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BRITISH LITERATURE
Nagendra rao
KAVITHA TUTORIALS
5/27/2009
KAVITHA TUTORIALS, TIRUVURU 2
BRITISH LITERATURE
Q.1. Critically examine man’s nature with reference to the character of Dr.Faustus, as a .
Renaissance hero
Dr.Faustus is the most important character in the Renaissance drama. Christopher Marlowe
was born in 1564 at Canterbury. He was the son of a shoemaker. He was educated at
Cambridge. He wrote Tamburlaine the Great in 1587. He wrote Dr.Faustus in 1588, and
Edward the Second in 1590.
Marlowe was of rebellious mind. He showed interest in atheism. “Tamburlaine” brought him
great fame. But Doctor Faustus brought him greater fame. Dr.Faustus was a man who had
endless lust for great fame. He was a man who had endless lust for power. He wanted to reach
the world’s topmost point. He wanted to have “the perfect bliss”. He wanted to occupy the
mightiest throne. He wanted to lead the life of an extraordinary man. He had a great and
passionate interest in all kinds of knowledge. He was a medieval magician. He sold his soul to
the Devil for 24 years of pleasure and the of all knowledge. His struggle for perfection is a
symbol of man’s struggle for perfection. He wanted to reach the stars. But underlying this
aspiration, there is also the sin of acquiring power.
The play has a very loose plot. Faustus is the central figure. All the dramatic action centers
on him. It is a conflict in Faustus’ mind. It is a highly dramatized conflict between the Good
and Evil in man. It is the ready temptation of Faustus to Evil that is the story of the play. The
plot briefly introduces Faustus’s life. He was born in the town of Rhodes in Germany. His
father was a poor man. He studied at the Wittenberg. He studied for the Doctor of Divinity. He
was widely read in many branches of learning. He was read in the Greek, Arabian; Hebrew
and Persian literatures. He also became mathematician and a physician. He studied Holy
Scriptures. In the second scene, he began to practise his devilish art. He wanted to study the
arts of necromancy and conjuration. He wanted to know the secrets of heaven and earth. At
the beginning of the play, the chorus tells us the life of Dr.Faustus. He wants “to command
that move between the quiet poles”. He wants all the emperors and kings obey him. He wants
“to rend the clouds”. He wants to become “amighty god”.
In the third scene, he is tempted by Mephistopheles. He becomes active during the
night. Mephistophiles tempts Faustus. He wants to pray to “the prince the hell,” that is Satan.
Thus, Faustus becomes tempted. For him, only Belzebub becomes very important. He is not
afraid of “damnation”. He wants to give all his soul to Mephistopheles. He will become the
great emperor of the world. He will command all the kings in the world. He thus writes the
deed of gift of his soul with Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles brings to Faustus all the rarest
elements of Nature. The mind of Faustus becomes the battle ground of Evil and Good.
The Good Angel constantly discourages Faustus from falling prey to Mephistophiles’
temptation. He tells Faustus that the power is only an illusion and mere madness. Faustus is
afraid of the suffering after he sells his soul. For him, all places are hell which are heaven till
then. The Good Angel asks Faustus to repent. But he is constantly tempted by the Evil angel.
His mind becomes “hardened”. He will never repent. He is damned. So, he cannot utter the
name of God, He cannot repent. His spiritual agony increases. He becomes a victim of the
Seven Deadly Sins. He becomes proud. He is filled with greed, Envy and wrath. His limitless
power is infinitely misused. He commands every king and
Emperor in this world.
In any case in the midst of his limitless power and enjoyment, his spiritual anguish
increases. His spiritual conflict is endless. He is afraid of his damnation. He is now starting to
repent. He slowly realizes that his spiritual redemption is impossible. In the final moments of
his damnation, there is on chance but redemption. He pleads for last moment of life. For him,
Time does not stop. He commands Time to stop. But his command is not heeded to. He
desperately pleads for one minute. He pleads to Nature to make it “ a perpetual day”. He wants
one hour to become a year, a month a week or at least a natural day. He commands the stars
KAVITHA TUTORIALS, TIRUVURU 3
not to move. He prays to Christ to save one drop for his sake. He prays to Christ to save his
soul. He prays to Christ not to rend his soul. In a desperate moment, he wants the mountains,
and hills to fall on him. He wants them to hide him from the damnation. Finally, when he can
no longer with the pain, he wants to be damned for ever. He prefers even hell to this endless
pain and suffering. He wants to be finally saved after al this suffering. He finds that all the
world is happy. He wants his soul to be changed into “little water drops” and disappear into
the ocean.
Thus, Dr.Faustus is damned for ever. His “heavenly power” damns him. He committed
all unlawful things. He is a learned man. He is a typical Renaissance man. For him, knowledge
and humanism are very important.
Q.4. What is the theme of the poem”The love soag of .J. Alfred Pruffrock”
A. T.S. Eliot is one of the famous poets of modern times who established a novel poetic
tradition. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Pruffrock” is neither a song nor a conventional
expression of love. The poem begind with an epigraph-the motto of the work.It is from
Dante’s “Inferno”. “If I thought that my reply would be to one who would ever reurn to the
world this fame would stay without further movement; but since none has been returned alive
from this depth, if what Ihear is true, I answer you without frar of infamy.”
Guido da Mamfeltro tells Dante the shame of his evil life. He bellieves that Dante will
not return to earth to report it. Pruffrock is also speaking from the hell of his own insecurities
and fears. So, the poem is a dramatic monologue in which the speaker builds up a mood of
social futility and inadequacy. The poem is not a dialogue between two persons. It is an
internal dialogue in the mind of Pruffrock between the two different facets of his personality.
It is evening. Evening is compared to a patient etherised upon the table. Pruffrock too is
mentally paraysed.
He is conscious but conscious of nothing. There are half-deserted streets with cheap
one-night hotels and sawdust restaurants suggesting urban decay. The tedious argument leads
us to an overwhelming question-“oh, do not ask, what is it” In the restaurants the fashionable
women with their intellectual pretensions talk of Michalangelo-the symbol of Renaissance art
and culture. There is dullness everywhere. The yellow fog outside is comparable to the frog in
Pruffock’s mind. Ir is compared to a cat which represents Proffock’s inertia and mental
dullness. In this world of hypocrasy, one can never be one’s real self. We decide and revise our
decisions.
Eliot emphasizes the triviality and superficiality of modern civilization. This
meaninfless preoccupation with the petty matters of ordinary life undermine Pruffrocks
comfidence in himself. He becomes marally incapable of taking any decisions. He becines
conscious of his opld age, his baldness and of his thin body, His physical decay appears to be
an extension of his mental degradation. Pruffrock dresses like a fashionable man. Even this
fails to add tio his sekf-esteem. He realises the fact that people are not frank in their
utterances. His life has been wasted in this unreal world of tea-parties and socialn gatherings.
5.How does John Donne deal with the theme of love in his poem “GOOD MORROW”?