This Blog-Post is a response of Thinking Activity on 'Victorian poets' which is given by our professor Ma'am Yesha Bhatt.
About the poet:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in full Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, (born August 6, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England—died October 6, 1892, Aldworth, Surrey), English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. He was raised to the peerage in 1884.
Poem: The Lady Shalott by Tennyson
This is one of Tennyson’s most famous and beloved poems. It was originally written in 1832 and was published in 1842. The poem has four parts, with the first and second parts containing four stanzas, the third part containing five stanzas, and the fourth part containing six stanzas. Each stanza has nine lines with a rhyme scheme of AAAABCCCB. The syntax is also line-bound, meaning that the lines do not carry over from one to the other.
Most critics believe the poem is based on the episode in Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astalot, or the Maid of Astalot, who died of her unrequited love for the famous knight. Tennyson’s engagement with Arthurian legend is, of course, most notably seen in his Idylls of the King. Tennyson complicated the origins of his poem by claiming his source was the Italian romance Donna di Scalotta. This may be true in some sense, but it is impossible to ignore the Arthurian components of Camelot, Lancelot, knights and ladies, and even the name Shalott, which sounds somewhat like Astalot.
Part I:
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
The yellow-leaved waterlily
The green-sheathed daffodilly
Tremble in the water chilly
Round about Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens shiver.
The sunbeam showers break and quiver
In the stream that runneth ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
Underneath the bearded barley,
The reaper, reaping late and early,
Hears her ever chanting cheerly,
Like an angel, singing clearly,
O'er the stream of Camelot.
Piling the sheaves in furrows airy,
Beneath the moon, the reaper weary
Listening whispers, ' 'Tis the fairy,
Lady of Shalott.'
The little isle is all inrail'd
With a rose-fence, and overtrail'd
With roses: by the marge unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken sail'd,
Skimming down to Camelot.
A pearl garland winds her head:
She leaneth on a velvet bed,
Full royally apparelled,
The Lady of Shalott.
In Part I, we can see the isle of Shalott with its tall towers and imprisoned, fairy-like Lady. The interior where she is embowered is “silent” and immovable, whereas the world outside hums along in a busy and cheerful way. The placement of the great city of Camelot by the river emphasizes the progress, purposefulness, and ever-present sense of movement and vitality of the men and women outside of the tower, in stark contrast to the Lady of Shalott. The fact that there exists a connection between the inhabitants of Camelot and the Lady but that it is mysterious and magical further emphasizes the distinction between the realms of the external world and the tower.
Part II
No time hath she to sport and play:
A charmed web she weaves alway.
A curse is on her, if she stay
Her weaving, either night or day,
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be;
Therefore she weaveth steadily,
Therefore no other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
She lives with little joy or fear.
Over the water, running near,
The sheepbell tinkles in her ear.
Before her hangs a mirror clear,
Reflecting tower'd Camelot.
And as the mazy web she whirls,
She sees the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot:
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, came from Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead
Came two young lovers lately wed;
'I am half sick of shadows,' said
The Lady of Shalott.
In Part II, we are introduced to the Lady herself, who is under the spell of a mysterious curse that does not allow her to look out her window. She seems happy regardless, and she spends her days weaving her “magic web” and singing (alluding to Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, who weaves while her husband is away, and other myths that involve a woman’s weaving). Her web, a symbol of artistic fecundity but also of her enslavement, depicts the world outside, but only as reflected in her mirror. She sees knights and pages and boys and girls, and sometimes she sees the two great events of earthly life, funerals and weddings. This state of affairs is what causes her to assert her identity by claiming that she is sick of shadows, for her life is paralyzed and stagnant. She feels a sense of loss and exclusion.
Part III:
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flam'd upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down from Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down from Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over green Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down from Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:'
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro' the room
She saw the water-flower bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flam'd upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down from Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down from Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over green Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down from Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:'
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro' the room
She saw the water-flower bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott.
In Part III, the handsome and courageous Sir Lancelot is introduced. The language is sensual and heroic, and the Lady of Shalott is as entranced as the reader. She breaks the stipulation in the curse and strides to her window to look down on the great knight. Some critics have noted that it is the song of Lancelot, “Tirra lira,” that breaks down the Lady’s resistance, for song is one of her means of expression. Thus, she feels an intense connection with the man below (“Tirra lirra” is a bawdy song from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale). Once the mirror cracks and the web flutters out the window, she and we know she is doomed.
Part IV:
In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Outside the isle a shallow boat
Beneath a willow lay afloat,
Below the carven stern she wrote,
The Lady of Shalott.
A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight,
All raimented in snowy white
That loosely flew (her zone in sight
Clasp'd with one blinding diamond bright)
Her wide eyes fix'd on Camelot,
Though the squally east-wind keenly
Blew, with folded arms serenely
By the water stood the queenly
Lady of Shalott.
With a steady stony glance—
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Beholding all his own mischance,
Mute, with a glassy countenance—
She look'd down to Camelot.
It was the closing of the day:
She loos'd the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
As when to sailors while they roam,
By creeks and outfalls far from home,
Rising and dropping with the foam,
From dying swans wild warblings come,
Blown shoreward; so to Camelot
Still as the boathead wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her chanting her deathsong,
The Lady of Shalott.
A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy,
She chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her eyes were darken'd wholly,
And her smooth face sharpen'd slowly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot:
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden wall and gallery,
A pale, pale corpse she floated by,
Deadcold, between the houses high,
Dead into tower'd Camelot.
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
To the planked wharfage came:
Below the stern they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.
They cross'd themselves, their stars they blest,
Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest.
There lay a parchment on her breast,
That puzzled more than all the rest,
The wellfed wits at Camelot.
'The web was woven curiously,
The charm is broken utterly,
Draw near and fear not,—this is I,
The Lady of Shalott.'
Finally, in Part IV, when she lets the river carry her, Tennyson emphasizes the disruption of the Lady’s being through scenes of chaotic and mournful Nature: the wind is “stormy,” the “pale yellow woods were waning,” and the “low sky” was raining heavily, the banks of the river straining. The inhabitants of Camelot are frightened and curious as they hear her last song and see her pale shape. The poem ends with Lancelot looking down at her and commenting that she “has a lovely face” and that he hopes God will lend her grace. One might compare the famous death of Hamlet’s sister Ophelia and other scenes where a woman dies in a river or ocean.
This Blog-Post is a response of Thinking Activity on 'The Rover' which is given by our professor Ma'am Yesha Bhatt. To know more about this task, visit this blog.
About the Author in Brief:
Aphra Behn, who was English dramatist, translator fiction writer, and poet also the first Englishwoman known to earn her living by writing from Restoration Era. She was born on 1640, Harbledown, Kent, England and died April, 1689, London.As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors.
About the Play:
The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers is a play in two parts, included Five Acts. It is a revision of Thomas Killigrew's play Thomaso, or The Wanderer (1664), and features multiple plot lines, dealing with the amorous adventures of a group of Englishmen and women in Naples at Carnival time. According to the Article of Elaine Hobby,
"It was often revived and many times reprinted in the first half of the 18th century. Set at carnival time in Naples in 1656, the play presents its 1677 audience with the imagined exploits of a group of ‘banished Cavaliers’. Taking its audience back to the world of Royalist continental exile, the play would have sparked ever-ready memories of the civil wars of the 1640s, which had resulted in the execution of Charles I in 1649. At that time, many of the king’s supporters – the Cavaliers – had fled to continental Europe. Interwoven with this, the play explores the attempts of its heroines to exert some control over their destinies."
Major Character's in Brief Introduction:
Willmore: An upper-class soldier called a cavalier, Willmore is loyal to the English monarchy, and has therefore been exiled from his homeland.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Don Pedro: 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.
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.
Ned Blunt: An English gentleman like Frederick, Blunt is an oafish idiot, mocked and disdained by his friends, and valued only for his money.
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.
QUE.1
Angellica:Considers the financial negotiations which one makes before marrying a prospective bride the same as prostitution. Do you agree?
About Angellica:
In this video, professor, Judith Hawley, introduced the play with argues related to Marriage.
Angellica is a famous courtesan who at the time of the play’s events has just lost her benefactor, Don Pedro’s wealthy uncle, who had been paying her monthly expenses of 1,000 crowns. Now she is advertising for a new lover, so she has placed three portraits of herself on the outside of her palatial home, along with the price. Angellica is accustomed to a life of luxury, but she has paid for it by sacrificing her honor and virginity for the riches she extracts from the men who fall prey to her seductive beauty. For Angellica, being a courtesan is a matter of survival and independence; to fall in love would ruin her, for then she would be at the mercy of the men she uses. Unfortunately, she falls hopelessly in love with one of the worst sort of men, Captain Willmore, who wants only physical satisfaction and not a love relationship. After being “undone” by Willmore, Don Antonio graciously offers to be her lifelong companion, thus removing her from the need to market her body.
The play considers the restoration period. Angellica's character presents as prostitute. But in the play, it often referred "Courtesan" and "Whore." The financial negotiation occurred with Angellica. She payed her virginity for Money. While we can see during restoration period there were high demand of marriages for women with financial settled men. While,for prostitute like Angillica, it's become very tough to marry because her duty as prostitution. But if she is not prostituted and she wished to marry Willmore, perhaps there was one condition about Money, again. Because of like Florinda , her brother Don Pedro forced her to marry with Don Antonio was the Viceroy’s son. He was a wealthy and young Spaniard chosen by Don Pedro. In that both situation, we can see the result of Monetary. As Elaine Hobby, said
"The Rover’s banished Cavaliers are spending time in Naples – an Italian city ruled by the Spanish, a place that therefore combined, in the English mind, the supposed lasciviousness of Italians with the intensely patriarchal family structures of Spain.
The play’s representative Italians are the ‘Jilting Wench’ Lucetta, who strips and robs Blunt and dumps him in the sewer, and the fabulously beautiful Angellica Bianca, a famous courtesan from the Venetian Republic who is much fought over. The men’s desire for these Italian women echoes a widespread Restoration libertine commitment to indulging the senses and rejecting marriage".
As Willmore said in Act 1, Scene 2,
"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."
This Blog-post is a response of thinking activity on "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde, which is given by our professor Dr. Dilip Barad Sir.To know more about this task, just CLICK HERE.
"The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" is a comedy play by Oscar Wilde. Also present the comedy of manners and sentimental comedy.There are three Acts in the play. He was an Irish poet and playwright.The play was published in 1899 and was performed in 1895. Wilde satirized the Victorian social hypocrisy through this play. This play considers Wilde's the greatest dramatic achievement.
Act:1 Algernoon Moncrieff's flat in Half Moon Street, Woolton.
Act:2 The Garden at the Manor House,Woolton
Act:3 Drawing-Room of the Manor House, Woolton
Synopsis of the Play:
John Worthing, a carefree young gentleman, is the inventor of a fictitious brother, “Ernest,” whose wicked ways afford John an excuse to leave his country home from time to time and journey to London, where he stays with his close friend and confidant, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon has a cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax, with whom John is deeply in love. During his London sojourns, John, under the name Ernest, has won Gwendolen’s love, for she strongly desires to marry someone with the confidence-inspiring name of Ernest. But when he asks for Gwendolen’s hand from the formidable Lady Bracknell, John finds he must reveal he is a foundling who was left in a handbag at Victoria Station. This is very disturbing to Lady Bracknell, who insists that he produce at least one parent before she consents to the marriage.
Returning to the country home where he lives with his ward Cecily Cardew and her governess Miss Prism, John finds that Algernon has also arrived under the identity of the nonexistent brother Ernest. Algernon falls madly in love with the beautiful Cecily, who has long been enamored of the mysterious, fascinating brother Ernest.
With the arrival of Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen, chaos erupts. It is discovered that Miss Prism is the absent-minded nurse who twenty years ago misplaced the baby of Lady Bracknell’s brother in Victoria Station. Thus John, whose name is indeed Ernest, is Algernon’s elder brother, and the play ends with the two couples in a joyous embrace.
Triviality in the Play:
The central theme of the play, perhaps is Triviality. According to Oxford Lerner's Dictionary,"a matter that is not important." The thing which is not important to the particular person. In the play, we can see that triviality is played silently. Jack and Algernon they disguise themselves under the name of Ernest. This things perhaps present as Trivial comic setting in the play. But if we just turn the subtitle as 'A serious comedy for Trivial People it might be happen that convert in seriousness, because here, people are the main target of writer. Cecily and Gwendolen are represents triviality of Victorian Society. Their desire of to marry with the guy who's name is Ernest.Perhaps the triviality of the people of Victorians.
Characters Map :
Jack Worthin: (Ernest), a young gentleman from the country, in love with Gwendolen Fairfax.
Algernon Moncrieff: a young gentleman from London, the nephew of Lady Bracknell, in love with Cecily Cardew.
Gwendolen Fairfax: a young lady, loved by Jack Worthing.
Lady Bracknell: a society lady, Gwendolen's mother.
Cecily Cardew: a young lady, the ward of Jack Worthing.
Miss Prism:Cecily's governess.
The Reverend Canon Chasuble: the priest of Jack's parish.
Lane:Algernon's butler.
Merriman: Jack's servant.
Miss Prism:
Laetitia Prism who was the Governess of Cecily. She was Old and unmarried Lady, although she started feel romantic with Dr. Chasuble. Her character was quite different from every female characters in the play. She also wrote novels and stories. We encounter her at second act while we Cecily also arrives with her. She was very possessive about the study.Here is the conversation between them,
Miss Prism. [Calling.]:Cecily, Cecily! Surely such a utilitarian occupation as the watering of flowers is rather Moulton's duty than yours? Especially at a moment when intellectual pleasures await you. Your German grammar is on the table. Pray open it at page fifteen. We will repeat yesterday's lesson.
Here in this video we introduced Miss Prism in very first time with Cecily who taught German Language. In this act, during the conversation of Cecily and Miss Prism, she asked about the happy end of her Novels.
Cecily: Did you really, Miss Prism? How wonderfully clever you are! I hope it did not end happily? I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much.
Miss Prism:The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.
Perhaps she knew that what she did with two child. That's why she answered like this. As Arron Johnston, described that," This woman is a symbol of Victorian moral righteousness. She plays a role of the ideal woman. Unfortunately, not a great amount of people need ideal stuff. She becomes the source of Jack's revelation about his parents.This woman is kind of an example of the person you’d better not to be. Think for yourself, but do you want to be forever alone just because you have some prejudices which only you understand? Miss Prism was that kind of people we can now call “oh I will not do that because what people will think about me?” Yes, don’t do that, act the way only you want."
This Blog-post is a response of Thinking Activity on A Tale of Tub by Jonathan Swift, which is given by prof. Ma'am Vaidehi Hariyani. To know more about this task, just CLICK HERE.
I prefer to call it Text. 'A Tale of Tub-Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind' is one of the best and major work of Jonathan Swift. It's quite difficult to understand that what is the Genre of this particular text. In-spite of, this famous work is known as Parody prose or Satire and also an Allegorical work.Here is the video about the summary of this text.
In Brief about the author on behind this work:
Jonathan Swift, one of the best Satirist,Essayist,Political Pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories),Anglo-Irish author or poet and Anglican Cleric.Swift published his most of works under pseudonyms likewise Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier and anonymously also. He was a master of tow types of satire, like the Horatian and Juvenalian. This work is well known as most intellectual work by Jonathan Swift.It is also well know as Harsh Criticism on different branches of Religion.It was composed in between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704.
About the text:
This text is basically divided in two section by reader. One is 'Tale' and another one is 'Digression'
Symbols:
Symbols are used by writer in Story
Symbols
as adopted by writer from history
Peter
(Oldest Son)
Roman
Catholic Church
Martin
(Middle Son)
Anglican
or the Church of the England
Jack
(Youngest Son )
Protestant
Church or Dissenters
The
Will of Father
Bible
Father
God
Three
Coats
Three
religious practices
Whale
The
one who attacks
1. Three Brothers:The story is around the three brothers.They both have their father's will.Their father not giving permission to alter their coats.However, they try to altering their own coats.This three coats represents as three branches of Christianity. Each brother represents each branch of Christianity. As I mentioned above. Swift's satire is on Christianity.
Peter, the Oldest Son and his name and relative age, point to his status as a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church. In second Tale, he try to earn something and do work hard in his own way. And he become finally one rich brother from three.While other two still not gain richness. Jack and Martin starting to translate their father's way to know more easier way.
2. The Will of Father: The Will of Father represents Bible's suggestions that what to do or what not to do. This three Branches are connected thoroughly with Bible, because what is Bible said, which is written in papers or book.
3.Coats: Three coats are represents three religious party which given by Father who present,allegorically as God. This three party were given by God and also god said that to tack care of each branch. While there is only on Catholic Church do this.
4.Father: Here, father represent as God. In his will he said some rules of using coats to his son. Likewise in Bible, God said some things to do or not to do.
This Blog-post is a response of thinking activity on 'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens, which is given by our professor Dr. Dilip Barad Sir.
''Hard Times:For these Times'' is a novel which was written by a Victorian Novelist Charles Dickens.The novel is very ironically, mocking and satirical. This Era is known as Industrialization,classism and escapism of Realism also present Social and Economical condition. This novel is serialized in Here, in this Novel this all things are noting down by Dickens.Novel was serialized in Household Words Magazine Series in April 1854, divided in three parts,
Bool-I:"Sowing"(16 chapters)
Book-II:"Reaping"(12 chapters)
Book-III:"Garnering"(9 chapters)
Short Review about Screening:
After completing Charles Dickens novel "Hard Times: For this times," we had one screening session based on this particular novel. Beautiful musical play by Khilona theater for children. It was very well scripted in lyrically, musically and acting as well. The study of lighting is as important as studying the text. The chief and silent characters were lightnings or spot light while played very significant role to show past in present. Here I would like to share some lines of the musical play. The Narrator of this play introduced his audience that,"You are in Imagination" In this play, there are some mocking sings of some characters like Cecelia's song that about her deep desire to listen stories during her childhood"शोख मुझे हैं बचपन से की सूनु हर कहानी मैं.." There is also one horrible scene while Mrs. Sparsit to think to flattering to her master about Louisa, there is very creatively make stairs through the another people in wearing white color dress.So, it's quite interesting to see rather than a movie. To see this play, Go through this hyperlink to Dilip Sir's Blog.
Good test वहीं हैं जो Fact हैं।
कमाल की कहानी ये है तो बड़ी पुरानी जी।
पर गौर से जो देखेंगे तो साफ नजर आएगी
सच्चाई इसमें आज की....
Materialism पैर अपने अच्छी तरह से जमा चुका हैं...
Utilitarianism:
According to Merriam Webster dictionary,"a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number."
Charles Dickens "Hard Times" openly tell us about Class conflicts,Divorce Law during Victorian Era, and knowledge, Education:the head and the heart,dehumanization,materialism etc. Among this all themes, Utilitarianism is the main theme of this novel. The concept of behind this theme is about, Utilitarianism is a morally right if it can be helps to the majority of people rather than creativity or Imagination. In simple words, there is no space for Imagination or creativity. If there is something which is fact or which will be used in future, it is the right not that which delight for us. I would like to tack a source of one Article by ZUBAIR AHMAD BHAT(Click the Name of Scholar to read)
Social Utilitarianism:
In the novel, Dickens shows us that, the English Victorian legislation is too much beneficial to rich class people and reckless to the poor class people.Charles Dickens explain through the character portrayal of Stephen Blackpool,
when he talks to one of his employee in the factory as:
Deed we are in a muddle, Sir. Look round town… so
rich as tis…and see the numbers o` people as has been
brighten into bein heer, fur to weave, an`to card, an`to
piece ou of livin`…. Look how we live, an` wheer we live
an` what numbers, an` by what chances, and wi` what
sameness… Look how you consider of us, and write of
us, and talk of us… And how you are awlus right, and how
and harder, from year to year, from generation to generation.
Who can look on it, Sir, and fairly tell a man `tis not a
muddle
Blackpool is a poor guy who can not free from his marriage life. The marriage of Josiah Bounderby with Louisa Gradgrind on one hand and that of Stephen Blackpool to his legal wife on the other hand. The benefit of divorce laws would only goes to Bounderby but not to Stephen Blackpool because of restraints of the law. Along with this, Tom also used this term, while he uses Blackpool's poor situation with classicism. He tell to him to stand in front of Bank and after some days we come know about Bank robbery which was conducted by Tom, not by Blackpool.
Economical Utilitarianism:
David Lodge wrote in his study The Rhetoric of Hard Times as:
On every page Hard Times manifests its identity
as a polemical work, a critique of mid-Victorian
industrial society dominated by materialism,
acquisitiveness and ruthlessly competitive capitalist
economics. To Dickens at the time of writing Hard
Times, these things were represented most articulately,
persuasively, (and therefore dangerously) by the
Utilitarians.
Dickens present Coketown as Economic Utilitarian.The city is highly influenced the materialism. In the system of Economics is about “buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest.” Here same as in novel about Bounderby that he may make men and machines equal to each other, he may regard man as so many horse
powers to be bought in the cheapest market and their products sold in the dearest market, but the process of
inner growth always continues and is never absent.There is no charm towards the laborers or workers.
