Jude The Obscure

Thinking Activity:

Here i write a blog, as a part of thinking activity. The blog is about characters of Jude the Obscure.

Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man; he is a stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his central love interest. The novel is concerned in particular with issues of class, education, religion, morality and marriage.

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

👉What is your reading of prominent female characters in Jude the Obscure?

🔅Sue Bridehead:

Sue is one of Hardy's triumphs. What strikes the reader about Sue is her intellectual capacity. Both Jude and Phillotson are impressed by how well read she is: J.S. Mill and Gibbon are her heroes, she is familiar with Latin and Greek writers in translation, as well as Boccaccio, Sterne, Defoe, Smollett, Fielding, Shakespeare and the Bible. She belongs to the eighteenth century tradition of critical intelligence and rational skepticism. Jude himself calls her "quite Voltairean." Towards the end of the novel, Jude, when talking to Mrs. Edlin, describes Sue as: "a woman whose intellect was to mine like a star to a benzoline lamp". Phillotson too talks of her intellect which "sparkles like diamonds while mine smoulders like brown papers". She is quick-witted and observant and a good teacher. She is able to draw accurately from memory the model of Jerusalem she saw at an exhibition. She is also able to quote accurately when she wants to win an argument.

But though the reader can admire her daring and unconventional approach, one gets the impression that many of her opinions are borrowed from her undergraduate friend. She lacks the tolerance of the true, liberal intellectual. This is evident in her attempt to undermine Jude's beliefs with her sarcastic comments about his faith and ideals. In this sense she is very prejudiced: she cannot bear Jude to hold opinions opposed to her own. When her own opinions are attacked, she conveniently takes refuge in tears, displaying her emotional side.

At the same time one cannot resist Sue's charm. She is vivacious, friendly and yet refined. Hardy contrasts Sue with Arabella to represent the difference between the spirit and the flesh. Sue is often spoken of as "ethereal" and "aerial." Jude himself calls her, "you spirit, you disembodied creature, you dear, sweet, tantalizing phantom, hardly flesh at all..." . Even Phillotson remarks on the rather spiritual affinity between Sue and Jude as something "Shelleyan." Though in some ways Sue represents a free spirit struggling against an oppressive, conventional social order, in other ways Sue can be very conventionally Victorian, for instance, in her shrinking from the physical and in her aversion to sex. She refuses to live with Jude as his lover even after leaving Phillotson. She regards physical relations as repugnant. Furthermore, she sees marriage as a "sordid contract" and a "hopelessly vulgar" institution. It often seems that she is merely seeking excuses to postpone marriage. Her dislike of Arabella is revealed in her comment to Jude about her being a "fleshy and coarse" and a "low-passioned woman."

Yet with all her sensitivity and apparent fragility, there is in Sue a selfishness and a corresponding insensitivity to the feelings of others. There is the Christminster undergraduate whose heart she broke, kind and decent Phillotson whose career she wrecks, and Jude, to whom she does great injury by undermining the beliefs which are essential to his well being. She utterly fails to realize the pain she inflicts on Jude with her wavering attitude. Jude is provoked to remark, "Sue, sometimes when I am vexed with you, I think you incapable of real love". Despite all the sacrifices Jude has made for her, despite being free to marry him after her divorce, she will not make a commitment.

Hardy captures Sue's quality of unpredictability and elusiveness. She buys nude statues of Greek divinities, then repents and conceals them from her landlady. She snaps irritably at Phillotson, then regrets it later. Sue is sometimes reckless and then diffident, stern and then kind, warm and then standoffish, candid and then evasive. In portraying these glimpses of Sue--her unceasing reversals, her changes of heart and mind, her conflicting behavior-- Hardy creates a complex, fascinating character. The reader sees her telling Jude, "You mustn't love me"and then writing to him, "you may." After her marriage she forbids Jude to come to see her, and then she revokes the ban and invites him the next week. Later, she cancels the invitation. Hardy indicates that along with her changing moods, she has a tendency to shift ground under pressure.

Finally, when tragedy strikes in the violent deaths of the three children, Sue is seen breaking down under the strain and becoming a sick woman. She plunges into a state of tormenting guilt and remorse. The reader sees a personality distorted by the effort to bear terrible burdens and now blindly seeking a self-inflicted punishment.

🔅Arabella Donn:

 

Arabella seems to be almost the antithesis of Sue and this is how she appears to Jude, especially after he has met Sue. While Sue is delicate and refined, Arabella is well built and coarse; while Sue distrusts the physical, Arabella is a flirt. She is uneducated and common in her tastes and interests, but at the same time, she is shrewd enough to advance her own interests. Her motives are uncomplicated: what she wants is to escape from her unsatisfactory life as a pig breeder's daughter and to find a husband who will give her security and the comforts of life. Jude, she feels, will fit the bill, and in her pursuit of him she shows considerable determination and unscrupulousness. That she is a ruthless schemer is obvious from the way she traps him into marriage. However, when the marriage proves disappointing, she has no qualms about deserting Jude and leaving for Australia. Her total lack of feeling and selfishness are displayed when she sells the photograph Jude gave her as a wedding gift. In Australia she enters into a second marriage without even a flicker of anxiety about its validity. Her child by Jude, Little Father Time, is regarded as a nuisance, who must be conveniently transferred to Jude and Sue. She displays no maternal tenderness or affection towards the child.

When she becomes a widow, her second pursuit of Jude and entrapment of him is as calculating and relentless as the first. She has not changed at all, and her temporary religious conversion is entirely unconvincing. As the book ends, the reader perceives her insensitivity when she leaves her deceased husband alone to go out and enjoy herself in the festivities at Christminster. Unlike Sue, who is broken by life, Arabella is resilient.

👉What is your reading of prominent male characters in Jude the Obscure?

🔅Jude Fawley:

Jude is the hero and the central character of the book, and his life is interconnected with that of all the other major and minor characters in the story. Hardy presents the protagonist as an ordinary, working-class man of humble origins struggling hard to realize his dreams but thwarted by a cruel fate and a pitiless, snobbish social system. Despite the resemblance to the hero of Greek tragedy (in his nobility of character), Jude, of all Hardy's characters can be said to come closest to a kind of Marxist literary hero. He is the outsider who is denied access to improvement and social advancement by a rigid, conservative class-system.

The reader first sees Jude as a child of eleven, hardworking, persevering, affectionate, gentle and extremely sensitive. Hardy develops certain traits in Jude's personality as he grows older: he displays a lifelong inability to hurt any living creature or to see it suffer, whether it be an earthworm, a pig, a horse, a rabbit or even his wife, Arabella. His vulnerability and essential gentleness lead him to be careless regarding his own survival.

Part of Jude's tragedy arises from his incurable idealism. As a child he is fascinated with Christminster. It is the focus of all his dreams, a shining ideal of intellectual life. But even though he realizes his ambitions may be futile, the university remains an obsession with him. Similarly, he idealizes Sue as the perfect intellectual woman, but here too he is disillusioned and frustrated. His obsession with Sue continues nevertheless. Both Christminster, the intellectual ideal, and Sue, the ideal of womanhood, promise fulfillment, and both frustrate him. All his hard work and earnest effort at mastering Greek and Latin come to nothing, and despite his great patience with Sue and devotion to her, he loses his job, his children and finally even his title as husband. His utter loneliness and desolation create a strong emotional impact on the reader. It is here that Jude, despite his humble working-class origins, rises to heroic stature. Very often in the book he is compared to heroic figures such as Job; he has, like Job, the ability to bear great suffering. He reconciles himself to the endless tragedies and disappointments of life.At the end of the novel, he matures as a man. With all the setbacks life deals him, he never loses his dignity. 

Jude's death at the young age of thirty (the approximate age of Jesus Christ at his death) indicates that he has been "crucified" by society. But even the flaws that contributed to his downfall are not really faults. If his sensitivity, kindness, sense of honor, naïveté and idealism are considered weaknesses, they are also his strengths. His only real weakness is a tendency to drink when in despair, although he is not a drunkard.His death in Christminster on Remembrance Day and his loneliness and desolation has a strange poignancy.

🔅Richard Phillotson:

   

Phillotson is the ordinary, unassuming schoolmaster of Marygreen, but it is he who inspires Jude with the desire to go on to the university. He tells the young Jude to be kind to animals and birds, and kindness then becomes one of Jude's strongest qualities. He is like Jude in many ways; he is honest, decent, good-hearted and loyal. Though Sue treats him rather unfairly, she herself admits he is a kind, considerate and tolerant husband: "he's as good to me as a man can be and gives me perfect liberty . . . which elderly husbands don't do in general...". When Sue's marriage to him fails, he is pained and bewildered to find that she does not love him, yet so deeply does he love her, that he is willing to set her free. He cannot bear to keep her against her will. His friend, Gillingham, describes him as a "sedate plodding fellow" and is amazed that such a respectable, conservative man could take such an unconventional step. He is generous to the extent that he is willing to blame himself for the tragedy of his marriage. He laments, "She was a pupil-teacher under me. I took advantage of her inexperience and took her out for walks and got her to agree to a long engagement before she well knew her own mind."

His protectiveness and unselfishness are remarkable. Even after Sue leaves him, he sends Jude a note, telling him to be good to Sue and to take care of her: "I make only one condition, that you are tender and kind to her. . . . You are made for each other--it is obvious, palpable to any unbiased older person. You were all along the shadowy third in my short life with her."

However, his kindness and generosity to Sue lead to his financial and social ruin. His career is shattered, and he becomes a pathetic figure. Years later, beaten and impoverished, he cannot really be blamed for seeking to regain some social standing by remarrying Sue. Even then, he treats her with great sensitivity and consideration, agreeing to a marriage in name only until Sue insists on sharing his bed.

Jude the Obscure is a poignant novel with disquieting moral and social concerns. Its message aims to put into question the very foundations of traditional marriage and class-based elitist education. In his narrative strategy, Hardy makes use of the form of a realistic Bildungsroman and introduces a New Woman character, but he goes far beyond this framework presenting psychological portraits of a modern man and a modern woman in a futile search for their selfhood. As in his previous major fiction, Hardy shows in a series of symbolic images the tragic clash between tradition and modernity in late Victorian society. He also denies the relevance of Christianity to a dehumanised society.

Words Count: 2,180

Thinking Activity

Thinking Activity: This Activity given by Yesha Ma'am

⭐Crossing The Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson

   

Crossing the Bar, an elegy written by the British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is a poem focusing on the transience of life and the finality of death. Lord Tennyson was a poet of the Victorian period and remained the poet laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during his lifetime. He is well celebrated to this day for his short lyrics.

⭐Alfred Lord Tennyson:

⭐About Poet:

Born on August 6, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England, Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. Tennyson, the fourth of twelve children, showed an early talent for writing. At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem. His father, the Reverend George Tennyson, tutored his sons in classical and modern languages. In the 1820s, however, Tennyson's father began to suffer frequent mental breakdowns that were exacerbated by alcoholism. One of Tennyson's brothers had violent quarrels with his father, a second was later confined to an insane asylum, and another became an opium addict.

Tennyson escaped home in 1827 to attend Trinity College, Cambridge. In that same year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. Although the poems in the book were mostly juvenilia, they attracted the attention of the "Apostles," an undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam. The "Apostles" provided Tennyson, who was tremendously shy, with much needed friendship and confidence as a poet. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends; they toured Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832. Hallam's sudden death in 1833 greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of Tennyson's other poems are tributes to Hallam.

In 1830, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical and in 1832 he published a second volume entitled simply Poems. Some reviewers condemned these books as "affected" and "obscure." Tennyson, stung by the reviews, would not publish another book for nine years. In 1836, he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. When he lost his inheritance on a bad investment in 1840, Sellwood's family called off the engagement. In 1842, however, Tennyson's Poems in two volumes was a tremendous critical and popular success. In 1850, with the publication of In Memoriam, Tennyson became one of Britain's most popular poets. He was selected Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth. In that same year, he married Emily Sellwood. They had two sons, Hallam and Lionel.

At the age of 41, Tennyson had established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era. The money from his poetry (at times exceeding 10,000 pounds per year) allowed him to purchase a house in the country and to write in relative seclusion. His appearance—a large and bearded man, he regularly wore a cloak and a broad brimmed hat—enhanced his notoriety. He read his poetry with a booming voice, often compared to that of Dylan Thomas. In 1859, Tennyson published the first poems of Idylls of the Kings, which sold more than 10,000 copies in one month. In 1884, he accepted a peerage, becoming Alfred Lord Tennyson. Tennyson died on October 6, 1892, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 

⭐Crossing The Bar Poem:

 Tennyson wrote “Crossing the Bar” in 1889, three years before he died. The poem describes his placid and accepting attitude toward death. Although he followed this work with subsequent poems, he requested that “Crossing the Bar” appear as the final poem in all collections of his work.

Tennyson uses the metaphor of a sand bar to describe the barrier between life and death. A sandbar is a ridge of sand built up by currents along a shore. In order to reach the shore, the waves must crash against the sandbar, creating a sound that Tennyson describes as the “moaning of the bar.” The bar is one of several images of liminality in Tennyson’s poetry: in “Ulysses,” the hero desires “to sail beyond the sunset”; in “Tithonus”, the main character finds himself at the “quiet limit of the world,” and regrets that he has asked to “pass beyond the goal of ordinance.”

The other important image in the poem is one of “crossing,” suggesting Christian connotations: “crossing” refers both to “crossing over” into the next world, and to the act of “crossing” oneself in the classic Catholic gesture of religious faith and devotion. The religious significance of crossing was clearly familiar to Tennyson, for in an earlier poem of his, the knights and lords of Camelot “crossed themselves for fear” when they saw the Lady of Shalott lying dead in her boat. The cross was also where Jesus died; now as Tennyson himself dies, he evokes the image again. So, too, does he hope to complement this metaphorical link with a spiritual one: he hopes that he will “see [his] Pilot face to face.”

⭐About the poem:

Crossing the bar’ was written in 1889 when the poet was visiting the Isle of Wight and published in a volume Demeter and Other Poems (1889). He was eighty years old at the time and was down with a severe illness, from which he eventually recovered. The illness, however, made the poet ponder on Death as he himself was very old and nearing his time. He uses the metaphor of crossing a sand bar to represent death in this poem. He died three years later, and although he wrote a few more poems, he requested that all of his poetry volumes be ended with this poem. Thus, the poem is an important one and can be seen as Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s choice of his final words.

👉Crossing the Bar: Line by Line Explanation:

First stanza:

“Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

The poem begins with the speaker describing the atmosphere. He says it is sunset and the evening star can be seen in the sky. Someone is calling the speaker. It is a clear, unmistakable call. It is the call of death. The speaker believes that his death is close. It is interesting to note here the imagery the poet presents before us at the start of the poem. ‘Sunset’ and ‘Evening star’ represent the end of the day. Just as the day is about to end, the speaker says that his life is drawing to an end as well.

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

Here the poet uses his famous metaphor of ‘Crossing the bar’, describing death as an act of passing beyond life. The word ‘bar’ here means a sandbar. A sandbar is a geographical structure which forms around the mouth of a river, or extends from a ‘Spit’ by slow deposition of sediments carried by the current over millions of years. The structure forms a kind of barrier between the water inside (the river water) and outside it (the open sea). The poet uses this sandbar as a symbol of death, with the water inside representing his life, and the water beyond representing the afterlife. He wants to ‘put out to sea’ without the ‘moaning of the bar’. The poet wishes his death to be without pain and without mourning.

Second stanza:

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

Through the poem, the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson compares his impending death to crossing a bar. In the stanza, the speaker of the poem talks about the inevitability of death.

The poet wishes that when he ‘put(s) out to sea’, that is when he dies, let it be like a ride which seems asleep as it moves. The speaker wants his death to be smooth. Like a calm sea wave, which is ‘too full for sound and foam’ the speaker hopes that his death will be silent, smooth and quick, making no fuss.

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

In the subsequent lines, the poet uses the example of the river and the sea to express the kind of death he wishes for himself. The water from the sea evaporates and turns into clouds; these clouds bring rain, entering that water into the river, and these rivers too flow, carrying their water and eventually pouring it into the sea. They, thus complete a cycle, and the water returns from where it came. Just so, the speaker, considering himself like the water, says that he is returning where he came from. ‘The boundless deep’ here apparently stands for the sea, and in an allegorical sense to the place the poet believes he will go to after his death.

Here, we should notice that this stanza is a strict continuation of the idea introduced in the first stanza. The last lines of the first stanza together with this one makes up the meaning of the verse.

Third Stanza:

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

In the third stanza, the poet again resorts to describing the atmosphere to convey his inner feelings. It was sunset when the speaker started the poem, but now it is twilight. The sun has already gone down the horizon and dusk is settling. The speaker can hear the evening bell tolling. It is the indication that night is approaching. Then after a while it gets dark. It is night. The poet here uses twilight to show us the state of his life. Just as the day has ended, his life too is about to end. Here twilight stands for sadness, darkness and grief portray the speaker’s miserable state before his death.

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

The speaker expresses his hope that there will be no ‘sadness of farewell’ upon his death. The ‘sadness of farewell’ is ambiguous and can mean both the speaker’s own sadness as he departs from life, or the sadness of the people whom he leaves behind and who are saying farewell to him. However, we think, the former is more relevant. Again, Lord Tennyson writes ‘When I embark’ to convey the idea of the speaker’s death. Thus, it is evident from the word ’embark’ that death is not seen as a final destination by the poet, but rather as a new beginning.

Fourth stanza:

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

In the previous stanza of the poem, we see the speaker’s positive attitude towards death. It is seen to be exemplified in this final stanza of the poem. We understand that the speaker has accepted his reality – inevitability of death. He appears to have made his peace with the idea of his fast approaching death.

He says that he will be beyond the boundaries of time and place and the flood of death will carry him far away. This is going beyond the reach of this world. The speaker suggests that there is a place beyond our time and space where he hopes to go after his death. We are, thus, acquainted with the poet’s belief in afterlife.

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crost the bar.

These final lines of the poem are shrouded in allusions and hidden meanings. Firstly, we are told that the speaker hopes to see his pilot face to face when he will have crossed the bar. Here, the word pilot is a direct reference to God. Lord Tennyson had peculiar views on religion. On one hand, he disapproved of Christianity, while on the other, we see wide use of religious things and ideas in his works. Since God is considered to drive the world and all living things, we see the pilot reference of the divine world in the poem.

Also, the use of the word ‘crost’ is interesting. While it might simply be a word to suggest ‘Crossing’ the bar, it is speculated that it might be a reference to Christ, as crost is similar in sound to both Christ and Cross. If so, then we find another allusion from the poet to region and afterlife.

The poem thus ends on a positive note with the poet both accepting the finality of death and hoping to meet God in the afterlife.

👉Crossing the Bar: Form and Structure:

The poem consists of four stanzas, and each of them are quatrains. The poet uses the classical rhyme scheme of abab. The structure of the poem is akin to that of a ballad verse but it falls short of the metre. There is no apparent metre to the poem.

The length of the lines is a feature of interest in the poem. The poet varies the length of the lines between ten, six, and four syllables per line randomly throughout the poem.

The entire poem is connected, both in theme and conceit. The stanzas do not stand individually on their own. They are tightly knit and carry the meaning forward to the next ones.

This poem consists of four quatrain stanzas rhyming ABAB. The first and third lines of each stanza are always a couple of beats longer than the second and fourth lines, although the line lengths vary among the stanzas.

Words Count 2,194

Assignment paper 105( History of English Literature)

Assignment writing: Paper 105( History of English Literature)

This blog is Assignment writing on Paper 105 (History of English Literature) assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper: History of English Literature

Roll no: 16

Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 1)

Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

👉Chief Characteristic of Romantic Age:

• Individualism
• Glorification of Nature
• Return of Nature
• Awareness and Acceptance of Emotions
• Celebration of Artistic Creativity and Imagination
• Theme of solitude
• Focus on Exoticism and History
• Idealization of Women
• Emphasis on Aesthetic Beauty
• The age of symbols and Myths

⭐Introduction:

The Romantic Movement is marked by the two great events of this time:i) French Revolution (1789)and ii) the publication of 'Lyrical Ballad 1798' by Wordsworth and Coleridge. That is  why many critics think that the Romantic era starts with the publication of Lyrical Ballad. William. J. Long in his book 'English Literature it's History and significance for the Life of the English Speaking World' Says that Romantic Age is the second creative period of the English Literature. Romantic age covers the first half of the 19th century. This era starts under the region of king George lll and  ends with the region of Queen Victoria. During this time steel was one of the best materials of England. The causes of this threatened revolution were not political but economic. By her invention in steel and machinery, and by her monopoly of the carrying trade, England had become the workshop of the world. 

We can see the repid changes of the society through the literature  or through the art of particular time. And that is why it is said that 'Literature is mirror of society.' Here also we can see the repid changes of Romantic age among literature. Here are some basic characteristic of Romantic Age:

👉What Is Romanticism in Literature?

Popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Romanticism was a literary movement that emphasized nature and the importance of emotion and artistic freedom. In many ways, writers of this era were rebelling against the attempt to explain the world and human nature through science and the lens of the Industrial Revolution. In Romanticism, emotion is much more powerful than rational thought.

👉What Are the Characteristics of Romanticism in Literature?

Although literary Romanticism occurred from about 1790 through 1850, not all writers of this period worked in this style. There are certain characteristics that make a piece of literature part of the Romantic movement. You won’t find every characteristic present in every piece of Romantic literature; however, you will usually find that writing from this period has several of the key characteristics.

🔅Individualism:

  Romanticism emerged as a reaction against 'The Age of Enlightenment,' which emphasized on reason and logic. Pioneers of the Romantic period wanted to break away from the conventions of the Age of Enlightenment and make way for individuality and experimentation. This was the time when people start thinking about themselves. That is why this characteristic is one of the important characteristic of this age.

🔅 Glorification of Nature:

Nature, in all its unbound glory, plays a huge role in Romantic literature. Nature, sometimes seen as the opposite of the rational, is a powerful symbol in work from this era. Romantic poets and writers give personal, deep descriptions of nature and its wild and powerful qualities.

Natural elements also work as symbols for the unfettered emotions of the poet or writer, as in the final stanza of “To Autumn” by John Keats. Keats was aware that he was dying of consumption throughout much of his short life and career, and his celebration of autumn symbolizes the beauty in the ephemeral.

🔅Return to Nature:

Again, this is one of the important characteristic of the Romantic Age. We can also say that the whole age is marked by this characteristic. During this age the writer used the elements of nature to satire on the society.we think that romanticism is something related to the physical world.yes, it is but in a wilder way. Romanticism reflect the nature. Nature is  which we see around us like trees, plants, birds, animals, and sea etc. and also the nature of men. It includes both the meaning at a time. Through using the elements of nature the writers of this time tried to talk about the nature of human beings. Wordsworth's poem 'Deffodils' is the best example.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o' er vales and hills"

🔅Awareness and Acceptance of Emotions:

A focus on emotion is a key characteristic of nearly all writing from the Romantic period. When you read work of this period, you’ll see feelings described in all forms, including romantic and filial love, fear, sorrow, loneliness, and more. This focus on emotion offered a counterpoint to the rational, and it also made Romantic poetry and prose extremely readable and relatable.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein offers a perfect example of this characteristic of Romanticism. Here, Frankenstein’s monster shows great self-awareness of his feelings and offers a vivid emotional description full of anger and sadness.

🔅Celebration of Artistic Creativity and Imagination:

In contrast to the previous generations’ focus on reason, writers of the Romantic movement explored the importance of imagination and the creative impulse. Romantic poets and prose writers celebrated the power of imagination and the creative process, as well as the artistic viewpoint. They believed that artists and writers looked at the world differently, and they celebrated that vision in their work.

You can see this in William Wordsworth’s poem, “The Prelude."

Imagination—here the Power so called

Through sad incompetence of human speech,

That awful Power rose from the mind’s abyss

Like an unfathered vapour that enwraps,

At once, some lonely traveller. I was lost;

Halted without an effort to break through;

But to my conscious soul I now can say—

“I recognise thy glory:” in such strength

Of usurpation, when the light of sense

Goes out, but with a flash that has revealed

The invisible world…

🔅Themes of Solitude:

Writers of the Romantic era believed that creative inspiration came from solitary exploration. They celebrated the feeling of being alone, whether that meant loneliness or a much-needed quiet space to think and create.

🔅Focus on Exoticism and History:

Romantic-era literature often has a distinct focus on exotic locations and events or items from history. Poems and prose touch on antiques and the gifts of ancient cultures around the world, and far-away locations provide the setting for some literary works of this era.

One great example is Percy Byssche Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias."

I met a traveler from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

🔅Idealization of Women

In works such as Poe’s The Raven, women were always presented as idealized love interests, pure and beautiful, but usually without anything else to offer. Ironically, the most notable novels of the period were written by women (Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Mary Shelley, for example), but had to be initially published under male pseudonyms because of these attitudes. Much Romantic literature is infused with the concept of women being perfect innocent beings to be adored, mourned, and respected—but never touched or relied upon.

🔅Emphasis on Aesthetic Beauty

Romantic literature also explores the theme of aesthetic beauty, not just of nature but of people as well. This was especially true with descriptions of female beauty. Writers praised women of the Romantic era for their natural loveliness, rather than anything artificial or constrained.

A classic example of this characteristic is George Gordon, or Lord Byron’s, poem “She Walks in Beauty."

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

🔅The Age of symbols and Myths:

With all these characteristics this age is also marked especially for the myths and symbols used  by the writers during this time. Human was the centre and the symbol and the myths were  of the nature of this time. And  the symbols and Myths  were also taken seriously by the people of that time because it suggests many things.  Again I would like to give the example of John Keats and his ode 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' In this ode he use many myths.

👉 Conclusion:

As no Romantic artist followed any strict set of rules or regulations, it is difficult to define the characteristic of this movement accurately. Some of these characteristics are reflected in the works of that period. Though many  writers and critics have called this movement "irrational,"it cannot be denied that it was an honest attempt to portray the world, especially the intricacies of the human nature,in a paradigm shifting way. In short, this was the time of celebration on self as well as the nature. And here I am summing up with Rousseau's statement that "Iam not made like anyone I have seen; I dare believe that I am not made like anyone in existence. If I am not superior, at least I am different."

Words Count: 2,531

Reference:

https://www.thoughtco.com/romanticism-definition-4777449

https://examples.yourdictionary.com/10-key-characteristics-of-romanticism-in-literature.html

Assignment paper 104( Literature of the Victorians)

Assignment writing: Paper 104( Literature of the Victorians)

 This blog is Assignment writing on paper 104 (Literature of the Victorians) assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper: Literature of the Victorians

Roll no: 16

Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

Batch: 2021 - 23 ( MA Semester 1)

Submitted to:  Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

🔅Dickens's Hard Times as a Social Novel:

👉Social Novel:

The social novel, also known as the social problem (or social protest) novel, is a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel".More specific examples of social problems that are addressed in such works include poverty, conditions in factories and mines, the plight of child labor, violence against women, rising criminality, and epidemics because of over-crowding, and poor sanitation in cities.

👉Hard Times as a Social Novel:

Hard Times, a social protest novel of nineteenth-century England, is aptly titled. Not only does the working class, known as the "Hands," have a "hard time" in this novel; so do the other classes as well. Dickens divided the novel into three separate books, two of which, "Sowing" and "Reaping," exemplify the biblical concept of "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).

Hard Times’ by Charles Dickens is a social protest novel of nineteenth-century England. Throughout the novel, Dickens makes his voice of protest explicitly clear as he expresses the hardship and inequalities of an industrial, hierarchical society. Dickens portrays how difficult life was through all the characters and their positions in society. Several social and political issues are addressed by Dickens, particularly through education, marriage, divorce and the working conditions of the poor. In Book 1, Chapter 11, Stephen Blackpool reflects these issues through his line “Tis aw a muddle.” It could be argued that this remark by Blackpool refers to the power structures within the novel and how the ‘muddle’ is caused by those with power.

Hard Times by Charles Dickens is set in the Victorian age predominantly attacking on the then existing social problems, educational system, caste system, economic system and many more. The Victorian era was dominated by an aristocratic group of people whose power later slowly faded away and lost its influence.

The Victorian era in Britain was during the reign of Queen Victoria (18371901). Although it was a peaceful and prosperous time, there were still problems within the social structure. Among the social classes of this era were the upper class, the middle class and the lower class. Those who were lucky enough to study in the upper class did not usually do manual labor. All things considered, they claimed land and recruited lower-class laborers to work for them, or contributed to make a benefit.

Most people living in England in this era, particularly those in the working class, were struggling due to the oppression they were facing. Dicken’s experiences of social realities were his source of inspiration for this novel. Dicken’s saw how people were living in difficult times as many of them worked factory jobs, where they were forced to work long and hard hours for very little money. When considering Blackpool’s remark, perhaps he was commenting on how people’s lives were made difficult by the power structures in society.Among the working class were unskilled workers who worked in cruel and unhealthy conditions (Victorian England Social Hierarchy).They didn't approach clean water and food, schooling to their youngsters, or appropriate attire.Often, they lived on the streets and were far from the jobs they could get, so they had to walk wherever they could. Unfortunately, many workers use drugs like opium and alcohol to cope with their suffering.

Charles Dickens's novel, Hard Times in the Victorian era is determined mainly by attacking the existing social problems, education system, caste system, economic system and many more. The Victorian era was dominated by an aristocratic population whose power later faded and lost its influence. The state of the faded aristocracy in the novel is presented through the characters of Gradegrind and Boundaryby.The condition of fading aristocracy has been represented through the characters, Mr. Gradgrind and Bounderby in the novel.

Dickens has clearly expressed his hatred of the divorce law, which remains a privilege of the rich. Stephen Blackpool, an industrialist who was drunk and had a British wife, wanted a divorce from her, but could not afford the expensive fees due to his poor financial condition and divorce law. The operation of the poor working class by rich industrialists is at the heart of the novel's outrage. Hardworking workers are turned into mere 'Hands' without any emotion, which shows that they are only counted in terms of work, production and manufacture. They are not treated as human. The novel is a fundamental critique against the economic inequality of an age where the rich are extremely rich and the poor are poor, they can't even eat a square meal. All measures against blue collar workers. 'Hands' have always been suppressed by the law, trade unions and their employers.

Industrial workers are paid less and do not get adequate and satisfactory benefits to make a living, which eventually leads to protests against the industrialists. Dickens expressed his displeasure at the evolving system of industrialism in England.

The novel is a great example of an attack on the usefulness of the Victorian era, not counting high emotions and feelings but focusing only on work skills, information, numbers and calculations. Reality has replaced love and feelings. 'Love' is the wrong expression for Gradgrind. The Victorian era was characterized by the same features. This situation is clearly shown by Dickens.

Also the children of Gradgrind were not allowed to wander, imagine and ask questions about emotions and even they were not told any story and no rhyme was heard. For, Gradgrind was true to all and everything. He even turned the relationship into numbers and truth and persuaded his daughter Louisa to marry a man twice her age.

Dickens also satirizes the education system in his novels. The curriculum, the school environment and the teachers were deeply influenced by the useful values. Students were taught to follow what teachers were told, but not to think or wonder about the lessons they were given. Tom, for example, faced a problem and could not cope with the situation, even though he was highly educated at the time andLucia could not understand his own emotions due to the weak Victorian-era education system.

The nineteenth century was an age of continual change and unparalleled expansion in almost every field of activity. Not only was it an era of reform, industrialization, achievement in science, government, literature, and world expansion but also a time when people struggled to assert their independence. Man, represented en masse as the laboring class, rose in power and prosperity and gave his voice to government.The prophets of the time deplored the inroads of science upon religious faith, but the Church of England was revivified by the Oxford Movement; evangelical Protestantism was never stronger and more active; and the Roman Catholic Church was becoming an increasingly powerful religious force in England. 

The Industrial Revolution, though productive of much good, created deplorable living conditions in England. Overcrowding in the cities as a consequence of the population shift from rural to urban areas and the increase in the numbers of immigrants from poverty-stricken Ireland resulted in disease and hunger for thousands of the laboring class.Whole families, from the youngest to the oldest, had to enter the factories, the woolen mills, the coal mines, or the cotton mills in order to survive. Children were exploited by employers; for a pittance a day a nine-year-old worked twelve and fourteen hours in the mills, tied to the machines, or in the coal mines pulling carts to take the coal from the shafts. 

The Poor Law of 1834 provided for workhouses; indigent persons, accustomed to living where they pleased, bitterly resented this law, which compelled them to live with their families in workhouses In fact, the living conditions were so bad that these workhouses were named the "Bastilles of the Poor." Here the poor people, dependent upon the government dole, were subjected to the inhuman treatment of cruel supervisors; an example is Mr. Bumble in Dickens' Oliver Twist. If the people rejected this rule of body and soul, they had two alternatives as the machines took more jobs and the wages dropped — either steal or starve. Conditions in prisons were even more deplorable than in the workhouses. Debtors' prison, as revealed in Dickens' David Copperfield, was a penalty worse than death.Thomas Carlyle called this system of economy "the dismal science." Dickens, influenced by Carlyle, castigated it again and again.The Utilitarians, however, helped bring about the repeal of the Corn Laws and to abolish cruel punishment. When Victoria became queen, there were four hundred and thirty-eight offenses punishable by death. During her reign, the death penalty was limited to two offenses — murder and treason. With the softening of the penalties and the stressing of prevention and correction came a decrease in crime.

Even though writers of the period protested human degradation under modern industrialism, the main factor in improvement of conditions for labor was not outside sympathy but the initiative taken by the workers themselves. They learned that organized trade unions were more constructive to their welfare than riots and the destruction of machines, which had occurred during the Chartist Movement. Gradually the laboring classes won the right to help themselves. Trade unions were legalized in 1864; two workingmen candidates were elected to Parliament in 1874.

Words Count: 1,550

References:

• https://www.barickacademy.in/2021/08/dickenss-hard-times-as-social-novel.html
• 
  
• https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hard-times/about-hard-times

Assignment paper 103(Literature of the Romantics)

Assignment writing: Paper 103( Literature of the Romantics)

This blog is Assignment writing on paper 103(Literature of the Romantics) assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper: Literature of the Romantics

Roll no: 16

Enrollment no:4069206420210005

Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

Batch: 2021-23( M.A sem - 1)

Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

🔅Imagery and Literary Elements In Frankenstein

👉Introduction of Frankenstein:

The novel, Frankenstein, previously titled The Modern Prometheus, was written by Mary Shelley. It was first published in 1818. It is known as the epitome of the science fiction of the early 19th century, and also it set the stage for scientific passion among the scientists with caution to shun the seamy side of experiments. The novel revolves around the story of a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who becomes the victim of his own creation, a monster. The monster later attempts to take his own life, before wreaking havoc in the life of the scientist, and his family. The unique feature of this story is that Miss Shelley started it when she turned 18 and finished at the age of 20.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a 19th-century epistolary novel associated with both the Romantic and the Gothic genres. The novel, which follows a scientist named Frankenstein and the horrifying creature he creates, explores the pursuit of knowledge and its consequences, as well as the human desire for connection and community.

👉Imagery in Frankenstein

Imagery – the use of the rich and descriptive language – serves the purpose of making the reader feel as if the events of the novel happen to him personally. The depicted scenery always corresponds to the character’s emotions.

Shelley pays special attention to the description of nature because it most accurately reflects Frankenstein’s inner state. Writing about nature, the author utilizes a literary technique called personification. Rain, wind, rivers, mountains, and lakes are not just picturesque backgrounds but living beings with their own color, mood, and unique human characteristics.

• Psychological scenery
• The passage of time
• Bodily manifestations of emotions
• Sublime nature

⭐Psychological scenery

Particularly in Frankenstein's narration, the description of scenery often reflects his mental state at the time of the scene. Take, for example, the morning after he brought the monster to life and fled his home: "Morning, dismal and wet, at length dawned, and discovered to my sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt, its white steeple and clock, which indicated the sixth hour. The porter opened the gates of the court, which had that night been my asylum, and I issued into the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky" (Volume I, Chapter 5). The loss of night's 'asylum' and the dismal, wet weather both echo Frankenstein's weariness and anxiety.

⭐The passage of time:

Imagery techniques are used to focalize the passage of time. This is what happens when Frankenstein returns home from university following the death of William, and gazes upon a portrait of his mother: "Six years had elapsed, passed as a dream but for one indelible trace, and I stood in the same place where I had last embraced my father before my departure for Ingolstadt. Beloved and venerable parent! He still remained to me. I gazed on the picture of my mother, which stood over the mantel-piece. It was an historical subject, painted at my father's desire, and represented Caroline Beaufort in an agony of despair, kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. Her garb was rustic, and her cheek pale; but there was an air of dignity and beauty, that hardly permitted the sentiment of pity" (Volume I, Chapter 7). The past-focused imagery functions as a link between Frankenstein's history and what he must cope with in the present.

⭐Bodily manifestations of emotions

Imagery and rich descriptive language bring the inner states of Frankenstein to life. Take, for instance, the moment after Justine was wrongly sentenced to death for the death of William, when Frankenstein is overcome by guilt for his own crime of creating the monster: "The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart, which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded myself), was yet behind" (Volume I, Chapter 9).

⭐Sublime nature

The backdrop of nature, particularly in the scene prior to Frankenstein's mountaintop encounter with his monster, subsumes human nature within the grander, terrifying scope of the universe. This has a somewhat humbling, soothing effect on Frankenstein, as he notes in the passage prior to his encounter with the monster; "I [roamed] through the valley. I stood beside the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills, to barricade the valley. The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves, or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche, or the cracking reverberated along the mountains of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands. These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me from all littleness of feeling; and although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquillised it" (Volume I, Chapter 10).

👉Literary Elements in Frankenstein

Mary Shelley uses various literary devices in Frankenstein to help the reader make an intense and accurate perception of the narrative. Commonly, literary devices are understood as artistic structures and techniques that writers apply to beautify their works and emphasize their meanings.

Literary elements most often used in Frankenstein – setting, imagery, allusions, symbolism, and personification – help the reader to immerse into the gloomy atmosphere of Frankenstein’s time and live thought character’s experiences.

In some ways, the novel is a bildungsroman, which is a narrative about growth. Perhaps even more specifically, the novel could be considered a kunstlerroman, which translates to 'artist novel.' In a sense, Victor's story follows the growth of an artist. When he stitches together parts of dead bodies and brings the whole creation to life, it is a sort of metaphor for an artist's work--or even more specifically an author of literature, who puts together words and endows them with meaning. Food for thought.

Let's explore some more specific examples of literary elements in the novel.

⭐Heroes and Villains

We should also focus on the concept of protagonist and antagonist, or rather the roles of hero and villain. It is perhaps customary to think of Victor as the novel's hero; he is the central character, and we root for him to succeed.

With that in mind, we usually consider the creature that he creates as the villain. After all, the creature does go on a murderous rampage, picking off Victor's friends and family. 'I too can create desolation,' the creature reflects: 'my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.' Indeed, the creature has become a monster in our culture, part of the Halloween dress-up game alongside vampires and mummies.

But Shelley muddles these categories. The creature is often heroic, and Victor is often villainous. When the creature tells his personal and emotional story, he becomes the protagonist of the novel, and readers care about his struggles. And when Victor tears to pieces the creature's incomplete mate, he exhibits his own sort of violence and blood lust. Thus, both characters are hard to define, and each might be considered as an 'anti-hero.

⭐The Novel's Frame Structure

A frame narrative occurs when one narrative introduces another narrative (and so on). The technique has been around since at least the Arabian Nights, in which a young bride, Scheherazade, avoids death at the hands of the murderous king Shahryar by telling a series of stories. In Frankenstein, Shelley borrows from this rich formal tradition by setting up a series of narratives that introduce one another.

⭐Narrator and Point of View

There are three levels of first-person limited narration, with each successive level embedded in the immediately prior level. The first level is R. Walton, writing to his sister; the second is Frankenstein, speaking to Walton; the third is the monster, speaking to Frankenstein.

⭐Tone and Mood

Because the horrific events of the story are conveyed as retrospection, the tone oscillates between remorse/anger on the part of the narrator, and suspense on the part of the reader for not having total knowledge of the events that will unfold, in spite of the narrator foreshadowing them.

⭐Protagonist and Antagonist

The major protagonist is Frankenstein, and the major antagonist is his monster.

⭐Major Conflict

Most of the conflict in the story can be read as a struggle of will between Frankenstein and his monster. The monster wants Frankenstein to make him a mate, and Frankenstein believes that he must destroy the monster in order to end the monster's destructive rampage.

⭐Paradox

One of the primary threads in the book is that the scientific progress purported by Frankenstein actually effects pain and destruction, and might ultimately be socially regressive. Such a notion of 'progress' is paradoxical.

⭐Personification

Nature as a force is often personified in the text. An example of this is when Frankenstein travels through the countryside following the execution of Justine: "The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves, or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche, or the cracking reverberated along the mountains of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands" (Volume I, Chapter 10).

Words Count: 1,704

Reference:

• https://www.gradesaver.com/frankenstein/study-guide/literary-elements

• https://literarydevices.net/frankenstein/

Assignment: paper 102 (. Literature of the Neo - Classical Period)

Assignment writing: Paper no 102 (Literature of the Neo - Classical Period)

This blog is Assignment writing on paper 102 ( Literature of the Neo - classical period) assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper: Neo - Classical Period

Roll no: 16

Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

Batch: 2021- 23( M.A. Sem - 1)

Submitted to: Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

👉A Tale of a Tub as Satire

 

Jonathan Swift's Tale of the Tub is a brilliant failure. It is a prose satire intended as a defence of the Anglican church, but it was widely interpreted by contemporary readers as an attack on all religion. At the time of writing it, Swift was a junior Anglican clergyman hoping for substantial preferment in the Church. The appearance of the Tale, and its assumed message, was a serious obstacle to his promotion.

A Tale of a Tub was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. It is probably his most difficult satire, and possibly his most masterful. The Tale is a prose parody which is divided up into sections of " digression" and "tale." The "tale" presents a consistent satire of religious excess, while the digressions are a series of parodies of contemporary writing in literature, politics, theology, Biblical exegesis, and medicine. The overarching parody is of enthusiasm, pride, and credulity.A Tale of a Tub was the book that launched Jonathan Swift on his career as a satirist, paving the way for better-known works such as Gulliver's Travels (1726) and "A Modest Proposal" (1729).

👉 In satire, authors critique social issues using literary strategies:

📌 Sarcasm 

📌Hyperbole

📌 Extended

📌Symbolism

📌Humor

➡️Sarcasm communicates contempt for the subject at hand. As a result, readers must often reverse the author's words to determine meaning. In A Tale of a Tub, the narrator expresses great admiration for the brothers' ingenuity in getting around their father's wishes. This admiration is insincere, however. The narrator sarcastically mocks their foolishness in trying to find loopholes to God's revealed will.

➡️Hyperbole radically exaggerates existing situations to show innate ridiculousness or weakness. The narrator uses hyperbole throughout his tale, describing preachers so fiery that they can light their own way home at night and so full of wind that they puff up like balloons.

➡️Extended analogies indirectly draw attention to flawed situations. The narrator uses this technique when he likens the Bible to the will of a father who knows what is best for his children but who is overruled or ignored by his selfish heirs.

➡️Symbolism indirectly represents social, religious, and political issues. This strategy allows satirists to protect themselves with indirection from backlash, especially if they are criticizing powerful institutions. It may also make their critiques more universal. The narrator uses the overarching symbol of a set of coats to describe Christianity and show the many "alterations" it has undergone. Although his critique applies specifically to the extremes of Catholicism and Dissent, the symbolism in A Tale of a Tub is general enough to apply to any deeply entrenched institution and any (over)zealous group of reformers.

➡️Humor criticizes society to stimulate thought and action. The narrator's caricatures of Peter and Jack (Catholicism and Dissent, respectively) are broadly comical, and the effect is heightened by the characters' self-righteousness. Peter proclaims himself emperor and does not realise that most people are mocking his title and not respecting it. Jack's belligerent preaching and disheveled appearance lead listeners to think he has gone mad.

👉Parody and Allegory

addition to the 'digressions' that form a satire on modern learning and print culture, A Tale of a Tub's more obvious satire is that on abuses in religion. The satire works through the allegory of the three brothers: Martin, Peter, and Jack. Martin symbolizes the Anglican Church (from Martin Luther); Peter symbolizes the Roman Catholic Church; and Jack (from John Calvin) symbolizes the Dissenters. Their father leaves each brother a coat as a legacy, with strict orders that the coats are on no account to be altered. The sons gradually disobey his injunction, finding excuses for adding shoulder knots or gold lace, according to the prevailing fashion. Martin and Jack quarrel with the arrogant Peter (the Reformation), and then with each other (the split between Anglicanism and Puritanism), and then separate. As we might expect, Martin is by far the most moderate of the three, and his speech in section six is by the sanest thing anyone has to say in the Tale.

Both parody and allegory work by implicitly, or explicitly, comparing one sort of book with another. As a broad generalisation, they are concerned with intertextual relationships, and how you can use one text to invoke or critique another. But the distinction is that allegory teaches its readers to see beyond appearance to recognise truth, while parody teaches its readers to see beyond appearance to recognise error.

👉Nature of the Satire

Swift's targets in the Tale included indexers, note-makers, and, above all, people who saw "dark matter" in books. He attacks criticism generally, and he appeared to be delighted by the fact that one of his enemies, William Wotton, had offered to explain the Tale in an "answer" to the book and that one of the men he had explicitly attacked, Curll, had offered to explain the book to the public. In the fifth edition of the book in 1705, Swift provided an apparatus to the work that incorporated Wotton's explanations and Swift's narrator's own notes as well. The notes appear to occasionally provide genuine information and just as often to mislead, and William Wotton's name, a defender of the Moderns, was appended to a number of notes. This allows Swift to make the commentary part of the satire itself, as well as to elevate his narrator to the level of self-critic.

It is hard to say what the Tale's satire is about, since it is about any number of things. It is most consistent in attacking misreading of all sorts. Both in the narrative sections and the digressions, the single human flaw that underlies all the follies Swift attacks is over-figurative and reading, both of the Bible and of poetry and political prose. The narrator is seeking hidden knowledge, mechanical operations of things spiritual, spiritual qualities to thongs physical, and alternate readings of everythin 

Within the "tale" sections of the book, Peter, Martin, and Jack fall into bad company (becoming the official religion of the Roman empire) and begin altering their coats (faith) by adding ornaments. They then begin relying on Peter to be the arbitrator of the will, and he begins to rule by authority (he remembered the handyman saying that he once heard the father say that it was alright to put on more ornaments), until such a time that Jack rebels against the rule of Peter. Jack begins to read the will (the Bible) overly literally. He rips the coat to shreds to try to restore the original state of the garment (equivalent of the "primitive Christianity" sought by dissenters). He begins to rely only upon "inner illumination" for guidance and thus walks around with his eyes closed, after swallowing candle snuffs. Eventually, Peter and Jack begin to resemble one another, and only Martin is left with a coat that is at all like the original.

An important factor in the reception of Swift's work is that the narrator of the work is an extremist in every direction. Consequently, he can no more construct a sound allegory than he can finish his digressions without losing control (eventually confessing that he is insane). For a Church of England reader, the allegory of the brothers provides small comfort. Martin has a corrupted faith, one full of holes and still with ornaments on it. His only virtue is that he avoids the excesses of his brothers, but the original faith is lost to him. Readers of the Tale have picked up on this unsatisfactory resolution to both "parts" of the book, and A Tale of a Tub has often been offered up as evidence of Swift's misanthropy.

Additionally, Swift's satire is relatively unique in that he offers no resolutions. While he ridicules any number of foolish habits, he never offers the reader a positive set of values to embrace. While this type of satire became more common as people imitated Swift, later, Swift is quite unusual in offering the readers no way out. He does not persuade to any position, but he does persuade readers from an assortment of positions. This is one of the qualities that has made the Tale Swift's least read major work.

The "tale" presents a consistent satire of religious excess, while the digressions are a series of parodies of contemporary writing in literature, politics, theology, Biblical exegesis, and medicine. The overarching parody is of enthusiasm, pride, and credulity. At the time it was written, politics and religion were still closely linked in England, and the religious and political aspects of the satire can often hardly be separated. "The work made Swift notorious, and was widely misunderstood, especially by Queen Anne herself who mistook its purpose for profanity." It "effectively disbarred its author from proper preferment within the church", but is considered one of Swift's best allegories, even by himself. It was enormously popular, but Swift believed it damaged his prospect of advancement in the Church of England.

Words Count: 1,500

Reference:

https://writersinspire.org/content/jonathan-swift-tale-tub

https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/a/A_Tale_of_a_Tub.htm

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TgPPTiqxxN6E6Ajj_wsbaN_n4Zztvu4ScigcVaL5nBs/edit?usp=drivesdk