Jude the obscure

 Jude the obscure : 

Hello readers, i am Dhruvita Dhameliya and today I write about Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the obscure and critical analysis of religion, education and society.

Introduction : 

Thomas Hardy, the son of a stonemason, was born in Dorset, England, on June 2, 1840. He trained as an architect and worked in London and Dorset for ten years.

First of all, literature makes variety kind of concept to understand and to come out with new idea that one must be learning of and make impact on the society. Here is genius writer Thomas Hardy, who expanded the Victorian era and showed the realistic picture of it. To study the writer one has to study all the elements which writer is writing in his work. He uses make kind of concepts like pessimism, an overwhelming feeling of irony, naturalism, feminism. These all makes impact on the writing part and other things like Thomas Hardy is showing is about fate and chance, dignity of the person. Thomas Hardy portrays woman characters in a contrasting way. One cannot identify that Hardy is with the women character or he is showing the harshness and punishing women on the targeting on Victorian period. Thomas Hardy’s masterpieces of novel is 'Under the Greenwood Tree 1872', 'A Pair of Blue Eyes 1873', 'Far from the Madding Crowd 1874' , 'The Return of the Native 1878', 'The Mayor of Casterbridge 1886', 'Tess of the D’Urbervilles 1891', 'Jude the Obscure 1896'. In 1898 Hardy published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, a collection of poems written over 30 years. Hardy claimed poetry as his first love, and after a great amount of negative criticism erupted from the publication of his novel Jude The Obscure, Hardy decided to give up writing novels permanently and to focus his literary efforts on writing poetry. All the facts show that Thomas Hardy gives major elements in his works and shows realness of the time. 

Jude the Obscure  :

Jude the Obscure, the last but most radical novel by Thomas Hardy, raised a storm of protest among Victorian society upon its publication in 1895. Hardy’s adoption of a critical stance in his presentation of marriage was not particularly welcomed by many Victorian

readers. Many critics considered the novel extremely offensive to Victorian morality and its legal codes. 

 Jude the Obscure focuses on the life of a country stonemason, Jude, and his love for his cousin Sue, a schoolteacher. From the beginning Jude knows that marriage is an ill-fated venture in his family, and he believes that his love for Sue curses him doubly, because they are both members of a cursed clan. While love could be identified as a central theme in the novel, it is the institution of marriage that is the work's central focus. Jude and Sue are unhappily married to other people, and then drawn by an inevitable bond that pulls them together. Their relationship is beset by tragedy, not only because of the family curse but also by society's reluctance to accept their marriage as legitimate.

 Religion  :

Along with marriage and society, Hardy spends much of Jude the Obscure critiquing religion and the institution of Christianity. He often portrays Christianity as life-denying and belonging to 

“THE LETTER” that “kILLETH” from the novel’s epigraph. In contrast, Sue is introduced as a kind of pre-Christian entity, an ethereal, pagan spirit, and she first appears buying figures of the ancient Greek gods Venus and Apollo. Jude, meanwhile, hopes to join the clergy as part of his intellectual pursuits. At a model of Jerusalem, Sue wonders why Jerusalem should be honored above Athens or Rome, but Jude is mesmerized by this city which is so important to Christianity.

As with most of his arguments, Hardy also undercuts himself and favors a nuanced approach to an issue. Even as he seems to reject Christianity, he also portrays almost all the main characters as Christ-figures at several points, even describing them with Biblical language. The “pagan joy” of Sue and Jude’s unmarried, unreligious love is not actually that joyful either, and Hardy thoroughly punishes them with his plot, ultimately driving Sue to submit to a harsh, legalistic version of Christianity. By associating Sue’s turn to religion with Jude’s turn to alcohol both used as relief from the tragedy of their children’s death,Hardy again adds more nuance – Christianity may be the “right” way for his country and time, but it can still be used for less-than-pure purposes. As “Nature’s law” fails Sue and Jude, so “Heaven’s law” also fails them, and the “LETTER” of the law of Christianity can seem less moral than human nature. Hardy gives many examples of this, including Sue’s return to Phillotson, which is a kind of adultery even though they are legally and religiously married. As usual, Hardy ends without any clear answer. He seems to reject a Christianity that is overly concerned with laws and traditions, but he doesn’t portray paganism or atheism as a particularly fulfilling alternative either.

 Education : 

The theme of education plays a major role in Hardy’s last novel Jude the Obscure. Right from the start, the protagonist Jude is shown to be aspiring for higher education in universities, despite being the apprentice of a stone mason. The novel courses, among many other issues, his pursuit of this dream, finally showing his failure to achieve it. But the fault is shown not to lie within him, but the society, in the very institution of education, which, rather than helping out people like Jude, rejects them, regardless of their troubles to get so far. Colleges and Universities are shown to pay more attention to the class of the student, rather than his merit. Its not too hard to envision the role education plays in this novel, when one discovers that one of its major settings is a city renowned for its famous university- Christminister.

Hardy highlights many kinds of education in Jude the Obscure. Most obviously, we have Jude's desire to get a university degree and become an academic. However, Hardy also emphasizes the importance of experiential education, because Jude is inexperienced with women and with social situations more generally, he is especially susceptible to Arabella's seduction. In the novel, the level of traditional education one reaches is closely tied to the class system, and if someone from Jude's class wants to learn, they must teach themselves. Although the narrator seems to admire Jude's willingness to teach himself, he also points out the limits of auto didacticism, noting that despite Jude's near-constant studies, he cannot hope to complete on the university entrance exam against richer men who have hired tutors.

In the first two parts of the book, the focus is on Jude, a working-class boy firmly attempting to educate himself. He struggles patiently to realize his dream of a university education but is thwarted by a cruel fate and rigid, conservative social order. Jude teaches himself the classics, Latin, Greek, and much more in the hopes that he will one day be able to further his education in the proper setting: college.

When one examines Hardy's presentation of the university and Jude's efforts to enter it, two main views become apparent. Jude's view is the romantic and illusory one, the society’s view is realistic, hence hard and unmerciful. As a child, he was always fascinated with Christminster.

 He sees it as a "city of light," where

 "the tree of knowledge grows"; it is like "a castle manned by scholarship and religion." Even years later, when he realizes his ambitions are futile, Christminster remains a shining ideal of intellectual life, "the intellectual and spiritual granary of this country." Broken and beaten by life, Jude still retains his attachment to the place and returns, wishing to die there.

Sue adopts a different standpoint. She does not share his romantic ideals and viciously attacks Christminster as an "ignorant place, full of fetishists and ghost seers" and a "nest of common schoolmasters" with a "timid obsequiousness to tradition". Its intellectual life is dismissed as "new wine in old bottles". She however is able to take a two years teacher’s training at the end of which she hopes to join a school, which will at least guarantee her economic freedom. Her institutional education is at a much higher level than of Jude.

Phillotson's view on the institution of education is rather plain. He is the ordinary, unassuming schoolmaster of Marygreen, but it is he who inspires Jude within the desire to go on to the university. He moves off to Christminster, and it is there that he marries Sue. However, his unconventional but kind attitude of letting Sue go back to Jude gets a lot of criticism from other teachers, including the chairman of the school committee. He is also sacked from the very educational institution he taught in, for his inability to keep his wife 'chained' under control. Thus the attitude of the educated class here is criticised in the sense that instead of a broader mindset, they are still narrow and clinging on to old traditions.

Jude is not wanted at Christminster, and often Hardy describes the gloom of the university city in unfavorable terms: "the rottenness of the stones--it seemed impossible that modern thought could house itself in such decrepit and superseded chambers" The curt note from the master of the Biblical College, where he had written for admission, crushing Jude's hopes, emphasizes the loneliness of Jude's struggle. He is advised to remain in his own sphere and stick to his own trade, that of a stone mason, if he is to expect more chances of success in life. Neither does he have the money to get into a big institution, nor does he have the brilliancy to get a full scholarship. Thus his dream of becoming a scholar, a professor, remains unfulfilled.

Hardy criticizes social and educational structures which are so rigid and orthodox that someone like Jude, bright, hard-working, but lacking in means, is permanently expelled from the academic scene. Hardy wants to emphasize that Jude will always remain an outsider, denied access to improvement, not because of lack of ability, but because of his social class. The end of the book underlines this isolation with the bitter a picture of Jude on his death bed, lying alone, while the revelry of Remembrance Day occurs outside.

Class and society :

Brutality of the Class System :

The brutality of an impenetrable class system haunts Jude, who has the misfortune to be born into the working class. Despite being hard working, ambitious, and highly intelligent, he cannot escape from the restrictions of his class. He is doomed to remain basically in place, and the best he can do is become a craftsman in a skilled trade.

Jude cannot gain entry into the university because he has not had access to schools that teach Greek and Latin, and his efforts at self-study are not enough for him to catch up. Thus, he doesn't have enough knowledge to take an examination to qualify him for a scholarship. Neither does he have the money to pay—another route to a university education, and the one generally taken by the upper classes. Although Christminster was made for people like him—a genuine scholar with a thirst for knowledge, as Sue points out—Jude is doomed to remain outside its gates of learning and denied the opportunities to which learning can lead.

Institution  of Marriage :

A major theme in the novel is that people often make wrong choices in marrying. Given human error and the consequences of a poor choice in a marital partner, the story shows that people should not be bound to remain in unhappy relationships and suffer a lifetime of penance. Critics accused Hardy of attacking the institution of marriage, but he defends himself in the second preface—the 1912 Postscript—by saying "I have been charged ... with ... the present "shop-soiled" condition of the marriage theme. My opinion at that time, if I remember rightly, was what it is now, that a marriage should be dissolvable as soon as it becomes a cruelty to either of the parties—being then essentially and morally no marriage—and it seemed a good foundation for the fable of a tragedy."

Hardy distinguished between the true marriage of minds and hearts and the legal contract that becomes void once the relationship dies. Despite the contractual nature, marriages die quite frequently, as evidenced by today's divorce statistics in a time when people are freer to dissolve their unions. Couples in Hardy's time, however, were forced to remain chained together like two unhappy convicts. It is easy enough to see the disastrous union between Jude and Arabella brought about originally by trickery and entrapment. However, had Arabella remained in Marygreen, the marriage would not have been easily dissolved. Nor does her departure for Australia free Jude from legal entanglements, although it does free him from the daily misery of her company.

The marriage between Sue and Phillotson is more complicated. Phillotson represents an enlightened view when he lets Sue go to live with her soulmate, an action for which he is punished by a hypocritical society. Society cares much more about the letter than the spirit of the law ("the letter killeth") and upholds a superficial morality that negates people's deepest feelings. But the problem of marriage in Hardy's novel is intractable; even though Phillotson is willing to take Sue back as his wife, his complicity in her martyrdom is sure to destroy her. Going along with Sue helps him get back his livelihood and status in an unforgiving society.

On the other hand, the real marriage of Jude and Sue causes people to persecute and ostracize them because the couple does not have a legal contract. The relentless hounding of the nonconformist couple results in their losing their livelihoods and relatively pleasant home in Aldbrickham. Their return to Christminster as paupers leads to the tragic destruction of their family.

Sue resents the accepted fact that women are reduced to using marriage as a way to ensure financial stability rather than choosing marriage freely to express love and desire to live with a soulmate. Sue rebels against the hypocritical standards of society, which deem her immoral because she is not legally married to her children's father, and her failure to hide this information leads to the terrible murders perpetrated by Father Time. Ultimately Sue is broken by the tragedy and surrenders to social norms, returning to her actual husband to atone for what she sees as the sin of having and then losing her children.

Conclusion :

Life is pain. Your efforts to mitigate that pain may bear fruit occasionally but are more likely to be snuffed out by the cruel fate. “Indifference to fate, though it often makes a villain of a man, is the basis of his sublimity when it does not,” wrote Hardy in Far from the Madding Crowd. Genuinely passionate people like Jude are crushed, indifferent ones like Arabella teeter on the edge of villainy, and hardly a handful manage to achieve sublimity. That is the human destiny. Not quite a great one.

Words count : 2418

References :https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jude/section7/

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/j/jude-the-obscure/critical-essays/structure-of-jude-the-obscure

Metaphysical poetry

Name : Dhruvita Dhameliya

Roll no : 03

Semester : 1 

Year : 2021 to 2023

Topic : characteristics of the metaphysical poetry

E-mail ID : dhameliyadhruvita24@gmail.com

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

Characteristics of Metaphysical poetry : 

Introduction : 

'Metaphysical poetry is a group of 

poems that share common 

characteristics: they are all highly 

intellectualized, use rather strange 

imagery, use frequent paradox and 

contain extremely complicated thought.'

The word 'meta' means 'after,' so the literal translation of 

'metaphysical' is 'after the physical.' Basically, metaphysics deals with questions that can't be explained by science. It questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way.

In the book “Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , the author Samuel Johnson made the first use of the word Metaphysical Poetry. He used the term Metaphysical poets to define a loose group of the poets of 17th century. The group was not formal and most of the poets put in this category did not know or read each other’s writings. This group’s most prominent poets include John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Traherne, Richard Crashaw, etc. He noted in his writing that all of these poets had the same style of wit and conceit in their poetry. Dr Johnson wanted to criticise the poetry of Donne and his followers by using the term 'metaphysical poetry' but with the passing of the time the same term became the term of appraisal for their poetry.

Dr.johnson has passed one remarkable comment stating that the poetry that, 

"The metaphysical poets stood trial of their finger but failed in trial of the ears."

What Dr. Johnson want to state that there is no music and rhythm in their poetry.

  

CHARACTERISTICS OF METAPHYSICAL POETRY : 

 The group of metaphysical poets that we mentioned earlier is 

obviously not the only poets or philosophers or writers that deal 

with metaphysical questions. There are other more specific 

characteristics that prompted Johnson to place the 17th-century 

poets together.

Perhaps the most common characteristic is that metaphysical 

poetry contained large doses of wit. In fact, although the poets 

were examining serious questions about the existence of God or 

whether a human could possibly perceive the world, the poets 

were sure to wit. Poet ponder those questions with humor.

Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock the reader and wake 

him or her up from his or her normal existence in order to 

question the unquestionable. The poetry often mixed ordinary 

speech with paradoxes and puns. The results were strange, 

comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to a compass or the soul 

to a drop of dew. These weird comparisons were called conceits.

Metaphysical poetry investigates the relation between rational, logical argument on the one hand and intuition or “mysticism” on the other, often depicted with sensuous detail Metaphysical poetry is considered highly ambiguous due to high intellect and knowledge of metaphysical poets.

  

Metaphysical poetry talks about deep things. It talks about soul, love, religion, reality etc. You can never be sure about what is coming your way while reading a metaphysical poem. There can be unusual philosophies and comparisons that will make you think and ponder. The most important characteristics of metaphysical poetry is “undissociated sensibility” the combination of feeling and thoughts.

Even though it talks about serious stuff, it talks about it in a humorous way. The tone is sometimes light. It can be harsh sometimes too. The purpose is to present a new idea and make the reader think.

 In Romantic poetry, the metaphysical poets often draw on ideas from Renaissance Neo-Platonism to show the relationship between the soul and body and the union of lovers' souls.

According to Grierson, the two chief characteristics of metaphysical poetry are paradoxical ratiocination and passionate feelings. As Donne opens his poem,

 “The indifferent ” with a line with a paradoxical comment. “I can love both fair and brown”

Other unique feature of this poetry is Platonic Love. The word is taken after Plato. Platonic love is a non-romantic love. There is no lust or need of physical contact. It is spiritual love and is mostly for God.

Another feature of the metaphysical poetry is its fantastic lyrics style. 

As A. C. Word said: 

“The metaphysical style is a combination of two elements, the fantastic form and style, and the incongruous in matter manner”. 

The versification of the metaphysical poetry is also coarse and jerky like its diction. The main intention of the metaphysicals was to startle the readers. They deliberately avoided conventional poetic style to bring something new to the readers. Their style was not conventional and the versification contrast with much of the Elizabethan writers. 

It arouses some extreme level of thoughts and feelings in the readers by asking life-altering questions. 

 The Abrupt Beginning

The abrupt and sudden striking beginning is an important feature of metaphysical poetry. For example the beginning line of the poem The Canonization is....

         

"For God's sake hold your 

tongue and let me love"

Argumentative Presentation

Metaphysical poetry is a mixture of feelings and philosophical argument. They try to prove their statement by solid arguments. Here is an example from the poem Sweetest love, I do not go…

"They who one another keep

Alive, never parted bee.."

Here poet makes the argument that if one accompanied died that doesn't mean that they are parted. Because another person always keeps him in her heart. So there is no partition in love by death.

 The use of conceits

Conceits are a comparison between two unlike things that are not similar at any angle still writers try to put it together, which is a high kind of intellectual. Example of Conceit in Donne's poetry is "A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning." Here Donne tries to describe lovers as the two ends of Compass.

The main conceit or metaphor used in the poem "The Sun Rising" is the personification of the sun as an old man "busy old fool unruly" whose business is to get up everyone. Another conceit is used as her beloved is the treasure of the world. Which is expressed in the following lines…

She is all states and all princes,

I nothing else is,

All honor's mimic,

All wealth Alchemy

Use of wit and Highly Intellectual poems

John Done is passionately witty and wittily passionate. Leishman is impressed by Donne's poetry and considers him as " The Monarch of wit." THe finest illustrations of wit we can find in the poem The Flea…

"This flea is you and I

And this is our marriage bed,

And marriage temple is."

Another characteristic of such poetry is that it is unclear. Because it provides such complicated themes, the idea of metaphysical poems is somewhat not definite. It is different for every person. It depends on the perception and experiences of the reader. Every person will take something different out of the same poem based on their beliefs and understanding.

MAJOR THEME IN METAPHYSICAL POETRY:-

Spiritual Love & Physical Love

Fidelity

Paradox

Religion

Interconnection with Humanity

Death 

  Major Poets :

John Donne [1572 - 1631]

Henry Vaughan [1622 - 1695]

Andrew Marvell [1621 - 1678]

Abraham Cowley [1618 - 1667]

George Herbert [1593 - 1633]

Richard Crashaw [1613 - 1649]

John Cleveland [1613 - 1658]

Thomas Traherne [1636/1637 - 1674]

Saint Robert Southwell [1561 - 1595]

JOHN DONNE'S WELL-KNOWN POEMS ARE:-

"Death Not Be Proud"

"The Dream"

"The Flea"

"Sweetest Love, I do not go"

"The Sun Rising"

"The Ecstasy"

"The Anniversary"

1.."Death be not proud"..........

Death be not proud, is one of the holy sonnet. In the present sonnet Donne wants to show that death is not something to be affraid off..Of course some people considered death mighty and dangerous but, in reality not..

This is one of Donne's more well known poem. The poem speaks of how heaven is 'Eternal'; Death in this poem is personified. He uses 'rest' and 'sleep' to speak of how they are images of what Death is like.... The poet states that death shouldn't be proud because, Death is nothing except one short sleep and after that short sleep we getup once again with a new body,new life and new enthusiasm. If Death is accepted in such manner, there will not be any Death at all and Death itself would died.. The aim of the poet behind writing this Sonnet is to nullify the fear of death. The poet has presenting altogether a different picture of death in the present Sonnet.

This poem is made up of only one stanza,it has fourteen lines..

2.."The Dream".....

This is a poem about a Dream, which Donne had. He was greatly in love,buy when he awoke he was still in great love.However, he realized that love is not without pain and fear, Nonetheless, those feelings will not break his spirit and he will continue to dream of how great Love is and can be.

"The Dream" is a two stanzas poem with twenty lines in the first and ten in the second stanza.

3.."The Flea"......

The poem "The Flea" is perhaps one of Donne's best known works.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;

Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

"The Flea" is a perfect example of a metaphysical conceit. The entire poem itself uses a flea bite as a way to talk a lover into a sexual relationship. Donne uses creative and complex analogies to compare their sexual union to the bite of a flea. Since their blood already mixed in the flea, they are already connected like they would be in a sexual union.

‘The Flea’ by John Donne is a metaphysical poem. Metaphysical poets belonged to the 17th century. The works of the metaphysical poets are marked by philosophical exploration, colloquial diction, ingenious conceits, irony and metrically flexible lines. They wrote poems on love, religion and mortality. The metaphysical poets described these topics through unusual comparisons, frequently employing unexpected similies and metaphors in displays of wit. 

John Donne is the foremost figure along with George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, Richard Crashaw and Henry Vaughan.Conceit is a striking, strained or affected modes of expression. Conceits are common in Elizabethan poetry and metaphysical verse. Metaphysical conceits are bolder and more ingenious.

For example, Donne uses “stiff twin compasses” to express the souls of two lovers. The speaker asks his beloved to look at the flea before them. It is not good of her that she denies him. The flea sucked him first and then it sucks her. Thus, their bloods are mixed in the flea. This mingling of both bloods is not a sin. Neither is it shame nor is it loss of maidenhead. Yet this flea enjoys itself before it woos. The flea has taken two bloods and made it one. This act is more than what they would do.He stops his beloved to spare the flea because there are three lives in one flea. As their blood is mingled in the flea, they are more than married couples. The flea is an amalgamation of him and his love. The flea is their marriage bed and marriage temple. Their parents grudge their romance. They are cloistered in the living walls of the flea. She is apt to kill him. He requests not to kill the flea. If she kills the flea, it would be self-murder and sacrilege. She would be committing three sins by killing three.His lady has killed the flea and her nails have become purpled. He calls this act “cruel and sudden. The flea’s blood is the blood of innocence. The flea cannot be called guilty except that it sucked a drop of blood of her. His lady love replies that neither 

he nor she is found in the flea. He admits it. He says that her fears of yielding to him are false. She does not lose her honour too. If she yields to his seduction, the honour 

she loses will be equal to the honour she lost in killing the flea. Thus, he tries to seduce his love.

4.."The Sun-Rising"

The poem The Sun Rising is a typical metaphysical Love Poem, in the sense that the emotive element of love is seen to have a rare intellectual basis and the poem has well maintained the intellectual restraint emotional depth and intellectual rationality. The poem contains the characteristics paradox of Donne's metaphysical love poetry. The way in which he challenges the sun and rebuke him with such terms 'old full' 'unruly' 'wretch' highly revealed the metaphysical nature of the poem.

In this respect the presence of metaphysical consists in this poem is noteworthy. The comparison of the lover and his beloved with the princess is brilliant and in it self used as a fine metaphysical consist. Later on the poets comparison between all the precious thing and 'mimic' and 'alchemie' are some of the examples of very unique metaphysical consist. Even the diction of the poem is Donne's metaphysical poetry. His versification is in tune with the singularity of his mood and feeling. The metrical swing is steered not by impulsive urge but regulated by intellectual originality.

Donne change his mind about the Sun throughout this poem. At first, Donne starts to ask why must the sun-start shining?He basically cries out that he wants to stay in bed a bit longer with his love.

The Sun Rising is a three stanza Poem with ten lines in each.It is written in iambic foot.

The words like, "Windows","Curtains","Pedantic",

"Prentices",""Eclipse","India of Spices","Alchemy" and "Warming"

Make this poem Metaphysical,because this words are not related directly to the theme of Love. This words are far-fetched images, making this poem Metaphysical.

Conclusion :

All types of poetry have specific qualities that allow us to group them together;but Metaphysical Poetry is a little bit different..The characteristics are highly intellectualized.The Metaphysical Poetry often mixed ordinary speech with Paradoxes and Puns.The result were strange,comparing unlikely things,such lover to a compass or the soul to a drop of dew.This weird comparison were called conceits.....Metaphysicals are use rather strange imagery, they use frequent paradox and contain extremely complicated thought.Metaphysical poetry is to consider how the poems are about both thought and feeling...

    Metaphysical poets created a new trend in history of English literature. These poems have been created in such a way that one must have enough knowledge to get the actual meaning.The creator of metaphysical poetry john Donne along with his followers is successful not only in that Period but also in the modern age. Metaphysical poetry takes an important place in the history of English literature for its unique versatility and it is popular among thousand of peoples till now….

Words : 2026

References : https://smartenglishnotes.com/2020/06/26/what-is-metaphysical-poetry-and-what-are-its-characteristics

Robert Burns

Name : Dhruvita Dhameliya

Roll no : 03

Semester : 1

Year : 2021 to 2023

Subject : Neo Classical Literature

Topic : Robert Burns as poet

E-mail ID: dhameliyadhruvita24@gmail.com

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

Introduction : 

Robert Burns 

Poet Robert Burns is considered one of the most famous characters of Scotland's cultural history. He is best known as a pioneer of the Romantic movement.

Who Was Robert Burns?

Robert Burns 

Born : 25 January 1759 

Died: 21 July 1796 

NATIONALITY: Scottish

GENRE: Poetry

MAJOR WORKS:

"Auld Lang Syne" (1788)

“The Battle of Sherramuir” (1790)

“Tam o' Shanter” (1791)

“A Red, Red Rose” (1794

He also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns. 

The National Bard, Bard of Ayrshire, the Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets. He was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.

Poet Robert Burns began life as a poor tenant farmer but was able to channel his intellectual energy into poetry and song to become one of the most famous characters of Scotland's cultural history. He is best known as a pioneer of the Romantic movement for his lyrical poetry and his rewriting of Scottish folk songs, many of which are still well known across the world today. Since his death on July 21, 1796, his work has inspired many Western thinkers.

The "big six" English Romantic poets are justly famous and easy to name:

 1)William Blake

2)William Wordsworth

3) Samuel Taylor Coleridge

4) George Gordon (Lord -

Byron)

5)Percy Bysshe Shelley

6) John Keats

But seven is the number of completeness and perfection: 

seven days in a week, seven notes in a musical scale, seven wonders of the ancient world, etc. And I submit that there was a Seventh Romantic who completes and perfects the school: Robert Burns.

He wrote in three languages : Scots, English and the Scots-English dialect for which he is best known today.

Literary style of writing :

Through his treatment of such themes as the importance of 'freedom to the human spirit', 'the beauties of love' and 'friendship', and the 'pleasures of the simple life', Burns achieved a universality that commentators believe is the single most important element in his work.

Freedom and Love The topic of freedom—political, religious, personal, and sexual—dominates Burns's poetry and songs. Burns's innumerable love poems and songs are acknowledged to be touching expressions of the human experience of love in all its phases: The sexual love of ,“The Fornicator,” The emotion of

 “A Red, Red Rose,” and The happiness of a couple grown old together in “John Anderson, My Jo.”

Vitality :

Vitality Another frequently cited aspect of Burns's poetry is its vitality. Whatever his subject, critics find in his verses a riotous celebration of life, an irrepressible joy in the fact of living. This vitality is often expressed through the humor prevalent in Burns's work, from the bawdy humor of “The Jolly Beggars” and the broad farce of “Tam o' Shanter” to the irreverent mockery of “The Twa Dogs” and the sharp satire of “Holy Willie's Prayer.” Burns's subjects and characters are invariably humble, their stories told against the background of the Scottish rural countryside. Although natural surroundings figure prominently in his work, Burns differed from Romantic poets in that he had little interest in nature itself, which in his poetry serves but to set the scene for human activity and emotion.

Scottish Nationalism Burns's deep interest in Scotland's poetic heritage and folkloric tradition resulted in his amending or composing more than three hundred songs, for which he refused payment, maintaining that this labor was rendered in service to Scotland. Each written to an existing tune, the songs are mainly simple yet affecting lyrics of the common concerns of love and life. A great part of Burns's continuing fame rests on such songs as “Green Grow the Rashes O” and, particularly, “Auld Lang Syne".

A RED, RED ROSE :

"A Red, Red Rose" is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The song is also referred to by the title,

 "Oh, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose"

 "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" "Red, Red Rose" and is often published as a poem.

Original poem :

My luve is like a red red rose

That's newly sprung in june;

O my Luve's like the melodie

That's sweetly play'd in tune;

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry;

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun;

I will luve thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve

And fare thee weel, a while!

And I will come again, my Luve,

Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

STYLE of POEM :

“A Red, Red Rose” is written in four four-line stanzas, or quatrains, consisting of alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. This means that the first and third lines of each stanza have four stressed syllables, or beats, while the second and fourth lines have three stressed syllables. Quatrains written in this manner are called ballad stanzas.

 

Summary of poem : 

In this very little love poem, the speaker expresses his deep love for his beloved and assures her that his love for her will last longer than human life and even the world itself. In other words, he will love her for ever and ever.

He has compared his love with a fresh red rose and beautifully played melody. Then he promises that he will love her till all the seas of the world will dry and all the mountains will melt by the heat of the sun.

Finally he bids her farewell. He is going on a long journey. But he assures that he will certainly return back to her by all means, however long the journey it might be. 

Stanza One : 

In this stanza the speaker tells his beloved how beautiful she is. She is like a fresh red rose. Red rose is the symbol of love and romance. It represents true love. Then he compares her with nicely played melody. Here he has used two similes, the first, comparing his love to a rose, and second, comparing her to a sweet melody. Here we find a sincere praise of the poet for his beloved's appearance and temperament. 

 Stanza 2 :

In this stanza he expresses how deep his love is. He will love her till infinite. He will love her till all the seas go dry. In the last line of the stanza he uses hyperbole. It is a figure of speech that exaggerates. Seas going dry is a hyperbole. 

Stanza 3 :

 As in the second stanza, in this stanza also the speaker says how much he loves her. He will continue to love her till the rocks melt by the heat of the sun. This also shows his eternal love for her. He also says that his love will continue while 'the sands of life shall run'. This means till the end of his life.

Stanza 4 :

 In this stanza he says that although he has to leave her for a while, he will certainly return to her, even if he has to take a long journey ten thousand miles. In other words, he promises to love her how far he might go.

Conclusion : 

In short, we find that the first stanza is an introduction about her beauty. The next three stanzas (stanza 2, stanza 3, stanza 4) describe his love for her from three dimensions : depth, length and distance.

 All this also prove that a true love never dies even if the natural phenomenon stops working.

1)What is love ??? 

There are different kinds of love - love for country, love for pets, parental love, etc. But in the reference of this poem, it is about romantic love. 

Different people have different ways of expressing love. At the same time, expressing love depends upon in which culture one lives. 

Whichever the culture it might be, if you want to maintain a loving relationship, then it is important to show your loved one how much you love him/her. There are several ways to do so. But the best way is to express your care and concern for him/her. Some words of compliments showing positive feeling is also a good way. Little gifts, form jewelry to a simple flower, also a good way of expressing love. But the best way to express love is to share his/her worries and responsibilities.

Symbol of rose :

Roses are most commonly associated with love and romance. But it's not that simple. The symbolic meaning of a rose also depends on its colour. For example, pink roses symbolize gratitude, admiration and joy. White is for innocence and purity.

 Red rose is the symbol of love and romance. It represents true love. 

There are several images in nature which people use to express their love. Poets have found several images. There is no end to it. 

But mostly two images are frequently used to express love. They are --- flowers, mostly red rose, and full moon.

Personally, I like the image of a fresh red rose.

Conclusion : 

The poem tells the meaning of love, and it is durable to believe those reminiscences if fall in love to somebody. Robert Burns sought to get married with his love that was pregnant by his twins; however the father-in-law would not agree to it. Burns turned into a legendary success and did really revisit to marry his first love. It is said that this is a true story that he has lived, and therefore he is very passionate about love and inspiring others to get bind into true love.

Words : 1623

References : https://study.com/academy/lesson/a-red-red-rose-by-robert-burns-summary-analysis.html

William Wordsworth

Name : Dhruvita Dhameliya

Roll no : 03

Semester : 1

Year : 2021 - 2023

Topic : Wordsworth as poet

E-mail ID : dhameliyadhruvita24@gmail.com

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

Introduction :   

Name: William Wordsworth

Date of birth: 7 April 1770

Place of birth: Cockermouth, Cumberland, England

Date of death: 23 April 1850 (aged 80)

Place of death: Cumberland, England

Occupation: Poet

Spouse: Mary Hutchinson 

Children: Dora Wordsworth, Thomas Wordsworth, Catherine Wordsworth, John 

Wordsworth, William “Willy” Wordsworth

Notable works: Lyrical Ballads, Poems in Two Volumes, The Excursion, The 

Prelude, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

So, what is Romanticism? 

It was basically a literary and artistic movement that originated during the late 18th Century in Europe. The movement saw artists from various walks of life, like painters, writers, poets, musicians, singers, etc. glorify the subtleties and beauty of nature, emotions, and past. Romanticism saw the birth of a new genre of poetry, which was later christened as the ‘Romantic Poetry’. The period between the late 1780s & 1790s until the 1850s came to be known as the ‘Romantic Age’. The famous poets, apart from William Wordsworth, of the Romantic Age include William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Walter Alva Scott, Robert Burns, and Lord Byron.

William Wordsworth changed forever the way we view the natural world and the inner world of feeling. He also connected the two indivisibly. We are his heirs, and we see and feel through him. His vision illumined our landscape.

William Wordsworth an early leader of romanticism in English poetry, ranks as one of the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature.William Wordsworth was one of the founders of English Romanticism and one its most central figures and important intellects. He is remembered as a poet of spiritual and epistemological speculation, a poet concerned with the human relationship to nature and a fierce advocate of using the vocabulary and speech patterns of common people in poetry.

Early Life : 

William Wordsworth was born in Cookermouth, Cumberland, on April 7, 1770, the second child of an attorney.His name is inextricably connected with the Lake District, where he was born in Cockermouth in 1770. His mother died when he was only eight, his father five years later. These early losses gave him an acute apprehension of mortality, but did not impair the flow of his affections. His mother had loved him enough, and her love lasted beyond the grave. He had a free and happy country childhood, and joy is one of his themes, through his vocation as a poet he transformed fear of mortality to intimations of immortality. 

The story of his early life – his schooldays, his education at Cambridge, his wanderings in France, his response to the French revolution, his love of his sister Dorothy and his passionate friendship with Coleridge – are told in his great autobiographical work in blank verse, The Prelude, most of which written when he was in his 30s only sections of it were published in his lifetime.It is a work of astonishing originality, both in its subject matter childhood and the growth of the mind, described with a pre-Freudian insight unprecedented in literature and in its form. The verse is powerful, supple, subtle, freely flowing. Wordsworth revered both Shakespeare and Milton. He is the third great iambic voice in the English language.

 Unlike the other major English romantic poets, he enjoyed a happy childhood under the loving care of his mother and in close intimacy with his younger sister Dorothy As a child, he wandered exuberantly through the lovely natural scenery of Cumberland. At Hawkshead Grammar School, Wordsworth showed keen and precociously discriminating interest in poetry. 

The great decade: 1797–1808

While living with Dorothy at Alfoxden House, Wordsworth became friends with a fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They formed a partnership that would change both poets’ lives and alter the course of English poetry.

Writting career :

His first volume of poems, Lyrical Ballads, written in collaboration with Coleridge and published in 1798, stakes his territory: the plain, the rustic, the thoughtful, the everyday, the organic: a poetry in which "the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature". It includes The Idiot Boy, a moving ballad treating its challenging subject a mother's love for her "idiot" son sent out into the night to fetch the doctor for a sick neighbour with the deepest respect and in the plainest language, and Tintern Abbey which records in higher language the intensity of the solitary poet's youthful response to a sublime landscape his "aching joys" and "dizzy raptures" and his sense of a more "sober pleasure" associated with maturity, the presence of his beloved sister, and the power of re-creative memory and recollection.

The volume contained poems such as Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” and helped Romanticism take hold in English poetry.The same year that Lyrical Ballads was published, Wordsworth began writing The Prelude, an epic autobiographical poem that he would revise throughout his life it was published posthumously in 1850. While working on The Prelude, Wordsworth produced other poetry, such as “Lucy.” He also wrote a preface for the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, it described his poetry as being inspired by powerful emotions and would come to be seen as declaration of Romantic principles.

The “Preface” is often considered a manifesto of the Romantic movement in English literature. Wordsworth explains his intention in his poems to express incidents from everyday life in everyday language and imbued with poetic sentiment. He defines poetry as a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and the poet as “a man speaking to men”. Because poetry speaks of universal human emotions, it should use diction that is natural rather than artificial and self-consciously literary. Thus, Wordsworth sets himself apart from classicist poets who addressed an elite audience in language that was tied to formal rules. Wordsworth argues that poetry and prose should be close in style and that the aim of poetry should be to imitate nature and inspire emotion in the reader in a way that emphasizes pleasure. In the final part of the essay, Wordsworth outlines the procedure whereby a poet may observe the world around them and compose poetry through deep reflection on their experiences.

Wordsworth poetry is based on some legacy and some rules and consistently these rules are followed almost all in his work. Even the language, themes and structures remain the same except for some minor changes. Wordsworth remains consistent on rules which he sets in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads.

"He believed that the first principle of poetry should be pleasure and so the chief duty of poetry is to provide pleasure through a rhythmic and beautiful expression of feeling."

Wordsworth says that poetry should give pleasure there is no need of extra formality and rhythms. Here Wordsworth shows turn towards the Romantic era by putting more force on feeling, emotion and expression of human chaotic world means portrayal of reality rather than any imagination and fancy world. Wordsworth rejected classical notions and he started making poetry on the ordinary people, women, farmers, lamen, workers and middle class people. Wordsworth used to write in simple, common language and avoid sophisticated use of ornamental language. Language should be true to traditional form. The poem depicts real characters from realistic worlds and situations.

Wordsworth poetry is preoccupied with emotions. 

According to him, the job of a poet is to examine his own self to recollect the powerful feelings of his life. These recollections include inspirational thoughts and events in his life that have greatly influenced him. Once these emotions are recollected, he then reorganizes them. The recollection of emotions is the most observable feature of the poetry of Wordsworth. His poetry is a result of the ordinary but moving thought.

One of the best examples of his sentimental poetry is his sonnet, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge.” In the sonnet, the narrator is an admirer of nature and looks out at the busy industrial city of London to watch for the arresting beauty.

The unique styles of Wordsworth poetry are noticeable in his two most important works: Lyrical Ballads and The prelude. He wrote these two works in collaboration with S. T. Coleridge. These two works characterize the early style of young Wordsworth and the more advanced style of old Wordsworth. The style of Wordsworth in Lyrical Ballads is very emotional and contains natural scenes, whereas, in the epic The Prelude, his verses are composed of more ponderous and exhaustive thoughts on life and his relation to it.

His late poetry is also didactic, as he tried to instruct his readers. Though Keats’s style becomes a little complicated in his later poetry, it is this work that became the most influential works in the English Literature after the death of William Wordsworth. His poems, particularly The Prelude, have been quoted by various poets of the Victorian Era, including Tennyson. The opening verse of the epic poem The Prelude is the best example of his style. 

Laureateship and other honours : 

Wordsworth remained a formidable presence in his later years. 

In 1838, Wordsworth received an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Durham and the following year he was awarded the same honorary degree by the University of Oxford. In 1842, the government awarded him a Civil List pension of 300 a year.

Following the death of Robert Southey in 1843 Wordsworth became Poet Laureate. He initially refused the honour, saying that he was too old, but accepted when the Prime Minister, Robert Peel, assured him that “you shall have nothing required of you”. Wordsworth thus became the only poet laureate to write no official verses. The sudden death of his daughter Dora in 1847 at the age of only 42 was difficult for the aging poet to take and in his depression, he completely gave up writing new material.

 Death of William Wordsworth : 

William Wordsworth died at home at Rydal Mount from an aggravated case of pleurisy on 23 April 1850, and was buried at St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere. His widow Mary published his lengthy autobiographical “poem to Coleridge” as The Preludes everal months after his death. Though it failed to arouse much interest at that time, it has since come to be widely recognised as his masterpiece.

Words count : 1728

References : 

Importance of being earnest

Name : Dhruvita Dhameliya

Roll no : 03

Semester :1

Year : 2021 - 2023

Topic : Importance of being earnest 

E-mail ID : dhameliyadhruvita24@gmail.com

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

Introduction : 

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

-Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde  in full Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, born October 16, 1854, Dublin, Ireland- died November 30, 1900, Paris, France, Irish wit, poet, and dramatist whose reputation rests on his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan 1892 and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He was a spokesman for the late 19th-century Aesthetic movement in England, which advocated art for art’s sake, and he was the object of celebrated civil and criminal suits involving homosexuality and ending in his imprisonment (1895–97)

Born: October 16, 1854 Dublin Ireland

Died: November 30, 1900 (aged 46) Paris France

Awards And Honors : 

Newdigate Prize (1878)

Notable Works : “A Woman of No Importance” ,“De Profundis”, “Intentions”,“Lady Windermere’s Fan”, “Poems” “Ravenna”, “Salomé”, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, “The Happy Prince and Other Tales”, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Movement / Style: Aestheticism Decadent

The Importance of Being Earnest : 

Introduction :

The play opens in the morning room at Algernon Moncrieff’s flat in Half-Moon Street, London. Lane, Algernon’s servant, is arranging tea and cucumber sandwiches because Algernon’s aunt, Lady Bracknell, is coming for a visit. Meanwhile, Algernon is playing the piano in the adjoining room. When he asks Lane whether he has heard him play, Lane says he didn’t think it was polite to listen. ”That’s too bad,” says Algernon, for he doesn’t play accurately, but with a wonderful expression. On Algernon’s question why the servants constantly drink the champagne during dinner parties, Lane responds that the bachelors have much better wine than married couples. Algernon is shocked by the possibility that marriage could be so demoralizing. Lane can not confirm it, being that he was married only once, and that was because of a misunderstanding. After Lane leaves the room, Algernon wonders if the lower orders are of any use if they don’t set an example.

Characters : 

John (Jack) Worthing :

Jack Worthing. Jack is an orphan who was adopted by a wealthy man named Thomas Cardew, who is now dead. Jack is the guardian for Cecily Cardew, Thomas Cardew's 18-year-old granddaughter. Jack is respected in his community, and is an upstanding citizen who not only owns land but serves as a justice of the peace. Jack resides in the town of Hertfordshire. However, Jack lives a double life.

Jack - country

Earnest - London

Jack is in love with his friend Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace.

Jack :  "Gwendolin, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his

life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?" - Responsible and Romantic 

Kinds of characters:

Based on main part or roles in this story, Jack Worthing belongs to main or major character. Because the story focuses on Jack Worthing and most of the story is talking about him from he went to the country to met Algernon Moncrieff until he and he knows about his family.

Based on the personal traits, Jack Worthing belongs to Complex or Round Character. Because he showed his depth personality in this story and he posses both good and bad traits. Jack Worthing care about Cecily to have a more knowledge and the other side he has bad traits like he lies to Gwendelon about the real name was Jack because he falls on with her.

Based of possibility to change, Jack belongs to Dynamic Character because at the beginning  he lies to Gwendelon about his named but in the middle of the story he tells the truth about his named to Gwendelon because he was falling in love with her.

Algernon Moncrieff :

  

He was young man, charming, handsome, romantic, selfish and brilliant. Algernon is like jack, too, leads a double life, being Algernon in the city and Ernest in the country. Algernon, unlike Jack, is not serious and is generally out for his own gratification. He falls in love and proposes to Jack's ward, Cecily, while posing as Jack's wicked younger brother,Ernest.

Algernon Moncrieff: "I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It’s very romantic to be in love but there’s nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one might be accepted. One usually is I believe. Then the whole excitement is over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty"- Romantic and Brilliant

Kind of characters:

Based on main part or roles in this story, Algernon belongs to main or major character. Because the story focuses on Algernon and most of the story is talking about him from he met Jack until he knows that Jack is the brother.

Based on personal traits, Algernon belongs to Complex or Round Character. Because he showed his depth personality in this story and he posses both good and bad traits. Algernon help Jack to to meet with Gwendelon but the other side Algernon have the bad traits, he lies to Cecily about the real name because he falls in love with her.

Based of possibility to change, Algernon belongs to Dynamic Character because at the beginning he lies to Cecily about his named but in the middle of the story he tells the truth about his named to Cecily because he was falling in love and wants to marry her.

Gwendolen Fairfax :

     

She is a beautiful, intellectual,and  love Jack very much.Gwendelon is Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s  daughter. She is romantic and confidence person we can see that when she speak with Jack about her feeling. In the middle of the story he felt angry with Jack because Jack was lie to her and at the end of the story she accept Jack to be her husband.

Gwendolen: "I am always smart!" -  confidence

Kind of characters

Based on main part or roles in this story, Gwendelon belongs to main or major character. Because the story focuses on Gwendelon  and most of the story is talking about him from she met the man that she like, Jack, and until she accept Jack to be her husband.

Based on personal traits, Gwendelon belongs to Flat character, because she shows a simple personality in the story. She only concerns with her own interests and she doesn’t care about others. She just think about their realtionship with Jack.

Based on possibility to change, Gwendelon belongs to Static Character because her personality and attitude remains the same in the story.She still love with Jack at the beginning until the end of the story.

Cecily Cardew 

Jack Worthing's ward, daughter of his adopted father, Sir Thomas Cardew. she is being tutored at Jack's secluded country estate by Miss Prism, her governess. She is romantic and imaginative, and feeling the repression of Prism's rules. A silly and naïve girl, she declares that she wants to meet a "wicked man." Less sophisticated than Gwendolen, she falls in love with Algernon but feels he would be more stable if named Ernest.

Kind of characters

Based on main part or roles in the story, Cecily belongs to main or major character. Because the story focuses on Cecily  and most of the story is talking about her from at the beginning of the story when she learn about German language until the end of the story she falls in love with Algernon.

Based on personal traits, Cecily belongs to Flat character, because she shows a simple personality in the story. She only concerns with her own interests and she doesn’t care about others. She just think about their realtionship with Algernon.

Based on possibility to change, Cecily belongs to Static Character because her personality and attitude remains the same in the story.She still love with Algernon at the beginning until the end of the story.

 Lady Bracknell    

She was an old woman belief that style is more important than substance and that social and class barriers are to be enforced. Lady Bracknell is Algernon's aunt trying to find a suitable wife for him. A strongly opinionated matriarch, dowager, and tyrant, she believes wealth is more important than breeding and bullies everyone in her path. Ironically, she married into the upper class from beneath it. She attempts to bully her daughter, Gwendolen.

Lady Bracknell :

 "I’m glad to hear it. A man should have an occupation of some kind"  - Very strict and selective to select her daughter’s husband.

  

 Kinds of character : 

Based on the main part or roles in this story, Lady Bracnell belongs to Minor character in this story, because she only appears in some part of this story. She doesn’t show himself up from the beginning until the end of the story.

Based on personal traits, Lady Bracnell belongs to Complex or Round Character. Because she showed her depth personality in this story and she posses both good and bad traits. At the beginning she reject Jack because Jack didn’t where is the family but at the end of the story she accept Jack to marry her daughter because she knows about Jack’s family.

Based of possibility to change, Lady Bracknell belongs to Dynamic Character because at the beginning she reject Jack that want to marry her daughter but at the end of the story when Miss Prism tell about the story, she accepted Jack to marry her daughter.

Miss Prism 

She was an old woman who is very smart. She is educating Cecily to have no imagination or sensationalism in her life. She teach Cecily about other language like German language. She becomes the source of Jack's revelation about his parents.

Miss Prism: The goodended happily, and the bad unhappily.

Kind of characters 

Based on the main part or roles in this story, Miss Prism belongs to Minor character in this story, because she only appears in some part of this story.

Based on personal traits, Miss Prism belongs to Flat character, because she shows a simple personality in the story. She only concerns with her own interests and just educating Cecily.

Based on possibility to change, Miss Prism belongs to Static Character because her personality and attitude remains the same in the story.

Rev. Canon Chasuble    

He was an old man and also  the source of Victorian moral judgments, but under the surface he appears to be an old lecher. His sermons are interchangeable, mocking religious conventions. Like the servants, he does what Jack wants: performing weddings, christenings, sermons, funerals, and so on. However, beneath the religious exterior, his heart beats for Miss Prism.

Kinds of characters 

Based on the main part or roles in this story, Rev. Canon Chasuble belongs to Minor character in this story, because he only appears in some part of this story.

Based on personal traits, Rev. Canon Chasuble belongs to Flat character, because he shows a simple personality in the story. He only concerns with his own problems and interests.

Based on possibility to change, Rev. Canon Chasuble  belongs to Static Character because his personality and attitude remains the same in the story.

Conclusion :

This play is quite interesting because the genre of this play is comedy. The title itself ‘The importance of being Ernest’ and the name ‘Ernest’ gives a special meaning in this story. Ernest means honest and serious and this name is used by the two major characters Jack and Algy in order to impress their girlfriends. Another interesting fact in this story is the role of mother who is quite strict with her daughter. In this case the Gwendolin’s mother, she is very strict to choose the husband of her daughter, Gwendolin. Jack, who wants to propose her daughter refused by her because he comes from unknown family. This plot itself is full of surprises. Beside the fact that the two Ernests -Jack and Algy are not the real Ernest, another surprise is when finally Mrs. Prism tells the truth that the baby whom she sent to Brighton railway is Jack and he is actually Algernon’s older brother. The last surprise is come from the ending of this story, that the name of their father was Ernest John Moncrieff and Jack knows the vital of being Ernest.

Words count : 2106

References :

 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/i/the-importance-of-being-earnest/character-analysis/john-jack-worthing

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-importance-of-being-earnest/summary