Justify the title of the poem "The Logopathic Reviewer's Song".

 

The the title of the poem "The Logopathic Reviewer's Song" is very significant which he mocks the so called conservative critics who do not appreciate new writers or thier writing using irony and sarcasm. As a modern writer kaiser Haq write poetry in a new manner.  He thinks that critics should appreciate the new kinds of writing.  But in the world of poetry there are some vindictive reviewer who shows theirs hatred to the new poet, who writes poetry without following the classical poetic style. 

In this poem,  logopathic reviewer is the speaker who consider himself as a superior in poetic world. He act here like he is only the critic who knows everything under the sun. He proudly compares himself with a sun an says that likewise sun his duty is to cherished the lonely poet like a Demolition Derby. According to Kaiser Haq , critics should not be vindictive while giving criticism to others' writing.  They should not be destructive rather they should be constructive while judging  new poets' writing. But in this poem kaiser Haq portrays a logopathic reviewer who only appreciate his writing he does not show any kinds of respect or appreciation to new poet. Haq ridicules on this kinds of critic Who does not wants to see change or new kinds of writing  in poetic world, and Who only show cruelty toward new writers because they don't allow them to make a room in the field of poetry.

 

As the reviewer proudly mention it,

" I  am the greatest,  the one and only logopathic hit and runs critics".

In this line  which is used to mock through the logo logopathic reviewer so called poet who only values the writing which are written by following the traditional style of poetry.

The Logopathic Reviewer's Song, Kaiser Haq demonstrates  his ability to mould the English language into strange and beautiful forms that reflect his - distinctive vision of life —at once ironic, quirky, zany, and rich in emotional undertones and intellectual implications. With increasing exuberance, he explores varieties of free verse, experiments with prose poetry and aphorisms, and for good measure dips into the Rich Fund folk tales. Varied spanning three continents are distilled with innovative verve into this memorable volume.

So the title of the poem "The Logopathic Reviewer's Song is justifiable.

Justify the poem "Civil Service Romance" as a satire to bureaucracy and red tapism of postcolonial Bangladesh

 

  A bureaucracy typically refers to an organization that is complex with multilayered systems and processes. These systems and procedures are designed to maintain uniformity and control within an organization. A bureaucracy describes the established methods in large organizations or governments.

  Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to governments, corporations, and other large organizations.

 

Kaiser Haq is a post-colonial modern writer and poet who widely used the literary technique of satire in a witty manner in his poetry to criticize the contemporary  society.  He attacks the convention of contemporary society and reveal the superficiality of them and shows that they have some faults and moral lacking as well though the usages of satire in his poems.

 

His poem " civil service Romance" is a direct satire on the civil service of our country. In our country people who are doing government jobs they are not loyal towards their job. They does not show any seriousness and responsibility toward their work. Through the poem " civil service romance " Kaiser Haq satirises the system of our government officials where people are keen on dealing with unnecessary things  and how ridiculously they ignore the urgent files. In this poem we find that an officer is quite busy for making love with a new beautiful lady employee.  He does not care the emergency file, what he care is only making romance with a new joined lady employee. Thus, portraying this love making incidents in a sarcastic manner, Haiser Haq mock the political system of our government’s jobs where employees show no morality or duty towards their job. Throughout this poem he mocks the traditional concept of our civil service where people are corrupted both morally and ethically. 

 

The poet is said to a real ‘ambassador of Bangladeshi culture’ who proudly reveals his origin and rationally tries to brand his country. Through a note of irony in 'Civil Service Romance, Haq portrays bureaucratic irregularities of the civil service in Bangladesh. He mocks the Babu English by deliberately mimicking the style used in letters of application to the English Sahibs or Masters.

 The poem starts with:

Subject: Improvement of Bilateral Ties

Dear Miss:

With due respect and humble submission

I beg to welcome you to neighboring section.

The title of the poem mentions a 'romance' that occasionally flowers in a work place. When in a government office, a male employee and a female employee are engaged in discussing family particulars, sharing likes and dislikes, making jokes (or love!) and improving all-round bilateral ties, the most URGENT file is kept pending as per rule of the red-tape culture. Haq then speaks about another embarrassing aspect of the civil service-the buttering or oiling of the bosses (the neo-imperialists). Which guarantees promotions and other benefits. These are some phenomena in a postcolonial civil service world coming down from the colonial political culture. The limitless power of the government officials is still seen in the civil service; the officers are more or less like Sahibs or Babus.

So we could say that the poem "Civil Service Romance" as a satire to bureaucracy and red tapism of postcolonial Bangladesh.

What are the major themes of Look Back in Anger?

 

There are many themes are found in the John Osborn’s play “Look Back in Anger” Some majors themes  are going to be discussed below.

Class Struggle and Education:

Class struggle or Class consciousness is also a dominating theme in the play. Jimmy's anger is directed towards the member of the upper class to which his wife belongs. He wages a constant battle against the upper class and treats his wife as a "hostage". Through Jimmy, the underprivileged British youth responds to the structure and spirit of the Welfare state. By bullying his wife he wants to take revenge on the upper middle class which he detests. He wanted the "hostess" to submit to his class culture and to do so he expects her to disown her past through a purgatory of suffering and humiliation. Jimmy regards himself as the representative of the "working class" On behalf of the working class he declares a war on the upper middle class. The target of his attack is Alison's mother who represents the upper middle class. He seems to take pleasure on attacking Alison's mother in the harshest possible language. Jimmy together with Hugh raids the houses of Alison's friends and relatives in an attempt to humiliate Alison and which they consider to be a war tactic. He is inspiring in his attack on his wife's family, and Helena too becomes the target of his vicious attack some time. His grudges against the upper class comes from his feeling of being deprived of a suitable job in spite of being highly educated. The intellectual genius in him rebels against what he feels in a social injustice.

 

Suffering and Anger vs. Complacency:

Suffering and anger are highly associated with lower class in the play, and complacency with upper class. Jimmy believes that lower class people, who have suffered as he has, have an insight on the world that upper class people lack. He berates Alison for lacking “enthusiasm” and “curiosity.” He suggests that her complacency makes her less human, less connected to life than he is. He sees this suffering and anger as an important part of his identity. At a climactic moment in the play, Alison says of Jimmy, “don’t try and take his suffering away from him—he’d be lost without it.”

 

In the end, Alison finally experiences the suffering that Jimmy thinks she has been lacking: she loses their child to a miscarriage. This, she believes, forces her to experience the fire of emotion that Jimmy had always wished she had. But the play leaves us unsure whether their suffering will actually lead to any redemptive knowledge.

 

The circular structure of the play—the beginning of the first and third acts mirror each other—undermines the sense that Jimmy’s life is really as dynamic as he suggests that it is. He seems to be stuck in a routine. Osborne’s voice in the play, seen in his stage directions, also tells us that Jimmy’s fiery energy can be self-defeating. In his first stage direction describing Jimmy, Osborne writes, “to be as vehement as he is to be almost non-committal.” When Alison finally breaks down and tells him that she wants to be “corrupt and futile,” Jimmy can only “watch her helplessly.” The play ultimately suggests that Jimmy’s anger is an expression of his social discontentment and suffering, but not an answer to his problems. He doesn’t channel it in any political direction, joining a party or holding meetings or organizing his similarly angry friends, or even conceive of any way that it can be channeled. Though it springs from a moral fervor, it dissolves into a diffuse attack on many fronts, rather than pointedly targeting and taking down any oppressive systems.

 

Disillusionment and Nostalgia:

Look Back in Anger is the archetypical play of the “angry young men” movement in British theater, which was marked by working class authors writing plays about their disillusionment with British society. In Osborne’s play, we see this in Jimmy’s sense of political emptiness. Jimmy complains that, in the Britain of the 1950s, “there aren’t any good, brave causes left.” ”Helena observes that he was born in the wrong time—“he thinks he’s still in the middle of the French Revolution.” Jimmy’s angry fervor is out of place in modern society, and this leaves him feeling useless and adrift.

 

Other characters also feel a sense of nostalgia for the past, but for different reasons: they long for an era characterized by a leisurely life for rich Britons and greater worldwide power for the British Empire. Many of these themes of nostalgia revolve around Alison’s father, Colonel Redfern, who had served in the British army in colonial India. Jimmy says that Colonel Redfern is nostalgic for the “Edwardian” past — early 20th century England, before World War I, when things were supposedly simpler and more peaceful.

 

In the end, the play argues that the characters’ disillusionment is legitimate. Post-war Britain was marked by a stagnant economy and declining world power, partly due to the fact that it no longer had many lucrative colonies around the world (India, where Colonel Redfern served, gained its independence in 1947).  The play argues that these factors have left the country’s young people adrift and disempowered. Jimmy’s anger is therefore justified.

 

Both Jimmy and Colonel Redfern, from their different places in society, have nostalgia for a time when Britain was more powerful on the world stage. The passing away of Britain’s imperial power is thus painted in a negative light—and though Look Back in Anger voices a revolutionary social critique of class conditions in England, it stops short of criticizing Britain’s exploitation of its colonies. Instead, it argues that the decline of the empire has led to the disenfranchisement of the men of Osborne’s generation, and gives those disenfranchised citizens a strong and angry voice in Jimmy Porter.

 

Gender :

During World War II, many British women had stepped into new roles in the labor force. After the war ended, most were expected to move back into their traditional roles in the household, but many still held jobs outside the home. The play takes a conflicted view of gender that parallels these shifting dynamics. On the one hand, Jimmy’s angry, destructive, and typically masculine energy drives much of the action and dialogue. On the other hand, women are given agency, and female characters act in their own interests, independently of men (most notably, both Alison and Helena leaves Jimmy). Femininity in the play is highly associated with upper class, and masculinity with lower class. This leads to clashes between the genders that also have an economic dimension. Sticking to conventional gender roles means sticking to the propriety and politeness of British society (which also means acting along with your class role). For example, in stealing Alison away from her family to marry her, Jimmy took on the traditional male role of a “knight in shining armor.” But, Alison says that “his armor didn’t really shine much,” subverting this traditional gender role by adding a class dimension to it. Jimmy was almost heroic, but not quite. There is clearly something attractive in Jimmy’s virile, lower class masculinity, as first Alison and then Helena are drawn to him sexually. Yet there is something destructive in it as well, as both also end up leaving him. Further complicating the gender dynamics, women, too, are portrayed as having a destructive power over men. Jimmy says he’s thankful that there aren’t more female surgeons, because they’d flip men’s guts out of their bodies as carelessly as they toss their makeup instruments down on the table. He likens Alison’s sexual passion to a python that eats its prey whole. At the end of the play, he says that he and Cliff will both inevitably be “butchered by women.”  The muddled gender roles in the play add to the sense of realism that made it such a sensation when it was first performed. Characters defy social convention. Alison disobeys her parents to marry Jimmy. Helena slaps Jimmy at the very start of their affair, and later walks out on him. An unmarried man (Cliff) lives with a married couple. He flirts with Alison, but Jimmy doesn’t particularly mind. The fluid and shifting gender roles in the play reflect the more fluid realities of post-War British society, portrayed for the first time in the traditionally staid and upper-class medium of theater.

 

Love and Innocence:

Jimmy believes that love is pain. He scorns Cliff and Alison’s love for each other, which is a gentle sort of fondness that doesn’t correspond to his own brand of passionate, angry feeling. When Helena decides, suddenly, to leave him at the end of the play, Jimmy reacts with scorn and derision. Love, he says, takes strength and guts. It’s not soft and gentle. To some extent, Jimmy’s definition of love has to do with the class tensions between Jimmy and Alison. Alison tells her father that Jimmy married her out of sense of revenge against the upper classes. In asking her to leave her background, he laid out a challenge for her to rise to, and their passion was partly based on that sense of competition between classes. This subverts a traditional love story—Jimmy’s anger at society overshadowed his feelings for Alison, at least in her eyes. This reflects a broader loss of innocence in a generation of post-war Britons that had seen the hydrogen bomb dropped on Japan and 80 million soldiers and civilians die during World War II. Their parents and grandparents were able to grow up with some measure of peace of mind, but these characters (and the real Britons of their generation) cannot. This affects them even in fundamental parts of their domestic lives, like love and marriage.

 

Historical Importance (Realism)

The aim of realistic drama is "putting ourselves and our situation on the stage". Look Back in Anger appealed to the audience of that time because of the immediacy of the subject matter. Osborne presented the contemporary scene on the stage and expressed the disapproval of the post-war youth of the society through Jimmy. By his command of contemporary idiom, his sharp comments on subject ranging from the "posh Sunday newspapers and 'white tile' Umnusities to the Bishops and the Bomb, Osborne caught the fancy of the audience of his time. The youth of his time identified themselves with Jimmy Porter, a dissatisfied, disgruntled young man who lashes out at everyone with his scathing comments. The hero represented the post-war British youth who looked around the world and found nothing right in it.

Evaluation of “ The Playboy of the Western World” as a satirical comedy. & The major themes of “ Look Back in Anger”

 

  Evaluation of the Playboy of the Western World as a satirical comedy.

Satirical comedy: Satirical comedy is the form of satire in which the writer uses comic elements to expose the realities of the society or any problem. The writer uses fictional characters to represent the real people to expose and condemn their corruption.

The Playboy of the Western World is a three-demonstration play composed by Irish writer John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theater, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's open house in County Mayo [on the west shore of Ireland] during the mid 1900s. It recounts to the account of Christy Mahon, a youngster fleeing from his homestead, asserting he executed his dad.

 

Synge’s satiric view is constantly focused, with more or less directness, towards certain aspects of the peculiar blend of paganism and Roman Catholicism that he saw in the West.

 

 The Playboy of the western world both illustrates and satirizes the Irish national tendency towards the making of myths. During his visit to the Aran Islands in 1898, Synge heard the story of how a Connemara man killed his father with a spade in a fit of anger and was concealed by the islanders of Irishman because they associated the police with the hated English government to which they were hostile.

 

A Satirical Attack on Religious Narrow-Mindedness:

The playboy contains also a subtle attack on religious narrow-mindedness and on false piety. Shawn is so "virtuous" and “pious” that he refuses to spend a night alone with an unmarried girl in a shebeen even to protect her. He may thus appear to be a model of moral rectitude. But this over-scrupulous attitude makes him appear absurd and the audience would no doubt roar with laughter at his refusal to spend the night with Pegeen because of the objections that Father Reilly might afterwards raise. The comedy of this Situation is heightened by Shawn's managing to sli away from Michael's hold and running out of the shebeen, leaving his Coat in the hands of Michael. Shawn's behavior at this time is most funny and Michael makes us laugh still more when he points Out to Pegeen the absurdity of Shawn by assuring her that, when she is married to that fellow, she would not have to keep a watch on his conduct even if he spends a lot of his time in the company of young girls. What Michael means is that Shawn is the kind of man who will never prove unfaithful to his wife. Indeed, Shawn’s subservience to Father Reilly is made to appear extremely preposterous and highly comic. About a dozen times Shawn names the priest, invoking his authority and exhibiting his reverence for the Church. All this devotion of the part on Shawn to the priest, and his compliance with the priest's moral injunctions, are made to appear comic and contemptible. In this way Synge makes fun of excessive religiosity and exaggerated piety. 

A Satire on Excessive Drinking

Synge seems also to be attacking, again in a comic manner, the evil of excessive drinking. We have a number of heavy drunkards in the play. They are Michael James, Philly, Jimmy, and Old Mahon. The chief reason why Michael and his friends are keen to attend the wake is that plenty of free liquor flows there. Next morning Jimmy and Philly, who are already semi-drunk, are seen searching for some more liquor in the cupboards of the shebeen, and Michael comes home singing in a state of intoxication. Towards the end, when Jimmy and Philly feel afraid of handling Christy, Shawn scolds them for their, feeling nervous in going near Christy. On this occasion, he again invokes the authority of Father Reilly, so that his remark becomes comic even though it has much sense in it. Says he: “Isn't it true for Father Reilly that all drink's a curse that has the lot of you so shaky and uncertain now?” This remark has considerable truth in it, because excessive drinking certainly makes a man shaky and uncertain. Then there is Old Mahon about whom Christy says that he used to drink for weeks and then, getting up at dawn, used to go out into the yard "as naked as an ash-tree in the moon of May", in order to throw clods at the stars in the sky. Old Mahon himself tells Widow Quin that on one occasion he drank so much in the company of the Limerick girls that he had almost become a paralytic. Both Christy's account of his father's drunkenness and Old Mahon's own account of this drunkenness are a satire on the evil of drinking.

A Satirical Attack on the Attitude to English Policemen

Synge also seems to be making fun of the attitude of the Irish people towards the English policemen who were in charge of law and order in Ireland of the time to which this play pertains. Pegeen describes the "peelers” or the police constables in very contemptuous terms, and so does Michael. Speaking to Christy, Michael says that the peelers in this place are decent, thirsty, poor fellows who would not touch even "a cur dog", much less arrest a dangerous murderer like Christy. Maybe, Synge shared this attitude of contempt towards the English policemen who were regarded as aliens and foreigners by the Irish and to whom the people at large were bitterly hostile.

 

Widow Quin's Murder of Her Husband

Finally, there are satirical touches in the portrayal of Widow Quin who is believed to have murdered her husband and who, on Several occasions, admits that she had "destroyed" her man and buried her children. Now this insistence on Widow Quin’s criminal action might have some purpose behind it. Widow Quin herself shows no sense of guilt at all. In fact, she refers unashamedly to her action in having killed her husband. The village girls are also quite tolerant towards her. It is only Pegeen who condemns her but perhaps even Pegeen does so because Widow Quin has become her rival for Christy's affections. Perhaps Synge seems to imply that Widow Quin's action in attacking her husband was not, after all, very reprehensible because the fault might have been that of the husband. Under certain circumstances, if a woman hits her husband, she may be justified. There is nothing to show that Widow Quin's intention in hitting her man was to murder him. 

 

Conclusion:

In spite of all this, The Playboy is a comedy, but the author has ridiculed the West world in a humorous way. A play which amuses us at every step and makes us laugh again and again but   in the midst of laughter, Western World has been ridiculed in a very subtle way. All of the above I have tried to evaluate of “The Playboy of the Western World” as a satirical comedy drama.

Analyse Santiago's struggle

 

The account of Santiago’s struggle with the marlin has a tragic quality because of the suffering that Santiago undergoes, because of the suffering of the marlin, and because of the endurance of both the fish and the fisherman.

Our admiration and our pity are aroused both for Santiago and for the marlin. From the very first Santiago shows determination. "Fish", he says, aloud, "I”ll stay with you until I am dead". Next, he says, "Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends", His left hand becomes cramped, and the marlin proves to be bigger than he had thought it to be. He wishes to show to the marlin what sort of a man he is. "But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures". He admires the  manner of the marlin's behavior and its great dignity. He has had no sleep for half a day and a night and another day. It would be good even if he could sleep "twenty minutes or half an hour". His hands have now been badly cut and he is "tired deep into his bones". He feels that the fish is killing him but he does not mind. "Come on and kill me", he says, "I do not care who kills who". His pride is by now gone. The fish, in spite of the agony it is undergoing, has proved obstinate and tough. When the fish has been killed, there come the sharks to eat it. Santiago has hardly enjoyed his feeling of Victory ("I think the great DiMaggio would be proud of me today” ) when the first shark, a Mako, appears. He drives his harpoon into the shark's brain "with resolution and complete malignancy". Here he also speaks those memorable words: " But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated". He knows he has performed another heroic act. "I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way I hit him in the brain ? he says with reference to his killing the Mako. Then come the two galanos and Santiago says "Ay", a word which a man might utter if nails were driven through his palms and into the wood. This image of the crucifixion is intended to convey the agony of Santiago. When the thought comes to him that more sharks might come in the night, he says, "I’ll fight them until I die". But by midnight he knows that the fight is useless. He knows that he is now beaten finally and is without remedy". His journey up the hill to his shack and his posture as he lies asleep on his bed are again described in terms reminiscent of the Crucifixion, to emphasize his suffering and his endurance. When he tells the boy that he has been beaten, the boy says that he has not been beaten by his adversary, the marlin, and Santiago agrees. "No. Truly. It was afterwards". He is not averse to talking with the boy about future plans

and when he falls asleep again he dreams about the lions (a symbol of youth and strength). Santiago's heroic quality does not forsake him till the end. Throughout, his ordeal and his attitude of mind are so described as to arouse our admiration and our pity for him. And as the marlin shows precisely the qualities which Santiago has, we pity and admire the marlin too. Thus both man and fish are tragic characters. The man returns home physically broken, though spiritually still strong, while the fish is reduced to a skeleton which yet produces a feeling of awe in all those who see it. Apart from his courage and endurance, other qualities which make Santiago admirable in our eyes are his tenderness, compassion, and love for the various creatures (birds, porpoise, flying fish, green turtles, hawks bills, etc.), his charity, his faith, and his piety.

Why Dimmesdale keeping her identity secret.

 A man and a woman, who are still essentially the old Adam and Eve, deceive themselves into thinking that they can escape the consequences of their sin of adultery. The woman serves a prison term and has to wear on the bosom of her dress the letter "A" which is the sign of her shame. The man, who was the occasion of that shame, lives a life full of torture because of his inability to confess his guilt and because of the remorse which gnaws upon his conscience. Meeting in the forest, they plot an escape from the world of law and religion. For a moment, the hope of liberation seems to transfigure not only them but the dark forest where they have met. When Hester flings aside the scarlet letter and loosens her hair, the forest glows to life because of Nature's sympathy with the lovers and its approval of their bliss. Yet Hawthorne cannot permit these lovers the happiness that they seek. He is not as harsh as his Puritan ancestors, but he condemns Hester's plan of escape.

For all his disagreement with Puritanism and its persecuting zeal, he does not swerve completely to the side of romanticism which means unlimited freedom for the individual. The sinful priest purifies himself by public confession and becomes worthy of the only way that remains for him to salvation, namely death. Even Hester  must finally accept loneliness and self-restraint instead of the love and freedom she had dreamed. Passion has opened up for her no new possibilities, only closed off older ones. Thus in The Scarlet Letter, passion justifies nothing, while its denial redeems all."

When it is known that she is pregnant, she is sent to the scaffold for committing adultery. She later gives birth to her daughter, Pearl, and is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A”  on her bosom, which stands for adultery.

Seven years have passed since Pearl’s birth. Hester has become more active in society. She brings food to the doors of the poor, she nurses the sick, and she is a source of aid in times of trouble. She is still frequently made an object of scorn, but more people are beginning to interpret the “A” on her chest as meaning “Able” rather than “Adulterer.” Hester herself has also changed. She is no longer a tender and passionate woman; rather, burned by the “red-hot brand” of the letter, she has become “a bare and harsh outline” of her former self. She has become more speculative, thinking about how something is “amiss” in Pearl, about what it means to be a woman in her society, and about the harm she may be causing Dimmesdale by keeping Chillingworth’s identity secret.

Absurd elements of Waiting for Godot

 

A form of play that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development.

 

Martin Esslin wrote a book titled “Theatre of the Absurd” that was published in year 1961. It dealt with the dramatists who belonged to a movement called “Absurd Theater” though it was not regular. Samuel Beckett was one of those dramatists who had largest contribution in “Absurd Theater”. His play “Waiting for Godot” also belonged to the same category and was called absurd play.

 

   The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work expresses the belief that human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. In an absurd drama human condition is shown as meaningless. There are disjoined, meaningless dialogue, and incomprehensible behavior. In an absurd drama plot has no logical or realistic development.

 

  Beckett's Waiting for Godot is an allegorical absurd play. There is no particular time and place in the play. It reveals the despair, nothingness, frustration of the post-war generation and its appeal becomes bitter as the plots are established on a false imagination. The play actually is full of nothingness, restless tiredness and  childish fun. The for-nothing waiting of the characters and their activities give the play a rich tone of absurdity.

 

  An absurd work is a frightening one. It has in itself no norms, no absolutes, no consoling certainties and no direction, It simply exists. Nothing and nobody living in it has any pre-ordained scene or purpose. The absurd dramatists are all concerned with the failure of communication of the modem humanity which leaves man alienated. They are also concerned with the lack of individuality and the over emphasis on conformity in our society.

 

  Characterization and characteristics of a play are not drawn and seen in Waiting for Godot. Conflict and collision of characters, psychological and inner suffering and developments of characters, turning point of any particular event and fascinating dialogues are the important characteristics of a play which are not found in this play. Instead of it, the play goes through nothingness with false wish which is a new trend in drama and it is absurdity.

 

  The play starts with the waiting for Godot. We do not know what or who the Godot is. Two passers-by - Estragon and Vladimir wait for Godot when the play comes to an end. The time-difference of the play is just one day and there are two acts in it. But it seems to us that time has become stopped; the including characters cannot remember anything; even, they cannot identify the same place. This absurdity, uncertainty and the destruction of time and place show the meaninglessness of human existence. The opening statement of Estragon is very significant: "Nothing to be done."

  

   In Waiting for Godot, we observe the use of symmetry in the incidents. We meet Pozzo and Lucky in each of two acts before the presence of the boy. In every case, we get the boy-messenger who says that the Godot will not go that day; he will go the day after. Symmetry is everywhere in the drama- inwardly and outwardly - which is an important characteristic of an absurd play. The stage itself is divided into two parts and the tree is in the middle. Symmetry is also presented as an opposite ideology in the play. In Act-I, we hear a long lecture of Lucky; hard to get, but suggestive And in Act-II, we get Lucky as disabled, he can't speak.

 

   The use of language is very remarkable in the play and it serves Beckett's purpose significantly. The nothingness of life and the impatience mentality of human being are sincerely expressed by Beckett's own language skill.

 

  In the play, we see another absurd feature, the half comic-grotesque. Comic tone is heard from the very beginning i.e. to catch the boot, to see something by the cap etc. In the last scene the falling down of Estragon's trouser is very comic though the desire is to commit suicide where there is no scope of fun.

 

From the above discussion, we may conclude that Waiting for Godot is an absurd drama because of its absurd characters, their meaninglessness of life, language, repetitiveness etc.

Some Question and Ans of The Playboy

 

Why does Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. Synge tell strangers that he killed his father?

In The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. Synge, when Christy Mahon initially appears, he is exhausted, confused, and terrified of being arrested. He is not thinking particularly clearly, and begins by asking if police regularly visit the pub. That arouses the curiosity of the villagers and makes them enquire as to what he has to fear from the police. Christy's account of killing his father is only elicited from him gradually, and under pressure. It is only once he does admit to it, and finds that his auditors are rather impressed by his courage, that he becomes comfortable boasting of the act.

 

Why does widow Quin and Sara want to help christy escape from the crowd to the later stage of the play?

Answer:

      Christy chases Mahon out of the pub with the loy. After a great noise and “a yell” outside, Christy comes back in. Widow Quin hurries in too, telling Christy that the crowd is turning against him and he needs to escape before he gets “hanged.” He insists that he won’t leave Pegeen, who should be impressed with him again now that he has dealt his father a fatal blow.

      Though its offstage, it’s clear that Christy strikes his father again. The crowd is bloodthirsty and wants justice, without having a clear sense of the parameters of that justice. In essence, they want to impose their own collective authority and Widow Quin knows that they will come for Christy and tries to help him escape.

Gulliver's Travels is an adventurous novel with lots of humour and satire within it. Explain.

Jonathan Swift's masterpiece satire Gulliver's Travels is written in the form of a travel story and details a sailor's journey to four very different fantastical societies. But the book is not a simple adventure story. It is a pungent satire on man. It is also a critical and insightful work satirizing the political and social systems of eighteenth century England. Through frequent and successful employment of irony, ambiguity and symbolism, Swift makes comments addressing such specific topics as current political controversies as well as such universal concerns as the moral degeneration of man.

 Ostensibly, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is adventure story detailing a sailor's journey to four fantastical lands. It tells the story of the various wonderful voyages undertaken by a man called Lamuel Gulliver. The narrative is in the form of an adventure story. To any young mind, Gulliver is an adventurer exploring various fantastic lands. To a child, both Lilliput and Brobdingnag are strange and wonderful lands full of fascinating events. The way the pigmies handle the man-mountain' Gulliver, the way they feed him, the way Gulliver visits the capital of Lilliput, the way he cripples the enemy fleet and the way he extinguishes fire in the Lilliputian royal palace by urinating on it are all exciting and amusing. In addition to their littleness, Lilliputians customs as well as sources of their conflicts are also sources of great amusement to any young and inexperienced mind. Again, Gulliver as a pigmy among the giant Brobdingnagians gives endless amusement tor the children. Gulliver meets several mishaps in the land of Brobdingnag and they are all bound to interest the young reader.

 Similarly, strange and surprising events take place in Laputa and Lagado. the Laputans with their strange behaviors in a flying island are very funny people. The experiments which are in progress in the Academy of Lagado are also very interesting. Gulliver's interviews with the ghosts and spirits of the great dead on the island of Glubbdubdrib are also a source of great interest. Gulliver's last voyage takes him to another fantastic land of the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos. Here too the element of the marvellous predominates. That horses, the Houyhnhnms are perfectly rational animals and controls the human-like Yahoos and their way of governing the society as well as life-style are all parts of a fanciful story. Any young mind ravels in the narratives of the fantastic places, objects and events throughout Gulliver's Travels.

But, Gulliver's Travels is not a simply adventure story. It is more than a children book. It is a great satiric masterpiece. Swift’s purpose in writing the book is to 'vex' the world by exposing the evils, follies and absurdities of human life. The whole book is a direct and outspoken condemnation of the follies and faults of human beings. By presenting the Lilliputian society and court as corrupt Swift attacks his contemporary political institutions and the politicians. The diminutives in the fantastic island symbolically suggest human capacity of infinite pride and Corruption. The second book is also a bitter and pungent satire on English politics and society. Through Gulliver's account of English society and the giant king's subsequent reaction of his panegyrics Swift exposes the avarice, hypocrisy, perfidy, cruelty, madness, malice and lust of Englishmen. The third book is a satire on unrealistic philosophers and scientists in pursuit of useless knowledge and their intellectual pride. The last book contains the most scornful, the most incisive and the most corrosive satire on mankind. In the abominable and filthy Yahoos, who are brutal, un-teachable and mischievous, and by contrasting them against the ideal Houyhnhnms, Swift exposes the innate depravity of human beings.

Much of the humor in Part I comes from the visual imagery of the contrast in size between Gulliver and the Lilliputians. The image of their hundred arrows shot into his hand that feel like the sting of needles seems funny because such little people can be so fierce and yet cannot do much to damage such a huge visitor. Other instances of humor revolve around Gulliver's physical needs, and again, most of these relate to the size difference. The Lilliputians feed Gulliver plates of a meat that he takes to be something like mutton legs, yet they look like tiny bird legs to him. When the little people transport Gulliver during his sleep to their city, he wakes up with a violent sneeze. Only weeks later does he learn that two inquisitive guards had climbed onto his face and stuck their spears up his nose. Along with the humor about physical needs, the story contains scatological humor dealing with Gulliver relieving himself.

Thus, Gulliver's Travels is not a simple adventure story; it is rather a bitter satire on mankind. Every aspect of human life has been severely castigated and humor in the book

Gulliver as a misogynist. Explain it

 Gulliver as a misogynist because Gulliver hates humanity through women. Swift portrays women as inferior creatures, comparing them to lusty, dirty, and ignorant animals, ultimately leading to Gulliver’s disgust in women in general at the end of the novel. In the moral domain, women inspire as much aversion as they do on the physical side. We know that Misogynistic reflecting or exhibiting hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women. Reflecting or exhibiting ingrained and institutionalized prejudice against women; sexist: misogynistic attitudes stemming from the highest corporate level. In Lilliput, Gulliver illustrates the carelessness of women, when he retells the story of the fire. The only way to extinguish the fire is through urination, an act so rude and grotesque that a woman could not handle it. The queen is autocratic and infuriated when Gulliver urinates on her apartment to keep it from burning. She decrees that public urination be banned and that the contaminated building be left as it is. The method by which Gulliver describes this event, leads the reader to believe that only a woman would act so harshly to his actions.

 In “A Voyage to Brobdingnag”, when the farmer shows Gulliver to his wife, she screams with disgust, the way a woman would react to a bug. Gulliver in Brobdingnag discovers that his sense was more acute in proportion to his littleness. He sees everything magnified, he examines everything as if through a microscope. Looking up close at the women’s anatomy, Gulliver notices that their skin seems very rough, discolored and greasy. Also he has difficulty breathing because of their strong and repugnant scent. He is disgusted by the sight of their huge pores, spots, pimples, hair and moles and even more repulsed by one maiden who places Gulliver on her nipple to play. Swift uses the Maids of Honor to illustrate flaws in a woman’s beauty that are generally overlooked or hidden. Gulliver expresses his aversion to their naked bodies.

They were, “very far from being a tempting sight”, and gave him, “any other emotions than those of horror and disgust”. Gulliver makes the connection that the women of England, that he normally finds so beautiful, have the same flaws, but he just does not see them as easily because they are of the same size: “This made me reflect upon the fair skins of our English ladies, who appear so beautiful to us, only because they are of our own size, and their defects not to be seen but through a magnifying glass, where we find by experiment that the smoothest and whitest skins look rough and course and ill coloured.” Only the women are described as having such horrible discolored skin. Men had it too, but he only brought attention to the women.

 

When Gulliver describes a grotesque vision of humanity in Brobdingnag, he generally uses women as the objects of repulsion. It is the Empress who eats in a grotesque fashion. When Gulliver sees beggars and homeless, he describes in unkind detail the lice crawling on their clothes. The homeless beggar with cancerous breast is a horrific sight to Gulliver as he can see into the crevices and cavities in her body, destroyed by vermin and disease. That is “the most horrible spectacle that ever an European eye beheld”. Swift deploys the rhetorical “instruments” necessary for such disavowal figuring the decaying body as female. In Brobdingnag, Gulliver is shocked to see the “monstrous breast” of a nurse giving suck in front of him. Even the act of feeding does not escape his disgust: “I must confess no object ever disgusted me so much as the sight of her monstrous breast…”. The flying island of Laputa  has been the object of several feminist discussions particularly to show that women are repeatedly described separately from men. The women are described by geometric shape and mathematical figures. Furthermore, the women are not allowed to explore or travel off the island without specific doctrine from the King. In Laputa, a wife is someone who would rather prostitute herself than stay with her neglectful husband. According to Susan Bruce, Gulliver’s Voyage to Laputa enacts men’s ultimate inability to control women’s bodies and desires.

 

In Houyhnhnms women were also supposed to be gross, lusty, sexual, benevolent and disgusting as the description of the Yahoo female shows: “The females had long lank hair on their heads and only a sort of down on the rest of their bodies. Their dugs hung between their fore feet and often reached almost to the ground as they walked.” A young female Yahoo gets “inflamed with desire” at the sight of Gulliver. Never does Swift suggest they are more than what he presents them to be, nor does he suggest that they think, feel, love or are morally responsible. The Yahoo female who, driven by sexual craving, throws herself on Gulliver is a strikingly horrific image.

While the Houyhnhnm females are sexually modest and controlled, the Yahoo females are sexually aggressive: “A female Yahoo would often stand behind a bank or a bush, to gaze on the young males . . . and then appear, and hide, using many antic gestures and grimaces . . . and when any of the males advanced she would slowly retire, looking often back.” However, Gulliver encounters several women in his travels but we never hear their opinions. We never find out how women think or what they feel about their own society. We also never find out what they think about Gulliver’s society. The reason for this is that women did not have figurative voices. The conversations that he had with the queen, the lady and the women in Laputa are not brought up because it doesn’t matter. Women’s voices were not important. So we could say Gulliver as a misogynist.