p 110 Assignment

P - 110(A) Assignment

Topic: Theatre Of The Absurd

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper- History of English literature from 1900 to 2000.

Roll no- 16

Enrollment no- 4069206420210005

Email ID - davenidhi05@gmail.com 

Batch-2021-23(MA Sem-2)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English. Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

⭐Theatre of the Absurd:

👉Introduction:

The Theatre of the Absurd is a movement made up of many diverse plays, most of which were written between 1940 and 1960. When first performed, these plays shocked their audiences as they were startlingly different than anything that had been previously staged. In fact, many of them were labelled as “anti-plays.” In an attempt to clarify and define this radical movement, Martin Esslin coined the term “The Theatre of the Absurd” in his 1960 book of the same name. He defined it as such, because all of the plays emphasized the absurdity of the human condition. Whereas we tend to use the word “absurd” synonymously with “ridiculous,” Esslin was referring to the original meaning of the word– ‘out of harmony with reason or propriety; illogical’ (Esslin 23). Essentially, each play renders man’s existence as illogical, and moreover, meaningless. This idea was a reaction to the “collapse of moral, religious, political, and social structures” following the two World Wars of the Twentieth Century (Abbotson 1).

👉What is Theatre of the Absurd?

The Theatre of the Absurd is a term coined by Critic Martin Esslin in his essay “Theatre of the Absurd.” The term is used for the work of a number of playwrights, mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s, which were written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. Their work simply expressed the thought of human existence that has no meaning or purpose. If a trouble comes, some logic is given on a matter, it simply makes the situation worse and further leads to silence.

👉Theatre of the Absurd Definition

👉Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term as

👉"Theater that seeks to represent the absurdity of human existence in a meaningless universe by bizarre or fantastic means."

⭐Theatre of The Absurd History

This movement influenced by existentialism, began in the form of experimental theater in Paris and resultantly, after the spread of the absurd form in other country, absurdist plays were written in French. Absurd elements first came into existence after the rise of Greek drama in the plays of Aristophanes in the form of wild humor and buffoonery of old comedy.

Then, morality plays of the Middle Ages can also be called a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd dealing with common man’s struggle with allegorical and existential problems. During Elizabethan period, dramatists like John Webster, Cyril Tourneur, Jakob Biederman and Calderon pictured the world as mythological archetype.

In 19th century, Ibsen and Strindberg also included some elements of absurd theater in their plays, but real precursor of the present Theater of Absurd is Alfred Jerry‘s monstrous puppet play Ubu Roi (1896). A glimpse of Theater of Absurd can be seen in the dream novels of James Joyce, Franz Kafka who created archetype by delving deep into their own consciousness and attempting to explore the universe.

World War II finally brought the Theater of Absurd to life because the chaotic atmosphere during that time was compelling them to think about their absurd existence.

👉Theatre of the Absurd Examples

Theater of absurd illustrates the philosophy of Albert Camus in The Myth of Sysiphus that speaks of life with no inherent meaning in it. For him, world was beyond the understanding of man, so it will always remain absurd and we should accept this fact. Martin Esslin considered four playwrights: Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Arthur Adamov and Jean Genet as leaders of the movement. After sometimes, Harold Pinter was also included to this group and some of the works of Tom Stoppard, Edward Albee and Jean Tardieu were also classified as belonging to Absurdist Theater. But strangely, these writers were not always comfortable with the label and sometimes preferred to use terms such as “Anti-Theater” or “New Theater“.

Besides these, other playwrights like Tom Stoppard, Arthur Kopit, Friedrich Durrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, Edward

⭐Theatre of the Absurd Characteristics

Following are the chief characteristics of the Theater of Absurd, but it must be noted here that all these characteristics cannot necessarily be found in all the absurdist plays because it is not necessary that the playwright must have used all the characteristics of Absurd plays:

👉Questions of Existence

Absurd plays raise some basic questions of existence like- why we are alive why we have to die and why there is injustice and suffering.

👉Distrust in Language

For absurdist playwrights, language is only a meaningless communication and stereotyped exchange of ideas because words fail to express essence of human existence.

👉Illogical Speeches and Meaningless Plots

By illogical speeches and meaningless plots, they wish to establish a feeling of freedom to make their own worlds. Dr. Culik says,

“Rationalist thought, like language, only deals with the superficial aspects of things, Nonsense, on the other hand, opens up a glimpse of the infinite.”

👉Re-establishment of man’s communion with Universe

They attempt to restore the importance of myth and rituals in the life of man and make them aware of the ultimate realities of their life.

👉Emphasize on Abstract Values of Life

Absurdists force us to look at our abstract values of life like love and family. Thus, we may hope to accept the absurdity of life and try to find values in a world devoid of them.

👉Vagueness about Time, Place and Character

Absurdists have no time, place and character in their plays as they feel that there is no past or future, only the repetition of the present

👉Lack of communication amid characters

Each character lives an egoistic life and attempts to get another character to understand him and this results in more alienation.

⭐Characters in Theater of the Absurd

Characters in the Theater of Absurd range from one-dimension to multi-dimensions and without feeling but still with a very sensitive feeling. Most of the characters are floating, stereotype, archetype and flat because they have to deal with the absurd universe and often discard rational and logical devices. The characters speak in clichés and realism is their chief basis but often they are distorted at many points.

Complex characters cannot go with this theater because ultimately they have to deal with incomprehensive universe. Characters in Pinter’s plays are trapped in an enclosed space menaced by some force and that force is incomprehensible to them. For example, In The Room, Rose, the main character is menaced by Riley where the real source of menace remains a mystery.

The characters in Absurd Drama face the chaos of a world that science and logic have abandoned completely. They find themselves trapped in a routine or, in a metafictional conceit, trapped in a story. For example, the titular characters in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, find themselves in a story (Hamlet) in which the outcome has already been decided.

The absurdists form their characters in interdependent pairs, often either two males or a male and a female. Beckett scholars term it as “pseudo couple” They may be outwardly equal or have a begrudging interdependence (like Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot). Here, one active character may dominate the other passive characters in the play and the relationship of characters also shift dramatically.

⭐Plot

Theater of Absurd discards the traditional pattern of plot construction. It consists of repetition of clichés and routine as in Waiting for Godot. There is always a menacing outside force that remains a mystery throughout the play. Absence, emptiness, nothingness, and unresolved mysteries are central features of many Absurdist plots.

⭐Features of Absurdist Plot

Absence

Emptiness

Nothingness

Unresolved

Mysteries

For example, the action in Waiting for Godot centers round the absence of a character Godot who is long awaited. The plot also revolves round unexplained metamorphosis, a shift in the laws of physics, or a supernatural change. For example, in Ionesco’s How to Get Rid of It, a couple is dealing with a corpse that is growing large steadily, but Ionesco never discloses the identity of the corpse and ultimately, the corpse floats away unidentified in the unknown. The plots are frequently cyclical too as occurs in Endgame, the play begins where it ends and the theme of routine and repetition keeps on moving.

⭐Language

Although, absurd plays bear nonsensical language and clichés, they are naturalistic to a great extent. It happens because words lose their denotative function and create misunderstanding among characters that make Theater of Absurd quite distinct. Sometimes, nonsense is used abusively as Pinter did in Birthday Party. Their language is sometimes adorned with phonetic, rhythmical, almost musical qualities that further lead to comedy in absurdity. The dialogues are made elliptical with a certain purpose. Most of the Backett’s plays do not value language for creating striking tableau. Pinter pause’ used by Harold Pinter presents elliptical dialogue and often primary things which a character should convey are replaced by ellipsis or dashes.

⭐Technique

The techniques these absurdists use are meta-theatrical techniques which explore role fulfillment, fate, and the theatricality of theatre. For example, in The Balcony, brothel patrons take up elevated positions in role-playing games, but the line between theatre and reality starts to blur. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is yet another example where two minor characters of Hamlet are major role players who encounter with actors who performed ‘Mousetrap in Hamlet. Thus, the techniques of illustrating the theme are so new that people are often confused at the time of production of some of these plays.

⭐Theatre of the Absurd Plays

The first large major production of an absurdist play was Jean Genet’s The Maids in 1947. Ionesco’s The Bald Soprana was first performed in 1950, and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Gadot is probably the best known of all absurdist plays and it was premiered in January 1953. Waiting for Godot is the most controversial absurdist play.Rest of the Absurdist plays are:

• Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot
• Eugene lonesco: The Bald soprano
• Jean Genet: The Balcony
• Slawomir Mrozek: Tango
• Harold Pinter: The Dumb Waiter and The Birthday Party 

⭐Conclusion

Thus, The Absurd Theatre is not a positive play as it never tries to prove that man can still live in the futile world. It only demonstrates the absurdity and illogicality of the world in which we live but does not provide any solution to the problem. By these play, man is again and again reminded that his existence in the world is in fact absurd and meaningless. The countdown of The Absurd Theatre began in the mid-1960s. Although it shocked the audiences when it first appeared, many of its characteristic features were transferred in mainstream theatre when the Theater of Absurd ended. Those techniques are now commonly being used in modern theatre

Words: 1,785

Reference

https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/the-theatre-of-the-absurd/

https://blisty.cz/video/Slavonic/Absurd.htm

https://www.eng-literature.com/2021/05/theatre-of-the-absurd-definition-examples-characteristics.html

p 109 Assignment

P - 109 Assignment

Topic: Dhvani Theory 

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper- Literary Theory And Criticism and Indian Aesthetics 

Roll no- 16

Enrollment no- 4069206420210005

Email ID - davenidhi05@gmail.com 

Batch-2021-23(MA Sem-2)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English. Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

Dhvani Theory:

 

    

⭐THE DHVANI THEORY BY ANANDAVARDHANA

⭐Introduction

Ānandvardhan was a well-reputed Kashmirian poet and philosopher. Kahlana, the celebrated author of Rajtarangini mentioned him as one of the ornaments adorning the court of King Avantivarman. Thus, on the evidence of Rajtarangini, Anandvardhan attained fame during the reign of Avantivarman (in the 9th century A.D.)

In the evolution of Alamkāra literature, Dhvani or Vyanjana occupies a paramount place. The medieval Alamkarikās felt that for the purpose of aesthetic experience and Rasānubhuti, the aid of Dhvani must exist because the Rasā experience is never possible on Vakya Bhumi. 

The Dhvani Theory found its first systematic expression in Ānandvardhan's 'Dhvanyāloka'. His theory dominated Indian Poetics from the 9th to 12th century A.D.

👉Defining Dhvani Theory Anandavardhana writes :

That kind of poetry, wherein the (conventional) meaning renders itself secondary or the (conventional) word renders its meaning secondary and suggests the intended implied meaning, is designated by the learned as DHVANI or 'Suggestive Poetry'.

The theory of dhvani or suggestion was first introduced by Anandavardhana in his treatise Dhvanyaloka in the ninth century. Though the germs of this doctrine manifest themselves in the speculations of earlier theoreticians, Anandavardhana is the first literary critic to give a full bodied form to the concept and to enunciate a new principle of literary evaluation absorbing the concepts propounded by the earlier theoreticians. The doctrine has since then been accepted as an important principle of criticism in Indian poetics and has been strongly recommended by Anandavardhana both for poets and critics.

Bharata, Anandavardhana's predecessor and another renowned Sanskrit scholar, propounds the principle of rasa in drama and literature with the basic implication that the poetic context is creatively organized for the communication of feeling. Feeling cannot be communicated through propositional statements. The feeling ultimately experienced by the reader is his own; it is the movement of his sensibility. Since the feeling cannot be aroused by naming it, the poet builds up a system of objective correlatives, essentially identical with the context of stimuli in life which can elicit the emotional reaction. Bharata uses the word nishpatti, that is, emergence or outcome, for the appearance of rasa when the prime and the ancillary stimuli, etc., are creatively organized . Anandavardhana claims that this nishpatti really means abhivyakti, that is, manifestation as the emotional reaction is ever abiding, as a latent reactivity, in the reader. Since the manifestation of rasa in the poetic context is not the communication of a propositional meaning but the presentation of a !! sensitively organized complex of stimuli, he affirms that stimuli and reaction , vibhavas and rasa stand in the relation of the suggester and the suggested. Poetry gets operated basically through the power of suggestion .

⭐Definition of Dhvani Theory

• ध्वनति इति ध्वनि: - That which suggest both word and meaning is Dhvani

• ध्वन्यते इति ध्वनि - That which is suggested is Dhvani

• ध्वननं ध्वनि: - Process of Suggestion is Dhvani

• ध्वनि समुदाय: ध्वनि: - Entire Literature is Dhvani

"That kind of poetry, wherein the (conventional) meaning renders itself secondary or the (conventional) word renders its meaning secondary and suggests the (intended or) implied meaning; is designated by the learned as Dhvani or 'Suggested Poetry'"

Dhvani Theory is a theory of meaning of symbolism, and this principle leads to the poetry of suggestion being accepted as the highest kind of poetry.

Dhvani as Kavyasya Atma 

In Todorov's views, Anandavardhana "was perhaps the greatest of all theorists of textual Symbolism"(1982, 12).

Anandavardhana uses the term Dhvani to designate the universe of suggestion- Ka Vysya Atma Dhvani.

⭐Dhavni  

• Sphota - grammar 
• Vyanjana - kavyashastra poetics

Anandavardhana is openly indebted to Bhartrhari's sphota theory and he acknowledges it in Dhvanyaloka.

⭐Meaning

That meaning which wins the admiration of refined critics is decided to be the soul of the poetry. It has two aspects:

Explicit

Implicit

Explicit is commonly denoted by various figures of speech. But the implicit aspect is quite different. In the words of first-rate poets, it shines supreme and towers above the beauty of the striking external constituents even as a charm in ladies.

⭐Anandavardhana's Three Leveled Meaning:

The communication of proper meaning through words requires a proper arrangement of sounds. Language basically can be written or spoken which has words as their foundation. Sanskrit critic has described three types of words:

    

• अभिधा (Abhidha) - Literal Meaning of the word

• लक्षणा (Lakshana) - Characteristically Meaning of the word

• व्यंजना (Vyanjana) - Poetic & Metaphysical Meaning of the word

In this way, the third word Vyanjana reaches the soul and gives the suggested (extraordinary) meaning of the word. It is also called 'dhvani'. Basically, Dhvani is created by Pada (पद) which combines to form Vākya (वाक्य) and from Vākya, Rasābhāva () is generated.

⭐Supremacy of Dhvani

Many authors such as Bharat, Mammatt, Bhāmah, Dandi considered various aspects such as Rasā, Alamkār, Riti, Guna-dosha as the important part of the poem. But Ānandvardhan is one step ahead. He said the above-mentioned aspects were the body of the poetry. In short, they were part of the poetry. Whereas 'Dhvani' is the soul of poetry. Just like the human body is not alive with soul, poetry is also lame without Dhvani.

⭐Dhvani Theory 

A composition where suggested sense predominates is called Dhvani. The word Dhvani is used for both - the suggestive word and the suggestive meaning. The poetic language can never be possible without Dhvani.

In Dhvanyāloka, Dhvani becomes an all-embracing principle that explains the structure and function of the major elements of literature - the aesthetic effect (Rasā), the figural mode and devices (Alamkāra), the stylistic values (Riti) and excellence and defects (Guna-dosa).

Ānandvardhan in his Dhvanyāloka hails the Vaiyakarana with great respect. He says,

"The expression is designated by the learned. The foremost among the learned are grammarians because grammar lies at the root of all studies"

He has also presented and classified different kinds of suggestions. In Todorov's view,

'Ānandvardhan was perhaps the greatest of all theorists of textual symbolism'

He used the term 'dhvani' to designate the universe of suggestion.

⭐Dhvani is used for Conventional meaning

The sound structure of words. The suggestible meaning itself the power of the word to convey the suggestible meaning the poetic work containing the suggestible meaning

Rigvedā () also makes a distinction between the literal meaning and inner significance - 

'He sees but sees not

One hears but hears not'

 (10.71.4)

Besides literal meaning, there is a socio-cultural meaning depending on the contexts and emotions. The vyanjāna or dhvani may be communicated by words, sentences, discourse, intonation, gestures and even sounds. Another word used for suggested meaning is Pratīyamānārtha.

Thus the best poetry is that in which the suggested sense predominates and supersedes the expressed sense. This is called the Dhvanikavya or the poetry of Resonance.

 The second class is that in which the suggested sense is not predominant and this is called the Gunibhuta Vyangya or the poetry of Subordinated Suggestion.

The third class of poetry which is of lower kind is the one without any suggested meaning. This is called Portrait-like poetry or the Citrakavya.The epithet of dhvani, however, is assigned not only to dhvani kavya, but even to words, their meanings or the activity of suggestive poetry. 

In short, in Anandavardhana's treatise it is taken in five senses:

1. The suggestive word/sound which resonates meaning, that is, vyanjan shabd.

2. The suggestive meaning which resembles another sense, that is, vyanjaka artha.

3. The suggestive poetry, that is, vyanjaka kavya.

4. The suggested meaning , that is, vyangyartha and

5. The activity of meaning, that is, vyanjana vyapara.

Anandavardhana elaborates his theory from the angle of what is suggested and the suggestions or what suggests. Regarding the nature of what is suggested, Anandavardhana divides it into three categories:

• Vastu Dhvani or where there is the suggestion of a matter/fact or an idea,

•  Alahkaradhvani or where there is the suggestion of a trope, and

•  Rasa Dhvani or where there is the suggestion of a mood or feeling.

The last category which has been taken as the cardinal principle by the Indian critics, has been assigned prime significance by Anandavardhana also. Elsewhere, he has categorically expressed that his subject is not merely to establish the doctrine of suggestion but also to harmonize it with the theory of aesthetic emotion. The theory of dhvani, as such, is a comprehensive principle which can cover any genre that fulfills the definition of poetry and in fact when the Indian poetics adopts the term, It includes any literary work. The activity of suggestion in literature, whether in the East or in the West , has been an age-old phenomenon. Only that its conscious usage in the West , both as a term and as a technique, was a later development and as Krishna Rayan suggests, it was during the nineteenth century that "in Poe's critical writings that 'suggestiveness' is first used as a technical term".

⭐Conclusion

Dhvani theory is a theory of meaning and symbolism which leads to the poetry of suggestion being accepted as the highest kind of poetry. Dhvani Theory is, therefore, Ānandvardhan's greatest contribution to the poetic world. Through Dhvani or Vyanjana, the poet creates a world of his expression embellished with various poetic devices. Hence, Dhvani in true sense is beyond the suggestible meaning and suggestible element. Ānandvardhan's Dhvani Theory is highly supported by Abhinavgupta.

Words: 1,542

Source

https://easylitt.blogspot.com/2019/05/dhvani-theory-anandvardhan.html?m=1

http://englishdepartmentssmv.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-dhvani-theory.html?m=

p 108 Assignment

P - 108 Assignment

Topic: For Whom The Bell Tolls Themes

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper- The American Literature 

Roll no- 16

Enrollment no- 4069206420210005

Email ID - davenidhi05@gmail.com 

Batch-2021-23(MA Sem-2)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English. Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

⭐For Whom The Bell Tolls Themes

    

👉Introduction:

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. Created by Ernest Hemingway in 1940, the book pictured a story of the Civil War. The title for this book was taken from the poem written by John Donne. The poet created the series of prayers and meditations, and a part of these verses was taken by Hemingway and placed in the text of the novel. This abstract stated that every single person is a part of the continent, a part of the whole world family. Everyone is a part of Mankind and the problems that appear, refer to everybody. The author wanted to show the importance of taking responsibility and never finding anybody else who would be able to complete the task. In this novel, Hemingway created a vivid picture of War. However, the theme of the war is not the only one that the author touches in his work. He was struggling to attract the audience’s attention to such delicate but important themes as mortality, love, courage and the list of others.

👉About Author 

  

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was born near Chicago, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. As a teenager, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. In 1918, during World War I, Hemingway volunteered to join the Italian army as an ambulance driver. When he was injured, he returned to the United States and stayed in Michigan, at his family's home.

Hemingway spent quite a bit of time searching for big adventures in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and continuing to attend bullfights in Spain. He covered the Spanish Civil War as a foreign correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance in 1937 and met his third wife, journalist Martha Gellhorn, to whom he dedicated For Whom the Bell Tolls. His experience covering the war informed the novel a great deal, and his political leanings were in line with the Republicans. Martha divorced Hemingway after he became infatuated with yet another war correspondent, Mary Welsh, who became his fourth wife. For Whom the Bell Tolls was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1941. It was thought by many American critics to be his best book, and it further solidified his place in the American literary canon.In 1966, two years before the Spanish release of the novel, Republican general Enrique Lister wrote in his memoir of the war that Hemingway, though a great writer, did not have a deep understanding of the forces at work both during and after the civil war.

Accident-prone throughout his lifetime of adventures, Hemingway self-medicated and drank heavily. When Hemingway and Welsh moved to Ketchum, Idaho, after buying a house in 1959, his mental health disintegrated. On July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide, a fate that fell upon several members of Hemingway's family over the years.

⭐For whom The Bell Tolls Themes:

• Death and Disillusionment in war 
• Grace under pressure
• The Power of superstition 
• Mood
• Courage and self sacrifice
• Horrors of war 
• Love and friendship
• Mortality

Let's discuss themes of For whom The Bell Tolls 

👉Death and Disillusionment in War

The novel, as many of Hemingway's other works, deals with war. Since death is inevitable in the war effort, many of those fighting for the cause become disillusioned. They realize that the war does not really benefit the common man, even though the leaders insist that the war is being fought to protect them. From the time the book opens, Pablo, the guerilla leader is disenchanted with the war. He simply wants to be left alone to enjoy life. As the book progresses, the readers see Jordan and Anselmo also becoming disillusioned by the death and destruction that surrounds them.

👉Grace Under Pressure

To be a hero, Hemingway believes that a man must display grace under pressure. Most of his characters put themselves into dangerous situations and then act with remarkable bravery in the face of danger. Robert Jordan is no exception. Even though he has become disillusioned with the war effort and disagrees with the methodology of destroying the bridge, he carries out the mission flawlessly. After he blows up the bridge and is riding away to a new life with Maria, he is shot by the fascists who pursue them. When his horse is shot, he is thrown and injures his leg. Unable to travel to safety, he faces death with bravery, firing his gun at the enemy to give the others time to get away.

👉The Power of Superstition

Throughout the novel, there are references to superstitions. In the very beginning, Robert Jordan sets the tone of the novel when he thinks it is a very bad sign that he has forgotten Anselmo's name. Although he claims several times in the book that he is not superstitious, his thoughts, words, and actions prove that he is always seeing "signs" about his fate. Although he is not openly superstitious like some of the Spaniards around him, he is influenced by the mystical.

👉MOOD

A gloomy pall hangs over the novel from the first pages. A war rages in the background, and death is all around. Jordan has been sent to blow up a bridge under the most dangerous of circumstances. In the first pages of the book, he admits that he does not have a good feeling about the mission. When he meets Pablo, the guerilla leader who is to help him, things grow worse. Pablo is a sullen and disillusioned man who no longer cares about the war effort. He immediately dislikes Jordan, seeing him as a threat, and later deserts him for a while. When Pilar reads Jordan's palm, she sees something negative that she is not willing to disclose. Then Jordan is forced to kill several men and, in turn, is injured himself. As the book ends, his death is imminent.

There are a few light moments in the novel when Jordan and Maria are together and plan for their future. They are also aware that there may not be a future for them because of the war. As a result, it seems that they are trying to live their entire lives in the little time that they have together. In the end, Jordan sends Maria away to safety as he is left to die alone.

👉Courage and Self-Sacrifice

The trait of courage is pictured in the novel as the necessary one for every single person. It is that important thing that everyone should have to live through all difficulties that he could meet in life. If one carefully discovers what Robert Jordan thinks about courage, one will find the specific definition of this personality trait. The courage by Robert Jordan means to do without thinking. To be courageous the person should exclude all emotions and coldly complete the needed missions. However, later the character discovered that courage is much more important and he was always tested on having this trait throughout a book. The great model of bravery is Anselmo. He was not forced to help Robert, but he wanted to, and this willingness to help even if the task is dangerous is definitely an excellent example of courage. Braveness is presented in guerrilla’s readiness to risk and give their lives in order to complete the ordered actions. To be ready to self-sacrifice is the greatest point of the courage that is shown in the novel. This is usual for the war condition, especially that pictured by Hemingway. Only one side has a significant advantage in this war, and they are Nationalists. They have all the resources to be perfectly organized and prepared. Republicans have no other choices as to rely on their other devices and consequently, they felt the lack of preparations. The people who went on the War sacrificed their happy life, their families, their comfort, and their health. But they continue to struggle as they still have courage.

👉Horrors of War

The horrors of War are felt on every page of the book and are vividly pictured by the author. There is no person in the world that would not be afraid of the war and its results. People do not want to sacrifice their comfort life, do not want to lose their families, and undergo other horrible consequences that the war has. The war does not bring anything good, and the only thing it is doing is destroying the lives of peaceful citizens. We can see any of the families that are pictured in the novel and try to imagine the feeling that they were forced to have. Maria was forced to see her close people died and in addition to this she herself was raped by the Nationalists. This example is not a single one as the war brings a huge list of such horrors that feel the world and do not let people breathe. Another example is the Fascist soldier who is killing people and after that, beheads them to be completely sure they are dead. Such behavior is dreadful and disrespectful, but for the people that complete these actions, it looks normal and accessible. Soldiers can shoot any of the peaceful citizens if they want to take their horses. They lose their feelings and do not realize how awful the results of their actions are. They are blind in their minds and do evil mechanically without even thinking. The war makes people forget about their feelings.

👉Love And Friendship

However, the feelings could not be fully exterminated; they can only be damped down. People could not live without relationships, and the connection between close people is hard to be completely destroyed. We can notice in the novel a great example of true love and friendship. Hemingway touches this theme, knowing that nobody could survive without love and friends that support him. This is a significant part of human life and one of the factors that make life complete. It does not matter what horrors of war appear everywhere, love always wins. No fear, injury, or death could make the love stop existing. The author proves its picturing the love of Maria and Robert Jordan. Maria is raped, and this fact had left a mark on her heart. She is afraid that nobody would want her and stay with her as she is damaged. It was Pilar who explained to her that true love is able to heal and help to forget the horrible past. Love is able to break the wall between two people who used to deadly hate each other. After throwing out the equipment for destroying the bridge, Pablo feels awfully lonely without Pilar even if he thought he hated her. He still feels that he strongly loves her and admits he was wrong. This love made him come back and repair the damage that he had done. The love forced him to do the things that his mind did not want to.

👉Mortality

One of the most common themes that are always presented together with the war is the theme of mortality. It is brightly pictured in the book, describing the people’s attitude to death. In usual life, people used to avoid talking on such topics, but in the times when war is everywhere, death is a part of everyday life. In such conditions, people spend their lives wondering when would be the last day of their life and they do not doubt that their end could come unexpectedly and quickly. The realization of this fact influenced their conscience and they often changed their attitude to death. It is hard to say that this attitude is the same in all people. Different people have different feelings towards death. Some of them experience horrible fear while others are suffering from despair. But there is something that death made with every single person: it taught them to overview their priorities. When the person sees the coming of his last day, he will not spend these days on things that find unimportant. Death reality helps to understand what is the most significant thing in life. On the novel’s pages, one can meet even such perfect soldiers that have no fear in front of death, and such examples include Robert Jordan. He is highly experienced and prepared, and this could be the reason for such a cold attitude towards death. However, the real reason is he has no cause to be alive and does not see why he should live further. 

👉Conclusion:

Finally, there are other themes in Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ ranging from the power of superstition and divination as in Pilar, suicide as in Jordon’s father, the Spanish War and its tragedy and hypocrisy and theme of solidarity as in Robert Jordon. Jordan laid down his life for a cause but the irony of the situation is that he couldn’t make a total commitment to his “cause” for the Fascists to be killed are human beings. “No man is an island”. Thus the novel takes a purely ironic stand in the context of the Spanish War. 

Words: 2,212

Reference

https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/discuss-main-themes-in-for-whom-the-bell-tolls-the-relevance-of-donne%E2%80%99s-quotation-to-the-main-theme/

http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmForWhom07.asp

https://jgdb.com/essays/for-whom-the-bell-tolls-themes

https://www.coursehero.com/lit/For-Whom-the-Bell-Tolls/themes/

p - 107 Assignment

P - 107 Assignment

Topic: Waiting for Godot As An Absurd play

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper- The Twentieth-century Literature: From world war ll to the End of the country.

Roll no- 16

Enrollment no- 4069206420210005

Email ID - davenidhi05@gmail.com 

Batch-2021-23(MA Sem-2)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English. Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

Waiting for Godot As An Absurd play

   

Introduction:

Waiting for Godot” is clearly influenced by the typical qualities of the modern French drama. The playwright tries to communicate like the French dramatist the meaninglessness of life through dialogues. It is like the naturalist drama of Ibsen and G. B. Shaw in its emphasis on discussion. Nothing significant happens on the stage. The theater of absurd prefers existential things, and, therefore, occasionally it woos Nihilism. The characters are insubstantial but become significant for the symbols they represent. After the first performance of ‘Waiting for Godot‘ (5th January 1953) critics were convinced that Beckett had contrived an absolute negation of human existence. It took more time than other plays to draw their attention from the surface of these stagnant waters to the life of their microorganism

Martin Esslin wrote a book titled “Theater of the Absurd” that was published in 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 an absurd play. 

Waiting for Godot as an Absurd play

What Ionesco insists upon in the nothingness and absurdity of life, so does Samuel Becket: “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful.” Absurd drama is a complete denial of age old values. It has no plot, no characterization, no logical sequence, no culmination. It questions the very meaning of existence, which is full of sound fury but signifies nothing. The term “absurd” was first used by Albert Camus in his famous work, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). It is very clear from the very word “Absurd” that it means nonsensical, opposed to reason, something silly, foolish, senseless, ridiculous and topsy-turvy. So, a drama having a cock and bull story would be called an absurd play.

The theater of the absurd is a phenomenon of the fifties. Becket’s Waiting for Godot reflects the absurdist position of the Post World War II human who is lost in the labyrinth of disillusionment. The glorification of life has been slept into history; humanity lost its way.

‘Nothingness’ (ex nihilo nihil fit) constitutes the major concern for Samuel Becket. According to Martin Esslin, “Nothingness is related to an empty space – no spur to look forward.''The play Waiting for Godot is only active in gestural energy: “Lets go”. Martin Esslin in his book The Theatre of the Absurd(1961) claims that, Waiting for Godot does not tell a story. It explores a static situation: “Everything is dead but the tree.” The play is based on the theme “nothing to be done”. The gestural energy of the tramps waiting for the sake of waiting ends in “They do not move.”

There was no regular movement regarding theater of absurd rather it was a group of people who wrote plays without following the conventional rules. In simple words, performance of plays that were written by group of unconventional writers was called theater of absurd. 

No clear definition of theater of absurd is available. However, Martin Esslin provided an informal definition of absurd plays and “absurd theater” in following words:

“If a good play must have a cleverly constructed story, these [plays of absurd] have no story or plot to speak of; a good play is judged by subtlety of characterization and motivation, these are often without recognizable characters and present the audience with almost mechanical puppets; a good play has to have a fully explained theme, which is neatly exposed and finally solved, these often have neither a beginning nor an end; if a good play is to hold the mirror up to nature and portray the manners and mannerisms of the age in finely observed sketches, these seem often to be reflections of dreams and nightmares; if a good play relies on witty repartee and pointed dialogue, these often consist of incoherent babblings.”

- Martin Esslin on absurd plays 

Characteristics of Absurd Theater:

From the above said remarks it is crystal clear that absurd plays were entirely different from traditional plays. These remarks provide us following characteristics of absurd theater:

• No story or plot
• Lack of characterization
• Neither a proper beginning nor ending
• Unexplained themes
• Imitation of dreams or nightmares instead of nature
• Useless dialogues

“Waiting for Godot” as an Absurd Play:

“Waiting for Godot” fulfills every requirement of an absurd play. It has no story, no characterization, no beginning nor any end, unexplained themes, imitation of dreams and nightmares and above all it contains useless dialogues.

No story or plot:

“Waiting for Godot” does not tell any story nor does it have a plot. The play starts with waiting and ends with it. Characters do not go anywhere. They stand still in front of the audience and do nothing except pass the ball. They talk and pass the time. The play lacks action. Actions of the characters are not related to the plot but to themselves. Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot and the audience perceive that perhaps the real story of the play will start after Godot’s arrival but Godot does not appear on stage nor is he introduced to the audience. Eventually, play ends with waiting. In this way, “Waiting for Godot” fulfills the first requirement of an absurd play.

Lack of Characterization :

The lack of characterization is the hallmark of any absurd drama. In Waiting for Godot, Estragon, Vladimir, Lucky, Pozzo and the non-existence Godot do not Grow during the course of the play. They cannot be treated as proper character. Their cross-talks reflect the very idea of nothingness as they have nothing to communicate – just to be in a static position perpetually. “Here form is content and content is form.” At the end of the play we are at the same position as we were at the beginning. The trajectory of nothingness develops in between.

We don’t know the past of the characters. They are not introduced to the audience. We know only their names and their miserable situation. Their motifs are unclear. Although it is explicit that they are waiting for Godot yet it is not told to the audience what purpose Godot will serve if he comes. Hence, lack of characterization proves that “Waiting of Godot” is a play of absurd theater. 

No Beginning and End

It has no beginning nor has any end. It starts with a situation and ends with it. Both the acts start and end in the same way. For instance, when characters come on stage they reveal their purpose. They say they are waiting but Godot does not come and the act ends with waiting. Second act is also a copy of the first act with minor differences. The play goes on and eventually ends with a wait. Hence, there is no proper start of the play nor does it have a proper end. It is a journey from nothingness to nothingness as observed by eminent critics.

It is a play in which nothing happens twice…. “Nothing happens, nobody comes … nobody goes, it’s awful!”.

Fulfillment of this requirement also proves that “Waiting for Godot” is an absurd play.

Useless Dialogues:

Most of the dialogues of this play serve no purpose. Incoherent babbling is also an important ingredient of the theater of absurdity as mentioned by Esslin. Whole play is based on delivery of dialogues but most of them have no apparent meanings. Every dialogue is full of symbols. Every word refers to something in hidden meaning but it lacks the interest of the audience because it lacks action.

Dialogues create action in every play. Action loses its importance without worthy dialogues. In the case of “Waiting for Godot '', no action has been presented, therefore, dialogues are boring and they are written just to pass the ball. Thus, they are meant to pass the time. Word “nothing” has been repeated numerous times in the play. It actually indicates nothingness in it. Thus, dialogues of the play are nothing but incoherent babbling. “Waiting for Godot” can be called an absurd play due to this trait of absurd theater. 

Unexplained Themes:

Unclear themes also make “Waiting for Godot” a play of absurd theater. Audience do not observe any obvious theme in the play. Superiority of a play is always dependent on its themes. “Waiting for Godot” has no obvious theme. If there is any, it is hidden. Moreover, it presents an individualistic vision of the writer. There is an effect of alienation in the play with respect to themes.

Imitation of Nightmares:

This play does not hold the mirror up to nature. It does not portray the manners and mannerisms of the ages. Esslin is true in his definition of absurd theater. This play “seem[s] often to be a reflection of dreams and nightmares”.

At last but not the least, “Waiting for Godot” is an entirely unconventional play. Samuel Becket violated all dramatic conventions. Indeed, every ingredient of the theater of absurdity has been fulfilled by him. Regardless of that, this play is successful. He wrote this play to break the rules of traditional dramatists. “Waiting for Godot” completes every factor of theater of absurdity, therefore, it can successfully be called the play of absurdity. 

In an absurd drama, speech is reduced to a minimum, In the theater of the absurd, rules are broken, conventions are flouted. As Esslin states, “If a good play relies on witty repartee and pointed dialogue, these often consist of incoherent babblings”. Here the language is used just as a mere game to pass time – as they have nothing to do. Most of the time, the appropriate discourse is being broken. The logicism of conversation has not been maintained.

 

Estragon: Well, shall we go?

Vladimir: Yes, let’s go.

(The do not move)

 Conclusion:

We may conclude in the voice of Esslin,

“It is the peculiar richness of a play like Waiting for Godot that it opens vistas on so many different perspectives. It is open to philosophical, religious and psychological interpretations, yet above all it is a poem on time, evanescence, the paradox of change and stability, necessity and absurdity”.

Words: 1,695

Reference:

https://www.eng-literature.com/2017/10/samuel-beckets-waiting-for-godot-as-an-absurd-drama-title.html

https://www.literaturewise.in/mdl/mod/page/view.php?id=7#:~:text=Waiting%20for%20Godot%E2%80%9D%20is%20an,devoid%20of%20characterization%20and%20motivation.

https://askliterature.com/drama/samuel-beckett/waiting-for-godot/waiting-for-godot-as-an-absurd-play/

Assignment

P - 106 Assignment

⭐Eliot's Use of Symbolism in The Waste Land

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper-The Twentieth-century Literature: 1900 to World War- II

Roll no-16

Enrollment no- 4069206420210005

Email ID - davenidhi05@gmail.com 

Batch-2021-23(MA Sem-2)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English. Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

⭐Eliot's Use of Symbolism in The Waste Land

          

👉Introduction: 

Symbolism is a literary device through which comparisons are established between certain things. When an abstract idea is concretized through a physical object, the comparison becomes meaningful and vivid. 

For example, the rose is a symbol of beauty. Generally, symbols represents conceptions or ideas through things which can be seen or felt through the fine senses of man. Symbolism is very handy method which enables the poet to use myths and images to bring out the resemblance between two different things.

🔅What is Symbolism:

Symbolism is a literary element used in literature to help readers understand a literary work.

Symbolism is a figure of speech that is used when an author wants to create a certain mood or emotion in a work of literature.

🔶Symbol in The Waste Land

• The Fisher King
• River
• Buddhism
• City
• Season
• Religion
• Human Characters
• Thunder
• Drought and dryness
• Landscape 
• Fire

📌The Fisher King

      

The fisher king is one of the central characters in the poem; Eliot drew on from ‘Ritual to Romance’ a 1920 book about the legend of the Holy Grail written by Miss Jessie L. Westone for many of his symbols and images. The book is seen for the connection between ancient fertility rights and Christianity. It includes the evolution of the Fisher King into early representation of Jesus Christ as a fish. If we see it traditionally we find that the importance of the death of the Fisher King brought unhappiness and famine. Eliot shows the Fisher King as symbolic of humanity robbed of its sexuality potency in the modern world and connected to the meaninglessness of urban existence. 

📌River:

      

The poem refers to Ganges in Himalaya. River is called the mother of civilization. The river symbolises the flow of life. Rivers are considered serene also. It symbolises destruction as well as construction.

📌Buddhism

     

The Fire Sermon’ is the title taken from a sermon given by Buddha. Buddha encourages his followers to give up earthly passion (symbolized by fire). Buddha preached nonviolence and wanted his followers to rise spiritually. He symbolizes universal Non violence and peace.

📌Water

   

In Eliot’s poetry, water symbolizes both life and death. Eliot`s characters wait for water to quench their thirst, watch rivers overflow their banks, cry for rain to quench dry earth, and pass by fetid pools of stagnant water. Although water has the regenerating possibility of restoring life and fertility, it can also lead to drawing and death, as in the case of Phlebas the sailor from the Waste Land. Traditionally water can be baptism, Christianity and the figure of Jesus Christ and Eliot draws these traditional meanings; water cleanses, water provides solace and water brings relief elsewhere in the Waste land and in “Little Giddings' ' the fourth part of four quartets. Prufrock hears the seductive calls of mermaids as he walks along the shore in “The LoveSong of J.Alfred Prufrock '', but like Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey (CA. 800 B.C.E.). He realizes that a malicious intent lies behind the sweet voices. The poem concludes- “we drown''.

Eliot thus cautions us to beware of simple solutions or cures, for what looks innocent might turn out to be very dangerous.

Water, a predominant symbol of birth, death and resurrection appears through the poem as in the opening water signifies the giver of life. Yet it also stands for death. “Fear death by water”, or those are pearls that were his eyes. The symbolic meaning depends on a deceased Phoenician.

“a current under sea picked his bones in whispers.”

 Eliot wrote

“as he rose and fell he passed the stages his age and youth entering the whirlpool”

Now let’s see water as a symbol in what the thunder said- here water symbolizes hope- the resurrection of the desolate Waste Land.

“Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves waited for rain,

While the black clouds gathered far distant, over the Himavant.”

📌City

    

Eliot’s London references Baudelaire’s Paris (Unreal city), Dickens’s London (“the brown fog of a winter dawn'') and Dante’s hell (“the flowing crowd of the dead are similar. The city is desolate and depopulated, inhabited only by ghosts from the past.

Cities are destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed mirroring the cyclical downfall of cultures. Jerusalem, Greece, Egypt and Austria among the major empires of the past two millennia all see their capitals fall.

📌Season

"I read much of the night and go south in the winter ".

  

Her woman mixes a meditation on the seasons with remarks on the barren state of her current existence. Summer refers to joy,Winter refers to grimness and death. It refers to barrenness.

📌Religion

    

The Fisher King stands for Christ and other religious figures associated with divine resurrection and rebirth. The speaker of “what the thunder said” fishes from the banks of the Thames toward the end of the poem as the thunder sounds Hindu chants into the air. Eliot’s scene echoes the

Scene in the Bible in which Christ performs one of these miracles, Christ manages to feed his multitude of flowers by the Sea of Galilee with just a small amount of fish. St. Augustine and the Buddha represent East and West religious Music and Singing philosophy.

Eliot’s been interested in dividing high and low culture. He symbolized them using music. According to him, high culture including opera and drama were on decline. On the other hand, popular culture was on the rise.

In the poem, T.S.Eliot blended high culture with low culture by juxtaposing lyrics from an opera by Richard Wagner with songs from pubs, American ragtime, and Australian troops. Eliot splices nursery rhymes with phrases from the Lord’s Prayer in “The Hollow Men”, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is as the little, implies a song, with various lines repeated as refrains. That poem ends with the song of mermaids luring humans to their deaths by drowning- a scene that echoes Odysseus’ interactions with the Sirens in the Odyssey. Music thus becomes another way to Eliot collages and references books from past literary traditions, elsewhere Eliot uses lyrics as a kind of Chorus, seconding and echoing the action of the poem much as the Chorus functions in Greek tragedies.

📌Drought and dryness

Dry symbols, whether it’s dust, red rock, cracked mouths, or dry bones, can be found throughout The Waste Land. The majority of dry symbols in the poem, however, can be found in the ‘heap of broken images’ section early on in ‘The Burial of the Dead’, and in the poem’s final part, ‘What the Thunder Said’, with its ‘empty cisterns’ (i.e., reservoirs) and ‘exhausted wells’.

This symbolism of drought and decay is linked to the Fisher King myth (see below), but it is also symptomatic of a wider cultural and spiritual emptiness: modern life, Eliot’s poem seems to suggest, has lost its way. 

📌Fire

   

Fire is especially important in the third part of The Waste Land, ‘The Fire Sermon’. In the Buddhist Fire Sermon, the 

Buddha states that everything is on fire: our lives are dominated by the ‘burning’ of passions, desires, and human suffering. We need to transcend this sensation and liberate ourselves from the base sensations associated with fire.

So ‘fire’ in this third section of the poem relates to the human passions and the suffering they cause: see the undoing of the Thames-daughters (women who are taken advantage of while sailing down the river), or the casual encounter between the typist and her boyfriend, the spotty young house agent’s clerk. The modern world is governed by these base passions and sensations, lacking any spiritual significance.

But Eliot is even cleverer, because his reference to, for instance, the church of Magnus Martyr brings in Christopher Wren (as his notes make clear), the architect who rebuilt so many of London’s churches when they were destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. So even in this apparently unrelated nod to the interior of a London church, fire symbolism comes into the poem.

📌The Human Characters

The characters in the poem are not the only devices used to invoke symbolism. The tarot card characters Phoenician sailor, the hanged man, the repeated biblical references and other literary references all serve to touch upon symbolic value and also function as objective correlatives

“(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)

Here is Belladonna, the lady of the rocks,

The lady of situations.”

The tarot reader Madame Sosostris conducts the most outrageous form of “reading” possible, transforming a series of vague symbols into predictions that come true in the further sections. The drowned sailor makes reference to the ultimate work of magic and transformation in English literature.

“There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: “Stetson!”

You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!

`That corpse you planted last year in garden,

`Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?

`Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?

O keep the Dog far hence, That`s friend to men,

`Or with his nail he`ll dig it up again!

`You! Hypocrite lecture! –Mon semblable, -Mon frère!”

Stetston is a fallen war comrade. His failure to answer the speaker clears that the dead offer few answers.

“The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king

So rudely forced: yet there the nightingale

Filled the entire desert with an inviolable voice.”

The two women in the second section represent two sides of modern sexuality. One side is dry, barren the other side is rampant fecundity showing a lack of culture and rapid again, Cleopatra, Dido, Lomia and Philomela are referred to here.

I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives,

Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see

At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives

Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea,

The typist home at teatime clears her breakfast, lights

Her stove, and lays out food in tins.

Out of the window perilously spread

 Her drying combinations touched by the sun’s last rays,

On the driven are piled (at night by her bed)

Stockings, slippers, camisoles, and says.

Tiresias is one of the most important models for modern existence. He is held motionless by ennui and pragmatism. He would like to die but cannot.

“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,

Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell

And the profit and loss.”

Phlebas, the Phoenician died of drowning. In death he has forgotten his worldly cares as we have forgotten our own mortality. The only lesson that Phlebus offers is that, the physical reality of death and decay triumphs over- all.

📌Thunder

   

There are many mythical tales about thunder in the holy books of Mahabharata and Ramayana. It symbolizes the coming of good and evil times. 

📌Landscape

Various landscapes are shown by the poet like mountains, rivers, banks, unreal cities etc.

🔶Conclusion:

The poetries of the modern poets like T.S.Eliot and Robert Frost are symbolically. They give us many allusions through allusions rather than sticking to one. The Waste Land is symbolically a very rich poem. We rarely find such a variety of symbols except in T.S.Eliot’s Wasteland. Living beings, animals or insects have been important symbols. Land fertile and Barren both are depicted symbolically with deep meaning. River, water, Natural objects, drought, music, religion, song, king, queen and common people have been used with symbolic reference.

Words: 1,900

Reference:

https://www.englishliterature.info/2021/03/eliots-symbolism-in-the-waste-land.html 

https://interestingliterature-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/interestingliterature.com/2021/06/symbolism-of-the-wast-land