DOCTOR FAUSTUS

Reference to context

Paper 2 (part 1 )
Drama 
2015

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d in one self place;
but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be                                                                                

                                                         

                 جہنم کی کوئی حد نہیں ہے اور نہ ہی ایک جگہ میں محیط ہے

لیکن ہم جہاں ہیں وہ جہنم ہیں

اور جہاں جہنم ہے وہاں ہم ضرور ہونگے

                        

REFERENCE:

These lines have been taken from the eminent play “Doctor Faustus”,(Act ll scene 1) written by “Christopher Marlow”.

CONTEXT
At the outset of drama, Doctor Faustus found himself, complete master of knowledge, he was inspired by the necromancy. He became magician after selling his soul to Lucifer. Mephistophilis is the servant of Lucifer, the fallen angel, become servile servant of Faustus. He travelled throughout the world as his fame spread, he got wealth and led a life of king but internally his soul was devoid. After 24-years, death drew near, Faustus begged to repent but Mephistophilis cautioned him not to offend Lucifer. In the end, he was borne off by a company of devils to hell for eternal damnation.

ڈرامہ کے آغاز میں ، ڈاکٹر فوسٹس نے اپنے آپ کو ، مکمل طور پر مختلف علوم کا ماہر پایا ، وہ جادو  سے متاثر تھا ۔ وہ لوسیفر کو اپنی روح  بیچنے کے بعد جادوگربن  ہوگیا۔ میفسٹوفیلس لوسفر کا خادم ہے ،جنت سے نکالا ہوا فرشتہ ، فاؤسٹس کا خادم نوکر بن گیا ہے۔ اس نےجنت ساری دنیا کا سفر کیا جیسے ہی اس کی ہر طرف شہرت پھیلی ، اسے بے انتہادولت   ملی اوراس نےبادشاہ کی زندگی گزاری لیکن اندرونی طور پر اس کی روح بے چین تھی ۔ 24 سال کے بعد ، موت قریب آ گئی ، فوسٹس نے توبہ کرنے کی التجا اب کی۔ جب  لیکن میفسٹو فیلس نے اسے خبردار کیا کہ وہ لوسیفر کو غصہ نہ دلائے ۔ آخر میں ، وہ ابدی عذاب کے لئے ۔شیطانوں کی صحبت  میں  جہنم میں چلا گیا 

Explanation:

These lines taken from the Act 2 when just after signing the deed Mephistophelesss is now his servile slave for 24 years, he is bound to fulfil the command of Faustus and answer all the questions and satisfy him. Faustus is very curious about hell so he puts the first question about it. He answers him that the hell is located in the very depth of this earth, with all elements. This is the place where the sinful souls are to stay and to undergo extreme pain and torture forever. Hell does not have a boundary and it is not confined to any single place where ever be the sinful souls live, hell is always there, or in other words, you can say that, wherever the devils live that place becomes hell. at the day of judgement or when the world comes to end then all the human beings shall have to undergo a process after which it will decide who will go to hell and who will go to heaven Faustus answers that there is no the reality in hell. he can’t believe in hell he has doubt about its existence. Mephistopheles answers that you will believe in hell when you will enter in it and face the torture. Your opinion will be changed after experiencing the torture of hell. 

یہ لائنیں ایکٹ ٹو سے لی گئی ہیں جب جب اقرار نامے پر دستخط کرنے کے بعد میںفیس ٹو فلیس 24 سال کے لیے ڈاکٹر فاسٹس کا غلام بن گیا ،وہ فاسٹس کے تمام احکامات پورے کرنے کے پابند تھا اور اس کے تمام سوالوں کے جوابات دینے اور اسے مطمئن کرنے کا ۔فاسٹس کو جہنم کے بارے میں بہت تجسس تھا اس لیے اس نے سب سے پہلا سوال جہنم کے بارے میں کیا ۔اس نے جواب دیا کہ جہنم زمین کی بہت گہرائی میں واقع ہے ۔یہ وہ جگہ ہے جہاں پے گنہگار اروا ح رہتی ہیں اور وہ یہاں پر ہمیشہ درد ناک عذاب اور تکلیفوں میں رہتی ہیں ۔جہنم کی کوئی حد نہیں ہے جہاں گناہگار اروا ح رہتی ہے وہ جگہ جہنم بن جاتی ہے ،اور دوسرے الفاظ میں آپ کہہ سکتے ہیں ،جہاں شیطان رہتے ہیں وہ جگہ جہنم بن جاتی ہے ۔قیامت کے دن یاجب دنیا ختم ہوگی ۔تب تمام انسان کامل سے گزریں گے جس میں فیصلہ کیا جائے گا کہ کون جہنم میں جائے گا اور کون جنت میں ۔فاسٹس جواب دیتا ہے ۔اسے جہنم پر یقین نہیں ہے اسے اس کی موجودگی پر بہت زیادہ شک ہے ۔میں فیس ٹو فیس جواب دیتا ہے کہ جب تو اس میں داخل ہوں گے اور تم عذاب سے گزرو گے تو تم پھر یقین کر لو گے ۔جہنم کے عذاب کو محسوس کرنے کے بعد تمہاری رائے اس کے بارے میں بدل جائے گی ۔

Annual Exam - 2017

“Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And melting heavens conspired his overthrow.”

                                 "خود تکبر کی ، ہوشیار سے سوجن تک ،     

اس کے موم رنگ کے پروں اس کی پہنچ سے اوپر بڑھ گئے ،                               

   اور پگھلے ہوئے آسمانوں نے اس کا تختہ پلٹنے کی سازش کی۔ 

REFERENCE:

These lines have been taken from the eminent play “Doctor Faustus”,(Act ll scene 1) written by “Christopher Marlow”.

CONTEXT

At the outset of drama, Doctor Faustus found himself, complete master of knowledge, he was inspired by the necromancy. He became magician after selling his soul to Lucifer. Mephistophilis is the servant of Lucifer, the fallen angel, become servile servant of Faustus. He travelled throughout the world as his fame spread, he got wealth and led a life of king but internally his soul was devoid. After 24-years, death drew near, Faustus begged to repent but Mephistophilis cautioned him not to offend Lucifer. In the end, he was borne off by a company of devils to hell for eternal damnation.
ڈرامہ کے آغاز میں ، ڈاکٹر فوسٹس نے اپنے آپ کو ، مکمل طور پر علم کا ماہر پایا ، وہ نیکروانی سے متاثر ہوا۔ وہ لوسیفر کو اپنی جان بیچنے کے بعد جادوگر ہوگیا۔ میفسٹوفیلس لوسفر کا خادم ہے ، گرتا ہوا فرشتہ ، فاؤسٹس کا خادم نوکر بن گیا ہے۔ اس نے ساری دنیا کا سفر کیا جیسے ہی اس کی شہرت پھیل گئی ، اسے دولت ملی اور بادشاہ کی زندگی گزاری لیکن اندرونی طور پر اس کی روح منحرف ہوگئی۔ 24 سال کے بعد ، موت قریب آ گئی ، فوسٹس نے توبہ کرنے کی التجا کی لیکن میفسٹو فیلس نے اسے خبردار کیا کہ وہ لوسیفر کو ناگوار نہ بنائے۔ آخر میں ، وہ ابدی عذاب کے لئے شیطانوں کی ایک کمپنی کے ذریعہ جہنم میں چلا گیا۔

Explanation:

These are starting lines of drama “Doctor Faustus” when the chorus introduces us to the Doctor Faustus character, starting with his infancy, and throughout his life span until the moment when he becomes a doctor. He surpassed all others who took delight in debating and discussing subjects of the theology pretending to God and heaven. And due to this, he becomes exceedingly proud of his learning and was puffed up with vanity and arrogance, so much so that he seemed to aspire like Icarus, who was the son of the Daedalus. He tried to escape along with his father from Crete with the help of Wings made of feathers and wax. His father advised him not to fly too high because the wax will melt near the sun but he didn’t obey his father. The wings melted due to heat of the sun as he flew very near to the sun bringing him down into the sea. Thus, for his inordinate ambition, Faustus was also punished by God and was pulled down from his eminent position. He stooped very low to indulge in the practice of Magic art. Fully accomplished with all the great and glorious powers of learning he now sought gratification from the practice of Necromancy the vicious art of calling up spirits. Nothing was more pleasing to him then this art of magic which he placed even above the salvation of his soul.

 

یہ لائنیں ڈاکٹر فاسٹ ڈرامے کے شروع کی ہے جب کورس ہمارا تعارف ڈاکٹر فاسٹس کے کردار سے کراتا ہے ،اس کے بچپن سےشروع کر کے اس کی تمام زندگی جب تک وہ ڈاکٹر نہیں بن جاتا ہے ۔اس نے دوسرے تمام لوگوں کو پیچھے چھوڑ دیا جو خدا اور جنت کا دعوی کرتے ہوئے مذہبیات کے موضوعات پر بحث و مباحثہ کرنے میں مگن تھے اور اسی وجہ سے وہ اپنی تعلیم پر بہت زیادہ فخر کرتا تھا وہ غرور اور تکبر سے اس قدر بھر گیا کہ وہ بالکل ا کیرس کی طرح دکھائی دیتا تھا جو کہ ڈیڈلس کا بیٹا تھا اس نے اپنے والد کے ساتھ پنکھوں اور موم سے بنے ہوئے پر بنائیں جن کی مدد سے وہ کریٹ کی قید سے فرار ہونے کی کوشش کر رہے تھے۔اس کے والد نے اسے نصیحت دی تھی کہ وہ زیادہ اونچی پرواز نہ کرے کیونکہ موم سورج کے قریب پگھل جائے گا لیکن اس نے اپنے والد کی نصیحت کی پرواہ نہ کی ۔سورج کی گرمی کی وجہ سے پر پگھل گئے ۔جیسے ہی وہ سورج کے قریب گیا وہ سمندر میں گر گیا ۔اسی طرح فاسٹس کی غیر معمولی خواہش کی وجہ سے خدا نے اسے سزا دی اور اسے اپنے نمایاں مقام سے نیچے گرا دیا ۔جادو کی مشق کرنے کے لئے اس نے اپنے آپ کو بہت نیچے گرا دیا ۔سیکھنے کی تمام تر عظیم اور شاندار قوتوں کے ساتھ اس نے اب شیطانی علم جادو کے فن کو سیکھنے کے لیے وہ اتنی خوشی محسوس کر رہا تھا کہ اس نے اپنی روح کو غلامی میں دینے سے بھی دریغ نہ کیا

 Annual Exam - 2019

I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, And chase the Prince of Parma from our land ‘,. And reign sole king of all the provinces; Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war

میں فوجیوں کو لگاؤں گا جو وہ لے کر آئے ہیں ، اور ہمارے ملک سے پرما کے شہزادے کا پیچھا کریں گے۔ ‘ اور تمام صوبوں کا واحد بادشاہ۔ ہاں ، جنگ کی بھینٹ چڑھنے کے لئے انجن

REFERENCE:

These lines have been taken from the eminent play “Doctor Faustus”,(Act ll scene 1) written by “Christopher Marlow”.

CONTEXT

At the outset of drama, Doctor Faustus found himself, complete master of knowledge, he was inspired by the necromancy. He became magician after selling his soul to Lucifer. Mephistophilis is the servant of Lucifer, the fallen angel, become servile servant of Faustus. He travelled throughout the world as his fame spread, he got wealth and led a life of king but internally his soul was devoid. After 24-years, death drew near, Faustus begged to repent but Mephistophilis cautioned him not to offend Lucifer. In the end, he was borne off by a company of devils to hell for eternal damnation.
ڈرامہ کے آغاز میں ، ڈاکٹر فوسٹس نے اپنے آپ کو ، مکمل طور پر علم کا ماہر پایا ، وہ نیکروانی سے متاثر ہوا۔ وہ لوسیفر کو اپنی جان بیچنے کے بعد جادوگر ہوگیا۔ میفسٹوفیلس لوسفر کا خادم ہے ، گرتا ہوا فرشتہ ، فاؤسٹس کا خادم نوکر بن گیا ہے۔ اس نے ساری دنیا کا سفر کیا جیسے ہی اس کی شہرت پھیل گئی ، اسے دولت ملی اور بادشاہ کی زندگی گزاری لیکن اندرونی طور پر اس کی روح منحرف ہوگئی۔ 24 سال کے بعد ، موت قریب آ گئی ، فوسٹس نے توبہ کرنے کی التجا کی لیکن میفسٹو فیلس نے اسے خبردار کیا کہ وہ لوسیفر کو ناگوار نہ بنائے۔ آخر میں ، وہ ابدی عذاب کے لئے شیطانوں کی ایک کمپنی کے ذریعہ جہنم میں چلا گیا۔

Explanation

Faustus is still dreaming of wonderful feats that he will be able to perform after acquiring great proficiency in the black art of Magic. The spirits of hell will be at his beck and call. His unfettered imagination flies sky-high. He aspires to raise a big Army with the vast wealth that the spirit will fetch for him from all parts of the world. And with the help of an Army would be able to drive out from Germany the prince of Parma, Alexander Farnese, who was the general and governor of Netherlands under king Philips of Spain. Thus he will make himself the supreme monarch of over the whole of Germany. Netherlands was also a part of Germany. Not only this, but he will also compel his slave-like spirits to invent weapons of war much more powerful than the Dutch fleet of fire- ships that completely destroyed the strong bridge of ships and boats built by the Duke of Parma for blocking the river Scheldt during the seize of Antwerp. These references to the Prince of Parma and the siege of Antwerp are really errors of date or anachronism. The action of the drama is supposed to take place during the reign of Charles V, father of king Philips of Spain. This desire on the part of Faustus to achieve great military feats reveal the true Renaissance spirit, the yearning for power and for per the romance of Daredevil deeds.
فوسٹس ابھی بھی حیرت انگیز کارناموں کا خواب دیکھ رہا ہے جو وہ جادو کے بلیک آرٹ میں بڑی مہارت حاصل کرنے کے بعد انجام دے سکے گا۔ جہنم کی روحیں اس کے اشارے پر ہوں گی۔ اس کا بے ساختہ تخیل آسمان سے اونچا اڑتا ہے۔ وہ ایک بہت بڑی دولت کے ساتھ ایک بڑی فوج کو اکٹھا کرنے کی خواہش مند ہے کہ دنیاکی تمام دولت جو روح  سے لے کر آئیں گی ۔ اور کسی فوج کی مدد سے ، پیرما کے شہزادہ ، الیگزینڈر فرنیس ، جو اسپین کے بادشاہ فلپس کے تحت نیدرلینڈ کا جنرل اور گورنر تھا ، جرمنی سے انخلا کر سکے گا۔ اس طرح وہ خود کو پورے جرمنی کا اعلی بادشاہ بنائے گا۔ نیدرلینڈ بھی جرمنی کا حصہ تھا۔ نہ صرف یہ ، بلکہ وہ اپنے غلام نما ارواح کو بھی مجبور کرے گا کہ وہ جنگجو  ہتھیار ایجاد کرے جو آتش بحری جہاز کے ڈچ بحری بیڑے سے زیادہ طاقتور ہے جس نے دریا کو روکنے کے لئے ڈیوک آف پرما کے ذریعہ تعمیر کردہ جہازوں اور کشتیوں کے مضبوط پل کو مکمل طور پر تباہ کردیا تھا۔ اینٹورپ پر قبضہ کے دوران اسکیلڈٹ۔ پرنس آف پرما اور انٹورپ کے محاصرے کے حوالے سے یہ حوالہ واقعی تاریخ یا anachronism کی غلطیاں ہیں۔ یہ ڈرامہ ایکن اسپین کے بادشاہ فلپس کے والد چارلس پنجم کے دور میں انجام دیا جانا تھا۔ فوسٹس کی طرف سے عظیم فوجی کامیابیوں کے حصول کے لئے اس خواہش سے نشا. ثانیہ کی حقیقی روح ، اقتدار کی تڑپ ,شیطان کے اعمال کی رومانوی خواہش کا پتہ چلتا ہے۔

Mourning Becomes Electra

Introduction to Mourning Becomes Electra Greek Sources

The title of the play suggests its relation to the Greek drama. The story of the house of Atreus was set down by Homer, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and diverse other Greek writers whose works are not extant. From this house shadowed by an ancient curse, Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, goes forth to the war at Troy.
His wife, Clytemnestra, the sister of Helen, during her husband’s absence takes for her paramour Aegisthus and shares the government of Argos with him. In due time Agamemnon, having at the God’s behest sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia and bringing with him Cassandra, Priam’s daughter returns and is murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover. Electra, her daughter, is shamed and degraded and prays for the return of her brother Orestes, long ago sent out of the country by his mother and now become a man. Orestes returns to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. He is pursued by the Erinyes, and only after wandering and agony and a vindication of himself before the tribunal of Athena’s Areopagus is he cleansed of his sin.
Narrative Pattern
Mourning Becomes Electra begins with the mother and daughter, Christine and Lavinia, waiting there in the house of the Mannon's, the return of Ezra Mannon ‘from the war, which with Lee’s surrender is about over. A thread of romance is introduced between. Lavinia and Peter, and between Lavinia’s brother, Orin and Hazel, Peter’s sister. Meanwhile, Captain Adam Brant comes to call; he pays a certain court to Lavinia, and she, acting on a cue from the hired man, who has been on the place sixty years, traps him into admitting that he is the son of one of the Mannon's who had seduced a Canadian maidservant and been driven from home by his father, Lavinia’s grandfather. She has all her data straight now. She has suspected her mother, followed her to New York, where ­Christine has pretended to go because of her own father’s illness but has in fact been meeting Adam. Lavinia has written to her father and to her brother, hinting at the town gossip about her mother. We learn that Adam had returned to avenge his mother but instead had fallen passionately in love with Christine, who loves him as passionately as she hates her husband. From this point, the play moves on, with the father’s hatred of the son, who returns it, the son’s adoration of his mother, the daughter’s and the mother’s antagonism, the daughter’s and father’s devotion, to Christine’s murder of her husband with the poison sent by Adam and substituted for the medicine prescribed against his heart trouble. Orin returns, after an illness from a wound in the head. Christine tries to protect herself in her son’s mind against the plots of Lavinia. Lavinia, in the room where her father’s body lies, convinces, him with the facts; they trail Christine to Adam’s ship, where she has gone to warn him against Orin. Orin shoots Adam. Christine next day kills herself. Brother and sister take a long voyage to China, stop at the Southern Isles, and come home again. Substitutions have taken place, Lavinia has grown like her Mother, Orin more like his father. Meanwhile, his old affair with Hazel encouraged at last by Lavinia, who now wants to marry Peter, is cancelled he finds himself making an incestuous proposal to Lavinia and is repulsed by her. He shoots himself. In the end, Lavinia, speaking words of love to Peter, finds Adam’s name on her lips. She breaks with Peter, orders the blinds of her house nailed shut, and goes into the house, to live there till her death. Justice has been done, the Mannon dead will be there and she will be there.
Parallel Characters
It is now obvious that the American dramatist, as the Greek did, used a well-known outline which he could fill into his purpose. Obviously, too, Ezra Mannon is Agamemnon, Captain Brant is Aegisthus, Christine Clytemnestra, Lavinia Electra, and Orin Orestes. But to dismiss the matter by saying that O’Neill has merely repeated the classic story in modern terms is off the track. Let it go at that and you will miss even the really classic element in the play and get only the Greek side of it that is self-evident and that would be easy for any dramatist to imitate.
Departures From the Greek Play
The story itself follows the Greeks up to the middle of the third division of the play, and here the incest motive, the death of Orin and the transference of the whole situation and the dramatic conclusion from the mother to the sister depart from Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Adam’s relation to the family adds to the role of the lover the motif of a blood relationship. The old hired man, the confidant, parallels to some extent a Greek device, familiar to us in countless plays. The townspeople and workmen are now and again a kind of chorus. Many of the shadings and themes are from the older plays; for a good example, the servant’s line in Aeschylus about the dead killing one who lives, which underlies one of the new play’s main themes. The death of the lover, as in Aeschylus and Euripides, not as in Sophocles, comes before that of the mother, which throws the stress where the O’Neill play needs it. The division of the play into three parts is, of course, like the trilogy of the Greek dramatist. On the other hand, the dividing line is much less distinct in Mourning Becomes Electra; the final curtain of the first part, for example, falls, it is true, on Mannon’s death, as in Aeschylus it does on Agamemnon’s, but there is not the same effect of totality because of the stress put on Lavinia; in Agamemnon, Electra does not even appear.
Magnificent Theme
The magnificent theme that there is something in the dead that we cannot placate falsely is there in the Greek plays and in, the O’Neill play as well. The end of the play is by imaginative insight Greek in spirit Lavinia goes into the house, the blinds are closed forever, the stage is silent, the doors shut, the exaltation is there, the completion, the tragic certainty.

Renaissance Elements in Doctor Faustus

Renaissance Elements in Doctor Faustus

The word ‘Renaissance’ itself means ‘rebirth’. “The idea of rebirth originated in the belief that Europeans had discovered the superiority of Greek and Roman culture after many centuries of what they considered an intellectual and cultural decline.” Thus the question what was the renaissance about is answered as the widespread cultural revival marking the division between the so-called ‘dark ages’ and the modern world. The Renaissance was a period of fundamental change in human outlook once dominated by religious dogma and Christian theology. The age was marked by a great yearning for unlimited knowledge; by love for worldliness – supreme power, sensual pleasures of life; by love for beauty; respect for classicism; by scepticism, individualism and Machiavellian influence.
Christopher Marlowe was a product of the Renaissance. Therefore it was usual for him that his play Doctor Faustus would contain Renaissance spirit. We see in Doctor Faustus a wonderful expression of renaissance elements and the character Doctor Faustus as a renaissance man.
The most important thing in the Renaissance is craving for ‘knowledge infinite’. This characteristic has been injected in Faustus properly. He has achieved knowledge of all branches. Yet he feels unfulfilled. So he wants to practice black art and with this, he would be able to know all things: “I will have them read me strange philosophy.”
After selling his soul, he, at the very first, questions Mephistopheles to know the mystery of the universe, about the position of hell.
“First, will I question with thee about hell,
Tell me where is the place that men call hell?”
Faustus’s longing for material prosperity, for money and wealth, which is also a Renaissance element, has been expressed in the following lines where he desires to gain the lordship of Embden a great commercial city-

“Of wealth!
Why the seniority of Embden shall be mine.”
He further wants to enjoy a splendid life full of worldly pleasures. He says,
“I will have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
….
And search all the corners of the newfound world.
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates.”

Here we see another inherent thing characterized by Renaissance in Faustus i.e. love for adventure.
Faustus’s eagerness to get the most beautiful German maid to be his wife and Helen to be his paramour and to find heaven in her lips proves his love of beauty along with love for sensual pleasure which is also a Renaissance element. He says to Mephistophilis,

“For I am wanton and lascivious
And cannot live without a wife.”

Dominance of classical literature, art and culture is a prominent feature of the Renaissance. And it is frequently expressed by Faustus in his allusions, examples, references. One of such examples can be noticed in the following couple of lines where Faustus says,

“Have I not made blind Homer sing to me
 Of Alexander’s love and Oenon’s death?”

“The Renaissance was marked by an intense interest in the visible world and in the knowledge derived from concrete sensory experience.” “It turned away from the abstract speculations and interest in life after death that characterized the Middle Ages.” Faustus raises the question and gives the answer to that question in the following lines-

“That, after this life, there is any pain?
Thus, these are trifles and mere old wives tales.”

Thus Renaissance allows Scepticism and secularism.
In the Renaissance, “the unique talents and potential of the individual became significant. The concept of personal fame was much more highly developed than during the Middle Ages.” Actually, Faustus is an individualistic tragic hero. His tragedy is his own creation. He does not think like traditional heroes or men. He crosses his limit while common people do not generally cross that.
Renaissance movement is greatly influenced by Niccolo Machiavelli, his The Prince and his ideal “ends justify the means.” Similarly, Faustus also wants to reach his goal by any means, even by selling his soul to Devil –“Faustus gives to thee his soul.” Furthermore, Faustus earns money by selling a false horse to a Horse-course deceitfully. The Renaissance has made Faustus fascinated by the supreme power. Faustus says-

“A sound magician is a mighty God
Here, Faustus, tire thy brains to gain a deity.”

Finally, we must say that Faustus is a faithful embodiment of the Renaissance. He bears all the characteristics of the age. Actually, Marlowe has pictured Faustus with great care and interest of the age. George Santayana justly says in this regard – “Marlowe is a martyr to everything, power, curious knowledge, enterprise, wealth and beauty.”
Faustus as an Individualistic Tragic Hero of Renaissance
Christopher Marlowe, in his Doctor Faustus, his masterpiece, draws an excellent character before us. This character can be regarded as a strong individual, an embodiment of Renaissance and a tragic hero. Indeed, each and every man possesses two forces going on in him.one is social that abides by the setup rules of his surroundings. Another is individual that thinks things in his mind particularly from his own demand, dream and thought. In Doctor Faustus’s case, it is the second one- he has a firm individuality, that’s why he is called an individualistic hero
As an embodiment of Renaissance, Doctor Faustus, having attained knowledge, power and fame, wants more and more, unparalleled possession. He has achieved knowledge of all branches. Yet he wants to do whatever he pleases. So he would like to practice necromancy.

Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please
……….
I will have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy,
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;

Thus he will compel them to build a wall of brass around Germany and to make the river Rine divert its course to flow around the lovely city of Wittenberg; will be able to supply plenty of silk garments to the public school; will drive Prince of Parma to form his country and become the supreme monarch of all the provinces; and will have wonderful and powerful weapons of war.
But before and after attaining the black art, there runs a conflict in him between the good and evil, between the good and bad which is at the beginning symbolized by the good angel and evil angel. (Act 1, Scene 1)
In order to attain his purpose, Doctor Faustus racks the name of God ………….
Faustus is an individual tragic hero. He is the maker of his own tragedy, his fate, good or bad. He falls, not by the fickleness of fortune or the decree of fate, or because he has been corrupted by Mephistopheles, the agent of Lucifer, the devil, but all things happen to him because of his own will. He commits a sin by wanting like God or to exceed God and by rejecting God and accepting Beelzebub, the devil. So he must suffer in fine.
Faustus always experiences a conflict between his consciousness and free will which is also found in great tragic heroes of Shakespeare, namely Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello.
Faustus is a tragic hero, individual in character. But through his death, he proves the loftiness of God, Almighty. O.P. Broclbent says- “Faustus’s passion for knowledge and power is in itself a virtue, but diverted from the service of God it threatens to become totally negative and self- destroying’’.
However, if we go through the depth of Faustas’s tragedy, we observe that Faustus stands not for a character, not for a single man, but for man, for every man. His tragedy is not a personal tragedy, but a tragedy that overtakes all those who dare “practise more than heavenly power permits” In this way, Faustus’s individualistic tragedy turns to a universal too.
To sum up, we must say that Doctor Faustus is an embodiment of Renaissance, a tragic hero, individual and forceful. At the same time, he represents us too. But the only difference is that we dare hardly avoid the established concepts of society, religion, but Faustus boldly went ahead to his individual demand. However in a religious point of view, he committed a great sin and suffered a lot - that is, it is a morality play too.
Renaissance ideals vs Medieval morals
Faustus’s inner turmoil gives way to the dominant meaning within the play: Medieval morals versus Renaissance ideals. Marlowe’s characterization of Faustus leads one to the predominant idea of duality in the society of his era in which Medieval values conflict with those of the Renaissance. His refusal to see what is fact and what is fiction is a result of his pompous persona. In his quest to become omnipotent, Faustus fails to see that there is life after death and that his material possessions are of no consequence. Faustus is a combatant in his own internal war of knowledge or salvation.
In the opening of the play, Marlowe uses the chorus to announce the time, place, and most importantly, to introduce Faustus. The chorus refers to the Greek myth of Icarus while characterizing Faustus –

" Till swollen with cunning, of self-conceit
 His waxen wings did mount above his reach
And melting, heavens conspired his overthrow!"(Prologue. 19-21.)." 

His waxen wings did mount above his reach" is an ironic comparison between Icarus and Faustus. It is ironic because Icarus directly disobeys his father, which ties into the idea of mortal sin. However, in Faustus' case, it is disobedient to become too learned. Also, the line: “heavens conspired his overthrow" could be a reference to Lucifer’s attempt to overpower God. Thus, the Chorus would ultimately be making reference to Faustus attempting to outwit God. This is the contrast between Medieval and Renaissance values; the medieval world shunned all that was not Christian while the Renaissance was a re-birth of learning in which people openly questioned divinity as with much more. The chorus makes it seem that Faustus is a 'bad' man because he seeks knowledge. In essence, it portrays Faustus as a "Renaissance man who pays the medieval price for being one."
Faustus’s constant struggle to explore Renaissance principles is heightened by the Good Angel and Bad Angel. The Good Angel pulls Faustus towards Medieval values. He represents Faustus’s Medieval instincts:

"O Faustus, lay that damned book aside
And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul
And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head!
Read, read the Scriptures - that is blasphemy!" ( 1.1.67-69 ). 

The Angel is eluding to Medieval ideals by saying that books are 'damned' and will bring 'God’s heavy wrath’. 'That is blasphemy' is yet another reference to books not being of God. The Good Angel is Faustus key to salvation. Again, Faustus’s inner conflict gives way to the ultimate theme of redemption and sin. While the Good Angel represents the medieval era, the Bad Angel signifies the Renaissance:

"Go forward Faustus, in that famous art
Wherein all nature’s treasury is contained.
...
Lord and commander of these elements!"( 1.1.71-74 ). 

The Bad Angel feeds Faustus’s thirst for knowledge by telling him that 'all nature’s treasure is contained' in his books. Going even further, the Angel tells Faustus to be 'Lord' and 'commander' of these elements ultimately telling Faustus that he could be God if he so chose. Both angels are ultimately signified duality within society. Where half is pulled towards the righteous Medieval morals and the others toward liberated Renaissance ideals.
Faustus embraces his Renaissance persona by acknowledging his life choices. In his never-ending quest to obtain knowledge, Faustus conjures Helen of Troy so that he may marvel at her beauty:

"Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Illium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her kiss suck forth my soul.
See where it flies!" ( 5.1.95-99 ). 

Helen is an apt person for Faustus to gawk at. She was considered to be the most beautiful women in the entire world. However, Faustus lives in a time and place of sexual repression. Thus, Helen represents sin and sexual freedom - an end to Medieval morals. The word 'immortal' implies that Helen’s kiss allows men to live forever and that Helen herself is 'immortal’. This ironical comparison demonstrates that Faustus is still in denial about death. However, with 'Her kiss suck forth my soul’, Faustus suggests that Helen has taken his life. This is ironic on many levels, most noticeably being that many men died to rescue Helen from the Trojans. In addition, Faustus is the only one responsible for his lost soul. The conjuring of Helen of Troy represents Faustus’s decision to accept what he has done with his life and follow his Renaissance persona. In calling on Helen, Faustus has yielded himself to immortal sins. First and foremost, Faustus has sinned by using black magic to call on Helen. Lastly, Faustus is openly sexual with Helen of Troy. His kissing of Helen is ultimately a symbol of accepting that which has already been done and preparing to face eternal damnation.
Faustus’s epic battle between Medieval morals and Renaissance ideals results in his eternal damnation. Faustus has many chances to repent, yet not once does he decided to put an end to seeking knowledge and practising magic. His decision is ultimately a signal for the end of Medieval beliefs in 'religion being the key' and the emergence of free-thinking. Faustus has been said to be "a Renaissance man who paid the Medieval price for being one". He was an intellectual in a society of ignorance imposed upon by the clergy of the Catholic Church.
Though Faustus is the tragic hero of the play one must really consider if, in fact, Faustus’s demise is tragic. Faustus makes his own decisions and knows where they will take him to in the end. He refuses to see that heaven and hell do exist and despite the many warnings given to him about the heinousness of hell, he still follows the path of damnation Faustus’s harrowing demise results in eternal damnation is tragic. He is a man with the charisma and courage to follow his passions in life. Faustus is told time after time that he can still repent and save himself from the wrath of God. Several times he does in fact repent, yet because of his inner conflict he 'takes it back’. Not till Faustus utters his last words is one completely sure that Faustus’s story is tragic, at best. Ultimately, he dies unhappy and still a combatant in his own internal war.
At the end, we can say that in spite of being a man of the medieval period, Faustus was a Renaissance man. And by his activities, we find the elements of the Renaissance where medieval values are buried because of the emergence of the Renaissance ideal. 

John Donne, as A Metaphysical Poet

John Donne, as A Metaphysical Poet

Donne has been classified both by Dryden and Samuel Johnson as a Metaphysical poet. This title has been conferred on him because of his sudden flights from the material to the spiritual sphere and also because of his obscurity which is occasionally baffling. His works abound in wit and conceits. In addition to this, he has been termed a metaphysical poet because his style is overwhelmed with obscure philosophical allusions and subtle and abstract references to science and religion.

Treatment of Love

Donne's treatment of love is entirely unconventional. He does not fall in line with the ways and modes of feeling and expression, found in the Elizabethan love poetry. Most of the Elizabethan poets followed the fashion set by Petrarch, an Italian sonneteer, in their treatment of love. According to that fashion, the lover was always subject, humble and obsequious (over-respectful). Obedience to his mistress's wishes was his chief virtue. He sighed, wept, yearned, pined, and languished for her.
Donne rebels against these stale and hackneyed conventions of love poetry. He rejects the lofty cult of the woman. She is no deity or goddess to be worshipped. He ridicules and laughs at her. This attitude is best revealed in ‘The Song: Go and catch a falling star’, where he says that nowhere lives a woman true and fair. This is a brilliant piece of mockery. Even in his defeat, Donne rises superior to the woman.
In ‘Twicknam Garden’, also, he refers to the woman as the perverse sex and says that it is wrong to judge a woman’s thoughts by her tears.
Moreover, His poems are not concerned with a limited number of moods of love as was the case with the Elizabethan lyrics of love. In his poems, there is a variety of moods, even the mood of fulfilment and joy of consummated love, which was absent in the Elizabethan lyrics.

His Use Of Conceits

Donne and his followers made excessive use of conceits. While in Shakespeare or Sydney a conceit is an ornament or an occasional grace, in Donne it is everywhere. It is his very genius, and fashions his feelings and thought. Donne's conceits are more intellectual than those of Shakespeare or Sydney. It is chiefly on account of the excessive use of intellectual and far-fetched conceits that Donne is known as a metaphysical poet.
His use of strange and far-fetched conceits may be illustrated from the poems included in our syllabus. In ‘The Song: Go and catch a falling star’, the whole of the first stanza contains a series of conceits. The poet asks to catch a falling star, get a mandrake root and find out who cleft the devil's foot. In ‘The Anniversary’, each of the lovers is a king with the other as the subject. In ‘Twicknam Garden’, the poet's love is like a spider which converts the beauty of spring into poison.
Being more often intellectual than emotional, these conceits make Donne's poetry difficult. The puzzle and perplex us. At the same time when we succeed in understanding them, we feel a certain pleasure as we feel after having solved a difficult mathematical problem.

Originality In Diction And Colloquialism

Donne's originality in diction includes words not merely from the vocabulary of science but from colloquialism. He selected colloquial diction which has vigour, freshness and originality. He discards literary words and phrases which became rusty because of repetition. The vigour of Colloquialism is evident in his poem ‘The Good Morrow’, as the opening lines given below show:
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did till we lov'd...
Donne was the first English poet who has used facts of scientific discoveries of his time in the poetry-- the objects, which are utilized in the laboratories such as compasses, and the globe with the maps of earth pasted on it, and various other objects derived from various branches of science like biology, physics and chemistry etc. Such kind of imagery was entirely unexpected at that time.

Monarch of Wit

Donne's poems have plenty of wit, as defined by Dr Johnson, concerning the metaphysical poets. His conceits indeed are startling, but ultimately just. The poet often proves their truth. The ability to elaborate a conceit to its farthest possibility without losing the sense of its appropriateness speaks for a high intellectual calibre. The compasses image in ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ is an intricate conceit which is logically developed by Donne. Moreover, his display of wit can be seen in his humorous and satiric remarks as in ‘The Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star’, and ‘The Elegies’.
The paradoxical style of some of his poems also reflect Donne's wit, especially so in ‘The Holy Sonnet, Batter my heart’.
To conclude, John Donne is a great metaphysical poet because of the rich themes of his poetry, as well as his treatment and structure. The themes of most of his poems are based upon religion and love and thereby indicate the deep-rooted relationship between body and soul and God, man and his own self. His poetic artifice is to put forth arguments in a controversial manner. Thus he shines on the firmament of the history of poetry not only in England but in the whole of European poetry.  

Some terms which are frequently used in Poetry

         

Some terms which are frequently used in u

art - are
bequeath (one of my personal favorites) - To
give or leave by will; to hand down.
beseech - request, ask.
besought – asked, made request. (past tense of
beseech )
betwixt – between.
canst - can.
cometh – comes, or coming.
dearth - (durth) scarcity or scant supply of
anything; want or lack.
Defy ( refuse to obey )
dost - do, does.
draught or draft – Can mean the act of pulling or
drawing loads; a pull or haul; a team of animals
for pulling a load; the drawing in
of a fish net; the bunch of fish that were drawn in
by the net; but… your typical Rennie will prefer
one of these usages: the act of
inhaling; that which is inhaled; or, the number
one definition for common folk everywhere: the
drawing of a liquid from its
receptacle, as of ale from a cask!!!!
durst – Dare; to have the necessary boldness or
courage for something.
fere - friend, companion.
fullsome - rich, plentiful.
hath - equivalent of modern has.
henceforth - from now on.
hither - here.
huzzah - Huzza or huzzah is first recorded in
1573. According to a number of writers in the
17th and 18th centuries, it was
originally a sailor's cheer or salute.(Old French,
huzzer, “to shout aloud;” German, hussah!)
mere - An expanse of water; lake; pool
midst – Middle, or among. e.g., "in the midst of
the storm…
nary - None; absolutely nothing; not even close
to anything.
The good Jester also included an example of the
word's usage:
"Thou dost hast nary an inkling on coveting
thine lady."
And for the fullness of your understanding, this
modern translation of the above phrase:
"You wouldn't know how to please a babe if you
spent 10 years on the set of Oprah!"
naught – Nothing. (Did you know our modern
word “not” is actually an abbreviated form of this
Olde-English word, which was
itself a shortened form of “no whit” or “not a
whit”?)
onuppan - above.
overmany - a lot.
pece - silverware, fork.
prithee - contracted form of "I pray thee", i.e., I
ask of you, I beseech thee, etc.
proby - apprentice.
pudh - horrible.
Rennies - Renaissance fanatics; also people who
are addicted to Renaissance Faires, costume,
and anything else reminiscent of
that era.Alright, this isn’t really an O.E. word at
all – it’s a catchy name, though!
 Shabby ( badly dressed in clothes that have been used a lot )
shall or shalt - will
seek - (O.E. secan, to seek) To go in search or
quest of; to look or search for.
syllan - sell.
tallt - to stand above others in a snobby way.
tarry - to linger, deliberate, wait, stay, or pause.
thou - you
thee - you
thine - your
thither - there.
thy - your
trow – To think or suppose.e.g., "Wilt thou labor
for naught? I trow not!
Vow ( a formal and serious promise to do something )
whence - From where, e.g., " Whence, comest
thou?" would translate to the modern "Where do
you come from?"
wax - to grow, to become.
whither - To where, e.g., "Whither thou goest, I
shall go." translates in modern English as
"Where you go, I will go."
wilt – This one is tricky. It can mean very simply,
will; but then it could also mean what a flower
does without water, or what I do
when asked to cook - it all depends on the
context…
wist - knew; past tense of wit , e.g. He wist that
his love was coming...
wit – To know, e.g., Canst thou wit what the day
shall bring?
wrought - done, made, created; e.g. "...see what
God hath wrought.
ye - polite form of thou.
yore - years ago.



             

M.A. (English) SYLLABUS Lahore Pakistan

M.A. (English) Part I SYLLABUS

Appendix ‘A’
(Outlines of Tests)
Marks

Paper I (Classical Poetry) 100
Paper II (Drama) 100
Paper III (Novel) 100
Paper IV (Prose) 100
Paper V (American Literature) 100
___
Total 500

Appendix ‘B
  COURSES OF READING)

Paper I: (Classical Poetry)

1. Chaucer The Prologue
2. Milton Paradise Lost Books I & IX
3. Donne Love/Divine Poems
4. Pope The Rape of the Lock.
5. Wyatt The Long Love That in My Thought Doth Harbor,
Whose List to Hunt,
Madam Withouen Many Words,
They Flee from Me.
Is it Possible Forget Not Yet,
What should I say Stand who so list.
6. Surrey My Friend the Things That Do Attain Love,
That Doth Reign and Live Within My Thought,
So Cruel Prison,
Wyatt Resteth Here.

Paper II: (Drama)

1. Sophocles Oedipus Rex
2. Marlowe Dr. Faustus
3. Shakespeare Othello
The Winter’s Tale
4. Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
2

Paper III: (Novel)

1. Trollope Barchester Towers
2. Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice
3. G. Eliot Adam Bede
4. Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
5. Hardy The Return of the Native

Paper IV: (Prose)

1. Bacon Essays:
Of Truth
Of Death
Of Revenge
Of Adversities
Of Simulation and Dissimulation
Of Parents and Children
Of Great Place
Of Nobilitie
Of Superstition
Of Friendship
Of Ambition
Of Studies
2. Jonathan Swift Gulliver’s Travels
3. Bertrand Russell Unpopular Essays
4. Edward Said Only the introduction to the book entitled
“Culture and Imperialism”
5. Seamus Heaney Only the essay “The Redress of Poetry”
from the book entitled The Redress of Poetry

Paper V: (American Literature)

Poetry
1. Adrienne Rich Diving into the Wreck
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
Final Notation
Gabriel
2. Sylvia Plath Ariel
Morning Song
Poppies in October
The Bee Meeting
The Arrival of the Bee Box
Your
3. Richard Wilbur Still Citizen Sparrow
After the last Bulletin
Marginalia
4. John Ashbury Melodic Train
Painter
Drama
1. O’Neil Mourning becomes Electra (only the
First of the Trilogy which is titled ‘The Home Coming’ is included in the M.A. Syllabus)
3
2. Miller The Crucible
Novel
1. Ernest Hemingway For whom the Bell Tolls
2. Toni Morrison Jazz

M. A. (English) Part II

Appendix ‘A’
(Outlines of Tests)

The first four papers are compulsory, the other four are optional. The candidates are required to opt for any one of the four optional papers.
Compulsory Papers Marks
Paper I Poetry II 100
Paper II Drama II 100
Paper III Novel II 100
Paper IV Literary Criticism 100

Optional Papers

Paper V Short Stories or 100
Paper VI Literature in English Around the World 100
Paper VII Linguistics or 100
Paper VIII Essay or 100
___
Total 500

Appendix ‘B’
(SYLLABI AND COURSES OF READING)

Paper I: (Poetry II)(Section A)

1. Blake A Selection from Songs of
Innocence & Experience
i) Auguries of Innocence
ii) The Sick Rose
iii) London
iv) A Poison Tree
v) A Divine Image
vi) From Milton: And Did Those Feet
vii) Holy Thursday (I)
viii) The Tyger
ix) Ah, Sun Flower
x) Holy Thursday (II)
2. Coleridge The Ancient Mariner
Kubla Khan
Dejection: An Ode
4
3. Keats Hyperion Book I
Ode to Autumn
Ode to a Nightingale
Ode on a Grecian Urn
Section B
1. Philip Larkin Mr. Bleaney
Church Going
Ambulances
1914
2. Seamus Heaney Personal Helicon
Tolland Man
A Constable Calls
Toome Road
Casting and Gathering
3. Ted Hughes Thought Fox
Chances
That Morning
Full Moon and Freida

Paper II: (Drama II)

1. Ibsen Hedda Gabler
2. Chekov The Cherry Orchard
3. Brecht Galileo Galili
4. Beckett Waiting for Godot
5. Edward Bond The Sea

Paper III: (Novel II)

1. Conrad Heart of Darkness
2. Joyce Portrait of an Artist as a Young
Man
3. Woolf To the Lighthouse
4. Achebe Things Fall Apart
5. Ahmad Ali Twilight in Delhi

Paper IV: (Literary Criticism)

Practical Criticism
1. Aristotle Poetics
2. Raymond William’s Modern Tragedy
3. Catherine Belsey Critical Practice
*4. T.S. Eliot Tradition and the Individual Talent
*5. Philip Sidney Apology for Poetry
Reference:
Romon Seldon An Introduction to Literary
Criticism
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Added vide Notification No.D/692/Acad., dated 15-3-2005
5

Optional Papers
Paper V (Short Stories)

1. Sara Suleri The Property of Women
2. Naguib Mahfuz The Mummy
3. E.Allen Poe The Man of the Crowd
4. Doris Lessing African Short Story
5. Flannery O’Connor Everything that Rises Must
Converge
6. J.Joyce The Dead
7. Nadine Gordimer Ultimate Safari
Once upon a time
8. Kafka The Judgement
9. Achebe Civil Peace
10. Okri What the Tapster Saw
11. Hanif Qureshi My Son the Fanatic
12. D.H.Lawrence The Man who Loved Islands
13. W.Trevor The Day
14. AliceWalker Strong Horse Tea
15. V.S. Pritchett The Voice
16. Brian Friel The Diviner
17. H.E. Bates The Woman who Loved
Imagination
18. Ali Mazuri The Fort
19. Amy Tan The Voice from the Wall
20. A.Chekov The Man who lived in a Shell
21. Braithwaite Dream Hatii
22. V.S. Naipaul The Nightwatchman’s
Occurrence Book
23. E. Hemingway A Clean Well Lighted Place

PAPER VI: (Literature in English Around the World)

Drama
1. Lorca House of Bernada Alba
2. Brian Friel Translations
Novel
1. Nugugi The River Between
2. Solzhynetsin A Day in the life of Ivan
Denisovitch
Poetry
1. Taufiq Rafat Thinking of Mohenjodaro
The Stone Chat
The Last Visit
2. Daud Kamal Reproduction
The Street of Nightingale
A Remote Beginning
3. Maki Qureshi Air Raid
6
Kite
Christmas
Letter to my Sister
4. A. Hashmi Encounter with the Sirens
Autumnal
But Where is the Sky?
5. Zulfiqar Ghose Across India
February 1952
The Mystique of Root
A Memory of Asia
6. Shirley Lim Monsoon History
Modern Secrets
7. Vikram Seth Humble Administrators
Garden
8. Anna Akhmatova Prologue Epilogue
9. Derek Walcott Far Cry From Africa
10. Ben Okri African Elegy
11. Achebe Refugee Mother & Child
Mango Seed
12. Nasim Ezekiel Night of the Scorpion
Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa
13. Moniza Alvi The Country at my Shoulder

Paper VII (Linguistics)

Introduction, Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Stylistics.

Paper VIII: (Essay)

Essay
** ***************

Conflict between Morality and Immorality in “Othello”

Conflict between Morality and Immorality in “Othello”

Shakespeare’s drama ‘Othello’ is one of conflicting morals, ethics and values, and the consequences of these conflicts. Shakespeare focuses these conflicts on the character of Othello and his actions, which are the results of complex moral dilemmas. In Othello, societal influences are used as a catalyst to conflicting situations and contribute to the character development of Othello and his actions. Through these factors, Shakespeare reveals the underlying theme of morality in conflict.
When pressured to select between two alternatives which both end negatively, the individual faces a conflict between morality and immorality, and their feelings and actions towards this conflict highlight the state of society. The quest for a moral resolution in Othello is a result and reflection of the 1570s society. Protagonist Othello is the great general of the Venetian Army, and during a majority of the duration of the play, is in Cyprus, Venice to fight the battle between the Turks. “I swear 'tis better to be much abused, than but to know't a little”.
Othello is in an agonising state of jealousy and fury after learning about his wife Desdemona’s extra-marital affair, which is, in fact, a false accusation made by villain Iago. ‘Ignorance is bliss’ could be the most appropriate translation to what Othello wishes had stopped him from entering a moral conflict. Outraged by Desdemona’s supposed act of infidelity, Othello decides that killing his wife would be the solution to eliminate the sources of evil in the world. To eliminate evil, Othello commits evil. This is a classic example of morality trapped in a conflict of epic proportions, fuelled by the war-enraged society.
The crime which had been committed would seem considerably more outrageous now than it did in the era of Shakespeare’s writing of Othello. This is due to Othello being set in Cyprus which was attacked by Turks in 1570, leading to the wars between Venice and Turkey. The exposure to mass killings and lingering misery in the overall atmosphere was a major catalyst to the loss of faith and morality in society. It was perhaps this change in social behaviour which had resulted in Othello being trapped in conflict, and being able to consider even the idea of murdering his own wife. In fact war was a major catalyst to morality being questioned in literature. In Othello, the characters view the explicit nature of the wars between Venice and Turkey, leading to immoral acts being committed even in the absence of negative intentions.
The character of Othello is also one which has been interestingly developed with the leverage of Othello’s morals in conflict; killing the evil he sees in his wife Desdemona in the hope of ‘cleaning out evil’ in the world. Protagonist Othello is depicted not as a generic, fair-skinned perfectionist, but rather in a way which defies the physical norm for a “hero”. Othello is Moorish, a descendant from Northern Africa, hence the colour of his skin. He is a man of great passion, and a physique suited to his title. However, we as an audience are instantly challenged by the portrayal of Othello, whose characteristics sway well away from those of a typical hero protagonist. Shakespeare attempts to question our morality. In the sixteenth century where racial equality was far from understood, a dark-skinned man is unquestionably deemed and given the same rights as an “average” but “higher status” citizen. This challenging portrayal of Othello is further challenged when he murders his wife. It is the “hero” of the play who commits the inhumane act, bringing forward the situation of a positive character facing confusion with a negative act, hence a moral dilemma.
Shakespeare suggests that the character whose morals are in conflict is uncontrollable, performing overwhelmingly immoral acts.
The internal moral conflict faced by Othello can also be observed through his change of language throughout the play. Desdemona claims to have married Othello because of his ability to tell magnificent stories of his adventures, therefore it can be seen that Othello is very good with his words.
“But I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused free condition
Put into circumscription and confine
For the sea’s worth” (1.2.25-28)
Othello’s language at the beginning is very powerful and heroic as he compares the nature of his love for Desdemona with the treasures of the sea. The use of dramatic imagery of the sea is successful in depicting Othello’s certainty and confidence in Desdemona’s love. However, this certainty and confidence is long gone in the later stages of the play after Iago has corrupted Othello’s faith by making him believe that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Othello no longer speaks with pride and wholesomeness; his language becomes uncertain and chaotic - “O misery!”, “O monstrous, monstrous!” Shakespeare makes it clear that Othello is heavily weakened by the moral dilemma through his drastic change in language. This is the result of Othello being stuck between believing Desdemona and believing Iago. The two poles of morality in this situation are so extreme, i.e. killing Desdemona or letting Desdemona live but risking a tarnished reputation, that Othello becomes engulfed by the pressure. His strong language in the initial stages shows a strong natured man, and his incoherent remarks in the later stages are the outcome of a man who has been weakened by conflicting morality.
In Othello, Shakespeare reveals conflicting morals through the character of Othello. The aspects of the play which give rise to moral dilemmas are influences of society, the portrayal of Othello, and a change in Othello’s behaviour through language. Shakespeare combines these aspects to give the audience insight into deep conflicts of morality, both internal and external.