Studies in English Language and Literature

  Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess : Explanation, Reference to Context, RTC “…………..This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together………..” Ans.  These lines have been extracted from My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. Broadly speaking, this extract gives us a vent to Browning’s one of the best dramatic monologues ever. Apart from that, these couple of lines delineate the climax of the same. These words were uttered by the Duke of Ferrara to the emissary or the envoy of the Count whose daughter was about to be the new Duchess. Thus, we come to know that these words were spoken at the time of their interaction about the new marriage of the Duke. Here, it can be discerned that the Duke murdered his jubilant, innocent and simpleminded Duchess. Even after that, he is conspicuously organised in his words. He never likes to stoop, thinking of his blue blood. He is transcendentally boastful of his aristocracy. These lines startle us with fear, as and when we com...

  William Blake, a mystic, a visionary, a pre-Romantic as well as a Romantic poet, is best known for his Songs of Innocence and of Experience . In his Songs , we get a reverberating message of the ‘two equal states of the human soul’. In this regard, we should note that The Lamb is the theme poem of his Songs of Innocence , while The Tyger is the theme poem of his Songs of Experience . However, here, we shall discuss a bit about his The Lamb . Broadly speaking, The Lamb is a poem of two stanzas with ten lines each. It is usually said that this poem is composed in nursery rhyme. It produces a jingling sound in our hearts, as we go through it. However, this creation by Blake, no doubt, conveys great messages to us, as and when we intend to discover those. It must be noted that this poem is spoken through the voice of a little human child to a lamb. Most strikingly, as we advance reading the poem, we, slowly but surely, come to discern the serious meanings of life in an easy wa...

  How is the sea represented in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea ? /Write a brief note on the emblem of the sea as in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea . /What does the sea epitomise in The Old man and the Sea ? /Give the pen-picture of the sea as drawn by Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea . In the novel named ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, we come to find a vivid pen-picture of the restless ocean. The marine world is a crony to manifold creatures living therein harmoniously. Still, there is a great truth that should be kept in mind: the ocean is merciful as well as malignant. It is full of very beauty indeed. Its grace and beauty probably points to its feminine approach, whereas its dominance and strictness, perhaps, speaks of its masculine force. In the course of the text, we come to know that the sea was thought to be the beloved by Santiago. The sea seemed to be his ‘beloved woman’. The Spanish expression la mar indicates so. Again, the sea was thought...

What is the definition of ‘aside’? / What is ‘aside’? / How do you define ‘aside’? / What does ‘aside’ mean to you? Write down the gist of Nitin’s aside as found in Bravely Fought the Queen by Mahesh Dattani. We come to discern the occurrences of or the examples of ‘aside’ in a drama or in a play. An ‘aside’ is a remark made by a character in the play or in the drama. However, the remark is made to the audience but not to the other characters in that play. The other characters are unaware of what is said in an ‘aside’.             Through his aside, Nitin gives a vent to his homosexuality in the concluding part of the play. In the course of the play, we come to find that Nitin had a homosexual relationship with Praful, who was Alka’s brother and who has been called deceptive. Since Alka was a sound sleeper, Nitin took advantage of her weak point.         After all of the lights were extinguished, Nitin, lyi...

In Rajmohan's Wife , a novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, we come across the character of Suki’s mother in the twelfth chapter of the work. Portrayed as a bucolic character, she is a middle-aged woman. She had dark complexion with partial hair growth and a creased visage. Clad in abrasive clothes, she had a very simple appearance. She had a couple of friends named Kanak and Matangini. Apart from being sympathetic to Matangini, she was full of duty, responsibility and awareness of her household chores. Besides being helpful and supportive, Suki’s mother, by and large, loved and advised Matangini a lot. She was suffused with receptivity, compassion and affection. Moreover, she fostered a mind that was practical. Suki’s mother, with a heart full of mercy, with strong resolution, worked as a maidservant in Mathur Ghose’s residence. She was very much loyal too. However, nothing or nobody can be bereft of any ill act. Who can be perfect completely? Suki’s mother was not an except...

At the outset of our discussion, let us all have an idea of the term ‘cuckold’. ‘Cuckold’ refers to the husband of an unfaithful or adulterous wife. The chief purpose of cuckoldry, a crucial feature of the Restoration Comedy of Manners, is to ridicule the society by means of satire. Rajmohan’s Wife records the story of Matangini who is a pure and untainted girl. The novel also gives an account of her ill and unhappy wedlock with Rajmohan. In course of the novel, we come to find that Rajmohan is actually brutal and cruel by nature through and through. Matangini was in love with Madhav before her marriage with Rajmohan. Madhav has been portrayed to be an English-educated man. However, she had to get married to Rajmohan due to her father’s pressure. Matangini, the female protagonist in Bankim Chandra’s novel, is found to be oscillating between the social norms and her scruples. After leaving the house with Kanak for fetching water, she asserts her own identity against the norms of the pa...

  Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party”: Actwise Summary/ Detailed Summary of the Play/ Thorough Summary/ Actwise Synopsis/ Plotline of the Play/ Outline of the Play/ Story Outline   Act I The opening scene of Harold Pinter’s play named The Birthday Party is discerned in the scruffy room of a household in a tiny town, by the sea, with a door. When we come to see the curtain rising, we get to know Petey who enters with a newspaper and then takes a seat near the table. We can hear Meg’s voice through the hatch of the kitchen. Now let us get introduced to the characters of the play: Petey, Meg, Stanley, Lulu, Goldberg and McCann. All through the play, random references to food are provided, even though, sometimes they are not understood properly. Here we come to find Meg serving breakfast to Petey, her husband. Again, on the contrary, we come to notice the lack of proper understanding in this regard. For instance, when Stanley is asked about the fried bread, he thinks and t...