B.A. (Hons.) English
Semester-III
Core Course : Paper-VII
British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Study Material : Unit 1-5
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
Department of English
Core Course
Paper-VII: British Poetry and Drama: 17th and 18th Centuries
Study Material: Unit 1-5
Contents
Unit-1 : William Shakespeare
Macbeth
Unit-2 :
01
27
a.
John Milton:
Paradise Lost (1667) Book 1
b.
Aemilia Lanyer
Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women
Unit-3 : Aphra Behn
The Rover (1677)
63
Unit-4 : Alexander Pope
The Rape of the Lock
93
Unit-5 : Readings
a.
121
Francis Bacon
1) Of Truth
2) Of Deformity
b.
Rene Descartes
Excerpts from ‘Discourse on Method’
c.
Thomas Hobbes
Selections from the Leviathan
d.
Gerrard Winstanley
From ‘A New Year’s
Gift Sent to the Parliament and Army’
e.
Margaret Cavendish
Excerpts from
‘The Blazing World’
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
Paper-VII : British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-1
William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Contents
Part-1
1.1
About the Author
1.2
Learning Objectives
1.3
Introduction
1.4
Macbeth: Summary with Critical Comments
1.5
University Questions
Part-2
2.1
Learning Objectives
2.2
Macbeth : A Tragedy
2.3
Themes in Macbeth
2.4
Characterization in Macbeth
2.5
Self-Check Questions
2.6
University Questions
2.7
Recommended Readings
Edited by:
Written by:
Dr. Neeta Gupta
Barun Kumar Mishra
1
2
Unit-1
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Barun Kumar Mishra
Part-1
1.1
About the Author
William Shakespeare, also known as “the Bard,” was a poet, a playwright and an actor and is
thought to be the greatest dramatist of all times and the most significant one in the English
canon. He was a prolific writer and in addition to poems and sonnets he wrote 37 plays. One
more play was attributed to him after he died. He wrote comedies, histories, tragedies and
romances or “tragicomedies”.
William Shakespeare was born into a family of traders, in Stratford-upon-Avon, 100
miles northwest of London in the year 1564. Not much is known about Shakespeare’s
early education but it is said he attended Grammar School and studied Latin grammar and the
Classics. Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and they had three children, two
daughters and a son. Unfortunately his son died at an early age of 11, but the daughters
survived.
An ardent lover of theatre, Shakespeare lived in and around London to make theatre his
source of livelihood. He joined The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a theatre group, and was one
of the founding members. The group later came to be known as The King’s Men under the
regime of James I. Shakespeare wrote almost two plays each year for this group and emerged
as a prominent name in the world of theatre.
In the early part of his career Shakespeare was involved in writing lyrical poetry. His
famous poems of the time are Venus and Adonis, and The Rape of Lucrece, both dedicated to
the Earl of Southampton. By 1598, Shakespeare could complete some of his most famous
works, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The
Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Love’s Labour’s Lost, as well as his
historical plays Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, and King John. In the final years of
sixteenth century, Shakespeare wrote his romantic comedies As You Like It, Twelfth Night,
and Much Ado About Nothing, as well as Henry V, the last of his history plays in the Prince
Hal series. During the next ten years he wrote his great tragedies, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello,
King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra. In the next phase of his writing Shakespeare wrote
The Tempest and Henry VIII. He also wrote the “tragicomedies,” Pericles, Cymbeline, and
The Winter’s Tale. In addition he has written many sonnets on the issues of love, chastity,
beauty of man, and has challenged the Petrarchan ideals of women as objects of love.
Shakespeare died in 1616 and by that time there was no single collection of works
published in his name. In 1623, the First Folio of his authentic works was published by John
Hemings and Henry Condell. The universal appeal of Shakespeare’s plays has endured over
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the years and they are still read and performed all over the world and have been translated
into many languages. Adding to the literary genius of Shakespeare Ben Jonson has rightly
said, “He was not of an age, but for all time!”
1.2
Learning Objectives
This study material is divided into two Units.



1.3
In Unit 1 you will be introduced to the play Macbeth.
Unit 1 will also provide a detailed summary of the play along with critical comments.
Unit 2 will attempt a critical analysis of Macbeth as a Tragedy and of the various
themes in the play. It will also take up a discussion of the major characters in the play.
Introduction
Among the Tragedies written by Shakespeare, Macbeth is considered to be a masterpiece
which presents a compelling exploration of one man’s relentless and criminal pursuit of evil
for the sake of power and the guilt that tears him apart in the process. While it encapsulates
Macbeth’s tragic flaw (hamartia) of ambition, it also weaves in a fair amount of complexity
through the involvement of the three witches and Lady Macbeth, both of whom seem to
become agents of fate in Macbeth’s destiny. It is a question much debated whether Macbeth
is solely responsible for the decisions he makes in the play or whether forces beyond his
control propel him towards a path that only moves towards catastrophe that is inescapable.
The story of Macbeth is half legend and half history drawn mostly from the “Chronicles
of Holinshed”, where one can find an account of the real Macbeth and King Duncan. Raphael
Holinshed was one among the many writers who collaborated to put together the legendary
histories of England, Ireland and Scotland in this work. For the most part Shakespeare
follows the chronicler for the story of his play but changes it at places to suit his purpose. For
example in Holinshed’s Chronicles, Banquo actually helps Macbeth kill Duncan but
Shakespeare changes the character of Banquo in his play because James I, the then ruling
King of England was a direct descendant from Banquo’s line.
The tragedy of Macbeth comes very close to the structure of an Aristotelian tragedy and
the same will be discussed later in Unit 2. What is noteworthy however is that the play is one
of the least complicated of Shakespeare’s plays in the sense that the plot moves without
deviations in a focused manner towards an inevitable end. One’s attention never wavers
towards any subplot or any humorous scenes that would cause a diversion. It is superb study
of the psychological degradation of one valiant and deserving man through heinous acts of
his own and we can in no way miss the implied message of the play. The universal relevance
of the play’s theme accounts for its appreciation even in current times. It is still being
produced in many theatres across the world and there have been numerous cinematic
renditions as well.
It is suggested that you read the play before proceeding further with this study material.
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1.4 Macbeth: Summary with Critical Comments
1.4.1 ACT I
In Act I the scene is set for action to begin, characters are introduced and the plot is set in
motion. Shakespeare skilfully catches the attention of the audience by introducing the
supernatural element of the three witches in the very first scene.
The opening scene is set on a thundering night in a dark and foreboding landscape amidst
which the three witches plan to meet Macbeth. The following scene is at the camp of the
King of Scotland, Duncan, who is in middle of a war with the King of Norway. The camp
scene progresses as an unnamed captain praises Macbeth for his bravery and valour as he
fought against Macdonwald and defeated the Norwegian King Sweno. Shortly after, the
Thane of Ross appears with news informing King Duncan that the Thane of Cawdor has
betrayed them and become a traitor by joining the Norwegian army. The treacherous Thane
of Cawdor is then arrested. As the news of Macbeth’s victory in the battle against
Macdonwald reaches King Duncan, he decides to honour the bravery of Macbeth by giving
him the title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is being presented here as a brave general who has
valiantly fought for his King and come home victorious.
The next scene again shows the three witches in a dismal heath brewing potions and
dancing around by joining hands. Meanwhile, as Macbeth and Banquo are met by the three
witches who prophesise that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor and then the King
of Scotland, and to Banquo, they predict that he will become the father of kings. Having said
that the witches vanish. Macbeth and Banquo are left baffled and puzzled over the strange
encounter. Two noblemen Ross and Angus arrive bearing the news of Macbeth becoming the
Thane of Cawdor. Both Macbeth and Banquo are surprised and shocked by the news and start
wondering if the witches are speaking the truth. On Macbeth’s enquiry Angus explains about
the treacherousness of the former Thane of Cawdor and his impending execution.
Macbeth ponders about his new title and starts contemplating the realisation of the
witches’ second prophecy. Ambition begins to raise its head and he says to himself: “Glamis,
and thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind.” It is evident that he has started contemplating
the idea of becoming King:
I am thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3, lines 135-40)
A little later he muses:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
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That function is smothered in surmise,
And nothing is but what is not. (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3, lines 142-45)
When Malcolm is declared heir to the throne, Macbeth immediately begins to consider him a
obstacle in his way of becoming King:
The prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires. (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4, lines 50-54).
These ‘asides’ have been placed quite strategically by Shakespeare to make it clear to his
audience /readers that even at this early stage Macbeth has begun contemplating the idea of
becoming King. He is losing all restraint as far as his ambition is concerned. He is also well
aware of the evil nature of his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband informing her about the
two prophecies of the witches and the subsequent realisation of one of them whereby he has
become the new Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth is equally ambitious and gets excited at the
prospect of Macbeth becoming King of Scotland and herself the queen. She begins to
contemplate the King’s murder and invokes supernatural powers to strip her of all vestiges of
feminine weakness in preparation for a deadly plan that would ensure the throne for Macbeth:
Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5 lines 30-33).
When Macbeth arrives, she greets him as King with the phrase “all hail hereafter” and tells
him about the plan to murder King Duncan. She warns him not to let any kind-hearted
weakness show on his face and thereby hinder the plan to get the throne. It may seem that it is
Lady Macbeth who is goading her husband to commit the crime but Shakespeare has already
given us enough evidence that Macbeth himself harbours the dark desire to be king and has
even contemplated murder. He admits that it is his “vaulting ambition” that is egging him on
towards such a horrendous task. He however, battles with his conscience and is anxious about
the consequences of such an act.
Lady Macbeth attacks his masculinity by taunting him to become a man. She calls him a
coward and belittles his reluctance to act for his own good. She then lays out the plan to kill
the King and explains how the blame would be put on the King’s two guards who would be
drunk. Macbeth pushes aside his fear and anxiety and agrees to the plan.
Self-check Questions
1. What is the prophecy of the three witches for Macbeth?
2. What do the three witches prophesize about Banquo?
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3. Do you think Macbeth is ambitious from the start? Give evidence.
4. What is Lady Macbeth’s role in the murder of the King?
1.4.2 ACT II
The plan that was made in the previous Act comes to its ugly fruition in this one. King
Duncan is murdered by Macbeth and this bloody act only leads to more bloodshed. However,
the third prophecy of the witches is seen to come true in this Act when Macbeth is chosen to
become the King of Scotland.
The Act begins with a brief meeting between Banquo and Macbeth. Expressing his
gratitude for his hospitality Banquo presents Macbeth with a diamond as a token of thanks
from the King and while talking he abruptly brings up their encounter with the three witches
and their prophecies. Macbeth dismisses the topic saying that he has not thought about it at
all, but he ends the conversation by suggesting that they will discuss it at a later time. Banquo
then calls it a night and departs for his bed, leaving Macbeth alone who then hallucinates. He
sees a vision of a dagger dripping in blood. He realises that it is a vision of the murderous act
that he is about to commit.
Macbeth kills the King according to plan and comes out looking extremely distressed
and visibly shaken. The burden of guilt begins to set in. Realizing the enormity of his crime
Macbeth knows he will now never be able to experience the soothing and relaxing sleep that
rejuvenates people’s lives:
Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast. (Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2, lines 35-40)
This Act is important from the point of view of Lady Macbeth’s character too. The manner in
which she plans and carries out Duncan’s murder reveals her ambitious and ruthless nature.
While Macbeth is disoriented by the magnitude of his crime and is haunted by guilt, Lady
Macbeth in a cool and calculating manner controls the situation. She chastises her husband
for cowardly anxiety and on his refusal she goes ahead and plants the dagger on the guards
herself.
The dead King is discovered by Macduff who raises an alarm. A scene of chaos unfolds.
Lady Macbeth appears and acts surprised and horrified by the murder. Macbeth makes a
strong and eloquent expression of his grief and sorrow. At this point, Malcolm and Donalbain
also enter and learn about their father’s murder. The bodyguards with the bloody dagger are
blamed and Macbeth, claiming to take revenge, immediately kills them. To divert attention,
Lady Macbeth pretends to faint. Banquo calls a meeting to bring some order amidst the
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chaos. Fearing for their lives Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland,
respectively. Later they are suspected of having a hand in the King’s murder.
In the absence of King Duncan’s sons, Macbeth is chosen to be King and his coronation
ceremony is to take place at Scone
Self-check Questions
1. Who discovers the death of Duncan?
2. Describe Macbeth’s state of mind after he has killed Duncan.
3. Comment on the manipulative aspect of Lady Macbeth’s character.
4. What reason does Macbeth give for killing the guards?
1.4.3 ACT III
Act III shows how Macbeth’s thirst for power drags him deeper into more bloodshed and
cruelty. To keep and preserve the power that he has gained through violence he is drawn into
a vicious circle of more violence. In this Act we also witness how Macbeth’s horrific crime
has begun to affect him psychologically.
The first scene of Act III is set in the royal palace at Forres. Banquo has begun to have
suspicions about the foul play of Macbeth. As he waits for the King and the other men he
begins wondering about the three witches and their prophecies. His thoughts are interrupted
as the newly crowned King Macbeth and his queen Lady Macbeth enter, followed by Lennox,
Ross and other ladies, lords and attendants. King Macbeth greets Banquo and invites him to
the banquet that is scheduled to be held that evening at the royal palace. He then talks to him
for a while enquiring about his plans for the rest of day. Shortly when everyone leaves we
hear Macbeth soliloquizing. In this soliloquy he talks about the necessity and importance of
safety for a King. He also contemplates about the prediction that the three witches have made
for Banquo that he would be father of Kings. He fears that if the two prophecies made by the
three witches for him are already fulfilled, then the one made for Banquo will also eventually
come true. He fears that the witches have placed “a fruitless crown” upon his head “And put a
barren sceptre in [his] grip.” (Act 3, Scene 1, lines 64-65). He feels jealous of Banquo and his
son Fleance. At the end of the soliloquy Macbeth decides that he has no choice but to kill
both Banquo and his son Fleance. Macbeth calls for two common murderers and fabricates a
story to persuade them to kill Banquo and Fleance. He instructs them to maintain caution and
avoid discovery at all cost. The murder is planned for that very night somewhere away from
the palace.
Meanwhile, a concerned Lady Macbeth is worried about her husband’s constant doubtful
and anxiety ridden behaviour. Macbeth however is gripped by the fear of retribution, and says
that he would rather be dead than go through the constant mental torture brought on by their
criminal act. Lady Macbeth responds by acknowledging his fears, but she gently reminds him
of the evening banquet and the need to keep a brave and happy face in front of the guests.
Macbeth mentions a “deed of dreadful note” that is yet to be done and without involving
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Lady Macbeth he takes complete charge of the task. In the next scene, the two murderers kill
Banquo but Fleance manages to escape.
At the Banquet, King Macbeth confidently hides his real feelings but is visibly shaken to
learn from one of the murderers that Fleance has escaped. Lady Macbeth admonishes him for
neglecting his duty towards his guests. Macbeth tries to bring back his composure and raises
his glass for a toast but again loses his control on seeing Banquo’s ghost sitting at the table.
His crime has begun to affect his mind and cause psychological disturbances. The sudden
change in his behaviour confuses the guests and they become suspicious of him thinking that
he has gone mad. Lady Macbeth tries to control the situation but the ghost’s reappearance
drives Macbeth insane and finally she has to ask the guests to leave.
The exchange between Macbeth and his wife reveals how heavy the burden of guilt has
become for him. Yet his ambition is driving him on towards more crime. There seems to be
no return possible:
I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (Macbeth, Act 3 Scene 4 lines 141-43)
The crimes he commits only make him suffer as he now feels that all threats to his throne and
power should be eliminated. Macbeth plans to meet with the three witches again hoping that
they will let him know about his fate. Lady Macbeth sympathises with her husband and asks
him to go to bed for the night, weakly assuring him that sleep will cure him.
In the following scene, in the heath the three witches are confronted by their queen,
Hecate, the Goddess of witchcraft. She expresses her dislike and disapproval for Macbeth and
instructs the three witches to be prepared with spells to “draw him on to his confusion” as he
will continue to “spurn fate” and “scorn death”.
The next scene focuses on the misgivings that people have started having about Macbeth.
The strangeness of the recent events makes them question the same. The suspicion is that
Malcolm, Donalbain and Fleance are being wrongly accused. There is talk about Macduff
trying to restore peace to Scotland with help from the King of England.
Self-check Questions
1. What is the significance of the Banquet Scene?
2. What happens in the Banquet Scene which shows Macbeth is suffering inside?
1.4.4 ACT IV
Two significant developments take place in Act IV. On the one hand Macbeth remorselessly
goes ahead securing his Kingship by eliminating all his rivals. He reaches the nadir of his
bestiality when he does not even spare Macduff’s wife and children. On the other hand we
are shown that plans are afoot to overthrow Macbeth and put an end to his reign of terror.
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The Act begins with the three witches chanting their spells around a boiling cauldron in a
cavern. Macbeth enters and demands answers from them about his future and the witches
agree to let him know. They conjure up spirits and apparitions to help Macbeth. One of the
apparitions advises him to beware of Macduff. The next apparition reiterates the witches’
original advice, that is:
“Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.” (Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 81-83).
Macbeth feels extremely relieved and delighted to know that no one (born of woman) can
ever kill him. As the feeling of invincibility dawns upon him, his first thought is to spare
Macduff’s life, but he decides to kill him nevertheless. The third apparition foretells
Macbeth’s replacement by another king who will restore calm and order into all the chaos
that he has created. Macbeth feels visibly threatened, but he is soon reassured by the next and
the final counsel. The next apparition is a riddle that tells Macbeth not to worry about
conspirators:
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.”( Macbeth, Act 4, Scene1, lines 95-97).
In response to Macbeth’s adamant demand to know if Banquo’s issue would ever reign in this
kingdom, the witches show him a procession of eight shadowy figures of kings. Macbeth
realises that each king has a resemblance to Banquo. The witches disappear along with their
trappings, leaving Macbeth in despair and in fear of his worst fears.
Lennox comes in and informs him that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth is filled
with rage after hearing this news and vows to retaliate by attacking Macduff’s castle. In his
rage, he expresses his intention to kill Macduff’s wife, children and all other relatives. His
growing insecurity makes him resolve that he would take down each threat that he perceives.
The scene at Macduff’s castle in Fife, underlines the innocence of Macbeth’s next
victims. Lady Macduff feels lonely and afraid due to her husband’s sudden flight from the
country. With her young son by her side she talks to noblemen Ross. She expresses her
sadness to Ross, saying that Macduff may have succumbed to madness. Ross disagrees with
her and says that the times they are living in are fearful and treacherous. He suggests to her
that Macduff’s decision to flee the country might in fact have been an act of wisdom. But he
fails to persuade Lady Macduff who remains unconvinced by Ross’s words. After a while
Ross leaves the castle feeling emotionally exhausted. Lady Macduff then expresses her fear
to her young son that Macduff might have been dead. Her son however refuses to believe that
as true. At this point, they are abruptly interrupted by a messenger who informs that danger is
approaching towards them and further suggests that she should take the children and flee
right away.
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Lady Macduff becomes numb and does not know to act as the astonishment and disbelief
of the news gradually turns into fear and mortal terror. There is however no time for escape
since the murderers are already at the door. They break into the castle and demand to know
where Macduff is. The young son shows commendable courage and bravely defies them, but
the murderers quickly stab him and then move towards Lady Macduff.
In England at the palace of King Edward, Macduff and Malcolm are discussing the
situation in Scotland. The gloomy conditions the dreadful political tyranny under the rule of
Macbeth deeply disturb both the men. Macduff suggests that they should join hands and take
up arms against Macbeth and declare war on him. However, Malcolm finds it difficult to trust
Macduff and his intentions despite assurances. He asks why a man will flee to England and
leave behind his wife and children in distress if he does not have any evil at his heart. To this
Macduff respond by saying that he has lost all hopes and that is why he had decided to leave
suddenly. Showing his unease, Malcolm expresses that he is still worried about his own
safety and fearful that his life might be under danger.
Feeling the distrust of the prince, Macduff impatiently cries out that there is no hope for
Scotland unless the two of them join hands by trusting each other as he believes that nothing
else can take Macbeth down. He is about to leave but Malcolm delays him by continuing to
speak. Malcolm says that even if they manage to overthrow Macbeth he will not be replaced
by a worthy king. He projects himself as being far worse than Macbeth who is bloody,
avaricious, deceitful and malicious. He is convinced that he does not possess any of the royal
qualities that a worthy king should have. He tells Macduff that Scotland will surely suffer
even under the next king (referring to himself) and says that when compared to him Macbeth
would probably seem as pure as snow. To this, Macduff responds by saying that he doubts
hell could produce any one worse than Macbeth and that Macbeth’s evil is such that it can
have no competition. But Malcolm refuses to get convinced and insistently continues to
elaborate on his bad characteristics.
Macduff feels tired and finally, believing that Malcolm is perhaps not fit to govern his
country or even himself, gives up the hope of fighting for Scotland. He decides to leave and
bids farewell to Prince Malcolm. But Malcolm once again stops him from leaving and reveals
that he had only been testing his integrity and commends his noble passion to fight for his
country. He then confesses to Macduff that the character assassination that he did of himself
was in fact a tactic to test the honesty and loyalty of Macduff. He says that it was a ploy to
test Macduff’s trustworthiness and profess his own virtue and promises and pledges to help
Macduff overthrow the rule of Macbeth. Malcolm further reveals that they already have an
army consisting of Siward and ten thousand English soldiers who are at their command.
Macduff is surprised by this revelation and realises that he had been unable to interpret events
that have at the same time appeared both as benign and malignant.
They are then interrupted by a doctor who enters to announce that the King is coming.
Before exiting, the doctor also describes the King’s extraordinary power of healing. Malcolm
explains to Macduff that the honourable King possesses the noble gift of prophecy and that
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he can predict the future turn of events. At this point, nobleman Ross enters and joins the two
men. He has just arrived from Scotland. Macduff immediately starts asking questions to Ross
about the state of affairs in Scotland and asks to know how his wife and children are doing.
At first, Ross tries to avoid the questions about Macduff’s wife and children as he does not
know how to give him the news of their murder. He then learns that Macduff and Malcolm
are planning to launch an attack to overthrow Macbeth. Ross feels that this is probably the
right moment to let Macduff know about his family. He reports to them that Macbeth’s most
recent act of brutality was the heart-breaking slaughter of Macduff’s family. Macduff
becomes engulfed with profound grief and sorrow at the news of his family’s death. More
than that, he feels guilty and blames himself for leaving behind his family without any
defence or protection. After he has vented his shock and grief, Malcolm sympathetically
encourages him to put aside his sorrow and turn his grief into a powerful weapon against
Macbeth. Macduff agrees with him and composes himself to take charge of his emotions.
They then set off to meet with King Edward and prepare for the upcoming battle to overthrow
Macbeth and save Scotland.
Self-check Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
What do the witches tell Macbeth this time.
What makes Macbeth think that he is invincible.
From whom do Macduff and Malcolm seek help?
With what intention does Ross tell Macduff about his family in Scotland?
1.4.5 ACT V
In the last Act of the play we see things moving towards a just retribution. Lady Macbeth is
driven to suicide by her guilt ridden conscience. Macbeth fights till his last breath only to
realize that he is not invincible and meets his end at the hands of one he had wronged the
most.
The Act opens with a scene at the Dunsinane Castle. An unnamed lady consults with a
physician who is there for Lady Macbeth. This lady reports to the physician about Lady
Macbeth’s sleepwalking but refuses to answer further questions thinking that no one would
believe her. At this point, Lady Macbeth enters a trance and begins to rub her hands as if to
rub off some stubborn stain that would not come off. She then begins to talk and speaks in a
way as if Macbeth were present there. While still rubbing her hands, she says “yet who would
have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him”. She further asserts in her sleep
that nothing can make them accountable for their crimes if her husband’s power is secure. In
her trance, she incriminates both herself as well as Macbeth in the death of Duncan, Banquo
and Macduff’s family. At last, she returns to bed, leaving the physician shocked at the
spectacle he has just witnessed. The physician suggests that Lady Macbeth is more in need of
a priest and not a physician. The scene gives us an insight into Lady Macbeth’s tormented
mind. She is so wracked with guilt that she walks in her sleep bearing the burden of her
crime.
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In the next scene, the Scottish lords Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox are
discussing the plans for the battle. They are somewhere in the open country near Dunsinane.
The air is filled with anticipation for the imminent battle as Scottish soldiers gather amidst
beating drums and flying flags. The English army, being led by Malcolm, Macduff and
Siward is approaching their country and the battle is about to begin.
Angus announces that they have arranged to meet near Birnam Wood, the place that was
mentioned in the last prophecy of the three witches. The conversation further reveals that
Malcolm’s brother, Donalbain, has not joined the English forces yet. The lords also discuss
about Macbeth and his beleaguered state of mind. Macbeth has fortified the palace due to the
fear of the forthcoming attack. It is widely and generally believed among the people of
Scotland that Macbeth has lost his self-control and has gone mad, and as such, he does not
have many supporters. The scene closes as the lords and the soldiers leave for Birnam Wood
where the battle for Scotland is about to take place.
Macbeth is afraid of the army which is moving towards him. To keep himself calm he
reminds himself of the witches’ prophecy that no man born of woman can kill him and surely
Macduff is born of a woman. Just then a worried and fearful servant enters to inform him that
the English army is now approaching towards Dunsinane. Macbeth dismisses him not
wanting to hear more of it. He then returns to his thoughts and determines to fight the battle
till the last of his flesh leaves the bones.
As he puts on his armour in anticipation of the approaching army, he asks the doctor
about his wife’s health and requests him to cure her. The physician reports that she had been
“troubled by thick-coming fancies”. Macbeth begs the doctor to restore his wife’s health. The
doctor responds by saying that the only possible cure is that the patient should help and heal
herself. The doctor is thus referring to the things that both Macbeth and wife have refused to
acknowledge. The scene ends with the doctor wishing to go away from the castle and never
to come back to the place no matter the amount of money he is offered.
In the country near Birnam Wood, the Scottish rebel soldiers abandon Macbeth’s side
and join forces with Malcolm. Before beginning the march towards the castle, Malcolm
finally advises his soldiers to camouflage themselves with boughs of trees. As they set off for
war, the soldiers seem eager and hopeful as they now have a purpose to fight for. The
leadership and encouragement of Malcolm gives them a direction. More importantly,
Malcolm’s leadership gives them a sense of calm and order which has been missing from
Scotland ever since Macbeth took the throne.
At the Dunsinane castle, Macbeth is discussing the safety of his castle with Seyton and
his soldiers. His state of mind suggests the graveness of the situation. He believes that the
strength of their castle will put the approaching army to shame.
Just then the jarring sound of wailing women interrupts his empty words. Macbeth learns
that they are grieving at the death of his queen. He does not express grief at the death of his
wife as the weight of the emptiness in his life has become too heavy to bear. He gives his
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most famous soliloquy “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, … Signifying nothing.” (Act 5, Scene 5,
lines 19-26).
Macbeth realises and expresses how blind and greedy he has been in his pursuit of the
throne. He has been living an empty life that had no meaning or purpose. The death of his
wife and the realisation of the forthcoming doom of his power have completely undone
Macbeth. He has succumbed to deep levels of pessimism.
Macbeth’s thoughts are interrupted by a messenger who claims that Birnam Wood is in
fact approaching Dunsinane. Dramatic irony comes into play here because the audience is
already aware that what looks like the woods moving is in fact soldiers from Malcolm’s army
who have used branches of trees to camouflage themselves. Macbeth remembers the
prophecy of the three witches. Gripped by a mortal fear, he knows he is doomed if the
Birnam Woods is truly approaching Dunsinane. Setting aside his fears he mkes a death wish
“I ’gin to be a weary of the sun”. As he begins to accept and realise that this might be the end
for him, he decides to abandon his fears and fight and die like a man.
In the next scene, the prophecy of the three witches that Birnam Woods will come to
Dunsinane stands fulfilled. The army led by Malcolm has successfully reached the castle gate
at Dunsinane under the camouflage of woods and tress. Malcolm displays the character of a
true leader by taking charge of the battle and keeping the spirits of his soldiers high.
The following scene consists of elaborate war scenario, chaotic battles and military
actions. As Macbeth enters the battlefield his mind begins to think about the witches’
prophecy that said no man born of woman can kill him. He begins to wonder what sort of
man will not be born of woman. He defeats and kills young Siward and proceeds to another
part of the battlefield. Meanwhile, Macduff enters searching for Macbeth. He is determined to
kill him and take vengeance for his family’s brutal slaughter. As he continues his search for
Macbeth, Siward enters and informs him that it looks like the battle is over. He explains that
the castle has already surrendered without any struggle. Many of Macbeth’s men have
deserted him and left him to fight his own battle.
Meanwhile, Macbeth is considering falling on his sword in order to end the torture of his
mind. But as he admits this he also decides to fight till his last breath. He is then spotted by
Macduff who calls out to his enemy thus: “turn, hell-hound, turn!” Macbeth remembers his
own crimes against the man’s wife and children, and he is gripped by a pang of guilt.
Troubled by his deeds and the thoughts in his mind, he tells Macduff to retreat and save
himself. Macduff ignores this warning as he can see nothing but the murderer of his family.
He advances towards Macbeth and challenges him to a fight. As they begin the fight,
Macbeth brags that he is invincible. He boasts that he has a gifted life that cannot be taken by
any man born of a woman. To this, Macduff reveals his own truth that shocks the king.
Macduff says that he was not born from a woman but he “was from his mother’s womb
untimely ripped.” Macbeth gasps as he realises the witches’ trickery and play of words. The
fact of his doom dawns upon him. He still decides to fight with Macduff because
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surrendering without a fight will mean loss of honour. He resolves to rather die like a man
than a coward. The vestiges of the heroic warrior that Macbeth once was, are still reflected
through his acts in his last moments. He raises his shield and sword and the combat begins.
Macduff appears with the severed head of Macbeth. He salutes Malcolm and shouts
“Hail, King! for so thou art” as the others join him in the acclaim. The sounds of drums and
trumpets fill the scene as they rejoice at their great victory. As Malcolm addresses the crowd,
he immediately elevates the Thanes to Earls. He announces that they should call for all their
friends who were exiled and bring them back home. The turmoil and fear that Macbeth had
unleashed upon their country is over now. There are new hopes as they have saved their
country from madness and have brought back sanity. They hope that Scotland will once again
live the dream of peace and order.
Self-check Questions
1. Who all come together to fight against Macbeth?
2. What aspect of Lady Macbeth’s character is portrayed in the Sleep-walking Scene?
3. How is Macduff able to kill Macbeth despite the prophecy that no man born of a
woman can kill him?
1.5 University Questions
1. Write a critical note on the structure of the play Macbeth.
2. Write short notes on one of the following –
(a) Sleep-walking Scene
(b) Porter Scene
(c) Murder Scene
(d) The Last Act
3. In what ways do you think Macbeth has led himself to his doom due to his ambition?
Macbeth: Analysis, Themes and Characters
Part-2
2.1
Learning Objectives
In this Unit, you will be familiarized with the following aspects of the play –

Macbeth as a Tragedy

Some major Themes in Macbeth

Characterization in the play
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2.2 Macbeth : A Tragedy
”Macbeth has been termed the Tragedy of Ambition. All that a great work of
art means and teaches can seldom, if ever, be crystallised in a phrase; nor is
Macbeth an exception to the principle, though it is the least complex of
Shakespeare's tragedies and is, indeed marked by a sheer simplicity of theme,
motive and treatment which consorts with the simple, unsophisticated period of
the events. Still, 'Tragedy of Ambition' seems a true and adequate description of
the play, to this extent at least, that ambition is the mainspring of the action.” A.W. Verity.
”Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air.”(Macbeth, Act I, Scene 1, lines 12-13)
The witches pronounce these lines at the very beginning of the play Macbeth and
introduce its central themes: the complexity of interpreting conflicting statements; evil and its
impact upon the lives of humans. Macbeth is a story of a Scottish general and the
misadventures that he undergoes mostly due to his unrestrained ambition aided by the
influence of evil that he inherits from prophecies of the witches and the counsel of his own
wife Lady Macbeth. Although rewarded by King Duncan for his bravery, he kills the King
with some persuasion from his wife, to become the King of Scotland and there begins the
misery of his life. Evil breeds evil, as the story unfolds and we come across multiple acts of
violence.
Macbeth as a tragedy is appreciated by the critics for its unparalleled insight into human
nature and its aesthetic achievement. The character of Macbeth presents before us a
complexity of its own kind. Among the whole range of Shakespearean plays perhaps
Macbeth emerges as the one that blends both good and evil at the same time. The goodness is
his inherent quality, but so is the dark desire of becoming King. He further inherits more evil
through external sources and internalizes it to apparently fulfill the prophecy but more to
realize the ambition of becoming the King. However, the play as it progresses leads us to the
world that Macbeth conceives and creates for himself based on what he comes across. He
assumes himself to be safe forever, as it is prophesied that he cannot be killed by ‘any man
born of woman’ but destiny has an answer in the form of Macduff. The display of great
courage by Macbeth has been closely examined by the critics; considering it as his personal
attribute and as something induced by the circumstances occupies a central place in
discussing the persona of this great Shakespearean anti-hero.
Macbeth presents us a society where the codes of honour and loyalty are supreme. King
is the representative of God on Earth; he must be absolute in all terms. The social order
depends upon such attributes or virtues which are marked by absolute loyalty and integrity
towards the king and the king has the responsibility of assuring the prevalence of same
virtues in the kingdom. Based upon such virtues the other relationships of familial and social
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life get their acceptance and value. Macbeth contemplates the implications of his action if he
commits a regicide. He also at the same time thinks about the double trust that exists between
him and King Duncan. It is his ability to think rationally and think beyond oneself that
compels him to contemplate the political and social imbalance that he would initiate by his
act of crime.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a good and brave soldier who gives his loyal
service to Scotland. He wins the battle as well as the respect of the King. As a reward the
king honours him with the title, the Thane of Cawdor. Ironically, it is precisely this honour
that triggers Macbeth's corrupt thoughts of wrongfully seizing the kingship. The witches’
prophecy that accurately predicted his new title makes him believe that he is indeed destined
to be the king as predicted by their second prophecy. He thus sees the promise of much
greater rewards. The prophecies and the realization of one of them tempt Macbeth into
achieving his ambition at any cost. Many critics consider Macbeth's unusually high
concentration of ambition as a classic example of a tragic flaw. Ambition is not so much a
fatal flaw because it is part of the social fabric and possessed in more or less quantity by
every human being. However, ambition that is unchecked by morality is most certainly a fatal
flaw which is the case with Macbeth.
Macbeth starts out as a good person; but his ambition gets the better of him when he
finally kills Duncan despite his hesitations and better judgements. After he commits his first
act of treachery, he becomes practically unstoppable as he continues with more and more
murders in order to cover up his previous ones. He becomes the play's primary source of evil
as the audience begin to see him as the villain. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth
becomes paranoid about his newly gained throne. He feels compelled to keep killing all
possible threats and maintain his grip on power. Each of his crimes results in Macbeth's
growing estrangement from reality as well as from himself. He becomes detached from
everything as the kingdom of Scotland descends into total chaos. It is believed by those who
were wronged by Macbeth that restoring order in Scotland would require Macbeth’s death.
The throne needs to be in the hands of its rightful heir. Macbeth willingly embraces evil
despite knowing that he will be haunted by guilt for the rest of his life.
The ambition or pride of Macbeth results in his fall and is seen as the fall of a great man.
It refers to the ancient Greek notion of tragedy involving hubris where the hero falls due to
his ignorance shrouded by his pride and ambition. The hero may not be pitied for his fall here
and the story of Macbeth is a typical case where we do not see any scope for catharsis as his
fall is a result of his personal motives. He who is devoid of all the virtues of becoming a king
and is not upright all through doesn’t deserve to be a king. And if he attains it by some
means, it may not last for long. The tragedy of King Duncan gets translated into a tragedy
only for King Macbeth although he becomes the agent of change. Macbeth’s awareness about
his crime makes it increasingly difficult for him to live with himself.
The play has been seen to be very close to the Aristotelian model of a classic tragedy. In
Aristotelian norms of tragedy, the tragic hero should be a figure high up in the social ladder
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and his downfall must be because of his tragic flaw (hamartia) and also by the working of
fate. In Macbeth, the protagonist is a figure of eminence in Scotland and it is because of his
ambition (his tragic flaw) and the role of fate (the three witches) that he becomes the King of
Scotland by murdering King Duncan. He goes down a dark path of treachery and violence.
His evil act eventually leads to his downfall which makes us take pity on him and also be
fearful of fate. Thus, the purgation of feelings of emotions of pity and fear (Catharsis)
happens in the play leading it to be a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense of the term, though the
norms of Unities of Time, Place and Action are not being followed strictly by Shakespeare.
In spite of taking liberties with these norms, Shakespeare could create a masterpiece,
something which is unique as is Macbeth.
Macbeth is a highly notable and unique play because it is the only tragedy that
Shakespeare wrote where the protagonist hero is also the villain.
2.3
Themes in Macbeth
2.3.1 Unchecked Ambition: The Tragic Flaw of Macbeth
The most important theme of the play is the corrupting power of unchecked ambition.
Macbeth’s own ambition leads to his downfall. The same is true in case of Lady Macbeth as
well. While having goals and ambitions is generally perceived as good attributes that drive an
individual to constantly strive for betterment, the downside of unchecked ambition can be
disastrous. In case of both Macbeth and his wife, their ambition is not restrained by morality;
and thus leads to a trajectory of death and destruction. Their ambition can be contrasted with
that of Banquo in order to understand what role morality plays in keeping a check upon
ambition. While Banquo too is ambitious when he learns about the witches’ prophecy that his
son will become king someday, he does not resort to immorality. Whereas, Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth let their ambition get the better of them by not caring for any moral
restrictions. Their individual desire for power and stature brings a cloud of fear and dread
over the whole country. And eventually their ambitions, tainted by crime and guilt, take the
form of self-destruction. Macbeth kills Duncan despite his better judgement, but he also
realises soon after that he shall never have peaceful sleep again. Although he does achieve
what he desires, but rather than enjoying the fruits of his ambition, he becomes obsessed with
maintaining the power that he has wrongfully gained. The guilt and paranoia stay with him
ever since he murders Duncan. He is so blinded by his ambition to retain his throne that he
keeps committing one crime after another. In his paranoia, he keeps eliminating every
possible threat to his throne without any hesitation. He even murders the innocent wife and
children of Macduff just because he is outraged that Macduff escaped before he could kill
him.
The same self-destructive consequence of ambition is displayed by Lady Macbeth as
well. She starts off with greater determination to pursue her ambition to become queen and
even manipulates Macbeth for it. But she is less capable of bearing the repercussions of her
unchecked ambitions. While she encourages her husband to put the past behind, she herself
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cannot do that as the ghosts of her immoral acts refuse to let go of her mind. She slides into
madness as she cannot deal with the guilt of having so much blood on her hands. Thus,
through the two main characters Shakespeare shows that unchecked ambition can lead even
the strongest of man and woman to commit terrible atrocities and at the same time, the
burden of one’s immoral actions can drive the strongest person to madness.
2.3.2 Kingship vs Tyranny
The play also represents the theme that differentiates between kingship and tyranny. The
contrast and the differences between the two are expressed well when Malcolm attempts to
paint a reproachable image of himself in order to test Macduff. In his conversation with
Macduff, Malcolm gives the picture of how an ideal king should be and what he should not.
A king should always be loyal to his country. Macbeth’s thirst for personal power made him
a tyrant, whereas an ideal king should place the interest of the country above his own.
Macbeth’s rule brings a time of darkness in Scotland, represented through bad weathers and
gloomy environment. The people of his country do not feel safe from their own king. Rather
than provide safety and protection to his subjects, Macbeth keeps on murdering one person
after another and does not even spare women and children. Macbeth’s character represents
everything that an ideal king should not be. His character when contrasted with that of
Duncan gives the audience the difference between tyranny and true kingship. While Macbeth
only cares about his own gains and powers, Duncan used to be a king who appreciated
loyalty and rewarded people for their merits. Instead of maintaining law and order like a true
king, Macbeth’s rule only brings chaos in the country as he lets the country drown and suffer
because of his selfish ambitions.
2.3.3 Manhood
Another theme of the play is the relationship between violence and masculinity. Lady
Macbeth repeatedly questions Macbeth’s manhood when he hesitates to kill Duncan. She
even wishes for herself to be “unsexed” to get the courage for the violent act. Even when
Macbeth persuades the murderers to kill Banquo, he does it by questioning their manhood.
Through such instances the play shows that masculinity is equated with naked aggression and
violence.
While both men and women are shown to be equally ambitious and cruel, the play shows
a stark difference between the means each employ to achieve their ambitions. The ideas of
masculinity and femininity are linked to violence and manipulation, respectively. Moreover,
the female characters are shown in a way that their behaviour goes against the prevailing
expectations of how women ought to behave. This is especially evident when Lady
Macbeth’s character is shown as wishing to be stripped of feminine traits. Many critics have
argued Macbeth to be Shakespeare’s most misogynistic play.
Nevertheless, by the end of the play the idea of masculinity is revised to show more
sensitivity. When Macduff grieves for his family, Malcolm consoles him and suggest he deals
with it like a man by fighting Macbeth and taking revenge. To this, Macduff responds, “I
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shall do so. But I must also feel it as a man”. It seems the young heir learns this lesson of
sentient nature of masculinity from Malcolm. This is apparent in the way Malcolm responds
to Young Siward’s death. When Siward responds to his son’s death rather complacently,
Malcolm says “He’s worth more sorrow [than you have expressed] / And that I’ll spend for
him”. Thus, it is shown by the end that feeling grief and sorrow is only human and it is not
opposed to masculinity.
2.3.4 The Burden of Guilt
Another theme that is dominant in the play is guilt. Right after killing Duncan, Macbeth
wonders about his sense of guilt by talking about the literal blood on his hands. He says to his
wife:
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my
hand will rather/ The multitudinous seas incarnadine”. (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 60- 62)
The use of language is of course grand and dramatic, but it reflects gravity and depth of his
feelings. He says that the blood is so much that it can turn all the oceans of the world red. He
means that the implications of his action cannot be hidden. Even if they hide the evidence
from the eyes of people, their own soul will never be able to hide from the consequences of
his terrible crime. He knows he will forever be a changed man from that very moment. Lady
Macbeth responds by asking him to simply go and wash away the blood, implying that it can
be easily washed off. Ironically, however, it is Lady Macbeth who later begins to hallucinate
and in her hallucinations, she desperately tries to wash the stubborn stains of blood, thus
symbolising her sense of guilt.
The play shows the extent to which guilt can torment one’s mind. After killing his friend
Banquo, Macbeth’s guilt makes him hallucinate as he sees Banquo’s ghost. Similarly, Lady
Macbeth begins to sleepwalk, and, in her dream, she desperately tries to remove her guilt,
represented through invisible stains of blood on her hands. Right after the moment he killed
Duncan, Macbeth realises that his guilt will not let him sleep ever again. Although Lady
Macbeth encourages her husband to leave the past behind as what is done cannot be undone,
neither she nor her husband is able to do that. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth carry the
burden of their guilt throughout the play. This shows that perhaps they are not entirely coldblooded but just two people who are blinded by their ambitions. Although they have
committed terrible crimes, they know they have done wrong and that the guilt of it will haunt
them for the rest of their lives. It is her guilt that ultimately drives Lady Macbeth to insanity
and eventually to her death. Macbeth, on the other hand, continues to fight and kill for his
crown but every moment of his thoughts is tortured by the guilt of his past deeds.
2.4
Characterization in Macbeth
2.4.1 Macbeth
Macbeth is a brave and valorous general. This impression is essentially built through the
words of the wounded captain who sings tales of Macbeth’s bravery and describes his victory
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in the battle against the Norwegians. Like King Duncan, the audience also expect great things
from Macbeth when he is honoured with the title of Thane of Cawdor, perceiving him as
well-deserving and worthy of the title. This great impression of Macbeth, formed through the
words of others, begins to change when the audience sees Macbeth for the first time in the
next scene interacting with the three witches. His tendency of giving-in to the lure of
unchecked ambition is evident when he hears the prophecies that predict great things for him.
The audience’s perspective is complicated as they realize that his physical strength and
courage is tainted by a consuming ambition for political power. The three attributes of
bravery, ambition and self-doubt begin to play a game of emotional conflict as Macbeth
gradually finds himself contemplating to be king. The inner turmoil that Macbeth begins to
experience after hearing the prophecies eventually displays that he lacks strength of character
which is often considered as a noble trait for any honest and honourable man. Through
Macbeth, Shakespeare puts across an important and moralistic message about the terrible
effects of ambition and greed and what it can do to a man who lacks strength of character.
Macbeth’s character displays very real and authentic emotions that every common person
experiences at multiple times in one’s life. It also shows how even the greatest of persons
sometimes falls victim to the evil thoughts of one’s own mind.
On the night when he kills Duncan, Macbeth is constantly plagued by worry and anxiety
as the good in him fights the evil of his thoughts. He is almost about to abort the plan to kill
Duncan. His conscience is battling with self-doubt and righteousness. It takes Lady
Macbeth’s strong-headed character and her steely sense of purpose to push him into killing
Duncan to gain the throne. Macbeth shows vulnerability at that point and displays his
inability to take charge of situations whether for the good of his soul or the greed for the
throne. However, after the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth’s powerful personality begins to
disintegrate, and it is Macbeth who begins to take control although in a more troubled sort of
way. While the part until Duncan’s murder shows Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as a team who
plan and operate together, the scene after becoming king and queen changes completely.
Macbeth becomes more solitary as he begins to spend more time in his own thoughts and
takes important decisions on his own. It shows how his crimes lead to a tortured mind that
ultimately alienates him from everything he holds dear. Macbeth’s troubled thoughts
resulting from the murder of Duncan isolate him from his wife and from himself. He makes
the decision to kill Banquo and plans his murder all by himself without even confiding in
Lady Macbeth. He takes it upon himself to secure the throne and its power from all possible
threats.
Although Macbeth begins to take charge, he keeps fluctuating between fits of fevered
action, in which he plots a series of murders to secure his throne, and moments of terrible
guilt and anxiety. At certain points he also displays absolute pessimism as he realises the
hopeless circle of crime and guilt that he has got himself into. These fluctuations reflect the
tragic tension and conflict inside Macbeth’s mind as he is at once too ambitious and
determined to murder his way to political power and also too conscientious to be happy with
himself as a murderer. At the end when things seem to fall apart Macbeth almost feels
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relieved that the torture of his mind will finally come to an end. He bravely returns to the
character of a warrior where he for the first time in a long time feels at ease without having to
deal with thoughts of power or guilt. He shows that somewhere inside he has always been a
warrior whose greatest strengths are bravery and courage. He realises the fatal confidence
that he has placed on the witches’ prophecies has made him egoistic. He understands the
trickery of the witches but knows he is about to die but he still decides to fight till his very
last breath rather than yield and surrender. He goes down fighting and thus brings the play to
a full circle in the sense that it begins with Macbeth bravely winning on the battlefield and
ends with him bravely dying in combat.
2.4.2 Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and ruthless female characters. When the
audience first sees her, she is already plotting Duncan’s murder, and this makes her the most
frightening and villainous character. She is strong-headed and ambitious and knows how to
take charge. As soon as she reads Macbeth’s letter informing her about the prophecies given
by the three witches, she knows that she will have to push Macbeth into doing what she
believes needs to be done. She thinks Macbeth is weak-minded and will not have the heart
and courage to kill Duncan.
Her personality is portrayed as forceful and dominant. Unlike Macbeth who constantly
struggles with his conscience and loyalty before finally murdering Duncan, Lady Macbeth
has no problem or hesitation with the plan of murder. She gives priority to her ambition and
no amount of loyalty or conscience succeeds in making her give it a second thought.
Although Macbeth has hoped to find some other alternative to become king without
committing murder, Lady Macbeth unflinchingly accepts murder as the only necessary way
to fulfil her ambition of becoming the queen.
She is also seen as wishing to strip herself of all feminine qualities so that she can carry
out the task of murdering Duncan. This shows Shakespeare’s perception regarding the
dynamics between gender and power. It is evident that Lady Macbeth merely reflects the
general perception of that time that ambition and violence are inextricably linked to
masculinity. Through Lady Macbeth’s character, Shakespeare also seems to be showing that
femininity is more closely linked with the capability of manipulation. This is also reflected in
the way the three witches are shown to be manipulating the mind of Macbeth. The play thus
shows women as using the feminine method of manipulation to realise their own ambitions.
Shakespeare implies that women too can have ambitions and they too can be as cruel as men,
but the means through which they achieve their ambitions are shrouded in traits of
manipulation which as depicted in the play are feminine traits.
It is therefore evident why Lady Macbeth repeatedly questions Macbeth’s masculinity
and manhood in order to override his hesitations. She effectively manipulates him into
murdering Duncan by telling Macbeth that he needs to prove that he is a man. Lady Macbeth
also shows remarkable strength as a woman when she steadies the nerves of Macbeth after he
22
kills Duncan and also takes it upon herself to finish the incomplete task by planting the
evidences on the guards. She plans the whole murder; the escape plan as well and keeps the
whole situation under her control. She even becomes the strength for her husband whenever
he is overcome by weakness and anxiety.
However, her remarkable strength of will that persists through the murder of the King
loses its strength once Macbeth becomes king and she the queen. The burden of guilt is too
heavy for her to bear. She slowly slides into madness as she begins to sleepwalk and
desperately tries to wash off invisible blood stains from her hands during her state of trance.
It is her guilt that makes her sick and then ultimately culminates in her death. Lady Macbeth
is portrayed to be experiencing the feelings of both ambition and guilt more strongly than
Macbeth. Perhaps it is Shakespeare’s way of showing her femininity to portray that women
feel emotions more strongly than men.
Over the course of the play, the character of Lady Macbeth changes from an ambitious
and ruthless manipulator to a guilt-ridden person who has lost all control over her own life.
Her character becomes far more sympathetic towards the end of the play. By the end of the
play the audience realises that Lady Macbeth is perhaps not as villainous as she is initially
thought to be. Certain moments like her boast to Macbeth that, if she had promised to kill her
own child, she would have “dashed its brains out” without hesitation is certainly bloodchilling but it is only an attempt to appear to be cruel through words and not her actual
capability to do something like that. She had also admitted that, “I have given suck, and
know/How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.” She very well seems like she is
capable of tenderness and warmth. Her wish to be “unsexed” and request to the spirits to
“take my milk for gall,” so that she can act without remorse and hesitation, indicate that she
fears she has too much of compassion rather than none. Thus, a careful analysis of her
character and a willingness to see beyond her strong worded dialogues reveal that there is a
difference between who Lady Macbeth is and who she wants to be. We then see a different
side of her that suggests that she is not devoid of tender emotions and compassion. We realise
that her actual emotions of softness and warmth are shielded by the overriding ambitious
desire for power and status making her seem as evil and villainous.
When Lady Macbeth says that she would have killed Duncan herself if he had not
resembled her father while sleeping, she portrays herself as ruthless and violent. But her
action, or the lack of it, shows that despite her tough exterior, she probably is too soft to kill
someone. She has the opportunity to kill the king herself, but she is not able to go through
with it. It would have been a lot easier to kill him herself than to convince and manipulate
Macbeth into doing it. But the fact that she rather choses to do the latter, shows that she is
probably not as ruthless and cold-hearted as she shows herself to be. Moreover, when
Duncan’s death is discovered by the others, Lady Macbeth faints in the scene. The most
obvious reading of this is that she pretends to faint in order to distract the others from
Macbeth’s shaky story. But there is also a possibility that the faint might have been real, and
23
it reveals her soft side, suggesting that she realizes the truth of what they’ve done, and is
overwhelmed by the guilt.
After Macbeth and his wife become king and queen, Lady Macbeth assumes the role of
comforter and protector of her husband. Her character becomes more sympathetic as she
becomes concerned about Macbeth’s guilty state of mind. Her concern for her husband is
more prominent when Macbeth gradually estranges from himself and from his essential
humanity. Lady Macbeth begins to realise the error of their actions and tries to forget it
believing that what’s done is done. She encourages her husband as well to put the past behind
him. She puts on a brave face for her husband although her mind is tortured by guilt. She also
becomes his protector when Macbeth loses control at the banquet. But when Macbeth
becomes estranged from everything and focuses only on securing the throne, Lady Macbeth
is left isolated in her guilt with no one to share her deepest thoughts and fears with.
2.4.3 The Three Witches
The three witches are referred to by many of the characters as the “weird sisters”. Throughout
the play they represent the temptation towards evil that every man has within himself. They
play upon Macbeth’s latent ambitious desire for political power. They know his weaknesses
and specifically target those in order to test his strength of character by tempting him towards
evil. They feed upon the dark thoughts of Macbeth and get pleasure from the chaos that
unfolds because of their prophecies. The mischief that they cause is a result of their
supernatural powers as well as of their ability to understand human weaknesses.
While the other characters speak in blank verses, the witches on the other hand speak in
rhyming couplets that often sound like riddles. Part of the reason behind speaking in rhyming
couplets might be to hide the mischief and trickery in the crafty play of words. As such, their
prophecies and predictions keep the audience at the edge of their seats until the very end
wondering what exactly their words might mean. The rhymed speeches along with their
weird potions and dance makes them seem slightly ridiculous. These elements give them a
sort of caricatured appearance and make them seem comical. But despite all absurdity, the
witches are tremendously powerful and extremely wicked. The bloodbath that follows in the
play is a result of their manipulations, thereby clearly making them the most dangerous
characters in the play.
2.4.4 Banquo
Initially, Banquo is a brave and noble friend of Macbeth. He is an equally brave soldier as
they valiantly fought together in the battle against Norway. While greeting them after the
battle, Duncan acknowledges Banquo’s bravery as no less deserving of praise than Macbeth.
However, since the very beginning Banquo has been overshadowed by the accomplishments
of Macbeth. The audience get a subtle glance at Banquo’s own desires and ambition. He too
asks the witches for a prophecy and is pleased to learn that his children will someday become
the kings of Scotland. But Banquo is smart enough to consider the possibility that the witches
might only be tricking them. When the prediction about Macbeth becoming Thane of Cawdor
24
comes true, both Macbeth and Banquo are surprised. Macbeth is too pleased with the news
and begins contemplating about the second prophecy of him becoming king. However,
Banquo says to Macbeth that “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of
darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray/ In deepest consequence” (
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3, lines 125-128). He means that the witches might be trying to win
their trust through small truth only to later betray them in some big way. He implies that just
because the Witches told the truth does not mean that they are not evil. Nevertheless, Banquo
is suspicious of Macbeth and thinks that Macbeth might have engaged in foul play in order to
make the prophecy come true. When the murderers come to kill him, he cries to his son to fly
to safety and take revenge for his murder. This shows that he may have faith in the prophecy
that his son, Fleance, will someday rule Scotland.
2.4.5 Macduff
Macduff stands out as a noble and honest man. He has been a loyal and brave soldier for
Duncan, but not the same to Macbeth. Since the beginning, Macduff finds it difficult to trust
Macbeth. He even distrusts Macbeth’s claim that the servants had killed Duncan and also
finds it hard to believe that Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, have conspired to kill
their own father. Macduff’s suspicion towards Macbeth is evident when he does not attend
Macbeth’s coronation. Macbeth too understands that he does not have the loyalty of Macduff
and perceives him as a threat. Macduff’s decision to flee the country shows that he is smart
and foresees the danger. However, his reason behind abandoning his wife and children
without any defence or protection is never fully understood. It can be his strong sense of
patriotism towards his country that compels him to immediately seek help from the king of
England to save his country from Macbeth. Nevertheless, the guilt of leaving his family
defenceless hits him hard when he gets the news of their murder. He turns his guilt into a
weapon of revenge against Macbeth. He is deeply hurt by his family’s death and displays a
strong motivation for revenge. The desire for revenge gives him strength till the very end and
that is precisely what makes him victorious against Macbeth.
The play portrays Macduff as an example of a true honest man. His strength of character
is brilliantly displayed when he is tested by Malcolm at King Edward’s palace. He does not
show any desire or greed to take the throne for himself. He comes across as a trustworthy and
loyal man who cannot be corrupted even through temptations. Macduff also displays extreme
emotional strength as he does not let his grief and guilt overcome him. He sensibly uses his
emotion to mould his focus towards overthrowing Macbeth both for personal revenge and to
serve the good of his country. By killing Macbeth, Macduff simultaneously deals with his
own guilt, avenges his family and places the future of the country in the capable hands of
Malcolm.
2.5
Self-Check Questions
1. What do you think is the reason for Macbeth’s downfall?
2. How far can the witches be held responsible for Macbeth’s doom?
25
3. Is Lady Macbeth a stronger character than Macbeth?
4. Why do the Three Witches speak in rhyme?
2.6
University Questions
1. Do you agree that William Shakespeare is a playwright of all times? Answer with
specific reference to Macbeth.
2. Discuss Macbeth as a tragedy whose focus has been consistently to delve deeper into
the notions of fair and foul?
3. What do you think is the major theme of the play Macbeth? Why do you think so?
Justify your answer.
4. Do you think the play Macbeth deals with ambition? Justify your answer.
5. Write a character sketch of Macbeth with specific reference to his ambition and
consequent downfall.
6. How far do you think the three witches are responsible for Macbeth’s downfall?
7. Write a brief character sketch of Lady Macbeth.
2.7
Recommended Readings
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Booth, Stephen. “Macbeth, Aristotle, Definition, and Tragedy.” 1983.
Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. 1905.
Elliott, G. R. Dramatic Providence in Macbeth. 1960.
Kirsch, Arthur. The Passions of Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes. 1990.
Knights, L. C. “How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth?” 1933.
Muir, Kenneth. Shakespeare: The Great Tragedies. 1966.
Murray, J. Middleton. “The Time Has Been.” 1936.
Norbrook, David. “Macbeth and the Politics of Historiography.” 1987.
Rosen, Michael. Shakespeare and the Craft of Tragedy. 1964.
Sewell, Arthur. Character and Society in Shakespeare. 1951.
Spender, Stephen. “Time, Violence, and Macbeth.” 1941.
Spurgeon, Caroline. “Shakespeare's Imagery in Macbeth.” 1935.
Stallybrass, Peter. “Macbeth and witchcraft.” 1982.
Wells, Stanley. “A Scottish Tragedy: Macbeth.” 1994.
Wilson, Harold S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. 1957.
26
Paper-VII : British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-2
Contents
a.
Paradise Lost (1667) Book 1
b.
Aemilia Lanyer, ‘Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women
Edited by:
Written by:
Nalini Prabhakar
Meenakshi Sharma
27
28
Unit-2a
Paradise Lost Book -1
John Milton
Section-1
Life and Times of John Milton
Anil Aneja
1.1
John Milton: A Biographical Note
John Milton was born on 9th of December 1608 at Spread Eagle, on the East side of
Bread Street. In Cheapside, Milton's father owned a shop and conducted his business as a
scrivener, a profession which by the seventeenth century, had extended beyond the work of a
scribe to include the functions of notarizing, money-lending and investment brokerage.
To begin with, Milton's early education was in the hands of private tutors until 1615
when he joined a school, St. Paul's which adjoined the Cathedral. In 1621, one of the great
metaphysical poets, John Donne was appointed as Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and Milton
probably heard Donne preach on several occasions. Right from his childhood Milton was
encouraged to read on extensive subjects until late in the night. This could probably have
been one of the reasons for Milton's total blindness in 1652. Milton thanks his father in Ad
Patrem for the encouragement to learn five languages- Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and
Italian apart from English.
In 1625, Milton moved to Christ's college, Cambridge. His stay at Cambridge was not
altogether a happy one, with Milton developing differences first, with one of his tutors and
later with the University's way of awarding degrees which made it mandatory for candidates
to sign a written declaration subscribing to the doctrines of the Church of England and
acknowledge the supremacy of the King. For unknown reasons Milton had developed
differences with his tutor William Chappell and was even sent down from the University.
Later, he was readmitted and assigned to a new tutor. On 3rd July. 1632. Milton was awarded
his M.A. degree and for Milton, the next six years were devoted to private study, primarily
Greek and Latin authors. One of the most decisive influences on his life and his choice of
vocation as a poet was the continental tour which Milton took in 1638. He had composed
many of his poems in the English language, but the warmth with which they were received in
Italy and other parts of Europe cemented his resolution of becoming not only a poet but a
national poet.
The years following his return to England in 1639 are crucial as far as his pamphlet
writing is concerned. From 1641-1642, Milton wrote five important anti-prelatical tracts; Of
Reformation in England, Of Prelatical Episcopacy; Animad versions upon the Remonstrant's
Defence; The Reason of Church Government and Apology for Smectymus. However, Of
Education and a tract on the freedom of the press, Areopagitica, both published in 1644 are
his most important pamphlets.
29
Milton's tumultuous life as a public figure during the 1640 and 1650 distracted his
activities as a poet, and a series of personal crises disturbed his domestic peace. His
contemporaries John Donne and George Herbert never lost faith in the Anglican Church and
never doubted that a true Church existed in spite of her superficial divisions and blemishes.
However, Milton viewed the institutional Churches as having been corrupted. From 1638
onwards, Milton did not view the Anglican Church as any better than the Roman Catholic
Church.
For a man as interested as Milton was in the Church, in personal religion and in
marriage, he invokes the biblical marriage trope seldom. He does not attempt to separate the
case of human marriage and divorce from its ideal exemplar, the divine marriage of Christ
and his Church.
As; he grew increasingly disillusioned with the progress of the Reformation in England,
he saw himself coming into the center of all activities political and religious.
After 1660, Milton retired to private life and concentrated on the composition of his
epic. Paradise Lost (1667). After publishing Paradise Regained and Samson Agonists (1671)
Milton died early in 1674 and on 12th November was buried in St. Giles” Cripplegate.
1.2
The Epic Form and Paradise Lost
An epic is usually described as a long narrative poem, which is exalted in style and
heroic in theme and content. Epics are classified into two categories – “primary” epics and
“secondary” epics. Early or primary epics, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer are
“written versions of oral legends of a tribe or nation.” Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, Virgil's
Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost come under the category of “secondary” or “literary” epic.
Primary epics are ancient in their origin and character. Since they were recited or sung orally
by bards, who relied on memory and improvisations to produce an evocative effect on their
audience, “primary” epics have a spontaneous and free grand style. The poet of the “literary”
or “secondary” epic, on the other hand, creates an effect of grandeur by a conscious elevation
of his poetic style. Paradise Lost, which deals with the lofty subject of justifying “the ways of
God to men,” is well-known for. Milton's use of grand style.
Published in 1667, Paradise Lost represented for Milton the fulfillment of his two
aspirations. For several decades he had wanted to write an epic and had at the same time
wanted to recreate the story of the fall of man. To begin with these were to be separate
projects as Milton had chosen the tales and adventures of King Arthur to be the subject of his
epic. The story of the fall of man was to be treated differently as a tragedy. However,
disenchantment about the historicity of Arthur gradually led to the abandonment of the plan
to write an Arthuriad. Finally for Milton the two projects merged into the writing of an epic
which dealt with the tragedy of the fall of man. Milton decided to explore his theme in the
form of an epic and this gave him a licence to range over vast tracts of human experience.
Geographically, the poem ranges over the entire world and Milton delights in cataloguing the
names of various places. Satan's journey round the Earth in Book IX depicts the names of
places presumed to be corners of the earth. Milton supposedly used contemporary atlases, the
30
Bible and Biblical commentaries and several works of classical antiquity for place names and
other references.
Milton's choice of writing an epic was a reflection of the Renaissance notion of
hierarchies of being. Poetic genres were ranged in an ascending order starting at the lowest
rung from simple lyrics up to the highest, the heroic poem or epic. For Dryden “A heroic
poem, truly such is undoubtedly the greatest work which the soul of man is capable to
perform.” Spencer's Faerie Queene, while inspirational for Milton, was more of a romance
than an epic. For the seventeenth century, Virgil was the writer whose Aeneid provided a
model for emulation. A classical epic would present a heroic tale of adventure, usually a long
journey accompanied by fighting and the hero victorious. In order to revise classical epic
upon Christian lines Milton needed to re-evaluate the epic hero. Adam is not a warrior like
Aenas or Odysseus and this was Dryden's objection in calling Paradise Lost an epic. For
Milton, heroism did not center in military warfare (the theme of classical epics) but was to be
found in the spiritual warfare of the active Christian. While Satan's expedition against
mankind might look like a heroic mission at a surface level, a deeper analysis shows that it is
self-glorifying and inferior to that which glorifies god. Military valour is devalued in
comparison to “suffering for truth's sake/(which) is fortitude to highest victory” (Bk. XII.
569-70). By such radical reassessments of heroic values, Milton redefines and revises the
epic tradition. Some critics argue that for values military and glorious Milton has substituted
the domestic and pastoral ones, for the theme of human greatness, divine greatness. With
emphasis on the daily chores of Adam and Eve, Milton makes Paradise Lost the first
'domestic epic'. It is not an epic in the traditional sense of the word because Milton does not
follow the conventions and norms of a classical epic.
However, Milton does follow some of the conventions of a traditional epic. For
instance, the Supernatural intervention is a part of the epic tradition where gods and
goddesses intervene in human actions either validating them or disapproving of them. The
Invocation to the Muse is another such convention which Milton follows. He invokes Urania
to inspire and illuminate him so that he can write good poetry. Beginning the story in 'media
res' ('in the middle') is also an epic convention which Milton follows closely. After the
statement of his theme and invocation to the Muse in Book I, Milton begins the narration in
the middle of the action. Chronologically the story begins in Book V. Milton's use of epic
similes, which form an integral part of this grand style, is another epic convention that he
follows. Milton invests his poem with complexity and richness of meaning through his use of
epic similes.
1.3
The Religious and the Political Background of the 17th Century
The literature of any age is influenced by the social, religious and political factors of the
period. Milton's views and his writings demonstrate the deep impact of the events of his age.
As David Daiches puts it, “The great debate on religion and politics which divided the
English nation in the middle of the seventeenth century helped to determine the course of
Milton's career and the shape of his literary ambitions.” Religious controversy in the
seventeenth century is quite inseparable from political controversy. The Elizabethan
government had used the pulpit for political propaganda. Stuart governments also did the
31
same, and as a counter force, were opposed by the Puritans who strove to establish “an
alternative politics as well as an alternative religion.”
The uncertainty in the post-Elizabethan era was aggravated by the fact that Queen
Elizabeth left no natural successor of hers. James VI of Scotland, Lord Essex, Lady Arabella
Staurt and many others put their claim to the throne after Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603.
With James' accession to power there were several attempts to depose him. The Puritans had
never liked the coming to the power of monarch who was a favourable compromise between
the Catholic and the Protestant ideas. For the Puritans, their time was ripe in 1642 when
Charles I ruled. Under Oliver Cromwell the Civil War was led to a meaningful conclusion for
them when Charles I was beheaded in 1649. The Puritans ruled England from 1642-1660 and
in these years there was emphasis on thrift, economy, moral exaltation, purity of the self and
home. Quite early on Milton had cast his cause with the Puritan revolutionaries and was
active politically writing pamphlets which supported the execution of Charles I. One of the
consequences of the Puritan rule was their antipathy towards all forms of fun and
entertainment. As a result, all theatres in England were closed down in 1642. Literary
activities took a backseat for almost twenty years. The Puritanical strain is obvious in
Milton's advocacy for righteousness and moral purpose in his writings. To understand
Paradise Lost in relation to Milton's age and career, we have to bear in mind that Milton
spent almost twenty years between 1641 and 1660, writing prose works which upheld
ecclesiastical and civil liberty, and attacked all forms of ecclesiastical and political tyranny.
In the years following the Civil War, Milton began to increasingly question the validity of
institutional and centralized forms of secular power and external authority. He came to rely
more and more the authority found in the Bible, “those written Records pure,” as he puts it, in
Paradise Lost (Book XII, line 513).
The year 1660, which ended the Puritan rule in England got Charles II to the throne. The
subsequent years are referred to as the Restoration period—with an obvious reference to the
restoration of monarchy and the theatres in England. The Restoration was a period when
theatre reopened with a new and added vigour after eighteen years.
1.4
Renaissance Hierarchy and Cosmology
Milton follows some of the dominant conventions and beliefs of his age, such as the
belief in the hierarchical order of all things in the universe. All beings were arranged in a
hierarchy beginning from God at the top to the meanest of the inanimate class. Every speck
of creation was a link in the chain of being thus it enhanced the dignity of all creation.
To begin with, there is the inanimate class which includes the elements, liquids and
metals. Next in hierarchy was the vegetative class which had both existence as well as life.
Next came the sensitive class which had feeling as well. All animals were a part of this. What
distinguished man from beasts/ animals is the faculty of reason which man possesses. Higher
up, angels and finally God completed the hierarchy. To an ordinary Elizabethan, this
hierarchy was a part of divine order which was meant to keep everything in place. So if the
Elizabethans believed in an ideal order, they were also afraid Jest it should be upset. Disorder
to them meant cosmic anarchy. So when Satan tries to disrupt this natural, hierarchical
scheme of things, he is thrown out of heaven.
32
Milton was exposed to the competing cosmologies of the time- Ptolemaic with its
conception of a geocentric view of the universe and Copernican, with its heliocentric view of
the Universe. Milton primarily follows the Ptolemaic system of the universe with the earth as
the center though there is ample external evidence to suggest that Milton was familiar with
Copernicus' theories very well.
Milton's universe started with the Empyrean Heaven, the abode of God and his angels.
Heaven is separated from the New World by a golden chain. This golden chain by which the
New World hangs on to the Heaven also serves as an opening for the passage of angels from
Heaven to Earth. The center of this New World is the Earth around which revolved the sun,
the moon, the seven planets, the fixed stars, the crystalline sphere and finally the premium
mobile. Then there was further Chaos and finally Hell at the end. Chaos consisted of
shapeless matter whereas the New World was conceived to be made up of the four elements,
Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
Milton's Hell is a burning pool of fire where sinners are tortured and punished.
The presence of the two competing theories of the universe is suggestive of the public
nature of the poem. He did not use the poem to propagate his own views, rather he allowed it
to voice the range of opinions prevalent in England at the time.
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Section-2
Paradise Lost Book-1
Meenakshi Sharma
2.1
Learning Objectives
This unit aims to:
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2.2
Familiarize the reader with John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost.
Situate the poem in its social, political, and religious context and thus provide the
readers with an overview of Milton’s time period
Survey the various methods used by Milton to either follow through or deviate from
the literary conventions of the Late Renaissance era of British literary history
Conduct a brief yet comprehensive textual analysis of Book I of Paradise Lost to
acquaint the reader to the richness of Milton’s verse
Study the salient features of Milton’s style and his use of various techniques and
devices to enrich his verse
Study the allusions within the poem andanalyse the conflict between Christian and
Classical traditions of thought in Milton’s verse
Introduction
Paradise lost, divided into XII Books tells us the story of Satan and his followers who
have been expelled from Heaven on the charge of rebelling against God. Satan firmly
resolves to take revenge upon God by harming God's creation, Adam and Eve. The rest of the
poem depicts Satan's craft and deceit as he manages to tempt Eve into eating the forbidden
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Thus the story of the fall of Man is given to the reader
through these XII Books.
The Bible and Biblical commentaries account for substantial part of the poem. Book IX
concentrates on the temptation of Eve by Satan. The book begins with a conversation
between Adam and Eve where Eve suggests a separation from Adam to cater to the large
amount gardening work. Adam, who has been forewarned of the coming danger is unwilling
to let Eve go alone. His argument is that the enemy when confronted by two people instead of
one, would find himself weak. Eve sees the argument as Adam's distrust of Eve and insists on
moving alone in Eden. The parting takes place and Satan gets his opportunity when he sees
Eve alone, taking care of the plants.
Satan enters Eden and takes the shape of a serpent and proceeds towards Eve. He tempts
Eve through flattery and is able to convince her that eating of the fruit will make her move up
the hierarchy, the way he has moved up from being a beast to possessing the powers of
speech and reason. Eve is convinced and she plucks and eats the apple. Immediately she
becomes aware of a change in herself and she appears before Adam ready to lie to him. Adam
listens to the story and is aware that Eve will now be permanently separated from him.
34
Unable to bear this separation, Adam knowingly plucks the fruit and eats it. An unknown
element of lust now enters into the relationship in sharp contrast to the innocence and purity
of their earlier married life.
As a Christian poem in classical epic form, Paradise Lost reflects the humanist fusion of
Christian with classical learning. Its assertion of man's free will with God's omnipotence is a
classical irresolvable concern throughout.
2.3. The Invocation
The Invocation is a device used by all epic poets. The purpose of the invocation is the
introduction of the theme and seeking inspiration from the Muse. The Muse is invoked for the
reason of providing Milton with ideas and expressions which have not been attempted till
now. In the light of the narrator's rejection of classical Muses of the Spirit, we can judge how
far an epic has been transformed. The narrator provides unity to the Epic by his invocations
opening books I, III, IV and IX.
Although claiming the status if literary authorship, the text must display the tenuousness
of its spiritual authority. Accordingly, at the narrator's first appearance the prayer for divine
inspiration, for the authority to speak truth, involves an equally emphatic reference to
blindness, both physical and spiritual. “What in me is dark/ Illumine” (I, 22-3). Constant
reference to the reader maintains the reader's sense of the text's construction, its objectives
and its problems as well.
The juxtaposition of the narrator's self with hero and heroic epic is a reading clue to his
courage in confronting the tragedy of Fall, striving to describe adequately something by
which he himself is compromised as a storyteller.
Milton's theme is man's disobedience of God's commandment and the consequences of
this Fall. References to “one greater man” and “ that Shepherd” are to Christ where the
narrator looks up for redemption. He embarks on a feat of spiritual danger, presuming to
portray God and his truth despite all the human fallibilities in this postlapsarian world.
Without his guide, the Holy Spirit, his flight will fail.
In this alienation from God's sight, as also in his boast of a daring undertaking, the
narrator's one counterpart within the narrative quite strongly is Satan himself. Against this
sinister parallel, this embodiment of the false speaking and fake authority to which the
narrator himself may succumb, the invocations repeatedly announce the narrator's lack of
self-sufficiency and the need for God's authorization by way of inspiration.
2.4
Book I Lines 1-26
Book I opens with a statement of the theme and subject of the whole poem: the
disobedience of man, his fall and the consequent loss of paradise. Milton goes on to refer to
the redemption of mankind by Christ: 'till one greater Man/ Restore us' (11.4-5). For the
ambitious task of justifying 'the ways of God to men' (1.26), Milton seeks divine inspiration
and help from the Heavenly Muse. The poet believes that his subject is more exalted and
heroic than any other epic, as he is writing of 'Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme'
(I.16).
35
In the following notes brief explanations of references in the text and the meaning of
difficult words/ phrases are provided:
Line 1 first
: Man's first act of transgression was eating the apple of the
forbidden tree of knowledge.
2 mortal
: The word combines a sense of 'human' and 'fatal' or
death-producing.
3 Eden
: The garden or beautiful place in the newly-created Earth,
where Adam and Eve lived in a state of bliss before the
fall.
4 one greater Man
: Christ, in theological tradition 'the second Adam.' Christ
provides man with an opportunity to regain bliss by His
supreme sacrifice.
5 the blissful seat
: Paradise. When all wickedness is dissolved after the Last
Judgment, Earth and Heaven shall be blissful.
6 heavenly Muse
: the Spirit of God. Milton follows the epic convention of
invocation to the Muse, but with the difference that his
Muse is no classical symbol of poetry.
7 oreb, or Sinai
: the mountain top which was set apart by God for his
communication with Moses. Here Moses received the
Law from God (the Ten Commandments).
8 shepherd
: Moses, who was a shepherd. God first spoke to him when
he watched sheep on Mount Horeb and gave him the Law
when he became the “shepherd” of his people.
8 chosen seed
: The chose rase of Israel.
9-10 in the beginning...
: Moses, the supposed author of Genesis, tells us:
Rose out of Chaos
'In the beginning god created the heaven and the earth.'
'And the earth was without form, and void;... And the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.'
(Genesis 1: 1-2).
According to Milton God created out of Chaos.
10 Sion hill
: Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
11 siloa
: the brook and pool near the temple of Jerusalem.
15 Aonian mount
: Mount Helicon in Boetia, considered sacred to the Muses.
Milton's intention is to make his poem, which is inspired
by God, excel the great classical poems which were
inspired by the Muses.
36
17 spirit
: The Spirit of God. Milton now appeals directly to the
Spirit of God and seeks divine help and instruction.
18 Before all temples
: The pure heart is preferred before all temples. Compare
Psalm 15:1-2 (Old Testament) and I Corinthians 3:16
(New Testament).
21-2 Dove-like ... pregnant
: The Spirit of God brooded and brought out the Universe
out of the unshaped matter of Chaos (”abyss”), thus
putting life into Chaos.
24 highth ... argument
: Milton wishes to measure up to the demands of his great
subject (argument).
25 assert
: vindicate.
26 justify
: show the justice of.
Check your progress:
1. Comment upon the significance of the invocation in Book I of Paradise Lost.
2. How does Milton intend to “justify the ways of God to men
2.5
Lines 27-83
The rest of Book I follows the angels after their rebellion and the consequent fall from
Heaven into Hell, a place designed for their eternal punishment. Milton describes Hell both
through Satan’s eyes and through a third person narrator’s point of view. Hell is a place of
hopelessness and despair burning with fire all around. As Satan wakes up amidst confusion,
he sees his second-in-command, Beelzebub besides him. They talk of the preceding events
and their miserable condition. Satan decides that he will never submit to God and instead
strive to foil all his plans. He then calls the fallen angels to gather together in battle armour in
military formation at a volcanic hill. After a rousing speech by Satan to lift the morale of the
angels, they build an opulent council chamber which Milton calls Pandemonium. The fallen
angels, infinite in their number, flock together into the large chamber like a swarm of
bees.The first council of Hell then begins.
Below is a brief explanation of the text along with the meaning of some allusions:
27-28 Heav’n…Hell
: Milton exalts the Muse by saying that neither heaven nor
Hell is hidden from her view
29 Grand Parents
: Adam and Eve. “Grand” here is used in the sense of first/
original.
30-33 Favoured…revolt?
: Who made Adam and Eve, favourites of the heaven
disobey God’s single command of not eating from the
tree of knowledge
34 infernal Serpent
: Satan. He came to Eve in the form of a serpent
37
35-40 Stirred…High
: Satan was driven by jealousy and revenge to corrupt Eve
after he was cast out of Heaven with the other rebel
angels. With the help of these angels, he hoped to become
superior to everyone else and even challenge God (”the
most high”)
41-44 If he…Almighty Power
: Satan and his angels waged a war against God but his
attempts were doomed to fail
45-46 ethereal sky
: God cast Satan out head-first from heaven, the celestial
sky into bottomless hell
47 perdition
: a place where a sinner goes to after death, i.e, hell. The
bottomlessness of perdition signifies the eternal nature of
the punishment
48 adamantine
: imprisoned in unbreakable chains
49 Omnipotent
: the omnipotence, i.e, all-powerful God cannot be
defeated. This line raises questions about predestination
and free will. If God is indeed omnipotent (all-powerful)
and omniscient (all-seeing), why did he not prevent the
Fall of Man?
50-52 Nine…gulf
: For nine days Satan and the fallen angels lay defeated
53-54 Confounded…thought
: Satan was confused and doomed to an eternity of pain due
to his immortality. This made him angrier than before.
55 lost happiness…lasting pain : Satan was tortured by the thoughts of all the pleasures he
was never going to experience again as well as the neverending pain that plagued him now
56-60 round he…wild
: Satan looks around his surroundings and sees only doom
and decay of his fellow fallen angels. His hatred grows
stronger
61-62 : everywhere
: Satan looked, he only saw flames
63 darkness visible
: This oxymoron shows that unlike fire which illuminates,
the fire of hell is devoid of physical and moral light
64-69 A dungeon…unconsumed : The darkness from the fire illuminated sights of suffering,
hopelessness, sorrow and unending pain
70-75 Such place…they fell
: Hell is a prison of dark fire made for those who rebel. It is
the furthest from Heaven and from God. This place is
completely different from the place of their fall, i.e.,
heaven
38
76-83 There…began
: Among the rebel angels lying in the fire, Satan notices
Beelzebub, his second-in-command. Satan thus begins to
speak.
84-96 If thou…change
: Satan’s first speech. Satan says to Beelzebub, “in your
fallen status, how different you look from the angel
whose heavenly brightness would outshine everyone
else’s light. You once joined me in the plan to overthrow
heaven and now yet again we are together in this misery.
God with his thunder proved so much stronger than us.
Who would have thought there was so much strength in
his arms? However, no matter how much suffering the
winner of our rebellion inflicts upon me, I do not repent.”
Through his speech Satan projects himself as a fallen hero
who is resilient in the face of adversity. He is resolutely
devoted to his mission. Also of importance is the
Calvinist notion of repentance by the sinner in exchange
for forgiveness by God. Since Satan will not repent, his
crime cannot be forgiven
97-102 Though…preferring
: “I have lost my outer glory but my mind remains fixed
against the injustice meted on injured merit” (stronger
abilities that are disregarded. The angels were stronger
than mankind). Satan portrays his rebellion as a battle
against God’s bias for mankind who according to him are
lesser beings. This fight against a perceived injustice
brought together the fallen angels who disliked God’s
unfair reign and preferred Satan instead.
103-110 His utmost…or might : “In heaven we (Satan and the fallen angels) fought against
the all-powerful God and managed to shake his throne. So
what if we lost that fight? Everything is still not lost; I
still have our free will, valour, courage, revenge, and
undying hatred. All these attributes can never be taken
from me, neither through strength, nor through anger.
111-115 To bow…beneath
: It will be very low of me to kneel before him and ask for
forgiveness now that I’ve shown that I can challenge his
empire. Doing so would be more shameful than this
downfall.
116-121 This downfall…eternal war : We are immortal because of fate, the strength of God,
and due to the celestial substance we are made of.
Through our experience of the battle so far, we have
gained much foresight and now have better chances of
waging an unending war against God either through force
or through trickery.
39
122-124 Irreconcilable…of Heaven : We will forever be apart from God, our “grand Foe”
who joyous in his victory, rules heaven tyrannically
125-127 So spake…compeer
: Satan spoke in this manner. Even though he was in pain
and despair on the inside, he was proud and boastful on
the outside. Beelzebub (bold Compeer) answered him in
the following manner:
128-133 O Prince…or fate!
: “Oh Prince with many powers, you rallied us angels
(seraphim) for war. It was under your leadership that we
opposed God (heaven’s perpetual King) and proved his
supremacy. He defeated us maybe through greater
strength, by fate, or by chance.
134-142 Too well…endless misery : “I regret that our rebellion has lost us Heaven and cast
us into this horrible destruction. We are immortal, our
minds and spirits cannot be destroyed, our courage and
strength will soon return but our glory is no more and our
happiness has been taken over by eternal misery.
143-155 But what...eternal punishment? : I think God might really be all-powerful to have
defeated an army like ours. He must have let us have our
complete strength and spirits so that we can suffer this
misery eternally and satisfy his vengeance or perhaps so
that we carry out his orders in Hell. What good is
complete strength or immortality if we must suffer for
eternity?”
156-168Whereto…aim
: To this, Satan (Arch-Fiend) quickly replied, “Fallen angel
(cherub) it is a misery to be weak but let us be certain of
this, that we shall never commit good deeds again and our
only joy will be in doing evil deeds. We will do the
opposite of the will of the God we resist. If he seeks to
bring good out of our evil deeds, our task will be to do the
opposite and bring evil out of good. We shall distract his
closest angels from their task.
169-177 But see!...Deep
: But look! The winner of our rebellion (God) has now
called back his angels and has returned to the gates of
Heaven. It is now the calm after the storm. The rage of
Heaven has died down
Check your progress:
1. Critically examine the imagery used by Milton to describe Hell in Book I.
2. What does Satan’s conversation with Beelzebub tell us about the differences between
their respective personalities?
40
2.6
Lines 178-375
178-191 Let…despair
: Let us not let this opportunity pass away. Do you see
those dark plains with only these flames as their source of
light? Let us move there and away from these flames. Let
us rest there, if there can be any rest, and gather our
weakened strength. Let us plan how we can hurt our
enemy and repair our loss, let us plan how to get over this
hardship, let’s gain strength from hope and if there’s none
left, courage (for evil deeds) from our hopelessness
192-195 Thus…large
: Satan thus replied to his nearest comrade. His head lay
above the fire, with his flaming eyes sparkling while the
rest of his huge body was floating in the flaming floods
196-197 Lay floating…size
: Satan looked like a huge figure whose enormous size is
described in fables (myths)
198 Titanian
: In Roman mythology, Titans were powerful primeval
deities who were gigantic in size. They were the children
of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). Satan is being
compared to Titans
198 Jove
: In Roman mythology, Jove or Jupiter overthrew Saturn to
become the king of all Gods.
199 Briareos or Typhon
: Briareos was a giant god of sea storms with hundred
hands and fifty heads. Typhon was a child of Gaia and
Tartarus who was defeated by Zeus.
201 Leviathon
: A creature mention in the Bible in Book of Job, Psalms,
the Book of Isaiah, and the Book of Amos, here described
as a large sea monster
202-209 Created…lay
: Each of these prominent figures from Roman mythology
symbolize the attempt to overthrow the authoritative
powers and their subsequent defeat.
210-212 Chained…Heaven
: Satan would have remained chained and could not have
risen if it were not for the will of God
213-220 Left…poured
: Heaven willed this so that Satan could commit more
crimes and be further damned while being enraged by
how his evil deeds brought goodness on Man, but to him
these deeds brought only confusion, anger, and vengeance
221-227 Forthwith…dry land
: Thus Satan gets up from the pool of fire, leaving behind
him a horrible void where he used to sit. Then he spreads
his wings to fly in the polluted air until he is on dry land
228-231 He…fire
: Satan rests his feet on dry land with solid fire much like
the lake with liquid fire
41
232 Pelorus
: Cape Pelorus in Sicily
233 Aetna
: Mt. Etna, a volcanic mountain on the East coast of Sicily
234-238 And fuelled…Unblestfeet : Satan rests his unholy feet on the ground singed as if in
the aftermath of a volcanic eruption
239 Stygian flood
: Refers to the River Styx that flows in the Underworld in
Greek/ Roman mythology. Here it means Hellish fire
240-241 As gods…power
: Satan is joined by Beelzebub. They both rejoice at leaving
the fiery floods because of their own strength and not
because Heaven let them escape
242-255 Is this…Heaven
: Satan said, “Is this the land that we must exchange for
Heaven? This sorrowful darkness in place of celestial
light? Then so be it. It’s better to be furthest away from
him who rules in tyranny, who is our equal but through
force, stands above his equals. Farewell heavens and
welcome hell! Welcome your new master Hell, one
whose mind so resolute that it remains unchanged by
place or time. The mind is its own place and can make
Heaven feel like Hell, and Hell feel like Heaven.”
256-258 What…greater
: “How does it matter where I am so long as I’m still the
same? I’m as great as God who is only mightier in his
strength.” Here “thunder” metonymically stands for the
power and strength of Heaven.
259-270 We…Hell
: “At least we can be free here. God has not built this place
for anything else and therefore, will not force us out of
this place. So we can reign safely here. In my opinion, it
is better to be the king in Hell than to be a slave in
Heaven. Let’s not let our friends and comrades in our loss
lie in the fiery lake and let’s invite them here to share our
losses, or rally together to regain what can be salvaged of
Heaven or perhaps see what else awaits us in Hell.”
271-282 So… highth
: Beelzebub replied, “Leader of that army which only God
to defeat! If our comrades can hear your voice, the same
voice that gave them hope in the worst battles, they will
soon gain strength and courage even though now they lie
confused and defeated in the lake.”
283-286 He…
: Beelzebub had barely finished speaking when Satan
started moving towards the shore with his large and bulky
ethereal shield on his back
287-289 Tuscan artist
: Galileo. Milton compares Satan’s shield to an orb
observed by Galileo through an optic glass
42
290 Fesole or Valdarno
: Fesole is a height close to Florence. Valdarno is the valley
of river Arno surrounding Florence
291-302 Rivers...brooks
: Satan’s spear was as long as the mast of a huge ship
(Ammiral) and he used it to balance himself over the
burning grounds of Hell, so unlike Heaven, while the hot
air burned him. Nevertheless, he endured the misery and
reached the beach from where he called his fallen angels
who were lying like autumn leaves in a lake
303-304 Vallombrosa
: A valley near Florence, strewn with autumn leaves.
305 Orion
: A constellation. Associated with stormy weather
306-307 Busiris
: Egyptian Pharaoh drowned at the Red Sea. Memphian
here means Egyptian. Chivalrie refers to the Pharaoh’s
cavalry & forces
308-309 Sojourners of Goshen : Israelites.
310-314 From…Resounded:
The fallen angels were scattered in the fiery lake, shocked
at their ugly changed bodies. Satan called out to them so
loudly that his voice echoed throughout the deep and
hollow Hell
315-330 Princes… Fallen
: “The princes that one ruled Heaven, have you chosen this
place to rest after battle? Perhaps this place is as
comfortable for you as Heaven or perhaps you kneel to
your Conqueror who looking at our weakened state will
take advantage and send his troops from Heaven to
trample us or chain us using thunderbolts to the bottom of
Hell. Either rouse up now or stay in this state forever!
331-338 They…
: The fallen angels heard Satan’s call and were ashamed
like a night guard on duty were caught sleeping by a
superior. They shook themselves awake despite the pain
to obey their General’s (Satan’s) orders
339-345 Amram’s…Hell
: The fallen angels flew out from the fiery lake like the
swarm of locusts that plagued the land of Nile, Egypt.
Like the sheer number of locusts turned the day dark like
night, so did the fallen angels’ flight swarm Hell.
346-350 Twixt…plain
: Satan gave these fallen angels direction using his spear
until they landed
348 Sultan
: Implies an un-Christian tyrannical ruler. Satan is
compared to a Sultan
351-352
: The “multitudes” and “frozen loins” invokes an overflow
of fallen angels, especially implying unnatural breeding
353-355 Rhene–Sands:
They looked like barbarians in a horde trying to conquer
Libyan sands
43
356-375 Forthwith…world
: Then the leader of each squadron came forward towards
Satan. They were powerful beings with superhuman,
Godlike shapes and bodies, they were the formerly kings
of Heaven even though now their records of ever being in
Heaven was erased due to their rebellion. Nor had they
received their new names from wandering on Earth to test
mankind. Through their lies and deceit they would later
corrupt the majority of mankind to worship false idols and
compel the Church to forsake God for pompous showoff
and greed
Check your progress:
2.7
1.
How does Milton describe the fallen angels in Hell?
2.
Who does Milton compare Satan to, in his fallen state?
a.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of
Heaven” (I. 254-255)
b.
“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (I.263)
Lines 376-533
376-385 Say…round
: Tell me their names, Muse, who woke up from their sleep
in the fiery lake when their emperor (Satan) called them and
stood with him. The chief among these fallen angels were
those who were worshipped as false Gods on Earth.
392-404 First…thence
: First there was Moloch who would make the humans
sacrifice children by burning them alive to his idol amidst
the noise of drums while the parents cried. He was
worshipped by the Ammonites in city of Rabba and the
neigbouring countries of Argoand Basan. When this did not
content him, he corrupted Solomon’s heart to build a temple
in the valley of Hinnom, Tophet
405 Gehenna
: Due to the sacrifice of children by fire in the valley of
Hinnom, the land was considered cursed and took the name
of Gehenna, or Hell
406-418 Next...Hell
: Next, Chemos came forward. He was worshipped by
Maobites. He was also called Peor, who made his devotees
perform obscene rituals while passing through Sittim on
their journey towards Nile alongside Moloch until Josiah
drove them away.
419-437 With...foes
: These two were accompanied by Baalim and Ashtaroth.
Spirits could take the form of any sex because they were
not tied to any shape, flesh or body. For them the Israelites
abandoned their real Gods and worshipped the false ones
44
438-445 Came...
: Astoreth who was called ‘Queen of Heaven’ came along
with them. She had cresecent-shaped horns which were
worshipped by maidens of the city of Sidon. Solomon, who
had many foreigners as wives and concubines, introduced
her worship in Israel and built her temple
443 offensive mountain
: Mount of Olives, also known as Mountain of Corruption
444 uxorious king
: Solomon
446-456 Thammuz...idolatries : Next there was Thammuz, the Syrian women believed it
was his blood that would discolour the Adonis river once
every year. The love-tale of Venus’ love for Adonis and his
death aroused the women of Sion
457-466 Next...bounds
: Next was Dagon with upper body of a man and lower of a
fish. When Philistines found the ark, they placed it in
Dagon’s temple only to find his head and hands cut off
467-477 Him... renown
: Next in line was Rimmon who was worshipped in
Damascus. He tempted King Ahaz into building him an
altar and worshipping him
478-489 After... gods
: These were followed by a train of Egyptian gods, Osiris,
Isis, Orus and the like. They forced Egypt to worship
animal-like gods instead of the human form of the true God.
These were borrowed by Jews in the form of the golden
calf. The rebel king, Jeroboam made two calves of gold and
placed them in Bethel and Dan, thus, doubled the sin
490-505 Belial...rape
: Belial came last, the most lewd of them all who loved vice
for its own sake. He had no temple dedicated to himself but
could be found in all the corrupted altars like the sons of
high priests of Eli who themselves were priests, or courts
and palaces, or the city streets with rioters or drunk men.
The sons of Belial attempted to rape a Jew in Gibeah who
sent his concubine in place of himself to survive
506-521These...Isles
: Milton describes the Greek gods as found in Hesoid’s
Theogony. To Milton, these are false gods because they
originate after Heaven and Earth are formed. The birthright
of Titan as a god is seized by Saturn, his son, and he in turn
loses it to his son, Jove (Jupiter or Zeus in Greek
mythology) who ruled in Olympus.
522-533All...standard
: These and other devils came to Satan looking dejected but
joyful at finding their chief. Satan recollected his lost pride
and raised their spirits and commanded them to raise his
banner.
45
Check your progress:
1. Comment on the Classical allusions used by Milton to describe the fallen angels.
2. Critically analyse the ways in which Milton includes Pagan deities such as Chemos to
describe the fallen angels.
2.8
Lines 533- 798
533-540 That...sounds
: Azazel then unfurled the imperial banner bedecked with
jewels while the trumpets were blowing
541-555 At...retreat
: At Satan’s loud call, the fallen angels waved thousands of
colourful banners and raised their shields, spears and helmets.
They moved in a military formation to the sound of flutes.
They weren’t moved to flight or retreat by any fear of death.
Phalanx : military formation of foot soldiers in Greek
warfare. Dorian mood: musical mode for military suited for
battle.
556-572 Nor...strength
: Forgetting their pain, fear, and sadness, the fallen angels
walked together, united as a single entity. From the front they
were a sight of chilling terror with their spears and armour,
awaiting the orders of their chief (Satan) while he inspected
their ranks, his heart filled with pride.
573-587 Glories...beyond
: Largest army of men combined with combined with the army
of Trojan and Theban wars and the knights of Arthur (Uther’s
son) were puny and small in front of this army
588-615 Compare...heath
: Satan stood in front of his mighty army looking like a ruined
Archangel who hasn’t yet lost his brightness like a rising or
an eclipsed sun. His face was scarred but his eyes felt pity for
dooming his comrades to eternal pain. He was touched by the
loyalty of the fallen angels even though they looked like
burnt forests in the aftermath of a fire.
615-621 He...way
: he fallen angels inched closer in attention as Satan tried to
speak, thrice, but each time his eyes filled with angel tears
until with deep sighs he spoke:
622-662 O...resolved
: “O immortal spirits whose powers could only be matched by
the almighty,our battle was not without gloryeven though we
face this dire change but who could have known that our
mighty forces would be defeated and who can yet believe that
our might forces will fail to win back heaven on our own?
God is to be blamed for our fall for tempting us to rebel by
not revealing his full strength. But now that we know His
strength, we can wage a new war with deceit and trickery for
to win by strength is only half a victory. There is a rumour
46
that God intends to create a new world (Eden) for creatures
he regards as equal to angels. This darkness will not hold us
forever but we must ponder on these thoughts and hold a
counsel. There is no question of peace because we will not
surrender.
663-693 He...bane
: The fallen angels bellowed against heaven and pulled out
their swords. The fallen angels stormed towards a volcanic
hill containing metal. They were led by Mammon, the
lowliest of them all. Even in heaven, he’d admire the golden
floors more than God’s glory. He’d later teach humans to dig
gold from Mother Earth. Mammon and his comrades dug the
hill to recover plenty of riches
694-700 Babel
: Tower of Babel. Human race speaking the same language
attempts to build a tall tower in Shinar that would reach
Heaven. God then confused their language and when they
tried to communicate, they only heard each other babble. The
Tower of Babel “symbolizes man's pride and marks his
attempt to equal God and recreate reality” (Low p. 171)
701-715 Nigh...architrave
: One team of fallen angels prepared canals to channel molten
metal into the plains while a second team separated the
different kinds of metals as a third poured these metals into
the moulds. Thus they created a huge structure as if
symphony playing out of land. Milton compares the palace of
Hell to the organ (a musical instrument)
715-730 nor...sky
: The structure had a roof of gold and was better than any built
by the Egyptian kings or in Babylon. When the structure was
finished, the doors opened to reveal a huge space with metal
cups filled with flammable substances like naptha and
asphaltus (tar) suspended from the arched roof
731-740 admiring...Mulciber : The angels entered hastily and praised the Architect for his
work, he had earlier built such structures for heaven’s angels
but later will come to be known as the Greek
740-751 Mulciber...Hell
: Greek Hephaestus and Roman Vulcan who was thrown out of
Heaven by Zeus/Jove. According to Milton, the classical
myth of Hephaestus’ fall from Olympus is a distortion of the
Biblical myth of Mammon’s fall from Heaven
752-762 Meanwhile...hall
: The fallen angel messengers blew their trumpets and
announced the meeting will be held in Satan’s palace, now to
be called Pandemonium. At once, thousands of angels
gathered and crowded the spacious palace.
47
756 Pandemonium
: Milton coins the term for Satan’s palace. In Greek, stands for
pan – all, daimon – demon, and –ion stands for a place of
worship
763-766 Though...lance
: A medieval tradition in which Christian knights challenge the
strongest knights to a duel.
767-776 Thick...seemed
: Satan’s comrades are compared to bees. In doing so, Milton
diminishes their stature
777-797 Behold...full
: The angels who were once bigger than giants now
transformed into the size of small faeries, pygmies, and elves
so as to make the crowded hall more spacious while the
greatest rebel angels retained their original size and sat on
golden seats
797-798 After...began
: After a brief moment of silence during which all the fallen
angels settled themselves into the new surroundings and
shapes, the great counsel finally began.
Check your progress:
1.
Explain in detail the military metaphor used by Milton in his description of the fallen
angels.
2.
Critically examine the construction of Pandemonium by Moloch and the other angels.
3.
How is the Tower of Babel relevant to the construction of Pandemonium?
4.
Compare and contrast the Biblical figures mentioned in Book I with their Classical and
Pagan counterparts. For example, consider the case of Mulciber who Milton identifies
as Hephaestus or Vulcan in Greek and Roman mythology respectively. Why do you
think Milton does this?
5.
Now that you are familiar with the text, can you identify the various contrasting pairs
put forwards by Milton in Book I, for example, Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, Light
and Darkness? How does Milton differentiate between these sets of binaries?
2.9
Major Characters
Satan
Satan is the protagonist and anti-hero of Book I of Paradise Lost. Satan is introduced to
the readers at his lowest. Rather than beginning his narrative with Lucifer, the angel’s
disagreement with God in his grand kingdom, Milton begins his narrative in the epic tradition
after Satan has rebelled and fallen from grace.
Milton presents Satan as a complex character. While wishing to be the antagonist to
God’s plans and missions, he serves the very function designed by God. Thus, he never strays
away from the scheme of things even when he rebels. For instance, Satan follows the
Christian doctrine of ‘do not despair’, not once; even in his fallen state does he ever despair
and give in to his suffering and submitting. In doing so, he never strays from the precepts set
48
by God, his folly being his inability to recognize the source of his power and resilience. On
one hand Milton delves into Satan as a tragic hero who overcomes his own struggles, on the
other, he is the primary example of corrupted power and the perils of ambition and pride. In
Book I, Satan can be seen as a leader who rallies his troupe and shakes them out of their
feeling of hopelessness and misery by providing them a purpose. He is majestic in his
grandeur, unafraid in the face of adversity. However, this purpose is meaningless as a force of
perpetual destruction as opposed to the forces of Creation by God.
Satan not only stands in opposition to God but also acts as a foil for the heroes – Adam
and Eve who will lead to the redemption and salvation of mankind. His fall is paralleled in
the later books to the Fall of Adam and Eve as well as all of mankind who are then redeemed
by Christ, the “one greater Man”. Milton ascribes Satan certain human qualities in his sense
of hurt and betrayal, as well as his sorrow for the state of his fallen angels.His seductive
appeal most prominent in Book I, at the very beginning of the events that set the stage for the
greatest battle between evil and good. Milton perhaps turns him into a tragic, fallen hero so
that the readers can sympathize with him and in doing so; realize the seductive nature of evil.
His hamartia (tragic flaw of the hero of an Epic) is his excessive pride. Nevertheless, he is
portrayed as heroic in his persistence to achieve the impossible.
Milton portrays Satan as an orator par excellence, the master of rhetoric. In doing so, he
cautions against empty words and promises that only serve to lead the listener astray. Below
is a brief analysis of Satan’s speeches throughout Book I:





Satan’s first speech to Beelzebub – magnificent leader, sympathizes and identifies
himself as one with his followers and their misery. He shows pity on the reduced
stature of his friend. He justifies his animosity towards God in his sense of “injur’d
merit”. It is a mark of Satan’s eloquence that he makes a ceaseless war with
impossible odds seem like their only option
Satan’s second speech – Infuse a sense of courage in his commanders after their
defeat, overconfidence in his schemes masks their futile nature because in no way
will they help in gaining back what has been lost. Foiling God’s plan will not get
them heaven back
Satan’s third speech- Accepting their fate to be eternal adversaries of God, Satan
willingly accepts their dismal situation as a rebellion against the servitude of
Heaven. “Farthest from him is best” marks not only physical alienation but also the
moral distance between himself and God. Milton suffuses Satan’s speech with
irony. Milton draws the readers’ attention to how Satan’s speech is “full of ringing
phrases expressed with a deliberate sonority”, laying bare the rhetoric.
Satan’s fourth speech – Ironically calls these angels ‘princes” to rouse their sense
of pride
Satan’s fifth speech – A war cry which rules out any other options such as
surrender or submission to the authority of God, repentance for their rebellion
against Heaven, or even the idea of bearing their sufferings due to their punishment
with patience and persistence.
49
Two particularly interesting interpretations of Satan have been touted by critics
throughout the many centuries of scholarship since the publication of Paradise Lost in 1667.
One bases Satan as the villain, the anti-thesis of Adam & Eve on the basis of theological
theme, while the second interpretation, brought forward most prominently by William Blake,
interprets Satan as the hero of the poem, rebelling against the anarchy of a tyrannical ruler.
Alexander Raleigh compares Satan to Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus for the benefit of
mankind. Likewise, Raleigh calls Satan a “fearless antagonist of Omnipotence”. On the other
hand, Stanley Fish suggests that Milton attempts to ‘tempt’ the reader as Satan tempted Eve
and it becomes the moral and religious duty of the reader to overcome this temptation. The
reader who falls before the lures of Satanic rhetoric displays […] the weakness of Adam and
… [fails] to avoid repeating [Adam's] fall. (Fish, 38)
Check your progress:
1.
Comment on the character of Satan in Book I of Paradise Lost.
2.
Critically examine the various speeches delivered by Satan in Book I of Paradise
Lost. What do they tell us about Satan as an orator and leader?
3.
“Milton was of the devil’s party without knowing it”. In light of this statement,
critically examine the portrayal of Satan in Book I of Paradise Lost.
4.
Based on your reading of Book I, do you agree that Paradise Lost is a Christian
poem? Give reasons for your answer.
Beelzebub
Beelzebub is one of the rebel angels who fell from Heaven alongside Satan. He awakens
soon after Satan. He is the first to interact with Satan and listen to his plans. In fact,
Beelzebub serves as Satan’s most reliable ally and his second-in-command. He functions as a
counselor to Satan and equally adept at diplomacy. He, alongside Satan convinces the other
fallen angels into formulating a plan of revenge against the supposed wrongdoings of God.
While Satan is proud and boisterous, Beelzebub reasons Satan with rationality and a realistic
survey of their situation. He brings to light their dire circumstances and does not shy away
from admitting that God indeed is all-powerful (almighty). He offers rational explanations for
the situation the angels are in and does not coax the other angels with false promises of going
back to their pre-fallen glory.
“Satan, however, has not Beelzebub’s wisdom and practical sense. For example, Satan
rejoices at the immortality of the rebel angels, and hopes that they will thus be able to vex
god through eternity Beelzebub at once points out that the immortality of the rebel angels
also means eternal torture for them. Satan declares that the fallen angels will always be doing
evil, thus vexing god. Beelzebub shrewdly observes that their very opposition may be turned
by god into the furtherance of his own glory. Bold, proud and ambitions, Satan is at his best
on a throne or at the head of an army. The proper place for the wise and sagacious Beelzebub
is the council chamber” (”Discuss the character”). He offers a calm rationality to Satan’s
brazen call-of-action against their overthrow.Unlike Satan, he isn’t rash in his decisions but
cautious. He openly accepts the superiority of God’s forces over the angels and devises that
only through trickery and deceit can they win. ‘’ Of force believe almighty, since no less/
50
Than such could have o’erpow’red such force as ours” (I.144). While Satan belittles their Fall
using bold metaphors of bravery, Beelzebub instead accepts the great and eternal misfortune
that has befallen them. Through his shrewd powers of persuasion, he helps direct Satan’s
course of action as his chief lieutenant.
Check your progress:
1. Critically examine the character of Beelzebub in Book I of Paradise Lost.
2. Compare and contrast the characters of Satan and Beelzebub in Paradise Lost.
2.10 Major Themes
Hell and Pandemonium
Milton offers a vivid description of Hell and the creation of Satan’s Palace in the Book I.
Hell appears as a singed furnace while the Hellish fire does not illuminate like the ordinary
fires but instead spreads further darkness and hence, only “darkness [is] visible” (I.63) ,
indicating the doomed fate of its inhabitants who have forsaken the light of goodness and of
Heaven. It deprives its inhabitants of vision and instils only despair. Hell is a place where any
positive feeling of hope or rest does not exist. Milton describes Hell as never-ending as “everburning sulphur unconsumed” (I.69) to depict the eternal nature of the punishment of its
inhabitants. There is no sense of calm even in the climate with ongoing fiery floods or
tempests. Milton compares Hell to a perpetual volcano. There is no sense of stability as the
dry land is composed of solid fire and the lake is composed of liquid fire, making it difficult
for the angels to walk. Hell isn’t a formless or shapeless landmass; it contains lakes and hills
and precious metals using which the capital of Hell – Pandemonium is built.
The Latin meaning of the word Pandemonium is ‘belonging to demons/ evil spirits’
while the contemporary usage identifies it as a situation of wild uproar and confusion. Indeed,
Hell is a place of confusion where the flames emit darkness instead of light and hope is born
out of sheer despair. It is the capital of Hell that is built to house all the devils. The
Pandemonium marks the moral degeneration into materialistic baseness of the devils from the
army of Satan to the buzzing bees. The pride and valour of the military transformed into the
very mundane.Pandemonium is the name coined by Milton for the capital of Hell. It is built
by the fallen angels, lead by Mammon, the angel most invested in materialistic pursuits as
well as Mulciber, who Milton identifies as the Greco-Roman god of forgery Hephaestus/
Vulcan. The angels are able to create a greater marvel than the Egyptian pyramids in just an
hour, its luxury and splendour is unmatched even by Babylon. Milton describes its creation in
terms of visual music – rising like the notes of a musical organ. However, Pandemonium
represents Milton’s attitude towards greed and wealth acquisition. He describes the process of
building the monument in the crudest of words as “a second multitude/With wondrous Art
found out the massieOre,/ Severing each kind, and scum'd the Bullion dross” (I.71-73). The
Pandemonium serves as a space that functions as a parliament in a faux-democracy of the
fallen angels which parodies the religious and political climate of Milton’s time. As a
Protestant, Milton was dissatisfied with the corruption and greed of the Catholic Church as
well as the political leaders whom he parodies.This monument is a mere façade of grandeur
51
built using worldly materials as a replica of Heaven’s splendours but while it attempts to
match the outward glory.
Check your progress:
1. Write a short note on the following: a. Hell b. Pandemonium c. Mammon
2. Write a short note on Paradise Lost as a political commentary.
3. Based on your reading of Book I, comment upon the ways in which Milton acts as a
poet of the Reformation
4. Critically examine Paradise Lost as a Renaissance epic.
5. Identify Milton’s views on wealth and materialism as portrayed in the construction of
Pandemonium.
2.11 Epic Simile
Epic simile refers to detailed comparisons that are built up over a large course of the text
throughout several lines as opposed to the function of simile which points out similarities
between two dissimilar concepts in a short and simple manner. These are used to add richness
to the narrative but more importantly, to transpose loftier ideas into familiar and acceptable
notions. Since these require elaborate and detailed comparisons, they are often digressive in
nature, i.e, these comparisons tend to deviate from the actual narrative to discuss at length a
specific aspect.
Milton was more concerned with the intellectual function of the simile rather than its
aesthetic function. For instance, the various comparisons of Satan to an enormous sea beast
(I.199-207) or the fallen angels to a swarm of bees (I.768-776)or the description of Satan’s
shield to the moon as seen through Galileo’s astronomical glass (I.284-291) seek to help the
readers understand the abstract concepts in the form of concrete images. Doing so is an
important aspect of the narrator (and by extension Milton’s) task of justifying the ways of
God to men as well as Milton’s project of creating a Biblical epic of the scale of the classical
epics such as The Iliad and The Odyssey. The buzzing bees present the image of a filthy,
undifferentiated swarm lacking individuality as well as a reduction in their stature just like
the reduction in their size, in the mind of the reader. At the same time, they represent a
certain kind of wildness and chaos which the fallen angels seek to bring to the world of
mankind. The images of sea as well as the swarm of bees portray Hell as a place always in a
state of flux and impermanence, in direct contrast to the immutability of Heaven.
Interestingly, Homer, who is credited with the conception of the epic simile,also uses the
‘bee simile’ in his epic, The Iliad. Harding notes that, “Milton wanted his readers to
recognize the source of his allusion so that they could compare his version with the original
and then judge for themselves how skillfully, and with what new creative insights, he had
reworked it” (665).
Thus, while Milton’s use of epic similes present decorative, poetic imagery, they are also
suffused with deeper meaning of classical scholarship and serve the larger purpose of
52
providing the reader with a means to make the grand events of cosmic proportion more
relatable.
Check your progress:
1.
Comment upon the use of Homeric simile in Book I of Paradise Lost.
2.
What is an epic simile? What function does Milton’s use of the epic simile serve?
3.
Comment upon Milton’s use of Epic conventions in Book I of Paradise Lost.
2.12 Use of Myths
Throughout Book I, Milton provides various allusions to the Biblical as well as Classical
myths. The entire poem is couched within the Christian myth of the loss of Eden (Paradise)
by Adam and Eve for disobeying God’s will by eating the forbidden fruit. At the same time,
Milton makes several allusions to Greek and Roman (classical) myths. Often, His purpose is
to denounce these myths by comparing them to the Biblical myths which he presents as the
origin or source of all the other tales. To that effect, he often presents the Pagan deities as
falsehoods and fake gods as well as the classical myths as debased replicas of the original,
Christian myths. For example, Hephaestus’ fall from Olympus is presented by Milton as a
debased form of the fall of Mulciber, the angel due to his rebellion against Heaven. Likewise,
he brings together all such deities worshipped across various mythologies and integrates them
into his narrative as the fallen angels leading mankind astray into degradation. Allusions help
Milton in transgressing the boundaries of time and space as defined by his chosen subject
matter of the fall of Man. He presents himself in the figure of Moses, who seeks to “justify
the way of God to men” (I.26).
Check your progress:
1. Critically examine Milton’s mythological universe in Book I.
2. How does Milton bring out the conflict between Classical and Christian themes in
Paradise Lost?
3. Briefly examine some of the major allusions in Book I of Paradise Lost.
2.13 List of Allusions
The following is the list of some of the major allusions used by John Milton in Book I of
Paradise Lost arranged in order of their appearance in the text. A brief explanation is also
provided alongside the references.

Jesus Christ - Line 24

Moses - Line 8; Line 339: In Judaism, Moses is the Prophet, a conduit between God
and man. He is the one who narrates God’s word to the people

Theogony of Hesiod 713 ff. – Line 50; 126 – 139; 197- 200: A poem by Hesiod
recounting the creation myth of Greek gods and Greek cosmology

Metamorphoses by Ovid – Lines 197- 200: A poem by the poet Ovid recounting
classical Greek myths
53

Leviathan – Line 201: From Isaiah 27: 1 “In that day the Lord with his sore and great
and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that
crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” and Job 41:34 “It
looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”

Exodus 10:13-5 – Line 338 : The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt

1 Kings 11:1-9 – Lines 383-391: “But king Solomon loved many strange women,
together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites,
Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites...”

Aeneid by Vigil 3.570-7 – Lines 230-237: A poem by the poet Virgil recounting the
journey of Aeneas, a Trojan hero who founds Rome

Iliad by Homer – Line 576; 740-746; 768 – 770: account of the Trojan war

Genesis 11:4 – Line 694 : Tale of the Tower of Babel
Bibliography

Admin. “Discuss the Character of Beelzebub in Paradise Lost.” Www.josbd.com, 26
May 2016, www.josbd.com/discuss-the-character-of-beelzebub-in-paradise-lost/.

Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Will. Blake, 1793.

Coogan, Michael. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version.
Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2010.

Fish, Stanley Eugene. Surprised by Sin: the Reader in Paradise Lost. Harvard
University Press, 2001.

Fish, Stanley, and John Milton. Paradise Lost, Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. 1–
10.

Fish, Stanley. How Milton Works. Harvard University Press, 2003.

Harding, James P. “Milton’s Bee-Simile.” The Journal of English and Germanic
Philology, vol. 60, no. 4, 1961, pp. 664–669.

Hoyt, Randy. “The Rebellion of Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost.” Latest Issue, 1 Aug.
2008, journeytothesea.com/satan-paradise-lost/.

Ježik, Biljana. “The Fallen Angels in Milton's Paradise Lost.” Strossmayer University
of Osijek, 2014.

King James Bible. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Lewis, C. S. A Preface to Paradise Lost: Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures
Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941. Oxford University Press, 1971.

Martinsek, Francis Louis. “Milton's Use of the Epic Simile in Paradise Lost.” Loyola
University Chicago, 1941.
54

Milton, John. Paradise Lost: A Norton Critical Edition. Edited by Gordon Tesky, W.
W. Norton, 2005.

Paradise
Lost
Allusions.
lost/analysis/allusions.

Rajan, B, editor. John Milton's Paradise Lost Book 1. Doaba Publications, 2014.

Raleigh, Walter Alexander. Milton. E. Arnold, 1909.

Widmer, Kingsley. “The Iconography of Renunciation: The Miltonic Simile.” Elh,
vol. 25, no. 4, 1958, p. 258., doi:10.2307/2872092.
www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/paradise-
55
Unit-2b
Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women
Aemilia Lanyer
Meenakshi Sharma
1. Learning Objectives
This unit aims to:




Familiarize the reader with some of the works of the poet and writer Aemilia Lanyer
Discuss in detail, a section of her poem titled Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, called Eve's
Apology in Defense of Women
Enumerate the various ways in which the writer, Aemilia Lanyer grapples with the
issues related to women’s position in society, especially vis-a-vis the men.
Elucidate the religious and theological themes in the poetry of Lanyer and how they
correspond with the religious attitudes of her time
2. Aemilia Lanyer: A Biographical Note
Aemilia Lanyer is the first female professional poet in the English language and the first
woman to produce and publish a volume of poetry to garner patronage. She is also credited as
one of the first feminist writers of England and her volume of poetry, Salve Deus Rex
Judaeorum is arguably the first feminist publication in England.
It is believed that Aemilia Lanyer was born sometime in 1569. The exact date of her
birth is unknown. However, according to the Church records, she was baptized on 27 th
January 1569. She was born to Margaret Johnson, aunt of the court composer Robert Johnson
and Baptiste Bassano, an Italian composer and musician of Queen Elizabeth I. Her father,
Baptiste Bassano died on 11th April 1576 when Aemilia Lanyer was just seven. She was then
brought up at the house of Susan Bertie, the Countess of Kent. Bertie was keen on Lanyer’s
education and emphasised that men and women receive the same education. It is possible that
many of the ideas Lanyer developed in her poems found their seeds in her time with Bertie.
Lanyer’s mother died around 1587, when Lanyer was eighteen.
Aemilia Lanyer served as the mistress of Henry Carey, Lord Chamberlain to Queen
Elizabeth and the first Baron of Hunsdon for several years. However, her time with Lord
Chamberlain, which she remembers fondly, was cut short by her pregnancy. She was then
married off to the court musician, Alphonso Lanyer in 1592. She gave birth to her son,
Henry, in 1593. Her daughter by Alphonso, named Odillya was born in 1598 but survived
only ten months. Much of what is known about Aemilia Lanyer comes from the diary entries
of the astrologer and fortune-teller Dr Simmon Foreman whom Lanyer consulted in around
1597. He provides the only available physical description of the poetess. He is also credited
56
for the unhappy details of her married life riddled with miscarriages and a longing for the
court of Queen Elizabeth I.
Lanyer also lived with Margaret Clifford, the Countess of Cumberland, and her daughter
Lady Anne Clifford. These two women had a major influence on Aemilia Lanyer’s writings.
She considers them her inspiration and her benefactors as well as patrons. They inspired
several of her poems. For instance, The Description of Cookeham, which is regarded as the
first published country-house poem, i.e. a poem dedicated to the description of a wealthy
patron’s country-house, is an account of Lanyer’s time spent at the house of Margaret’s
brother, William Russell.
3. About Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
Aemilia Lanyer’s only published volume of poems is titled Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum which
means, Hail God, The King of Jews. This volume comprises of a series of ten short poems,
each dedicated to a particular woman who Lanyer admires, is inspired or influenced by, or
seeks as a potential patron. These poems are used to celebrate the greatness of all women and
celebrates their achievements. These include:
“To the Queenes most Excellent Majestie” (to James's consort, Anne of Denmark);
“To the Lady Elizabeths Grace” (to Princess Elizabeth Stuart); “To all vertuous
Ladies in generall”; “To the Ladie Arabella” (to Arabella Stuart, James's perceived
rival for the throne—a poem missing from three of the four incomplete volumes); “To
the Ladie Susan, Countess Dowager of Kent, and daughter to the Duchesse of
Suffolke”; “The Authors Dreame to the Ladie Marie, the Countesse Dowager of
Pembrooke” (Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and a
recognized author in her own right); “To the Ladie Lucie, Countesse of Bedford"; “To
the Ladie Margaret Countesse Dowager of Cumberland” (in prose; Lanyer's principal
dedicatee); “To the Ladie Katherine Countesse of Suffolke”; “To the Ladie Anne,
Countesse of Dorcet” (Margaret's daughter, at the time fighting to inherit her late
father's lands).” (Æmilia Lanyer)
The dedicatory poems are followed by two prose pieces - To the Vertuous Reader and To the
Doubtfull Reader where she extols the virtue of women as opposed to the vices of men and
the first poem of country-house genre, The Description of Cooke-ham which presents
Margaret Clifford’s estate as a lost Edenic paradise. The titular poem is significantly longer.
It is a retelling of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion from a woman’s point of view and is therefore
largely revolutionary for Lanyer’s time period. In this poem she contrasts the good women
who stood by Christ to the weak and evil men who betrayed him. Eve's Apology in Defense of
Women, which is discussed in greater detail in the later sections, is a part of this larger work.
In this fragment, she presents a defense of Eve’s actions and argues against the understanding
of Eve as the sole reason for the Fall of man that caused the expulsion of mankind from Eden
(and the loss of paradise).
57
4. Bible’s The Book of Genesis: Summary of the Fall
The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible and the Old Testament. It gives an account
of the creation of the world and the life that inhabits it. The book details how God creates the
first ever human in the form of Adam along with the various living creatures and life in the
Garden of Eden. He instructs Adam that all the pleasures in the Garden are his for the taking
except he must not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God then creates
the first woman, Eve, from Adam’s rib (in certain versions). She serves as Adam’s
companion, subservient to him. She is informed of God’s instructions against eating the fruit
of the Tree of Knowledge. However, a jealous Satan in the form of a serpent tempts and
tricks Eve into eating the forbidden fruit (which is often conflated with an apple, for example,
Lanyer calls the fruit an apple as well). She in turn offers the fruit to Adam who eats it too.
Having thus disobeyed God, the two are now punished. God banishes them from Eden and
brings death and misery to the world. Adam is further punished to toil for the sake of
fulfilling his desires while Eve is punished to bear pains while giving birth. In this way, sin,
despondence, greed, and suffering enter the world. This disobedience on the part of Adam
and Eve is called the Original Sin and their subsequent punishment is referred to as The Fall
of Humanity, or simply, The Fall. Traditionally, Eve is considered as primarily responsible
for not being able to resist the deception of the serpent and therefore, all of womankind
receives the blame for the Fall.
5. Renaissance Attitude towards Women
Renaissance literally means re-birth. You have read about the English Renaissance movement
in the previous units. It is a movement that began roughly in the 15th century and ended
around 17th century. The period of Renaissance is marked by a renewal of interest in
Classical literature, philosophy, and art. This period in the British literary history saw a
flourishing of classical arts, newer ideas towards established traditions, several critical
innovations as well as scientific temperament. Even though Renaissance Age is defined by
the huge advancements in myriad fields pertaining to arts, culture, and science, the position
of women remained traditionally subservient to that of men. Women did not benefit from the
cultural and political developments of the age and were relegated to the margins while men
became inventors, explorers and flag bearers of the new era of discovery.
While men’s roles within the society and community were defined by their social positions as
peasants, merchants, knights, priests etc, women were better known through their relations
with men such as daughters, wives, mothers, or widows etc. Thus, they were bound by the
concept of honour of their male relatives which was tied to their bodies and their virginal
status. This was even more pertinent as the Renaissance society followed strict and stringent
class hierarchies where marriages were a means of social mobility within the classes. Women
were thus raised to become ideal housewives and mothers. As wives, the role of women was
to produce male heirs for the estate of her husband. Thus, women had very few legal and
58
political rights compared to men who therefore regulated their behaviour and position in the
society.
6. Title of the Poem Eve's Apology in Defense of Women
The title of the poem sums up the two attitudes that Aemilia Lanyer presents about women –
one of an apologetic Eve, another of all women who are considered subordinate to all men. In
the title itself, she offers Eve as a representative of all women, who must ‘apologize’ for the
crime against humanity on behalf of all women. On the other hand, the title highlights how
unjustly and unfairly all women are punished for a sin they did not commit and how their
oppression is justified by presenting them as the prime bearers of the burden of Original Sin
and as fickle and weak-minded. Through her use of satire and irony, Lanyer turns this
argument on its head by saying that if women are weaker and men stronger, why did Adam
give into the temptation along with Eve? If he sins despite being stronger, his fault is bigger
than Eve’s. The title suggests that Lanyer posits a difference between Eve and all the other
women. While Eve must apologize for her actions, her apology is not necessarily meant for
her sin of eating the forbidden fruit but as a means of defending all women and freeing them
from her guilt. In doing so, Lanyer presents a sisterhood between all women and a sense of
female community who not only celebrate each other’s achievements but also defend each
other’s actions.
Self-check questions:
1. Comment upon the theme of religion in Aemilia Lanyer’s poetry.
2. How does Aemilia Lanyer question the Renaissance ideals of womanhood?
7. Summary of the Poem (Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women):
In the given poem (Eve's Apology in Defense of Women), Aemilia Lanyer takes up the case of
inequality of all womankind and their ill treatment by men. She refers to the Original Sin
committed by Adam and Eve of eating the forbidden fruit and tries to prove that as opposed
to Eve being blamed solely for the fall of Man, Adam’s fault was much greater compared to
Eve. Lanyer presents her argument as an address to the Roman official Pontius Pilate who
was responsible for authorizing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Prior to his judgement
betraying Jesus, his wife had dreamt of Christ’s innocence and had tried to persuade him to
not punish a good and harmless man unjustly. Here Lanyer presents Adam and Pilate as
representatives of all men while Eve and Pilate’s wife represent all women.
Below is a brief explanation of the stanzas:
Lines 1-8 Now…Life :
Pontius Pilate is the Roman official responsible for hearing
the case of Jesus and for ordering his execution. These lines
begin with a plea to Pilate to not let an innocent man suffer
and to listen to his wife, who had dreamt of Jesus’ innocence
and consequently pleaded to save his life
59
Lines 9-16 Let…all :
Push barbaric cruelty away from you and instead indulge in
true justice. Open your eyes and see the truth, don’t
condemn him to crucifixion who is mankind’s savior. Here
the fall of Pilate is compared to the fall of Adam
Lines 17 – 32 Till…wise :
Eve did not cause the fall of mankind out of any malice but
simply through the goodness of her heart, which made her
share the fruit, that she held most dear, with Adam. She
could not have foreseen the consequences of her actions and
how mankind would be cursed with death and made to leave
Eden. Had she known of Satan’s trickery and what mankind
would be deprived of, she would have never eaten the fruit.
Her harmless heart did not intend to cause any damage.
Lines 33 – 48 But…disgrace :
Even though Eve was at greater fault, but Adam’s fault
cannot be excused either. Eve cannot be solely blamed for
Mankind’s fall because Adam was the “Lord of all” the
Earth long before Eve was even born; he should have been
strong where Eve was weak. While Satan as a serpent
deceived Eve, God’s words should have guided Adam. He
was the “perfectest man” and had received the direct
command from God himself to not eat the fruit unless he
wanted to incur death and suffering.
Lines 49 – 64 And…book :
Adam lacked discretion. While Eve’s fall was caused by
deception of the serpent (Satan), Adam’s fall had no such
excuse since he was not deceived at all. Eve’s only fault was
her excessive love for Adam so that he could also experience
what she experienced. If Eve sinned, it was for the sake of
knowledge. She shared her knowledge with Adam and yet
men now boast of gaining that knowledge, as if not from
Eve but directly from a book itself.
Lines 65 – 80 If…Star :
If still there’s any evil that Eve has, she was made from the
rib of Adam and therefore, that evil comes from Adam too.
If Eve’s sin could stain the reputation of all womankind, as
if they all have sinned, what would be the consequence of
Pilate’s sentencing death to Christ? Eve at least sinned due
to the serpent’s (Satan’s) deception while Pilate betrays
God’s Son (Jesus Christ) out of pure malice. Thus, Eve’s sin
was small compared to the sin Pilate commits. In fact, it is
the biggest sin and all other sins are small in comparison. It
eclipses all other sins like the Sun eclipses all the other stars
(at the time, Sun was considered the biggest star).
60
Lines 81 – 96 Then…Blood? : Since, Eve’s sin was not greater than Adam’s and Pilate’s
sin was the greatest of all, women should get back their
liberty and equality which was taken away by the tyranny of
men who wish to be their ruler. Man cannot be born without
a woman’s pain (labour pain during childbirth). If Eve did
sin out of weakness, there’s no excuse at all for Pilate’s sin.
Nor is there any end in sight to the sin of men of persecuting
women and not considering them equals.
Self-check questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What arguments does Lanyer present in defense of Eve?
How does Lanyer prove Eve’s innocence?
Who does Adam stand for? How does Aemilia Lanyer ascertain Adam’s guilt?
Elaborate upon the feminist nature of Aemilia Lanyer’s poetry using the example of
one poem in your course.
References

“Remembering Aemilia Lanyer, www.northernrenaissance.org/remembering-aemilialanyer/.

“Renaissance and Reformation Reference Library. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Oct. 2020.”
Encyclopedia.com,
Encyclopedia.com,
18
Oct.
2020,
www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/women-renaissance-and-reformation.

“Aemilia Lanyer - Aemilia Lanyer Biography - Poem Hunter.” PoemHunter.com,
www.poemhunter.com/aemilia-lanyer/biography/.

“Aemilia Lanyer.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature : Volume I., by
Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams, W.W. Norton and Company, 2012, pp. 1313–
1323.

“Emilia Lanier.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia_Lanier.

“Eve's Apology in Defense of Women.” Prezi.com, prezi.com/cpzeegq-afhi/evesapology-in-defense-of-women/.

Ferraro, Joanne M. “The Power to Decide: Battered Wives in Early Modern
Venice*.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 3, 1995, pp. 492–512.,
doi:10.2307/2862872.

King, Margaret L. “Women's Voices, the Early Modern, and the Civilization of the
West.” Shakespeare Studies, vol. 25, 1997, pp. 21–31.
61
Foundation,
16
Oct.
2020,

Martin, John. “Inventing Sincerity, Refashioning Prudence: The Discovery of the
Individual in Renaissance Europe.” The American Historical Review, vol. 102, no. 5,
1997, p. 1309, doi:10.2307/2171065.

McDermott, Mary. “Gender in the Renaissance.” Remembering the Renaissance, 5
Apr. 2018, rememberingtherenaissance.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/gender-in-therenaissance/.

Nash, Jerry C. “Renaissance Misogyny, Biblical Feminism, and Hélisenne De
Crenne's Epistres Familieres Et Invectives.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 2,
1997, pp. 379–410., doi:10.2307/3039184.

Nkakimoto. “Eve's Apology in Defense of Women.” This Is Noelle, 30 Apr. 2019,
thisisnoelle.com/eves-apology-in-defense-of-women/.

Oiewgjerger, Dianne. “Role of Women during the Renaissance Period.” Crystal Cave
Chronicles, 24 Aug. 2017, crystalcavechronicles.com/2011/04/06/role-of-womenduring-the-renaissance-period/.

Roberts, Megan Leigh. “Lanyer 's Virtual Community: The Defense of Female
Community in Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” Clemson University, 2014.

Ryle, Herbert E. The Book of Genesis. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1921.

“Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salve_Deus_Rex_Judaeorum.

Simons, Walter. “Women and Religion in Medieval and Renaissance Italy.”
Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 51, no. Autumn 1998, 1998.

Stuard, Susan Mosher. “A Swift Coming of Age: History of Medieval Women.”
Journal of Women's History, vol. 8, no. 3, 1996, pp. 228–241.,
doi:10.1353/jowh.2010.0513.

“Æmilia
Lanyer.”
Poetry
Foundation,
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/aemilia-lanyer.
62
Poetry
Foundation,
Paper-VII : British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-3
Aphra Behn, The Rover (1677)
Contents
Part-I
: Background to The Rover (1677) by Aphra Behn
Part-II : The Rover : Summary and Comments
Part-III : The Rover : Summary and Comments (contd.)
Edited by:
Prepared by:
P.K. Satapathy
N.K. Jain
63
64
Unit-3
Part-I : Background to The Rover (1677) by Aphra Behn
N.K. Jain
Contents
1.
Objective
2.
Introduction
3.
A Chronology of Aphra Behn's Life and Works
4.
Salient Features of Aphra Behn's Life and Works
5.
Summing Up
6.
Questions
7.
Further Reading
1. Objective
This part of the study material is meant to give you essential background information
about Aphra Behn and her times.
2. Introduction
Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is a late admission to the canon of English studies. She lived an
unorthodox life and wrote prodigiously in different genres, drama, fiction, poetry and literary
criticism. But though she won literary recognition in her own days, her work was dismissed
or ignored as being morally depraved and unfit to be read for over two centuries thereafter. It
was only in the twentieth century that she started receiving attention as a major writer. Her
career graph shows the challenges that a woman writer who chooses to hold her own and
write daringly about woman's freedom and female desire has to face in a patriarchal world.
3. A Chronology of Aphra Behn's Life And Works
*
indicates approximate years
(?) indicates occurrences in doubt.
c. is an abbreviation for circa, about.
1640
Aphra Behn born.* Maiden name and place of birth unknown.
1663
Period of probable residence in Surinam.*
1664
Marriage to merchant named Behn?*
1665
Death of Mr. Behn?*
1666
Mrs. Behn in Antwerp, Holland as a spy for the crown (July).
1667
Return to London.*
65
1670
THE FORCED MARRIAGE, a tragicomedy, produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields
Theatre, December (published 1671).
1671
THE AMOROUS PRINCE, a tragicomedy, produced at LIF, February
(published 1671).
1673
THE DUTCH LOVER, a comedy, produced at Dorset Garden Theatre, February
(published 1677).
1676
ABDELAZER, a tragedy, produced at DG, July (published 1677). THE TOWN
FOP, a comedy, produced at DG c. September (published 1677).
1677
THE ROVER, a comedy, produced at DG, March (published 1677).
1678
SIR PATIENT FANCY, a comedy, produced at DG, January (published 1678).
1679
THE FEIGNED COURTESANS, a comedy, at DG, C. March (published 1679).
THE YOUNG KING, a tragicomedy, produced at DG c. September (published
1683).
1681
THE SECOND PART OF THE ROVER, a comedy, produced at DG c. January
(published 1681).
THE FALSE COUNT, a comedy-farce, produced at DG, November (published
1682).
1682
THE CITY HEIRESS, a comedy, produced at DG c.May (published 1682).
1684
Poems Upon Several Occasions published
1686
THE LUCKY CHANCE, a comedy, produced at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
April (published 1687).
1687
THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON, a comedy-farce, produced at DG, March
(published 1687).
1668
THE FAIR JILT, ORONOOKA, and Agnes de Castro (prose fiction) published.
1689
Death of Aphra Behn, April 16. Burial in Westminster Abbey.
The History of the Nun and The Lucky Mistake (prose fiction) published.
THE WIDOW RANTER, a comedy, produced at TR, November (published
1690).
1696
THE YOUNGER BROTHER, a comedy, produced at TR February (published
1696).
1698
The Adventure of the Black Lady, The Court of the King of Bantam, The Nun, or
Perjured Beauty, The Unfortunate Bride, The Unfortunate Happy Lady and The
Wandering Beauty (prose fiction) published in an edition of the Histories and
Novels.
66
1700
The Dumb Virgin and The Unhappy Mistake (prose fiction) published.
4. Salient Features of Aphra Behn's Life and Works
i)
Personal Details: Many fact about Aphra Behn including her maiden name and place
of birth are unknown. The year of her birth, 1640, is also approximate.
In 1663 she probably. went to Surinam and stayed there for an uncertain period, was
married to a Mr. Behn, went to spy for Charles II in Antwerp, Holland in 1666, was
imprisoned at least twice for debt, loved John Hoyle who was a homosexual, and
became a leading propagandist for the Tories.
ii)
Love Relationship with John Hoyle
She was in love with a John Hoyle, a lawyer and wit, and wrote many poems to him.
But though he forced her to write to him, he did not return her passion. Her Love Letters
to a Gentleman, though not directly written to him, are believed by her biographers to
have been autobiographical. As a critic puts it, her love letters show “a woman trying to
write herself into a love story that resists her inclusion.”
iii)
Plays: Aphra Behn achieved popular success with her plays, which preoccupied her
almost throughout her career. She began with The Forced marriage (1670) and by the
time she came to The Rover (1677), she had written five or six reasonably successful
plays. Aphra Behn wrote for money and wanted to win fame "as much as if I had been a
Hero," as she put it. Most of her plays were produced in her lifetime and at Dorset
Garden Theatre.
iv)
Fiction: Behn wrote almost all of her fiction in the last few years of her life. Three of
these, Oroonoko, The Fair Jilt and Agnes de Castro were published only a year before
her death, i.e. in 1688. Her Oroonoko has been regarded as the first abolitionist novel
and has been treated with seriousness by scholars. It has also helped to rehabilitate the
writer.
v)
Poetry: According to one critic, Aphra Behn was praised primarily as a poet in her own
days. As part of her revival in recent times, several poems of hers have been included in
the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (1985) edited by Sandra M. Gilbert and
Susan Gubar and other anthologies. Her poems are centrally concerned with reciprocity
of desire and love in a world where men and women hold asymmetrical power. A
favourite anthology piece is "The Disappointment” which slows a woman suffering
from a powerlessness peculiar to men, sexual impotence.
vi)
Literary Criticism: Literary criticism has traditionally been a male preserve until very
recent times. Hazard Adams' standard anthology of literary criticism Critical Theory
Since Plato (1971) does not mention any woman critic in its 1249 double column pages.
Literary criticism in the seventeenth century valued literature for its universality and
timelessness and disregarded historical contingency or the considerations of economics
and of fashion as important factors in the production of literature. Following a change in
67
perspective on what constitutes literary criticism, Aphra Behn's dedicatory epistles,
prefaces and forewords to plays, poems, and novels have now come to be seen as part
of the history of seventeenth century criticism. There were all occasional pieces
concerned with the practical difficulties of a practicing woman writer who was trying to
make a place for herself in the male dominated world of writing of her time. In the
words of Janet Todd, what Behn brought to the august literary critical tradition of her
time, which tended to treat literature as timeless, "was a very real awareness of
historical contingency and specificity, of the economic foundations of literature, and, of
course, of fashion."
vii) Social Isolation
An important biographical fact about Aphra Behn was that socially she stood alone
without any of the usual familial props when she became a professional writer.
viii) Attacks on her Writing
Her writings were attacked for being lewd. Alexander Pope wrote in 1737–
The stage how loosely does Astrea tread,
Who fairly puts all characters to bed! (1757)
The Rover was attacked in The London Chronicle, for its loose morality. In the
nineteenth century the drama scholar John Doran (1865) held that instead of being an
honour to womanhood "she was its disgrace" and "chose to reap infamy." For this
reason she was a problematic model for aspiring woman writers.
ix)
Status of a Woman Writer in Seventeenth Century England
In the seventeenth century a woman who was a playwright, or a publishing writer, or an
actress was a public woman. And a public woman was sexually suspect and was
considered available for hire as a prostitute. One of her biographers Angelne Goveau
has said: “The woman who shared the contents of her mind instead of reserving them
for one man was literally, not metaphorically, trading in her sexual property. If she were
married, she was selling what did not belong to her, because in mind and body, she
should have given herself to her husband” (
).
This popular prejudice against women writers is expressed in a commonplace slur
current in Aphra Behn's period:
Hiyo bag do Punk and Poesie agree so pat,
You cannot well be this, and not be that.
All her career she fought against the unfairness of a public that damned her plays
because they were written by a woman. In the preface to Sir Patient Fancy she wrote:
I printed this play with all the impatient haste one ought to do, who would be
vindicated from the most unjust and silly aspersion, woman could invent to
68
cast on Woman; and which only my being a Woman has procured me, That it
was Bawdy, ... [and] from a Woman it was unnaturall.”
But it she was critical of the sexualization of a woman's writing, she also paradoxically
exploited it whenever it suited her.
Aphra Behn was aware of the popular prejudice that clubbed a woman writer and whore
together. But instead of rejecting it, she embraced it and made use of it as part of her working
strategy. (For more detailed information and discussion on this subject, refer to Gallagher,
Cat “Who was That Masked Woman? The Prostitute and the Playwright in the comedies of
Aphra Behn” Women Studies 15 (1987): 23-42, rpt. In Aphra Behn: Contemporary Critical
Essays, ed. Janet Todd. New Delhi: St. Martin's Press, 1999, in the New Casebook Series,
pages 12-31.
5. Summing Up
The foregoing account has, I am sure, given you some idea of the tremendous odds that
Aphra Behn had to face in seventeenth century England to make space for herself as a writer.
The next step for you now is to read her play The Rover, if you haven't done so already.
It is a highly enjoyable play and I'm sure you will like it for its wit and cleverness and also
for its fresh treatment of a woman's desire.
6. Questions
1.
In What way or ways was Aphra Behn an unconventional woman?
2.
What was the cause of the neglect of Aphra Behn's writings?
3.
What was Alexander Pope's view about Aphra Behn's plays?
4.
Why, in your opinion, has she come to be recognized as a serious woman writer
after a neglect of two centuries?
5.
Women associated with film or theatre or dancing were not always held in high
social esteem till recently. Think of the disabilities that women in India suffer from
even these days.
6.
Can you think of another woman, Indian or otherwise, who faced similar difficulties
in gaining acceptance as a writer?
7. Further Reading
Hunter, Heidi, ed. Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism.
Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1993.
Besides other articles, contains a very useful introduction pages 1-13.
Todd, Janet. Ed. Aphra Behn. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. New Casebooks
Series.
Besides other articles, contains a very useful introduction pages 1-11.
69
Part-II : The Rover : Summary and Comments
Contents
1.
Objectives
2.
Introduction
3.
How to Read a Play
4.
The Rover: Summary and Comments
Act I scenes i & ii
Act II scenes i & ii
Act III scenes i to vi
5.
Summing Up
6.
Glossary
7.
Questions
8.
Further Reading
1. Objectives
This study material is meant to enable you to read and understand the play in detail. For
this purpose it provides you a summary of each act of the play and also comments on it.
2. Introduction
Any real study of a play is based on a very close reading of it. This requires at least two
readings of the text, if not more. The first reading will help you to get the bare facts of the
play and how it proceeds. When you read it for the second time, all the facts begin to fall into
place and you begin to see some pattern in it. With every new reading you come to
understand the play better.
So read the play before you read something on it. Remember, a thorough reading of the
text will enable you to write better and fuller answers to questions in your examination.
3. How to read a Play
You will find the following hints on reading a play helpful.
(a)
In order to go to the heart of the play ask yourself three questions.
i)
The first question relates to the material or the substance used in the play. Why has
the author chosen the story that she has? In the case of The Rover the writer has
chosen the high society of her times. Why?
70
ii)
The second question deals with representation. What are the things that the author
has chosen to represent or dramatize in the play? And what are the things that she
merely reports?
iii)
Lastly, there is the question of focus. As you read each scene, try and discover its
focus. What, for instance, is the focus of the first scene of The Rover? The scene
begins and ends with female characters, Hellena and Florinda. What would have
been the focus if the play had begun with a conversation between Don Pedro and
Don Antonio or between Pedro and his father?
(b)
Discovering the spine of a character
How do we study a character in a play? Each character has something that sets her/him
apart from other characters, something that is special about her/him. This particular feature or
characteristics forms the spine of the character.
4. Act-wise Summary and Analysis
Act I, scene i:
The play opens with a scene in a chamber belonging to a Spanish family in Naples.
Hellena a gay young girl who is meant to be a nun is asking her elder sister Florinda who
she is in love with. Florinda says that she would tell her the secret when she herself was in
love. Hellena then says that though she was not a lover yet, she could make a shrewd guess
about what it was to be in love – it was to sigh and sing and blush and dream and wish. It was
to look pale and tremble in the presence of the beloved. That was how Florinda had looked
when their brother Don Pedro had brought the English colonel home to see her. She also
guesses that his name was Belvile.
Florinda blushes which, Hellena says, betrays her secret. Hellena also suggests the names
of two other possible lovers – Don Antonio the Viceroy's son, and the rich old Don Vincentio
who is her father's choice.
The last name makes Florinda angry and she defiantly says she will make it known to her
father what is due to her beauty, birth and fortune and to her soul. Hellena is pleased at this
disobedience but wants her to confirm that she is love with the gay and handsome
Englishman. Florinda again stalls saying that a girl designed to be a nun ought not to be so
curious about love. At this Hellena announces her intention of never to be a nun, at least not
until she was too old for anything else. She is curious about love because she hopes he
[Belvile] will have some mad companion who could be her lover. She is determined to find a
handsome young man in the carnival who was as mischievous and gay as she herself was.
Florinda cautions her. But Hellena is not to be sidetracked and charges her sister with
indifference now that she has found her man. As for herself, she possesses youth, a gay
humour, beauty, and vigour. And she knows her to use all these gifts to her best advantage.
She then learns from Florinda that she knew him at the siege of Pamplona where as a colonel
71
of the French Horse he had treated her and her brother nobly and had saved her from insults.
As she finally talks about her love for Belvile, their brother Don Pedro comes.
Don Pedro reminds her of her father's desire to marry her off to Don Vincentio and of his
vast future and his passion for her. Florinda scoff at this saying that she hates him and tries to
enlist her brother's support in her favour. She values Belvile for having saved her honour
from the lustful attention of the common soldiers. Pedro still pleads for Vincentio saying that
in contrast to him Belvile has nothing to give her but the jewels of his eyes and heart.
At this stage Hellena intervenes on behalf of her sister saying that these gifts were some
valuable than Vincentio's jewels and says that her sister's fate was worse than being confined
to a religious life. She also draws the picture of an unenviable life with an old, miserly
husband, saying that a marriage with Vincentio would be worse than adultery. Pedro,
offended, asks his servant Callis to lock her up for her impertinence. Unfazed, Hellena
defiantly says that she will soon have a lover (“a saint of my own to pray to"). Pedro then
discloses that in pleading for Don Vincentio he had merely been urging his father's will. His
own choice was his friend, the young and brave Don Antonio who she must marry the next
day. Their father would be conveniently away! Florinda meekly says she will do as becomes
his sister, at which assurance Pedro leaves.
Florinda then bewails to her sister that she never knew her ruin was so near and that
since Antonio is young and gay, she has no defence against him.
At Hellena's suggestion, her governess Callis agrees to let them take part in the
entertainment of the carnival. Callis herself wants to enjoy the fun provided they let her
remain in their company. Hellena plans to be as wild and take all innocent freedom. She tells
her sister not to be sad and assures her that she will outwit their brother. She asks her sister to
put on the gay and fantastic dress for the masquerade and ramble around in the carnival.
Stephano, Don Pedro's servant, comes with the news that Florinda's dress for the
masquerade is ready and that her cousin Valeria is waiting for her. Florinda decides to write a
note for Belvile for a possible meeting. The scene ends with Hellena asking her sister to get
dressed for the occasion.
Comments
The scene expertly foregrounds the central concern of the play, love and marriage and
their true and false bases. It gives us an idea of the social milieu in which the quest for love
and marriage is made, introduces us to two of the major female characters in the play,
Hellena and her sister Florinda, and the challenges they face and also what differentiates
them. The scene also gives us a foretaste of Hellena's wildness and her quest for a gay young
man who is as wild at heart as she is.
The scene also draws attention to the masquerade and the dresses the fun-seeking
character will put on.
72
Questions
Now on the basis of your reading of the opening scene of the play, answer the following
questions:
1.
Pick out the line/s that you particularly like in Act I.i. Also note the name of the
speaker and -200 the reason why you like the lines.
2.
Read the following lines:
(a)
'Tis true, I never was a lover yet, but I begin to have a
shrewd guess what 'tis to be so, and fancy it very pretty to
sigh, and sing, and blush, and wish, and dream and wish,
and long and wish to see the man, and when I do, look pale,
and tremble...
Answer the questions that follow:
i)
Who speaks these lines?
ii)
Is the speaker expressing his/her own view?
iii)
To which character in the play could these lines be applied?
b)
Here is a line spoken by Hellena:
‘Hang me, such a wedlock would be
worse than adultery with another man.’
Answer the following questions:
ii)
Does this line express a conventional view of marriage and adultery?
iii)
What does this line tell us about the speaker's character?
3.
How are the characters of Hellena and Florinda contrasted? Be specific.
4.
Which character sets the tone of the play?
5.
Who is the rover of the title? Can you guess?
Act I, scene ii
The scene now shifts to a street. It is carnival time which is also the time for
masquerades.
We are introduced to Belvile and his friends Frederick and Blunt and later to Willmore.
Belvile is downcast. Frederick correctly guesses that he has renewed his acquaintance with
the Spanish girl, Florinda, who he had met at Pamplona but who he has little chance of
gaining. Her brother has forbidden him to visit her. He has a powerful rival in the viceroy's
73
son who is rich is a Spaniard and is her brother's friend. While the Spaniard is free to court
her, he himself has to depend on letters and occasional glimpses of her from her window.
Both Frederick and Blunt cannot understand such constancy. Blunt is thankful that he
has not dissipated his fortune by cavaliering.
Willmore fresh from the seas enters and is welcomed by his old friends Belvile and
Frederick. Belvile addresses him as a rover. Willmore says that he is on shore only for a day
or two to have fun, and that love and mirth are his special business in the warm climate of
Naples.
At this point enter several masked men who are singing and dancing. There are women
also who are dressed like courtesans with papers with the slogan 'Roses for every month'
pinned on their breasts and are carrying flower baskets.
Belvile explains that they (the women) are or would have others think that they are
courtesans. Willmore eager for an affair makes bold to ask one of the women if she would
give him leave to gather at her bush. But the woman puts herself into the hands of her man
and goes away. Willmore is disappointed. He says that he could pluck that rose off his hand,
and "even kiss the bed the bush grew in." Frederick remarks that nothing sharpens the
appetite for love like a long voyage at sea, to which Blunt adds that the only exception is a
nunnery. Willmore rues the lost opportunity and says that he is "no tame sigher but a rampant
lion of the forest."
Two men enter dressed all over with horns of several sorts with papers pinned on their
backs. Belvile points out that though the Italians object to the word cuckold yet cuckoldry is
very common. Wilmore then remarks that Italians view cuckoldry as a kind of authorized
fornication for which neither men nor women are blamed or despised as against the dull
English or the French.
Florinda, Hellena and Valeria enter al dressed like gypsies. Callis and Stephano, Lucetta,
Philippo and sancho are wearing masks.
Hellena points Florinda's Englishman to her and makes straight for the handsome fellow
with him, namely Willmore. Gipsies are traditionally fortunetellers and this provides
Willmore an opportunity to ask Hellena what luck he is likely to have in love in the carnival.
There is a verbal duel between the two. He has a certain forward impudence, she says, which
she likes, but he has little money to lose. She also accuses him of being inconstant. Willmore
does not contradict her but says that she has a store of love in him and asks her to share some
of it. Hellena tells him that he would have to rescue her from a nunnery, a kind office which
Willmore offers to perform saying that it would be virtuous in her to lose her virginity. He is
impatient to come first to the banquet of love. But Hellena rebuffs him asking why women
are held guilty of either adultery or murder and also why men think that there is no difference
between love and making love. Finally Hellena asks him to meet her in the same dress after
dinner. She only hopes he will be constant till then. Later Willmore tells his friends that if she
is as beautiful as she is free and witty, he will be constant for a month to gain her.
74
Blunt is vain and thinks he is a lady killer and that a woman has fallen for him. Later
Frederick notices him going away in her (Lucetta's) company. At this all the friends speculate
on the fate that awaits Blunt. Frederick expects that he will be robbed of everything while
Belvile thinks that they would have to have the bellman cry “A lost English boy of thirty" to
locate him.
Florida dressed as a gipsy pretends to tell Belvile his fate saying that Flroinda expects
him at the garden gate and also gives him a letter. The letter asks him to come to the garden
gate at ten in the company of a friend or two.
Don Pedro and others maskers pass on the stage.
Frederick fears that this might be a trap laid by Florinda's brother. But Belvile is excited
and asks Willmore to help him. Willmore is ever ready to do anything for a friend but hopes
that she will grant him her favour (which means sexual favour). He quietens down only when
he is told that the lady is Belvile's mistress.
The scene closes with Frederick mentioning the famous courtesan of Naples, Angellica
Bianca who is the adored beauty of the men and the envy of women in the town. Willmore
always ready for amorous adventure gets immediately interested in her.
Comments
The scene is like a collage with the playwright giving us glimpses of the doings of
different characters taking part in the carnival and the masquerade.
The scene draws attention to the following:
i)
Love between Florinda and Belvile is mutual. He is all excitement when he receives
a note to meet her at night.
ii)
Willmore is a gay young man from the seas who is always on the lookout for sexual
adventures, first with the woman with the message "Roses for every month” on her
breast, then with hellena and finally with Angellica Bianca. But in Hellena he meets
more than his match for wit and cleverness.
She also asks him a most important question as a male: why don't men make a
distinction between love and love-making?
iii) Blunt is cynical about women and also miserly and his vanity leads him into the trap
Lucetta and her pimp lay out for him.
iv) There are two assignations in the scene – one between Belvile and Florinda in
which love is a settled fact; second, between Willmore and Hellena which is likely
to be an interesting contest. There is also a third – between Blunt and Lucetta which
is headed for a comic disaster.
75
v)
The scene also introduces us to several varieties of love – romantic love between
Belvile OG and Florinda; the gay love between Willmore and Hellena; and third
commercial love.
Questions
1.
Pick out the lines that you particularly like. Also state your reasons for your choice.
2.
Read the following line:
“Besides, 'tis more meritorious to
leave the world when thou has tasted and proved the
pleasure on't. Then 'twill be a virtue in thee, which now will
be pure ignorance.
Now answer the questions that follow:
3.
i)
Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii)
What is the speaker trying to argue in favour of?
iii)
What will be a virtue? Be specific.
Read the following lines and answer the questions given thereafter:
“Why must we be either guilty of fornication or murder if we converse with
you men? And is there no difference between leave to love me and leave to lie
with me”?
i)
Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii)
To whom are these lines addressed?
iii)
What male attitude does the speaker have in mind?
iv)
How does the speaker react to the male attitude?
Act II.i
Summary
The scene opens with Belvile explaining to Willmore that they are wearing masks in
order not to be held accountable for what they do in disguise. Willmore cannot get his gipsy
out of his mind and will remain restless till he has played a game of love with a "soft, white,
kind woman" such as he imagines Angellica Bianca to be. Belvile leads them to Angellica's
house.
Blunt enters and is ecstatic about his meeting with his girl [Lucetta] who has made him
believe that he is someone special and who has offered him her love for sheer love, not
money. But Belvile and Frederick and Willmore are all skeptical about Blunt's story.
Two of Angellica's bravos hang up a great picture of the courtesan and two little ones at
each side of the door. The price for her favour is a thousand crowns.
76
The picture evokes different reactions from the characters. Belvile says that only a fool
would pay the high price. Blunt deluded that he has won his girl [Lucetta] for sheer love will
have nothing to do with the courtesan if she is to be 'sold.' Willmore full of praise for her
beauty thinks the price not at all excessive but rues his poverty.
Don Pedro enters wearing a mask followed by Stephano. At this Belvile, Frederick and
Blunt withdraw.
Pedro doesn't consider the price excessive and goes away, presumably to get the money.
Angellica and her woman Moretta enter. One of the bravos tells Angellica about the
reactions of the English to her picture and the price. She finds their wonder at her beauty
welcome because it feeds her vanity. She also says that she has had no time for love and that
only gold shall charm her, and also that she has spread her nets for Don Pedro or Don
Antonio.
Both the gallants arrive wearing masks. They are friends but because of their disguise
can't identify each other and both vie for Angellica's favour. Antonio lets drop a hint that he
is more interested in the courtesan than in Florinda, a disclosure that Pedro considers to be an
act of betrayal.
Angellica sings a song of Damon and Caelia and then she bows to Antonio who pulls off
his mask and blows up kisses. Pedro's fears that his rival is Antonio are confirmed. The
latter's offer to pay a thousand crowns leads to a quarrel between the two and they draw and
begin to fight. Willmore and Blunt enter and part them. But Pedro challenges him to a duel at
the Malo the next day in the same disguise. Antonio agrees and speculates that his rival could
be no one else but the English colonel Belvile so often mentioned by Don Pedro.
Willmore all entranced by Angellica's picture takes down one of the little ones. A bravo
and Antonio protest and Angellica also appears but Willmore is firm at which he and Antonio
start fighting. Angellica tries to intervene and permits Willmore to keep the little picture but
Antonio says he must seek his permission first and resumes the fighting. Belvile and
Frederick also join the fray and beat the Spaniards away. Angellica wants to have a word
with Willmore who as she says appears “a gentleman.” Willmore agrees at once and though
Belville and Frederick try to stop him, he goes in to see the courtesan.
Comments
1. The scene
i)
begins with Blunt's boast of his triumphant affair with his girl [Lucetta who is
a jilt];
ii)
presents two quarrels between Pedro and Antonio about Angellica's favour
and then between Antonio and Willmore Angellica's little picture; and
iii)
converges on to Willmore's going in to meet the courtesan.
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2.
Complications have already begun:
i)
Willmore is drawn to his little gipsy but is also more immediately attracted to
Angellica.
ii)
The disguise also causes complications. Pedro and Antonio are initially
unaware of Se each other's fancy for the courtesan. But Pedro discovers
Antonio's identity and feels let down by Antonio.
Questions
1.
Name the characters who appear in disguise.
2.
Why is Willmore not disguised?
3.
What function does disguise play in this scene?
4.
Why has Angellica spread her nets for Don pedro/Don Antonio only?
5.
Who sings the Damaon-Caelia song? What is the intent of the song?
Act II.ii
Summary
The scene opens in Angellica's chamber. Angellica begins by asking Willmore why he
had pulled down her picture. He in turn asks her how she had dared to tempt people like him
and put such an exorbitant price on herself. The courtesan then tells him that instead of
apologizing he was making his crime worse. Willmore clarifies that he had come to rail at her
vanity which had made her put such a high price on her sinful favours. It was a sin, he adds,
because sexual favours are meant to be conferred for love and not sold for money. Angellica
laughs and tells him that his doctrine would not mean much to her and asks her maid to bring
him a glass for him to see his face. But gradually Angellica finds herself weakening and
growing soft towards him.
When Willmore offers to buy Angellica's favour piecemeal, he has only some money
with him, she declines saying that they sell by the whole piece.
Willmore plainly tells Angellica that it is base to sell her sexual favours but he strangely
admires her beauty and as a slave to love and beauty, he would sacrifice whatever he had to
enjoy her. Angelica is touched. Willmore continuing his censure of her says that he still does
not hate her and that what he feels for her is lust, not love. If it had been love, he should have
pined and languished at her feet.
Moretta finds her mistress bewitched and when she asks Willmore to go away, she stops
him. Angellica then accuses men of being mercenary because when looking for a mate they
look to the dowry the girl will bring and not her appearance or her virtues. Willmore at once
agrees. At this Angellica offers him all her love without any other consideration. Willmore
finds himself believing her, though outwardly he still frowns at her. It is now Angellica who
turns away with pride at such distrust, but he holds her and asks her to throw off her pride and
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show the power of love. Angellica's submission to Willmore is complete. She again asks for a
price but a different price for her love – his love.
The scene ends with the lovers going away leaving a disappointed fuming Moretta.
Comments
1.
The focus in this scene is on Willmore's frankness and honesty in acknowledging
his feelings and the effect they have on the courtesan.
2.
The scene ends ironically, particularly for Angellica. Ironically it is not Willmore's
praise of Angellica but his censure that wins her.
Questions
1.
Read the following lines:
Pray tell me,
sir, are you not guilty of the same mercenary crime? When
a lady is proposed to you for a wife, you never ask how fair,
discreet, or virtuous she is, but what's her fortune; which,
if but small, you cry. “She will not do my business," and
basely leave her, though she languish for you. Say, is not
this as poor?"
Now answer the questions that follow:
i)
Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii)
Who is the character spoken to?
iii)
The first line shows that the speaker is replying to some accusation made
earlier? What was the earlier accusation?
2.
In what way is this scene ironical?
3.
Do you see any complication arising out of Willmore's fascination for Angellica?
Act III.i
Summary
This large scene opens with the entry of women characters in masks and their
speculations about the possibilities of love for them.
Hellena finds that she cannot but be angry and afraid if her lover should be in love with
someone else. But she will love only if she loves as well as she is loved. In contrast to
Florinda's more thoughtful love, love for her is a thrilling, pleasurable experience.
At this point Belvile, Frederick and Blunt enter and the girls withdraw and eavesdrop.
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The men are at Angellica's looking for Willmore. The latter comes out and is ecstatic
about his victory over the courtesan who has even given him gold for his love.
Lucetta's pimp Sancho comes and takes Blunt away for his 'adventure' with her.
Willmore frankly admits that he had almost forgotten his little gipsy. Hellena who has
heard Willmore's admission comes forward. Willmore tries to cover up his escapade by
pretending to having been melancholy in her absence. Hellena winking at his dissembling
tells him that she is as inconstant as he is. To wheat his love for her she pulls off her wizard
leaving Willmore entranced about her beauty.
Hellena then teases him about his visit to Angellica and she says she will see him again
the following day if he kneels and swears not to see her (Angellica) her again, which he does.
Angellica who has seen this meeting between Willmore and another woman is sorely
disappointed and asks her bravo to find out who the woman is and to tell him to see her.
Florinda in disguise gives Belvile her picture and asks him to wear it, which since he
does not know her true identity, he accepts only reluctantly.
When he discovers that the lady in question was Florinda herself, he rues his mistake.
The scene closes with Willmore proposing that they drink a bottle.
Comments
1.
The focus throughout is principally on Hellena and Willmore, first on each of them
separately, and then on both of them together, and secondarily on Florinda and
Belvile, and Frederick and Valeria.
2.
The women characters, Hellena and Florinda know their men but the men don't.
And this irony leads to a lot of fun.
3.
Hellena says she will be angry if her lover Willmore is unfaithful to her but when
faced with an example of his unfaithfulness finds that she cannot.
4.
Willmore lives from moment to moment.
Questions
1.
Pick out the lines from the scene that you think are memorable.
2.
Point out the irony in the relations between Angellica and Willmore.
3.
Pick out the lines that present a woman's point of view about man-woman
relationship.
Act III. ii, iii & iv
Summary
The three scenes focus on Blunt's total discomfiture at the hands of Lucetta.
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Lucetta leads him to believe that she has been captivated by him completely and that she
will undress and come to him. Sancho the pimp comes and leads Blunt to what he calls her
chamber.
He hastily undresses himself and she puts out the light to avoid detection. At this the bed
descends leaving Blunt groping to find where he is. In the process he lights upon a trap and is
let down to the common shore.
From Lucetta's conversation with her gallant Phillipo we learn that they have robbed him
of most of his money and his clothes.
The last of the three scenes finds Blunt creeping out of a common shore all dirty and
naked and cursing himself for his foolishness. He recognizes that he is a dull believing
English country fop," and fears that his friends, Frederick and Belvile will laugh at him.
Comments
Like many comedies on love, this comedy shows a variety of loves. This includes a
character who fondly believes that a woman he fancies has fallen for him and is in love with
him. The conceited Blunt is one such character. Such scenes are full of humour.
Act III.v
Summary
The scene is laid in the garden at night. Florinda in a state of undress is waiting for
Belvile. But as she is waiting, Willmore who is roaring drunk stumbles upon the scene and
mistakes her for a common whore, offers her money and asks for her sexual favour. When he
tries to force himself upon her, she shouts for help. Belvile and Frederick come and Belvile
recognizes Florinda's voice and asks the villain to let go the lady. Florinda for fear of
detection asks Belvile to go and walk under her chamber window.
Florinda's brother Don Pedro comes with Stephano and other servants. He sends
Stephano to see if his sister is safe. Stephano finds that she is but wonders how the garden
gate was open. Masquerading cannot be the reason, according to him.
Comments
This scene is another proof that Willmore is a creature of the moment and is ever ready
for a sexual adventure. In his efforts to persuade the woman (who is Florinda) he redefines
sin. Love making for him would be no sin because it was "neither designed nor
premeditated.”
Act III.vi
Summary
The scene laid in the street shows Belvile angry with Willmore who is melancholy.
Frederick holds Belvile back. Willmore is unrepentant and blames only the drink.
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"Belvile is unhappy that he will lose Florinda to Antonio the following day and wishes if
he could meet his rival. He then goes and stands near Florinda's window.
Since they are in front of Angellica's house, Willmore offers to go in for he has promised
to be with her that night.
Antonio enters and makes sure that he has paid a thousand crowns to Angellica. The two
rivals, Willmore and Antonio fight and the latter is wounded. Belvile rushes in to help and is
mistakenly arrested for murder. Antonio mistakes him for his hated rival and and orders for
him to be sent to his apartment.
Comments
The irony is that while Willmore is lucky and gets away with his sexual liaison with
Angellica and later his attempted rape of Florinda, Belvile is distinctly unlucky and gets into
trouble for trying to do good. His wish to encounter his rival Antonio is fulfilled in a strange
way.
Questions
1.
Read the following lines:
Tomorrow! Damn it,
The spiteful light will lead me to no happiness.
Tomorrow is Antonio's, and perhaps
Guides him to my undoing. Oh, that I could meet
This rival, this powerful fortunate!
Now answer the following questions:
i)
Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii)
Why is “Tomorrow” so full of dread for him?
iii)
Is his desire to meet his rival fulfilled? If so, how?
5. Summing Up
The progress of The Rover so far shows that the play revolves round the relationship
between hellena and Willmore and that the relationship between Florinda and Belvile is
subsidiary to it. The alternative suggested by the country squire Blunt who is a ubiquitous
figure in the comedy of the period also stands rejected.
6. Glossary
Anglese
: Englishman
Bona roba
: courtesana
Bravo
: a hired ruffian or killer
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Buff
: leather military coat
Carnival
: the festivities usually during the period before Lent in Roman
Catholic countries; any festivities, merrymaking, revelry.
Chapman
: merchants
Jeptha's daughter
: Before sacrificing her in fulfillment of a vow, Jeptha allowed her
four days to lament her virginity.
Masking habit
: costume for masking or concealing identity.
Masquerade
: a ball at which masks are worn.
Visor, vizor, vizard : face mask or disguise.
In fresco
: in cool refreshing air.
7. Questions
Questions have already been given after the summaries and comments.
8. Further Reading
The text used in this study material is the following:
The Rover by Aphra Behn edited by Frederick M. Link (Regents Restoration Drama
Series), University of Nebraska Press, 1967 reprinted by Doaba Publications 2000.
Another available edition Worldview Critical edition edited by Asha Kanwar and Anand
Prakash. It contains, besides the introduction, four critical essays by Shymala A. Narayan,
Anannya Dasgupta, Elin Diamond and Anand Prakash.
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Part-III : The Rover : Summary and Comments (contd.)
Contents
1.
THE ROVER – Summary and Comments with Questions
(a)
Act IV scenes i to v
(b)
Act V
2.
Summing Upon
3.
Glossary
1. Act IV.i
Summary
Belvile finds himself a prisoner in Antonio's room. The two admire each other's bravery.
In order to repay Antonio's generosity, Belvile offers to replace the injured Antonio in his
duel with an unknown challenger over Angellica at the Molo. Belvile will go dressed as
Antonio.
Comments
Belvile's ill luck continues.
Act IV.ii
Summary
At the Molo Florinda mistaking Belvile for Antonio is relieved to find that her brother's
challenger is not Belvile but Antonio.
When in the duel Belvile disarms Pedro, the latter is satisfied that he loves Florinda and
gives her hand to him and asks them to marry immediately in St. Paul's Church or else their
father would come.
Belvile draws the grieving Florinda aside and reveals his true identity to her. Willmore's
entry however leads to the discovery of Belvile's identity, which makes Pedro as adamant as
before. He suspects that there was a plot between his sister and Belvile. Belvile angry with
Willmore runs after him with his sword. Willmore doesn't know his offence.
Angellica is very angry at her love for Willmore not being returned. Willmore tries to
mollify her suspicions but to no purpose. Hellena enters dressed as a young man and in order
to vex him tells Angellica an invented tale of his treachery. Willmore wants to get away to
meet his little gipsy but Angellica wouldn't let him go. Eventually he discovers the young
man to be his little gipsy and turns the tables on her. Don Antonio is announced and Hellena
runs away for fear of discovery.
Angellica is still angry and vows revenge.
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Comments
1.
The complications and fun resulting from the use of masks continue. So irony is in
plentiful use.
2.
Florinda's assumption that her brother's challenger is not Belvile is mistaken. Note
the use of double irony here.
3.
Belvile's unmasking takes place because of the blunderer, Willmore.
4.
Belvile comes so near to possessing Florinda but is still far off.
5.
Hellena's disguise as a young man foxes Willmore long enough to vex him. But the
discovery of her identity (to him only) leads to a turning of the tables on her. There
is thus a see-saw in their relationship.
6.
The gayest part of the scene belongs to Willmore and Hellena whose coming in
wollolan always adds aparkle to the play.
7.
Inevitably there is a contrast between the two pairs, Florinda and Belvile and
Hellena and Willmore.
Questions
1.
Pick out sentences that are ironical.
2.
Read the following lines.
Entire, as dying saints' confessions are!
I can delay my happiness no longer.
This minute let me make Florinda mine."
Now answer the questions that follow:
i)
Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii)
Point out the context in which these words are spoken?
iii)
Does the speaker succeed in making Florinda his immediately? If not, why not?
3.
Pick out an example to show that (a) Willmore is a blunderer, (b) that he lives from
moment to moment.
4.
Assign the following speeches to their speaker:
i)
Pox o' this whining; my business is to laugh and love
ii) False man! I see my ruin in thy face.
How many vows you breathed upon my bosom
Never to be unjust
iii)
Well, something I'll do to vex him for this.
iv)
If he swears that, he'll be revenged on me indeed for all my rogueries.
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v)
Then since I am not fit to be beloved,
I am resolved to think on a revenge
On him that soothed me thus to my undoing.
Act IV.iii
Summary
Florinda had been confined to her room as a punishment for the plot between her and
Belvile. She runs away from home with her cousin Valeria in company. They wish Hellena
were with them. Valeria tells her cousin that she shut up their guard Callis in her room. And
also that she has informed Belvile of her decision to escape or else to die than marry Antonio.
She also tells her that Belvile has decided to go in search of her brother Pedro to undeceive
him about any conspiracy between Florinda and him.
At the entry of Don Pedro, Belvile and Willmore, the ladies put on their masks.
The latter walk boldly by one by one so as not to arouse the men's suspicion.
Willmore ever ready for an adventure with a woman thinks Valeria has given him an
inviting look and follows her.
Frederick enters bursting with the news of Blunt's cheating and gives the news to
Belvile. Florinda finding that she is followed goes off. Willmore re-enters and goes out with
Valeria following him. Hellena also enters and spying Willmore, vows to find his haunts and
plague him everywhere. When she sees Pedro, she runs off.
Comments
1. There is a lot of activity in the scene with lots of characters entering and going away.
2. We have yet another instance of Willmore being a creature of the moment.
Act IV.iv & v
Summary
Florinda fearing that she is pursued by her brother seeks shelter in a place that turns out
to be Blunt's and his friend's.
Blunt is full of anger at being cheated by a woman and is meditating revenge against all
women. Florinda appeals to him for help but Blunt threatening vengeance proceeds to molest
her. She implores him for kindness and tries to resist him. Frederick enters the scene and is
ready to join Blunt in wreaking a revenge that has a double pleasure in it. Florinda now
desperate appeals to them to treat her with kindness for the sake of Belvile. She also gives
Blunt a diamond ring. They reluctantly agree to reprieve her till they see Belvile.
A servant comes saying that Belvile and a Spanish gentleman have come. Blunt however
doesn't wish to see them and asks Frederick to lock the woman up in his chamber. Blunt then
tells the servant to say that he is not at home.
86
Comments
1.
Like her lover Belvile, Florinda keeps getting into trouble for no fault of her own.
2.
Belvile seems to have made up with Florinda's brother, Don Pedro. This
complicates the situation for Florinda.
3.
The complications are now coming to a head.
Act.V
Summary
Act V deals principally with four things.
i)
Blunt's attempt to prevent Belvile and friend (Pedro) from entering his room fails as
they break open the door. Valeria saves Florinda from her brother by sending him
on a hunt for her. The mystery regarding her is cleared as her erstwhile persecutors
apologize for their behaviour
ii)
Florinda is married off to Belvile and Valeria is paired off with Frederick.
iii) Angellica threatens to shoot Willmore down with her pistol for his treachery but
after Antonio has vowed his passion for her forgives him. Pedro also forgives
Belvile.
iv) Willmore agrees to go through the ceremony of marriage in order gain the love of
his little gipsy Hellena. Both Pedro and Belvile are surprised but Pedro again
forgives the lovers. Before the end Blunt appears dressed in a Spanish dress looking
very ridiculous.
Details
(i)
Blunt unsuccessfully tries to bar the entry of Belvile and his Spanish companion
to his room. He offers several excuses but Belvile has the door broken. All the
English friends and Pedro are there. They all have great fun at Blunt's expense and
at Lucetta's treachery.
Blunt shows them the ring that Florinda has given him to escape molestation.
Belvile at once understands that his [Blunt's) captive is no other than Florinda and
vainly tries to save her.
The friends are all eager to see the woman. They draw lots. The wench falls to the
share of Pedro since he has the longest sword. Valeria enters and saves Florinda
from discovery by Pedro by sending him on a hunt for her.
(ii)
Florinda is thus saved but her identity comes as a surprise to Willmore, Frederick
and Blunt. They all apologize for their misbehaviour.
87
Valeria suggests immediate marriage for the lovers. A priest is sent for. She
herself is paired off with Frederick. The two couples go for the marriage
ceremony.
(iii)
Angellica comes wearing a disguise. Willmore runs to her thinking that it is his
little gipsy. But Angellica calling him a base villain draws a pistol and holds it to
his breast.
She pulls off her vizard. But Willmore tries to laugh the whole matter off. Angellica
charges him not only with undoing numerous foolish believing girls but also with teaching
her to love. This love, she says, has robbed her of her pride, and given her a mean submissive
passion and enslaved her. What is more, he has forsworn all his vows.
Willmore counters this by saying that every one breaks vows and adds that her lover, the
old general, had spoiled her and made her excessively vain.
Angellica charges him with destroying her innocent security and made her aware that
nothing could compensate her for the loss of her honour.
Willmore replies by saying that he doesn't value constancy and says: “I must, like
cheerful birds, sing in all groves, and perch on every bough.” He returns her gold.
Antonio comes looking for Angellica and takes her pistol away. When he comes to know
that it was Willmore who had taken down the little picture (Act II.i), he is happy to get the
opportunity to shoot him. He professes love for Angellica, something that surprises Pedro,
and pleases her. She gives him his life and goes out.
Pedro is finally reconciled to Belvile and his sister.
(iv) Willmore follows Belvile and Pedro but Hellena dressed as before in boy's clothes
stops him.
He at once recognizes his little gipsy. Hellena asks him if he would be a faithful friend to
a maid that trusted him. Willmore replies that her form and face and humour are too good for
cold dull friendship. He adores her for her good nature and invites her to a feast of love
making. But Hellena wants him to love her only and also to go through the ceremony of
marriage before consummation of their love.
Willmore declines saying that love and beauty have their own ceremonies and that they
will have no norms but love and no witness but the lover. However, he finds her so
invaluable that he is ready to go through the ceremony of marriage.
Willmore suggests that they disclose their names to each other. Ironically he calls
himself Robert the Constant. In the same vein the calls herself Hellena the Inconstant.
When the two of them are thus pledged together, enter Petro, Belvile, Florinda, Frederick
and Valeria. Both Pedro and Florinda are surprised to see Hellena there. When Pedro asks her
what business she has there, she replies that it is to love and be loved, like everyone else of
her age. Pedro charges her and Belvile with deception. The latter replies that he too is
88
surprised but stands up for Willmore by saying that though he is a rover of fortune, he is a
prince aboard his little wooden world. Hellena too says that she had changed her mind and
that the three hundred thousand crowns that her uncle had left her will be better spent in love
than in religion. Most of the characters support her in this. Finally, Pedro relents and gives
her to Willmore.
At this point Blunt enters dressed in a Spanish dress looking very rediculous.
Finally, gay people in masquerade enter with music and start dancing. Belvile invites
them all to a small feast. Willmore meanwhile asks Hellena to go inside for the ceremony.
Comments
1.
This large scene could be studied in four parts, the first part dealing with the
business left unfinished in the last scene of Act IV.
2.
Apart from poking fun at Blunt, this part serves the purpose of bringing Florinda
and Belvile and all other characters under one roof.
3.
The contrast between the two main couples in the play is highlighted.
4.
The love between Belvile and Florinda is traditionally romantic but the couple is
brought as low as it can be.
5.
The other couple which obviously meets with Aphra Behn's approval tries to
reconcile joy and gaiety and freedom with marriage. It is a match in which the
mutuality of love is the best guarantee of its continuance.
6.
The love between Belvile and Florinda is a settled fact whereas the relationship
between Willmore and Hellena keeps evolving almost till the end.
7.
Angellica's disappointment and anger at Willmore's treachery provides a discordant
note in a play that is otherwise gay and joyous. Her threat to shoot him down with
the pistol which she keeps pointed to him adds a melodramatic touch to the play.
8.
The end of the comedy is traditional. Like other comedies there is reconciliation all
round and there is communal festivity in which everyone joins.
Questions
1.
Pick out the lines that you think are memorable.
2.
Read the following lines:
I with I were that dull, that constant thing
Which thou wouldst have, and nature never meant me.
I must, like cheerful birds, sing in all groves,
And perch on every bough,
Billing the next kind she that flies to meet me;
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Now answer the questions that follow:
3.
i)
Identify the speaker of there lines.
ii)
In which content are these lines spoken?
iii)
What kind of love does the speaker desire to have with women?
Read the following lines:
Ha! My brother! Now, captain, shoe your
love and courage; stand to your arms and defend me
bravely, or I am lost forever.
Now answer the questions given below:
4.
i)
Identify the speaker?
ii)
Who is the captain?
iii)
Who is he being asked to defend the speaker against?
Identify the speaker of the following lines:
i)
'Tis true; he's a rover of fortune,
yet a prince aboard his little wooden world.
ii)
Perfidious maid, hast thou deceived me too, deceived thyself and heaven?
iii)
Faith, sir, I am of a nation that are of opinion a woman's honor is not worth
guarding when she has a mind to part with it.
iv)
Ladies and gentlemen, since you are come so a propos, you must take a small
collation with us.
v)
Good heaven defend me from discovery!
vi)
Death, would I might; 'tis a surprising beauty.
vii) By all that's holy, I adore you so,
That even my rival, who has charms enough
To make him fall a victim to my jealousy,
Shall live;
viii) No, we'll have no norms but love, child, nor witness but the lover: the kind
deity enjoins naught but love and enjoy. Hymen and priest wait upon portion
and jointure love and beauty have their own ceremonies.
5.
Draw two lists that compare and contrast the love between Belvile and Florinda, and
between Willmore and Hellena.
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Love between Belville and Florinda
Love between Willmore and Hellena
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3
4.
4.
5.
5.
Summing Up
I hope you have enjoyed reading the play. There are disguises and mistaken identities
and numerous surprises in the play. There is also a duel in it. The dialogue is sparkling. A
major attraction of The Rover is the rover, the rake who is said to have made vice alluring to a
good part of the audience. I wonder if you also react to the play in the same way. Do spend
sometime thinking of the play. Do you find any improbabilities in the play? Is some of the
action insufficiently motivated?
3.
Glossary
antipodies
:
antipodes, opposite points in the earth
clapped
:
infected with gonorrhea
cogging
:
wheedling
discounting
:
reducing
flea a man
:
play a man
He's a cormorant at whore
:
he has great sexual appetite
I'll warrant her prize
:
I believe her to be a legitimate prey
morris dancer
:
fantastically dressed
motion
:
puppet show
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92
Paper-VII : British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-4
Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
Contents
I. Pope and His Times
II. Rape of the Lock
Edited by:
Prepared by:
P.K. Satapathy
R.M. Kala
93
94
Alexander Pope
R.M. Kala
I. Pope and His Times
Literary critics tend to name an age either after literary trends, or a handful of writers
sufficiently central to that age. Thus we can speak of an Age of Wordsworth but not an Age
of Keats, a Pound Era but not a Williams Era or an Age of Frost. Pope is the major poet of his
century, and period of his life-time (1688-1744) might justly be called the Age of Pope.
Pope’s importance, however, extends far beyond his own times. Few major poets remain so
unfailingly controversial, for Pope has deeply divided readers in almost every subsequent
generation. He continues to engage us especially because his work requires us to clarify and
to articulate our differences about literature itself. Pope is more than a gifted writer from a
distant age whose writing still commands attention.
Pope’s period has also been called the Augustan Age, Age of Satire and Age of Reason.
This period sees the author facing a radical change in his reading public and prospects. In the
best Augustan work social fact is being not only described but felt with a particular reality. Its
substance, variety and interest are perpetually being recorded. And social behaviour is both
recorded and corrected in the interest of good sense. That accounts for the sharp realistic
descriptions and satirical tone and temper in the literature of the period. As a matter of fact,
the most significant value of Augustan literature is that it is deeply rooted in society.
English society had crossed a watershed in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Dynamic and explosive conceptions of religion and politics, and complex but unstable
literary fashions in poetry and prose, had to be rejected in favour of modes which would unite
rather than divide men. The post-Civil War period generated a wish for harmony rather than
for discord. The period could also be called the Age of Commerce, for important elements of
business organizations surfaced - the Bank of England (1694), insurance and trading
companies and the “Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.”
Encyclopedias of the Arts and Sciences began to appear. The Age, thus, had a definite
tendency towards planned organization in all spheres of life, including that of literature.
London was the economic and cultural heart of England. The city’s growth during the
eighteenth century was phenomental. Defoe called it a great and monstrous thing’. It was
during this period that London was transformed from a late medieval town into an early
modern city. Yet despite its speed of change and growth it remained a healthy centre for
literature. The special place of London in Augustan literature signifies the fact that London
had become the symbol of national life.
It was a period of expansion in terms of trade and commerce. The horizons of age were
wider and more exotic than we sometimes remember. In Rape of the Lock, Belinda’s dressing
table displays “the various off rings of the world.” Throughout the eighteenth century interest
in the East was keen not only in the sphere of commerce but also in the arena of
literature. The imaginative effect of the Orient’s luxuries and of its reported wisdom and
virtue was far more influential than actual economic growth. This period, the post-Civil
War and pre-Industrial Revolution period-was the Age of Pope, a period displaying an
urgency for order in various spheres of national life. The rise of middle class further
entrenched this urgency. The
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period also had a second look at the morals and manners of London High Society, as
reflected in plays of Congreve, Goldsmith and Sheridan and in the novels of Fielding.
Neo-classicism
The literary scene was, thus, typically rooted in the social scene. The desire for order
sent the writers back to the classics with a new purpose. For the reason the period has also
been called the Neo-classical period, the silver age of the....... European Renaissance.” The
interaction of medievalism and vigorous classifical and continental influences produced the
ideals which formulated the background for a new literary theory. The literary patriotism of
the Renaissance flared up when Dryden described himself, with a proud humility as a Man
who have done my best to improve the Language, especially the Poetry”. And when Pope
defined the task of the poet as the expression of “what oft was thought but ne’er so well
express’d” (An Essay on Criticism) he was simply repeating a Renaissance idea to which
Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton would have given their assent. Pope’s constant ambition to
be “correct”, which appeared to the Romantics the last excess of arid pendantry, was
informed by the same excitement that animated Spenser and Milton. This Renaissance quality
reflected itself in the desire of the writers of this period to translate the classics from Greece
and Rome. The purpose was to show up the backwardness of English poetry in relation to the
Continent, and to offer new models.
The result of all these endeavours was a period of literature dedicated to clarity, balance
and the classical tradition. Clarity meant plainness of meaning, and avoidance of obscure wit
and complicated word-play. Balance meant a tone of writing which avoided extremes of
emotions. It also meant a point of view which avoided extremes of opinion. This temper has
been most beautifully and typically expressed in Addison’s “Much can be said on both
sides”. The classifical appeal was there to offer models of excellence, not only as models for
literature but also as models for social and personal morality. Literature was perceived as an
effort to recreate the values of duty, piety, justice and integrity – typical Roman and Greek
ideals.
A peculiarly paradoxical characteristic is noticed in the Augustan temper. Although the
State stood for order, most of the major writers were in opposition to the State. They
proclaimed lofty ideals which never became reality. But they refused to celebrate the State as
did the Elizabethans. The Augustan writers, driven by their corrective temper, continued to
condemn their age. Almost all the Augustans were satirists, including the mild Addison. The
paradox can be explained in terms of the urgent desire of the writers to correct the morals and
manners of man, society and state. It was a purely secular desire, devoid of any religious
standards as propagated by Milton.
As a personality, Pope has always presented a problem. His physical deformity has been
highlighted by many writers, including Johnson. History reveals a multitude of contrary and
competing portraits of Pope. Lytton strachey describes him as a “diabolic monkey”, gleefully
pouring hot oil onto harmless victims below his window. Recent scholars and critics tend to
portray him as a more upright figure, a generous friend and a righteous enemy, whose high
minded satire defends a landed, patriarchal, classic civilization against the vulgarity and
corruption of the emerging bourgeois opportunist such as Walpole and Ciffer. Hazlitt
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describes him as a poet of artifice, triviality, and the indoors. Like the diverse portraits of
Pope created by his contemporary painters, these literary sketches seem to find in Pope
completely different personalities. Pope has himself pointed out this problem in his letter to
Martha Blount: “Everyone values Mr. Pope, but everyone for a different reason.”
Undoubtedly he was an interestingly puzzling personality. He seems to agree with Montaigne
who said: “If I speak variously of myself, it is, because I consider myself variously. All
contraries are there to be found, in one corner or the another...! have nothing to say my-self
entirely, simply, and solidly without mixture, and confusion.” This self-portrait of
Montaingne applies aptly to Pope. Pope was many men put together in a jumbled manner, but
one fact stands out strikingly: he was always interesting, whether serious or non-serious.
II. Rape of the Lock
During Pope’s life-time great occasional writing was produced. This fact has been underestimated by literary historians and critics. Any occasion, whether serious or trivial, could fire
the imagination of the Augustan writers. Rape of the Lock was the result of an occasion, a
highly specific occasion, that happened in the high society of London : the incident of the
stealing of the lock of hair. But Pope’s major poems always manage to transcend, without
renouncing, their origins in specific occasions. Rape of the Lock remains entrenched in the
specific episode, but transcends the shackles of triviality because of its mock-epic structure.
The production of the poem has a history of its own. Young Lord Petre (1690-1713) cut
off a lock of Arabella Fermor’s hair. It created a scandal in London’s high society. Arabella
Fermor and Lord Petre belonged to fashionable Roman Catholic families. Pope was a
Romantic Catholic too. His friend John Caryll asked him to write the poem to end the family
feud caused by the scandal. The first version was produced in 1712, a year after the incident.
The Roman Catholic element may have a bearing on the extensive use of religious rituals
narrated in the poem. In its first version the poem was structured in two parts. In 1713 Pope
added the sylphs, the card game and the Cave of Spleen. Clarissa’s speech was introduced in
1717.
This tendency to revise his poems after their publication was a peculiar practice of Pope.
For most poets publication is a sign of closure. For Pope publication was not an inevitable
sign of finality. A major poem seemed to him always open to change. The Dunciad too was
produced twice (1728 and 1743). Pope claimed that he always waited at least two years after
publishing. For less-skilled poets, his advice in An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot was a blunt
remark : “Keep your piece nine years”. The remark may be exaggerated, but it points out
sharply Pope’s serious concern with the art of writing poetry. Creative process for him was
not just a flight of imagination; it was plain, hard work. In his view, no work is complete and
perfect; it is always open to revision, which may require deletion, addition and restructuring.
Rape of the Lock, as said earlier, went through his rigorous practice of revision.
Structure of the Poem
Rape of the Lock has a five-canto structure. Canto means chief division in a long poem.
Each canto has its definite, well thought-out place in the whole structure of the poem. They
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flow out forward from each other, maintaining at the same time their individual, specific
significance. But the total significance of the poem depends on the specific order in which
they are structured by the poet. We shall note this fact as we move from canto to canto, arrive
at the end of the poem, and then recapitulate the arrangement of the cantos in order to fully
appreciate their inter-connection.
Canto First
Canto First begins with an invocation of the Muse of Poetry in a typical classical
manner. Invocation of some superhuman power for inspiration is one of the well-known
classical conventions1. Having admitted that “Slight in the subject”, the poet moves on to a
description of sunrise. The purpose of this description is not to portray the glory of Nature,
but to comment, by way of implication, upon the decadence of the London High Society,
whose members keep on sleeping till noon. In this case, the heroine of the poem, Belinda, is
still asleep. The rays of the sun do not attract her attention, but make her impatient and
irritable. She rings the bell three times, knows with her slipper and presses her repeater
watch. There is no response. The staff of high society families follow the examples of their
masters and mistresses.
At this juncture Pope introduces his supernatural machinery – another classical
convention – in the form of Ariel, the guardian angel of Belinda. Ariel appears in Belinda’s
dream as a handsome youth2 and tries to prolong Belinda’s “balmy rest” by taking her into an
entirely different world populated by “bright inhabitants of air”. The emphasis on the
airiness” of these creatures is further enhanced by the reference to “airy elves”. Belinda is
informed by Ariel that she is looked after by “unnumbered spirits”, as light as the air – “the
light militia of the lower sky.” These spirits have their origin in female bodies. After death
they leave female bodies (vehicles”) and move into the air. But their female vanities do not
end with death; they continue in the world of spirits in sylphs. (Note the feminist aspect:
Belinda, the heroine, has any army consisting of female souls, led by her guardian angel,
Ariel).
Ariel goes on to describe in detail the categories of spirits. The souls of “termagants”
return to the element of fire, because of their fiery temper. They are given the name of
salamanders. The souls of mild-tempered women belong to the element of water. They turn
into nymphs. The souls of prude ladies take the form of gnomes which are tied down to earth.
And the souls of conquettes turn into sylphs and inhabit the lower sky” – they belong to the
element of air. These spirits possess the power of changing their shape and sex as they wish.3
The sylphs guard the honour of beautiful young maidens.
Gnomes are wicked, mischievous begins which take young innocent girl on to the wrong
path. They raise the expectations and enhance the pride of these young beautiful girls. The
1
2
3
Compare Pope’s invocation with Milton’s in Paradise Lost, Spenser’s in Faerie Queen and Homer’s in The
Odyssey.
Another epic convention. Recall Athene’s appearance in Penelope's dream as her sister in The Odyssey.
Another. epic convention, Recall Athene’s appearance both in male and female, forms in The Odyssey. In
Paradise Lost, Milton's angels also display this power of assuming any form and sex at will.
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result is that the girls are so overblown with pride and self-indulgence that they refuse offers
when they are made to them by eligible young men. Their empty brains are filled with gay
ideas in the company of peers and dukes, knights and the king. These damsels are doomed to
seduction at an early age. Their pure female souls are tainted” under the wicked influence of
gnomes, which do not spare even infants. They teach girls the art of coquetry which leads to
their moral and social downfall. Gnomes are not good guardian angels for beautiful young
girls.
Sylphs make better guardians than gnomes. Women owe their vanity, coquetry and
chastity to sylphs. The sylphs guide their wards in the right direction. They also teach their
wards the art of flirtation. A woman’s heart is turned into a toyshop. In these toyshops their
admirers contend like warriors. People may call this “levity” in women, but they are blind to
the truth. It is sylphs that are responsible for the fickleness of the female mind.
Ariel announces to Belinda that he is one of the sylphs that guard her honour. He is her
“watchful sprite”. Of late he has read her horoscope and found some dreadful event that is
going to befall Belinda before sunset. Only Heaven knows the true nature of the foredoomed
dreadful event. Ariel does not know what exactly will happen, how and where. He can only
warn Belinda to be “most beware of man.”4
At this moment Belinda’s lap-dog, Shock, wakes up, leaps and wakes his mistress with
his tongue. It is reported that at this very moment her eyes fall upon a love-letter. The
flattering, flowery words of the letter drive away everything from her head. She sits down at
her dressing table to prepare herself for the grand occasion. Pope describes in detail all
“cosmetic powers” that preside over Belinda’s toilet. She prepares herself with great care,
like Achilles preparing himself for battle in the Iliad. Here, the mock-epic element reaches its
first climatic point. There is reversal of the central character. It is a heroine, not a hero that
forms the centre of the epic. But the cosmetic preparations are no less meticulous than the
martial preparations of a warrior. The description of a woman putting on make-up in terms of
martial idiom effectively evokes the mock-heroic atmosphere. The table is cluttered up with
all possible cosmetic items, brought from all the corners of the world – “the various off rings
of the world”. Belinda’s maid, Betty begins to “deck” her mistress with these irresistible
offerings – India’s “glowing gems”, scents from all Arabia”. Piles of pins, puffs, powders,
patches, bible and billet-doux form the weaponry of Belinda. She “puts on all its (here
beauty’s) arms”, watches her reflection in the mirror with great care, examining the power of
each smile and each flush. Each moment of preparation increases her charm (power). Now
she is ready to go out into the world. She is surrounded by invisible sylphs. And for Belinda’s
grand toilet, Betty, a mortal, is praised whereas the praise is due to the sylphs.
Canto first ends on a note of suspense. The central character is introduced in great detail.
Through the central character, Belinda, Pope seems to be satrising the decadent high society
in which women have only one role-model, that of fashion conditioned female out to impress
the opposite sex. But the description has such martial terms that it looks like a preparation for
4
Supernatural warnings are another form of classifical convention. Recall heavenly warnings in The
Odyssey.
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a battle of sexes. Vanity is the driving forces of Belinda, reducing her incapable of any
genuine emotion.
Explanatory Notes and Comments
1-12.
The poem begins in the epic manner with ‘proposition’ announcing the subject.
Virgil’s Aeneid announces ‘Arma Virumque Cano’ (Arms I sing, and the man).
Milton opens with “Of man’s first disobedience...” Pope’s poem follows the epic
convention but the effect is intentionally parodic. Juxtaposed with the heaviness and
grandeur of the propositions of Aeneid and Paradise Lost, the proposition of Rape
of the Lock appears strikingly ludicruous: ‘Slight is the subject.’ The effect serves
the purpose of the poet.
3.
Caryll: John Caryll (1666-1736). An intimate friend of Pope. He asked Pope to
write a poem to pacify the agitated families of Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre.
4.
Belinda: Arabella Fermor in the poem.
5.
Slight is the praise: References are to Virgil’s fourth Georgie translated by Dryden
and Sedley. Pope combines the two and forms a pithy statement of the subject.
Virgil’s fourth Georgie is the best example in poetry of a mundane subject such as
the life of bees elevated to the dignity of poetry. Pope attempts a similar task in his
poem, goddes: the muse of poetry according to classical convention A well-bred
lord: Lord Petre-here.
7-11.
Reference to Dry den’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid (1.11): Can Heaven ‘ly minds
such high resentment show; Or exercise their Spight in Human Woe?
Pope’s lines are typically mock-heroic. There is a reversal of values here. The task
is “bold” and men are little; and the rage is “mighty” in the “soft bosoms” of
women. The slant of satire is obvious. Moreover, there is an actual reference to Lord
Petre who was short of stature. The lines clearly bring out the ludicrous incongruity
between heroic actions and their weak agents.
13.
Sol: Latin word for the ‘sun’
Curtains: the curtains of the four-poster bed of Belinda
timorous: timid. The sun seems to be afraid of sending its ray.
14.
oped ropened
13-14.
A hyperbolic statement. The comparison of the heroine’s eyes to the sun enhances
the satiric import of the poem. One may suspect a serious intention of the poet in the
use of the hyperbole.
17-20.
Belinda rings the bell three times - the triple repetition is common in epic poetry.
Receiving no answer, she knocks the ground with her slipper, displaying
impatience. The repeater watch shows the hour of noon. It is no time for high
society to get up. She goes back to sleep.
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19-114. These lines were added in 1714. They introduce an important epic device - the
supernatural machinery.
21.
In epics the gods sometimes communicate to mortals in their dreams. There is a
slight deviation here. Ariel first summons the dream in which he appears as a
handsome youth.
23.
birth-night beau: a young aristocrat splendidly dressed up for the ball in the
honour of the King’s birthday.
27.
distinguished care: special trust
28.
right inhabitants of air: sylphs
30-34.
In the 17th century educationists regarded the nurse and the priest as the chief
sources of superstitious in young children. The nurse’s teaching is referred to in
lines 31-32, and the priest’s in lines 33-34.
32.
silver token : It was believed that fairies dropped silver pennies at night into shoes
of maidens who kept the house clean and tidy. circled green : rings of grass of
deeper green colour than the surrounding pasture. It was believed that the greener
circle was caused by the midnight dances of fairies.
33.
A reference to the Annunciation or Announciation or Announcement of the Angel
to the Virgin Mary, and other similar visitations.
37-38.
A reference to St. Matthew, XI:...thou hast hid these things from the wise and the
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.’
41.
unnumbered spirits: sylphs.
42.
light militia: a reference to aerial sylphs distinguished from ethereal beings. Pope
represents has spirits in military formations. Lower sky: lower air.
44.
Hang o’er the box...the: In Pope’s time two principal places for public display of
beauty and fashion were the box at the theatre and the drive (the Ring, also called
the Tour or Circus, in Hyde Park).
45.
equipage: a carriage and horses with attendant footmen.
46.
chair: a sedan chair, mode of conveyance in which a person in a closed chair was
carried on poles by two men.
47.
A reference to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, XV, for the origin of the transmigration of
the soul. The idea that the sylphs etc. were once women in Pope’s own and does not
form part of the Rosicrucian philosophy.
47-104. Ariel explains the world of the sylphs to Belinda. The use of supernatural was
regarded as an important convention by epic poets. Homer and Virgil had chosen
their machinery from classical mythology. Pope chooses to base his supernatural
machinery on the Rosicrucian system, rather than invent his own.
49.
repair: move
101
50.
vehicles: the body. A pun on vehicles and equipage (line 45) is probably intended
51.
transient: temporary
54.
Although she cannot play cards in the form of a spirit, she still loves watching a
game of cards.
55-59:
a reference to Virgil’s Aeneid, VI, in which Virgil describes the after-life of heroes.
Here again we notice an inversion of the central character from male to female. The
inversion is intentionally mock-heroic.
Chariots: both chariots mentioned in epics and at the same time contemporary
carriages, which were called chariots. Another instance of mock-heroic.
56.
Ombre: a kind of card game for three players
57-66.
Pope borrows the idea of four classes of spirits from Le Comte de Gabalis, but the
idea of their human origin is his own invention. According to Gabalis, the air is
inhabited by a multitude of spirits having human shape, called sylphs. The nymphs,
mostly of the female sex, live in waters. Gnomes, the guardians of treasures and
precious stones, inhabit the earth. Fire is the element in which salamanders thrive.
These elemental creatures could be made a ‘familiar’, or spirit available at call, and
retained at home as a lover disguised as a lap-dog or a parrot or a monkey.
58.
first: original; dominant. Earth, Air, Fire and Water are the four elements referred
to.
59.
termagant: virago; quarrelsome, abusive, violent women
60.
salamander: a lizard-like animal supposed to live in fire
62.
tea: according to the pronunciation of Pope’s time, a perfect rhyme with away
66.
fields of air: reference to Aeneid, VI. The phrase also occurs in Virgil’s Georgis:
“The nimble horsemen scour the fields of air.”
68-78.
Several hints are borrowed from Milton’s angels. Like the sylphs in Gabalis and
Milton’s angels, Pope’s spirits can change their shape and sex at will. The sylphs in
Pope’s poem are represented as invulnerable like Milton’s angels:
For spirits when they please can either sex assume or both...
Paradise Lost, I
72.
masquerades: masked assemblies, often called balls
73.
spark: ‘A lively, showy, splendid, gayman. It is commonly used in contempt.’
(Johnson’s Dictionary).
79.
too conscious of their fate: much too aware of their beauty
81.
these: the gnomes. Pope makes the gnomes bad, wickedly contriving vexations for
mankind.
Swell their prospects: raise their expectations
102
82.
disdained: looked down upon
89.
bidden blush: made up through rouge
91-104. The sylphs are responsible for the proverbial fickleness of women. The mystique of
feminine beauty and the puzzling fen.ale behaviour are explained in terms of the
sylphs. Pope’s originality lies in transforming the country creatures of fairyland into
the guardians of female morality and conduct in the sophisticated world of the 18th
century drawing-room.
92.
mystic: mysterious
94.
impertinence: trifle; small, insignificant matter
96.
treat: food and drink
97-98.
Florio-Damon: names of imaginary gallants
100.
moving: changing as well as fickle. A pun seems to be intended.
101-102. Reference to Homer’s the Iliad:
Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet closed
To armour armour, lance to lance opposed
(Pope’s translation)
Pope describes the means by which rivals fight for the heart of a women. Swordknots formed part of a beau’s attire.
105-114. Announcing himself as Ariel, Belinda’s guardian angel warns her against a terrible
calamity that is about to happen to her.
107-111. References to the speeches of Uriel and Gabriel in Paradise Lost, IV.
112.
Warnings are common in epics.
115.
He said: an epic device is imitated here.
Shock: a popular breed of lap-dog brought from Iceland. The term is also calculated
to shock the reader.
118.
billet-doux: love letter.
121-148. A detailed description of Belinda’s dressing table. The arming of the epic hero is an
indispensable epic convention. Belinda’s donning her beauty aids is specially
reminiscent of Achilles’ elaborate preparation for battle in the Iliad.
124.
cosmetic powers: deities who preside over the toilet.
127.
The inferior priestess: the maid, Betty. Belinda is the superior priestess of her own
beauty. She is “both a sincere devotee and divinity herself.” Cleanthbrooks calls
such attitude the paradox of beauty worship.
131.
nicely culls: chooses with care
103
134.
Arabia: source of perfumes. Recall Macbeth: “All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand.”
138.
The combination of the articles mentioned in the line pointedly bring out the mock
heroic tone. And the presence of “bibles” among the other irreligious things brings
out the decadence of the 18th century high society of London.
139.
A parody of the arming of the epic hero
140.
The fair: a beautiful women
144.
The juices of belladona or deadly’night-shade was used by women to enlarge the
pupils of the eye and darken the surrounding skin.
145-147. Following Rabbinical authority, Pope identifies the sylphs with the fallen angels and
allots to them the supervision of the toilet.
147.
plait: arrange the folds
148.
Betty: almost a common, generic name for a lady’s maid.
Canto Second
The second canto begins with Belinda’s journey by a boat to a social occasion. The
journey is a parody of the journey of Aeaneas up the Tiber in Aenied. 5 Belinda’s eyes are
compared with the sun. Her eyes shine on all alike. Surrounded by other beautiful dames,
Belinda stands out as an extraordinarily beautiful lady. She is the centre of attention. She is
the sun and the others are just planets. The solar system analogy highlights the brilliance of
Belinda’s beauty.
Pope finally comes to the description of Belinda’s famous locks of hair, which are the
source of contention in the poem. The locks have devastating power - they are the destruction
of mankind”. They hang gracefully in equal curls and decorate her ivory white neck like
“shining ringlets.” The locks are snares that attract men’s hearts and keep them as slaves in
their beautiful “labyrinths”.
Belinda’s devastatingly beautiful locks have been the ambitions of all young men of
London society, particularly the Baron (Lord Petre). The Baron has long been planning to
possess the locks as love tokens. Like an epic hero, he invokes divine assistance.6 In a parody
of epic invocation to the gods, he sacrifices tokens of his former love-affairs to the god, Love.
He also sacrifices twelve French romances and love letters. With his sighs he fires the pyre of
his sacrificial objects, falls prostrate and preys to Love to grant him Belinda’s locks. But
Love grants him only half his prayer - one lock.
Meanwhile Belinda sails on her majestic boat, serenely beautiful. She feels secure and
smiles on all and “and all the world was gay”. Excepting Ariel, who is worried about the
impending doom. He gives detailed instructions to the sylphs to guard her closely. The
“denizens of air” take up their appointed positions like soldiers guarding their general. Ariel
5
6
Journey is another epic convention used by Pope. Refer to the journey of Odysseus and compare the two
journeys. You will at once notice the mock-epic tone.
Another epic convention.
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reminds his soldiers of black omens”7and orders them to be extra careful and attentive. If they
fail in their assigned talks, they will have to face “sharp vengeance” which Ariel describes in
vivid details. Although Belinda sails on confidently, her army is tense with fear and suspense,
waiting with beating hearts for the dire event.” The second canto also ends on a note of
suspense.
Explanatory Notes and Comments
1.
ethereal plains: the heavens
3.
the rival of the beams: Belinda is equal to the sun in the glory of her appearance.
An example of hyperbole.
13-14.
Like the sun which shines on everyone, Belinda’s eyes shine on all alike. The sun
comparison carries a multiplicity of meaning. She is represented as a flirt, at the
same time she is compared to a munificient prince distributing his largesse
impartially.
14.
St. Matthew: V.45 : ‘He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjest.’ A rather blasphemous allusion to the
above seems to be intended.
Describe the mingled response of flattery and censure implied by this line.
Look also at line 10.
19.
Is this implication serious or playful?
25.
springes: traps or snares
26.
finny prey: poetic diction for fish
28.
Persius, V.247:
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,
Can draw you to her with a single hair.
(Dryden’s translation)
30.
Julius Caesar’s famous saying: Veni, Vidi, Vici. Is there a suggestion of bravado
here?
31.
meditates: plans
32.
This kind of antithesis is an epic commonplace. Paradise Lost, 11.40 ff.
35.
Phoebus: the sun
36.
Ceremonies of propitiation are part of the epic formula.
38.
twelve vast French romances: Pope is satirising the interminable French prose
romances of the seventeenth century of which Le Grand Cyrus of Mll.de Scudery is
a typical example. To some extent the novels of Richardson (vide Sir Charles
Grandisori) are descendants of the French romances.
7
An epic convention. Omens - good or bad - are common in epics. Refer to the Odyssey.
105
42.
three amorous sighs: repeated three times to conform to the conventions of the
epic
47.
secure: free from care (from the Latin securus)
48-72.
These lines were added in 1714.
52.
Beneath the obvious mockery, do you detect a genuine admiration for Belinda?
Clarify Pope’s attitude to his subject.
53-54.
Iliad X.I ff.
All night the chiefs before their vessels lay,
And lost in sleep the labours of the day:
All but the king; with various thoughts oppressed
His country’s cares lay rolling in his breast.
(Pope’s translation)
55.
denizens: inhabitants
56.
lucid: in the sense of the Latin lucidus; clear
57.
shrouds: the sail ropes; here, probably the sails
64.
The gossamer, spun by a kind of spider, was formerly supposed to be the product of
sun-burnt dew.
65-68.
Paradise Lost, V.283:
And colours dipped in heavens
Sky-tinctured grain.
70.
Superior: In the Latin sense of higher. Like the heroes of the epics, Ariel is
represented as taller than his fellows.
73-142. These lines were added in 1714.
73.
sylphides: female sylphs. The sylphs may, of course, change their sex at will.
74.
Pope is parodying Paradise Lost, V. 601:
Thrones, Dominions, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers.
The rather formal and stately speeches of Ariel are intended as parodies of the
grandiloquence of Homeric and Miltonic speeches.
75.
spheres: fields of action
79.
wandering orbs: comets
84.
painted bow: rainbow
86.
globe: a common word in the poetic diction of the time meaning earth
89.
Pope’s parody of national guardian angels found in Addison and Dryden
91.
the fair: the fair sex
106
93.
gale: poetic diction for breeze
97.
wash: ‘a medical or cosmetic lotion.’ (Johnson’s Dictionary)
100.
furbelow: the pleated border of a dress or a petticoat
103.
slight: sleight, or trick
105.
Diana’s law: the law of chastity
113.
drops: ear-rings
115.
Crispissa: The name is modelled on the verb to crisp meaning to curl, from the
Latin crispo.
116.
A satire on the vogue for lap-dogs among fashionable ladies.
117.
The reference is to the shield of Achilles forged and decorated by Vulcan. Iliad,
XVIII. 701-4.
118.
The description of Belinda’s petticoat is a parody of the description of the shields of
epic heroes such as Achilles and Ajax, so magnificently narrated by Homer. The
elaborate ‘hoop petticoat’ was a favourite target of Addison’s satire.
119.
that sevenfold fence: In epic poetry shields are often made of sevenfold strength.
Aeneid, VIII. 448.
121.
silver bound: the silver fringe of the petticoat
123.
Iliad, VIII. 7 ff. for Jove threatening disobedient gods with terrible punishments
124.
at large: unprotected.
126.
vials: phials, small glass bottles
128.
Pope plays on the various meanings of the world bodkin. Here it means a bluntpointed needle : at IV.96 and 1.95, and ornamental hairpin, and at V.55, 88 and 95,
a dagger for Belinda, and a spear for the sylph.
129.
pomatums: ointments
131.
styptics: applications to check bleeding
132.
rivelled: shrunken, shrivelled
133.
Zeus was enraged with Ixion, King of Thessaly, for making advances to Hera. He
struck him with his thunder-bolts and caused Hermes to hurl him into Tartarus, the
underworld, where he was bound to an ever-revolving wheel.
134.
whirling mill: i.e. the chocolate mill
138.
Paradise Lost, V. 594 ff. The sylphs are like the angels of Milton.
139.
third: the contemporary equivalent is thread (verb)
107
Canto Third
The third canto introduces Hampton Palace, the centre of the contemporary high society of
London. The Palace is visited by all fashionable men and women of London and is a hot
centre of gossip. They indulge in small talks about balls and visits. Here reputations fall like
cards.
The sun has started moving westward. It is the time when people return from work. But
Belinda’s crowd is engaged in petty games of cards. Belinda plays at ombre–a particular type
of card–game to defeat two adventurous knights. The game is described in heroic terms and
style as a parody of battle scenes in epic poems. The slightness of the subject is enhanced
further. The implication is obvious– the energy, passion and purpose which are devoted to
serious and glorious tasks are reduced to a game of cards in Belinda’s world.
After defeating “both armies”–the two adventurous knights–Belinda now turns to the
Baron and gets involved with him at ombre. Pope gives a detailed description of various
kinds of cards to further enhance the moc-heroic aspect of the poem:
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wilder disorder seen,
With thronge promiscuous strew the level green.
Thus when dispersed a routed army runs,
Of Asia’s troops, and Africa’s sable sons,
With like confusion different nations fly,
Of various habits, and of various dye:
Thus giving the card game the global dimension, Pope only brings to light the smallness
and fickleness of Belinda’s world–the contemporary London society.
The game between Belinda and the Baron goes on for quite some time. Belinda declares
trumps and starts the game. First victories go to her–she wins four tricks. Only the last trick
remains to be played on which depends Belinda’s victory or defeat. Her heart full of
trepidation, she plays the last trick with her ace of heart. The Baron is finally vanquished.
Belinda is as joyous in her victory as an epic hero;
The nymph excultingfills with shouts the sky:
The walls, the woods, and long canals reply.
The game is followed by another ritual of high society–the coffee8. Pope once again
describes this social ritual in grand epic style, making a mockery of it, and of those who
indulge in it. Coffee inspires the Baron with another plan to turn his defeat into victory. It is a
treacherous and hideous plan. His “new stratagems” find the most potent weapon in
Clarissa’s scissors–“a two-edged weapon.” Like a lady in romances. Clarissa offers the
weapon to her knight whp accepts it with great “reverence”. Just as Belinda bends her head
over coffee, the sylphs swiftly move to the locks and give her warnings of the coming doom
by blowing back the hair. Belinda looks back thrice.
8
In epic poetry a victory is followed by a grand feast – an epic convention. Here it is followed by coffee.
108
But Ariel’s attention is diverted when he notices “an earthly lover” lurking in the close
recesses” of her virgin heart. He is so amazed and confused that his powers fail and he
resigns himself to fate:
The Baron’s persistenc pays at last:
The meeting paints the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!
The result is catastrophic. Belinda “screams of horror rend the affrighted skies”. The
Baron triumphs and Pope ironically compares the loss of the lock to the fall of empires:
Steel could the labour of the gods destroy,
And strike to dust the imperial towers of Troy;
Explanatory notes and comments
1-8.
Here is a fine example of the mock-heroic. First, there is an elaborate description of
a well-known building, Hampton Court. Notice how the trivial is wedded to the
grand which is a salient feature of the mock-heroic manner.
5.
Hampton stands for Hampton Court, the Royal Palace, approximately 15 miles up
the Thames from London.
7.
three realms: The Union of England and Wales with Scotland had taken place only
five years earlier in 1 707.
8.
A celebrated example of zeugma
12
visit: a formal visit paid by one fashionable woman upon another.
17-18.
The reference is to the Spectator (June 27, 1711), in which Addison ridicules the
importance attached by social convention to the beau’s snuff-box and the lady’s fan.
19.
Note how the passing of time is indicated. Point out the subtlety with which social
satire is merged with this and other similar passages.
25-104. Added in 1714.
25-26.
A celebrated parody of the epic convention. The game of ombre is described in
terms of a colossal battle scene.
27.
ombre: Introduced into England from Spain in the seventeenth century, it attained
its fullest popularity in the eighteenth century. In playing ombre a pack of forty
cards was used, that is to say, the full pack after discarding all the 8’s, 9’s and 10’s.
The value of a card depended upon its colour and whether it was a trump or not. The
ace of spades (Spadillio) always ranked highest, and the ace of clubs (Basto) ranked
third highest. These aces were also known as matadors. After the cards were dealt,
the ombre was fixed upon. The player who considered that he had the best chances
of winning the game declared himself the ombre (from the Spanish ‘hombre’
meaning ‘man’). To win the game the ombre had to make more tricks than the
others. This meant that the ombre had to make five tricks if one of his rivals made
four, but only four, if his rivals made only three and two. In the game of ombre
109
described in the poem. Belinda and the Baron are virtually the sole contestants,
since the third player is eclipsed by the other two. At the beginning of the game,
each player receives nine cards. Noting her good hand, Belinda takes the initiative
and declares herself the ombre.
ombre singly: Belinda is the ombre because she plays the game without a partner
against the others.
30.
sacred nine: The Muses, the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who preside
over poetry and the other arts. This number, the product of three (the perfect
number) multiplied by itself, was regarded as magical. Pope probably implies that
the number of cards dealt out to each player has some inner meaning.
33.
Matador: Literally Spanish for murderer. The three best cards in ombre are so
called because they are supposed to kill their rival cards.
34.
Sylphs, like classical deities and angels, are very mindful of rank and hierarchy.
35.
succinct: girded up (from the Latin succinctus–girt up). The Knave (servant) has his
clothes girded up to show his menial position.
42.
halbert: A kind of combination of spear and battle-axe.
45-46.
Having in her hand three matadors, i.e., the ace of spades (spadillio), the two of
spades (manillio) and the ace of clubs (basto), and a king, Belinda declares trumps.
‘The Ombre had the privilege of deciding which suit should be trumps.’ (Elwin). 46.
Probably a facetious parody of the divine fiat : And God said, “Let there be light”:
and there was light. Genesis 1.3.
47-50.
Belinda starts the game. In order to draw out the trumps of her opponents, she leads
her matadors. The tricks are won by Belinda with her ace of spades (spadillio).
Sable: poetic diction for ‘dark’
49.
Spadillio: From Espadilla, Spanish for the ace of spades
50.
Manillio: The second in rank of the three matadors. ‘Where spades or clubs were
trumps, Manillio was the two of trumps, and when hearts or diamonds were trumps,
Manillio was the seven of trumps.’ (Elwin)
51-52.
Belinda wins the next trick also with her two of spades (manillio).
53-55.
Next Belinda leads Basto (the ace of clubs), the third highest ranking card, which
counts as a trump, winning another trick over trump and a throw-away card from the
third player.
55-64.
Belinda leads her king of spades. She wins the Baron’s knave and the knave of
clubs of the third player.
61.
Pam: The name given to the knave of clubs in the game of loo.
65-66.
Thus far Belinda has made four tricks and one more would win the game for her.
But now the Baron gains the initiative.
110
67-68.
Belinda leads the king of clubs, which is trumped by her adversery’s queen of
spades.
68.
the imperial consort: periphrasis for ‘the queen’
75-78.
The next three tricks are also won by the Baron with his powerful king, queen and
knave, all of diamonds.
91-92.
There remains only the last trick to be played, on which hangs victory or defeat for
Belinda.
92.
codille: If either of Belinda’s rivals won the game, he would have given ‘codille’ to
her. Codille is a term used at ombre when the game is lost by the person who
challenges to win.
94.
nice: In the older sense of fine or delicate
95-98.
Belinda has the king of hearts, the card with the highest value in its suit. But she
fears that the Baron may lead another diamond and give codille to the ombre. But
luckily for her, the cards in her opponents’ hands are both hearts. The Baron leads
the ace of hearts and the game is over in Belinda’s favour.
98.
‘Unless hearts were trumps, the ace of hearts ranked after king, queen and knave.’
(Elwin)
105-24. The elegant ceremonial of coffee which succeeds the game of cards takes on a new
dimension when we recall that it is a parody of descriptions of fabulous feasts in the
epics. Instead of the epic feasts – the beefsteak in Homer, the loads of sausages in
Tassoni, the piled refectory fare in Boileau – there is in Pope the lacquer and silver
ceremonial of coffee. The description is a delightful diminution of the epic feast.
Notice how Pope succeeds in magnifying the coffee ritual.
106.
The coffee beans were first roasted and then ground.
107-110. The references to Japan, China etc. serve to universalize the theme.
107.
shining altars of Japan: lacquered or “japanned’ tables
110.
China’s earth: periphrasis for porcelain cups
117.
A satirical reference to armchair politicians who frequented the coffee houses of the
day
122.
The story of Scylla and Nisus is found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, VIII. King Nisus
had a purple hair on which depended the safety of his kingdom. His daughter Scylla
betrayed the secret to Minos of Crete with whom she had fallen in love. She stole
the magical hair from her father’s head for which impiety she was turned into a bird.
Note that the Scylla of the Scylla and Charybdis legend in the Odyssey is different.
128.
a two-edged weapon: periphrasis for scissors
137.
Note Pope’s use of the epic practice of doing a thing three times.
111
143-146. Remember that according to the Rosicrucian doctrine, mortals could enjoy ‘the most
intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition.....an inviolate
preservation of chastity.’ (Pope’s dedicatory letter)
147.
farfex: Latin for scissors
(Make a list of the other words used for scissors. What is their effect?)
149-152. These lines were added in 1714.
151.
Fate urged the shears: i.e. the scissors (shears) were driven to complete the deed
(of cutting the lock of hair). Note Pope’s used of the epic instrument of Fate.
153.
Milton, Paradise Lost, VI. 330.
But the ‘ethereal substance closed
Not long divisible
157-160. Note the effective use of anti-climax in these lines.
165.
Atalantis: Mary Manly’s (1663-1724) notorious and libellous novel (1709) with its
thinly-disguised account of contemporary scandals.
171.
receives its date: is brought to an end
173.
the labour of the gods: According to the legend, Troy was built by Apollo, the sun
god, and Poseidon, the sea god.
Canto Fourth
In the fourth canto Pope tries to give a deeper psychological explanation of the emotional
state of Belinda. Deserted by Ariel and the sylphs, she is, ironically, helped by a gnome,
Umbriel. Umbriel goes down into the earth – “his proper scene” – in search of the cave of
Spleen. Pope, here, uses an allegorical method, describing how Umbriel imitates the descents
to the underworld of epic heroes such as Odysseus and Aeneas.9
The description of the cave is vivid and introduces another supernatural element – the
underworld. In her cave, Spleen sits like a queen and “sighs forever on her pensive bed.” Her
attendants are Pain and Megrim (migraine). A perpetual vapour flies over the palace of
Spleen. She is a symbol of ill nature and affectation. Her palace is full of bodies changed to
various forms by Spleen. Everything is out of shape, disp’aying the ill-nature of Spleen.
Umbriel reaches her through this “fantastic band” and addresses her like Nisus in Aenied.
He begins by flattering her: She rules the female sex from fifteen to fifty; she is the source of
“female wit”, hysterics, “poetic fit” which produces melancholic plays. (Here is an example
of Pope’s attack on some of his contemporaries). He requests the goddess to touch Belinda
with “chagrin” so that she is able to face her sad fate. His purpose is to pray to Spleen to
grant Belinda new weapons in order to meet with an entirely new kind of challenge.
9
Journey to the underworld is an important epic convention. Recall the Hall of Hades in the Odyssey.
112
Spleen is impressed by Umbriel’s long, flattering speech, and grants his prayer. Umbriel
is given a “wondrous bag”10 containing sighs, sobs, passions, bitter speech. He is also given a
vial filled with “fainting fears, soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears.”
Rejoicing in his successful campaign, Umbriel comes back to the surface of earth to find
Belinda lying in the arms of Thalestris in utter dejection. He opens the bag over Belinda’s
head. The Furies (fiery emotions) rush into her mind and her body begins to burn with “more
than mortal ire”. The flame of her superhuman anger is fanned by the long, exhorting speech
of Thalestris: “And all your honour in a whisper lost!” The loss of the lock would become a
social scandal. Thalestris seeks the intervention of Sir Plume, her beau. Sir Plume, in a
typically broken speech of a high society gentleman, asks the Baron to return Belinda’s lock.
The Baron declares in no uncertain terms that the intends to keep the lock till the moment of
his death:
...while my nostrils draw the vital air,
This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear.
Finding the bag of no use, Umbriel breaks the vial over Belinda, and instantly her
strategy takes a new turn. Finding her anger ineffectual, she uses the most potent of female
weapons-tears. She appears in her “beauteous grief and with a sigh makes an appeal to the
Baron, recalling the course of the whole unfortunate day and requesting him to return the
lock. The canto ends with her appeal, leaving the reader, once again, in suspense.
Explanatory Notes and Comments
1-15.
The psychological state of Belinda is described in terms of an epic convention, a
visit to the underworld.
1-2.
Virgil, Aeneid, VI. 1-4:
But anxious cares already seized the queen:
She fed within her veins aflame unseen;
The hero ‘s valour, acts, and birth inspire
Her soul with love, and fan the secret fire.
The Virgilian echo in the lines implies a secret fondness on the part of Belinda for
the Baron and is therefore very appropriate.
8.
manteu: a loose upper garment worn by women, also called a mantua
11-92.
These lines were added in 1714.
13.
The description of the descent into the infernal regions is a common feature of many
epics. Pope seems to be closely following Ovid’s description of the cave of Envy in
Metamorphoses. II. Refer to also Odyssey, XI and Aeneid, VI.
10
Recall the bag of winds given to Odysseus by Aeolus in the Odyssey. But the difference in the two
situations is obvious. Odysseus was not supposed to open the bag. Here the bag has to be opened to incite
Belinda.
113
16.
Spleen: a malady which had for its symptoms lowness of spirits, or sulkiness,
supposed to be caused by an excessive secretion of black bile or melancholy
humour by the spleen. The most comprehensive treatise on the ailment is Burton’s
Anatomy of Melancholy.
18.
vapour: popular name for spleen
20.
the dreaded east: the east wind was supposed to induce an attack of melancholia.
21-22.
Burton’s melancholies avoided light.
24.
Megrim: migraine, severe headache
39-78.
Look at the other medical’ references in this canto. What do you gather from it
about eighteenth century medical lore?
25.
wait: wait upon
30.
lampoons: satirical writings filled with malicious personal attacks
40.
strange phantoms: the spleen was thought to induce hallucinations
43.
spires: The reference is to Milton’s description of the serpent approaching Eve:
...................................erect
Amidst his circling spires
(Paradise Lost, IX)
40-54.
Pope’s lines on the cave of Spleen cleverly satirise the ailments of fashionable
society. Comment on this passage as an aspect of Pope’s art.
43.
Pope is satirizing the scenic effects of contemporary opera and pantomime.
46.
machines: stage devices for lowering celestial characters
51.
pipkin: a small earthenware pot. In Homer’s Iliad XVIII, Vulcan is described as
making walking tripods.
52.
‘Alludes to a real fact, a lady of distinction imagined herself in this condition.’
(Pope’s note).
53.
The person referred to was one Dr. Edward Felling, the queen’s chaplain.
56.
spleenwort: a kind of fern. Suggested on the analogy of the golden bough which
Aeneas carried as talisman in the underworld.
57.
a parody of Nisus’s speech to Luna in Virgil’s Aeneid, IX.
59.
Creative genius was supposed to be induced by melancholy.
64.
pet. fit of ill-temper
67.
‘Jealousy, envy, capriciousness, suspicion were traditional symptoms of the spleen.’
(Cunningham).
114
69.
citron waters: brandy flavoured with citron or lemon peel. ‘There are numerous
allusions in the literature of Pope’s day to the fondness of women of fashion for this
drink.’ (Elwin)
71.
horns: traditionally associated with cuckoldry
81.
A wondrous bag... Like that where once Ulysses held the winds: ‘(Aeolus)
presented me with a leather bag, made from the flayed skin of a full-grown ox, in
which he had imprisoned the boisterous energies of all the Winds. For you must
know that Zeus has made him Warden of the Gales, with power to lay or rouse them
each at will.’ (Odyssey, X. 19-22. Trans. E.V. Rieu).
89.
Thalestris: queen of the Amazons; a race of warrior women; here the name stands
for Mrs. Morley.
90.
Unbound hair is conventionally regarded as a sign of mourning in epics.
100.
The curl papers of ladies’ hair used to be fastened with strips of pliant lead.
107.
Reference to Iliad, XXII. where Hecuba forsees the death of Hector:
Methinks already I behold thee slain,
And stretched beneath that fury of the plain.
109.
degraded toast: a lady whose health is no longer drunk at banquets.
114.
exposed through crystal: set in a ring
117.
Hyde-Park Circus: another name for the Ring (See Canto I).
118.
Bow: The church of St. Mary le Bow is in Cheapside. ‘In the sound of Bow’ means
the City, dominated by the mercantile classes.
121.
Sir Plume: Sir George Browne was the original of Sir Plume.
124.
nice conduct: affected flourishing
clouded cane: cane variegated with lighter and darker markings.
127-130. Sir Plume’s speech is set in a lower key. Examine its features. What is its impact on
the reader?
128.
Zounds: The oath is a corruption of God’s wounds. Refer to Sir Anthony in
Sheridan’s The Rivals.
133.
Iliad, I.
Now by this sacred sceptre, hear me swear,
Which never more shall leaves or blosom bear,
Which severed from the trunk (as I from thee)
On the bare mountain left its parent tree...
honours: ‘a Virgilian word, evoking pious observances and the trophies of battle.
(Cunningham)
135.
115
147.
Reference to Iliad, XVIII. Containing the lament for Patroclus addressed by
Achilles to his mother Thetis.
156.
bohea: The name was given in the beginning of the 19th century to the finest kinds
of black tea.
164.
Poll: parrot
Canto Fifth
Canto Fourth paves the way for Clarissa’s speech in Canto Fifth. The purpose of
Clarissa’s speech is to state more clearly the moral of the poem. In a way, she performs in the
poem the same task of reconciliation which Pope was requested by his friend, Caryll, to do
between the two fueding families. It is ironically dramatic that Clarissa, who supplies the
scissors, should be assigned the task of putting the quarrel in the right perspective.
When the arsenal supplied by Spleen fail to have any effect on the Baron (“Fate and Jove
stopped the Baron’s ears”). Clarissa steps into the fray gracefully and points out the vanity of
beauty and self-worship. She also points out the powerlessness of beauty in certain situations:
How vain all these glories, all our pains,
Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains:
Beauty cannot charm the small-pox or chase old age away.
Time will have its toll on beauty:
......................frail beauty must decay,
Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn to gray:
Only “good sense” and “good humour” can prevail where anger and screams and tears
fail. It is not beauty but merit which is lasting and more powerful:
Beauties in vain their pretty eyes roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Although Clariess’s speech is well-timed and well-meant, it fails to cause any applause.
Belinda is angered further as Thalestris calls Clariss a “prude”, she declares war openly: “To
arms, to arms!” and unleashes the furies of battle. Pope gives an epic treatment to the battle,
thus adducing it into a farcical fight. Although he refers to the Olympian gods and goddesses,
elegant ladies and gentlemen engage in a rough and tumble fight more like children than epic
warriors. Umbriel watches the battle gleefully and claps his “glad wings”. The erotic quality
of physical contact is also suggested in undertones. The Beaus “die” at the looks of beautiful
eyes of the female combatants. The hyperbolic aspect of the combat is suggested by the
memorable line:
One died in metaphor, and one in song.
In the beginning of the battle, the ladies are on a winning spree as a result of Thalestris
surprise war-cry. But soon the effect of the surprise attack begins to loose its power because.
Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air.
116
Weighs the men ‘s wits against the lady’s hair.”11
At last “the wits” prove too much for “the hairs”. Unable to defeat “the bold lord” (the
Baron), Belinda throws snuff on the Baron’s face, causing his collapse in a fit of sneezing.
Then she draws “a deadly bodkin” from her side and demands her lock of hair. The Baron,
although defeated, makes his last plea:
.......................................let me survive,
And burn in Cupid’s flame, but burn alive.
Belinda cries: “Restore the Lock!”12 and the vaulted roofs of the Palace are reverberated
by the words. She is compared to Othello’s demand for the lost handkerchief. But the irony is
that the bone of contention is lost in the bustle of battle:
The lock, obtained with guilt, and kept with pain,
In every place is sought but sought in vain:
Pope invents the accidental loss of the lock to provide a suitable mock-heroic ending
which is also a compliment to Belinda. The lock is supposed to have flown to the sky to
become a new constellation, immortalizing the beauty of Belinda. Ultimately the victory is
Belinda’s since her name is now written amidst the stare.
The poem ends rather abruptly, making the attitude of Pope ambivalent. The poem is
remarkable for the balance of its style and the description of things. It is also remarkable for
Pope’s witty use of the possibilities of the mock-heroic. But it is more remarkable for the
ambivalence of its moral attitudes epitomized in Belinda. It is not certain which attitude
prevails. Belinda is beautiful and dazzling, but vain, and she lacks “good sense” and “good
humour.” Pope seems to forgive her faults because of her extraordinary beauty. Perhaps he
was supposed to have some sympathy with Belinda and her world to be able to write about it
with such poise and accuracy. The sympathy is clearly reflected in the last lines of the poem,
where Pope offers the prize of immortality to Belinda to soothen her grieved heart:
This lock the Muse shall consecrate to fame,
And ‘midst the stars inscribed Belinda’s name.
The poem is a proof to Pope’s promise to Belinda. And the credit goes to the great art of
the poet rather than to the dazzling beauty of Belinda.
Explanatory Notes and Comments
1-2.
Aeneid, 1V.636ff
Clarissa: ‘A new character introduced in the subsequent editions, to open more
clearly the moral of the poem.’ (Pope’s note). Clarissa, who appears also at Canto
III. 127, is new only in the sense that here she has a speaking part.
11
An epic convention where the gods interfere and intervene in human affairs.
12
In a paraphrase the poet gives the history of the deadly we.qjon, another epic practice.
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6.
While Anna begged and Dido raged in vain: an allusion to Aeneid. In deference
to the bidding of the gods that he should leave Carthage and found a new city.
Aeneas forsook Dido despite her passionate reproaches and the pleadings of Anna,
her sister.
7-36.
The only addition made in 1717.
9-34.
‘Parody of the speech of Sarpendon to Glaucus in Homer.’ (Pope’s note).
14.
According to accepted practice, front-boxes were occupied by ladies while the men
took the side-boxes. Refer to Gay’s The Toilette:
Not shall side boxes watch my restless eyes,
And as they catch the glance, in rows arise
With humble bows; nor white-gloved beaus approach
In crowds behind to guard me to my coach.
34.
Does the moral strike you as incongruous with the lighter touch of the satiric parts?
34-44. Is there a more serious aspect to the war of the sexes?
40.
whalebones: gowns were given a ‘stiff support by a petticoat, the hoops of which
were made of whalebone.
47.
The reference is to Homer’s Iliad. Pallas is Pallas Athene, the Greek goddess of
industry, wisdom and war. She is represented generally by a visage in which
masculine firmness is dominant. Mars is the Roman god of war. Latona was the
mother of Appllo and Artemis. She underwent much persecution. Hermes, also
called Mercury, was the messenger of the gods. Note the comparisons to Belinda
and the Baron. What effect do these evoke?
53.
sconce: fort
64.
‘The words in a song in the Opera of Camilla.’ (Pope’s note). Composed by Marc
Antonia Buononcini, Camilla was first performed in England in 1700.
71.
A common epic device. Reference to the Iliad and the Aeneid.
74.
the hair tips the scales
88.
Pick out the contexts in which bodkin is used in Cantos 4 and 5. The puns on this
single word epitomize Pope’s satiric method.
89.
‘in imitation of the progress of Agamemnon’s sceptre in Homer.’ (Pope’s note). The
reference is to the Trojan War in the Iliad.
105.
Othello, Act III, Sc.IV.
122.
Dried butterflies: a satire on natural history collections.
casuitry: lengthy scholastic quibbling to twist cases of conscience and duty.
125.
The reference is to Romulus, the first king of Rome, who disappeared in a storm. It
was rumoured that he had flown to heaven.
118
127.
liquid: in the Latin sense of clear
127.
An allusion to the transfiguration of Julius Caesar into a star (Ovid’s
Metamorphoses) 129-30. To ensure the safe return of her husband from battle,
Berenice, wife of Ptolemy III, dedicated a lock of her hair to the gods. When the
lock was stolen, the court astrologer explained that it had been transformed into a
constellation.
136.
Rosamonda’s lake: a frequent resort of lovers in St. James’ Park.
137.
Partridge: John Partridge was a ridiculous star-gazer, who never failed to predict
the downfall of Pope and the King of France.
138.
Galileo’s eyes: the telescope
142.
bright Nymph: Belinda
143.
sphere: In Pope’s time sphere was pronounced to rhyme with hair.
149-150. The transformation of Belinda’s lock into a constellation provides a fitting finale to
the mock-heroic atmosphere of the poem.
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Paper-VII : British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-5 : Readings
Contents
a.
Francis Bacon
1) Of Truth
2) Of Deformity
R.M. Kala
Mamta Sharma
Rene Descartes, Excerpts from
‘Discourse on Method’
Mishail Sharma
c.
Thomas Hobbes, Selections from the Leviathan
Mamta Sharma
d.
Gerrard Winstanley from ‘A New Year’s
Gift Sent to the Parliament and Army’
Mishail Sharma
Margaret Cavendish, Excerpts from
‘The Blazing World’
Mishail Sharma
b.
e.
Edited by:
Dr. Seema Suri
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Unit-5a
1
Francis Bacon, ‘Of Truth’
R M Kala
1.1 Bacon and the English Essay: An Introduction
Bacon is one of those writers whose personal lives do not find reflection in their writings. He
was a man of multifarious activities. He belonged to a noble family, began his career as a
lawyer and entered politics in 1584. He attached himself to the Earl of Essex and later on
became the favourite of Queen Elizabeth-I. When the Earl of Essex failed in his rebellion
against the Queen, Bacon played an important part in the trial of his patron, the Earl of Essex.
This affected his public career to a large extent. He once again rose to a high position, when
James-I succeeded as King. He held many important posts and was conferred important titles.
He fell from grace once again when bribery and corruption charges were pressed against him
and he admitted his guilt. Thus, his public career came to an end.
This was a water shed in Bacon's life. Now he had more time to follow intellectual and
philosophic pursuits. He was a great believer in science and the scientific method. He began
his career as a writer with his famous work, Advancement of Learning. But from the literary
point of view, he is known more for his essays than for other writings. It is true that Bacon
concealed rather than revealed himself in his essays. We do not come to know of the volatile
curve of his life and career from his essays though he deals with various spheres of human
affairs and experience: social, philosophical, intellectual and spiritual. Nearly all critics agree
that Bacon is the Father of English prose. Along with Bunyan and the first translation of the
Bible in English, Bacon laid the foundations of English prose, on which later writers
constructed the superstructure of English prose style.
As he belonged to the older school of learning, he had great regard for classical works
and classical languages–Greek and Latin. His serious and scientific works are in Latin. He
had an equally great distrust for what he called “these modern languages”, including the
English language. Yet, the pressures of changing times and historical forces made him realize
that he could widen the base of his readership only by writing in English. He was a wise and
perceptive man and could foresee the shadows of the future. Thus, English became a tool of
expression which Bacon polished as best as he could and offered a model of prose style in
English for succeeding prose writers. His essays possess not only historical value but also
literary value.
1.2 The Development of Modern English Prose
The history of the development of English prose can be traced as far back as the early 9th
century. The English Chronicle started by King Alfred, contains abundant material to trace
the development of the English language as well as the developments in its usage. Yet
English came to its own as a language for literary purposes in the fourteenth century. The
first work of English prose may be traced back to Ancrene Wisse (Rule for Anchoresses)
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dating from the early thirteenth century. Though the Rule has been written in one of the
dialects of English, it rightly claims to be the first prose work in English, because it has unity
of style and sentiment–a naive and gentle piety laced with typical British humour. The Age of
Chaucer laid the foundations, in the Middle Ages, for the Renaissance which was to arrive in
the sixteenth century.
The Universal language of written and official communication was Latin all over
Europe. As for the fashionable courtiers of the English court, French was their favourite.
However, the Black Death (Plague) of 1348 wiped away the Latin clergy. The common
people were left without the guidance of the Latin clergy. English was accepted as the
language of sermons in churches. Later on, Parliament opened in 1362 with a speech in
English. Thus, natural and historical forces pushed English language up from the dialectical
level to an official status. Chaucer's vital contribution raised English to a respectable literary
level. He is rightly considered to be one of the makers of English. Apart from spinning out
great tales, which are popular and relevant even in modern times, Chaucer did the equally
creditable task of welding the different dialects into one language, now called Old English.
This was a turning point in the development of English as a language of literary
composition. Now it remained for scholars and writers to enrich the language. Chaucer
himself used the vernacular in his philosophical works. Wycliff translated part of the
Scriptures into English. John Trevisa compiled a gazetteer of England and Sir John
Mandeville wrote a book of traveller's tales. In short, a corpus of English prose literature was
formed. The invention of the printing press accelerated the growth of the English language.
The Elizabethan Age was the period of the Renaissance and England opened up its
boundaries to the world on various levels–political, social, commercial and cultural. Sir
Philip Sydney gave the English language the viability and respectability of a critical language
by producing the first standard work of literary criticism. Simultaneously, Shakespeare, Ben
Jonson and Marlowe embellished English with a new vocabulary, suitable for the production
of drama, poetry and prose. This English was different from Chaucer's English, and assumed
the name of modern English. The spirit of the sixteenth century was typically frolicsome. It
was followed by the spirit of judicious judgement, arguments based on reason, and scientific
temper. It was the age of Newton. Bacon absorbed all these qualities and characteristics in his
mental makeup and produced literary prose in his essays. Thus, he is deservedly called the
Father of the English Essay.
1.3 ‘On truth’: A Discussion
Bacon begins this essay in a dramatic manner with the Biblical reference to the great trial of
Jesus Christ by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. (See Study Notes). During the trial Jesus
Christ remarked that anyone, who knew the truth, could hear the truth of his statement.
Pontius Pilate's question is a fundamental philosophical question. He asked the question
jestingly, taking Christ's words as a joke. The implied meaning of Pilate's words is that
nobody knows the truth fully. Pilate's attitude might appear funny or frivolous (”jesting”), but
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the words express the scepticism of the common man about the existence of truth. Questions
about truth have been haunting mankind since man began to ask question about abstract
things. Truth is an abstract idea. One cannot see, smell or touch it. One can only know or
sense or feel it.
That is why Pilate did not stop for an answer. He firmly believed that there was no
answer to his question. Bacon comments on the fickle-minded person and takes great delight
by making fun of belief. Such people consider belief a “bondage”, slavery to abstract
phenomena. Their aim is to preserve their “free will” by not believing in anything and
questioning everything. They wish to be free in thought as well as in action. Although
thinkers of this kind (the great Greek Sceptics) are no more, yet “certain discoursing wits”
(See Study Notes) who are of the same kind still exist. But they have not as much “blood”
(energy) as their ancient Greek master had.
Bacon goes on to observe that it is true that the search for truth involves “difficulty and
labour”. It is also true that when the truth is found, it imposes upon man's mind. But these are
not the only reasons that most men do not undertake the difficult and laborious task of finding
out the truth. The real reason is that mankind favours lies to truth, because there is a “natural
though corrupt love of the lie itself” in human nature. A later school of Greek philosophers
examined this matter. They were at a loss to understand why men prefer lies to truth. It is
really difficult to understand man's love of lies. Lies offer man nothing.
It may offer pleasure to a poet who uses his imagination to create an imaginary world
which is not true. It may also offer advantage to a merchant in his shady business. Bacon fails
to understand this aspect of human nature. The truth is “a naked and open daylight.” He
compares daylight with the light of candles. Daylight does not show the colour and beauty of
masques, mummeries and trims as effectively as candle light. The comparison is apt and
clearly indicates the difference between broad daylight which is God's gift and candlelight
which is man's creation. Masques, mummeries and trims (See Study Notes) are all
entertainments—full of drama, colour and beauty. They show off best in the pale light of a
candle.
Rich embroidery loses its effect in candle light. It shows off best in daylight. Cheap
colours and materials show off best in candle light. Bacon hints at the richness of truth and
the cheapness of a lie by using these metaphors of light. He further makes apt use of the
metaphors of jewellery. A pearl shows off best in daylight. Thus, the truth is like a pearl. But
the price of the pearl is less than that of a diamond or carbuncle which show off best in the
“varied light” of a candle. The implication is that lies appear more attractive, entertaining,
colourful and pleasing whereas truth blinds the eyes. Through this illustration Bacon seems to
explain man's “natural though corrupt love” of lies.
Bacon observes that the human mind is full of “a mix of a lie”. This fact cannot be
doubted. “Vain opinion, flattering hopes, false valuation, imaginations” are fondly stored by
man in his mind. If they are taken out, the mind will shrink and leave man full of sadness,
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disorder and unpleasantness. Bacon refers to one of the Early Christian Fathers (See Study
Notes), who had a very low opinion of “poesy” (poetry). The father took a typically
theological view of poetry. According to him poetry is evil. He called poetry “the wine of the
devils”, because it fills the imagination of a poet with anarchic ideas and emotions. (The
poetic imagination has always been looked at with suspicion, right from Plato, the great
Greek philosopher, down to modern thinkers, excepting, of course, literary critics). What
poetry offers is only the shadow of a lie” (See Study Notes). The implication is that poetry has
nothing to do with truth. It is all imagination, and all imaginary things are not real. Thus,
logically unreal things cannot represent truth. Bacon is not as much worried about “the lie
that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh and settleth in it.” This kind of lie is
more damaging than the passing lie. In short, Bacon suspects the value of poetry in the
context of truth. He sadly remarks that “these things”–untrue and unreal things such as
poetry–do influence men's mind and heart. Their judgements are distorted. Obviously, Bacon
agrees with Plato that the way to truth does not lie through the poetic imagination.
According to Bacon, truth is almost a divine matter. Like all divine things, truth, and
only truth can define itself. “The human mind' is incapable of grasping the total truth. Yet
man has been given the great gift of reason by God. Man must therefore, apply this gift in
search for truth. But the search for truth demands certain qualifications. Bacon draws a vast
cosmic image of the creation of the universe by God. He suggests that truth exists, like a
bride, in the vast bridal chamber, which is the cosmos. Man requires the tenacity, knowledge
and belief in true love to follow the true inquiry of truth. If he doubts the presence of truth,
like Pontius Pilate he will end up with Pilate's question: “What is truth?”
The comparison, drawn by Bacon, between the inquiry of truth and “love-making and
wooing” is apt to illustrate this point. A lover never doubts the presence of his beloved in the
bridal chamber. The “sovereign good” (the noblest and greatest good) for human nature lies
in the search for truth. This search, though difficult and laborious, can turn into an enjoyable
task, as does the task of a true lover.
Bacon refers to the story of God's creations as given in the Bible. According to the story,
God first created the light by uttering the divine words: “Let there be light.” God needed light
to turn the chaotic materials into various forms, both animate and inanimate. The last creation
was the “light of reason”. God rested on the seventh day to illumine His spirit. First God
created inanimate and animate things. Then he created man and “breathed” the light of reason
into man's face. That light is God's divine gift to man. Bacon believes that God still breathes
the light of reason into some of his chosen few. They are few in number, but they follow the
path of truth in the light of reason. Metaphorically speaking, man is the light of reason.
Therefore, he is called upon by God to make the inquiry of truth with full faith in its
existence. Pilates cannot be considered “the chosen” of God. Pilate questioned the very
existence of truth. By implication he challenged the presence of God. So did the Greek
sceptics. Such persons are driven away from the path of truth towards the easier, more
entertaining and easily available attractions of lie.
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To fortify his argument, Bacon refers to the Greek poet, Lucretius (See Study Notes).
Lucretius, in his poetry, glorified a well-known sect of thinkers who believed in enjoying
each moment of life fully. Sensual pleasures of various kinds were the chief goals of their
lives. They lived the life of the senses and did not care for intellectual pleasures. They were
called Epicureans. In Bacon's opinion this sect was inferior to other sects of thinkers. Yet,
Lucretius, a supporter of the Epicurean sect, has spoken “excellently well” in support of truth.
He observes that it is a great pleasure to stand upon a shore and watch the sea-scape from a
distance. It is a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, safe and secure, and watch below
the scene of a battle. Distance, horizontal or vertical, turns the most terrible scene into a work
of art. Distance does not involve the observer in the event. But no pleasure can be compared
with the pleasure of standing upon the ground of Truth”. This vantage ground is the top of a
hill, which is yet to be reached and commanded. There the aim is always “clear and serene”.
The metaphor of a mountain–top illustrates what the truth means for man–clarity and
brightness of vision. This state is achieved only when man has grasped the truth of things that
he observes all around him. No pleasure in the world is comparable with the pleasure of
conquering the hill-top of Truth. On this top, things become clear and bright down below” the
pale vale” (a beautiful metaphor of human life). “Mists” and “tempest” symbolise confusion
and hard-times in human affairs.
Bacon observes that a man of truth does not look upon human life with the pride of
greater knowledge. He feels pity for the confused and suffering mankind. The mind of such a
man moves in charity. Instead of feeling superior to others, he feels charitable towards them.
Pride is not the virtue or vice of the man of truth. (See Study Notes).
Bacon broadly classifies truth into three kinds–theological, philosophical and “civil
business”. So far, he has been discussing the first two categories–theological and
philosophical truth. Now he comes to the world of men and talks about the truth of “civil
business”–social relationships. Even men who do not practice this kind of truth, acknowledge
the fact that “a clear and sound dealing is the honour of man's nature.” Bacon compares the
mixture of lie with truth to an alloy which forms a coin, in which a base matter is mixed with
gold. Gold is a symbol of purity and solidity. Here, gold has been used as a metaphor of truth.
Bacon does not approve of mixing lie and truth in human business. A coin is an alloy of gold
and silver. Silver is inferior to gold. It stands for a lie. Such an alloy may work better, but it
affects the purity of gold. Bacon observes that “such winding and crooked courses” are the
works of the Devil (serpent). Here, the reference is to the story of the fall of Adam and Eve as
narrated in the Bible. Satan or the Devil was cursed by God to crawl upon his belly not walk
on his feet. He entered Paradise in the form of a beautiful serpent and tempted Eve to eat the
fruit (apple) of the Forbidden Tree. Eve ate the fruit and lost her innocence. She tempted
Adam to do the same. God was so angry that he threw them from Paradise to earth, with
curses upon them: Eve was cursed to bear the pains of childbirth. Adam was cursed to work
hard for his living. The Fall was the result of the temptation to lie, which is the weapon of
Satan. God is truth. Satan is lie. A mixture of God and Satan would affect God more than
Satan. As a matter of fact, God would lose and Satan would gain. Similar is the case with the
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mixture of truth and falsehood. If a man does so in human business, he is covered with
shame. In this context, Bacon refers to Montaigne who “prettily” (correctly) observes that if a
man lies, he challenges the existence of God. Such a man may be “brave” towards God and a
coward towards mankind. Satan braved (challenged) God and was thrown to Hell from
Heaven as a result of his perfidious action. He has since then been behaving like a coward,
telling lies to tempt man to challenge God or Truth in the same fashion. Bacon points out the
basic irony that a lie shows its face to God i.e. it is known to God, but it shrinks from man,
because it is afraid of being found out. If a man can see the face of a lie, he will never
become the victim of the Devil.
Bacon closes the essay with a reference to the Day of Judgement when God will judge
the actions of men on earth. It is said in the Bible that on that day “the wickedness of
falsehood and breach of faith” symbolised by lies, will not help man explain his doings. Lie
will be the last appeal to God's judgements. It has been foretold in the Bible that Jesus Christ
will come for the second time, when the existence truth will be challenged once again by the
question: “What is truth”? Christ was hanged on the cross because he spoke of truth. When
he comes back, he will not find, once again, no faith in the existence of truth.
1.4 Study Notes
Lines 1-10
“What is truth?”: These were the words of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, who
conducted the great trial of Jesus Christ. At the trial Jesus Christ remarked: “Every that is of
hearth my voice”.
jesting: scoffing at Jesus Christ's claim, But Pilate's attitude might imply deeper frivolity or
scepticism of the very possibility of truth.
giddiness: fickleness of belief.
affecting: aiming at; hence cherishing, desiring.
sects of philosophers: the old Greek schools collectively called the Sceptics who denied or at
least doubted the possibility of human knowledge. Their great master was Pyrrho.
discoursing: running about, wandering; fickle.
wits: so called thinkers.
veins: inclination; disposition; kind.
blood: spirit; energy
Lines 11-20
imposeth: imposes upon; restrains; cramps.
natural thouth corrupt love of lie: Perhaps referring to the supposed corruption of intellectual
and moral faculties after the fall of Adam and Eve.
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One of the later school of Grecians: Lucian, Philopseudes (‘the love of Lie’).
What should be in it: Why it should be so.
at a stand: at a loss; puzzled.
But I cannot tell: But I do not know how, but somehow or other.
this same truth: the truth about men's natural and corrupt love of lie for its own sake.
masque and mummeries and triumps: the idle shows of the world.
masque: a semi-dramatic entertainment, originally a dance, in which the characters wore
masks.
Lines 21-30
mummery: a popular, primitive, or cheap entertainment. The mummers' plays were primitive
folk drama.
triumphs: a procession to celebrate a victory.
stately: regally.
daintily: beautifully.
pearl: The pearl was traditionally a symbol purity and virtue. The biblical reference is to St.
John's comparison of heaven to truth. “The Kingdom of Heaven is Kingdom of Truth.”
carbuncle: supposed to partake of the virtue of the sun, so that the best of them shone in the
dark.
imaginations: unrestrained fancies, wishful thinking.
Lines 31-40
indisposition: disorder.
Fathers: the Early Christian Fathers, the theologians, who built up Christian doctrine during
the first few centuries after Christ.
Vinum daemonun: the wine of the devils.
imagination: poetic imagination is conceived as a lawless faculty, that joins and sunders
things contrary to nature.
shadow of a lie: Platonic. Plato explains in Republic that the ideal form or reality of an object
exists in the mind of God; all material objects, being mere reproductions of this are one
degree removed from truth; poetry and the arts, by imitating material objects, are two degrees
removed from the truth.
which only doth judge itself: which alone is capable of judging its nature or defining itself.
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Lines 41-50
love making...presence...enjoying of it: the description of man's quest for knowledge is
compared with the lover's quest for love.
the belief of truth: the whole-hearted assent and submission to it, going beyond mere
knowledge.
works of the days: the creation of the world in six days, as described in Genesis.
light of the sun: physical light perceived by the senses. Here, symbolically, truth perceived by
the mere operation of the senses.
the last was the light of reason: Man was created on the sixth and the last day of creation. Of
all earthly creatures, man alone possesses the gift of reason. Bacon explains that the first
created visible light “hath a relation” and correspondence in nature and corporal things to
knowledge in spirits and in incorporeal things.
sabbath: the seventh day, when God rests. Traditionally given to holy, unworldly matters.
illumination of his spirit: revelation by grace of divine truth in accessible to human reason.
matter of chaos: 'Chaos' was the raw and formless mass of matter out of which the ordered
cosmos (universe) was formed by the word of God.
Lines 51-60
still: always; perhaps also with the modern sense even now.
inspireth: breatheth; but obviously suggesting the modern sense i.e. 'inspires'.
The poet: Lucretius, in De Rerun Natura.
beautified: glorified.
the sect: the Epicureans, probably though inferior because of their hedonistic doctrines and
denial of after-life.
adventures: chances, fortunes.
not to be commanded: not overlooked by any other peak i.e. with nothing higher than itself.
Lines 61-70
serene: bright; clear, commonly used of the weather.
prospect: view.
certainly...truth: an image from Ptolemaic astronomy. Ptolemy was a great Egyptian
astronomer. Bacon here says that a man's mind should move in charity as the universe is
moved by the premium mobile; rest in providence as the universe rests in infinite space, and
revolve around truth as the spheres revolve around the celestial pole.
civil business: dealing with men.
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round: direct; straight forward.
Lines 71-80
work the better: be easier to work with.
embaseth: debases; makes impure.
the serpent: which “was more subtle than any beast” (Genesis, the first book of the Bible).
basely: low, creeping on its belly wickedly, for it was cursed to crawl upon its belly for
having tempted Adam and Eve to their fall.
the word of the lie: giving the lie or changing a person with lying.
Lines 81-90
peal: appeal; call-here, to the dead on Doomsday.
when Christ comes: i.e. for the second time, on Doomsday.
2
Francis Bacon ‘Of Deformity’
Mamta Sharma
2.1 Objectives
After reading this unit the students will be able to understand;


how the Renaissance ideas emerging in the 16th century are intricately interwoven into
the fabric of Bacon’s essay “Of Deformity”; and
why Bacon is considered the Father of the English Essay.
2.2 Introduction
Born on January 22, 1561 at York House, in the Strand London, Sir Francis Bacon was the
youngest of eight children. In 1573, at the age of twelve, Francis Bacon entered Trinity
College, Cambridge and studied authors like Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Homer, Livy,
Demosthenes, Xenophon, and Sallust; and received knowledge of Greek and Latin classics.
Three years later he left Cambridge and joined the Society of “Ancients” of Gray’s Inn to
study law. In the thirty years of his parliamentary career (1584-1614), Bacon was elected
thrice to the House of Commons. It is here that he observed men and affairs, and commenced
recording the thoughts he had about the issues which came before parliament.
Being close to the Earl of Essex, his wit and intellect was firstly observed and
appreciated by the Earl. It was also the Earl of Essex who directly or indirectly became the
cause of Bacon’s downfall during Elizabeth’s reign. When the Earl of Essex failed in his
conspiracy against the Queen, it was Bacon who performed a significant role in the trial
against his patron. This impacted his career in the Queen’s court. It was only with the
accession of King James I that his position improved and thereafter he held many posts and
was conferred many titles. Later on, it was because of the charges of bribery and corruption
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against him that his civil career ceased abruptly. In the consequent forced retirement, his
inclination towards philosophy and scientific methods helped him to follow his intellectual
pursuits. Suffering from an illness, he breathed his last on the morning of 9 April, 1626.
In order to understand Bacon’s work, we need to have knowledge of the times he wrote
in. The Renaissance era (1485-1660), whose driving force was reason rather than religion,
changed the rules which were supposed to govern human behaviour. The period contributed
to many unprecedented discoveries: to name a few; the microscope, the compass, the clock,
the thermometer, and the telescope; which helped in investigating, comprehending and
improving human life. Renaissance literature took up the same responsibility; to map out the
life of man, which was now based on his voluntary actions rather than what fate had in store.
First published in 1597, Bacon’s Essays were extended twice. In the second edition of
the book in 1612, Bacon increased the number of essays from ten to thirty-eight. The third
edition which appeared in 1625 included fifty-eight essays. This third edition is titled as
Essayses or Counsels, Civill or Morall (Essays or Counsels, Civil or Moral). The book was
dedicated to the Duke of Buckingham. In the title of the third edition every word is
suggestive of what the readers will find in the essays. ‘Counsel’ means advice, opinions, or
guidance. ‘Civil’ implies citizens and governing bodies. ‘Moral’ is a principle which defines
what is right and wrong. All this is undoubtedly relevant to human beings, and each essay
serves the purpose accordingly. Be it religious or spiritual issues; social or political concerns;
about children or parents; intellectual or philosophical ideas; Bacon covered a vast range of
themes in the fifty-eight essays.
Economical and rhetorical in style, Bacon is known for capturing the reader’s attention
in the opening sentence itself. “Revenge is a wild kind of justice”; the opening line of
Bacon’s essay “Of Revenge” is the best example of his skill in expressing his views in a few
words. French essayist Montaigne, Plutarch’s Morals, Shakespeare’s language and Roman
Atticist, Tacitus and the Bible; collectively influenced the writing style of Bacon. Not only
historically, Bacon’s essays have a literary value too. It is not surprising for us to learn that
nearly all critics have honoured Bacon as the Father of the English Essay.
2.3 ‘Of Deformity’: A Discussion
The word ‘deformity’ in the title of the essay refers to unusual or abnormal features of a
person’s body. Bacon states that deformed people are in harmony with nature. Referring to
the Bible, he remarks that one who is naturally deformed also fails in having natural
emotions. In other words, as deformed people are physically impaired by nature; they, in turn,
devoid themselves of ‘natural affection’ by being unmerciful and lacking emotions for others.
By doing so, they get their revenge on nature and hence achieve stability. As mentioned
above, we find the influence of the scriptures on Bacon; blindness, leprosy, deafness and
paralysis are a few common disabilities which are called diseases in the Bible. Disability has
been equated with disease; it has been attributed to God, who inflicts it on disobedient people
as an expression of his fury.
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According to the Bible, disbelief in God is a sin as it damages the image of the divine.
And committing this sin is metaphorically equivalent to disobedience towards God.
Consequently, a disbelieving person receives God’s curse in the form of deformity. It is
important at this point to understand what the scriptures state; the Bible views disability from
a religious perspective, which was being annulled and questioned in the Renaissance period.
Now it is interesting to observe how, first making the readers familiar with the established
ideas around deformity, Bacon, in the remaining part of the essay, examines deformity as a
Renaissance man.
Bacon now says that since there is an agreement between body and mind, when the body
is impaired by nature so is the mind, which results in inappropriate behaviour by the
deformed person. This idea at the root of physiognomy, a pseudo-science based on the belief
that one’s bodily features shape one’s character or that the body reflects the ideas of the
mind. However, Bacon does not conclude that it is true in every case. He differentiates
between the ‘election’ of mind and ‘necessity’ of body. He propounds the view that one’s
mind is free to act, irrespective of the deformity of body. What Bacon seems to argue here is
interesting and against the basis of physiognomy. It is not in one’s hand to cure one’s twisted
or impaired body (at least in those days), but one can rectify one’s morally warped behaviour.
It is necessary to understand what Bacon means by saying that “there is an election
touching the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body”. Bacon is
highlighting the Renaissance principle that man, being a rational being, is responsible for his
actions. There is nothing like predetermination and there is no causal relationship between a
deformed body and moral corruption. People choose to act and behave in a certain way, and
that is possible only if they are aware of the power of their mind. Some people realise this,
and in such cases, the mind overpowers the wicked behaviour expected from their deformed
bodies. Bacon has ingeniously made a comparison between the ‘stars of natural inclination’
and ‘sun of discipline and virtue’ to drive his point home. The sun here symbolises man’s
rationale or the mind that can overshadow the natural inclinations towards evil in the
deformed person.
Laying out his argument, Bacon now suggests that deformity is not a ‘sign’ of a person’s
inappropriate behaviour because it would be deceptive to do so. Instead, it should be taken as
a ‘cause’ which seldom fails in its effect, implying that it sometimes fails in moulding one’s
behaviour. Most importantly, Bacon states, “whosoever hath anything fixed in his person that
doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself
from scorn.” Abnormal features or deformities, which invite contempt for the person, also
have the potential to make him/her immune to scorn and contempt. While defending
themselves continuously from unkind comments, deformed people become used to this and
become daring and courageous. Instead of crying over their weakness, they observe the
mental or moral weaknesses of people around them.
Here Bacon follows a different trajectory. We can see that he is seeking some positivity
in the deformed person. He further states that superior people are not envious of deformed
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people as they cannot harm them or challenge their positions. Being under this
misconception, their superiors ignore their abilities until the deformed person possesses what
he was aspiring for. This moment proves to be surprising for their superiors as the inferior
one turns the tables upon them. Bacon then calls deformity an ‘advantage to rising’;
suggesting that deformity can be turned into an opportunity. When people neglect you as an
invalid, then you, by using your wit and being consistent in your efforts, must astonish them
and prove your worth. This again reminds us of the Renaissance thinking that one’s will is
what matters, nothing is determined in advance.
Bacon implies that deformed persons can know their worth, by referring to ancient times.
Being envious of others’ bodily perfection, eunuchs would be submissive and obliged to their
superiors to get favours. Further, they would act, not as the king’s officials but as spies.
Bacon has cleverly chosen the words “spials and good whisperers” for eunuchs rather than
‘magistrate or officer.’ Whereas a magistrate judges on the basis of visible evidences or
happenings, a spy is attentive to what is happening behind the scenes and hence updates the
king about any conspiracy or rebellion brewing against him. Just as a eunuch would manage
to perform responsibly, a deformed person can do the same.
What is established from the above example is that, just like a eunuch, a deformed
person can protect himself from receiving scornful remarks if he wishes to do so. By hook or
by crook he can achieve what a normal person can, and when it happens, we should not
wonder. It is not surprising that history has names such as Agesilaus, Zanger, Aesop, Gasca
the President of Peru and Socrates; all of whom were deformed in one way or the other and
made their way to success. Citing the names of these great rulers, writers and philosophers,
Bacon emphasises again that, through intelligent choice a ‘deformed person’ can turn out to
be a genius and an exemplar. Bacon’s views in this essay truly reflect the emerging worldly
approach of the early modern period, where the masses started disapproving of deformity as a
sign of malevolence and a penalty inflicted by God for disobedience.
2.4 Study Notes
deformity: twisted body or ugly features of body. At the time of the publication of “Of
Deformity”, it was said that Bacon had portrayed his cousin Robert Cecil, the Earl of
Salisbury in the essay. Because of his small stature of five feet (due to the curvature of the
spine), Queen Elizabeth used to call him “little man” or “little elf”. For King James I, he was
a “pigmy” or “little beagle”. In spite of his small height he always remained ahead of Bacon
in his civil career.
Lines 1-10
even: equal or level.
void of natural affection: absence of any compassion and care for others.
erreth: errs, to make a mistake.
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ubi peccant in uno, periclitatur in altero: Latin equivalent of what Bacon says : “where
nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other”.
ventureth: ventures, to take a risk.
election: to choose.
Lines 13-21
virtue: good moral conduct.
faileth: fails
hath: has
doth: does
scorn: to despise, reject or mock someone.
Lines 22-30
stirreth: stirs. To incite someone for action.
industry: the tendency to work consistently.
quencheth: quenches, satisfy
layeth: lays. To place something/someone down in a horizontal position.
so that upon the matter: on the whole.
Lines 31-41
wit: faculty of reasoning and thinking.
Eunuch(s): a castrated man. Such men were usually employed as guards in many kingdoms
(mainly Eastern and, in late Roman and Chinese empires).
obnoxious: extremely offensive. However, in the essay, Bacon uses the word with its archaic
meaning i.e. submissive or obedient.
officious: obliged
spials: spies. A person who secretly investigates and scrutinizes actions of others.
malice: wickedness.
Lines 43-45
Agesilaus: King of Sparta (398-361 BC). Despite being lame since birth and of small stature,
he became a great ruler and general.
Zanger, the son of Solyman: Jahangir, Djangir, Zangir or Zanger (the name is spelled
variously)
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Aesop: a Greek storyteller whose collective stories are now known as Aesop’s Fables. An
anonymously authored book The Aesop Romance, describes his appearance as an ugly slave
who by his wit won his freedom and became the adviser to kings.
Gasca the President of Peru: W.H. Prescott in his book History of the Conquest of Peru
wrote about Gasca’s awkward appearance. His limbs were long enough and when he would
ride a horse, he seemed shorter than he actually was. Gasca was President of the Royal
Audience of Peru from 1546 to 1550, and also conquered Gonzalo Pizzaro in 1548. For
prevailing peace and order in Peru, on his return to Spain he was honoured with the bishopric
of Palencia and later on of Siguenza.
Socrates: a well-known Greek philosopher whose appearance was ugly enough to be
caricatured by his contemporary comic dramatists.
2.5 Questions
1)
Summarise, in your own, words how Bacon proves deformity an opportunity to rise.
2)
Write a note on the Renaissance ideas Bacon upheld and celebrated in his essay “Of
Deformity”.
Bibliography

Carter, Ronald and McRae, John. The Routledge History of Literature in English Briatin and Ireland. 1997.

The Essays of Francis Bacon. Ed. By Mary Augusta Scott. New York, Charles
Scribner’s Son. 1908.
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Unit-5b
Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method, Part 4 (1637)
Mishail Sharma
1. About the Author
Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in a small town in Touraine, France called La
Haye, now popularly known as La Haye-Descartes or simply Descartes. He was a
mathematician, lawyer, scientist, and philosopher. He is usually referred to as the ‘Father of
Modern Philosophy’ as he rejected the Aristotelian Scholastic tradition and promoted a new
doctrine which was based on the principles of observation and experimentation. He is
credited with the formulation of the metaphysics of mind-body dualism. His metaphysics is
rationalist in nature. The main aim of his works was to establish a body of knowledge that
would help human beings understand and master nature. Some of his important works are
Discourse on Method (1637), Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), Principles of
Philosophy (1644), and Passions of the Soul (1649). He died on February 11, 1650, in
Stockholm, Sweden due to pneumonia.
2. About the Text
The full title of the text is Discourse on the Method of Conducting One’s Reason Well and for
Seeking Truth in the Sciences and was originally published in 1637 in French. The work is
divided into six parts.
In Part I, Descartes postulates that reason is possessed by everyone. He warns his readers
and says that possessing reason is not enough, one should know how to apply it as well. He
addresses different disciplines of study like language, poetry, mathematics, theology, and so
on and explains why he did not make his career in science. He abandoned the study of letters
in search of new knowledge and for his desire to distinguish true from false. In the end, he
shares his experiences and says that one should not be rigid and should make use of reason.
With the help of our mind/reason, we should find our own path. In Part II, he distinguishes
between two kinds of minds. One that never follows the straight path and is always lost in its
life, and the other that uses the capabilities of judgement and reason. He establishes rules to
solve problems of different sciences. He assures that the reason is followed in every step in
this method. In Part III, Descartes discusses the rules of morality that are derived from the
method mentioned in Part II. Part IV concerns the arguments that prove the existence of God
and the human soul, which he sees as the foundation of his metaphysics. He distinguishes
between body and soul. Part V features the order of the questions that he has investigated in
the field of Physics. Part VI showcases things that Descartes believes are required for the
advancement of the investigation of nature.
3. Critical Analysis of the Text
Descartes’ Discourse on Method (1637) is a classic work, attempting to overthrow the
established monopoly of Aristotelian Scholastic tradition. This tradition advocates that reason
and understanding exist as a part of the mind whereas imagination, and sensory perception
are a medium to understand the outer world. In this sense, for Aristotle, sensory perceptions
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provide clear knowledge of the outer world. Descartes does not agree with this viewpoint;
therefore, he abandoned this philosophy to establish a new doctrine. Descartes believes that
sensory perceptions, will, and imagination are cognitive abilities just as reason and
understanding are. He says these are not a part of the outside world as Aristotelian tradition
promotes.
Descartes largely benefits from the emergence of the Renaissance and rejects the
previous foundation built on the scaffold of the Aristotelian tradition. Regarding this,
Akomolafe Akinola Mohammed writes in his essay “A Critique of Descartes Mind-Body
Dualism” (2012):
Having thus been fascinated by the mathematical method of clarity, certainty and
indubitability, Descartes considers philosophy as an antithesis of those
mathematical virtues; for he sees philosophy as being founded on doubtful and
shaky grounds. Determined therefore to give philosophy a firm foundation with
the mathematical method as its base, he resolves to search and discover one thing
which is certain and indubitable. Such a certainty, if found, would be the
foundation of the philosophical system upon which all other truths would be
built. He thus sets on this arduous task, by systematically questioning and
doubting all that he used to know (96).
Descartes sets out on the journey “. . . to devote [myself] exclusively to the search for the
truth” (Cress 18). Thus, in the Discourse on Method (1637), Descartes encourages the use of
the reason for every individual, on which he has based his method. He also clarifies, “thus my
purpose here is not to teach the method that everyone ought to follow in order to conduct his
reason well, but merely to show how I have tried to conduct my own” (Cress 2).
Descartes’ Methodical Doubt
As Descartes rejects the Aristotelian tradition, he also refuses to see the present world as true
because it is also based on the same principles. He doubts the knowledge perceived through
sensory perceptions as he says “our senses sometimes deceive us, I wanted to suppose that
nothing was exactly as they led us to imagine” (Cress 18). He explains that since our sensory
perceptions are unreliable, our dreams are indistinguishable from reality; “considering the
fact that all the same thoughts we have when we are awake can also come to us when we are
asleep, without any of them being true…” (Cress 18). Therefore, everything that we perceive
in the physical world is an illusion created by our imagination. He doubts everything and
searches for the truth which is certain, clear, and indubitable. In the process, he also doubts
his own existence.
First Rule of Philosophy: “Cogito, Ergo Sum” (I think, therefore, I am.)
In the process of doubting himself, Descartes becomes aware of the process of ‘doubting’. He
explains; he could pretend that he has no ‘body’ and so on. But the fact that he is doubting,
confirms the fact that he is thinking. This establishes that thinking presupposes doubting and
existence presupposes thinking. In simple terms, one has to exist before one can think. In this
way, Descartes discovers his first rule of philosophy or indubitable truth as he says “Ego
Cogito Ergo Sum” which translates from Latin in English as, “I think, therefore, I am”. The
process of doubting himself becomes an act of thinking (Mohammed 97). Descartes explains,
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I wanted thus to think that everything was false, it necessarily had to be the case
that I, who was thinking this, was something. And noticing that this truth—I
think, therefore I am—was so firm and so assured that all the most extravagant
suppositions of the skeptics were incapable of shaking it, I judged that I could
accept it without scruple as the first principle of the philosophy I was seeking.
(Cress18)
By using his system methodical doubt, Descartes dismisses the school of thought that has its
roots in the senses and authoritative power. To counter this, he establishes a new foundation
of knowledge, that is based on intuition (Watson 1). He remarks, “I was a substance the
whole essence or nature of which is simply to think and which, in order to exist, has no need
of any place nor depends on any material thing” (Cress 19). He explains that “I” represents
the ‘soul’ which is distinct from the ‘body’. And even if there is no ‘body’, this “I” which is
the soul will still exist. This establishes that he is a ‘thinking substance’ (who uses reason)
and he exists as a thinking being.
Descartes’ claim about the existence of ‘God’
He examines the difference between the senses and the reason and declares that the soul is
separate from the body. This also makes him realize that he is not perfect and explains “my
being was not utterly perfect (for I saw clearly that it is a greater perfection to know than to
doubt), I decided to search for the source from which I had learned to think of something
more perfect than I was” (Cress 19). He believes that only God is capable of perfection and
tthathe rest of the world, consisting of “heavens, the earth, light, heat, and a thousand others”
(Cress 19) is imperfect.
He opines that all perfect/good things originate from God. For instance; images,
thoughts, knowledge, truth, and so on. He believes that imperfect thoughts are the result of
imperfect minds. He concludes this part with a declaration that God is perfect and all the
perfection that he holds within himself originates from God’s perfection.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, in Discourse on the Method, Part IV (1637), Descartes gives proof of the
existence of the Soul and God. As he believes in the mathematical method of solving
problems, he discusses the unreliability of senses and dreams, therefore, focusing on his
method. In the process, he concludes his own existence.
References
Cress, Donald A., translator. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. By
René Descartes, Hackett, 1998.
Broughton, Janet and John Carriero, editors. A Companion to Descartes. Blackwell, 2008.
Corn, Colby. “Descartes Discourse on the Method Part IV”. Academia, 2014, 11 Oct 2020.
https://www.academia.edu/9765116/Descartes_Discourse_on_the_Method_Part_IV
Mohammed, Akomolafe Akinola. “A Critique of Descartes’ Mind-Body Dualism”. Kritike,
vol. 6, no. 1, 2012, pp. 95-112. Academia,
139
https://www.academia.edu/28519024/A_Critique_of_Descartes_Mind_Body_Dualism
Tukidia, Samuel. “Rene Descartes’ Arguments in Discourse on the Method”. Academia, 11
Oct. 2020.
https://www.academia.edu/23097306/RENE_DESCARTES_ARGUMENTS_IN_DISCO
URSE_ON_THE_METHOD
Watson, Richard A. “Rene Descartes.” Britannica Encyclopedia, 11 Oct. 20.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Descartes
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Unit-5c
The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
Mamta Sharma
1.1 Objectives
This part of the Study Material will cover the prescribed sections of Thomas Hobbes’ The
Leviathan (1651) in your course; the cover page, the Introduction, chapters 1 and 13. After
going through the study material you will be able to;
-
appreciate Thomas Hobbes’ contribution to political philosophy;
-
understand his materialist philosophy; and
-
identify his different philosophical approach to human nature.
1.2 Introduction
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was born in Wiltshire, England and graduated from Oxford in
1608. He gained employment with William Cavendish, the first Earl of Devonshire, and
worked for the family most of his life. It was through his connection to the Cavendish family
that he became associated with the royalists, in the debate between the King and the
Parliament, leading to the Civil Wars from 1642-51. He remained in exile from 1640 to 1651
in France, as his political philosophy supported monarchy and returned to England only when
the monarchy was restored with King Charles II. The period hence, roughly between 16601789, is termed the Restoration era. King Charles II replaced Oliver Cromwell and rooted out
the Puritan ethos that Cromwell’s reign had established. Even though there was a monarch, a
parliamentary system was developed, with two political parties - Whigs and Tories – handing
over the executive powers to the prime minister. The focus was now on establishing a stable
Protestant society, while encouraging commerce and institutions. This necessitated
improvement in “Natural Knowledge” (now called science) leading to the establishment of
The Royal Society in 1662.
When we study Hobbes’s Leviathan in this context, we realise his staunch belief in the
absolute power of monarchy. The term Leviathan means a gargantuan form and Hobbes has
used it as a metaphor for the commonwealth he was living in. The term has actually been
derived from the Hebrew, where it stands for a “sea monster” which also appears in the The
Book of Job. In order to achieve an ideal commonwealth Hobbes advocated the setting up of
a strong administrative control. In his view, man’s self-interest eggs him on to be at war with
other men. Hence, political absolutism is offered by him as an alternative to keep men away
from discord. This text is therefore an attempt to prove the necessity for a Leviathan to
maintain peace and prevent civil war. As the king and the political authorities were aware of
the threatening upheavals of the first half of the century to usurp the throne, Hobbes’s
political philosophy was not objected to. Remarkably, Hobbes’s suggestions seem to be at
odds with the parliamentary system, and therefore Leviathan was criticised as a blasphemous
book in the parliament.
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2. The Title Page
The Leviathan has the subtitle: The Matter, Forme and Power Of A Common-Wealth
Ecclesiasticall and Civil on the title page. It is written on an ornate curtain, at the centre of an
intricate piece of drawing. Before trying to comprehend the picture, we need to understand
the terms used in the subtitle. The word commonwealth stands for a society and Hobbes’ aim
is to define its matter, form and power. The ‘matter’ of Hobbes’s society includes man, laws,
church and universities; all of which have been studied minutely in the text. Form implies its
structure which, for Hobbes, should be ideal. Power, for Hobbes, has two forms ecclesiastical and civil; and Hobbes seems to imply that a commonwealth must be examined
with respect to both these aspects. This is also what the second half of the subtitle tacitly
suggests. It hints at a society which is religious as well as administrative in nature. Hobbes’
ideas become clearer when we refer to the picture on the title page. The image has two parts –
the upper part is a huge, man like figure wearing a crown with a sword and crosier in his right
and left hands respectively. The crown symbolises the king or governing body. The sword
symbolizes earthly power while the crosier is the power of church or religion.
In the lower part, we see a series of small images on the left and right sides, with a
curtain at the centre carrying the subtitle. On the left side where there are images of a castle,
crown, cannon, weapon and battlefield; against them on the right we have a church, mitre,
excommunication, logic and religious court respectively. On the left all the images are
associated with civil ideology and each image on the right side can be ascribed to religion.
This description has twofold meanings. Firstly, it implies, for every civil power we must have
an equivalent religious power. Secondly, to give the commonwealth an ideal form, a balance
must be maintained between both the powers. The giant figure of the Leviathan is also
picturized holding the symbols of these two kinds of power.
Moreover, Hobbes’s keen interest in man at the centre of the commonwealth is shown
through the torso of the giant figure. Apparently, the entire kingdom is an extended part of his
body. The body itself consists of blurred and minute figures of individuals or to say citizens
of the kingdom, which gives it a gigantic appearance and truly justifies the title Leviathan for
his text. This underlines the significance an individual or man holds in Hobbes’s concept of a
commonwealth. In this regard, it would be interesting to know Hobbes view in his own
words:
A Multitude of men, are made One Person, when they are by one man, or one
Person, Represented; so that it be done with the consent of every one of that
Multitude in particular. For it is the Unity of the Representer, not the Unity of
the Represented, that maketh the Person One. And it is the Representer that bear
the Person, and but one Person: And Unity, cannot otherwise be understood in
Multitude. (Chapter 16,“Of Persons, Authors, and things Personated”)
3. Introduction to Leviathan
In his introduction to Leviathan, Hobbes begins by comparing God’s creation of man to
man’s creation of the “artificial animal.” Nature or to say life is an art of God, who also
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governs it. Man has imitated God’s art to create an artificial life, similar to what God has
created. Being a materialist, Hobbes claims that the universe is filled with matter and all
activities, whether natural or man-oriented, result from the interaction of one body’s matter
with the other body’s matter. This interaction transfers motion from one body to another and
that is how we perceive objects before us. Life, according to Hobbes, is nothing but motion
and movement. The motion of the limbs (hands, legs, and wings) proves the existence of life.
Consequently, it would not be incorrect to say that all automatic things like machines also
have life, though an artificial one. Whereas in humans there is a heart; in machines, the
springs are similar to human nerves and the wheels are like human joints, which collectively
help in the movement of the machine. In humans, movement is made possible by God, the
Artificer.
The art of man goes far beyond the most beautiful creation of nature, that is man. Man’s
art created the Leviathan, a gigantic society or state, which is visualized as an artificial man
of huge stature and strength. Sovereignty or self-rule is its artificial soul which gives it life
and motion. The parts of this sovereignty; the magistrates, judicial, and executive officers are
like its joints; reward and punishment are the nerves; wealth and riches of its citizens are its
strength; people’s safety is its business; counsellors who guide its existence according to their
past experience are its memory; equity and laws are its reason and will. Similarly, concord is
health, sedition is sickness and civil war is death. Finally, the rules and agreements which are
the foundation of this political body are like the pronouncement and command of God when
man was created: “let us make man.”
In order to describe this artificial creature or the state, Hobbes considers man, the
covenants the commonwealth is made of, then the Christian commonwealth, and lastly the
Kingdom of Darkness; which are also the four parts of his book. Concerning the first part,
that is man, he states that there is an old saying that one becomes wise not by reading books
but by reading man. Hence, those people who cannot give proof of their wisdom in other
ways show it by criticising others. There is also another saying which is much older, “Nosce
teipsum, Read thyself”: read your own self in order to read others. It does not mean to study
how cruel a man in power is with his inferiors or to encourage a man of low degree to behave
imprudently with the people in better positions. It means that in order to understand another
man, one needs to study one’s own thoughts and emotions.
Whoever looks into his self and considers what he does, thinks, opines, reasons, hopes,
and fears in a particular situation, will succeed in learning what others go through in the same
situation. It is important to highlight that it is not the object of the passions; that is the thing
that is being desired, hoped or feared which is a matter of concern because it is different for
every individual and therefore cannot be tracked easily. Hobbes here speaks only about the
similarity of those passions that are common to everyone; hope, fear, or desire in a given
situation. Though we sometimes infer correctly about a man’s designs or objectives through
his actions, it is an incomplete inference because the ‘key’ element, that is a comparison with
your own self is absent.
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In relation to the above argument, we should be conscious of the fact that by considering
one’s objectives we can read only those people we are acquainted with or the ones we are in
contact with for the moment. Reading any random person without reading our own self will
not help. Now Hobbes counsels the one who has to govern the whole nation, that he “must
read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but Man-kind.” The ruler should read
mankind in general, not an individual person, which is harder to do than gathering any
knowledge or learning science or language.
Hobbes concludes that when his text is read lucidly and systematically, the reader will
wonder on discovering that what the text says is there within him; because this philosophy of
his does not aim to prove something different. This also implies that Hobbes has structured
the study of man in his text in the light of his own thoughts and emotions, as he expects
others to do. As Hobbes intends to present his idea of the ideal commonwealth, he begins
with the discussion in “The Introduction”. In the two chapters discussed in the next sections,
Hobbes discusses man, an important constituent of the commonwealth. Do read the chapters
carefully before going through this study material.
3.1 Study Notes
Lines 1-10
art: creation.
hath: has.
automata: automatic.
joynts: joints.
Lines 15-18
latine: Latin.
civitas: a state or community.
soveraignity: sovereignty. A state of independence.
Lines 33-45
fiat: a command.
covenants: a pact or an agreement to do or not to do a thing.
preserveth: preserves. To protect.
dissovelth: dissolves. To terminate or destroy something.
kingdom of darkness: The fourth part of Leviathan which bears this title means darkness of
ignorance due to the absence of true knowledge.
usurped: here it means make use of.
wisedom: wisdom.
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Lines 49-61
uncharitable: ungenerous or unkind.
Nosce teipsum: Latin equivalent of what Hobbes says, “Read thy self” (read your own self).
barbarous: uncivilized or unkind.
similitude: similarity or resemblance.
looketh: looks.
doth: does.
feare: fear
Lines 63-73
blotted: a disgrace.
dissembling: to disguise or deliberately ignore.
counterfeiting: false or inauthentic.
erroneous: flawed or wrong.
doctrines: any belief of a religion, organization, text or group.
searcheth: searches.
Lines 74-79
designe: design or plans.
decypher: decipher. To decode something obscure.
diffidence: lacking self confidence. However, it has been used here in obsolete terms which
mean distrust.
Lines 81-90
perspicuously: clarity or lucidity.
admitteth: admits. To acknowledge something as true.
4. ‘Of Sense’: A Discussion
In this essay, as the title conveys, Hobbes’s aim is to lay out and discuss the working of the
human senses. It is the “thoughts of man” which Hobbes is concerned about, and there are
two ways to comprehend these thoughts. First is “singly” and second is through “trayn”.
Though Hobbes focuses on the former term only, we need to know what exactly he means by
both the terms. The word ‘singly’ indicates single or in individual terms, while “trayn” or to
be more clear ‘train’ implies a series of links and relations with others. The third chapter “Of
the Consequence or Train of Imagination” deals with the second term at length.
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When Hobbes considers thoughts in individual terms, it becomes nothing more than the
representation or appearance of an external body/object kept away from us. This object works
on different organs of our body like the eyes and the ears, producing different appearances.
Here, it is remarkable that appearance does not simply mean what one sees but what one can
perceive and understand through any part of his/her body. Among all appearances, the one
which is primary and can be called original is sense. Nothing, as Hobbes correctly states, is
comprehensible by the human mind in the absence of the senses i.e. skin, eyes, ear, nose and
tongue. Everything produces a distinct conception in the human mind when the senses hit the
respective organs of one’s body.
The working of the senses has been discussed thoroughly in the successive chapters “Of
Imagination” and “Of the Consequence or Train of Imagination” but Hobbes has briefly
talked about it here also. The cause of the sense or what stimulates one’s senses is the
external object which induces the relevant organ to react to the pressure of the object, either
rapidly or ponderously. It is the external body or the object which makes man sensible of it
by pressing or stimulating the corresponding organ of the body to react to each pressing.
Taste and touch are the instances where the respective senses respond at once, while in the
case of smelling, hearing and seeing something, the reaction takes time. The object exerts
pressure on the nerves and membranes of the related organs which, in turn send messages to
the brain and heart to interpret them. Where, in the case of touch and taste, interpretation
happens immediately; in hearing, smelling, and seeing, mediation by the nerves take time.
Though he was a philosopher, Hobbes’s views here illustrate the scientific methods he seems
to follow to describe the working of our senses. It also highlights the scientific advancements
in his time.
Objects can be sensed, because of the continuous motion of their matter. Likewise, our
senses which are pressed by the object are in constant motion, that is in a regular movement.
This implies that the central cause of sense is motion, for as Hobbes has philosophised many
times in his other works, the external world is nothing more than a chaotic interaction
between objects, due to a series of motions. Hobbes’ materialist claims are similar to the
physical sciences, which underline the fact that all activities are the result of the collision of
material bodies with one another. Human beings, being part of the external and physical
world, are not different from these objects and also interact with the external world through
such motion. We feel and sense the presence of an object because the movement of the object
interacts with our sensory organs; whereon another set of motion is unleashed within our
body that ultimately ends in our brain and makes us feel the object; whether it is rough,
smooth, hot, cold, quiet, or loud, and so on.
The appearance of the object is only a fancy, that is a thought or idea arising in the mind,
and is not ingrained in the object. Just as we fancy a light on rubbing our eyes and hear a
distinct sound on pressing the ears; so it is with the bodies we see, hear, touch, smell and
taste. They also produce a fancy via their strong, though unnoticeable movements, which then
aid us to sense them. It suggests that fancy is not inherent in the objects we perceive “for if
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those Colours, and Sounds, were in the bodies, or the Objects that cause them, they could not
bee severed from them, as by glasses, and in, Ecchoes by reflection...” Hobbes proves his
point by alluding to the scientific fact that had it been the case, the colours and sounds of
these bodies would not have been separated from them by reflection of light through a glass
and reverberation of sound. Hence, however much the fancy seems to be within the object
which causes sense in us, the object is different from the fancy. Hobbes then concludes that
sense is nothing but an original fancy, which is caused by the motions of the object and
produces pressure on the organs for the relevant fancy.
Philosophizing the working of the senses and refuting the intrinsic presence of fancy in
objects, Hobbes categorically attacks the undisputed ideas of Aristotle that were widely
accepted in the universities of the Christian world. Aristotle’s ideas regarding object and
fancy are just opposite of what Hobbes propounds in his essay. And this is the reason why
Hobbes condemns, and is critical of the unwavering belief of such “philosophy-schools” in
Aristotle’s texts. These texts argue that an object can be seen because it sends forth an
“apparition,” or a ghost spirit of the object; all the time, in all directions. The same holds true
for the objects heard, smelt, touched and tasted. This apparition is also called “visible shew”
(or species) in case the object is being seen; “hearing shew” in case it is being heard and so
on. Further, to understand something, the Aristotelian view is that objects give intelligible
“shew” or “species”. Moreover, the words ‘fancy’ and ‘representation’ are associated with
Aristotle, who argues that every object has an intrinsic essence and this essence can always
be recognised even if the object is not available at the moment. Apparently, Hobbes disagrees
with Aristotle’s claims and asserts that “the object is one thing” and the fancy or essence
associated with it is another. For Hobbes, the senses operate only when they physically come
in contact with the actual matter or substance, and not with the image or species of the
substance which it constantly gives forth.
Hobbes dismisses the older philosophies entirely, not because he disregarded the
importance of the universities but because he is determined to focus on and locate their
significance in the commonwealth. This he discusses in other essays of the book. Hobbes
seems to indicate that instead of sticking to given knowledge we should make attempts to
advance or improve it, according to demands of the time. And therefore, towards the end of
the essay, he hints at the amendments which are needed in the field of “Speech”. Speech or
language is used to convey one’s mental thoughts verbally or orally. This issue has been dealt
further in the fourth chapter “Of Speech”.
4.1 Study Notes
Sense: Any of the ways which helps a living being to perceive the physical world. Human
beings have five senses to understand and make themselves aware of the surrounding world
namely eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin to perceive a sight, sound, smell, taste and touch
respectively.
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Lines 1-12
trayn: train or a series.
In the successive essays Hobbes explains how, when the motion produced by an object is
hindered or collides with other motion it produces trains of thought i.e. a series of thoughts.
In case of a dream, the resultant thought is “unguided”, but when the thinker knowingly
manages his mind to concentrate on a particular issue, it becomes “regulated”.
worketh: works.
produceth: produces.
conception: to develop or devise an argument.
hath: has.
begotten: to bring forth or to cause something to happen.
Lines 18-32
externall: external or outer.
presseth: presses. To press.
mediately: not immediately.
causeth: causes.
palat: palate. The upper part of the mouth.
savour: a particular taste.
discern: to comprehend.
Lines 34-54
matter: material or substance.
dinne: din. A loud noise.
fancy: an image/imagination/thought/idea formed in the mind.
severed: to separate or disintegrate.
ordained: appointed or arranged beforehand.
Lines: 56-72
Christendom: Christian world.
doctrine: a belief, especially about religious teachings.
vision: to perceive something visually.
sendeth: sends.
species: a type or kind, image or appearance.
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shew: obsolete form of show.
marketh: marks.
intelligible: something which is clear and can be understood by the mind.
5. ‘Of the Natural Condition of Mankind, As Concerning Their Felicity, and Misery’
In this thirteenth chapter of the first part “Of Man”, Hobbes deals with the happiness and
misery of entire mankind. He proposes that all men, by nature, are equal in the faculties of
mind and body. The rest of his essay aims to elaborate this statement and the natural state
man lives in, both of which form the foundation of Hobbes’ philosophy. Even if one man
appears stronger in body and quicker in mind than the other; when we consider everything,
such differences become insignificant and do not make one person superior to another.
Therefore, physically and mentally everyone is equal. The weaker person can claim all those
benefits which the stronger man can take, either slyly or by conspiring with others. However,
the weaker is equally vulnerable to the risks. In other words, all people are essentially the
same and none can exercise power over the other until he does so by his evil strategies.
Hobbes finds more equality in the faculty of mind than in the physical strength of men.
Here, mental calibre does not mean the knowledge of literature, poetry, or science because
such qualities are not inherent in everyone and cannot be acquired, as prudence can be.
Prudence is wisdom, which can be attained through experience. So, in the equally available
time everyone acquires the same amount of experience; an equal period of time allows equal
experience and hence, equal wisdom. Although a person acknowledges another’s wits or
eloquence and learning, he does not appreciate it as highly as his own. It may be because
people see their wits up close and the other’s wit from a distance. This example proves
equality among all people rather than inequality, because every man is satisfied with his share
of intelligence.
This equality in their mental and physical abilities leads men to be diffident of each
other. The moment they long to possess the same objects, they stand against each other as
enemies. In order to serve his purpose, that is, to protect himself and sometimes for his
pleasure only, man attempts to terminate or dominate the other. When an invader fears no
harm from a man who has secured a better position than him; then the invader, plotting with
other men, deprives that man, not only of what he has earned by his hard labour but also of
his life and liberty. And then the invader comes into the same position of risk. Soon his
enemies will dispossess him as well.
Reaching this point, man cannot save himself from the constant threat of death;
therefore, he can preserve himself only through planning beforehand to master or control all
of those who can be the probable cause of his death. This act of his is acceptable as long as he
is acting to save himself. But there are many others who take pleasure in their conquests,
even when their security is not at risk. Consequently, those who are happy to live within their
boundaries until any threat unsettles them, cannot live safely for long by merely remaining
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defensive. Thus, adopting dangerous means to dominate others’ territories is also acceptable,
if it’s for self-defence.
Interestingly, men are not happy but sad when they find no power to direct them and
invoke a sense of fear in them. This is why, in company one wishes himself to be valued the
most among his companions. Whenever he receives contemptuous or undervaluing remarks
from his friend, he extorts the desired value and respect from his condemner by damaging
him. This also sets an example for others. The term ‘extort’ – to procure something from
others by unjust means - intensifies the cruelty man stoops to for his self-interests.
Hobbes marks three principal causes, innate in all men, which engender antipathy among
them. These are competition, diffidence, and glory. Firstly, the competition or rivalry with
others to possess more makes man at odds with others. To gain what he aspires for, violence
is used by man to overpower the persons, wives, children and cattle - all the wealth -of his
rival. Secondly, he attacks in order to secure himself and to defend his own possessions and
family. Thirdly, tension arises when he finds his honour at stake. This is when either his
persons or family members or his Nation or profession are humiliated.
This leads us to Hobbes’s most quoted and influential proposition “that during the time
men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which
is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man against every man.” In the absence of a
common power to govern man, he stays in a state of constant war. This war makes every man
against every man. War does not mean only a fight in the battleground but a tendency to fight
with others for various reasons, which exist not only for a day or two but for an extended
period of time. Time in war is as important as in foul weather. Foul weather is not that which
remains for a day or two but remains for many days, causing inconvenience. Likewise, a
battle doesn’t define a war, but the consistent unrest one feels and the inclination to
commence combat at any moment is also a state of war.
In such a situation, man’s life becomes pathetic. All those activities which assist man’s
progress in life come to a halt during the war. Be it industry, culture or navigation; import by
sea or architectural construction, everything loses significance and comes to an end. The
worst result of such mutual hostility is continual fear of violent death. The life of man, for
which he begins this enmity with others, becomes “solitary, nasty, poor, brutish and short.”
What follows from this is that the state of war parallels the state of man’s nature. The state of
war comprises the desire and intent to battle and man’s nature always provokes feelings of
contention in him. Hence, man’s nature is in a continual state of war. All this reminds us of
the frequent English civil wars which destroyed England’s peace and prosperity.
Some people find Hobbes’s philosophy about the nature of man strange and intolerable.
These are the people who have never pondered over the nature of man ever and hence they
find it unacceptable that man’s passions can persuade him to invade and destroy others. Such
people can be convinced, as they also desire, of this bitter truth only through actual
experience. Hobbes therefore asks such people to consider themselves first and examine their
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own actions, which will authenticate his philosophy and will also confirm human savagery.
He asks a few fundamental questions such as: why does a man, while going on a journey, arm
himself and wish to be well-accompanied? When he sleeps, why does he make sure to lock
the doors? Even being in his own house, why does he lock his chests? The man knows that
laws are there for his safety and the civil officers will take action if any injury is done to him.
Despite knowing all this, what opinion does he have of his fellow beings which makes him
arm himself? What does he think of his neighbours or citizens that he locks his doors, and
what views does he hold of his own family members and servants when he locks his chests?
Is all this not evidence of the constant threat man is living under? Does it not accuse mankind
of being selfish and ambitious, as Hobbes’s philosophy intends to prove? But, as Hobbes
further says, it is not the passions and desires to gain more and more which are accusable.
Rather it is the nature of man itself. These emotions, though inherent in every man, are not
sinful and should not be blamed. Nor should the actions led by these strong emotions be
questioned. Actions are labelled as sin only when they appear to violate some established
laws, and man cannot know such laws until they are ordained and most importantly, laws
cannot be ordained without electing someone unanimously to make and enact them.
It may be asked where in the world could there be such a situation? It is not generally
prevalent but there are still some places where people lead such a life. The savage people in
America (in Hobbes’s time), in the absence of any governing power, are an example. These
American savages acted only under the influence of natural lust for possession and thus lived
in a brutish manner. From this we can assume the manner of life in a society void of a
sovereign power to control its citizens’ self-interest and punish them for their superfluous
conflicts with others. Even those who live under a peaceful government are forced to live a
despicable life during a civil war. This is why Hobbes believes in the supremacy of the
sovereign power.
Man is always not against another man but sovereign authorities like kings, in their
jealousy of other kingdoms and kings, always have their eyes on the others’ riches. Their
weapons ready; forts, guns and garrisons always ready to act on their frontiers, and the
continual spying on their neighbouring kingdoms are nothing but a posture of war. During all
this, they encourage the ordinary man to continue his work so that he doesn’t get depressed
because of lack of liberty.
In this state of every man against every man, nothing is unjust. There is no place for what
is right or wrong and what is just or unjust. When there is no common power, there is no law
and in the absence of law, just or unjust cannot be judged. Justice and injustice do not exist in
solitude; they link a man to the society he is a part of. It also follows from this that there is no
sense of ownership and no concept of mine or his, domination and territory, when there is no
legal authority. Everything belongs to everyman as long as he can get it and can maintain his
possession over it.
However, as man is provoked by his nature and placed in this unhappy condition, there is
a possibility of his coming out of it. It is his Passions and Reason which help him come out of
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it. The Passions which lead man to peace are his fear of death (which can be easily caused in
war). And his Hope of fulfilling his desire to acquire necessities like food and shelter to live a
commodious life through diligent labour inspires him to avoid war. Also, man’s Reason
persuades him to accept Articles of Peace which are also known as Laws of Nature. These
laws, which have been explained in the successive chapters, emphasise a general rule found
out by reason; which proscribes man from doing that which is disastrous, not only for his life
but others as well. This law requires a man to do that which preserves mankind.
5.1 Study Notes
natural: innate characteristics of a thing, distinct from what might be expected or intended.
Lines: 1-10
faculties: an ability, skill or power
bee: be
manifestly: obviously. Evident to the senses.
reckoned: computed or calculated.
machination: clever scheme for evil purposes.
confideracy: confederacy. An alliance.
Lines: 14-29
infallible: without any fault or weakness.
prudence: wisdom.
concurring: accord or coexist.
eloquent: effective in expressing meaning.
Lines: 40-43
delectation: pleasure or delight.
Lines: 52-63
diffidence: timid. Lacking self-confidence.
wiles: a trick or stratagem for deception.
requireth: requires.
dominion: power or sovereignty over something.
Lines: 74-85
contemners: condemners.
dommoge: damage.
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cattell: cattel.
reflexion: reflection.
kindred: relatives or kin.
Lines: 88-99
warre: war.
foule: foul.
lyeth: lies.
showre: shower.
disposition: tendency or inclination.
Lines: 118-127
publick: public.
Lines: 130-152
dores: doors.
Aacuse: blame.
peradventure: perhaps.
concord: a state of harmony.
dependeth: depends.
degenerate: degrade.
Lines: 158-187
gladiators: a participant or disputant in a debate or argument.
garrisons: a military post.
Cardinal: cardinal. Crucial.
vertues: virtues. Good moral conduct.
propriety: possession or property.
thine: yours.
encline: incline.
feare: fear.
suggesteth: suggests.
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Questions
1)
Discuss Hobbes’s materialist philosophy in your own words.
2)
With respect to “The Introduction” and the essays examine the significance of man
in Hobbes’s philosophy.
3)
Explain the three major causes which set every man against every man.
Bibliography

Carter, Ronald and McRae, John. The Routledge History of Literature in English Briatin and Ireland. 1997.

Hobbes’s Leviathan. Reprinted from the edition of 1651 by. Oxford University Press,
1965.
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Unit-5d
A New Year's Gift sent to the Parliament and Army (1650)
by Gerrard Winstanley
Mishail Sharma
1. About the Author
Gerrard Winstanley was born in 1609 in Wigan, Lancashire, England. He was a Protestant
social reformer, pamphleteer, and political activist. He was the leader of the English agrarian
communist group, ‘True Levellers’, later known as ‘Diggers’. It flourished in England
between 1649-50. The group occupied and cultivated common land which was forcefully
privatized on St. George’s Hill, Surrey, England. The group members were of the view that
the land should benefit the poor. They were later forcefully evicted and legally harassed.
Some of his important works are The True Levellers Standard Advanced (1649), The New
Law of Righteousness (1649), A Watch-word to the City of London, and Army (1649), A Newyear's Gift for the Parliament and Army (1650), and The Law of Freedom in a Platform
(1652). He died in 1676.
2. Historical Background
Reformation and Protestantism
Along with the Renaissance and Humanism, the Reformation was a crucial movement in
sixteenth- century Europe. The Reformation began in Germany but it took a completely
different course in England. The movement began when the Church of England emancipated
itself from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, during the reign of Henry VIII. This
led to the emergence of Protestantism in England. Henry VIII was declared the supreme head
of the Church and the State. This resulted in various changes in the organization and
functions of the Church and the State which led to the introduction of new concepts of social
justice, religious toleration, moral purity, and political freedom in English society.
English Civil Wars
These changes led to the establishment of monarchical absolutism in England. This
eventually led to a conflict between the King and the Parliament during the reign of Charles I
(seventeenth century). This resulted in a series of civil wars, also known as the Great
Rebellion (1642-51) between the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) in England, Covenanters in
Scotland, Confederates in Ireland and the Royalists (Cavaliers). The conflict arose when
Charles I went against the wishes of the Parliament and raised an army to deal with the
rebellion in Ireland. The first war, the Battle of Naseby of 1645, was settled with the victory
of Oliver Cromwell. The second war, the Battle of Preston, ended with Charles’ defeat, that
led to his execution in 1649. Cromwell finally shattered the Royalist forces in 1651 in the
Battle of Worcester and ended the war. Despite this social and political upheaval, Charles II
eventually restored monarchy in England in 1660.
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Political Writings during the Civil Wars
The unstable period of the Civil Wars (1642-51) led to important discussions about the nature
of government. This resulted in the publication of several political writings, specifically
between 1630-1655. The Royalists advocated monarchical absolutism in their writings. Some
of the writings showcased the King as a father figure. On the other hand, the Roundheads
accused the King of depriving his subjects of the freedom of choice and wrote against the
dangers of absolute power. Some of the writings of this time are Milton’s The Tenure of
Kings and Magistrates (1648), Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651), and so on (Greenblatt et al 1744).
Winstanley’s A New Year's Gift Sent to the Parliament and Army (1650) is also part of this
discourse.
3. About the Text
A New Year’s Gift for the Parliament and Army was published in 1650. The text can be seen
as an appeal to the ‘common people’ who fought for the Parliamentarians but were not happy
with the newly established order. Winstanley supported Parliament’s struggle wholeheartedly
as it promised liberation against ‘kingly power’ (monarchical absolutism). He had hoped that
the Civil Wars would lead to a better regime with ‘democracy’ and ‘equality’ as the central
tenets of society. But alas, he was disappointed with the new regime that was established
under Cromwell’s rule. Though society had changed, he could still observe economic and
social inequality. Winstanley’s present text is a plea to the Parliament and the Army to end
the economic and social inequality in society. He also includes biblical allusions in his work.
The title of the tract is a reference to a custom which was prevalent in the seventeenth
century, in which gifts were exchanged on New Year’s Day, not on Christmas Eve.
4. Critical Analysis of the Text
In this tract, Winstanley addresses the Parliament and the Army and reminds them of the
common people’s cooperation and assistance in overthrowing the ‘kingly power’ which
rested in one person’s hand, that is, the King. He says that “the people came and failed you
not, counting neither purse nor blood too dear to part with to effect this work” (Greenblatt et
al 1752). This has led to the casting out of ‘kingly power’ and the formation of the ‘free’
Commonwealth. The people rejoiced in anticipation of equal opportunities and freedom. No
man, he says, should be troubled to declare or cast out the ‘kingly power’. Winstanley warns
against the ‘kingly power’ and says “kingly power is like a great spread tree, if you lop the
head or top bough, and let the other branches and root stand, it will grow again and recover
fresher strength” (Greenblatt et al 1752). He further explains what he means by the ‘kingly
power’ and says it is ‘twofold’ in nature. First, is the kingly power of ‘righteousness’ and the
other one is of ‘unrighteousness’. He explains that ‘righteousness’ is the ‘power of almighty
God’ and it represents ‘universal love’ which leads people to ‘truth’ and “. . .the one spirit of
love and righteousness…” (Greenblatt et al 1752). He describes that this ‘kingly power’ will
wipe out all negativity like covetousness, pride, and envy. One who possesses this ‘kingly
power’ is like Christ himself, who will save his people from any kind of calamity or curse.
The other kind of ‘kingly power’, he says, is ‘unrighteousness’ and is evil personified. In this
respect, Winstanley “accuses Parliament [and the army] of having merely transferred
oppressive power from the king to itself, leaving most of England's population as
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impoverished and downtrodden as before” (Greenblatt et al 1745). Common people did not
expect this ‘unrighteousness’ from the new regime. He refers to Mathew 5:13 from the Bible
and complains “. . .for the kingly power of righteousness expects it, or else he will cast you
out for hypocrites and unsavory salt; for he looks upon all your actions . . .” (Greenblatt et al
1753).
Winstanley sees ‘kingly power’ as ‘covetousness’ in nature. He has no illusions regarding
the legitimacy of the ‘kingly power’ which presents itself either as the King or in the form of
the Commonwealth. In this regard, Christopher Hill remarks, “It was clearer to Winstanley
than to most radicals that the state and its legal institutions existed to hold the lower classes in
place” (269). Yet again, Winstanley turns to the Bible to justify his arguments. He chooses
passages from the Bible that suit his agenda. He relates contemporary history to the allegories
in the Book of Revelation; as a confrontation between the powers of darkness and light. He
warns the Parliamentarians not to indulge themselves in this ‘dark kingly power’, to rise
higher and rule. They should be righteous and work to dismantle the divide created between
the rich and the poor.
Winstanley further narrates that the King, Charles I created the illusion of freedom for both
the gentry and the common people. He talks about the atrocities inflicted by monarchical
absolutism and how the Parliamentarians rose against this tyranny; the way the common
people helped the cause with “their plate, monies, taxes, free-quarter, excise, and to adventure
their lives with them …” (Greenblatt et al 1754) which resulted in victory for Parliament. The
only thing that these common people are interested in is the fruits of their labour and they
plead “…our property in the common land as truly our own by virtue of this victory over the
king…” (Greenblatt et al 1754). In this connection, Winstanley wrote in The Law of Freedom
(1652), “The poorest man hath as true a title and just right to the land as the richest man. True
freedom lies in the free enjoyment of the earth.”
Winstanley suggests practical ways to remedy inequalities and inequities in society and
comes up with four claims. First, by the law of land and purchase; Winstanley appeals that
the common land should be available for the use of common people. Second, the common
land should be divided between the two parties: the Parliament and the common people. He
further says, “The Parliament, consisting of lords of manors and gentry, ought to have their
enclosure lands free to them without molestation. . .. And the common people ... paid taxes
and free-quarter, ought to have the freedom of all waste and common land and crown land
equally among them” (Greenblatt et al 1755). Third, the common people have an equal claim
in the victory against the King, as they helped in creating the Commonwealth and casting
away the ‘kingly power’. He advocates that the lords and corrupt judges should be stripped of
any power as they worked under the King and contributed to the bondage of the people as
they denied “the common people the use and free benefit of the earth” (Greenblatt et al
1755). Fourth, if this freedom of using the common will is denied to the common people that
means the Parliament will also be denying the principles of ‘equity’ and ‘freedom’ on which
the Commonwealth is built. He expresses, “the common land is my own land, equal with my
fellow commoners, and our true property, by the law of creation” (Greenblatt et al 1756). At
the end of the essay, he says that ‘true religion’ is to let everyone enjoy the benefits of the
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common land and appeals to the honour of Christ, the restitution of the land should take place
as it was denied to the common people by the ‘kingly power’ for so long.
5. Conclusion
Through his essay, Winstanley appeals that the common lands should be made available to
common people to farm communally. Winstanley's ideas were highly unpopular among
landowners. Moreover, his proposal was not merely a theoretical recommendation. His
writings showcase a revolutionary spirit (for the downtrodden and the underprivileged)
accompanied by strong religious allusions. Winstanley, through his ideology, wanted to bring
about change in society. He saw society “as a perversion of the natural, ethical, egalitarian
way of life which should have been the birthright of every man and woman” (81).
References
Winstanley, Gerrard. “A New Year's Gift Sent to the Parliament and Army.” The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, 8th ed., vol. 1, edited by Greenblatt et al., W. W. Norton &
Company, 2005, pp. 1752-57.
Augustyn, Adam, et al., editors. “Gerrard Winstanley”. Britannica Encyclopedia, 1 Sep. 20.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerrard-Winstanley
Berens, Lewis H. The Diggers Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth. The Project
Gutenberg, 2006. The Project Gutenberg E-book.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17480/17480-h/17480-h.htm
“Gerrard Winstanley”. Organic Radicals, 25 Oct. 20.
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Unit-5e
The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666, 1668)
by Margaret Cavendish
Mishail Sharma
1. About the Author
Margaret Lucas Cavendish was born in 1623 in Colchester, Essex, England. She was a
playwright, poet, fiction writer, scientist, and philosopher. She published several works
during the Commonwealth and Restoration period and wrote in the wake of the industrial and
mechanistic revolution of seventeenth-century England. She experimented with a variety of
genres that included science, morality, politics, and many more.
Famous for dressing outlandishly to seek attention, Cavendish published her works under
her own name and at her own expense, which was considered an outrageous act for a woman,
especially an aristocratic woman in the seventeenth century. She was also the first woman to
enter the Royal Society, of which her brother, Charles Lucas, was the co-founder. She penned
the famous biography of her husband, William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
called The Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, To Which Is Added the True
Relation of My Birth, Breeding and Life which first appeared in 1667. After reading this work
of hers, Samuel Pepys remarked, she was “a mad, conceited, ridiculous woman, and he
[William Cavendish] an ass to suffer to write what she writes to him and of him” (Greenblatt
et al 1774). Cavendish pursued the path of ‘Natural Philosophy’ and was an active participant
in the scientific discussions and speculations of her time.
Some of her important works are Worlds Olio (1655), Philosophical and Physical
Opinions (1656), Philosophical Letters (1664), Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy
(1666), The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666), and Grounds of
Natural Philosophy (1668). She died on 15 December 1673 in Welbeck Abbey,
Nottinghamshire, England, and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
2. About the Text
The Description of the New World, Called the Blazing World was first published in 1666 and
again in 1668. It is a work of fiction that is often considered a forerunner to the genres both
science fiction and the utopian novel. It is satirical in tone and can also be seen as a treatise
on natural philosophy, which Cavendish was interested in. The work is divided into two parts
and delineates different genres like ‘romantical’, ‘philosophical’, and ‘fancy’ or ‘fantastical’.
The narrative begins with the kidnapping of a young maiden by a widower merchant and
his men. She gets abducted from the seashore of her homeland and carried onto the sea. A
tempest turns the direction of their boat towards the North Pole. Due to deus ex machina,
everyone but the lady dies. The maiden is transported to a different world which is called The
Blazing World. By the virtue of marrying the Emperor, she becomes the Empress of the
Blazing World. She discovers this fantastical world with an extremely diverse society, which
is completely different from the world she comes from. With her taking over the Blazing
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World, the Empress establishes a peaceful order with one religion, one language, and no
sexual discrimination.
The latter part of the work deals with the platonic relationship between the Empress and
Cavendish, the siege of the empress' homeland, and the restoration of peace.
Interestingly, Cavendish published The Blazing World (1666, 1668) in two separate
editions. First, as an ‘appendix’ to her Observations upon Experimental Philosophy (1666,
1668) which was addressed “To the Readers” and the second, as a standalone edition which
was addressed to “To All Noble and Worthy Ladies”.
3. Analysis of the Text
Para 1
Cavendish addresses her readers and explains that she has added a fantastical piece of work,
The Blazing World, at the end of her philosophical work to provide her readers with variety.
The Blazing World was published along with Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, “a
critique of the new science emphasizing the limitations of experiment founded on human
perception and such instruments as the microscope and the telescope” (Greenblatt et al 1780).
This work is a creation of her imagination, in which the first part is ‘romancical’, the second
is ‘philosophical’, and the third is ‘fancy’ or ‘fantastical’ (Greenblatt et al 1780). In the
seventeenth century, women were not given equal rights as men. They were expected to live
their lives, following strict code of conduct. Cavendish points out the way society
discriminates, based on sex, especially against the female sex, while giving a glimpse of her
personal experience. She remarks that she cannot (rather did not intent) be ‘Henry the Fifth’
or ‘Charles the Second’ she would rather be ‘Margaret the First’ (Greenblatt et al 1781).
Despite this discrimination, she has dared to create a world of her own.
Para 2
The paragraph describes the episode in which the lady is brought in front of the Emperor.
Mesmerized by her mortal charms, the Emperor worships her as a goddess and makes her his
wife. He grants her absolute power so she can rule as per her convenience. Although she
explains that she is mortal, the subjects see her as a deity.
Para 3
Cavendish describes the world and its inhabitants. The priests and governors are the princes
of ‘imperial blood’. The ordinary people are of different complexions but their complexion is
nothing like humans. Moreover, the inhabitants are of different sorts, shapes, figures, and so
on. The Empress proceeds to assign each of the different types of men, different occupations
and obligations. For instance, bear-men becomes experimental philosophers, the spider and
lice-men become mathematicians, the satyrs are Galenic physicians, the fly, worm, and fishmen become natural philosophers the fox-men become politicians, and so on.
She investigates various aspects of this strange world. The newly formed Empress probes
into the nature of the government and various laws. She gets to know their preference toward
monarchical rule, as for them, “a monarchy is a divine form of government ... so we are
resolved to have but one emperor, to whom we all submit with one obedience” (Greenblatt et
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al 1782). This also hints at Cavendish’s predisposition towards royalty, as William and
Margaret Cavendish both supported the monarchy. In fact, when Queen Henrietta Maria went
into exile in France after the execution of Charles I, Cavendish accompanied her.
Para 4
While explaining the customs of this world, Cavendish says that all the inhabitants follow
only one religion and worship one God. The Empress queries about the different forms of
worship. Her curiosity leads her to discover a special arrangement in which women are not
allowed to gather at a place of devotion along with men. The reason being that it hinders
men’s devotion and all their concentration is diverted towards their mistresses. Thus, women
pray at home. She also learns why priests and governors are eunuchs. In this utopian world,
every person holding a powerful position has to be a eunuch; to avoid the distractions created
by women and children.
Para 5
The paragraph is from the section, “The Empress Brings The Duchess Of Newcastle To The
Blazing World”. It showcases the beginning of the platonic relationship between the Empress
and the Duchess of Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish. The spirits offer the Empress a ‘scribe’.
Initially, the Empress asks for the soul of either Aristotle, Epicurus, Plato, Pythagoras,
Galileo, Descartes, Hobbes, H. More, and so on but finally, she settles on the Duchess of
Newcastle to be her scribe. One of the reasons to choose her is, “neither will the emperor
have reason to be jealous, she being one of my own sex” (Greenblatt et al 1783). She
welcomes her with a ‘spiritual kiss’ and develops a deep friendship with the Duchess.
Para 6
The paragraph is from the section, “The Duchess Wants A World To Rule”. Here, the
Duchess expresses her ambition to be ‘an emperor of a world’. The Empress lends her
support to the Duchess' ambition. They are informed by the spirits about the infinite worlds
and discuss the possibility of obtaining one of the worlds by the Duchess. The Duchess
expresses her views and wants to pursue her goal of conquest. The Duchess remarks, she
would rather die while pursuing the “adventure of noble achievements” than experience a
dull and boring life; she would rather have a split second of fame than a lifetime of oblivion
(Greenblatt et al 1784). The spirits advise the Duchess to create her own world. The Duchess
happily rejects all the other worlds while wholeheartedly agreeing to create her world.
Para 7
The paragraph is from the section, “The Epilogue to the Reader”. Cavendish addresses the
reader again. She informs that she has fulfilled her desire of being an Empress by becoming
the “authoress of the world” that she created. She claims that both the worlds that she has
engineered, The Blazing World and the Philosophical world (Observations upon
Experimental Philosophy) have been created through her labour involving ‘pure reason’ and
determination. She did not use any brutal force like the conquerors, Alexander, the Great, and
Julius Caesar but killed only a few men, that too in the name of justice in the Blazing World.
She feels delighted and takes pride in the fact that she created a peaceful world as she
chose peace over war, honesty over beauty, and reason over policy; instead of following in
the footsteps of the heroic figures like Achilles, Hector, Caesar, Alexander, Ulysses, and so
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on (Greenblatt et al 1785). She declares herself the Empress of the Philosophical world, as
The Blazing World already has an Empress, who is her platonic friend. She declares, “[she]
shall never prove so unjust, treacherous, and unworthy to her, as to disturb her government,
much less to depose her from her imperial throne, for the sake of any other; but rather choose
to create another world for another friend” (Greenblatt et al 1785).
4. Critical Commentary
The Blazing World (1666, 1668), as a literary work, defies all the literary traditions of the
seventeenth century. The Neo-Classical age writers advocated reason as the basis of literary
endeavour, not imagination. The writers followed rigid guidelines that were inspired by
classical writers. Cavendish created this Utopian fiction and moved beyond the boundaries of
reason and compartmentalized standards. For Cavendish, creating her own world gave her a
sense of control that society denied its fair sex. As Holmesland puts it, “Fancy and
imagination provide compensation for their lack of power in England - and especially for
being women” (469). The Blazing World explores “the themes of imperialism, science,
discovery, and travels present, creating a literal and symbolic textual conquest” (Evans 6).
In addition to being classified as Utopian and science fiction, the work can be seen as a
feminist manifesto. It is written by a female writer, for the female readers in seventeenthcentury England, and has women as central characters, the Empress, and the Duchess,
discussing topics like science, governance, and philosophy in a fantastical setting (Moran 3134). The character of the Empress can be seen as a symbol of the ‘power’ that Cavendish
wished the women of then English society possessed. She always felt women were never
given their due and wholeheartedly believed that women could engage in politics and
understand philosophy, just as well as men. She also advocated for the right to education for
women. In The Blazing World, she creates an ideal world that is starkly different from the
real world. Her world is based on scientific research, understanding, and harmony with
nature.
In The Blazing World, Cavendish shows that women can be phenomenal rulers when
power is given to them. She also shows that women can be as creative and capable as male
writers and calls for abandoning the masculine restrictions.
References
Cavendish, Margaret. “The Blazing World.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th
ed, vol. 1, edited by Greenblatt et al., W. W. Norton & Company, 2005, pp. 1780-85.
Holmesland, Oddvar. “Margaret Cavendish's "The Blazing World": Natural Art and the Body
Politic”. Vol. 96, no. 4, University of North Carolina, 1999, pp 457-479.
“Digital Cavendish Project-The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish”. The International
Margaret Cavendish Society, 14 Oct. 20.
http://digitalcavendish.org/complete-works/the-blazing-world-1668/blazing-world-study-guide/
Evans, Dr. Arthur. “Margaret Cavendish, The Duchess of Newcastle”. DePauw University,
14 Oct. 20. Academia.
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