Friday 21 February 2020

Thinking Activity: Hamlet and To his coy Mistress

Hello  readers!

Here on my blog.  This thinking  Activity  given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.   This thinking  Activity  related   William Shakespeare ' s "Hamlet"   and  Andrew Marvell's  poem" To his coy Mistress." This  tast related  cultural  studies  paper.
Question:1:  If  these  two  characters  were  marginalized in  Hamlet,  they are even  more so in stoppard's  handing . If Shakespeare  marginalized the   the  powerless  in his own version of  Rosencrantz and guildenstern, stoppard  has   marginalized  us all in an era  when-  in the eyes of some - all of us are  caught  up  in forces behold  oyr control.
☆  Two characters  in Hamlet: Marginalization  with a vengeance:
👉 Hamlet:  Click hereLet   us   approach  Shakespeare's Hamlet  with a view to  seeing  power in its cultural  context. Shortly  after  the play  with in play,  Claudius  is talking  privately with  Rosencrantz and guildenstern,  Hemlet 's fellow  s3 from  Wittenberg.  In response  to Claudius 's   plan to send  Hamlet  to England,  Rosenberg  deliveres   a speech  that   if read out of context  is both an excellent  set of      of metaphors ( almost  in the shape  of a sonnet) and a  summation  of the Elizabethan  concept  of the role and power  of  kingship:

   
            "  The  singular and peculiar  life is bound
               With all the strength  and armor of the mind
              To keep itself from noyance,  but  much  more
               That spirit  upon whose  weal  depends  and rests
               The  lives of many. The cease of majestry
              Dies not alone, but like a gulf doth draw
             What's  near it with it. It is a massywheel
             Fixes on the summit  of the highest  mount,
            To whose huge spokes ten thousand  lesser  things 
            Arw mortised and  adjoined  ;  which, when it falls, 
          Each  small annexment, petty consequence, 
         Attends  the  boisterous  ruin. Never alone 
        Did  the  king sigh but with a  general  groan."




  Attention  to the context and the speaker  gives the answer.  Guidenstern had just agreed that  he and Rosencrantz  would  do the king's  bidding.  The agreement  is  only a reaffirmation of  what they had told the kind when he first  received  them at court.  Both speeches   are  wholly   in  character.  Easy it is to forget  which of the two speaks which lines. Indeed easy  it is  to  forget  most of their  lines  altogether.  The    two  are  distinctly  plot -  driven : empty  of  personality,  sycophantic  in a sniveling  way, eager to curry  favor  with  power  even  if it   means  spying   on their  erstwhile  friends.   Weakly they  for". Even  less successfully   they   try  to  play  on  Hamlet' s metaphorical  " pipe" , know his " stops,"    , when they  are  forced to admit that they could  not  even handle the literal  musical instrument  that  Hamlet  shows   them. 

    In today's world, women  of all  ages  are  given equal   rights  and  freedom.  In Shakespeare's  time  . In Shakespeare 's time, woman's  obligations  were  to fellow the   rules  of  the  men and obey the  men  in their lives: " Frailty,  they name is  women" , Hamlet   implies   the powerlessness  of the two  women  characters  in the play.  In Hamlet,  the  roles of Gertrude and ophelia  are very important  in  that they  are the two  female characters in the  Hamlet.   In several  instances  earlier  in this chapter  we noted  the cultural  and new historical  emphasis  on power relationships. For   example,  we noted  that cultural  critics  assume " oppositionnal "  roles in terms of  power  structures,  wherever  they might be  found.  Veeser, we pointed out, credited  the new  historicists   with dealing  with " questions  of politics,  power ,  indeed  on all  matters  that deeply  affect  people's  practical  lives". And of course  there  are the large emphases  on power  in the matter of Jonathan  Swift's  Laputa  as previously  noted.  

  Claudius  was aware of  power,  clearly,  when he observed  of Hamlet's  apparent  madness that " Madness in great  ones must  not unwatched go".  With  equal  truth  Rosencrantz  and guildenstern  might have observed  that  power  in great    ones  alsi must not unwatched  go.  To say  , then that the mighty struggle  between  powerful  antagonists  is the  stuff  of this play  is hardly original.  But oyr  emphasis  in the present  reading  is that one  can gain a   further  insight into the play,  and ineed  in to Shakespeare's  culture,  by  thinking  not about kings and  princes  but about the lesser persons  caught up in the massive opposition. It is instructive to  note that the reality of  power  reflective of  Shakespeare's  time might in anothe time and in another culture  reflect  a radically  different  worldview. 

  Question:2   The poem " To his coy  Mistress " tell us a lot about the speaker, the  listener  and also the  audience for whom it is  written.  But what does he  show?  As he selects  these rich and multifarious  allusions,  what does he ignore from his culture  ?


    Andrew Marvell's " To His  Coy Mistress " tells the reader  a  good deal about  the  poem,  much of which is already  clear  from  earlier  comments  in  this  volume,  using traditional approaches.  We know that the speaker  is knowledgeable  about   and conventions   of clssic Greek and  Roman literature,  abot other conventions  of love poetry,  such as the courtly  love conventions  of medieval Europe,  and about  Biblical  passages.  Brody posits the " implied reader" as distinc from the fictive lady who would  " be able  to summon  uo a certain  number  of earlier or contemptuous  example  of  this kindof love poem  and who be  counted  on, inshort , to supply the  models which Marvel may variously  have been evoking , imitating, distorting,  subverting  or transcending ".  The concept  of the "implied  reader"we may note, bulks large in reader  response criticism,  see , for example the work of Wolfgang Iser.     The speaker  knows  all of these things  well enough  to parody or at least  to  echo them , for in making his proposition  to the  coy  lady, he  hardly expects  to be taken seriously  in his detailing.  He  knows  that he is  echoing the  conventions  only in order  to  satirize  them  and  to make  light of the real proposal  at hand. He knows  that  she knows,  fir she comes from the same cultural  milieu that he dies. 


   Andrew  Marvell  said  that    the speaker   is highly  educated  person , and one whi is wekk read, one whose natural  flow of associated  images moves lightly  over details and allusions that reflect  who he , is and he expects  his hearer  or reader  to   respond  in a kind if harmonic vibration.   He  thinks   in terms  of precious  stones ,  of exitic and distant  places   of a milieu  where eating, drinking,  and making merry seem to be an achievable  way of life .
  
 Beyond  what we know of the speaker  from his own wirds, we are justified  in speculating  that his coy lady is like the implied reader,  equally   well   educated,  and the therefore   knowledgeable  of the conventions  he uses in paridy. He  seems to  assume  that she understands  the parodic nature of his comments  , for by  taking her in on the  jests  he appeals  to her  intellect,  thus trying to know   her two of them can beon the same plane in their  thoughts  and   allusions,  their  smiles  and  jests,     then perhaps  they  can shortly  be together  on a different and  literal  plane: literally  bedded.  Thus might  appear  to be the culture and  the  era of the  speaker,  his lady  and  his implied   reader. 


 Now   consider historical  reality,  a dimension  that the poem ignores.  Consider disense.andreal and also present  disease. Chronic  morbidity  of the population.  Although  the speaker  thrusts  disease and  death  into the future.  We know  that syphilis  and other  sexually  transmitted diseases  were just as reak a phenomenon  in Marvell's  day as un our era.  What was the realuty that the speaker  chooses   not to think about,  as he pushes off  death and rhe " vault" to sime distant  time?   Similarly,  one might  turn to a  different  that was ib some ways  even  more ominous, more wrenching  , in its  grasp  of the mind  and body of the general  population.  So disease  was real in   the  middle  of the  seventeenth century   . There neeeded no ghost  to come  from  the  world  of the  dead to tell  Marvell's speaker  about  the real world. Perhaps  the speaker  and his lady knew  it after  all 


  Thank you...

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