Harold Pinter's ''The Birthday Party'' as comedy of Menace

             Name - Jignesh  K. Panchasara

 Paper - 110A: History of English Literature –                                                    From 1900 to 2000

             Roll No- 8

             Enrollment no-3069206420200013

Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com

             Batch- MA 2020-2022

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

                             Bhavnagar University.  

                Introduction 

The phrase “comedy of menace” as a standalone description inspires both positive and negative feelings. Comedy is used during a dangerous situation to cause audiences to draw judgments about a particular character or communication. The words used are the focus of often powerful stories that create conflicting emotions from its audience. The title “Comedy of Menace” immediately brings contradictions to mind, because comedy is generally something that makes people laugh, and the word "menace" implies something threatening. Quite literally, then, this phrase involves laughing at an ominous situation.

This phrase is part of the title of a British play called The Lunatic View: a Comedy of Menace, by David Campton. Irving Ward, a critic in the 1950s, emphasized the phrase when writing a review of the plays of Harold Pinter. Ward used "comedy of menace" in a review of several of Pinter's works, although at the time he had seen only one, The Birthday Party.

Comedy of menace has been started by David Campton. In English literature we can find out literatures like Neo-classical age, Victorian age, Romantic age, etc. But Harold Pinter criticizes some important political, economical system of England. Now days it became more critical because there is all around the world we can find out corruption anywhere, and it is leading by noble people unknowingly. However they are also an important part of the nation. Super nations have the concept of civilization, privatization and liberalization in the nineteenth century.

               Comedy = Humor.

               Menace = Threatening fear in mind.

      A work of art of a play in which people feels fear or the situation may become so much threatening that people or audience who watches the play may don’t know that what is happening and why it falls under the category of terrific matter. ‘Comedy of Menace’ is much different from sentimental comedy and anti-sentimental comedy. Comedy of menace is the phrase which was the part of the book “The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace”, which was written by David Campton. Irving Ward- a critic who quotes that In Harold Pinter’s play “The Birthday Party” has the effect of menace.

       From the very beginning till the end of the drama, there is lots of conversation between the characters like Mag, Nat Goldberg, Dermont McCann and Petey where Stanley stands for some countries which are silent or their voices are much damned, so that they could not argue against powerful nations like US, Germany, etc.

    In ‘Comedy of Menace’ there was another more distinguished interpretation is when counter-argue between two characters takes place, there it creates a kind of mental depression and we can’t say that we can make our self enjoying in that situation. If we talk about conversation then we must look at the facial expression as well as a thought process.

   As a playwright, Harold Pinter is an innovator of a new kind of drama which becomes famous as the Comedy of Menace. Unlike Coleridge, the famous Romantic poet, Harold Pinter begins his plays in our known, familiar world but gradually makes us move into the trajectory and psychodynamics of a world which is beyond our comprehension. In Pinter's Comedy of Menace, the laughter and elation of the audience in the same or all situations are immediately followed by a feeling of some impending disaster. An audience is, therefore, made aware, in the very midst of his laughter of some menace. The feelings of insecurity and uncertainty throughout the play also enhance the menacing atmosphere of Pinter's The Birthday Party. The menace in Pinterian drama is also produced by potential or actual violence or from an underlined sense of violence throughout the play. Pinter makes the audience feel that the security of the principal character (Stanley) and even the audiences' own security are threatened by some sort of impending danger or disaster. Actually the term 'Comedy of Menace' was first coined by David Campton who used the phrase as a subtitle of his four short plays The Lunatic View, published in 1957. However, in Pinter's hand, the concept of menace becomes highly symbolic and vague.

           Pinter's The Birthday Party is a perfect example of Comedy of Menace. Throughout the play, we find that the hint of menace is inflected upon the individual freedom of a person and it juxtaposes the comic element drastically dilutes the comic appeal. Pinter shows his state in the existential view that danger prevails everywhere and life can't escape from it. Pinter thinks that Stanley, the protagonist, might have committed a serious crime and is on the run for escaping the consequence and legal implications of his life. This is precisely comprehended while he almost never leaves his room and becomes furiously apprehensive when Meg informs him that two gentlemen are coming to stay in this boarding house. Stanley soon tactfully tries to conceal his apprehension by mentioning his successful concert and about a favourable job proposal of a pianist. But we can realize his innate apprehension for imminent interrogation or arrest by the two new guests at the boarding house:

 They won't come. Someone's taking the Michael. Forget all about it.

[Act - I]

In his attempt to percolate his fear upon Meg, Stanley informs her ironically that some people would come to the boarding house in a van along with a wheelbarrow and take away Meg permanently along with them: 

 They're looking for someone. A certain person.

[Act - I]

        In a mood of topsy-turvy-dom, Pinter often shows an apparent fearful apprehension, but actually gives occasion to amusement. Lulu's arrival and knocking at their boarding's door fulfil the purpose. Similarly, Meg's funny answer to Goldberg's question about Stanley also sustains the suspense of Stanley's immediate arrest. Thus, the dramatist gives a comic relief to his audience.

When Goldberg continuously refers to the "job" which he has to execute, makes an audience conscious about their unknown job, so as to say, by enhancing menace. Again the conversations between Goldberg and McCann are often comical but the possibility  of danger and violence always pervade above the comedy: 

 Goldberg: But why is it that before you do a job you're all over the place, and when you're doing the job you're as cool as a whistle?

[Act - I]

 Goldberg: You know what I said when this job came up. I mean naturally they approached me to take care of it. And you know who I asked for?

McCann: Who? 

Goldberg: You.

[Act - I]

The interrogation of Stanley by the "two gentlemen" is sometimes funny or comical but have threatening impact both upon Stanley and the audience. Even the birthday party which begins in a light and jovial manner ends with Stanley's attempt to strangle Meg and rape Lulu. Similarly, the birthday party also becomes the excuse of Goldberg's seduction and deflowering Lulu. Again the arrangement of the birthday party acts as a plan to prove Stanley lunatic and takes him away from the boarding:

 Goldberg: ...All is dependent on the attitude of our subject. At all events, McCann, I can assure you that the assignment will be carried out and the mission accomplished with no excessive aggravation to you or myself.

[Act - I]

At the end of the play, audiences are given an unsolved riddle about what has been of Stanley which is of paramount significance in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party - a perfect example of Comedy of Menace. Some critics even believe that it is a superimposition of the European concept of absurd (Martin Esslin has been described the drama as an example of the Theatre of the Absurd) to the English native wit. Here what is true or what is false, is not matter but the ambience which Pinter clarifies as his concept of menace: '...menace and fear do not come from extraordinary sinister people but from you and me; it is all a matter of circumstances.

 Conclusion

The Birthday party is one of the comedy of Menace play because some events like a game ,door's Knocking in the darkness., and Lulu and mag's giggling with sounds like witch's laugh. so It depicts the menace effect in the play.

works cited 

Develop English Literature Knowledge. 2021. Harold Printer's 'The Birthday Party' as a Comedy of Menace | Comedy of Menace in Pinterian Drama. [online] Available at: <https://whichihaveacquired.blogspot.com/2018/07/printers-birthday-party-as-comedy-of.html> [Accessed 29 May 2021].

Info Bloom. 2021. What Is Comedy of Menace? (with pictures). [online] Available at: <https://www.infobloom.com/what-is-comedy-of-menace.htm> [Accessed 29 May 2021].

profile, V., 2021. Comedy of menace. [online] Engliteratureforall.blogspot.com. Available at: <http://engliteratureforall.blogspot.com/2015/11/comedy-of-menace.html> [Accessed 29 May 2021].

                                                             Thanks😊

The Feminism aspects of Virginia Woolf's Life and her Novels

                 Name - Jignesh  K. Panchasara

          Paper - 106: The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World War II

             Roll No- 8

             Enrollment no-3069206420200013

Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com

             Batch- MA 2020-2022

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

                                 Bhavnagar University. 

             

                          Introduction

 Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen on January 25, 1882, in London. Her parents were Leslie Stephen editor of the Dictionary of National Biography and Julia Prinsep Jackson Duckworth Stephen. Both parents had been married before and had children from those unions. Together, the Stephens had three other children in addition to Virginia Woolf was educated at home where she had free access to her father's extensive library. In 1895 her mother died, and Woolf experienced the first of many psychological breakdowns that would plague her throughout her life.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was one of the most important female authors in the transitional period from Victorian age to the Edwardian age. Until her death at the age of 59 she published several novels, feminist essays and held two classes in Cambridge about “Women and Fiction”.

In this ,I would like to introduce the feminism aspects of her life and novels.

After giving a short introduction with the most important facts about Virginia Woolf’s life, my first intention is to define the theory of feminism and show how it affected Virginia already as a young girl and mainly as an independent woman.

Later, three of her novels are taken to demonstrate how Virginia Woolf’s development influenced her literary output. I would also like to show the differences between Virginia Woolf’s attitude towards women and men and compare it to theories of the feministic movement in the 20th century.

** A short introduction into Virginia Woolf’s life**

Born as the third child of Sir Leslie Stephen, the editor of the “Dictionary of National Biography”, and his second wife Julia Duckworth, January 1st 1882, Virginia and her siblings grew up in London where she had always had easy access to education, such as private classes in Latin and Greek - which was not a common case for girls in Victorian times - and also to her father’s library.

There were two major incidents in Virginia’s youth that caused serious mental breakdowns: Her mother’s death in 1895 and seven years later, her father’s death of cancer.[1] After recovering from this mental crisis, Virginia enjoyed her new independence, travelling to Spain and Italy, accompanied by her sister Vanessa and her brother Thoby, who later died of Typhus.

Virginia returned to London where she made friends with Leonard Woolf. After getting married in 1912, Leonard had to find out that Virginia not only refused any sexual relationship with him, but also had numerous breakdowns during the following years, including several tries of committing suicide. This mental illness carried on during her whole life, usually appearing shortly before finishing her most recent novel.

** Definition of the  “Feminism”**

To analyse Virginia Woolf’s attitude towards feminism and how this is demonstrated in her books and essays, there has to be a definition first of what “feminism” means in general: Feminism is “the belief in the principle that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men” also “the movement in support of this” But there are also different types of feminism, such as the “cultural feminism”, the “Individualist or Libertarian Feminism”, the “Moderate Feminism” and several more. What they all have in common is that they have the same origin which is to call attention to the problem of discrimination between men an women concerning different issues, social and private.

The feminism movement started already in the 19th century although it did not develop as fast as in the beginning of the 20th century when the female presence in public, work-life and also in the media at that time was accepted.

The media and female writers were the main supporters of the feministic movement, that achieved and changed a lot, but still has not reached his goal, for it still works with the same principles such as for example the “Emma”.

**How the theory of Feminism influenced Virginia as an adolescent**

The relationship between her parents, the talented and highly respected Leslie Stephen and his beautiful wife, who was always there to give him support and her unshared attention, had great effect on Virginia’s attitude towards men. It is said that she inherited her mother’s beauty but that she could not deal with it the way her mother did. She regarded her mothers ability to get along with other people so well with great approval but she could not cope with her mother’s behaviour as it was appropriate for a woman in Victorian times – a role her mother fit perfectly in. After her mother died in 1895 at the age of 49, Leslie Stephen tried to force his daughters into the empty space the mother left as being a perfect hostess, which made them fear and hate their father, and which had also a great effect on Virginia striving for a way out of this Victorian tradition.

Another influence in her development towards an important author of modern feminism were her two step-brothers, George and Gerald Duckworth, but also her own brothers, Thoby and Adrian, who enjoyed a full education at Cambridge University, while she stayed at home, taught by her parents and later receiving private classes, an untypical phenomenon in Victorian times, as already mentioned above.

The Famous Novels of Virginia, which differ The feminist Issues of the Woman.

• A Room of One's Room

• To The light House

• Orlando 

• Mrs. Dalloway

• The voyage Out

 These are the famous Novels of Virginia Woolf. In that reading through we can get the idea of She was a FEMINIST.

Let's see The Feminist quotes by Virginia Woolf.

 

Woolf writes:

CLOTHES HAVE, THEY SAY, MORE IMPORTANT OFFICES THAN MERELY TO KEEP US WARM. THEY CHANGE OUR VIEW OF THE WORLD AND THE WORLD’S VIEW OF US.

 ORLANDO AS A PERSONIFICATION OF THE IDEAL STATUS OF ANDROGYNY; SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE SECRETS OF BOTH SEXES AND CAN ACCESS THE WHOLE SPECTER OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

 The novel exuberantly conveys its message of the urge of gender equality in our society. Ergo, my feminist reading of Orlando salutes Woolf as an author, who so beautifully cultivates the fluid identities of the notions of sex and gender in her piece.

 ORLANDO IS NOT A WOMAN ACTING LIKE A MAN. ORLANDO IS A MAN. AND A WOMAN.  AND THERE IS NOTHING UNNATURAL ABOUT IT.

ORLANDO HAD BECOME A WOMAN THERE IS NO DENYING OF IT. BUT IN EVERY OTHER RESPECT, ORLANDO REMAINS PRECISELY AS HE HAD BEEN. THE CHANGE OF SEX, THOUGH IT ALTERED THEIR FUTURE, DID NOTHING WHATEVER TO ALTER THEIR IDENTITY.

 

When in Constantinople amongst the natives, Orlando did not experience gender differences due to her changed sex. However as soon as she boards the Enamoured Lady to return to England, appropriately dressed as a “young Englishwoman of high rank”, she realized that English “women are not  exquisitely apparelled by nature”.

Conclusion

If we see the character of Virginia Woolf. so we can get the idea of feminist woman of the 20th century. whose novel is to be the part of the feminist idea of woman . who are suffering  and fight for the rights, which are not found for the woman. Also, The Victorian age is one of the Example of it.

works cited

(Autor), E., 2021. GRIN - Virginia Woolf and feminism. [online] Grin.com. Available at: <https://www.grin.com/document/129571> [Accessed 26 May 2021].

Encyclopedia.com. 2021. Woolf, Virginia: Introduction | Encyclopedia.com. [online] Available at: <https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/woolf-virginia-introduction#:~:text=VIRGINIA%20WOOLF%3A%20INTRODUCTION,of%20One's%20Own%20(1929)> [Accessed 26 May 2021].

2021. [online] Available at: <http://feminismininhttpsdia.com/2015/07/31/feministic-reading-virginia-woolfs-orlando-biography/> [Accessed 26 May 2021].

                                                                  Thanks

Symbolic Analysis of Waiting for Godot

           Name - Jignesh  K. Panchasara

   Paper - 107: The Twentieth Century Literature: From World War II to the End of the Century

             Roll No- 8

             Enrollment no-3069206420200013

Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com

             Batch- MA 2020-2022

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

                                 Bhavnagar University.    

                        Introduction

Samuel Beckett, one of the great avant-garde Irish dramatists and writers of the second half of the twentieth century, was born on 13 April 1906. He died in 1989. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. His centenary will be celebrated throughout 2006 with performances of his major plays, but the most popular of them all will be, without doubt, the play with which he first made his name, Waiting for Godot. It opened the gates to the theatre of the absurd as four men appear on the stage, apparently with purpose but (perhaps) waiting for someone called Godot. It is stark, funny, bemusing and still deeply affecting half a century since its first production.

*Brief Introduction of The play*

Samuel Beckett wrote “Waiting for Godot” in French in 1949 and then translated it into English in 1954. “Waiting for Godot” is the most popular play in every corner of the world. Therefore, this play has been performed as a drama of the absurd with astonishing success in Europe, America and the rest of the world in post second world war era.

Significance of the ‘Tree’ in the Setting of Waiting for Godot

The Tree generally represents the ‘cross’ on which Jesus Christ was crucified. As such, it is argued that the ‘Tree’ stands as a symbol of hope in the play; because it means that the religious dimension is not completely absent. Indeed, the cross, which is often referred to as the tree in Christian literature, is not a symbol of despair to the Christians. In the light of the Resurrection, it is in fact, the very opposite; it is a sign of the Victory over the forces of the world. Moreover it is claimed, this interpretation of the tree in Waiting for Godot is confirmed by the fact that the tree is seen to have grown leaves in the second Act.

But we see that the growth of leaves of the tree does not attract the attention of the tramps in the second Act. When Vladimir tries to convince his friend that they were in the same place the day before, Estragon describes the entire landscape as a ‘muckheap’.

In view of this lack of response, it is difficult to interpret the tree as a symbol of hope. The tramps hardly make any response to the growth of the leaves. Thus if there is hope, they certainly do not recognize it. So the tree would rather seem to be a symbol of the irrelevance of the Christian response to their predicament.

Symbolism in Waiting for Godot 

 Lucky’s Baggage

Lucky never puts down the items he carries, except when Pozzo orders him to do something. He again picks it up without any reason. This action shows the human tendency of enslavement and burdens which are unnecessary. The baggage contains mostly items for Pozzo’s comfort but, in Act 2 it is revealed that the bag which is never opened in Act 1, contains sand. This is another example of character “deadened” by a habit.

The relationship between Pozzo and Lucky is shown as capital and labor, master and slave, exploiter and exploited, between old testament God and new testament Christ.

Pozzo’s Rope

Lucky is a slave for his master Pozzo. Lucky is tied with rope, holding both master and slave together. This is the symbol of distance between the God and his slave. However, when the rope is short the distance between them is smaller. When Estragon and Vladimir try to hang themselves with cord and it breaks, and they remind themselves to bring rope tomorrow. This rope has same purpose as for Pozzo and Lucky.

 Night Fall

While Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for Godot, they also wait for the nightfall. This nightfall shows that darkness is like a death and falling of night is like to reprieve from daily suffering as death is death to reprieve from life.

 Hat

Hat represents thinking, as the long monologue of Lucky in Act 1 and stops when his hat is knocked off. Estragon and Vladimir also exchange their hats with Lucky’s hat back and forth. This scene is the representation of instability of individual identities and exchanging represents the exchange of identities.

 The play has so few props, the props that do appear onstage take on an exaggerated significance. As one example, Vladimir, Estragon ,Lucky, and Pozzo all wear hats and at times seem oddly preoccupied with them. Lucky, for instance, needs his hat to think, and stops his long monologue once his hat is knocked off. In act two Estragon and Vladimir exchange their hats and Lucky's hat back and forth, trying different ones on. Given the importance of these hats to their individual owners, this scene can be seen as representing the fluidity and instability of individual identities in the play. As Pozzo and Lucky don't remember having already seen Vladimir and Estragon in act two, Vladimir begins to wonder whether the Pozzo and Lucky of act two are the same as those of act one. Estragon, for one, does not recognize them, and calls Pozzo Abel. Estragon can't even remember his own past, and at one point tells Pozzo that his name is Adam. Moreover, it is not clear whether the young boy in each act is one boy or two different ones. The boy also calls Vladimir Mr. Albert, which may or may not actually be Vladimir's name. With all of this ambiguity and instability regarding people's identities, the scene of the hat exchange playfully represents an exchange of identities, as Vladimir and Estragon wear different combinations of hats. Vladimir ends up wearing Lucky's hat—notably, the one he needed to "think"—seemingly taking on a new identity, as he then asks Estragon to "play" at being Lucky and Pozzo. Indeed, it's uncertain whether Vladimir and Estragon (or other characters) are actually being themselves throughout the play, or if they even have stable selves they can be.

Names

The most important example of hidden meanings in the play is Godot, which is similar to God. Godot symbolizes salvation that religion promises but never comes true. Estragon means “tarragon” in French, while Pozzo is Italian for water. Lucky’s name suggests the unluckiness of the sufferings. However, nihilist viewpoint is that, these names hold no meaning at all.

Boots

Boot symbolizes daily life struggling and Estragon is the most affected by boots. He takes off and putting again them on. This shows daily struggles in life which cannot be changed.

The Bone

Bone is the symbol of poverty, the characters do not have enough food for themselves and they beg for their survival. This shows the relationship between Feudalism or Capitalism who has dominated over the poor.

Conclusion

Waiting for Godot is a must-read play for everyone. It has so many interpretations, Also it has a remarkable piece for Theater of Absurd.  So The play depicts the modernism connected with contemporary time. 

Works Cited

(Author), J., 2021. GRIN - Waiting for Godot. A Deconstructive Study. [online] Grin.com. Available at: <https://www.grin.com/document/337568> [Accessed 27 May 2021].

LitCharts. 2021. Hats Symbol in Waiting for Godot | LitCharts. [online] Available at: <https://www.litcharts.com/lit/waiting-for-godot/symbols/hats> [Accessed 27 May 2021].

Scribd. 2021. Listen to Waiting for Godot Audiobook by Samuel Beckett. [online] Available at: <https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/237838313/Waiting-for-Godot> [Accessed 27 May 2021].

                                                               Thanks

Transcendentalism : A Movement

             Name - Jignesh  K. Panchasara

             Paper - 108: The American Literature 

             Roll No- 8

             Enrollment no-3069206420200013

Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com

             Batch- MA 2020-2022

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

                             Bhavnagar University.  

  Transcendentalism

  Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement .It is look like a various aspect. Also going beyond the idea of Romanticism.

Transcendentalism= To go above and beyond the limitation of the senses and everyday experiences.

* we can go beyond by depending on our intuition rather than on reason and logic.

Key words: Simplicity but its not simple.

which does not have answer.

The key word for transcendentalism is simplicity.

Transcendentalism - A movement 

• Transcendentalism is a 19th century movement of writers and philosopher in new England
• who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thoughts.
• Based on the belief in the essential unity of all creation the innate goodness of man.
• And the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths.

what is Transcendentalism 

It’s all about spirituality. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that began in the mid-19th century and whose founding members included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. It centers around the belief that spirituality cannot be achieved through reason and rationalism, but instead through self-reflection and intuition. In other words, transcendentalists believe spirituality isn’t something you can explain; it’s something you feel. A transcendentalist would argue that going for a walk in a beautiful place would be a much more spiritual experience than reading a religious text.

*Major Transcendentalist Values*

 The transcendentalist movement encompassed many beliefs, but these all fit into their three main values of individualism, idealism, and the divinity of nature.

 

 Individualism

Perhaps the most important transcendentalist value was the importance of the individual. They saw the individual as pure, and they believed that society and its institutions corrupted this purity. Transcendentalists highly valued the concept of thinking for oneself and believed people were best when they were independent and could think for themselves. Only then could individuals come together and form ideal communities.

 

Idealism

The focus on idealism comes from Romanticism, a slightly earlier movement. Instead of valuing logic and learned knowledge as many educated people at the time did, transcendentalists placed great importance on imagination, intuition and creativity. They saw the values of the Age of Reason as controlling and confining, and they wanted to bring back a more “ideal” and enjoyable way of living.

 

 Divinity of Nature

Transcendentalists didn’t believe in organized religion, but they were very spiritual. Instead of believing in the divinity of religious figures, they saw nature as sacred and divine. They believed it was crucial for humans to have a close relationship with nature, the same way religious leaders preach about the importance of having a close relationship with God. Transcendentalists saw nature as perfect as it was; humans shouldn’t try to change or improve it.

Key Figures in the Transcendentalist Movement

At its height, many people supported the beliefs of transcendentalism, and numerous well-known names from the 19th century have been associated with the movement. Below are five key transcendentalists.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson is the key figure in transcendentalism. He brought together many of the original transcendentalists, and his writings form the foundation of many of the movement’s beliefs. The day before he published his essay “Nature” he invited a group of his friends to join the “Transcendental Club” a meeting of like-minded individuals to discuss their beliefs. He continued to host club meetings, write essays, and give speeches to promote transcendentalism. Some of his most important transcendentalist essays include “The Over-Soul,” “Self-Reliance,” “The American Scholar” and “Divinity School Address.”

 Transcendentalism is a very formal word that describes a very simple idea. People, men and women equally, have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel.

This knowledge comes through intuition and imagination not through logic or the senses. People can trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. A Transcendentalist is a person who accepts these ideas not as religious beliefs but as a way of understanding life relationships.

The individuals most closely associated with this new way of thinking were connected loosely through a group known as The Transcendental Club, which met in the Boston home of George Ripley. Their chief publication was a periodical called "The Dial," edited by Margaret Fuller, a political radical and feminist whose book "Women of the Nineteenth Century" was among the most famous of its time. The club had many extraordinary thinkers, but accorded the leadership position to Ralph waldo Emerson.

Henry David Thoreau

The second-most important transcendentalist, Thoreau was a friend of Emerson’s who is best known for his book Walden. Walden is focused on the benefits of individualism, simple living and close contact with and observation of nature. Thoreau also frequently opposed the government and its actions, most notably in his essay “Civil Disobedience.”

 

Margaret Fuller

Margaret Fuller was perhaps the leading female transcendentalist. A well-known journalist and ardent supporter of women’s rights, she helped cofound The Dial, the key transcendentalist journal, with Emerson, which helped cement her place in the movement and spread the ideas of transcendentalism to a wider audience. An essay she wrote for the journal was later published as the book Woman in the Nineteenth Century, one of the earliest feminist works in the United States. She believed in  the importance of the individual, but often felt that other transcendentalists, namely Emerson, focused too much on individualism at the expense of social reform.

 

Amos Bronson Alcott

A friend of Emerson’s, Alcott (father of Little Women’s Louisa May Alcott), was an educator known for his innovative ways of teaching and correcting students. He wrote numerous pieces on transcendentalism, but the quality of his writing was such that most were unpublishable. A noted abolitionist, he refused to pay his poll tax to protest President Tyler’s annexation of Texas as a slave territory. This incident inspired Thoreau to do a similar protest, which led to him writing the essay “Civil Disobedience.”

 Conclusion

Transcendentalism is all about spirituality .It can not be achieved through reason and rationalism but instead through reason and rationalism but instead through self reflection and Intuition, in other words Transcendentalist believe spirituality is not some thing explain. It some thing you feel. 

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. "Transcendentalism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 May. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/event/Transcendentalism-American-movement. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Sarikas, C., 2021. What Is Transcendentalism? Understanding the Movement. [online] Blog.prepscholar.com. Available at: <https://blog.prepscholar.com/transcendentalism-definition-movement> [Accessed 28 May 2021].

Ushistory.org. 2021. Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy [ushistory.org]. [online] Available at: <https://www.ushistory.org/us/26f.asp> [Accessed 28 May 2021].

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Rasa Theory (Indian Aesthetics)

   Name - Jignesh  K. Panchasara

 Paper - 109: Literary Theory & Criticism and                                                        Indian Aesthetics

             Roll No-8 

             Enrollment no-3069206420200013

Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com

             Batch- MA 2020-2022

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

                             Bhavnagar University.  

                       Introduction

Rasa theory draws a clear distinction between real-life experience and art experience- unordinary. In order to realize Rasa that must possess an adequate degree of intellectual and emotional equipment. It is given the highest honor ever since the beginning of Poetics. Sthaibhava or emotion of this erotic sentiment is Rati or love.

What is Rasa?

               According to Bharatmuni

            ‘’ Vibhava anubhava vyabhacari samyoght rasa nishpattihi’’

              Vibhava means determines, anubhava means consequences and vyabhacari means transitory state or feeling.

               The Sanskrit meaning of rasa is that juice or essence. However Bharatmuni has used the word in different context. The word rasa here dose not like any type of liquid or syrup.

According to Makarand Paranjap

             ‘’ Rasa in Bharatmuni, is nothing

                But the exposition of the structure

                Of human experience’’.

                 The Vedic meaning of rasa is essence and it refers to the experience of the supreme reality, which is one of the self existence delights. Rasa is the emotion resulting from a contemplation of a various feelings.

According to V.S. Seturaman

                  ‘’ A blending of various bhava arise

                    Certain emotion, accomplished by

                    Thrill and a sense of joy is ‘Rasa’ ‘’.

The rasa theory originates with Bharatain Natyasastra. It claims that the object or meaning that is sought to be conveyed in literary compositions is in the nature of an emotional effect of diverse human experience on man’s mind and heart. It is possible, Bharata demonstrates, to enumerate the whole range of emotions, or states of being born of experience, and to analyse the structure of those emotions in terms of cause, physical correlate and their effect on man’s being. The theory thus becomes in effect a theory of literary experience which is strongly rooted in the empirical human reality.

Bharata, the first enouncer of the theory, gives the most comprehensive analysis of its sources, nature and its categories. Subsequently the theory found major commentators in Dhanika Dhananjaya who re-examined Bharat’s typology of drama and added to it a typology of uprupakas, sub-plays, plays within plays, and one-act plays. It is Abhinavagupta, however, who enriched the theory by elucidating its philosophic foundations and by analyzing in depth the aesthetic dimension of the theory in terms of the nature, cognition and effect of literary experience.

Features of Rasa Theory

Rasa means aesthetics, juice, essence, taste in performance. 

Rasa is an undefinable realization and intense feelings with detachment.

It is the flavor (general) or aesthetic emotion (metaphorical). 

It is the soul of poetry. 

Rasa is an emotion and cannot be described in opposition to Aristotle.

Originally, Rasa means juice, essence or elixir. 

It is the pleasure experienced by each class of people. 

No other word can define Rasa completely. 

It is the impression created on the mind of the sympathetic audience by the expressions of Bhavas (emotions) and it’s experienced by it. 

Rasa is not experienced in common situations but only in the art form.

Rasa’s Foundation is laid upon a particular view of psychology that holds our personality and according to which a few primary emotions live in the conscious and subconscious state of our being.

These emotions are vast, amusing, pathetic, heroic, passionate, fearful, disgusting and wonderful. Later on peaceful, intellectual and devotional were also added.

There are Nine Rasa, which are given below with some Information.

1) Attractiveness Srngaram- Love and 

                                                         Shringaram rasa is presiding by god Vishnu, the god of love and romance and the colour of this rasa is a colour of youth, green colour, which also suggests nature in which love evokes. In the most of the description and implication of love there is a presence of nature. Shringaram is a Rasa which suggests erotic pleasure, attraction and the expression which suggests romance and love between hero and heroine. This is the special Rasa which is considered as the ‘king’ of all the Rasas.  It includes the beauty of women and men and the sensuous description of the love of both.

2)  Hasyam- Laughter and Comedy

                                 This rasa is presiding by lord Ganesha, the god of happiness and laughter. And the colour which is connected with this rasa is white, peaceful colour which suggests the peace of mind which can be gain by laughter. In hasyam rasa there is are comic elements by the characters of drama by which they tries to make audience laugh and fresh, if there is any tragic scene one after one, dramatist used to use the comic scene to make the audience fresh and ready for the next tragic scene. In British literature there is also this kind of technique has been used by Christopher Marlow in Dr. Faustus. Sometimes dramatist put such characters which are specially set in drama to evoke hasya rasa so the audience feel relief. Hasya rasa is another important rasa as per Bharatmuni. Hasya is also a therapy as per science which can help to relief the pain.

3)   Raudram- Fury and violence

                  This rasa is presiding by rudra, the angery nature of Shiva is considered as Rudra, and its colour is red, which suggests fire too. Rudra also consider as destroyer. This rasa evokes when there is any sequence of anger and the situation is very furious and characters are full of passion and violence. This a very important rasa as far as veer rasa is concern because both are connected with each other, after anger there is a depiction of veer rasa and the story goes on. The depiction of Raudra rasa suggests that in the story something worst will be happen soon, for example in Abhigyanshakuntalam appearance of Durvasa suggests the fear the departure of lovers. As anger spoils the relation, in Rasa theory it suggests the downfall in the life of characters.

4)   Karunyam- Compassion and Tragedy

                   This rasa is presiding by Yama, the God of death and the colour of this rasa is gray, colour of ashes, that itself suggests that its about tragedy and departure. Karuna is the second important Rasa. As per Bharatmuni, any story cannot be completed without Karuna rasa. Compassion is very important for drama; audience can be more involved by the tragic incidents than comic or any other. This emotion touches the heart of an audience more than any other rasas. Tragic elements are necessary for drama; because of tragic elements one can get pleasure of hasyam and shrungar. Karun rasa has also its own beauty, if a character is in pain audience can get tragic aesthetic pleasure. That is the reason that the experience over tragedy we find as much enjoyment as in that of a comedy.

5)  Bibhatsam- Disgust

                                  Bibhatsa rasa is preciding by Lord Shiva, shiva is considered as a tribal man, the colour of this rasa is blue. It suggests disgust and hesitation. Bibhats rasa evokes when there is a description of such unwillingly things and such kind of situation which is not accepted and which has not morally and ideally good perception. This rasa is rarely used, but when it is in use it fills the heart of audience with disgust.

6) Bhayanakam- Horror and  Terror

                 This rasa is presiding by the goddess kali, the angry part of parvati goddess. The image of kali, even the description of it is also horrible. The colour of Bhayanaka rasa is black; ‘kali’ a word itself suggests the black colour. The colour is also used to horrify. In the drama, it cultivates the fearin the audience by the characters. In mythological drmas, an entrance of devil or any evil power, it evokes the terror in the mind of audience which is Bhayanakam rasa.

7)   Shantam- peace and tranquillity

            The last rasa is shantam it means peace. The colour of shantam rasa is white and it is symbole of peace and also it suggests purity. The rasa is presiding by Vishnu. It evokes when all the characters are happy in their life and feeling pleasure. Most of the time it comes in the end of the drama, when there is a happy ending.

8)  Viram- Heroic Mood

             Veer rasa is to show power and strength of the character. It is presiding by lord Indra which suggests power and strenghth of all the Gods. The colour of this rasa is wheatish brown, near to gold colour. This rasa evokes when thre is a time of fight and the character has to show his ability and physical strength. It suggests heroic presentation by the character in drama.

9)  Adbhutam- Wonder

Adbhutam rasa is presiding by Lord Brahma, Brahma is a writer of destiny and Adbhutam rasa is about wonder in life of character. The colour of adbhutam is yellow; it is also a colour of brightness. It evokes when an unexpected incident or  thing happens, it creates wonder in the mind of character as well as audience.

Conclusion

if we can find and illustrate the major Rasa so we all know that there are nine major Rasas but two Rasas are the part of the Nine Rasas. Another common Rasas are Vatsalya(parental love) and Bhakti (Spiritual Devotion).

works Cited 

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021. Rasa | Indian aesthetic theory. [online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/art/rasa> [Accessed 29 May 2021].

INDIAN CULTURE. 2021. The rasa theory: an essay in understanding. [online] Available at: <https://indianculture.gov.in/rasa-theory-essay-understanding> [Accessed 29 May 2021]

"Rasa Theory (Indian Aesthetics); Summary & Analysis • English Summary". English Summary, 2021, https://englishsummary.com/rasa-theory/#Features_of_Rasa_Theory&gsc.tab=0

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Thinking Activity : W.H Auden's poem

                                      Introduction

Wystan Hugh Auden was an Anglo-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form, and content.

The famous poem of  W.H Auden

‘September 1st, 1939

‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’

‘The Fall of Rome’

‘The More Loving One’

‘If I Could Tell You’

'Stop all the clocks'

'Epitaph of Tyrant'

‘September 1st, 1939

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
"I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,"
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the deaf,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

1) Which lines of 'September 1, 1939' you liked the most? Why?

What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

These Lines are my favorite to give my argument that The Huge Imago made Psychopathic god. so in this line i have seen that the it is dependent on culture, where are you living life so point is to be that when you were in that position of violence so must be you have some impact on violence.so The idea of the poet is to be says that the if you have some angressive approach to be comes from the your previous environment.

Example : In the school, There is one child. who does not come with his home work so The teacher always hit the children with daily habit of that pupil. so once upon time there will be no effect of hitness to that pupil. so it is reality of the school's pupil. who always take punished rather than the home work.

In Memory of W. B. Yeats

W. H. Auden - 1907-1973

He disappeared in the dead of winter:

The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,

And snow disfigured the public statues;

The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.

What instruments we have agree

The day of his death was a dark cold day.

Far from his illness

The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,

The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;

By mourning tongues

The death of the poet was kept from his poems.

But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,

An afternoon of nurses and rumours;

The provinces of his body revolted,

The squares of his mind were empty,

Silence invaded the suburbs,

The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.

Now he is scattered among a hundred cities

And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections,

To find his happiness in another kind of wood

And be punished under a foreign code of conscience.

The words of a dead man

Are modified in the guts of the living.

2) What is so special about 'In Memory of W B Yeats'?

If we see the more special things is that the Art of writing. when any people is died but the work and his poems are alive in the mind of people that's To be more Important for reader to get some thing from the poem after reading of the poem. Also, poet is used to say the death of W.B Yeats with the reason of the winter kind of atmosphere.

Epitaph on a Tyrant

W. H. Auden - 1907-1973

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,

And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;

He knew human folly like the back of his hand,

And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;

When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

3) Is there any contemporary relevance of 'Epitaph on a Tyrant'?

If we see this Epitaph of The Tyrant. we would like to mention the basic story of the Hitler. He was much doing the activity like The tyrant.

But the point is to be see that it's not whole about the story of Hitler but it is related with contemporary time also. If we see the story of Donald Trump when Joe Biden become the prime Minister of America at that time The previous prime minister could not accept that he lost the election so after the story that we know very well that what happened in America. How people were react for Trump also the same things were that the Hitler join the part of Nazi party so people were supporting the idea of the one person. so I would like to share one quote with you ..

The vote is precious.

It is the most powerful non-Violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it .

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