crooked by nature? In this epic we
can find only one demerit in her that she was was arrogant because of her
beauty. Otherwise she was clever, lovable and kind person. It was she who
suggested Adam that they can survive by loving each other. Flaws of Adam are
more than Eve. Some readers finds Adam as a perfect man, without any flaw. But
there is a great sinful thought in his mind. Adam confesses among Raphael about
his intense physical attraction for Eve. After eating fruit they looks each
other in a new way and turns to lust. But before eating the fruit also Adam was
attracted physically towards Eve. So deficiencies were on both sides. Neither
Eve was faulty nor Adam was perfect, but Adam thinks because of Eve all
sufferings have came.
Before they leave the garden of Eden, Michael puts
Eve to sleep and takes Adam up onto the highest hill where he show him a vision
of humankind's future. Here also we can see Discrimination. From beginning God
has been more merciful to Adam. He
creates Adam first, provide him more knowledge, cursed lighter, blames
only on Eve, and here also Michael shows future of mankind only to Adam. Why he
put Eve into sleep? Why did God want to give all the knowledge only to Adam?
Both have committed same sin. Then why one is informed what will happen and
other knew nothing? Does God also not want to educate woman? Possibility is
there. For long time girls were not allowed to educate. Today also girls
remains uneducated. Because the first woman on the earth, Eve also was victim
of this problem. God provided knowledge only to Adam.
Thus, after those arguments we can say with
certainty that there is 'Gender Discrimination' in many ways. Analysis of this
epic makes this idea very clear. It was God who did Discrimination between man
and woman and till today also this problem remains as a big problem.
References:
'Paradise Lost' by John Milton
Bible - Old Testament
Sparkenotes.com
Cambridge English Dictionary
American heritage Dictionary of the English
language
Collins English Dictionary
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