LitSpeare

The Victorian period is  hallmarked by Queen Victoria's rule from June 1837 to January 1901.  The period saw the British Empire bloom to become the major players in international trade. The Victorian Era was a time of contrasts—poverty as well as prosperity, degrading manual labor as well as technological progress, and depravity as well as virtue. In many ways it was paradoxically “the best times” and “the worst of times” as quoted from Charles Dickens novel Tale of Two Cities. Conflicts of Faith and Doubt The foundation of evolutionary theory, On the Origin of Species , was published by Charles Darwin in 1859. He stirred up a huge cloud of doubt into the Victorian society through this seminal piece of work. The religious society began to question their faith and went in search of facts.  Darwinism, coupled with the new science discoveries being made, posed serious problems for the church and society, causing people to challenge their religious beliefs and have many doubts.   Alth

"We would rather have Fra Lippo Lippi than any essay on Realism in art" - George Eliot The Victorian poet, Robert Browning is famously known for his dramatic monologues and is a poet who aspires to draw upon the true nature of reality. He aims to bring forth in his writing, a depiction untainted by falseness or obscurity. And the poem Fra Lippo Lippi echoes this aspect of his poetry. The main focus of the poem is to question the readers as to what should be the right representation of art - should it be the idealistic form of art, with only the soul, something beyond the reality or should it hold up a mirror to life. Hence giving his readers food for thought. Like many of Browning dramatic monologues, the listener is completely the silent interlocutor and is subjugated and mesmerised by the speaker’s speech. And tells the readers a short account of the speaker and his life through the poem. The poem starts in media res, a common feature Browning employs to his poetry. We lear

 The Scholar Gipsy analysis  "The Scholar Gipsy" by Matthew Arnold, revolves around the seventeenth-century Oxford story taken from philosopher Joseph Glanvil's The Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661). The poem is a take on the conflicts that prevailed in seventeenth-century Victorian Society. This period was a time of confusion and doubt. People grew more fascinated by the modern encroachments sprouting in their society. Developments in science questioned the very base of people's religious beliefs and many were put into a trance of scepticism. The publication of Charles Darwin’s monumental work ‘Origin of species’ released the Victorian conflict of ‘religion vs science Arnold has based this poem on a story from Glanvil’s work where he tells the tale of a poor Oxford scholar who left his University life and his studies behind to join a band of wandering gipsies. The Oxford Scholar is mesmerised by the wonders of mysticism practised by the gipsies and decides to learn every

The Beginning Drama originated in classical Greece. Athens, the cultural centre of Greece produced three genres of drama: Tragedy, Comedy, and Satyr. The famous dramatists of this time were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the comic writers Aristophanes and, from the late 4th century, Menander. From Greece, the drama entered the Roman empire. Three Dramatic Unities  The Greek and Roman critics recommended three dramatic unities which must be observed by a good dramatist. They are Unity of Time, Unity of Place, and Unity of Action. Unity of Time implies that the action in a play should not exceed the limit of twenty-four hours; Unity of Place means that the scene should not change too often from place to place, and the Unity of Action means that the Tragedy and Comedy should not be intermixed. Origin of English Drama The origin of the drama is deep-rooted in the religious predispositions of mankind. The same is the case not only with English drama but with dramas of other nations

A Vindication on the Rights of Women  Wollstonecraft - Main Points Source : Google Images I n her essay, Wollstonecraft comes out against a society of men and women who live a life according to some conditioned beliefs. She accuses the men for viewing women as a household being, valued only for their beauty. Then she accuses the women for being concerned about their beauty, and living a submissive according to the rules set by men. In her initial chapters, Wollstonecraft launches an attack on men for making women as beings dependent on men. “The neglected education of my fellow creatures is the grand source of misery deplore”. The many books written by men have reduced. Women to their beauty and alluring mistresses than rational wives. Such books advice womenfolk not to engage in so called masculine life. It tells women how to make themselves presentable, table manners, how to please men - all things that do not facilitate the development of reason or thinking. And these have brainwash

  Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy Source : Google Images By dramatic conventions, the play Hamlet is considered a Revenge Tragedy. According to Shakespearean tradition, tragedy is the story of a man and depicts his sufferings and misfortunes leading to his death. Hamlet is a man of noble birth, the heir to the throne of Denmark. He is forced out of his comfort zone to avenge the death of his father, who was murdered by his own uncle, Claudius in order for the throne. What adds fuel to his revenge is Gertrude’s hasty marriage to Claudius. Like all Shakespearean heroes of tragedy like Macbeth, King Lear and Othello, Hamlet is a man of high and distinct qualities, who occupies an important position in society. Hamlet is loved by his people. He is a great philosopher, he is noble in his thoughts and dealings and refrains from doing evil acts. A tragedy aims to produce a cathartic effect and Hamlet’s character successfully delivers it. The play begins in media res and we are introduced to Haml

Source: Google Images Jack Worthing leads a double life. He pretends to have an irresponsible brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life and is always getting into trouble which gives Jack an excuse to go after him to help him. The fictional brother Ernest is actually an escape route for Jack to slip away from the countryside whenever he feels like enjoying the pleasures of the town. When Jack reveals to Algernon, his friend about the fictional Ernest, Algernon calls him a “Bunburyist”, to his definition is a man who leads a double life. But Jack denies this accusation. This character of Jack denying leading a double life marks his character as indeed dishonest. While Algernon admits that he is a Bunburyist, who leads a double life with a fictional brother named Ernest. Coming to the later part of the play we find that Jack is a man who is double dishonest. When the rest of the party finds out that Jack was actually conning a fake persona he is forced to disclose his secret. He a

Source : Google Images The Lamb by Blake, published in 1789 in his collection Songs of Innocence, is filled with religious sentiments. The speaker in the poem is a child, the representative of innocence. This poem is actually a counterpart to Blakes’s poem “The Tyger” in Songs of Experience, where we can find several inverted parallels. The lyric is counterpart to the tiger. “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” represent the two contrary states of the human soul. The lamb represents innocence and humanity whereas the tiger represents a fierce force within man. The speaker, who is a child addresses a Lamb, probably wandering in the meadows. The lamb is a baby lamb because the child calls him Little Lamb. The child asks who made the little lamb in a typical child’s tone, rhythm and diction. He asks him several questions, like who gave it life and food, from where it got its wool and a tender voice which makes the valleys rejoice. Though these questions are rhetorical questions, the poet aims to ma