Multiplicity of Themes in Middlemarch

Assignment Paper9-E-C-204

Topic- Multiplicity of themes in Middlemarch

Dabhi Ashvin P

M.A. Part – 1

SEM- II

Roll No -06

Year – 2010-11

Department of English

Submitted to Miss Ruchira Dudhrejiya

Department of English,

Bhavnagar University

Ø Introduction:-

        “Middlemarch” is written by George Eliot who was born on November 22, 1819. Eliot chose to write her novels under a male pseudonym Mary Anne Evans. This is a highly unusual novel. Though It is primarily a Victorian novel it has many characteristics typical to modern novels. The subtitle of this novel is “A study of provincial life.” This means the Middlemarch represents the lives of ordinary people, not the grand adventures of princes and kings. Middlemarch represents the spirit of nineteenth century England through the unknown, historically unremarkable common people. England is the process of rapid industrialization. We can find many themes in this novel.

Ø Major themes of Middlemarch :-

 Responsibility:-

        This is a major theme of Fred’s story, and he must become responsible for his finance and his choices. Will do too, to a certain extent. Bothe men must learn how to rely on themselves, not infringe upon others. He also must learn how to become independent in many ways. Bestrode tries to give him money to repent for hiding his existence from his grand mother. He refuses the money because he knows it come through thievery. He worships Dorothea. He doesn’t care for money and loves everything that is beautiful.

 The imperfection of Marriage:-

      Most character in ‘Middlemarch’ marry for love rather than obligation, yet marriage still appears negative and unromantic. Marriage and the pursuit of it are central concerns in Middlemarch. In many novels of the time, Marriage is not considered the ultimate source of happiness. Two examples are the failed marriage of Dorothea and Lydgate. Dorothea wants to reform the society. She wants a kind of social reform which removes all the vices from the society so she wants to marry because of helping. She chooses wrong person we can say that passionate nature makes unconscious while taking decision. Marriage becomes her very unconscious. She doesn’t know regarding the society and for that she jumps into the society. We are reformer or creator. We are the cause or reason and we are suffering. Individual thinking can not be work. She has to make a journey. She can journey from individual to society. Her journey is not easy. She has to reconcile with so many mind, so many psyches. She is the failure in herself. She is getting failure herself. Her actions are not clear or far from clear. What is she doing she doesn’t know. The reason is her passionate nature. The reason is her thoughtless nature. Her marriage fails because of her youth and of her illusions about marrying a much older man, while Lydgate’s marriage fails because of irreconcilable personalities. Mr. and Mrs. Bulstrode also face a marital crisis due to his inability to tell her about the past and Fred Vincy and Mary Garth also face a great deal of hardship in making their union. As none of the marriage reach a perfect fairy tale ending. ‘Middlemarch’ offers a clear critique of the usual portrayal of marriage as romantic and unproblematic.

Stubbornness:-

         A big issue of character Rosamond is extremely stubborn. The meaning of this sentence is that if things aren’t done her way, she will go behind other people’s backs to do things the way she thinks they should be done. Societal stubbornness is responsible for Lydgate’s failure with his medical practice. People want what they want, for whatever reasons, which means that they are blind to things that might be best for them.

Prejudice:-

       This theme that Lydgate and Ladislaw can’t seem to beat. People in Middlemarch dislike anyone who is not from Middlemarch or anyone whose reputation seems questionable. Ladislaw and Lydgate are both good people, but it is initial prejudice. Sometimes based on invalid or circumstantial reasons, those mean that they are never liked or accepted in Middlemarch.

Conformity:-

         An issue that is related to societal expectation but it is somewhat different. People are supposed to conform to certain social ideas and norms. Dorothea is supposed to be a proper wife and then a proper widow, and follow society’s set guidelines about how to fill each position. Ladislaw fits no position that society to group him into, so he is dislike he refuses to be conventional or proper or to fit into that society and its ideas of how someone like Ladislaw should act.

Self Determination v/s chance:-

       In the present novel, self determination and chance are not opposing forces but rather a complicated balancing act, when characters strictly adhere to a belief in either chance or self determination, bad things happen. When Rosamond goes against the wishes of her husband and write a letter asking for money from his relative. Her act of self determination putts Lydgate in unsavory and tense situations coupled with a refusal to help. On the flip side when Fred Vincy gambles away his money, relying solely on chance, he falls into debt and drags with him; the people who trust him. Only when he steps away from gambling and decides not to go into the clergy do good things begin to happen for him. In particular, the character between fate and self determination. This balance is exemplified in his educated gamble in myth blame of whist.

Love:-

        Love keeps people together, or the drift apart. Those who are truly in love like Ladislaw and Dorothea, Mary and Fred are bound together by it. They are very alike in temperament and outlook. Those who lake it like Lydgate and Rosamond, Casaubon and Dorothea are ill-suited to each other in marriage and they are very disappointed by their unions. Will is the grandson of Casaubon’s disinherited aunt Bultrode tries to give him money to repent for hiding his existence from his grandmother. He refuses the money because he knows it came through thievery. He worships Dorothea. He doesn’t care for money and loves everything that is beautiful.

Unity of Middlemarch:-

        The decisions made by every person in Middlemarch seem to have a direct effect on at least one other person. Mary’s decision to marry Fred Vincy means that fare brother is without a wife. Dorothea’s decision to choose Casaubon leads Sir James Chettam to choose Celia. Bulstrode’s dirty dealings with regard to Raffles mean disgrace to both Lydgate and Will Laidslaw. Everyone in Middlemarch is intimately connected and it seems that no one can move around without disturbing someone else.

Vanity:-

          Especially relevant to Rosamond and her suitors.  Rosamond s is exceptionally vain about her charm and her appearances. So much her so that it is a shock to her when her friend Ladislaw says he doesn’t love her. Her unsuccessful suitors are all equally vain, and blame Lydgate rather than Rosamond’s lack of interest, when she will not return their favor.

Social Expectations:-

         Closely linked to society’s hierarchy. They are ideas about how everyone should act in certain situations. Lydgate proposes to Rosamond because society expects that he should do it. Dorothea is pushed to live with someone else or marry again after she is widowed, because society expects that it is right. People don’t necessarily follow these expectations, nor should they but they do exist and play a part in people’s lives.

Self-discovery:-

        There are certain truths which every character learns about him in the course of trials. Lydgate and Rosamond find out more about their characters through their money troubles, though they do not always adjust accordingly. Dorothea Brooke makes the most dramatic journey of self discovery and changes a great deal within the course of the novel.

Reality v/s Expectations:-

      Many character’s preconceived ideas, especially of marriage, are proves tragically wrong in the course of the book. Casaubon and Dorothea Brooke both have unrealistic ideas about marriage and are disappointed. Lydgate and Rosamond have the same idea and are let down. Life often defies what one expects, or could predict of it and the people who are happiest are ones who have few expectations, or are most flexible.

Gender roles and expectations:-

        Especially relevant to Dorothea, Middlemarch society has very defined ideas of what the people of each gender should do within the society, and people, especially women who deviate from this norm, are looked down upon. Dorothea is tolerated because she is of good family and does not disrupt the society she is in. however, she faces a great deal or pressure to change herself, conform to other’s ideas, and submit herself to male leadership at all times.

Progress:-

        Much is changing in the world of Middlemarch. English society is evolving in social economic, technologic areas. Socially, ideas of gender and class are in flux, as women are proving more and more competent and the industrial revolution is causing a greater amount of social mobility. The economy of England is changing, from an aristocratic, inheritance-based system of holding wealth and land, to one based on commerce, business, and manufacturing. Technology is also changing, in medical science and in areas like transportation and these are changes that area beginning to sweep through Middlemarch.

Money:-

      Money is the root of many evils but much good, in the novel. Lydgate get desperate for want of it, Fred despairs when he has little, Dorothea becomes generous when she carefully since their money is limited. Money has a profound effect on character within the novel, and though many people are judged by now much money they have, many of the best people in this novel very little.

Conclusion:-

      In this novel we can see many themes. In this novel everything is political in Middlemarch, with most people strongly backing the conservative party. People within the novel have varying ideas of family obligation in the novel, though it is a strong force in Middlemarch society.

  

      

Cultural Studies in practice: Frankenstein

Assignment Paper-E-E-205-B

Topic- Cultural Studies in practice: Frankenstein

Dabhi Ashvin P

M.A. Part – 1

SEM- II

Roll No -06

Year – 2010-11

Department of English

Submitted to Dr. Dilip Barad

Department of English,

Bhavnagar University

________________________________________

Ø Introduction:-

         The novel “Frankenstein is written by Mary Shelly. Her novel has morphed into countless forms in both height brow and popular culture. Her creation teaches us not to underestimate the power of youth culture. It is truly captivating powerful novel that analyzes ‘Monstrosity’ with regard to ‘humanity’. However without a sound understanding of the context, in which the text was written one couldn’t completely comprehend the themes, ideas and references did not present nor can the apparent link between monstrosity and humanity be completely fathomed.

        By investigating the novels scientific and philosophical context one can discern the reason behind Mary Shelley depicting the creature’s creation and development in the manner she chose to researching into the literary context provides one with superior appreciation of inter- textual references, the style in which the novel has been written and the novel’s secondary title ‘The Modern Prometheus’. Similarly an understanding of the historical context grants one the ability to identify the allegory of the industrial revolution.

The creation was made of human parts. It was in essence human can on judge this as being monstrous. Bearing in mind that the historical context and allegory of the industrial revolution. Electricity was another monumental scientific discovery of the time. One those many viewed with awe and wonder. The creature saw characteristics of himself in both Adam and Satan. Just as human that created the monster. Victor can be seen as the god who has created Adam and Eve and Satan. In Milton’s paradise lost’ god created all human being but some human did not under control of him so god departed them and theme they had become Satan. In this epic we can see Satan wants to be king. The same thing happened in the present novel victor Frankenstein has made the monster and then he wants to become the emperor of world.

Victor Frankenstein can be seen as the modern Prometheus. Again, with greater knowledge of the context the “spark of being” (electricity) is further clarified. Shelley ideally represents electricity as the modern heavy fire”. The main influence on Frankenstein avoid had been through the presentation of the Promethean legend. The individual and his quest can be interpreted as Frankenstein or the creature whose journey to achieve revenge.

With regard to the text “historical context”, Frankenstein is interpreted as allegorical of the industrial revolution. Hence, from the knowledge of the novels scientific context one experiences a greater understanding of firstly where the text predominant idea had its origin, and also elucidates the creation. As it was human influence that converted the creature into an “evil” being. Some negative aspects can be seen as monstrous if they resulted from humans from the texts scientific context one can see that victor Frankenstein achievement was the objective for many scientists of that time. References to Milton “paradise lost” reoccur throughout the novel. Sound knowledge of paradise lost one is able to identify the parallels between paradise lost and Frankenstein. However the Gods Frankenstein punished Prometheus was punished by his own creation.

Frankenstein’s rejection of his Monster can be interpreted to be a representation of man being ironically disgusted at sin his own sin. He can be likened to a man who has condemned fornication in public. He keeps going to motels and sex clubs in secret. What Frankenstein created in his Monster is in one way a mirror of his own soul. He made the Monster through his rejection, not through the lab experiments. His ‘evil side’ was transferred or loneliness. Frankenstein and Monster were both lonely in the world.

(1) Revolutionary Births:-

Born like its creator in an age of revolution, Frankenstein challenged accepted ideas of its day. As it has become increasingly co modified by modern consumer culture, one wonders whether its original revolutionary spirit and its critique of scientific, philosophical, and political and gender issues have become obscured instead its continuing transformation attests to its essential oppositional nature. Hardly a day goes by without out seeing an image or allusion to Frankenstein, from CNN descriptions of Saddam Hussein as an “American created Frankenstein” to magazine articles that warn of genetically engineered “Frankenstein”, test-tube babies, and cloning.

A.    The creature as proletarian:-

       We recall from earlier chapters that Mary Shelly lived during times of great upheaval in Britain, not only was her own family full of radical thinkers but she also met many others such as Thomas Paine and William Blake, P.B.Shelley was thought of as a dangerous radical bent on labor reform and was spied upon by the government.

We can take help of the example from Milton’s “paradise lost”. In this epic God governed Satan. He thought it is better to rule in hell rather than heaven.

   

B.   A Race of Devils: -

         Frankenstein may be analyzed in its portrayal of different “races”. Though the creature’s skin is only described as yellow, it has been constructed out of a cultural tradition of the threatening ‘other’ or giant, gypsy or Negro.

        Though the abolitionists wished to portray the black man or woman as brother or sister, they also created an image of the African as a childlike, suffering and degraded being. To turn him (the slave) loose in the manhood of his physical strength, in the maturity of his physical passion but in the infancy of his uninstructed reason. The labors are not educated people and this concept we can see in the present novel.

C.   From natural philosophy to Cyber: -

Today in the age of genetic engineering, biotechnology and cloning, the most far-reaching industrialization of life forms to date. Frankenstein is more relevant than ever. Developments in science were increasingly critical to society during the Romantic period when a paradigm shift occurred from science as natural philosophy to science as biology, a crucial distinction in “Frankenstein”. Mary Shelley attended public demonstrations of the effect of electricity on animal and human bodies, living and dead.

      Today we are constantly confronted with new developments in fertility science and new philosophical conundrums that result from genetic engineering, in vitro fertilization, cloning and the prolongation of life by artificial means. Couples taking fertility treatments sometimes have to face the difficult choice of “selective reduction” or the possible adverse results of multiple premature births. People wonder, has science gone too far? According to cultural critic, victor’s creation of life and modern sperm banks and artificial wombs show a masculine to claim female reproductively”. “Frankenstein” and its warnings about the hubris of science will be with us in the future as science continues to question the borders between life and death, between viability and selective reduction between living and life support. We can take example of a doctor who lives in Anand. He knows about the surrogate mother.

(2) Archetype of Frankenstein in popular culture:-

  

         Timothy Morton uses the term Frankenstein, drawn from sonic elements of    language, as used in structural linguistics and visual elements as “elements of culture that are derived from “Frankenstein”. We end with a quick look at some of the thousands of retelling, parodies and other selected Frankenphemes as they have appeared in popular fiction, drama, film and television.

(a)             Fiction:-

           Frankenstein’s fictions peter Haining, editor of the indispensable Frankenstein omnibus has called Frankenstein “the single greatest horror story novel ever written and the most widely influential in its genre”. The first story about a female monster is French author Villiers de Lisle Adam’s “the future Eve”, an 188 novelette not translated into English until fifty years later, in which an American inventor modes on Thomas Edison makes an artificial woman for his friend. Jack London’s early story, “A thousand Deaths” (189), is a gruesome science fiction tale of a scientist who stays at sea on his laboratory ship, repeatedly killing then reviving his son, until the son has enough and kills his father.

(b)             “Frankenstein” on the stage:-

         From his debut on the stage, the creature has generally been made more horrified and victor has been assigned less blame. Most stage and screen versions are quite melodramatic, tending to eliminate minor characters and the entire frame structure in order to focus upon murder and Mayhem. Dramatist would not want to try for all of the complexities of the novel. In stage versions only a few key scenes, the creation of the creature are used. On the nineteenth century stage, the creature was a composite of frightening makeup and human qualities. He could even appear clownish, recalling Shakespeare’s Cali ban.

      The first theatrical presentation based on “Frankenstein” was “The fate of Frankenstein” by Richard Brinsley Peak; performed at the English Opera House in London Mary Shelley herself attended the play and pronounced it authentic. But this “serious” drama immediately inspired parodies, first with “Frankenstein” in 1823, a burlesque featuring a tailor, who as the “Needle Prometheus” sews a body out of nine corpses.

(D)Film Adaptations:-

     In the “Frankenstein omnibus” readers can study the screenplay for the 1931 James whale film “Frankenstein”, the most famous of all adaptations. It was loosely based on the novel with the addition of new elements, including the placing of a criminal brain into the monster’s body. Thomas Edison in 1910, a one, however produced the first film version of “Frankenstein” –reel tinted silent. Early German films that were heavily influenced by this “Frankenstein” were the cabinet of Dr.Caligari (1920). The golem (1920) and Metropolis (192).

In whale’s “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) there is a return to the frame structure but this time we begin with Mary Shelley discussing her novel with P.B.Shelley. She is played by Elsa LAN Chester, who also plays the female creature, with her during black eyes an queen; this one tends toward comedy, parody and satire rather than pure horror.

(D)  Television Adaptations:-

     “Frankenstein has surfaced in hundreds of television adaptations, including “Night Gallery, The Addams family, The Munster, star trek. The next generation, notable television creatures have included Bo Swenson, Randy quad, David Warner and Ian Holm. Perhaps the most authentic television version was “Frankenstein” The true story (192) with script writing by Christopher Isherwood and acting by James Mason.

Ø Conclusion:-

      In this novel we can see many cultural elements. There s some element of worker or labor. We can study some cultural aspect with the help of Milton’s “Paradise lost”.

   

Assignment Paper-E-C-201

Topic- Thematic Concerns in Wuthering Heights

Dabhi Ashvin P

M.A. Part – 1

SEM- II

Roll No -06

Year – 2010-11

Department of English

Submitted to Mr. Jay Mehta

Department of English,

Bhavnagar University.

___________________________________________

Introduction:-The novel “Wuthering Heights” is the most popular and highly regarded novels in English literature. It is written by Emily Bronte. The concept that almost every reader of “Wuthering Heights” focuses on is the passion, love of Catherine and Heathcliff, often to the exclusion of every other kinds of love of are presented and that Catherine dies half way through the novel. The loves of the second generations, the love of Frances and Hindley and the “susceptible heart” of Lockwood receive scant attention from such readers. Is love the force perhaps economic?

            The desire for wealth does motivate Catherin’s marriage, which results in Heathcliff’s fight and causes him to acquire Wuthering Heights, to appropriate Thrushcross Grange and to dispossess Hareton. It is possible that one of the other themes constitutes the center of the to the theme of love?

            Consider the following themes:-

Ø  Clash of elemental forces:-

            The universe is made up of two opposite forces, storm and calm. Wuthering      Heights and the Earnshaws express the storm, Thrushcross Grange and the Lintons the calm. Catherine and Heathcliff are elemental creatures of the storm. This theme is discussed more fully in later critical response to Wuthering Heights.

Ø  The clash of economic interests and social classes:-

The novel is set at a time when capitalism and industrialization are changing not only the economy but also the traditional social structure and the relationship of the classes. The respectable farming class was being destroyed by the economic alliance of the newly-wealthy capitalist (Heathcliff) and the traditional power holding gentry (the Lintons). This theme is discussed more fully in “Wuthering Heights” as socio-economic Novel.

Ø  The striving for transcendence:-

It is not just love that Catherine and Heathcliff seek but a higher, spiritual existence which is permanent and unchanging, as Catherine makes clear when she compares her love for Linton to the seasons and her love for Heathcliff to the rocks. The dying Catherine looks forward to achieving this state through death. This theme is discussed more fully in Religion, Metaphysics and Mysticism.

Ø  The abusive patriarch and patriarchal family:-

The male heads of household abuse females and males who are weak or powerless. This can be seen in their use of various kinds of imprisonment or confinement, which takes social, emotional, financial, legal and physical forms. Mr. Earnshaw expects Catherine to behave properly and hurtfully rejects her “bad girl” behavior. Edger’s ultimatum that Catherine must make a final choice between him and Heathcliff restricts Catherine’s identity by forcing her to reject an essential part of her nature, with loving selfishness Edger confines his daughter Cathy to the boundaries of Thrushcross Grange. A vindictive Hindley strips Heathcliff of his position in the family, thereby trapping him in a degraded laboring position. Heathcliff literally incarcerates Isabella and later he imprisons both Cathy and Nelly also, Cathy is isolated from the rest of the household after her marriage to Linton.

Ø  Study of childhood and the family:-

The hostility toward and the abuse of children and family members at Wthering Heights cut across the generations. The savagery of children finds full expression in Hindley’s animosity toward Heathcliff and in Heathcliff’s plans of vengeance. Wrapped in the self-centeredness of childhood, Heathcliff claims Hindley’s horse and uses Mr. Earnshaw’s children, she becomes renellious. Despite abuse, Catherine and Heathcliff show the strength of children to survive and abuse at least party forms the adult characters and behavior of Catherine and Heathcliff.

Ø  The effect of intense suffering:-

In the passion-driven characters Catherine, Heathcliff and Hindley pain leads them to turn on and to torment others. Inflicting pain provides them some relief, this behavior raises questions about whether they are cruel by nature or are formed by childhood abuse and to what extent they should be held responsible for or blamed for their cruelties. All their suffering inflicted by others or by outside forces, like the death of Hindley’s wife, or at least some of their torment self inflicted, like Heathcliff’s holding Catherine responsible for his suffering after her death. Suffering also sears the weak, Isabella and her son Linton became vindictive and Edger turns into self indulgent, melancholy recluse. The children of love, the degraded Hareton and the imprisoned Cathy are able to overcome Heathcliff’s abuse and to find love and a future with each other. Is John Hasan right that “Wuthering Heights” is such a remarkable work partly because it persuades us forcibly to pity victims and victimizers alike?

Ø  Self-imposed or self-generated confinement and escape:-

Both Catherine and Heathcliff find their bodies prisons which trap their spirits and prevent the fulfillment of their desires. Catherine yearns to be united with Heathcliff, with a lost childhood freedom with Nature and with a spiritual realm. Heathcliff wants possession of and union with Catherine also defines the course of Catherine’s life. In childhood she alternates between the constraint of Wuthering Heights and the freedom of the moors. In puberty she is restricted by her injury to a couch at Thrushcross Grange finally womanhood and her choice of husband confine her to the gentility of Thrushcross Grange from which she escapes into the freedom of death.

Ø  Displacement and exile:-

Heathcliff enters the novel possesses of nothing. He is not even given a last or family name and loses his privileged status after Mr.Earnshaw’s death. Heathcliff displaces Hindley in the family structure. Catherine is thrown out of heaven, where she feels displaced. She sees herself an exile at Thrushcross Grange at the end and wanders the moors for twenty years as a ghost. Hareton is dispossessed of property, education and social status. Isabella cannot return to her beloved Thrushcross Grange and brother. Linton is displaced twice after his mother’s death, being removed first to Thrushcross Grange and then to Wuthering Heights. Cathy is displaced from her home, Thrushcross Grange.

Ø  Communication and understanding:-

The narrative structure of the novel revolves around communication and under standing. Lockwood is unable to communicative with or understands the relationships at Wuthering Heights and Nelly enlightens him by communicating the history of the Earnshow and the Lintons. Trying to return to the Grange in a snowstorm, Lockwood cannot see the stone markers. A superstitions Nelly refuses to let Catherine tell her dreams. Repeatedly is talking about or refuses to accept what Catherine is saying after that she locks herself in her room. Isabella refuses to heed Catherine’s warning and Nellie’s advice about Heathcliff. And probably the most serious mis-communication of all is Heathcliff’s Hearing only that it would degrade Catherine to marry him.

Ø  The Fall:-

Recently a number of critics have seen the story of a fall in this novel, Does Catherine fall, in yielding to the comforts and security of Thrushcross Grange? Does Heathcliff fall in his “moral teething” of revenge and pursuit of property? The theme of a fall relies heavily on  he references to heaven and hell that run through the novel beginning with Lockwood’s explicit reference to Wuthering Heights as a “misanthrope’s heaven” and ending with the implied heaven of the ghosts of Heathcliff and Catherine roaming the moors together. Catherine dreams o of being expelled from heaven and sees herself an exile cast out from the heaven” of Wuthering Heights- a literal as well as a symbolic fall. Heathcliff likes Satan. He is relentless in his destructive pursuit of revenge. The ideas of expulsion from heaven, exile and desire for revenge have been connected to Milton’s epic “paradise lost” and parallels drawn between Milton’s epic and Bronte’s novel. Catherine’s pain at her change from free child to imprisoned adult is compared to Satan’s to Beelzebub, how changed from an angel of light to exile in a fiery lake”.

Ø  The Destructiveness of a love that never changes:-

In this novel Catherine and Heathcliff’s passion for one another seems to be the centre of “Wuthering Heights. It is stronger and more lasting than any other emotion displayed in the major conflicts that structure the novel’s plot. As she tells Catherine and Heathcliff’s story, Nelly criticizes both of them harshly condemning their passion as immoral but this passion is obviously one of the most compelling and memorable aspects of the book. It is not easy to decide whether Bronte intends the reader to condemn these lovers as romantic heroes whose love transcends social norm and conventional morality. The book is actually structured around two parallel love stories, the first half of the novel centering on the love between Catherine and Heathcliff, while the less dramatic second half features the developing love between young Catherine and Hareton. In contrast to the first, the latter tale ends happily restoring peace and order to Wuthering heights and Thrushcross Grange. The differences between the two love stories contempt to the reader understands. The most important features of young Catherine or Harleton’s love story are that it involves growth and chance. Early in the novel Hareton seems brutal, savage and illiterate over time he becomes a loyal friend to young Catherine and learns to read.

Moreover, Catherine and Heathcliff love is based on their shared perception that they are identical. Catherine declare famously, “I am Heathcliff”, while Heathcliff upon Catherine’s death, wails that he can live without his “soul” that means Catherine. Their love denies difference and is strong unsexual. 

  

   

  

    

Assignment Paper-5

Topic- Willy Loman as a victim of capitalist society

Dabhi Ashvin P

M.A. Part – 1

Roll No -11

Year – 2010-11

Department of English

Submitted to Mr. Jay Mehta

Department of English,

Bhavnagar University.

__________________________________________

                                                             

v Introduction: - Willy Loman is the protagonist of the play “Death of a salesman” by Arthur Miller. Through Willy’s character Miller has depicted the life of a common man. Willy Loman as his name suggest is the average lower middle class American. He is everyman his life is typical, dull, and innocent. He has two ambitions. He wants to be rich and he wants to be loved by his elder son Biff. The end of the play is partly ironical and partly positive. Willy becomes rich but only when he is dead he dies with the satisfaction that Biff really loves him.

The common theme of Miller’s play is the individual versus society. As a dramatist he concentrated on the single subject-“The struggle…of the individual attempting to gain his rightful position in his society” or in his family which is a part and unit of society. Like Ibsen, Shaw and Galsworthy, Miller also deals with social problems of the modern men but in a different manner.

In Death of a Salesman also the same theme of self-interest appears. Willy Loman, the hero is a salesman who is driven by two examples of success that have a strong hold or his imagination. These are, first that of a brother who ran away and became rich, and secondly of a very successful salesman to whom buyers come without his having to take the slightest trouble. Loman is propelled not by ambition for himself but for his two sons, for whom he wants every good thing. But contrary to his expectation the sons come eventually to despise him. In his conformation with his elder son Biff, Loman sees everything with brilliant clarity. Biff asserts his independence by rejecting all the dreams the father has spun for him and by asserting his right to be a failure. A possibility of making his son care for him opens out before him, and the salesman goes out crying out “That boy-that boy is going to be magnificent” The idea that has just dawned on his mind is that of committing suicide, making Biff come into the twenty thousand dollars of his life insurance. The deluded salesman contemplates Biffs’ reaction to this magnanimous deed of his father. Even Ben, his brother, he thinks will worship him for it. With a sense of triumph he asserts that Biff will thus be able to go on better than his neighbor’s son Bernard. He says, “When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard again.”

v Willy is a exhausted salesman:-

Willy is a travelling salesman in Wagner’s company. He is past sixty tears of age. He is exhausted. His wife Linda suggests that he should ask for a job in the firm’s office in New York so that he doesn’t have to travel. He tells her that the firm needs him not in New York but in the New England. He feels that he is largely responsible for the large sales of the products in the New England. He feels that he is vital in New England. He claims to know all the important people in his area. He says that he can park his car wherever he likes and the police would protect it. He thinks himself to be a very successful salesman but it is his self adaption. Dave Singleman is his ideal. He always follows his example. In reality he is an utter failure who is not earning properly and he is unable to meet his financial needs as well as he feels loneliness.

v A man of many illusions:-

Willy is a man of many illusions. He thinks that if a man wants to be successful in life, he should not only be liked but well liked. Willy loves material success. He feels that such success can be achieved by personal magnetism and the spirit of enterprise. He speaks highly of himself and of his son Biff. He has innocent faith in the goodness and rightness of other people. He thinks that if you make yourself likable, you can end up with diamonds. Realization comes to him when he is neglected by his boss and rejected by his own sons in the dinner scenes. His second illusion is greater than this first one. He gives importance to personal attractiveness rather than hard work. The results are contrary to this.

v He is a demonic figure in a shabby business suit:-

Willy Loman is a demonic figure in a shabby business suit, a man unable to compromise his dream, who like the tragic comic Spanish Don Quixote who hurled himself foolishly and wonderfully against the world’s wind mills must pursue his conception of himself wherever it will lead him with an intensity that most definitely passes he seeks a kind of ecstasy in life which by it’s very nature is impossible to maintain. Nevertheless, his inherent humanity and his capacity for love and self-sacrifice sympathetically and poignantly qualify this destruction.

v He is a dreamer:-

In his younger days of salesmanship he dreamed: “somebody I’ll have my own business and I’ll never have to leave home anymore.” At that time his son Happy had expressed his hope that time he would have as big a business as uncle charley’s but willy had confidently said: “Bigger than uncle charley, Because charley is not liked. He’s liked, but he is not well lied.”Illusions are real to Willy. He never comes out of the world of dreams, illusions and false beliefs. He boasts to his sons and wife. He tells them that people all round the places he visits know him, but when he dies there comes hardly any mourner to shed tears over his death. One reason of his failure is his misplaced with in the power of personal attractiveness. Second reason is his extra-ordinary concern for the well-being of his sons. He does not allow his children freedom to find out their own values. On the contrary, he wants to bring them up in his own world of illusions and false beliefs. He never let’s them face reality. Thirdly, he is a victim of his society which encourages and develops in its members false values. It is the world of competition that has caused his doom.

v Willy Loman is a low man:-

He is a salesman who sells not goods but his “self.” He gives his life, or sells it in order to justify the waste of it. He is so many things at a time- a father, a husband, a salesman, a member of a society, an item of human psyche, a tragic hero. To use miller’s words “Willy is a baby, Willy is a victim.”He represents the whole mass of American civilization a slogan out of the 1930s, ‘a banner to liberate people’, ‘a criticism of society’. He is an indictment against the machine civilization of America which has deprived man of his real content and peace of mind. He is indeed an average American. As Miller himself has said, “I didn’t write ‘Death of a salesman’ to announce some new American man, or an old American man. Willy Loman is, I think a person who embodies of himself some of the most terrible conflicts running through the streets of America today.” Thus Loman is everyman or any common man.

v Willy also suffer from a sense of inadequacy and inferiority:-

He tries to talks about something he does hot know anything about. In the play, several times he hints at his sense of insecurity, of haunting loneliness, of ravaging emptiness, of the lack of communication, of his inarticulate grouping into the meaning of a purposeful life. He feels that the structure of his life is built on a temporary edifice, and not on solid foundations.

v Misfit in the environment of capitalist society in which he lived:-

One way Willy is quite misfit in the environment in which he lives. He is very much depressed by the harshness of life and surrounding. He always wants to escape in his imagination world. He loves nature and it symbolizes his far off happiness that Willy wants to have. He is frustrated by the building around him. He says: “The grass don’t grow anymore, you can’t raise carrot in the backyard.”

His memories of elm trees, the beautiful melody of flute etc, they are suggestive of his love for nature. The symbolic planting of a garden before his death is also quite symbolic. He loves roadside scenery. He tells Linda that it is very beautiful. The trees are thick and the sun is warm. He is sorry for the jungle of bricks around him. He misses the fresh air of the past. He feels that increase in population is ruining the country. Thus he is depressed by materialistic world around him

v Contradicts himself and often absent minded:-

Willy is often confused. He contradicts himself and becomes absent minded. In the beginning of the play he returns from his journey without completing his work as he was unable to drive his car. He tells Linda about Biff that he is lazy and just after sometimes he describes him as a hard worker. He says that he is not lazy. Though all the windows are open, He absent mindedly asks India to open them.

v A pathetic person:-

Willy is a pathetic person. We feel sorry for him. He talks to Linda with a heart full of pain and Linda can understand him. We can understand his terrible situation when Linda says, “But he is a human being and a terrible thing is happening to him, so attention must be paid to him.”

She says Biff that ‘the man is exhausted’ Willy accepts his short comings to Linda but he is unable to overcome them. We feel sorry for him when he asks Howard to give him job in New York. He is able to reduce his salary from sixty thousand dollars to forty thousand dollars a week. But Howard doesn’t agree. He advices him to take rest. He has very high dreams for Biff. He is very happy when Biff is going to see Bill Oliver for asking for money, but when Biff returns and tells him the realities he is unable to bear it. His frustration always leads him toward the efforts of suicide. He has tried to smash the car many times. His frustration is seen throughout the play.

v A victim of the economic and commercial forces of society:-

Willy tries to achieve success but fails constantly. He is unable to bear his frustration. He feels that has done nothing in his life and it is his duty to do something for his family. He says,

         “I have got to get some seeds right away nothing

           Is planted. I do not have a thing in the ground.”

These sentences are quite symbolical. It is his realization that he couldn’t do anything. The other realization comes to him afterwards. It is Biff that makes him see realities and asks to abandon false dreams and cries. At that time Willy feels,

Willy: Isn’t that remarkable? Biff he likes me!

Linda: He loves you Willy.

Happy: Always did pop.

This is the happiest moment of Willy’s life. He wanted love of his son and he got it. Then he commits suicide to get insurance of twenty thousands dollars for his son’s better future. Thus Willy is an old man who has no security and cannot look forward to an easy and comfortable retired life. All his life, he struggled against back payments and debts. When he died, he had no debt but he was not there to enjoy it.

v Conclusion:-

So Death of a Salesman is not merely a drama of domestic quarrels between a father and his sons, a drama of conflict between capitalist and communism, between self and soul, between psyche and conscience, between religiosity and irreligiosity, between a salesman and a manufacturer, but of a conflict between the individual and society, a conflict between man’s values and his environment. The playwright was trying in “Salesman” to set forth what happens when a man does not have a grip on the forces of life and has no sense of values which will lead him to that kind of a grip. “Death of a Salesman is the most poignant statement of man as he must face himself”. Its basic theme is man’s loss of conscience. Loyalty to family also is its theme. It is an anatomy of failure.