Question-answer task of 'Rape of the lock'

Hello, I am divya parmar. I am writing this blog to complete my class activity. Hear i responded the question of the 'RAPE OF THE LOCK'. 

Question : 1 who is the protagonist of the poem clarissa or Belinda ? why ? give your answers with logical reasons.

Answer: Before we consider anyone character to protagonist we have to know about poem. 

                        Hear in the question, we find two female character: Clarissa and Belinda. these two characters are the character of the poem " RAPE OF THE LOCK". The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope.The first version, published in 1712, consisted of two cantos; the final version, published in 1714, was expanded to five cantos.Based on an actual incident and written to reconcile the families that had been estranged by it, The Rape of the Lock recounts the story of a young woman who has a lock of hair stolen by an ardent young man. Pope couches the trivial event in terms usually reserved for incidents of great moment—such as the quarrel between the Greeks and the Trojans. The poem marries a rich range of literary allusions and an ironic commentary on the contemporary social world with a sense of suppressed energy threatening to break through the veneer of civilization.

The definition of protagonist : 

"the principal character in a literary work (such as a drama or story)" 

                      Struggle, or conflict, is central to drama. The protagonist or hero of a play, novel, or film is involved in a struggle of some kind, either against someone or something else or even against his or her own emotions. So the hero is the "first struggler", which is the literal meaning of the Greek word prōtagōnistēs. A character who opposes the hero is the antagonist, from a Greek verb that means literally "to struggle against".

Belinda as the protagonist: 

                     Belinda is a central character of the play. Opening lines of the poem make it very clear to the readers that Belinda is the central character and heroine of this mock-epic. Belinda is a complex character in Rape of the Lock. Her character is presented under different roles and shades. Her depiction is both satirical and ironical but with a tincture of entertainment. There are lots of controversies among critics about character of Belinda since the publication of the Rape of the Lock. Some consider Belinda’s treatment fair while others consider it unfair.

                         The whole story of the poem is woven around her unique character. Her every action in the poem is of great significance and catches the attention of the readers. Readers come to know about her way of life and pursuits.

“Favours to none, to all she smiles extends

Oft she rejects, but never once offends,”

Famous Character Among English Literature

Belinda’s character is an outstanding portrait by Pope in his mock epic The rape of the lock. Among all the other heroines in English Literature like Shakespeare’s Caleopetra Ophillia Emillia; Fielding’s Pameila; Eliot’s Maggi; Belinda had been the favorite character of Pop. The way Pope pays attributes to Belinda’s beauty with his pen; it seems that he has been enamored with his own creation. Pope describes her paragon of beauty and wittiness: the goddess of beauty, the nymph, the fair, the rival of the sun’s beams. Pope’s Belinda resembles Shakespeare’s Cleopatra. Like her, she is a paragon of beauty and the winner of men of her age.

 

QUESTION : 2 What is beauty ? write your views about it. 

ANSWER : when we hear the word beauty, our unconscious mind make image of beautiful lady or woman infront of our eyes! generally the word beauty is related with female community. it is true that it relates with Nature ane Earth also. But the concept of beauty is effected female community. the definition of beauty says,

               " a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight." 

                    Following definition put emphasize on quality, colour, shape or etc. but the real concept of beauty is our inner emotion. Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, one of the major branches of philosophy. As a positive aesthetic value, it is contrasted with ugliness as its negative counterpart. 

                    "Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams."

                                                - Ashley Smith

               when I am talking about beauty, my mind always make image of positive personality. beauty is not about colour, weight, size, shape or etc. but Beauty is about our inner emotion. humanity, kindness , acceptence, obey to your liability. According to my point of view, 'we have to change our mindset to judge things or persona by looks!' Hear i am share my one poem.

Question : 3 find out a research paper on "rape of the lock" give brief information about that paper.

ANSWER : I found these research paper to complete my task. hear i am giving brief information about that. 

"Interrogating the ethics of mockery in Pope’s The Rape of the Lock: a political turn" 

The Rape of the Lock as working out ideas of feminine psychology in terms of ‘irrational’ mythologies. Indeed The Rape of the Lock illustrates a mock-epic of excellent caliber. The focal affair of the grand narrative is the heist of foppish Belinda’s hair-lock by a cocky and haughty Baron. The transpiring clash between both of the familial parties also captures major attention of the readers. All the paramount characteristics of an epic encircle the incident. The style is elevated. There is the use of supernatural machinery in the form of the Sylphs, a voyage, a visit to the underworld and battles, almost leaning towards a comical gothic. Pope’s popular fame resides largely in his satires, devastating, final as one would think, directed not against individuals, though personal hatred and scorn entered into the original conception in some of his portraits, but against negative qualities, passions destructive of society or of civilized living. The paper will try to examine Pope’s use of parody and mockery at the relativity of Being and genealogy of the Real through a cultural mirroring of selves in a broader plane. 

 

Keywords: mythology, theft, supernatural, mockery, selves. 

 An embodiment of poetic taste and refinement, The Rape of the Lock is a unique mashup of comedy and satire, to be textually precise, a comic satire. Alexander Pope, the dominant poetic figure among the Augustans, reflects a delicate comical lyric in his epic, The Rape of the Lock. The curious intermingling of the grandiloquent and the comedy in a rhythmic narrative is the fruit of the conscious working of his Augustan sensibilities.

                       The socio-linguistic construct of the whole poetic composition is deftly exposed by the title of the poem, albeit in an unusual form of textual lyric. The title of The Rape of the Lock, however, can be identified to be a psycho-pathological paradox with a forced genetic antinomy, playing a major role in its connotative deconstruction and meditative elucidation. Pope brings in a reflection of semantic tingling of senses with a general approach towards his poetic title and its characters that play the titular game. 

word count : 1600 

Refrence: Spark notes, academia 

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE QUESTION-ANSWER TASK

                       Hello, I am divya parmar. I am writing blog to complete class activity of novel Pride and prijudice. Hear i am dealing with brief answer and some detailed answers.

QUESTION: 1.

                        which version of the the novel is more appealing? Novel or film? why?

ANSWER : 

                       Thee movie adaptations of The novel 'pride and prejudice' by jane Austen is the best version appealing. when we observe novel V/S film or movie adaptations, we found that movie or film involved some incident or removing some parts of novel for entertainment purposes. In movie or film makers make changes like they present only selective summary rather then full narrative or cinematic theory of novel. But on the other side film makers includes the best sight scene, musical part, interpretation of character, theme development and also it shows the understanding and tunning between story, plot and acting. 

                     When reader read the novel or story may be the theme of novel or the moral they can't understand but when movie adaptations or visual thing make it more clear. so the movie adaptations is appealing.

QUESTION : 2.

                         Character of Elizabeth.

ANSWER : 

(image from movie's character)

                        Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzie by her friends and family. Elizabeth is the the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous—she is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone.she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcy’s character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.

QUESTION : 3 

                        Character of mr.darcy.

(image from movie's character)

ANSWER : 

                       Fitzwilliam Darcy, generally referred to as Mr. Darcy, is one of the two central characters in Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. He is an archetype of the aloof romantic hero, and a romantic interest of Elizabeth Bennet, the novel's protagonist. He is The son of a wealthy, well-established family and the master of the great estate of Pemberley, Darcy is Elizabeth’s male counterpart. 

QUESTION : 4. 

                       Give the illustrations of the society of that time.

ANSWER : 

 Love

                       Pride and Prejudice contains one of the most cherished love stories in English literature: the courtship between Darcy and Elizabeth. As in any good love story, the lovers must elude and overcome numerous stumbling blocks, beginning with the tensions caused by the lovers’ own personal qualities. Elizabeth’s pride makes her misjudge Darcy on the basis of a poor first impression, while Darcy’s prejudice against Elizabeth’s poor social standing blinds him, for a time, to her many virtues. (Of course, one could also say that Elizabeth is guilty of prejudice and Darcy of pride—the title cuts both ways.)

Austen, meanwhile, poses countless smaller obstacles to the realization of the love between Elizabeth and Darcy, including Lady Catherine’s attempt to control her nephew, Miss Bingley’s snobbery, Mrs. Bennet’s idiocy, and Wickham’s deceit. In each case, anxieties about social connections, or the desire for better social connections, interfere with the workings of love. Darcy and Elizabeth’s realization of a mutual and tender love seems to imply that Austen views love as something independent of these social forces, as something that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape the warping effects of a hierarchical society.

Reputation

                      Pride and Prejudice depicts a society in which a woman’s reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism. This theme appears in the novel, when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield and arrives with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation-conscious Miss Bingley and her friends. At other points, the ill-mannered, ridiculous behavior of Mrs. Bennet gives her a bad reputation with the more refined (and snobbish) Darcys and Bingleys.

Austen pokes gentle fun at the snobs in these examples, but later in the novel, when Lydia elopes with Wickham and lives with him out of wedlock, the author treats reputation as a very serious matter. By becoming Wickham’s lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia clearly places herself outside the social pale, and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family. The fact that Lydia’s judgment, however terrible, would likely have condemned the other Bennet sisters to marriageless lives seems grossly unfair. Why should Elizabeth’s reputation suffer along with Lydia’s? Darcy’s intervention on the Bennets’ behalf thus becomes all the more generous, but some readers might resent that such an intervention was necessary at all. If Darcy’s money had failed to convince Wickham to marry Lydia, would Darcy have still married Elizabeth? Does his transcendence of prejudice extend that far? The happy ending of Pride and Prejudice is certainly emotionally satisfying, but in many ways it leaves the theme of reputation, and the importance placed on reputation, unexplored. One can ask of Pride and Prejudice, to what extent does it critique social structures, and to what extent does it simply accept their inevitability?

Class

                      The theme of class is related to reputation, in that both reflect the strictly regimented nature of life for the middle and upper classes in Regency England. The lines of class are strictly drawn. While the Bennets, who are middle class, may socialize with the upper-class Bingleys and Darcys, they are clearly their social inferiors and are treated as such. Austen satirizes this kind of class-consciousness, particularly in the character of Mr. Collins, who spends most of his time toadying to his upper-class patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

                      Though Mr. Collins offers an extreme example, he is not the only one to hold such views. His conception of the importance of class is shared, among others, by Mr. Darcy, who believes in the dignity of his lineage; Miss Bingley, who dislikes anyone not as socially accepted as she is; and Wickham, who will do anything he can to get enough money to raise himself into a higher station. Mr. Collins’s views are merely the most extreme and obvious. The satire directed at Mr. Collins is therefore also more subtly directed at the entire social hierarchy and the conception of all those within it at its correctness, in complete disregard of other, more worthy virtues.

Through the Darcy-Elizabeth and Bingley-Jane marriages, Austen shows the power of love and happiness to overcome class boundaries and prejudices, thereby implying that such prejudices are hollow, unfeeling, and unproductive. Of course, this whole discussion of class must be made with the understanding that Austen herself is often criticized as being a classist: she doesn’t really represent anyone from the lower classes; those servants she does portray are generally happy with their lot. Austen does criticize class structure, but only a limited slice of that structure.

Family

                      Family is an integral theme in the novel. All of the characters operate within networks of family connections that shape their decisions and perspectives. For the female characters in particular, the influence and behavior of their family members is a significant factor in their lives. Because “the business of [Mrs. Bennet’s] life was to get her daughters married”, the Bennet sisters constantly have to navigate their mother’s plans and schemes. While male characters like Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley have much more social and financial independence, they still rely on the judgment and opinions of female family members like Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Individuals are judged according to the behavior of their family members, which is why Darcy points out to Lizzy that he is doing her a favor by proposing even though she comes with embarrassing family connections. The theme of family shows that individuals never lead totally autonomous lives, and that individual actions have wider communal implications.

Integrity

                      Elizabeth Bennet considers herself to have very high standards of integrity, and she is often frustrated and disappointed by the way she sees others behaving. She complains bitterly to her sister, “The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it, and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters.” She behaves in ways she considers consistent with her definition of integrity by refusing to marry both Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy (when he proposes the first time): Elizabeth thinks it is very important to only marry a man she loves and respects, despite the pressure to achieve economic security.

By the end of the novel, Lizzy's commitment to integrity has been rewarded because she marries a partner who will truly make her happy. She has also come to see that she can sometimes be too rigid and judge too quickly, since she was initially mistaken about the nature and ethics of Wickham and Darcy. The novel endorses the importance of integrity, but it also reminds readers not to be too quick to pass judgment on who has it and who doesn’t.

Gender

                     Gender is a key theme in Pride and Prejudice. The story takes place at a time when gender roles were quite rigid, and men and women had a very different set of options and influences. Marriage is a pressing question for female characters like Charlotte Lucas and the Bennet sisters because marriage is the only way women can achieve economic stability and autonomy. As upper-class women, they would not have been able to work to earn a living, or live independently. Marriage offered one of the only ways to move beyond their birth families. However, a woman’s marriageability relied on an impeccable reputation for chastity, and for women like Georgiana Darcy or Lydia Bennet, a reckless decision to trust the wrong man could permanently ruin their future prospects. Lydia’s elopement causes Lizzy to exclaim with horror that “she is lost forever.” If Lydia is living with Wickham without being married to him, her reputation will be destroyed.

QUESTION : 5.

                        If you were director or screen play writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of movie ? 

ANSWER : 

                      If I am the director or screen play writer, I want to make changes in class devisions. In reality of the world there is a three divisions: uper class, middle class and lower class. But in the novel we found discription of uper class and middle class. There is no discription of lower class. 

QUESTION : 6. 

                        who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters ? 

ANSWER : 

                      MR. DARCY and ELIZABETH BANNET would be my choice of actors to play the role of characters. 

QUESTION : 7. 

                       Compare the narrative strategy of the novel and movie. 

ANSWER : 

                       Pride and Prejudice is narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator. The narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings of the characters and describes these to the reader. The narrator of the novel also frequently adds commentary about characters and their actions, which shapes the reader’s perception. For example, at the start of the novel the narrator describes Mrs. Bennet as “a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.” Although the narrator has access to every character’s interior life, the novel’s events are usually told from Elizabeth’s point of view.

Austen also makes use of a narrative strategy known as free indirect discourse. Free indirect discourse takes place when Elizabeth’s thoughts OF feelings are presented to the reader without signals like “she thought.” For example, a description of Wickham states that “his manners recommended him to everybody. Whatever he said, was said well; and whatever he did, done gracefully.” The context of this passage, in which Elizabeth is observing Wickham’s behavior, signals to a reader that this perspective belongs to Elizabeth and therefore is potentially unreliable. At first glance, however, it can seem like it is the narrator who is giving an objective description of Wickham.

Austen’s use of third-person narration and free indirect discourse is important because these devices show that all of the characters, including Elizabeth, frequently make assumptions and errors in judgment. The third-person narrator provides an outside perspective on events, reminding readers that the perceptions of characters may not always be accurate. Free indirect discourse serves the same purpose but in a more subtle way. A major source of conflict for Elizabeth is that she tends to quickly form judgments and then has a difficult time understanding that those judgments could be incorrect. For example, she rushes to the conclusion that Wickham is a good man and that Darcy is a bad man, and it takes her a long time to realize that she has been mistaken. Because free indirect discourse can lead a reader to quickly make a judgment and accept that a statement is true—when it is actually one person’s biased opinion being presented—readers have to learn to avoid the of rapidly making assumptions. This learning process parallels the one Elizabeth experiences as she confronts her own prejudices and tendency toward hasty judgments.

A STUDY OF FILM ADAPTATION OF MACBETH

                Hello, I am divya parmar. I am writting this blog to complete task of Macbeth. for that I am going to write Blog on 'A study of film Adaptation of Macbeth' I am giving brief information of films which have adaptation form original Macbeth by Shakespeare. 

MACBETH BY SHAKESPEARE : 

                     The full tittle of the drama or book is " Tragedy of Macbeth". Macbeth is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, who was patron of Shakespeare's acting company, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with his sovereign.[1] It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.

                      A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.

                      Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy are usually associated with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

                   In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed, and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "The Scottish Play". Over the course of many centuries, the play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.

WHAT IS FILM ADAPTATION? 

                     A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, recent academic developments by scholars such as Robert Stam conceptualize film adaptation as a dialogic process. A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film. Other works adapted into films include non-fiction (including journalism), autobiography, comic books, scriptures, plays, historical sources, and other films. From the earliest days of cinema, in nineteenth-century Europe, adaptation from such diverse resources has been a ubiquitous practice of filmmaking.

A STUDY OF FILM ADAPTATION OF MACBETH : 

                      In the rich history of Shakespeareantranslation/transcreation/appropriation in world, Macbeth occupies an important place. Macbeth has found a long and productive life on Celluloid. The themes of this Bard’s play work in almost any genre, in any decade of any generation, and will continue to find their home on stage, in film, literature, and beyond. Macbeth can well be said to be one of Shakespeare’s most performed play and has enchanted theatre personalities and film makers. 

                  critical reception of the adaptationamong audiences. The films to be mentioned are not set in any chronological order but according to their critical acclaim.

1. orasn welles's Macbeth (1948) : 

American film director Orson Welles released his Macbeth version in 1948. He acted as Macbeth in his film and presented a ‘real’ Macbeth. Jeanette Nolan was in the role of Lady Macbeth, Edgar Barrier acted Banquo and, Erskine Sanford was in the role of Duncan. Orson Welles's visual strategy, in this black-and-white adaptation, offers more to the view, but in a blurring style that favors fluidity, uncertainty, and instability through a misty setting, out-of-focus shots, and slow dissolves. In the established Welles tradition, which has been building for a number of years, the theatrical mechanics of the medium are permitted to dominate the play and Shakespeare is forced to lower billing than the director,the star or the cameraman. Welles transforms Macbeth into an expressionistic morality play. The swirling mists and vague outlines of three crouching figures lure an audience into a disturbing world where supernatural powers seem to controlling events. Faceless witches defy our attempts at definition and the sight of them plunging their hands into the bubbling cauldron confirms our fear.

2. Akira Kurosawa's throne of blood (1957):

                    Throne of Blood was made in 1957 by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura,Chieko Naniwa and Minoru Chiaki. Akira Kurosawa, in this film, translates “Scottish tragedy” to feudal Japan and replaces the Scotsmen with Samurai warriors and Japanese barons. Throne of Blood creates a dark phantasmal universe that is so captivating that many critics have considered it the best ‘Macbeth’ film of all time and called as one of the most satisfying films based on a Shakespeare play. The film is set in 15th century Japan revolving around a story of betrayal,and power. For rather than creating an interpretation of the text, Kurosawa has lifted Macbeth from its original culture and transformed it into a film of medieval Japan. Still, the film stays true to the plot, as well as the characters’ roles in the original text. With vital irrelevance Kurosawa has translated Shakespeare’s words into Japanese image, Shakespeare’s lords into Japanese barons. Kurosawa’s cross cultural and cross medium adaptation of Macbeth is neither merely a “grotesque” Japanified version of Shakespeare’s tragedy not a straight transposition of the play’s essence into universal visual images; rather, it stages a historically specific negotiation between traditional Japanese and imported Western culture. The film explores complicated aspects of the relation of theatre to cinema. In some respects the film has clearly theatrical commitment, yet there are dimensions of its spatial strategy which remove it from the kind of pure theatrical Japanese films.

3.Roman polankski's Macbeth (1971):

                    Roman Polanski who is a renowned British film director translated Macbeth as film in 1971 with the same name starring Jon Finch, Francesca Amis as lead actors. The film was set in the open countryside in Scotland and his castle was more like the setting of the original play which makes it more traditional. It was the first film Polanski made after his wife’s brutal murder. That is why this film is renowned for its horror, nudity and violence. Polanski wrote screenplay with Kenneth Tynan and translated Bard’s play with his own ideas and changed many scenes and situations symbolically confronting the spectators with a dangerous “gorgon” that could amaze them. This film stages the play in a cruel and pagan world, between the Neolithic and the middle age. The film nonetheless inserts new possibilities into the play. From beginning to the end there are notable changes. At some places, however, Polanski presents the key scenes of murder of King Duncan, and Macbeth differently. The murder of the king Duncan, shown in visual images thrills the heart of the spectators that isolates them to imagine what they felt at the time of reading the play.

                  The whole cast of the film is impressive. The actors are young fellows. Even the king lived young and died young then. John Finch as Macbeth is both athletic and impassioned enough to carry off the soldiering, and young and introspective enough to be moved by his wife as a women and a co-conspirator as well. In many respects Polanski’s Macbeth seems near to the original play. For instance the castle keeps are cold, dark, and dirty. The common sleeping cottages, straw bedding, flaring smoky torches, seeping walls, and muddy yards all contributes to the historical accuracy of this production. All the scenes of murders are nasty which try to show that medieval Scotland was nasty and bloody.

4.vishal Bhardwaj's macbool (2003):

                      Maqbool is a 2004 Indian film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and starring Irfan Khan, Tabbu, Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and, Om Puri. Maqbool is acclaimed as a ‘Macbeth meets the Godfather’ film, for it defies convenient categorization as it combines Bollywood gangster film, Muslim social drama, ethnography, and postmodernist artwork. Although set in the dark underworld of Bombay (Mumbai), features Bollywood actors, and draws from conventions of theBollywood film such as festivities, songs and dances, the film remains close to Shakespeare where Maqbool (Macbeth) is part of a crime family whose head is Abbaji (Duncan) yet the latter’s mistress, Nimmi (Lady Macbeth) is in love with Maqbool. And instead of witches, the movie has two corrupt policemen predicting Maqbool’s rise to power. In Maqbool Vishal Bhardwaj sets Maqbool against the backdrop of Mumbai’s underworld. Maqbool deftly blends the basic plot structure of Shakespeare’s play with the increasingly popular genre of Bollywood gangland films. Macbeth, widely considered Shakespeare's most enduring tragedy, is a tale of murder, revenge, guilt and moral ineptitude. No wonder it translates brilliantly when taken in a Bollywood context.

5.Geoffrey Wright's Macbeth (2006):

                     Australian film director Geoffrey Wright presented his version of Macbeth in 2006. He took Sam Worthington as Macbeth and Victoria Hill as Lady Macbeth. She assisted Wright in writing the script also. Wright sets the film in modern day Melbourne underworld. The language is also fully inspired from underworld and the accents are pure Australian. The film appeals largely to modern desires for blood and sex. Geoffrey Wright changed the play at a large scale. He shows the kingdom as a gang and the warriors as gangsters and Duncan is also shown as a crime boss. There are multiple gunfights with machine guns in place of sword fighting, luxurious Audi cars and dirt-bikes rather than horses and carriages, and high fascination in the film. He filmed much of the picture with HD photography - thus capturing a broader range of imagery and a much blacker darkness in his nighttime sequences - and lit a pivotal action scene exclusively with red laser gun sights. It attempts to make the play appropriate to the modern audiences and fits the classic tale of greed and over ambition into the contemporary modern setting. The contemporary updating of Shakespeare's timeless story of power and ambition is supposed to make the drama more accessible but only distracts instead. Macbeth’s gated estate bears a sign identifying it as Dunsinane, Banquo likes to ride motorbikes just so he can ride something when he gets whacked, and Birnam Wood turns out to be a logging company. Wright turned the king Duncan into the Drug Baron and the Lords the valued members of his crime unit. Three witches (acted by Maisie Mac Farquhar, Elsie Taylor, and Noelle Rimmington) are also three attractive school girls, far away from traditional witches, who indulge in an orgy with Macbeth. They are projected as a bunch of doped-up Goth chicks that prefer a foggy dance floor to the heath. Due to huge violence, bloodshed and reddish approach, many people consider it a bloody, bold and resolute film.

  

                   The plays of Shakespeare have become undisputed literary classics. They have undergone exhaustive interpretative and bibliographic explication so that in addition to their own literary canonization, they have generated an immense volume of centrifugal literature. The uncertainty about just what Shakespearean film ought to strive to accomplish will no doubt continue unless there is an attempt to discern clearly the subtle and significant difference which distinguishes the two media in their presentation of dramatic material. They are differences which do not merely concern the mode of work’s presentation, but they crucially modify the relationship between the audience and the presented work. The reality of ‘target audiences’ influencing the rendering in the target culture is a dominant factor behind this introspection. Commercial compulsions force a director to present an ‘experimented’ Shakespeare in many ways. Therefore, it is an attempt to liberate him from a single language and culture, thereby extending the scope of his genius far behind his own text and filmic practice. Macbeth is a tragedy about how power destroys people who don't deserve it and are not ready for it. In both- Shakespeare and all the film versions of Macbeth it is seen that links between power and gender are retained but portrayed differently in order to cater to a contemporary audience. In all of the productions studied, the meanings and values expressed are the same (greed, guilt and ambition) but the medium of production is adapted to the audience (in order to cater to the respective social contexts).

 Word count : 2126 words               

                       

NEOCLASSICAL POET WILLIAM BLAKE

                 Hello, I am divya parmar. I am writting blog this blog for completing task of Neoclassical major writer and my favourite neoclassical work of the age.

THE NEOCLASSICAL POET :  WILLIAM BLAKE

                "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

                                          -WILLIAM BLAKE

 BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM BLAKE 

                          William Blake was a 19th-century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced countless writers and artists through the ages. William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in the Soho district of London, England. He only briefly attended school, being chiefly educated at home by his mother. The Bible had an early, profound influence on Blake, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration, coloring his life and works with intense spirituality.

                         At an early age, Blake began experiencing visions, and his friend and journalist Henry Crabb Robinson wrote that Blake saw God's head appear in a window when Blake was 4 years old. He also allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with angels." Blake's visions would have a lasting effect on the art and writings that he produced. 

- WILLIAM BLAKE AS PAINTER

                       Blake's artistic ability became evident in his youth, and by age 10, he was enrolled at Henry Pars' drawing school, where he sketched the human figure by copying from plaster casts of ancient statues. At age 14, he apprenticed with an engraver. Blake's master was the engraver to the London Society of Antiquaries, and Blake was sent to Westminster Abbey to make drawings of tombs and monuments, where his lifelong love of gothic art was seeded.

                       Also around this time, Blake began collecting prints of artists who had fallen out of vogue at the time, including Durer, Raphael and Michelangelo. In the catalog for an exhibition of his own work in 1809, nearly 40 years later, in fact, Blake would lambast artists "who endeavour to raise up a style against Rafael, Mich. Angelo, and the Antique." He also rejected 18th-century literary trends, preferring the Elizabethans (Shakespeare, Jonson and Spenser) and ancient ballads instead. 

             In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Also preparing himself for a career as a painter, that same year, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art's Schools of Design, where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780. Blake's artistic energies branched out at this point, and he privately published his Poetical Sketches (1783), a collection of poems that he had written over the previous 14 years.

                       In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher, who was illiterate. Blake taught her how to read, write, draw and color (his designs and prints). He also helped her to experience visions, as he did. Catherine believed explicitly in her husband's visions and his genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.One of the most traumatic events of Blake's life occurred in 1787, when his beloved brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at age 24. At the moment of Robert's death, Blake allegedly saw his spirit ascend through the ceiling, joyously; the moment, which entered into Blake's psyche, greatly influenced his later poetry. The following year, Robert appeared to Blake in a vision and presented him with a new method of printing his works, which Blake called "illuminated printing." Once incorporated, this method allowed Blake to control every aspect of the production of his art.

                        While Blake was an established engraver, soon he began receiving commissions to paint watercolors, and he painted scenes from the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare and the Bible.

Blake's painting of Shakespeare's drama scene

Blake's painting on Milton's poetry

Blake's Dante's work

                         In 1800, Blake accepted an invitation from poet William Hayley to move to the little seaside village of Felpham and work as his protégé. While the relationship between Hayley and Blake began to sour, Blake ran into trouble of a different stripe: In August 1803, Blake found a soldier, John Schofield, on the property and demanded that he leave. After Schofield refused and an argument ensued, Blake removed him by force. Schofield accused Blake of assault and, worse, of sedition,claiming that he had damned the king.The punishments for sedition in England at the time (during the Napoleonic Wars) were severe. Blake anguished, uncertain of his fate. Hayley hired a lawyer on Blake's behalf, and he was acquitted in January 1804, by which time Blake and Catherine had moved back to London.

                 In the final years of his life, Blake suffered from recurring bouts of an undiagnosed disease that he called "that sickness to which there is no name." He died on August 12, 1827, leaving unfinished watercolor illustrations to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and an illuminated manuscript of the Bible's Book of Genesis. In death, as in life, Blake received short shrift from observers, and obituaries tended to underscore his personal idiosyncrasies at the expense of his artistic accomplishments. The Literary Chronicle, for example, described him as "one of those ingenious persons ... whose eccentricities were still more remarkable than their professional abilities."

                        Unappreciated in life, Blake has since become a giant in literary and artistic circles, and his visionary approach to art and writing has not only spawned countless, spellbound speculations about Blake, they have inspired a vast array of artists and writers.

FAVOURITE WORK BY WILLIAM BLAKE: 

TITTLE : THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER : WHEN MY MOTHER DIED I WAS VERY YOUNG 

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"

So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,

"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, & that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins & set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,

And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.

And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

THE CHEMNY SWEEPER : A LITTLE BLACK THING AMONG THE SNOW 

A little black thing among the snow,

Crying "weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!

"Where are thy father and mother? say?"

"They are both gone up to the church to pray.

Because I was happy upon the heath,

And smil'd among the winter's snow,

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

And because I am happy and dance and sing,

They think they have done me no injury,

And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,

Who make up a heaven of our misery."

 

                       "The Chimney Sweeper" is a poem by William Blake, published in his 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. The poem is told from the perspective of a young chimney sweep, a boy who has been sold into labor by his father. The sweep meets a new recruit to the chimney sweeping gang named Tom Dacre, who arrives terrified. After the speaker tries to reassure Tom, Tom dreams of an angel who sets the chimney sweeps free, allowing them to play in green fields and then ascend to heaven. This dream seems to suggest that if the boys are obedient workers, they'll get into heaven. Implicitly, though, the poem takes issue with this idea, suggesting that it's a form of indoctrination for the Church. The companion poem of the same title, published in Songs of Experience, makes this position—that promises of heavenly salvation are simply a means to exploit child labor—crystal clear.

                      i was just a little boy when my mother died. My father then sold me into the chimney sweep profession before I even knew how to speak. Since then, all I've done is sweep chimneys and sleep covered in dirt.

A new boy arrived one day; his name was Tom Dacre. He cried when his curly lamb-like hair was shaved off. I told him not to worry: with a shaven head, his beautiful locks wouldn't have to get dirty from all the chimney dust.

Later that night, Tom fell asleep. He had a vision in a dream. He saw row upon row of dead chimney sweepers in black coffins.

An angel came along with a key and unlocked the coffins, setting the sweeps free. Then they frolic in green fields, bathing in clear water and basking in the sun.

Naked, clean, and without their work implements, the sweeps rise up to heaven on clouds and play in the wind. The angel tells Tom that if he behaves well God will take care of him and make sure he is happy.

The next day, Tom woke up. We got out of bed before dawn and went with our bags and chimney brushes to our work. It was a cold morning but Tom seemed fine. If we all just work hard, nothing bad will happen.

Word count : 1612 words

Refference : History of English literature by w.j.long , britnika.com

BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN

                 "Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do their bounds divide."                                 - John Dryden

                    Dryden is the greatest literary figure of the Restoration, and in his work we have an excellent reflection of both the good and the evil tendencies of the age in which he lived. If we can think for a moment of literature as a canal of water, we may appreciate the figure that Dryden is the "lock by which the waters of English poetry were let down from the mountains of Shakespeare and Milton to the plain of Pope"; that is, he stands between two very different ages, and serves as a transition from one to the other.  

LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN : 

Born = August 19, 1631 ENGLAND

Died = May 12, 1700 (aged 68), LONDON- ENGLAND

                     Dryden was born in the village of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, in 1631. His family were prosperous people, who brought him up in the strict Puritan faith, and sent him first to the famous Westminster school and then to Cambridge.  

                   He made excellent use of his opportunities and studied eagerly, becoming one of the best educated men of his age, especially in the classics. Though of remarkable literary taste, he showed little evidence of literary ability up to the age of thirty. By his training and family connections he was allied to the Puritan party, and his only well-known work of this period, the "Heroic Stanzas," was written on the death of Cromwell: 

                    "His grandeur he derived from Heaven alone,

    For he was great ere Fortune made him so;

And wars, like mists that rise against the sun,

    Made him but greater seem, not greater grow."

                     In these four lines, taken almost at random from the "Heroic Stanzas," we have an epitome of the thought, the preciseness, and the polish that mark all his literary work.This poem made Dryden well known, and he was in a fair way to become the new poet of Puritanism when the Restoration made a complete change in his methods. He had come to London for a literary life, and when the Royalists were again in power he placed himself promptly on the winning side. 

                    

                       During this time Dryden had become the best known literary man of London, and was almost as much a dictator to the literary set which gathered in the taverns and coffeehouses as Ben Jonson had been before him. His work, meanwhile, was rewarded by large financial returns, and by his being appointed poet laureate and collector of the port of London. The latter office, it may be remembered, had once been held by Chaucer. works of Dryden makes him very famous. he died in 1700 and was buried near chaucer in westminster abbey. 

 

WORK LIST OF JOHN DRYDEN : 

                         The numerous dramatic works of Dryden are best left in that obscurity into which they have fallen. Now and then they contain a bit of excellent lyric poetry, and in All for Love, another version of Antony and Cleopatra, where he leaves his cherished heroic couplet for the blank verse of Marlowe and Shakespeare, he shows what he might have done had he not sold his talents to a depraved audience. On the whole, reading his plays is like nibbling at a rotting apple; even the good spots are affected by the decay, and one ends by throwing the whole thing into the garbage can, where most of the dramatic works of this period belong.

POEMS OF JOHN DRYDEN: 

 

1. Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell (1659)

2. Astraea Redux (1660)

3. To His Sacred Majesty, a Panegyric on His Coronation (1661)

4. To My Lord Chancellor (1662)

5. Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders (1667)

                    Following list of poem is the

 major poems of John Dryden. so many other poems are there in his poem work List.

PROSE AND CRITICISM: 

-Of Dramatic Poesie, An Essay (1668)

- Notes and Observations on "The Empress of Morocco" (1674)

- His Majesties Declaration Defended (1681)

- A Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire (1693) 

DRYDEN'S INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE: 

                     Dryden's place among authors is due partly to his great influence on the succeeding age of classicism. Briefly, this influence may be summed up by noting the three new elements which he brought into our literature. These are: 

(1) the establishment of the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.

(2) his development of a direct, serviceable prose style such as we still cultivate;

(3) his development of the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems. 

This is certainly a large work for one man to accomplish, and Dryden is worthy of honor, though comparatively little of what he wrote is now found on our bookshelves. After studying John Dryden we can conclude that he was the great writer, English poet, literary critic, translator and playwrights also. he was the best figure of restoration time. 

Experience of lockdown!

"Lockdown" POEM BY SIMON ARMITAGE: 

                  UK's poet Laureate Simon armitage written poem on Lockdown during these corona pandemic situation. Lockdown poem first published in March. cause of the corona virus spread and thousands of people died. people are quarantine at their home. people faced so many problems and get troubled to live life. 

POET LAUREATE SIMON ARMITAGE: 

                An English poet, playwright and novelist He was appointed poet laureate on 10 May 2019.He is also professor of poetry at the University of Leeds and succeeded Geoffrey Hill as Oxford Professor of Poetry. he is Poet, playwright, novelist, lead singer.

POEM "LOCKDOWN

And I couldn’t escape the waking dream

of infected fleas

in the warp and weft of soggy cloth

by the tailor’s hearth

in ye olde Eyam.

Then couldn’t un-see

the Boundary Stone,

that cock-eyed dice with its six dark holes,

thimbles brimming with vinegar wine

purging the plagued coins.

which brought to mind the sorry story

of Emmott Syddall and Rowland Torre,

star-crossed lovers on either side

of the quarantine line

whose wordless courtship spanned the river

till she came no longer.

But slept again,

and dreamt this time

of the exiled yaksha sending word

to his lost wife on a passing cloud,

a cloud that followed an earthly map

of camel trails and cattle tracks,

streams like necklaces,

fan-tailed peacocks, painted elephants,

embroidered bedspreads

of meadows and hedges,

bamboo forests and snow-hatted peaks,

waterfalls, creeks,

the hieroglyphs of wide-winged cranes

and the glistening lotus flower after rain,

the air

hypnotically see-through, rare,

the journey a ponderous one at times, long and slow

but necessarily so.the Scaremongers. 

UNDERSTANDING OF POEM : 

                  The poem discribe about two dreams. first is about 'A hallucinating dream sequence of 1665- 66 plague stricken villege , Eyam. Professor Armitage’s Lockdown begins in Eyam in 1666 and offers a clear view to a bright and supportive future. And after that Simon's poem ended with the discription of kaludasa's work maghdutam. 

.                      In maghdutam there is a character namely yaksha who want to send message to his wife and the messenger was black cloud. In that yaksha shows the path to reach his wife or beloved. In very first line Simon remember the flews which became reason for spread of plague. simon use the word boundary stone, means he described that time which is seems like current corona time. people were banned to outside of house! they using vinegar Vine to clean coins! In current situation we use senetaizer to clean things. In second part of the poem Simon draws the drawing of middle india to northan india by his words.