tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49928724803167745672024-03-12T17:11:08.339-07:00M.A. EnglishA blog to help students of English Literature and Linguistics easily find analysis and critical remarks on literary works. Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03316206219222308497noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-39672208113207886472014-09-09T06:26:00.003-07:002022-06-01T03:01:58.911-07:00Comparison of Consonant Sounds of English and Urdu Languages<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Subject: Phonetics and Phonology </div>
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Assignment: Comparison of Consonant Sounds of English and Urdu Languages</div>
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<b>Introduction</b></div>
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Phonetics is “scientific study of the production, transmission
and reception of speech sounds.” It studies all possible speech sounds, whereas,
Phonology is the branch of linguistics which studies the sound system in a
language. Bloomfield argues “Phonology is the organization of sounds into
patterns”. So the subject “Phonetics and Phonology” we study the description
and classification of speech sound as well as the principles that govern the
way the sounds are organized in languages and to explain the variations that occur.
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The assignment which we are supposed to submit is also based
on the study of Consonant sounds. The assignment includes the basic
characteristics of Urdu and English Phonology, in which some common and
uncommon characteristics of both of the languages are discussed in detail.
After then a comparison is carried out between the Consonant sounds of Urdu and
English languages with respect to its characteristics. As we are the native
speakers of Urdu Language but non-native speakers of the English language, so this
comparison will eliminate the ambiguities of the English language in our minds as
well as point out the differences in both languages. </div>
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In this assignment a speech analysis is also being carried out
of a connected speech with reference to the place of articulation, manner of
articulation and its aspiration. This analysis pointed out major mistakes in
pronunciation which are followed by recommendations. Keeping in view the whole
assignment, a conclusion is also deduced. <br />
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<b>English and Urdu Phonology </b></div>
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English and Urdu, both languages have some common
characteristics which are based on </div>
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1) Place of articulation 2) Manner of articulation and 3)
Aspiration (voiced/voiceless) <br />
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<b>Place of articulation</b>
tells us where the consonants are produced. For each consonant two parts of the
mouth are involved, and the name given to it reflects it. Starting from the front,
some consonants are made using both lips and these are called bilabial
consonants. The sound made by an interaction between the tongue and the teeth
are just dental sounds. When you run your tongue back behind your teeth, you
come to a bony ridge called an alveolar ridge, several sounds are made on or just
behind the ridge. It produces either alveolar or palato-alveolar sounds. Moving
back from alveolar ridge you come to a hard but smoother zone called the hard
palate.<br />
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Notice that there is now a difference in the way the tongue is used.
The velum is the soft part of the palate, closest to the throat. It is the body
of the tongue. The sounds produced are called velar sounds. And the only sound
left /h/ is produced by air passing from the windpipe through the vocal cords,
or glottis. It’s a glottal sound. </div>
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After Place of articulation, we need to consider <b>Manner of Articulation,</b> which tells us how
consonants are produced. The comparison of the consonants of English and Urdu language
is mainly based on Place of articulation and Manner of articulation. Most
important categories are: Plosive sounds also called stop sounds are formed by
the air being completely blocked in the mouth and then suddenly released. <br />
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<b>Comparison </b></div>
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Starting with the plosives, in English phonology /p/ and /b/
are plosives having bilabial articulation. /<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="9c7b2c73-4c37-44fd-99fd-d3b31b45e68a" id="df8baef8-c7ba-47c5-9a53-5bb7eacedcdf"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="80aae7e7-8675-490d-9f85-b30254069463" id="c6688c3a-0b0d-4064-bac7-bbadec5fe8d9">p</span></span>/ is voiceless and /b/ is voiced.
The alternatives for these sounds in Urdu phonology are /<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="fe8f692a-9f08-4bef-8551-4592fd8910ad" id="7490e34e-b376-4d65-a596-d025f89ea45b"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1e05d4cb-f11c-4251-b6f3-742ddd5913b1" id="70374e3a-91b5-4894-acea-8b2957ec4e62">pe</span></span>/ (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">پ</span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="fe8f692a-9f08-4bef-8551-4592fd8910ad" id="580aa6bc-cae3-4eb4-aeef-3352c5a64f96"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1e05d4cb-f11c-4251-b6f3-742ddd5913b1" id="0d0dd311-f8b3-4ee6-b19e-6aa7c1542a18">)</span></span>and /bay/(<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ب</span>) which are denoted be /p/ and
/b/ respectively. These plosives have the same characteristics as that of
English plosives. /<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5ff608b0-9a70-4b1e-974d-fa4ccd6bdd95" id="60508f38-e076-4dcf-9b34-ca483fa458c0"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="8add191d-c2a5-4b35-a4a7-549f529f897e" id="857a3d6b-943e-490c-a6a8-957d19981c65">t</span></span>/ and /d/ are alveolar sounds. They are plosives. /<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="07c21823-33cb-4f1d-82a1-aca39a8d04fa" id="bcdb46ff-b186-4a1a-bb28-894f42f5396d"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="0a561ac6-cacf-44dc-b87c-0d82c5f0b605" id="2ef0aef0-8dd8-4ab5-9be2-2fad801cd78b">t</span></span>/ is
voiceless and /d/ is voiced. In Urdu phonology the same symbols /t/ and /d/
have a matching characteristics where /t/ is pronounced as /<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ef17fb03-b106-4fe4-bcf8-326645898538" id="156b15be-6a4b-421c-89d8-02675abb0aea"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ccb89cdf-d7d5-4203-a96b-3fba20ca60bd" id="7be90fcc-4028-47f9-bdd8-0b6ddfbd2fd1">te</span></span>/ (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ت</span>) and /d/ as /dāl/ (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">د</span>). But in comparison with /t/
and /d/ plosives of the English language we come across sounds /ʈ/ and /ɖ/
pronounced as /ṭe/ (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ٹ</span>)
and /āl/ (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ڈ</span>). /ʈ/ is
voiceless and /ɖ/ is voiced. They are plosives but differ because they are
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="de0dc111-4710-49f2-9e7e-f65acad6177d" id="c37cf0a6-ae5f-4a2c-98af-344864300bda">retroflex</span> i.e. post-alveolar (without being palatalized). Their sounds are quite
matching with that of English plosives.</div>
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Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859858226480449449noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-26064308653917125522014-07-08T15:08:00.005-07:002022-06-01T02:42:43.255-07:00Chivalry Romances As A Literary Genre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="dfa95025-d4f5-4e2a-867b-fb9bb3407522" id="74f18b61-da3c-46eb-bc4c-bc8d3483a02a">chivalry romance</span> is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight errant, often of super-human ability, which often goes on a quest. Popular literature also drew on themes of romance, but with ironic, satiric or burlesque intent. Romances reworked legends, fairy tales, and history to suit tastes, but by c. 1600 they were out of fashion.<br />
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The romance genre continues to be one of the most popular fiction genres to date. Romances of all sub-genres have two aspects of the plot that are consistent throughout. First, the love story is the center point of the story, and second, the ending is emotionally satisfying.<br />
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Romance has a very long and complex history. It was once the place of knights, dragons, quests, magic, spells, wizards, heroic deeds; it dramatized serious moral and political issues through its allegorical powers, psychological and theological complexities through its symbolism, and it entertained.<br />
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Romance disappeared as a force in literature in the 17th century with the rise of empirical thought, rationalism, and a theology based on analogy to the natural world and the advent of the bourgeois mode of realism, although it retained a slim foothold through pastoral.<br />
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However, as the immediacy of the Holy threatened to disappear from the culture in the late 18th century under pressure of naturalistic explanation, and as industrialization and urbanization started taking its toll on the countryside and the people, romance arose again (the most powerful response to the loss of the Holy was the introduction of the idea of the Sublime, an idea incorporated into some aspects of romance)..<br />
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The period was marked by literary expressions of the sublime, of the mysterious, and of the strange; by a return to the imagination of the mediaeval that marked pre-romantic period, so that the mediaeval was the place of historical reference and allusion; and by an idealization of the lives of the country folk (Wordsworth's "Michael," for instance), especially the <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="db761098-36ca-400f-b100-2a8ce2e9ae61" id="c67f243a-9ff7-4557-9c8b-49b5b5781cd6">folk</span> of times past.<br />
The Romance took two main forms in the English novel -- this in the early part of the 19th century:<br />
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1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gothic romance, which specialized in symbolic exploration of the unconscious through the strange, the haunting, and irrational. Like many romances the Gothic tended to be set in distant lands or on barren, threatening countryside. Gothic romance exposed and dealt with deep anxieties in persons and the culture; Heath cliff in Wuthering Heights, for instance, is a dark foreigner and hence culturally the Other, that against which we define and defend our humanity and civilized state, he a man with no parentage, a waif from the slums of Europe; and he is a figuring-forth of the force and terror of evil and of the irrational, a force of energy without civility. He is inexplicable but compelling because he sums the fears of his time and, to an extent, ours. Frankenstein's monster showed us the terrors that scientific interference in the holiness of the human held for us.<br />
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2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Historical romance, as modeled by Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels, which novels evoked the past -- the past of the people, of the Scottish nation, full of both Lords and peasants -- as a source of value and meaning, that place where life was more concrete, vivid, adventuresome and, well, 'romantic'. James Fenimore Cooper (The Deer Slayer, The Last of the Mohicans, etc.) was the "American Scott."<br />
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Romance continued to be popular in the 20th Century and shows no sign of slowing down in the 21st. Popular sub-genres of romance include historical, paranormal, contemporary, erotica, regency, category, and romantic suspense. America took Gothic romance to its bosom. Hawthorne (e.g. In The Scarlet Letter) defined the romance as opposed to the novel as, briefly, a place of more mystery, less specific description of concrete reality, a place where, if you will, both elemental and spiritual forces could be put in play in a landscape that was full of symbolism, almost allegorical, potential. He set his romances, as romances are often set, in places distant, where different rules could apply, or in the past. Today we have still both Gothic and historical romance, and romance is generally associated with the strange and mysterious, the adventurous, with the lure of foreign lands, with something slightly magical, with a story which refuses to be tied to the realist tradition and explores phenomena which are unusual, allegorical, and symbolic. Of course, we have True Romance and the localization of the long tradition of courtship stories in our culture in <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="18b13038-ea7b-4f60-904a-9b2f66e1336c" id="804af879-0fe3-4205-9683-696d9ee4a07d">romance</span> settings, whether it is haunted homes, the Wild West, or bleak, windswept shores.<br />
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Romance tends to be more allegorical than realist fiction can be, to dramatize elemental forces, psychological undercurrents, and conflicts on the battlefield of the human heart and soul. It is more subversive, more revolutionary, more <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f293d252-cc2b-47f4-9acd-28365d64b874" id="55cfb651-b387-48c4-a944-0d51488ac074">bipolar</span> (good/evil, etc.), more allegorical, more symbolic, more evocative, more open to magic, the effects of atmosphere, and the strange.<br />
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There follows a set of binary oppositions related to historical romance, as suggested by George Dekker in The American Historical Romance:<br />
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<b>Two quotes on Romance</b>:<br />
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Many writers of romances require not only strange circumstances and abnormal psychology to portray their visions, but exotic scenery, as well. But their imaginary landscapes provide a way to reality, not an escape from it, and their faraway islands are not <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f899768c-ff24-4e26-849a-00aa44222192" id="1ac1a487-942c-4682-830c-f881267ed5fa">discoverable</span> on any map only because, as Melville says, "true places never are."<br />
Edwin M. Eigner in Pastoral and Romance<br />
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Curiously enough, the fascination for the bizarre, the individual peculiarity, and the monstrous [of gothic romance] seems to have led more significantly to a fictional discovery of the true depths of human nature than to a mere exploitation of the sensational and the perverse. By its insistence on singularity and exotic setting, the gothic novel seems to have freed the minds of readers from direct involvement of their superego's and allowed them to pursue daydreams and wish fulfillment in regions where inhibitions and guilt could be suspended. Those regions became thereby available to great writers who eventually demonstrated that sadism, indefinite guiltiness, mingled pleasure and pain (Maturin's "delicious agony"), and love-hate, were also deeply rooted in the minds of the supposedly normal...<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="99a68e21-6a8f-43c0-b041-8bd313d0accc" id="6583173e-4a5e-4577-8e74-d0b5a195b64c">.</span>With Mary Shelley's Frankenstein<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="99a68e21-6a8f-43c0-b041-8bd313d0accc" id="1b426fc0-77c1-4e9c-b69c-c14957405db4"> .</span>..<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="99a68e21-6a8f-43c0-b041-8bd313d0accc" id="e565d04b-55f0-456e-a1ee-83cd58c5551c">.</span>For the first time in gothic fiction characters take on the full symbolic resonance of inner psychological reality..... The gothic hero easily shades into what is commonly called the romantic hero...<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="39d35022-50ea-498a-8c9f-e7a2bdbbfac5" id="7dceff26-39df-4db6-bb41-b9e7ed9c7ce4">.</span>Both share an essential loneliness and the feeling of <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="39d35022-50ea-498a-8c9f-e7a2bdbbfac5" id="ad196422-6326-443d-a3a8-466f9f62d8c1">incommunicability</span>; both are generally scapegoats or guilt-haunted wanderers... [Heath cliff as a gothic character].<br />
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Lowry Nelson, Jr., ibid. One aspect of romance, especially gothic, is the idea of the monstrous -- as it happens I have a binary set for monstrosity, which I borrowed from Prof. Sue Spearey.<br />
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Among the existing romances Sir Gawain is outstanding other romances that came later were Sir Thomas Malory’s prose work Le Morte D’Arthur, Edmund Spencer’s Faerie Queene, Sir Philip Sydney’s Arcadia and numerous other works. The Elizabethan had a penchant for stories of all kinds, especially the folk tale sort, and the many different rather debased varieties of Romance. The story is a romance based on an ancient legend of a Green Knight who challenges Arthur’s Knights, and who having had his head cut off, picks it up, rides away, and reminds his opponent of his promise to face him in return at the Green Chapel in a year’s time. Sir Gawain is the most subtle verse romance in English medieval literature. The romances, the stories of Arthur, of Charlemagne, and the Trojan Wars, and the more native stories of King Horn and Havelok the Dane, are among the most typical products of medieval literature.<br />
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the tale, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his beard and skin. The "Green Knight" offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts, and beheads him in one blow, only to have the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time. The story of Gawain's struggle to meet the appointment and his adventures along the way demonstrate the spirit of chivalry and loyalty.<br />
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The Faerie Queene is its age’s greatest poetic monument, and one can get lost in its musical, pictorial and intellectual delights. From 1580 Spencer was a colonist, writing The Faerie Queene. He published three books in 1590 (and got a pension), adding three more in 1596. He dedicated his heroic romance to Queen. It is now the chief literary monument of her cult. Spencer was loved by John Milton and the Romantics.<br />
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The Arcadia, Sydney’s romance tells the story of two princesses shipwrecked on the shore of Arcadia, the home of pastoral poetry. They disguise themselves and fall in love with the daughters of Basileus (Greek king), who has withdrawn to live with shepherds in order to avoid the oracle’s prophecy: that his elder daughter Pamela shall be seduced; his younger succumb to an unnatural love; he commit adultery with his own wife; and his sons-in-law be accused of his murder. After fantastic adventures, some tragic, and denouements like those of Shakespeare’s romances, the oracle is technically fulfilled; yet ends well. Arcadia is high-spirited play. Its fortunes fell as the nobility fell, and romance gave way to the novel, the more plausible diversion of plainer folk. The Arcadia is an entertainment for family and friends, offering positive and negative moral and public ideals to the governing class to which they belonged.<br />
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The Faerie Queene and the Arcadia, both printed in 1590, are the first major works in English Literature since Le Morte D’Arthur. Hugely ambitious, their scale and accomplishment give them an importance which posterity has confirmed in different ways. Spencer’s complex long poem, imitative of early Chaucer, was drawn on by Milton, Wordsworth and Keats. But the popularity of Arcadia ended with the 18th century; its prose was too artful for Hazlitt. In these two works, which have the megalomania of the Elizabethan great house, scholars have recently found rich intellectual schemes.<br />
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Bibliography:<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A History of English Literature by Michael Alexander<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J. A. Cuddon.<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>http://www.wikipedia.org<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>http://ezinearticles.com<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>http://www.brocku.ca</div>
Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03316206219222308497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-5230697476661436492014-05-16T14:14:00.001-07:002022-06-01T02:50:33.329-07:00How Plato justified to banish poets from his Ideal State?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Plato</b> is a renowned philosopher and
stands alone as the fountain of the tradition among Greek Idealists. Three of
Plato’s writings form the focus in understanding his theory of idealism in
relation to art: <i>Ion, Phaedrus, </i>and <i>The Republic.</i> In <i>The Republic</i>, Plato gave the theory of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Ideal</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype></st1:place>
which is further supported by other ideas and theories.<br />
<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Plato also talked
about Poets and wanted to banish them from his </span><st1:place style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Ideal</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">.
To supplement his ambition of banishing Poets he has defined different grounds
long with the Theory of Imitation.</span></div>
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Plato’s <b><i>theory
of imitation</i></b> forms the basis for the rest of his philosophy. This
theory deals with metaphysical questions, concerned with nature of existence,
truth and knowledge. Plato by presenting his theory has refuted the pre-Socratic
concepts and has given novel explanation of all these ideas. To understand the
theory of Imitation, it is necessary to read and understand the dialogues between
<i>Socrates and Glucon </i>written by Plato
in <i>The Republic.</i> The dialogues deal
with the formation of an ideal state where Plato banishes the poets. Everything
in the state is modeled on the basis of philosophic ideas and judged by the
closeness to “real” or “true” (archetypal). As in <i>The Republic</i>, the hierarchy of professionals is based upon their
relative proximity to reality. The complexity of this theory lies in the
concept of reality. According to Plato, imitation is a hurdle which could be
crossed to attain the ideals of knowledge, government or virtue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<i>“The Republic”</i> begins with Socrates
delightful explanation on the “<b>rejection
of imitative poetry</b>” from The Republic. A discussion on the nature of
imitation follows course considering its various demerits. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
The concept of
creation is associated with God or the maker since pre-Socratic times, but the
novelty in Plato’s theory is that he declares that God has created ideas (also
called forms) which are not material. These forms or ideas present the real
difficulty in understanding Plato’s theory because the nature of these ideas
could only be imagined or perceived rather than being experienced by our human
senses. Plato is discrediting human senses and says about ideas and essences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b><i>“…real existence is colorless,
formless and intangible, visible only to the intelligence”<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
According to Plato, all ideas are
made by God:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b><i>“…by the natural process of creation,
He is the author of those and of all other things”<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
The original Ideas
lie with the God. He is the creator. And the relation of all these ideas to the
real object is the first step of imitation. Thus everything found in this world
is an imitation of a real world. The second level of imitation (called to be
thrice removed from reality) is seen in the work of the imitative tribe. Plato
considers all poets and painters to be a part of this imitative tribe, as they
only copy the visible and tangible objects which are themselves mere imitations
of the archetypes (the original idea). So, the work of poets and painters etc
is in fact imitation of an imitation. Plato considers that an idea of the bed
was crated by God which can not be duplicated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
“<b><i>God, whether from choice or from
necessity, made one bed<br />
in nature and one only; two or more such
ideal beds<br />
neither ever have been nor will be made
by God”<br />
</i></b>Now the answering the question “why poets should be banished from <i>The Republic?</i>” is much easier because
Plato has placed them (the poets) in the category of those who occupy lowest
level of knowledge. Plot has elaborated the backgrounds for banishing poets
from <i>The Republic.</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
The most important
<b><i>reason
for banishing poets is Morality</i></b>. Plato says poets are imitators. They
add nothing to reality. A preacher (or a Priest) conveys God’s idea directly.
They convey God’s orders in form of sermons and hymns. They imitate the real
idea and just one step removed from reality. But the poets, even if they write
about God, still they are copying. Plato says poetry is something immoral
because the poets write about gods and goddesses and show their negative
capabilities. Gods and goddesses are shown angry and furious and fighting with
one another. Plato says God should be
given positive qualities instead of negative ones. They should be praised.
Their kind and soft eye should be highlighted. And secondly, <b><i>the</i></b>
<b><i>poetry
makes the readers emotional</i></b> which results in their weak and coward
morals. Cowardice is a sin and it leads to immorality. An immoral person can do
nothing for the sake of his nation and country. Plato approves</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Only those poems which are written
in favor and in praise of God and that we should not give way to impatience. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><i>Emotional
grounds are also very important.</i></b> Poetry has a spiritual clash; it
weakens our idea, logic and reason.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
“<b><i>And the better part of the soul is likely to
be that which trusts to measure and calculation?</i></b>” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Mind is superior part of the soul whereas
body is the baser-part and inferior to mind. Poetry does not help us to see
beyond reality. The poetry removes the self-restraints and creates aesthetic
delights and bodily desires. It waters emotions. As Plato says in <i>The Republic</i>; </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
“<b><i>awakens … and nourishes and
strengthens the feelings and impair the reasons.</i></b>”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
The reason represents the better
part of the soul while feelings are considered to be the more evil part of a
soul. Plato says Poetry should provoke reason and logic. There should be link
between ourselves and ideas.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<span style="line-height: 200%;">You Shall Also Like to Read : </span><span style="line-height: 32px;"><a href="http://maenglish1.blogspot.com/2014/02/symbolism-in-dolls-house-by-henrik-ibsen.html" target="_blank">Symbolism in "A Doll’s House" by Henrik Ibsen</a></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><i>The
third ground is of utility</i></b>. Poets contribute nothing to society. They
lack the courage and dignity to participate in wars even. They can not train
those who want to participate in war. Singers, musicians and poets can not
defend the territories. They give no benefit to the society. They cannot
deliver knowledge to nation as they themselves do not know. Their work distorts
and corrupts immature minds. The children will never understand what they are
conveying. Plato says, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
“<b><i>And the same object appears
straight when looked at out of the water, and crooked when in the water; and
the concave becomes convex, owing to the illusion about colors to which the
sight is liable…</i></b>”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
If a rod is dipped in a glass of
water, its surface seems twisted. The phenomenon can be defined with the help
of scientific study. But if a man who has no knowledge can be deceived by Art. <b><i>Art
does not add utility</i></b>. Moreover it distorts the immature minds. Plato
promotes mathematics, logic and sciences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
At
the end comes <b><i>intellectual ground for banishing Poets</i></b> from <i>The Republic.</i> Plato says Art should not
be appreciated as it has nothing logical and reasonable. It has deception and
illusion. Poets were of great significance. They used to write poems in praise
of Kings and <st1:place w:st="on">Queens</st1:place>. Plato himself was a great
admirer of Homer but he criticized Homer and his poetic works. The time, when
Plato was writing <i>The Republic</i> there
was a great collapse. Education system was very poor. Poetry seems an anecdote
against education and resulted in demoralized children. Poetry is based on
human passion and feelings but people believe that poet is divinely inspired
and during the process of writing his mind is taken by divine spirits. The poet
becomes mentally absent and the thing he writes is a god message. Plato agrees
this believe and argues that, a man (the poet) who is not fully aware and
unconscious is not worthy to be trusted. He is a mad man and not in senses. Let
him write what he wants to. It is not worthy to agree and follow him because he
gives no logic and no reason. He may be left alone to enjoy divine inspiration.
Plot supports those writers who highlight patriotism and praise God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Plato
seems very successful in proving the reasons why he has banished the poets from
<i>The Republic</i>. He talked about all the
aspects of society and the need of a citizen. He knows the importance and
utility of a single person. He does not need idle or emotional people who
contribute nothing towards society.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Bibliography<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Book X from <b><i>The Republic</i></b> by Plato.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lecture notes </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 32px;">Further Reading : </span></span><a href="http://maenglish1.blogspot.com/2013/08/symbolism-in-heart-of-darkness-by.html" target="_blank">Symbolism in “The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad</a></div>
<div>
<a href="http://maenglish1.blogspot.com/2012/05/short-analysis-on-short-story-dogs-tale.html" target="_blank">Analysis of a short story "A Dog’s Tale" by Mark Twain</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859858226480449449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-76840751745656637372014-02-11T12:53:00.003-08:002023-03-14T07:10:51.941-07:00Symbolism in "A Doll’s House" by Henrik Ibsen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRE5udYZl2myO6R-5SPokFR_bvZwbFnxDL3NoCWEI_AxbjxmNHYakqJNYSM1dHScUzsxuGNujgOblC_5HB3Wk5YpOAGZLZYfHhYC0FE8KiekDYUjuy0RHQUXWfn3Df8NvZPBEvXq44uDI/s1600/dfddf.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRE5udYZl2myO6R-5SPokFR_bvZwbFnxDL3NoCWEI_AxbjxmNHYakqJNYSM1dHScUzsxuGNujgOblC_5HB3Wk5YpOAGZLZYfHhYC0FE8KiekDYUjuy0RHQUXWfn3Df8NvZPBEvXq44uDI/s320/dfddf.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(130, 130, 130); padding: 4px;" /></a></div>
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The play ‘A Doll’s House’ is one of the best plays by Ibsen. Ibsen has refined the taste of his plays with the use of many devices. Symbolism is one of the main and common devices used in drama. The use of symbolism may heighten up the emotional effect of a situation. The symbolism imparts additional layer of meaning to the writing. While the apparent meaning lies on the surface. The symbolic meaning is often hidden from views it lies deeper than it seems. Ibsen makes use of symbolism in a Dolls House” for the purpose of character revelation. Ibsen always said that he aimed at drawing living creatures and that any symbolism was purely development in Nora’s character at the end is so great that some critics think this change to be dramatically incredible.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The play “A Doll’s House” revolves around two main characters Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora Helmer. They live in a house which is symbolized as a doll’s house by Ibsen. The very title “<b>A Doll’s House</b>” symbolizes that all of the people that live in the Torvald residence are like dolls. Torvald plays with them when he chooses and ignores them when he has something else to do. Torvald maintains his office in his home and use to interact with his wife and children whenever he chooses. Maintaining office in the same premises where he lives, gives us the evidence that work is more important for him and his family is less important. He does no bother his family and indulge himself more in his office work.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another aspect of the title “A Doll’s House” is that Torvald treats Nora like a doll. Nora tells Torvald that her father and Torvald both have treated her like a baby-doll. Nora’s father used to call her ‘doll-child’. She says in the play that</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i>That is just it; you have never understood me, I have been greatly wronged, Torvald – first by papa and then by you</i>.
</b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And
<b><i> </i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i>I mean that I was simply transferred from papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you – or else I pretended to, I am really not quite sure which – I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other. . . </i></b></div>
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<b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFz_EHslrP_bmo3TAE8HSnBQTWGcepp8vq8wy9l62_DOF0ExhJ-pG90V8sSFnkIY7n13xn9l8kABBRfG-FKCGpHBWw_wSqptZoOx63xxzDwfaxCdAyFpPxnXDpyh9xJPW5hxQ3rVU7no/s1600/imagesfdf.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFz_EHslrP_bmo3TAE8HSnBQTWGcepp8vq8wy9l62_DOF0ExhJ-pG90V8sSFnkIY7n13xn9l8kABBRfG-FKCGpHBWw_wSqptZoOx63xxzDwfaxCdAyFpPxnXDpyh9xJPW5hxQ3rVU7no/s1600/imagesfdf.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(130, 130, 130); padding: 4px;" /></a></i></b></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
To her father, Nora was a sort of toy or doll that he could play with. Nora feels her relation with her husband like the one with her father. She considers her marriage a mere change of possession. Torvald’s house is a doll house to her. She was <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ba17c377-0c9b-4ea5-982e-9145fbc3b012" id="5c331167-2120-48f1-96a4-06177dcdd6b3">cuddled</span> like a child and was never given an opportunity to take a serious decision. She was never consulted for opinions. Instead, she was often molded either by Torvald or her father in their own decisions. It also symbolizes a male dominant society that a woman is a mere puppet in the hands of the possessor. They use them as they find it fair. They seek their own benefit neglecting their feelings, and desires.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Torvald uses to call Nora with different <b>pet names </b>that symbolizes that he considers her a doll and not giving her an equal status of a wife. He considers her role is to amuse and delight. Torvald’s behavior with to Nora is very childish. The pet names he uses for Nora are considered to be used for children. For him she is no more than a doll.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The play begins with religious symbols that are <b>Christmas Evening </b>and <b>Christmas tree, </b>which signifies the security and happiness of the family. Nora orders Christmas tree and insists to hide it until it is completely decorated. This symbolizes that Nora is the keeper of appearances. It shows there is a contrast in appearance and reality in Nora’s marital life. Her act of hiding the true inculcates the doubt that there are secrets in her life and she does not want to disclose them before she manages them. She has borrowed money from Krogstad for the treatment of her ailing husband, but she is unable to pay it off. So she is concealing this matter by trying to convince Torvald to keep Krogstad in his job. Nora has carefully maintained appearance of the happy marriage under the encroachment of truth.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nora’s <b>fancy costume </b>which is bought by Torvald was found torn and Nora tempted to tear it into pieces. This symbolizes the flaws and weaknesses of her marriage and feelings about it. Nora thought to shred her marital relation into pieces because in her opinion it was beyond repair. Mrs. Linde wanted the couple to face the bitter reality and mend their minute misunderstandings. In spite of all these feelings Nora wears the costume for the sake of Torvald because by wearing that costume throws Torvald in a state of erotic fascination. It was her transient qualities that Torvald must appreciate. Nora makes herself in agreement with the likes and dislikes of Torvald. She wants to please him at any cost.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>New Year’s Day </b>means a new beginning, because the first day of a new year brings hopes and happiness for people. In the play it symbolizes a new beginning for almost all the characters. The Major character, Torvald, is going to start a new and better paid job at a bank. Nora is seeking to be free from her debt, which was borrowed secretly for the treatment of her husband and Nora starts a new life by leaving Torvald and Her children in the house.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Light </b>in the play symbolizes Nora’s state of awareness. She is innocent and immature in the beginning of the play and with the advent of incidence she is getting mature. The light symbolizes enlightenment of her mental consciousness. She realizes her status of being a female and makes her voice loud for her rights. Light also appears to symbolize hope and spiritual redemption when Dr. Rank is talking to Nora about his upcoming death. The light begins to grow dark, symbolizes that Nora is using her sexual attractiveness to manipulate the dying Dr. Rank into giving her money to pay off her loan. The darkness is a sign of evil. Darkness tempts towards wrong doings. Nora wants to create an atmosphere so that Dr. Rank agrees for giving her money.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmouNdWP3Rput-3ftAcpdCkgueDiVr88kIMuUiMaF5OyfrH0E3EQx0fWXY2uocF-RW1xlMQiv4FUZQeV3BOHaCXqo3aBAHzFmlEN708VHZxzRPLokGuw2wChZjRvUinNTb-ETme7EhJA/s1600/tarantella.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmouNdWP3Rput-3ftAcpdCkgueDiVr88kIMuUiMaF5OyfrH0E3EQx0fWXY2uocF-RW1xlMQiv4FUZQeV3BOHaCXqo3aBAHzFmlEN708VHZxzRPLokGuw2wChZjRvUinNTb-ETme7EhJA/s1600/tarantella.JPG" style="border: 1px solid rgb(130, 130, 130); padding: 4px;" /></a></div>
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The <b>Tarantella</b>, an Italian dance, generally danced by a couple or line of couples, which was named after the tarantula spider, whose poisonous bite was mistakenly believed to cause ‘tarantism’, or an ‘uncontrollable urge for wild dance’. The ‘cure’ prescribed by the doctors was for the sufferer to dance to exhaustion. Modern psychologists speculate that the true cause of the disorder was not the spider’s bite, but the repressed morals of that age. The only outlet for passionate self-expression, they reason, was the Tarantella. This symbolizes that Torvald wants to keep Nora in isolation within her marriage. And she dances more wildly so that Torvald hears her and unable to read the Krogstad’s letter. It also symbolizes that Nora is dancing wildly to free herself from the poison which Krogstad brought in, in her life.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Finally, we can say the Ibsen’s use of symbolism in his play “A Doll’s House shows originality in his respect. The manner in which Ibsen describes the room in the stage directions at the opening of the play gives us an idea of the effect he was aiming the realistic details of the opening stage directions are used to lead the audience into a close identification with the characters who live in this room which seems so familiar.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bibliography:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1) Textbook of the play “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2) Critical notes on “A Doll’s House” by New Kitab Mahal.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3) Lecture notes
</div>
</div>
</div>
Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03316206219222308497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-45888206690974700792013-12-02T01:09:00.002-08:002022-06-01T03:03:14.546-07:00Clause and its types<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /><b>
Clause = Subject + Verb </b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clause is a combination of words which contains subject and
a verb. It may be a complete sentence or part of a sentence that conveys proper
meaning. It is quite different from a phrase where the subject-verb combination
is not necessary.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Types of clauses</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Independent clause</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Dependent clause</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1.</b> <b>Independent clause:</b> (also known as main
clause, conjoining clause, principal clause, and co-ordinate clause) it can
stand independently</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
E.g. I went to the
library</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two independent clauses can be joined together with the help
of these independent conjunctions</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And, yet, but, or, so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>2. Dependent clause:</b> (also known as auxiliary
clause, embedding clause, reason clause, and sub-ordinate clause). It is
dependent on the main (independent) clause.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
E.g., he says that he was
coming.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A dependent clause can be joined together with a main clause
and other independent clauses through these Dependent (subordinate)
conjunctions.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the examples are; After, although, because, before, even if, even though, if,
in order, that once provided, rather, than, since, so,Until, unless, when, where ever, when ever, where, whereas,
where ever, whether, while, why</div>
</div>
Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03316206219222308497noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-18208508949239760512013-08-03T13:28:00.004-07:002022-06-01T02:58:35.880-07:00Symbolism in “The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbg9pK5LIXj7MW8KKXzq6mlIoYOs81iCAYbqK91DRkw0HU7aE2kI7f-u-D5vQVT3Y3mOahm2ufnZ5E8EvnFVwClcaN1iwIkZr-2l8_xipbdn2I8s9CdNsxYKZ8P0LlAM8pu8nXYkNvc1k/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbg9pK5LIXj7MW8KKXzq6mlIoYOs81iCAYbqK91DRkw0HU7aE2kI7f-u-D5vQVT3Y3mOahm2ufnZ5E8EvnFVwClcaN1iwIkZr-2l8_xipbdn2I8s9CdNsxYKZ8P0LlAM8pu8nXYkNvc1k/s320/images.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #828282; padding: 4px;" /></a></div>
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Joseph Conrad was born in Poland in 1857. He born in a well to do family. Poland was ruled over by Russian Imperialism. His father, who has translated the works of Victor Hugo and Shakespeare into Polish, was against Russian Imperialism. And was arrested for being acting as a leader in the struggle of Polish Independence. He died when Conrad has been just eleven years old. Conrad reads widely in French and German after the death of his father. At the age of seventeen he decided to become a sailor. That decision led him in the service of Belgium merchant navy. After that he got a job in British Ship. He experienced a lot in seamanship. The different voyages in different countries introduced him to different cultures and traditions which served as materials for his novels. One trip up the Congo led to the writing of one of his best novels i.e. Heart of Darkness.<br />
<br />
Conrad based his novel Heart of Darkness on his exploration of the African country of the Congo and the famous Congo River flows through the country. He has written the novel in a learnt language and used several devices to increase the charm of his literary work. Symbolism is one of the salient features in his writing style. The use of symbolism may heighten up the emotional effect of a situation. The symbolism imparts additional layer of meaning to the writing. While the apparent meaning lies on the surface. The symbolic meaning is often hidden from views it lies deeper than it seems. In Heart of Darkness various symbols are used which can be separated into three divisions.
First Nature, second Society and third Characters.<br />
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Starting with the natural symbols used in Heart of Darkness. There are the symbols taken from nature and associated with other things on the basis of their inherent properties. For example in Heart of Darkness, the Congo River is the key to Africa for Europeans. It allows them access to the center of the continent without having to cross it physically and allows them to remain always outside. It makes upriver traveling slow and difficult which represents that it wants to exile the Europeans from Africa altogether. The river does not favor European. This river gives the lesson of wisdom because as Marlow progresses further up the river in his search for Kurtz he begins to learn more and more about himself. He comes to realize that he probably has more in common with the natives than the selfish Europeans who have come to civilize them. The Ivory symbolizes greed and destructive nature of man. The manager and the agents of the company are so obsessed with obtaining ivory that they forget about their morals and so-called civilized ways. Fog is the representation of uncertainty, obscurity and ambiguity. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s steamer is caught in the fog, meaning that he has no idea where he is going. The jungle was very condensed. The dark and thick jungle gives us the feeling of savage instinct. Although both the good and evil is found in us but it increases the inefficiency to control our animal appetite. It weakens the nerves of even a strong man. Same is the case with Wilderness which was also there in the Congo. It gives the feeling of loneliness. The Congo looked like a God forsaken wilderness. Surf is the sign of displeasure hostility. The Congo is the land of Black people and they have the right on it. Marlow says surf on the coast when the waves were striking. The surf epitomizes nature’s anger and wrath to the Alien intrusion. Conrad called it unjustified intrusion. The grass stands for wilderness. The grass has no harmony. The uneven growth which is not trimmed and groomed looks terrifying and horrifying. The grass resembles the condition and status of Congolese that they are wild and brute. They need to be groomed and civilized. The fire in the station interprets the corruption and embezzlement of White men. Often officers set fire to the documents and disposed off the record so that their corruption can be concealed. Marlow was busy in fixing the streamer when the station caught fire. He saw a man come to the bank of the river with a leaked bucket while filling it half-heartedly which was useless. It suggests the hypocrisy of White men that they pretend to be positive but actually not.<br />
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The next category of the symbols is Society. It includes those symbols which are taken from our society. These elements and figures convey normal meanings but symbolically it carries deeper meanings. This includes: The phrase “Whited Sepulchre” comes from the biblical Book of Matthew. In the passage, Matthew describes “Whited Sepulchre” as something beautiful on the outside but containing horrors within; thus the image is appropriate for Brussels, where the company’s headquarters is located. The people lived in the city looked civilized but were hollow at the core. It suggests that the more we become educated the more we become savage and barbaric. The sophisticated, neat and tidy looking people are empty from the inside like whited sepulchure. They have a vacancy for evil. They easily yield to the three dimensions of temptation. The desire for riches, power and physical pleasure. The discarded machinery was laying in the outer station which included different tools and products of modern science and technology. White men planned to start some constructive works e.g. roads, buildings, factories etc. but they applied Imperial administrative system. The whole machinery was decaying and giving the evidence of their false pretension. The Kurtz painting, “ … a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch. The background was somber – almost black”, interprets the entire European civilization. They are blindfolded and away from the harsh realities. They are ignorant and living in a state of falsehood. And the lighted torch represents their misconception of enlightening Congolese because they themselves need it. Her face has become distorted because the European customs seem rather repulsive. The dark background shows their low mental caliber. Rivets are the adequate tools, although nominal in value but very important in the function. The Rivets symbolize adequate tools of civilization. We need civilized rivets to live in a society. These are the internal and external controls which abide us from uncivilized activities. Civilized rivets are speech, clothes, a tailor, a constable, education etc. The Congo lacks rivets like these. The Dismantled Hut is the emblem of the failure of White man’s civilization. It exposes their rottenness, inefficiency and incompetency. The steam-whistle symbolizes a new sound for the Africans and it is said that they scream when they hears the whistle. “One good screech will do more for you than all your riffles”. It means there is no use of operating guns, disastrous weapon and brutal forces if they scare from a single steam-whistle. The Shoes represent protection. By wearing shoes we feel safe and secure. Candle on the steamship – Marlow brings a candle into Kurtz’s quarters as Kurtz is dying on the ship. The candle is the symbol of Kurtz losing the struggle for life. When Kurtz finally submits to death, Marlow blows out the candle.<br />
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After discussing various symbols with respect of Nature and Society, lets bring forward some of the symbols that signify Characters in Heart of Darkness. The general characters used by Conrad are very interesting in view of their association and connection with the Characters of Heart of Darkness. The very first to discuss is Buddha, “Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus flower”. Buddha was born in Nepal in a Royal family. He saw the inhumanity and sufferings of human and other living beings. He was so influenced from the injustice that he decided to abandon the royal and luxurious life in search of enlightenment. He promoted love and spiritual salvation whereas Lotus is a symbol of purity of speech, mind and body in every form. So the sitting posture of Marlow resembles to that of Buddha which means Marlow has also a staunch believe in sublimity. He has the same characteristics of non-violence and salvation like Buddha. But he has not attained complete enlightenment that’s why he is without a Lotus. He is in a meditating pose and wearing European clothes means that he has the hallmark of Whiteman.<br />
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The two women knitting black wool is a symbol of Brussels Whited Sepulchre. They are knitting the yarn which epitomizes fate and furies and that the fate is having two dimensions one is favorable while the other is unfavorable. The process is either constructive or destructive but the net product will be the black wool that’s the evil. Secondly the two women also represent the imperial and industrial systems which are meant to amaze as much wealth as possible. They are manufacturing death and torment for themselves. The Manager symbolizes all the immorality of European Civilization. He is an emblem of the weaknesses of White men. That they have appointed such an unskilled and incompetent man on a very responsible post. The manager is not the right person for the job. He does not have the ability to manage the things. He is a square peg in a round hole. And due to his incompetency it can be said that his role is like a bull in a china shop. His only concern was to attain as much ivory as possible. The Chief Accountant suggests a typical European personality. He is very much curious about his book of accounts. We get a glimpse of naked reality. The Brick-Maker is doing a job against his title. He had not made a single brick in the last one and a half years. He lacks the skills and adequate tools to make bricks. He is actually working as a spy to safeguard monetary interests. This represents the acute possessiveness of White men that they hire a special person to restrict any collusion. The Brick-maker is also named papier-mache Mephistopheles which means he is a hollow man and possess a weak moral fiber. Brick-maker has been compared with paper-pulp to show the level of his weak moral values. He also represents devil characteristics. He aims to be a manager of the station and he can achieve it with the habit of nepotism.<br />
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Mr. Kurtz represents man’s dark side. Mr. Kurtz’s character can also be included in the most enigmatic characters in fiction. He remains in the state of inertia and performs no action. He initially worked for the society and wrote long pamphlets for society but he lost courage and felt irritated and wrote at the end of the pamphlet “Exterminate all the brutes”. This was because of his prolonged exposure to the untamed regions of the Congo. He is no longer feeling satisfied with just being a mere mortal, so instead transforms himself into an omnipotent being. Kurtz’s descent into madness is firmly established with his disturbing final words, “The horror! The horror!”<br />
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From the above brief explanation of symbols we can give the conclusion that Joseph Conrad has put his supreme efforts in giving a structural function to his writing rather than a merely illustrative. Heart of Darkness is very largely based on naturally symbolic action and objects such as: the jungle, wilderness, fog, fire, rivets, candle; the characters – Mr. Kurtz, the manager, the brick-maker.<br />
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BIBLIOGRAPHY<br />
• A critical study of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad – famous products<br />
• Lecture notes<br />
• Sparknotes.com<br />
• Writework.com<br />
• Marketgems.com<br />
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If this article helped you in your studies or assignments then don't forget to inform me in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
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Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03316206219222308497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4992872480316774567.post-36383033935695643572012-05-13T11:29:00.001-07:002022-06-01T02:59:46.473-07:00Analysis of a short story "A Dog’s Tale" by Mark Twain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Mark Twain was
an American Writer, journalist and humorist. He was strongly against the
inequality, injustice and hypocrisy of human beings. To highlight and criticize
these discriminations he has used satirical language in a humorous way in his
short stories. In one of his short-story “A Dog’s Tale” reveals the selfishness
and cruelty of human beings towards other human beings and animals. The story
is about the faithfulness of animals with their masters but their masters are
cruel and selfish and use animals for their own benefits. Human beings are
disloyal to their pets. Human beings consider themselves torch bearers of
civilization but actually they are going back to their generic animal instincts.
All the qualities of human beings are shifted to animals and human beings has
revoked the development from being an animal to a human being. One of the
example of this transition is that the mastiff had helped Saddie in planting
seeds which is a productive and humanitarian activity where as Mr. Gray has
played a destructive role in taking an innocent life for his materialistic
benefit. </div>
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A
dog is one of the innocent creatures. In “A Dog’s Tale” a dog has been made to
tell a tale because the problems and hardships faced by this community. A dog
is loved by human being. They keep them for their company and give them shelter
in the same home where they themselves live. Dogs can not be replaced by any
other pet as they help their masters in domestic activity, safeguard them, live
with them like a family member and stay with them in every situation either
favorable or adverse where as a cat changes homes frequently and show no
emotional attachment with the family. Same is the case with horse that can also
be kept as a pet. It can only fulfill the need of riding and conveyance but
again no indoor connection with the family or house. A dog is more close to
human beings and considers the home of their masters as their own one, as we
have noticed in “A Dog’s Tale” when Aileen said,</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It
was such a charming home! – my new one; …”</i></b></div>
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So a Dog is
justified in telling a tale as compared to other animals. </div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A dog could be made to write an
autobiography or a poem but it is narrating a Tale because a tale is more of a narrative
form and it can be expected from a dog to narrate a tale. Whereas an
autobiography can not be narrated, it needs writing some personal experiences which
can only be done by some educated species. Same is the case with poetry which is
produced in the presence of creative skills which again is a limitation in dog’s
personality.</div>
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A dog’s tale is
an allegory as the vary title suggests the symbolic meaning. On the surface
level the title suggests the injustice attitude of the so-called scientist
towards animals whereas at the deeper level the title highlights the hypocrisy
of human beings and their false pretension to the animals and human beings as
well. They consider themselves civilized, educated and reasonable in their acts
but do neglect the feeling and emotions of other people where conflict of on
interest arises. In “A Dog’s Tale” Mr. Gray brought in the mastiff for the
pleasure of his daughter, Saddie. The mastiff saves the life of Mr. Gray’s baby
by putting her life in danger. It shows her faithfulness towards the master and
obedience to her mother, who told her; “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In memory of me, when there is a time of
danger to another do not think of yourself . . .”</i></b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The story can also be inter-related
with another short story “The Fly” written by Katherine Mansfield. In “The Fly”
a fly fell pray to a cruel boss just like a puppy killed by Mr. Gray in “A
Dog’s Tale”. In both the stories the human being is behaving like demy-gods and
considers animals and birds mere puppet and toys in their hands. They feel no
sympathy for them and crush these innocent species for their own benefit and
amuse. In “A Dog’s Tale” the puppy and its mother too are helpless in saving
its life just like the Fly is helpless in “The Fly”. Both are on the mercy of
human characters. Furthermore the boss in “The Fly” can be co-related with the
mastiff, Aileen Mavoureen, because the boss has lost his son in a battle and
Aileen too has lost her puppy martyred for a so-called noble cause. Both the
Boss and Aileen are mourning after their kins but at the end, both accept the
tragic fact of the loss of their generation.</div>
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Muhammad Faheemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03316206219222308497noreply@blogger.com18