Action & Adventure—Rochester
APPROACHES TO CHAKA’S DESCENT
Fall 2022
OVERALL
13-15: turned more warlike (magic)
CHAKA AS FAUSTIAN FIGURE
Isanusi as Mephistopheles (37)
33, 34-35: turn from “right” to “might”
43-48: chooses death > life (Faustian pact)
61-62: starts lying
97: summative quote up to this point
127-128: total loss of humanity
C’s 1st encounter with Isanusi: initial pact (41-48)
desires:
 kingship (41)
 great king (41)
 global “renown” (46)
142, 147, 152: rage & paranoia
154: pain & torment
156, 157
164: loss of potency
167: death
C’s habitual alienation (73-74)
C’s interest in Noliwa (74-75)
C’s 2nd encounter: (79-82)
desires: “very limits of” I’s “profound knowledge” (80)
C’s 3rd encounter: (92-93; 97-103)
desires: even greater kingship & fame (100, 106)
-- chooses power > love (Noliwa) (101)
narrator’s commentary: 106
AS TRAGIC HERO (Elizabethan)
noble birth & char: Senzangakhona’s son; moral
tragic flaw: desire for power & fame
reversal: region’s harmony turns to decay
recognition: none
suffering: C’s brothers kill him
C’s 4th encounter (121-126)
confirms desire from 3rd encounter
narrator’s commentary: 127-128
C’s 5th encounter (152)
-- 1st mention of payment
narrator’s commentary: 154, 156, 157
C’s 6th encounter (in dream) (164)
-- 2nd mention of payment
narrator’s commentary: 164
C’s final encounter (in dream) (167)
-- I demands payment as C’s brothers kill him