Assignment of Frankenstein as a Gothic Scientific fiction

Name :Bhaliya Hansa G.

Course :M. A.

Semester :2

Roll no :10

Batch: 2018-20

Enrollment no :206910862090004

Paper no :Romantic literature

Popic:  Frankenstein as a Gothic 
             Scientific fiction

Email id: hansabhaliya20@gmail.com

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Dept. Of
                           English MKBU

Frankenstein as a Gothic Scientific fiction

About  the author

Mary shelley

      Mary Shelley was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, biographer, travel writer, essayist and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

           Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. 

           It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, that a full-length scholarly biography analyzing all of Shelley's letters, journals, and works within their historical context was published.

Introducing the Novel
   
               "I busied myself to think of a story, . . . One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror". 
                      
                                                 
            Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the English author  Shelley. she started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition of the novel was published secretly in London in 1818, when she was 20. Shelley's name first appeared on the second edition, published in France in 1823.

              
         Frankenstien is a story with many ideas. The main being scientists should not play god and judging by appearances. 

       
         The author Mary Shelley brings these ideas to light through a story about an ambitious inventor named Frankenstien and his creation the monster. Frankenstien has spent many years trying to create something better than human-angelic even but the outcome is not what he expects when he creates what appears to be a monster

         After being abandoned by his creator the monster goes in search of love and friendship but soon finds out that life doesn’t work that way the story follows his search for friendship and his downfall.

#Frankenstein as a Science Fiction

* Definition of Gothic fiction

         Gothic fiction is a type of novel or romance popular in the late 18th and early 19th c. The word ‘gothic’ had come to mean ‘wild’, ‘barbarous’ and ‘crude’. The plots hinged on suspense and mystery, involving the fantastic and the supernatural.

               Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Ottranto. 

Science Fiction :-

              
                 This is where it gets interesting: Frankenstein is often considered the first work of science fiction. What's key is that the science isn't just window-dressing: the whole point of the novel is to explore heavy questions about What It All Means, where "It" can be loosely translated as "science, fate, free will, nature, and humanity."

#   What are some characteristics of gothic science fiction?

                   Gothic literature has certain qualities the influence the story or paper.  It usually has a mystery involved, secrets, curses, murder, and the illusion of ghosts or the supernatural.  

        The setting often entails components such as castles, mansions, secluded streets, fog, chilly air, and remote areas.  Writers from the Victorian era began to include the dynamic of psychologically confused or torn characters.  Romantic undertones are also present.n

     #     Frankenstein as a Gothic Science Fiction
    
             Frankenstein is an example of a gothic novel. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the Romantic, Gothic and Science Fiction elements are combined to create a mysterious and supernatural novel.

             The situation were Victor Frankenstein use body parts to create a monster gives a sense of terror and the idea of creating life is just unbelievable and terrifying. The way Victor develops this task with science and technology is a new element for the readers at 1818, which adds to the story Science Fiction and causes the public to question or give an opinion on Victor's use of death for scientific experimentation and the creation of new life. 

             There is no logical or valid reason why Victor decides to create a monster other than ambition. This feeling is often being presented as wrong, and this is why it is represented by Frankenstein, a monster. 

            "Supremely frightful would be the effect of any human Endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the creator of the world."

                                                                                           -Mary Shelley

#  Creation of monsters or supernatural beings

          It is one of the themes of the gothic novel and gothic fiction which is common to the two works of fiction. In Frankenstein, the hero decides to invent a creature that will resemble a human being. He says:

          “I resolved  to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionally large.”

         He starts assembling materials: “I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials.” 

      
          The reader witnesses the creation of the monster in chapter 5. The weather is queer, it is raining, the narrator is anxious. The operation takes place in a “dreary night”.

The time is symbolic: “It was already one in the morning”.

         The narrator describes the coming into life of the monster: I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. 

              Frankenstein also has a certain spiritualism and you could say that Mary Shelley wants to give the reader a kind of warning and teaching through the death of Victor's brother William and the tragic events that the Frankenstein family experience due to this fatal experiment: the monster, his own creation. 

# Frankenstein is Science fiction

          Science fiction explores "the marvels of discovery and achievement that may result from future developments in science and technology". Mary Shelley used some of the most recent technological finding of her time to create Frankenstein.

            She has replaced the heavenly fire of the Prometheus myth with the spark of newly discovered electricity. The concepts of electricity and warmth led to the discovery of the galvanization process, which was said to be the key to the animation of life. Indeed, it is this process which animates Frankenstein's monster.

         The use of science in the novel is, of course, much deeper than this simple description and shortly will be discussed further, but this basic description is sufficient for the pure purpose of establishing the novel as a work of science fictio

             Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a Gothic Scientific Fiction novel in genre. And we prove this thing with the help of this all the things. What 

         Makes Frankenstein endure as an exemplary Gothic Scientific Fiction is the fact that it takes on these characteristics and concerns that are so central to romantic writing and challenges the common use and treatment of them.

        Frankenstein is an example of a gothic novel. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the Romantic, Gothic and Science Fiction elements are combined to create a mysterious and supernatural novel.

     The supernatural is an important element in any Gothic literature. However, In early Gothic novels, women were presented as stereotypically weak, helpless and prone to threats by powerful and tyrannical male characters. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley does draw on some of the elements of the traditional Gothic female for her female characters however Shelley’s female characters have much more of an influential role than their traditional counterparts. For example, Elizabeth demonstrates the level of wisdom that some of the male characters in particular Victor lack. After the death of Justine Moritz, Elizabeth observes how “misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood”. This emphasises how the monstrous can lurk in the hearts of men as the words “thirsting” and “blood” provide a horrific, almost disturbing image of death because “thirsting” suggests a passion for brutality and cruelty. Most important however, Elizabeth’s words dig deep into Victor’s conscience; there is also dramatic irony as the reader is aware of Victor’s guilt for the deaths of both William and Justine. Thus, the high level of intellect and understanding from Elizabeth emphasises the importance of such a character. However, the dramatic language Elizabeth uses in the imagery: “I feel as if I were walking on the edges of a precipice, towards which thousands are crowding, and endeavouring to plunge me into the abyss” is typical of Gothic fiction. The use of the words “edge”, “precipice” and “abyss” emphasises the narrow line between life and death, safety and danger. The word “precipice” refers to very steep hills where falling down into the “abyss” would almost certainly result in death due to the massive distances. Furthermore, “edge” brings in the idea of closeness, emphasising the fragility of life and the sense of imminent danger. “Abyss”, from Greek, literally means ‘bottomless’. Thus, the word has religious connotations because the “abyss” could refer to the underworld or to hell- this is the link to Gothic genre because in many Gothic texts, references to hell are common as they provide the horror element of the Gothic genre. Therefore, it can also be argued that Elizabeth does represent the traditional Gothic female. Generally in Gothic novels, women are normally threatened however in Frankenstein, the threats to men and women are balanced with the male characters: William, Clerval and Victor’s father falling victim to the creature. Thus, Mary Shelley is clearly supportive of the equalisation of both genders and the position of women in society. Referring to context, Shelley’s parents would have influenced her to include social issues such as position of women in her novel because they were radicals, Shelly’s mother in particular having written ‘A vindication of the Rights of Women’. Although the older, traditional Gothic novels portray women as helpless and weak, Shelley wanted to give the female characters in her novel more independence and influence to put forward her view on position of women. Also, Shelley had a deep respect for her father and husband throughout her life. Therefore, it is unlikely that she wanted to present men as dominative and destructive towards females. Thus, the novel cannot be considered to be purely Gothic because of its deviations from the traditional gothic stereotype of wome

 

            Another key feature of Gothic novels is the use of doppelganger relationships where a good character is followed by a darker, more sinister double. An example of such a relationship in Frankenstein is between Victor and the creature. Shelley creates verbal ties between Victor and the creature in order to emphasise the connections between the creator and creature. For example, Shelley makes use of the word “consummate” with regards to Victor’s wedding night. The word actually has a double meaning in this context because it could refer to the night that the creature ‘accomplishes’ his crime of murdering Elizabeth as well as the night that for the first time Victor and Elizabeth make love. This is interesting because while the creature’s actions destroy the marriage of Victor and Elizabeth, it creates a new ‘marriage’ between Victor and the creature- this ‘marriage’ is not of love but instead of deadly pursuit. This language technique emphasises the connections between Victor and the creature as it shows that they both think and speak in the same terms. It is also interesting how both Victor and the creature do not fully experience companionship; this causes Victor to neglect Elizabeth and this is shown by his misinterpretation of the creature’s words: “I shall be with you on your wedding night”. Victor assumes that the creature will kill him rather than Elizabeth and so by ignoring the creature’s threat, Victor is ironically ensuring the death of the person he claims to love and value most. Therefore, it can be argued that both Victor and the creature are responsible for the death of Elizabeth, suggesting that the two characters are tied to each other inseparably. The creature can therefore be seen as a physical representation of Victor’s ‘hidden’ evil and monstrous personality. Most importantly however, this doppelganger relationship between the two main and crucial characters provides strong evidence for why the novel can be considered gothic.

Conclusion

Assignment of Middlemarch as a study of provincial Life

Name :Bhaliya Hansa G.

Course :M. A.

Semester :2

Roll no :10

Batch :2017 - 20

Enrollment no: 2069108420190004

Paper no :6(victorian Literature)

Topic :Middlemarch as a study of
             provincial Life

Email id: hansabhaliya20@gmail.com

Submitted to :Smt. S. B. Gardi Dept. Of
                           English MKBU

MIDDLE MARCH” AS A STUDY OF PROVNCIAL LIFE.” 

GEORGE ELIOT (1819 – 1880) 

               Many Ann Evans wrote under the pen name of George Eliot. She had religious and spiritual speculation. Her novels deal with the tragedy at ordinaries lives unfolded with an intense sympathy and deep in sight into the truth of character. For her the development of human soul, or the study of its relationship to the greater things beyond itself, is the all important theme. There is little striking incident in her novels, but her plots are skillfully managed. Behind all her writing there lies a sense of the tragedy of life, in which sin or folly brings its own retribution.

INTRO 

           Middle March is a study of provincial life and the scene is laid in the provincial town of Middle March in the first half of the nineteenth century. It is a love story principally dealing with the affairs of Dorothea Brooke and Mr. Rossamond unicyending in despair. “In Middle March the psychology tends more clearly towards an intuitive idea of mind and consciousness. Her most powerful novel, even if it is not inspired or the most harmoniously constructed, is the last in which the activity of her courageous, ever moving mind has been expressed in terms of scenes and figures family to herself and thus endowed with artistic reality.
                         -         Cazamin

SETTING OF THE NOVEL 

                    Middle March is George Eliot’s sixth novel. The reaction to the novel has been a mixed one. Contemporary reviewers, in general, admired it four its life likeness for its characters which they felt were very true to life. In Middle march, the novelist returns once again to the English Midlands in which her girlhood had been passed and which had fertilized her imagination. The location of Middle march has been left indeterminate and vag the setting has not been precisely delineated, as is the case with the other early novels like ‘Adam Bede’. ‘Mill on the Floss and Silas Murder But most critics identify Middle march with ‘Coventry with which George Eliot was well familiar. The action takes place in Middle march or in localities close to it like Tipton Grange. Lowick manour Freshitt Hall, etc. George Eliot is once again on familiar grounds and Midland scenes and sights have been realistically and feelingly sketched. The time of action of the novel is the period immediately preceding the reform Act of 1832.

               Middle march acquires a symbolic significance, symbolic of English, rural life in the 1830’s. What happens in Middle march was happening in provincial society all over England. Contemporary political and social problems are harmonized with private and personal life.

MULTIPLICITY OF CHARACTERS 
                
                   The canvas of Middle march is a crowded one. It is a long novel running into over eight hundred minutely printed pages in the penguin edition. There is a host of characters, so many that all of them cannot even be named in the space. The main characters may be divided into four groups. The first one is Brooks – consisting of Mr. Edword Brooke, his two nieces- Dorothea, the elder sister and Celia, the younger one. The reside at Tipton Grance near the town of Middle march secondly, there are the Vincy the father and head of the family is Mr. Walter Vincy, The elder son is Fred Vincy, the daughter is Rosamand Vincy and Mrs. Lucy Vincy, wife of Walter Vincy. The third one is the Garth family including Caleb Garth, Mary Garth, Mrs. Garth, Alfred Garth and Christy Garth. The fourth family is of Mr.EdwardCasaubon, a clergy and scholar, residing at Lowick Manour, and his cousin Ladislaw other important characters are Peter Featherstone, a rich miser who is the owner of stone court. Joshu Rigg, Nicholas Bultstrode a rich miser who is the owner of stone court. Joshu Rigg, Nicholas Bulstrode a rich banker his wife Harriet Bulstrode, Sir James Chettam, an amiable Baronet who marries Celia, and Tertius Lydgate a doctor of advanced views and an outsider in Middle March of the Minour character, the more important ones are Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader Reverend Mr. Tykes the curate, Trumbull, the auctioneer etc. The list is a long one and it is by no means exhaustive or all inclusive.

TITLE 
         
          As the title suggest, the novel gives us a realistic, vivid and comprehensive picture of provincial life of England. The picture is such that if there is any hero in the novel it is the society of Middle march. The novelist remembers her early girlhood and this gives the picture of truthfulness and vividness of her portrait of provincial life. In the 1830’s provincial life was the same in every part of England for the railways had not yet destroyed rural isolation and seclusion. The action in the novel takes place in Middle march or the neighboring parishes of Tipton, Lawic or Freshets. A host of characters belonging to every profession, age group and walk of life have been brought in, and through their action and interactions life in a limited region Middle march and its environs has been faithfully recorded. As Quentin Anderson points out, “it is a landscape of opinion”, and not any natural landscape, which is dominant in the novel?

      
TRADITIONAL SOCIETY 

                     The limited isolated community has certain well marked characteristics. Everything new or transformation is seen with suspension. Railways which are yet distant and far off are regarded as a threat to the agriculture and their conservative life style, class distinction are taken for granted and every class carries with it, its own privileges class difference protects a person, even when he or she behaves in a way inappropriate for the class to which he or she belongs shields her effectively. It never goes away from the mind of Mr. Brooke, or anybody else that his activities in favour of the reform Bill could work in the direction of reducing his hereditary privileges as a land owner. Nor does Lydgate see the slightest incongruity between his professional ambitions, his deep interest in science, and his traditional way of life.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

                A.O.J.Cockshut says about the society of Middle march “Birth still counts for a good deal, but money is more important, the strength of the position of a man like Mr. Brooke is that he combines both advantages, and has never really been forced into the recognition that to advantages are separable”. In this society manly was everything. It was considered superior to the education George Eliot was aware of the merchant class hangering behind upper class people. Fred went far riding horse, trading and dull sporting dinners. To live as gentleman needed lots of money played an important role as to degrade the person’s morality. Status was given importance characters were eager to get rank in the society.

TRADE IN MIDDLE MARCH

                  Rosamond was attracted to wards Lydgate because of his Northumberland connections. The idea of professional status is not fully developed. There are also honest workmen who devoted themselves to their own trade Caleb Garth is one of that kind. “His classification of human employment was rather crude… He divided them into business, politics, preaching, learning and amusement. He had nothing to say against the last four; but he regarded them as a reverential pagan regarded other gods of their own. It is an irony that Fred Vincy disgusts his middle class father by taking work under this excellent business man, and the renouncing upper class ambition. Even Mr. Brooke does not like his two nieces tos meet the daughter of manufacture except on public occasions; his double standards are seen here.

WOMAN AND THE SOCIETY OF MIDDLE MARCH

           Celia is an interesting representive of the kind of woman who is entirely happy with the feminine, nursery world. Their uncle as usual unconsciously expressed the conventional view with perfect exactness when he says to Casaubon Dorothea’s husband : “Get Dorothea to read few light things Smollett; Roderick Random, Humphrey clinker; they are a little broad, but she may read anything now she’s married you know.” Woman’s reading her public acts depends on the marital status. They are expected to obey and fall in line, as Mary Evans herself was expected to do as a girl. This society was transitional. The poor tenants raised their voice against their landlords. They demanded better conditions of living Mr. Hawley regards Mr. Brooke to be a –

          “Damned bad landlord.”

Their feelings changed though the old order still continues.

CONFLICT IN THE TOWN 

            Old and new both existed in Middle march. Old was dominant but new was future. Religion was divided into two. One is the practical kindly, unidiomatic tradition of Anglicanism, the best representative of which is Mr.Farebrother. The other is vehement and fanatical, is loosely called EvangelicalBulstrode and Tyke represented this trend. In Middle march, the two sects are in conflict, and the order is suspicious of the new. A.O.J.Cokshu – 

          “The relations between the Evangelical and the old fashioned, decent, traditional Anglicanism are well given in the exchange between Mr.Vincy and Balustrade at the end of chapter 13. Mr.Vincy is asking Bulstrode to give Mr. Featherstone a certificate that Vincy’s son had not been borrowing money on the doubtful security of his expectations from Featherstone’s will. Balustrade accuses Vincy of “worldliness and inconsistent folly”, and asks how he can give a certificate in proof of a negative proposition about which he can have no certainly.”

          For Mrs.Farebrother, Anglicanism is linked with class system – 

                   “When I was youngs, Mr.Lydgate, there never was question about right and wrong. We knew our catechism and that was enough. We rearmed our creed and our duty every church parson had the same opinions.

MELANCHOLY IN MIDDLE MARCH 

                   R.H.Hutton says, “It is a world not in sympathy with lofty aspirations, and to make this world convincing, and real, it was essential for her to give such a solidity and complexity to her picture of the world by which her hero’s and heroine’s idealism was to be more or less tested and partly subjugated as would justify the impression that she understood fully the character of the struggle. We doubt if any other novelist, whoever wrote could have succeeded equally well in this melancholy design, could have framed as complete a picture of English country and country town society with all its rigidities, jealousies and pettiness, with its through good nature, stereotyped habits at thought, and very limited accessibility to higher ideas and have threaded all these pictures together by a story, if not of the deepest interest still admirably fitted for its peculiar purpose of showing how euplastic in such an age as ours to the glowing emotion of an ideal purpose.”

THEMES IN THE NOVEL

              There is the theme of the noble aspiration frustrated body by a repressive environment manner of opportunity and “The spots of commonness” in the character concerned. Dorothea and Lydgate are the two main characters who are frustrated in this way. There is also the theme of Theresa complex exemplified through the story of Dorothea who is said to be a self projection, an externalization of the Theresa complex in the novelist herself. The theme of self education is there in this novel. A depiction of the slow process through which a character sheds his ego and his delusions and attains spiritual regeneration and a better and filler life. Another theme is the clash of the old and the new, a depiction of how the past shapes the future and how the future is controlled and determined by present.

PLOT OF THE NOVEL 

      The novel’s plot is complicated. It is made up of four different stories.

[A]  Dorothea – Casaubon – Ladislaw story :-

             Dorothea marries a man twice to herself. He dies within a year of their marriage. Dorothea inherits Casaubon’s property if she does not marry Ladislaw, Casaubon’s protégé. But in the end of the novel Dorothea takes right decision and marries will and thus disinherits Mr.casaubon’s property. She understood that her first decision was just lofty aspiration.

[B]  Rosamond – Lydgate story :-

                  Both married each other in false impression. Rosamond wanted to live extravagant life like upper class people where as Lydgate though was a doctor could not earn that much. Both left Middle march. Lydgate died later on Rosamond marries well to do physician and settles elsewhere.

[C]  Fred Vincy – Mary Garth story:-
        
                  
           Their childhood loves grows to maturity. Fred becomes a good person marries Mary, inherits his uncle’s previous estate and lives peacefully with his children. He and marry had to suffer a lot but things ended well.

            There is also the story of miser Featherstone who made two wills and thus created fuss. These different stands were interwoven into an organic whole. Middle march like other novels has faults. The novel is full of pessimism, gloom and melancholy. There is also a character and incidents are concerned.

CONCLUSION :
         
             The novel has some weak points yet it can be called classic

      “The book is full of high feeling, wisdom and acuteness. It contains some of the most moving dramatic scenes on pure literature. A scene like that of Dorothea in her night of agony, a scene like that in which the greatness of her nature ennobles for a moment the smallness of Rosamond’s is consummate a like in conception and in style. The characters are admirable in their vigor and individuality, as well as in the vividness and fullness of illustration with which they are exhibited.”
               
       It gives us a complete, realistic view of English provincial society in 1830’s and this setting is closely integrated with the four or five stories which form the plot of the novel. The result is an artistic harmony which makes “Middle march George Eliot’s greatest work, and says, Edith Simcox –

             
         “It has scarcely a superior and very few equals in the whole range of English fiction.”    

I.A.Richard's Figuratively Language

Figurative Language

                                     by I.A. Richards

Introduction  :

In criticism if we remember some important and well-known critics then we must remember I.A Richards, in full Ivor Armstrong Richards, who was born Feb. 26, 1893, Sandbach, Cheshire, Eng.—died Sept. 7, 1979, Cambridge, Cambridge shire), English critic, poet, and teacher who was highly influential in developing a new way of reading Poetry that led to the New criticism and that also influenced some forms of reader-response criticism.

   

 Songs with figurative Lanage :

When we hang our lyric tapestry upon the breeze and sculpt the air into poetic phrasing, our laces are bound to get tangled in the winds of change. Wait, what was that? That was figuratively speaking, using poetic metaphors, similes, and expressions to bend the language to suit our message. These songs are almost always beautiful to the ears, even if they're daunting to the com-

Pension 

Film song lyric  :

Richards constructs this theory on the base of like or dislike of reader and he uses two approaches for this  theory.

pragmatic : 

Basically pragmatic means to deal with cause but Richards uses it in different way. He concedes it as knowledge.           

  Analysis :

In this song poet is praising the beauty of the girl he likes. He tells that her skin is like silver and her hair are like gold. The way she passes from became full of flowers and her soft footsteps can change fortune. If she touches stone it becomes the diamond.                     

  I.A. Richards says “The chemist must not require that the poet writes like a chemist not the moralist, not the man of affairs, nor the logician, nor the nor the professor that he writes as they would. The whole trouble of literalism is that the reader forgets that the aim of the poem comes first and is the sole justification of its means. We may quarrel frequently we must, with aim of the poem, but we have first to ascertain what it is. We canon legitimately judge its means by external standards which may have .                 

I.A .Richard's figurativity Language

Figurative Language  by I.A.Richards

Assignment -7

Name: Bhaliya Hansa G.

Course : M.A

Semester: 2

Roll no: 10

Batch : 2018 - 20

Enrolment no: 2069108420190004

Paper no : Literary Theory & criticism

Topic no: Rasa Theory & Natyshashtra

Email id :hansabhaliya20@gmil.com

Submitted to : Smt.S.B. Gardi Dept.of
                          English MKBU

Introduction:-
                       
                 What the ancients thought about the name and nature of poetry may be had from the Risks of the Vedasand the texts of the Upnishads

              The Vedic texts declared that the poets were ‘Gods’- Kavi’ was the term they employed while invoking the foremost of the Gods- Ganapati- they addressed him as the poet’s poet. The poet was the seer of truth having a subtle, profound and penetrating consciousness. He saw the principle of beauty in all things and was filled with utter ecstasy and raised the earth to the level of Heaven and established this principle of joy everywhere.

                                                               (Rig Veda III, 38, 2&3)

# Thus, the Vedic conception of a poet took into account all aspects of poetry:-

* Its creation,

* its manifestation     and

  * its impact upon the reader.

Apart from the normal consciousness which we call jagrat, the Upnishads spoke of subtler states such as swapta, susupti and turiyanot to mention in free conscious levels. The Upnishadic Seer – poet could withdraw, ingather or collect contain and concentrate his consciousness and come out to express his vision and experience. He had the world. He could thus give us the vision and he knew the way to get back to the source and testify to the authenticity of the transcript.

            The most significant example of what we have been describing is, Valmiki, whose Ramayana spontaneously sprang out of the pathos – filled fountain of the poet’s heart.

          ü He says,

“padbaddhokshrasama: tanrilayasamnvita:
Shokatrasya  pravuto me sloko bhavtu nanyattha

v The observation makes it clear that
   
*Genuine great poetry is not made (constructed out of one’s cleverness (chamtkar) but is a spontaneous emanation from a heart filled with Rasa

* That the great artist is also a great art critic- the kavi and sahradaya are one and it is only the most sensitive critic that can respond to the charm of great poetry.

* Most significantly the form (of poetry) which includes diction, versification and music is determined by the inspiration and the laya is as important as any other element and it determines the meaning of the utterance. Every Vedic scholar who has learnt his texts in the traditional way will tell us about the importance of intonation/ Swara and how it determines the meaning.

# The theory of Rasa:
        
                  The concept of rasa is reffered to in the phrase “shokatrasya  pravuto me” etc. Rasa is the source of inspiration. The term is rendered as taste/ essence. Tradition makes god Almighty himself as the first and foremost of creative artist; and Taittiriya Upnishads describes as Rasa Raso ve sa: Valmiki is also the greatest of critics who felt that what He created was good and made Him happy. Rasa is therefore supposed to constitute art experience and the critic is one capable of rasanubhav
           
          
The theory of Rasa is associated with Bharata though there are references to it in the Vedas and in Valmiki.The context in the Vedas and Upnishads where Rasa is mentioned, are not exactly aesthetic. The word means sap of essence and refers to the experience of the Supreme Reality which is one of the self- existent delights.

      The Vedic poetry does contain a number of rks on speech, Vak, especially in the tenth mandala (or Rg Veda) and the seers knew perhaps a lot about inspiration and the need for sahradayatva in understanding and enjoying poetry. 

Valmiki’s slokas, spontaneously emanating from his being overpowered by an intense feeling of pathos, and his own appreciation of it, indicate that he was, at one stroke, both a poet and a critic.

    The Karunarasa of  of the epic Ramayana has made all the later critics and poets look upon him (Valmiki) as the father of the theory of Rasa.

It is, however, only in Natyashastra of Bharata that the theory of Rasa is stated in all its ramifications. We do not know when Bharata lived. Scholars like A. B. Keith place him in the first or the second part of the first century B.C. the references to various aspects of dramaturgy in the book show that dramatic technique must have been a teacher of theatre, arts, music and dancing. The extracts are intended to give us an idea of the theory of Rasa.

# On Natya and Rasa :

   On Natya and Rasa: Aesthetics of Dramatic Experience.

    The natya is depiction and communication pertaining to the emotions of the entire triple world:-

      The pious behavior of those who practice , religion, the passion of those who indulge in sexual pleasure, the repression of those who go by a wicked path, the act of self- restraint of those who are disciplined.

      
       In fact, the nature and behavior (svabhava) of the world, intimately connected with happiness and misery, as rendered by physical and other forms of acting, is to be called natya.

# The eight rhetorical sentiments (Rasa) recognized in drama and dramatic representations are named as follows:-

* The Erotic Rasa

* The Comic Rasa

*The Furious Rasa
        
*The Heroic  Rasa

* The Terrible Rasa

*The Odious Rasa

*The Marvellous Ras

The high souled Druhina (Brahma) preclaimed these eight rhetorical sentiments. I shall now mention the emotional states (Bhava) as arising from the abiding, (sthayin) the transient (Sancari orVyabhichari) and the psycho- physical conditions (Sattvika) of the mind.

The four styles in which dramatic representation is establishe

       Bharati or Verbal,

    Sattvati or Grand,

    Kaisiki or Graceful,

    Arabhati or Energetic

The success of dramatic representation is twofold heavenly or human

The musical instruments (atodya) are of four finds:-their characters are

Stringed (tata),

 Covered (avanaddha),

 Solid (Ghana) and

 Holes (Susira)

ü Tata is known to be connected with the stringed lyre,

ü Avanaddha is connected with drum;

ü Ghana is cymbol or gong,

ü Susira is flute.

The term rasa has a twofold significance;

  It means the ‘aesthetic content’of literary art and also ‘aesthetic relish’ which the reader – spectator enjoys.

We shall first of all explain the rhetorical sentiments (Rasas). No literary import can ever proceed without rhetorical sentiment and aesthetic relish. Now, Rasas aries from a proper combination of the stimulants (vibhava) the physical consequents (anubhava), and the transient emotional states (Vyabhichari Bhava).

What is illustrative case?

 #There  we say:

   Just as by a proper combination of different spicy foodstuffs (vyajana) leafy vegetables (ausadhi) and other articles of food (dravya) there is a flavor and taste (rasa) is produced, in the same way when different emotional states come together, aesthetic flavour  and relish are produced. Just as again, an account of such articles of food as molasses, and spicy and vegetables stuff, the six (food) flavours and tastes are produced, in the same way when various emotional states reach the abiding mental conditions, the latter attain the quality of rhetorical sentiments. Or become aesthetically relishable. 

What is this that you call ‘rasa’?

We say:  it is so called because it is capable of being tasted or relished.

    How is rasa tasted?

Just as people in a contended state of mind (sumanasah), eating the food prepared well (samkrta) with various spicy things taste the (various) flavours (enjoys thevarious state) and obtain delight and satisfaction (harsadin)  in the same manner spectators, in the right (receptive) frame of mind (sumanash) taste the permanent mental conditions, suggested (vyanjita) by the representation (abhinaya) of various emotional states, the abhinaya carried out by speech – delivery (vac), physical gestures and movements (anga), and by the physical acting of physical impacts (sattva), and obtain pleasure and satisfaction. It is for this reason that they have been explained as natya-rasa:aesthetic contents and their relish arising from dramatic representation.

In this context there are two traditional couplets:-

Just as connoisseurs of cooked rice of food (bhakta), when they eat it as prepared with many articles of food and with many different spicy things enjoy the flavour and taste.

In like manner, the wise(spectator) taste and enjoy in their mind the permanent mental conditions rendered through (lit. well- connected with) the acting of emotional states(bhavabhinaya).

Bharata defines Rasa in his well known aporism:-

Vibhava anubhava Vyabhichari samyogat Rasa nishpattihi

        He said that rasa is achieved as a result of the functioning of thevibhavs, the anubhavas andVyabhichari bhavas.

Vibhava:-

   Vibhava has the meaning of distinct, specific knowledge. Vibhava, karana (cause), nimitta(instrument), hetu (reasons) are synonyms. As words, physical gestures and the psycho physical acting connected with the representation of stable and transitory mental states are specifically determined by this (vibhavyante), it is therefore calledVibhava: Determinate or Stimulant

Here there is a verse:

 As many matters based on verbal and physical acting are determined by this for the actor, and as many matters arising through the verbal and physical acting are distinctly comprehended by the spectator, this causative, stimulating or determining factor is given the name Vibhava.

Anubhava:-

Anubhava, physical gestures and sattva is made to be felt (anu-bhavyate) as an after- effect- (anu) of the impact of the emotional stimulant.

There is verse about this:-

 Since the emotional content of art (artha) is made to be felt by the particular acting through words and physical gestures, the term anubhava (consequents or physical reactions) is therefore used: it is connected with the flourish of hand – gestures (sakha) as well as the gestures of the major and minor limbs of the body.

Emotional Status and Rasa:-

The emotional states (bhavas) are explained in this manner as connected with determinates or stimulants (vibhava) and consequents (anubhava).

In this connection the vibhava and anubhava are quite familiar among the common people. Besides, as they closely follow human nature their characteristics are not defined; and this is for avoiding verbal prolixity.

#Vyabhichari –bhavas:-

   Vyabhichari- bhavas – secondary emotion and sensations which feed the dominant emotion. The word ‘vyabhichari’ it may be replied: vi and abha are two prepositions;car is a root employed in the sense of movement or motion. The Vyabhicarians are so called because they move prominently towards creating the poetic sentiments in a variety of ways. Equipped with the acting based on speech, body and concentrated mind, these lead or carry the spectator, in actual dramatic performance, to the poetic sentiments ; hence they are calledvyabhicarins.

Bharata speaks of eight different types of  Rasas and their development is aided by poetry, music and other histrionic devices called natyadharmi, all brought under abhinaya.

#    Inter relation of Bhava and Rasa:-

turned out of the emotional states, and not that emotional states are turned out of The rhetorical sentiments are turned out of the emotional states, and not that emotional states are turned out of the sentiments.

There are traditional couplets about this:-

The emotional states are so known by the designers of dramatic art because they (the bhavas) bring to the spectators (iman) an emotional awareness (bhavayanti) of the sentiments as connected with various modes of acting or dramatic representation

  VJust as, by many articles of food (dravya) of various kinds, the spicy foodstuff (vyanjana) like vegetables, meat, fish is brought to a distinct flavour (bhavayate), in the same way, the emotional states bring the level of actual experience (bhavayati) when helped by different kinds of acting or historinic representation (abhinaya).

v There can hardly be the experience of sentiment without the previous presentation of an emotional state; nor can there be an emotional state which does not lead to the experience of a sentiment. During the process of historinic representation the two (Bhava and rasa) accomplish their status and functions by dual interaction.

Now the colours:-

o   The Erotic Sentiment is light green (syama)

o   The Comic is Described as white (sita)

o   Pathetic is grey (kapota)

o   The fearful described as red (rakta)  

o   The Heroic is to be known as yellow red (gaura)

o   The terrible as black

o   The Odious on the contray is blue (rala)

o   The Marvellous is yellow

Now the Deities:-

o   The Erotic (sentiment) has Vishnu as its presiding deity;

o   The deity of the Comic is Pramatha,

o   The deity of the Furious  is Rudra,

o   The Pathetic was Yama  as its deity,

o   The deity of the Odious is Mahakala,

o   The Terrible has Kala as the God,

o   The Heroic, the god Mahendra,

o   The Marvellous has Brahma as its deity.

Conclusion:-

  Bharata, the first enouncer of the theory, gives the most comprehensive analysis of its sources, nature, and its categories. Subsequently, the theory found major commentators in Dhanika- Dhananjaya whore-examined Bharata’s typology of drama and added to it a typology of uparupakas, sub-plays, play within plays, and one act plays. It isAbhinavagupta, however who enriched the theory by elucidating its philosophic foundations and by analyzing in depththe aesthetic dimension of the nature, cognition and effect of literary experience.

   The rasa theory has been accepted as the core liberary theory by all major poeticians both before and after   Abhinavagupta. In particular, the discussion and analysis byVishwanath and Pt. Jagannathhave contributed towards a more subtle understanding of this theory.

Coleridge life

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Biography

Born: October 21, 1772 
Devonshire, England 
Died: July 25, 1834 
Highgate, England 
English poet and author

    
     Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a major poet of the English Romantic period, a literary movement characterized by imagination, passion, and the supernatural. He is also noted for his works on literature, religion, and the organization of society.

Childhood talents :

       
        Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the tenth and last child of the vicar of Ottery Saint Mary near Devonshire, England, was born on October 21, 1772. After his father's death in 1782, he was sent to Christ's Hospital for schooling. He had an amazing memory and an eagerness to learn. However, he described his next three years of school as, "depressed, moping, friendless." In 1791 he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, England. Because of bad debts, Coleridge joined the 15th Light Dragoons, a British cavalry unit, in December 1793. After his discharge in April 1794, he returned to Jesus College, but he left in December without completing a degree.

Poetic career :

    
     The years from 1795 to 1802 were for Coleridge a period of fast poetic and intellectual growth. His first major poem, "The Eolian Harp," was published in 1796 in his Poems on Various Subjects.Its verse and theme contributed to the growth of English Romanticism, illustrating a blending of emotional expression and description with meditation.

      From March to May 1796 Coleridge edited the Watchman, a periodical that failed after ten issues. While this failure made him realize that he was "not fit for public life," his next poem, "Ode to the Departing Year,"

( Coleridge fhoto )
        
     
shows that he still had poetic passion. Yet philosophy and religion were his overriding interests. In Religious Musings (published in 1796), he wrote about the unity and wholeness of the universe and the relationship between God and the created world.

Personal difficulties :

      
         After spending a year in Germany with the Wordsworths, Coleridge returned to England and settled in the Lake District. For the next twelve years Coleridge had a miserable life. The climate made his many ailments worse. For pain relief he took laudanum, a type of opium drug, and soon became an addict. His marriage was failing, especially once Coleridge fell in love with Sara Hutchinson, Wordsworth's sister-in-law. Poor health and emotional stress affected his writing. However, in 1802, he did publish the last and most moving of his major poems, "Dejection: An Ode." After a two-year stay in Malta (a group of islands in the Mediterranean), he separated from his wife in 1806. The only bright point in his life was his friendship with the Wordsworths, but by 1810, after his return to the Lake District, their friendship had lessened. Coleridge then moved to London.

Later life :

          Coleridge spent the last eighteen years of his life at Highgate, near London, England, as a patient under the care of Dr. James Gillman. There he wrote several works which were to have tremendous influence on the future course of English thought in many fields: Biographia literaria (1817), Lay Sermons (1817), Aids to Reflection (1825), and The Constitution of Church and State(1829).

For More Information :

          Ashton, Rosemary. The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Critical Biography. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.

     Campbell, James Dykes. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Narrative of the Events of His Life. Norwood, PA: Norwood Editions, 1977.

Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: Early Visions. New York: Viking, 1980.

User Contributions:

             So I was wondering why his place of burial is not shown in this article. I am doing a project and this is one of the only reliable sources that I could find. Where was he put 6 ft. under? Was it St Michael's Church in London or one of the many other St Michael's Church's locations.

  

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