Short note on Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale" - A mock epic/mock heroic epic

Chaucer: "Nun's Priest's Tale" - A mock epic

According to Aristotle:

An epic is the tragedy of a conspicuous man, who is involved in adventures events and meets a tragic fall on account of some error of judgment i.e. Hamartia which throws him from prosperity into adversity; his death is not essential.

So, the subject matter of an epic is grand and that’s why it is written in bombastic language in heroic couplets. Its style, too, is grand. On the contrary, a mock-epic is a satire of an epic. It shows us that even a trivial event can also be treated on epical scope.

A mock-epic is a literary parody of heroic style. It imitates serious characters and grave events in a comic manner. The subject matter is trivial and unfit for an epic but the subject is clothed in the conventional epic style. For example, in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” the ordinary event of taking away of a cock is compared and contrasted with famous and grave historical events of the past.

Nun’s Priest’s Tale is a mock-epic. The tale is ordinary and common. There is a widow, having two daughters. She has cattle and sheep as is usual with the villagers. She has a cock and many hens. Once, a cock is carried away by a fox but later escapes. Though the subject is trivial, yet this trivial subject has been exalted because fowls have been invested with the qualities of learned human begins. The cock and the hen behave, talk, argue and conduct like extraordinary human beings. We find the cock and the hen having learned and philosophical discussion on dreams which later includes some vital issues of human life. This is not at all a fanciful discussion; it is substantially learned. They also make historical references and illustrations to substantiate their respective points of view. We hardly believe that they are fowls. We are always reminded of two philosophers. Both stick to their own points of view on the reality of dreams and the discussion ends in no conclusion. So an animal fable has been elevated to the level of a philosophical poem, having deep thoughts and ideas. The cock is raised to the status of a hero and, thus the tale becomes a mock-epic.

Chaucer’s style in the poem is grand. He employs bombastic words for a trivial subject. For example, Chanticleer is called a gentle cock and his crowing is sweeter than that of any other cock. Pertelote, likewise, has the best colouring on her throat and she is called “a fair damsel”. She is courteous, discreet, gracious and companionable. So the description of the cock and the hen is sufficiently comic.

Humour is one of the essential prerequisite of a mock-epic and this tale is full of humour. Most of the comedy is introduced through the incongruity and disproportion between grand style and trivial subject. The trivial events have been enlarged to look lofty and grand. For example, the fox has been called “The False Murderer” and the false dissembler and has been compared to various notorious rascals of the past – Judas, Iscariot, Simon, Gauclon, etc. Likewise, the ordinary event of the taking away of the cock has been equated with well-known, historical events of the past e.g. the capture of Troy, the murder of King Priam etc. The outcry and lamentation raised by Pertelote at the event is louder than the hue and cry raised by Hasdrubal’s wife at his painful death. The sorrowful cries of the hens have been identified with the woeful lamentation, uttered by the senators’ wives when their husbands were burnt alive by Nero. On the taking away of the cock whole village – human beings as well animals – madly run after the fox and there is a stale of chaos as if it is the day of judgment whereas the carrying away of the cock by the fox is not a grave event. The awful noise produced at that time has been compared with the uproar created by the members of the Peasant’s Revolt. The chase of the fox is described in an inflated tone.

As essential prerequisites of an epic as well as mock-epic is the moral. There can be no mock-epic without moral. In “Nuns Priest’s Tale” moral is explicit as well as implicit. Though this story, Chaucer wanted to discuss important and vital issues of life, such as flattery predestination, the qualities of a good man and a good woman, the nature of dreams and irony of fate etc.

In short, we can say that “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is a parody of an epic in which all the leading epic features and conventions are brought in connection with a very trifling theme.

Narrative technique in Raja Rao's Kanthapura

    Narrative technique in Kanthapura

                                The success of any literary artist lies not only in his ideas but also in his expression. The style reveals the nature and the intention of the writer. It is righty said that ‘style is man’ means man is recognize by his style. In literature by reading the text of any writer we can assume his character and his intellectual power. Style reveals the author himself. Style differs from person to person. So it’s necessary to notice and analyze the literary technique used by writer.

                              In preface of kanthapura Raja Rao observes that “the telling has not been easy, he had to convey in a language that is not one’s own the spirit is one’s own.” He uses it in Kanthapura and all other novel, he has tried to give expression to the thought and the feeling, the culture and ideology of Indians in English.

                            Raja Rao used the ancient Puranic method of storytelling rather than follows the western style, according to him puranic method of storytelling is natural and true to nature and true to the atmosphere of India, which gives it Indianness to the novel. Kanthapura is third person narrative novel. Kanthpura is narrated by old woman Achkka. As Rao has told in his preface the story is told in oral tradition of storytelling without any break. He says in preface to Kanthapura ,“we, in India think quickly . . . to another thought”   

In his narrative style we see appropriateness of language. He brings out difference of language used by Educated, uneducated, old, young, even by man and woman. The narrator Achakka is very old aged women who tells the story to her grand-children, she uses old religious word and language, that who doesn’t know about Indian myth and religion could not understand easily some words, he will find difficulties in understanding it. The Moorthy is young and educated man in village, and talks about the Gandhian thoughts idealism, and movement. Even the language used by women in village is also differs from man. They usually talks about house hold matters and about clothing and saris, which sari will she wears to go in katha.

                       In Raja Rao especially in Kanthapura, the narrative is straight forward, and he uses flashback technique. Achakka tells the story to her grand-children, of her past in what kind of situation she passes through. She told story in different manner, sometimes while telling story she forgets the name of mythical characters, and confused between Shiv and Brahma, and Vishnu. She sometimes forget the story and then come back in present, and when she remembers she went back to past. The thing which we should note that she tell her children the story of Ram, of Shiva, of Vishnu, of Krishna. And then come back to the present time she compares the mythical character with present time of India in which she lives.

                              Again Raja Rao’s use of myth makes it different from others. In Kanthapura Rao used different myths from Indian epic Mahabharata, and Ramayana, which makes its narrative simple to understand for the Indian reader. Here for the progression of the story and narrator is an old woman so it’s inevitable that mythical character would not creep in. in a way to make it interesting Raja Rao has used myths. The myths he used are of Kenchamma, Rama, Shiva, Krishna etc.

                                Another distinguished narrative quality of Kanthapura is Indianized English language. Raja Rao variously tried to indianized language, he tried to make it more easy to express his feelings and certain thoughts. By number of ways he modified and mold language to get desired effect. He has translated the native similes and metaphors, idioms, and culture specific phrases that we use in our daily language or in vernacular language. Here for example;

                        “well when you have drunk the Himavati waters, you can’t ever look different.”

                                                         “Moorthy is holly bull, elephant and cow.”

The novel starts with simple narration by an old woman about one of the village in India, later it evolves to entire India. The narration starts as tale is told to children by their grandmother as it is the Indian tradition. Raja Rao has combined the myth and Gandhian Movement very harmoniously, he use Hindu epic myth for authentication of his work by putting myth in novel he easily achieved his goal. Not only the use of myth makes it popular but, his intellectual power, his imaginative power, his ability to use and utilize the Indian words, and it’s his knowledge of Indian culture and people.

                                          ---------------------------------------           By: BIKASH MAITY

                                                                                                     

Anand's Humanism in Coolie

 HUMANISM IN COOLIE

The word “Humanism” has a number of meanings and because authors and speakers do not clarify which meaning, they intend. There are different types of Humanism -- Literary Humanism, Renaissance Humanism, Cultural Humanism, Philosophical Humanism, Christian Humanism, Modern Humanism, Secular Humanism, Religious Humanism etc.

The best fictional treatment of Anand’s humanism can be seen in his first novel Untouchable and in the second novel Coolie. Coolie is a proletarian novel depicting the tragic plight of the millions of coolies who are landless and run away from hunger and starvation of villages. Thus driven by poverty, they become coolies and laborers only to be victimized by the social forces of exploitation, Capitalism and Industrialism and then die somewhere in a corner, unknown and unwept.

Coolie is the narrative of life and death of a coolie, Munoo, over a period of two years. In Coolie as in other novels, Anand is not only a realist but a social reformer also. Naturally, he preaches for the betterment of the lot of persons like Munoo. His tragedy is Anand’s passionate plea for reform. Humanism is his answer to this problem. This is expressed through typical situations and characters.

Coolie expresses his belief in the essential dignity of man whether he belongs to the rich or the poor class. In this novel, he selects a poor boy, Munoo, as the hero, and he dominates this novel from the beginning to the end. To Anand the pain and suffering from universal brotherhood, love and compassion. His life is full of sufferings and in the beginning of the novel itself; we can see how his aunt Gujri ill-treats him.

‘Munoo Ohe Munooa!’, she called again, exasperated and raising her voice, this time, to the highest pitch to which, in her anger and hate, she could carry it: ‘where have you died? Where have you gone, you ominous orphan? Come back and begone!’ the piercing soprano resounded through the valley and fell on Munoo’s ears with the dreadening effect of all its bitter content (1).

If his aunt Gujri and his Bibi Uttam Kaur treated him with love and compassion, his tragedy would have been avoided. In his adventure, Munoo meets not only cruel and bad people but also kind and good fellows like Prabha Dayal and his wife in Daulatpur, Chota Babu in Sham Nagar and Ratan in Bombay. For example, when he first met Prabha Dayal, by neglecting the advice of his partner, Ganesh, he patted the boy on his back and said, “Come, come now, be a brave lad. Wipe your eyes. We will take care of you. Look we are almost nearing Daulatpur” (64).

Anand’s philosophy of humanism rejected fatalism and it gives importance to man and his ability. According to Anand, Munoo suffers not because of fate but because of society. It is the society, which leads him to his tragic end.

There seemed to be only two kinds of people in the world. Caste did not matter. ‘I am a Kshatriya and I am poor. No, caste does not matter. The Babus are like the sahib-dogs, and all servants look alike. There must only be two kinds of people in the world: the rich and the poor’ (55-56).

Anand clearly shows that he had met more persons like Dr.Prem Chand, Seth Prabha, Ratan and they considered him as a human being, an object of pity and love. But social forces of capitalism and industrialism are stronger than the stray individuals. They victimize Munoo, as he has no economic freedom or prosperity. He allows himself to be exploited because of his hunger and poverty.

As a consequence of the growing rural indebtedness and unemployment, Munoo is forced to migrate to the town in search of employment. When Munoo first enters to the market in Daulatpur, he is baffled by the maddening competition in the labor market. He is amazed to see so wild “a rush for the jobs by the fall and hefty and coolies” (138). It is this insecurity and uncertainty of employment that forces Munoo to come to Bombay. Even here, they are exploited by the indigenous as well as foreign capitalists.

Humanism as a philosophy runs as red thread throughout Coolie. Compassion for the poor is the major strain in his treatment of his themes. This is his message to the suffering humanity. Munoo’s tragedy is universalized and the human element in men of low class is brought out by showing their essential dignity and innocence. Coolieis a novel of social protest. The anger with which he has portrayed Munoo’s sufferings and exploitation is a direct expression of love of man, a basic tenet of his humanism.

Although all his novels present him as a humanist, his earlier novels including Coolie revealed what may be called proletarian humanism. As he observed, “it is true that my humanism seems to be biased in favor of the poor and the oppressed, but, then is there not the example of the man who turned towards the woman taken adultery away from those who sought to condemn her”.                                                 [BY: BIKASH MAITY]

Short note on Marks of decadence/evil in Webstar's The Duchess of Malfi

Webster's Decadent Drama-The Duchess of Malfi.

A number of Jacobean tragedies are set in the sixteenth century Italian courts. Epitomizing political, religious and sexual corruption, they fascinated the English audience of the early seventeenth century. The decadence in The Duchess of Malfi is unfolded through exchanges between court characters in the very opening scenes. The court is introduced through two initially choric figures, Antonio and Bosola. Although cast as opponents for the action of the play, they share similar satirical viewpoints and expose the decay beneath aristocratic decorum. Antonio starts as something of a political idealist. Newly returned from his travels, he talks of the French administration, and compares the court to a fountain. In an ideal state, where the ruler uses his power and privilege for the good of the people, this fountain dispenses "pure silver-drops in general." This makes an implicit contrast with the present decadence of Italian courts the audience is about to discover. Nevertheless,  he also warns that

"… if't chance

Some cursed example poison't near the head,

Death and diseases through the whole land spread."

                                                                                                      This immediately follows the exchange between the Cardinal and Bosola. Their verbal ambiguity highlights their clandestine relationship, and Bosola explicitly demands political rewards for past illegal services. It thus foreshadows that political ambition and corruption prevailing all over the plot.Webster sharpens this decadence by the advocacy of the ideal state by Antonio and Delio, and their discussion of the leaders.

Images of disease abound Bosola's description of the court. All the twelve metaphors he uses in forty lines describe a world where the natural becomes inverted and base creatures like leech, pies and caterpillars hover all around. They present the courtly life as diseased, rotting, crowded, animalistic, disordered and corrupt. We are reminded of the opening act of The White Devil, where Webster compares great men to she-wolves, and political patronage to butchering sheep. The White Devil depicts the transition in politics as one of the courtiers is legally banished for corruption. In The Duchess of Malfi, it prevails right through. 

According to Kate Aughersten, Bosola is a man of bitter resentment and eager willingness, and this lends credibility to his political criticisms. His metaphor of a crowded hospital simultaneously conveys putrefaction as well as his own distaste and bitterness at politics. Bosola thematically bridges the good and bad people in two distant poles. He shares Antonio's disgust at political corruption, as the audience visualizes the corruption through his imagery. On the other hand, he is also a part of it. He blackmails the Cardinal effectively by reminding him of his previous service. Thus the tripartite structure of the opening scenes destabilizes the accepted glory of the political world.

The decadent Aragonian brothers are best portrayed in Bosola's comparison to "plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools; they are rich, and o'erladden with fruit, but none but crows, pies and caterpillars feed on them." The decay of the Catholic Church in The Duchess of Malfi was perhaps well received by the predominantly Protestant English playgoers. It is manifested through the Cardinal, further symbolized by his exchange of ecclesiastical robes for the armour. An inveterate manipulator, the Cardinal has even attempted to bribe his way to the papal power. No wonder hence like the Machiavellian model of Cesare Borgia, he poisons Julia at the end of the play. 

Duke Ferdinand is contrasting and complementary to the Cardinal at the same time. Delio sums up how cleverly he uses his power and privilege:

"…the law to him

Is like a foul black cobweb to a spider,

He makes it his dwelling, and a prison

To entangle those shall feed him."

Ferdinand is introduced to the audience as the typical Renaissance nobleman, conversing on horsemanship and war with his courtiers. Shortly, a sexual innuendo shatters his mask. Combined with despotic power, his dark inverted sexuality is often devastating. His relationship with the Duchess is contaminated by an incestuous attraction at the unconscious level. It goads him unto using bawdy images while talking over his sister, which becomes more obvious as the mad Ferdinand gibbers at the end. 

Poisoned by the brothers' cursed example, the minor court characters are also decadent, ranging from the cowardly and foppish Count Malateste to the sycophantic impotent Castruchio. Only the Marquis of Pescara seems untainted. All over the play, the business of the court is low, and conversations are rude and feebly cynical. According to Catherine Belsey, the play suggests no way of reaching the ideal of the French court from the present decadence. Bosola's solution is to submit to its values, and he is finally neglected. The Duchess goes he own way and is murdered at the end. Service to Ferdinand is deadly, opposition vain. Most of the critics hence find Webster as a nihilist and morally anarchic. Not surprisingly, Antonio's final advice for his only surviving son is to "fly the courts of princes."

SHORT NOTE ON THE THEME OF INCOMPLETENESS IN GIRISH KARNAD’S HAYAVADANA

THE THEME OF INCOMPLETENESS IN

GIRISH KARNAD’S HAYAVADANA

Girish Karnad’s play Hayavadana deals with the theme of incompleteness. Karnad has tried to illustrate incompleteness with divine, human and animal figures. Ganesha has the elephant head and the human body. The transposition of heads does not give Devadatta , Kapila and Padmini completeness. Only Hayavadana, who had the horse head and the human body, achieves completeness. He wanted to become a complete human being , but he becomes a complete horse.

LITERATURE

In this play, Karnad has presented the theme of incompleteness at three levels- Divine, Human and Animal. When the play begins, “ a mask of Ganesha is brought on the stage and kept on the chair. The Bhagavata sings verses in praise of Ganesha, accompanied by his musicians.From the very beginning we see the use of the word ‘incompleteness’. Ganesha is worshipped as the destroyer of

incompleteness. Here the Bhagavatta regards Ganesha the embodiment of incompleteness because Ganesha has an elephant head and a human body.

Devadatta and Kapila are close friends. Devadatta marries Padmini. One day they plan a short visit to Ujjain. Kapila drives the cart. Padmini admires Kapila’s physique. Now Devadatta does not like this. Kapila offers to go to the temple of Rudra. Padmini immediately agrees while Devdatta stays back. Then Devadatta goes to the temple of Kali and hacks off his head with a sword kept there. In course of events Kapila also hacks off his head.But when Padmini takes sword, Goddess Kali appears and asks her to put the heads on their bodies and press the sword on their necks and they will be alive again. Out of eagerness she puts the heads on the wrong bodies and presses the sword. Both of them come to life but three are greatly surprised. They saw the attachment of the head of Kapila and the body of Devadatta and the head of Devadatta and the body of Kapila. Kapila with Devadatta’s body claims Padmini. He argues that it is with the body that Padmini took the vows of marriage before the sacred fire and the child which she is carrying in her womb is the seed of that body. Then they go to a sage who announces that just as Kalp Vriksha is supreme amongst all the trees in the same way head is supreme of all human limbs. The body who has the head of Devadatta is indeed Devadatta. The body who has the head of Kapila is indeed Kapila. So Kapila becomes very sad and goes to the forest.

RESEARCH PAPER

Hayavadana has the horse head and the human body. He wants to become a complete human being. ‘Haya’ is a Sanskrit word which means ‘horse’. ‘Vadana’ is also a Sankrit word which means ‘ face’. He is the son of the Princess of Karnataka. She fell in love with a white stallion. She was married off with it.But after five years she found it a gandharva.,who became a horse because of the curse of the God Kuber. After fifteen years of human love he had become his original self again.  Released from his curse, he asked the Princess to accompany him to his Heavenly Abode. But she wanted him to become a horse again. So he cursed her to be a horse herself. She became a mare and galloped away without thinking in the least of Hayavadana, the product of her marriage with the white stallion. So Hayavadana is in search of identity and completeness of his physical body. He wants to get rid

of his horse-face. He visits many religious places and meets a number of sages. But he is not able to get rid of his horseface.

The Bhagavatta asks him to go to the temple of Kali and request her to make him complete. Even before he could say make him complete man, the goddess says: ‘So be it’ and disappears. So now he becomes a complete horse. But he does not become a complete being because he still has human voice. At the end of the play, he gets his horse voice. “Hayavadana achieves completeness when finally he becomes a complete horse and loses the human voice through singing the Indian National Anthem. But this is one-sided completeness. But for human being, who is a combination of flesh and spirit, body and mind, completeness requires a harmonical relationship between body and mind but Cartesian division seems to be a perennial irresolvable problem for man. The major reality of this world is selfdivision. Both man and society are self-divided and disturbing antinomies struggle for supremacy. The problem of Hayavadana, alienation, absurdity, incompleteness and search for identity are central of the plays of Karnad. Incompleteness is an inescapable and insurmountable reality. This concept helps to solve such riddles in Hayavadana as why Hayavadana’s mother chooses for her husband a stallion rather than a man and why Goddess Kali makes Hayavadana a complete horse instead of a complete man.”

Thus , Karnad has presented the theme of incompleteness at three levels- Divine , Human and Animal. Bagavatta regards Ganesha incomplete because he has the elephant head and the human body. But at the end of the play, he praises Ganesha: “Unfathomable indeed is the mercy of the Elephant-headed Ganesha. He fulfils the desire of all – a grandson to grandfather, a smile to a child, a neigh to a horse. How indeed can one describe his glory in our poor, disabled words ?”

In the case of Devadatta , Kapila and Padmini, we see that they fail to achieve completeness. They all die. But Hayavadana achieves completeness. He wanted to become a man. But he becomes a complete horse. So the theme of incompleteness has been nicely presented in this play.

                                                                                                                 Composed By,

                                                                                                                BIKASH MAITY