Study Guide Central

Is 'A Farewell to Arms' an anti-war novel?

Frederic Henry, a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army in World War I, meets a beautiful English nurse named Catherine Barkley near the front between Italy and Austria-Hungary. At first Henry wants to seduce her, but when he is wounded and sent to the American hospital where Catherine works, he actually begins to love her. After his convalescence in the hospital, Henry returns to the war front. During a retreat, the Italians start to fall apart. Henry shoots an engineer sergeant under his command for dereliction, and later in confusion is arrested by the battle police for the crime of not being Italian. Disgusted with the army and facing death at the hands of the battle police, Henry decides he has had enough of war; he dives into the river to escape.

After swimming to safety, Henry boards a train and reunites with Catherine--now pregnant with Henry's child--in Stresa. With the help of an Italian bartender, they escape to Switzerland, and attempt to put the war behind them forever. They spend a happy time together in Switzerland, and plan to marry after the baby is born. When Catherine goes into labor, however, things go terribly wrong. He attempts an unsuccessful Caesarian section, and Catherine dies in childbirth. To Henry, her dead body is like a statue; he walks back to his hotel without finding a way to say good-bye.

As the title suggests, A Farewell to Arms is in many ways an anti-war novel, but it is in no way like a call to end all war. Among the books’ morals, violence is not necessarily wrong: Henry does not feel bad for shooting the engineer sergeant, and he tells Catherine he will kill the police if they come to arrest him. Furthermore, the novel glorifies discipline, competence, and masculinity, and shows war as a setting in which those qualities are constantly being shown.

A Farewell to Arms is against the extreme violence, the massive destruction, and the sheer senselessness of war; the mental effect it has on people and cities; and the brutal change it makes in the lives of its survivors once victory and defeat become meaningless terms. Unlike other books that glorify courage in battle and make everything turn out fine for the brave individual, this book attempts a real portrayal of a different kind war, one fought with machine guns, in trenches, and with lots of casualties. The aim of the novel is not to protest war or even to encourage peace; it is simply to depict the hostility and violence of a universe in which this sort of war is possible.

The detail in this novel brings out different themes as you read along. In the first two Books we are in the war and the war is overwhelming. The last two Books deal with love. And, just as the first two Books are peppered with love in the time of war, the last two Books are tinged with war in the time of love. The third Book is the bridge between the two 'stories' and it is not surprising that it centers on the escape. It is during the escape that Henry resolves that he is through with the war and decides that all he wants is to be with Catherine.

Even when he is injured it doesn't appear that he is really a part of the war, which surrounds him. He maintains a distance from it and this distance isn't really closed until Aymo is killed by his own army, he discovers that Bonello is only staying with him out of respect, and he is almost killed as a spy. After this he resolves to desert the army and be reunited with his love, Catherine.

Religion is an important and recurring theme in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Through his experiences with religion, Stephen Dedalus both matures and progressively becomes more individualistic as he grows. Though reared in a Catholic school, several key events lead Stephen to throw off the yoke of conformity and choose his own life, the life of an artist. Religion is central to the life of Stephen Dedalus the child. He was reared in a strict, if not harmonious, Catholic family. The severity of his parents, trying to raise him to be a good Catholic man, is evidenced by statements such as, "Pull out his eyes/ Apologise/ Apologise/ Pull out his eyes."

This strict conformity shapes Stephen's life early in boarding school. Even as he is following the precepts of his Catholic school, however, a disillusionment becomes evident in his thoughts. The priests, originally above criticism or doubt in Stephen's mind, become symbols of intolerance. Chief to these thoughts is Father Dolan, whose statements such as, "Lazy little schemer. I see schemer in your face," exemplify the type of attitude Stephen begins to associate with his Catholic teachers.

By the end of Chapter One, Stephen's individualism and lack of tolerance for disrespect become evident when he complains to the rector about the actions of Father Dolan. His confused attitude is clearly displayed by the end of the chapter when he says, "He was happy and free: but he would not be anyway proud with Father Dolan. He would be very kind and obedient: and he wished that he could do something kind for him to show him that he was not proud." Stephen still has respect for his priests, but he has lost his blind sense of acceptance.

As Stephen grows, he slowly but inexorably distances himself from religion. His life becomes one concerned with pleasing his friends and family. However, as he matures he begins to feel lost and hopeless, stating, "He saw clearly too his own futile isolation. He had not gone one step nearer the lives he had sought to approach nor bridged the restless shame and rancor that divided him from mother and brother and sister." It is this very sense of isolation and loneliness that leads to Stephen's encounter with the prostitute, where, "He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin." He wants to be loved, but the nearest thing he can find is prostitution. In the aftermath of this encounter and the numerous subsequent encounters, a feeling of guilt and even more pronounced loneliness begins to invade Stephen's being. Chapter Three represents the turning point of the novel, for here Stephen turns his life around.

After the sermon on sin and hell, Stephen examines his soul and sees the shape it is in, wondering, "Why was he kneeling there like a child saying his evening prayers? To be alone with his soul, to examine his conscience, to meet his sins face to face, to recall their times and manners and circumstances, to weep over them." Religion pushes its way suddenly and unexpectedly back into Stephen's life. After his confession at the end of Chapter Three, he begins to lead a life nearly as devout as that of his Jesuit teachers and mentors.

Even as he leads this life, however, shades of his former self are obliquely evident through statements such as, "This idea had a perilous attraction for his mind now that he felt his soul beset once again by the insistent voices of the flesh which began to murmur to him again during his prayers and meditations." Here it is evident that, even as his life becomes more and more devout, he can never lead the perfect and sinless life of the Jesuit. The offer of a position as a priest is met by memories of his childhood at Clongowes and thoughts such as, "He wondered how he would pass the first night in the novitiate and with what dismay he would wake the first morning in the dormitory." Stephen realizes that the clerical collar would be too tight for him to wear. A walk on the beach confirms this thought in Stephen's mind through the statement, "Heavenly God! cried Stephen's soul in an outburst of profane joy."

The sight of a woman and the knowledge that, as a priest, he could not even talk to her, finally convinces Stephen to abandon religion. His running escape from the woman also symbolizes his run from religion and restriction, a run to freedom, to the life of an artist. The life of an artist is one of individuality and solitude, both of which Stephen exhibits in the final chapter. Religion is the last thing on Stephen's mind as he formulates his theses on art, aesthetic beauty, ideal pity and ideal terror. While these theses are important to the continuity of the novel, religion does not resurface until much later.

Near the end of the novel, Cranly sees the folly of the life Stephen is trying to make for himself. He is surrounding himself with beautiful thoughts and images, but these images will not hold him later in life. Realizing such, Cranly gently tries to push religion back into Stephen's life, stating, "Do you not fear that those words may be spoken to you on the day of judgment?" This question, however, is met by the rebuke, "What is offered me on the other hand?...An eternity of bliss in the company of the dean of studies?"

Stephen's bitterly sarcastic denunciation of the religious life represents a final break from all religion. The end of Stephen's life in Ireland rings hollow, for this exchange shows the emptiness he has to show for it. In response to the question of whether he loves his mother, Stephen says, "I don't know what your words mean." This statement shows the lack of love in Stephen's life that results from the absence of religion, for without religion there can be no true feeling or outlet for these feelings. While Stephen eventually turns away from religion, it is an important facet in his development as an artist. Religion, originally one of the "nets" by which he flies, leads to the loss of his naiveté and later to his disillusionment with a conformist society as a whole. Stephen's thoughts are too independent and liberal for his contemporaries, and thus it is inevitable that he will cast away his nets, reject society, and become an artist.

Religion disturbs, shapes, and finally changes Stephen for good. While religion leads to an artistic and lonely life, Stephen can never totally break from his family or need for companionship. At the close of the novel he says, "Old father, old artificer, stand by me now and ever in good stead," belying the fact that no matter how independent Stephen becomes, no man can be an island.

Human relationships in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a thought-provoking play that explores human relationships of all kinds. The character of Brick is forced to examine the relationship with his friend, Skipper, his wife, his family, and himself. Other characters, Gooper, Mae, and Big Mama, demonstrate stifling marriage relationships. Big Daddy, though, is one of the most interesting characters in that he illustrates the strange relationship one can have with one's possessions.

Watt and Richardson, the editors, state that the play is about "acquisitiveness." That is, the acquiring of material possessions is central to the play, and this family. The Pollitts own a plantation home on the Mississippi Delta. Their house is a key figure in the work as much as any of the characters are in that it encapsulates the family's legacy of secrecy.

To begin with, there is the central staging area of Brick and Maggie's bedroom. This room was once shared by the former owners, two men, a fact that seems to haunt Brick. Williams describes the decor of the room in some detail. He is most occupied with the "console combination of radio-phonograph, TV set and liquor cabinet." He seems incredulous at the size and symbolism in this possession. He writes, "This piece of furniture (?!), this monument, is a very completer and compact little shrine to virtually all the comforts and illusions behind which we hide from such things as the characters in the play are faced with . . ." (Williams 660).

He is quite right. Not only does Brick hide behind the liquor in the cabinet, his true crutch, but the furniture does exemplify all the modern conveniences that many people build their lives on to resist truths that they cannot face.

Clothing, as a possession, too connotes false appearances, or masks. Margaret pleads with Brick to dress for Big Daddy's party. She does not want Brick's father to see what a shambles her marriage is in. She asks, "'Brick, I've laid out your beautiful Shantung silk suit . . . your monogrammed silk shirts . . . your cuff links" (667 act 1). Brick only relents to wearing his white silk pajamas. He has no need for clothing to serve as his mask since he already has masks of a different kind to hide behind.
Yet, as said before, it is Big Daddy who is most dependent on his relationship with "things." He has a wife decked out like "some massive animal, the luster of her great diamonds and many pearls, the brilliants set in the silver frames of her glasses" (676 act 2), and speaks with scorn about her and this need for extravagance. He even goes so far as to act as though he has contempt for money, too. He says, "'But a man can't buy his life with it, he can't buy back his life with it when his life has been spent'" (682 act 2). Yet these words contradict the words that follow, the words that express his true inner belief about money and possessions: 'The human animal is a beast that dies and if he's got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that  in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting!' (683 act 2)

Big Daddy is consumed by possessions, by acquisitiveness. He has been faced with his imminent death and thinks to find some sort of immortality or salvation in materials. For him, real relationships are not about love or caring; they are about objects. He declares that he is going to find himself a new woman to replace Big Mama. That relationship will not really be new in that he will play the same role in it. He plans to "smother her in minks and choke her with diamonds!" (685 act 2). The marriage will probably turn out to be just as undesirable as the one he is in presently.

Most of all though, Big Daddy is convinced that the empire he has created will give him happiness, and life. He is inordinately proud of the oft mentioned "Twenty-eight thousand acres of the richest land this side of the valley of the Nile" (694 act 2).

When he finds out that he his really going to die, he says "'Mendacity is the system that we live in'" (694). This system that he speaks of is more than the lying and liars that immediately surround him; it is not just his family. The system that he lives in is materialism. He has bought into the American dream, in effect capitalism, and has at last found it lacking. Yet it is doubtful that this revelation will truly change Big Daddy in the way he lives his last days. For Williams' words concerning Brick ring true for Daddy as well. He writes, "I don't believe a conversation, however relevatory, ever effects so immediate a change in the heart or even conduct of a person" (706 act 3). Big Daddy is trapped in his American dream even as it has become his nightmare.

Discuss the theme of corruption in Cry The Beloved Country

Corruption is one of the most prevailing themes in Cry The Beloved Country, as well as in today’s world. In this story the author pictures many different characters in order to represent this wide spread illness of society, John Kumalo, Gertrude, Abasalom, just to name a few. Johannesburg itself is the summary of all that is wrong with cities of today. There is corruption and poverty. Crime runs rampant, and law-abiding citizens are forced to survive as they can.

One of the most typical products of corruption in Cry The Beloved Country is John Kumalo. He has a woman living with him that he hasn’t married; he has no problems with hiring a lawyer that will lie, effectively condemning his nephew to death. His one good trait is that he uses his political power to help further the cause of the African natives, and even this is tarnished by the fact that he only wants to further his own ambitions. He doesn’t have the heart necessary for a revolutionary leader and that will be his downfall. If he was willing to go to prison and make sacrifices for what he believed in or wanted he would have much more power than he has now.

Abasalom is a good example of corruption that doesn’t come from the heart. Unlike John, Abasalom does not want to be corrupt, and he is not proud of what he has done. When he killed Arthur he was horrified, and when the police found him he didn’t deny what he had done, but confessed. Abasalom was corrupted by Johannesburg and by his "friends", and was a victim of circumstance.

Allan Paton presents Johannesburg as a nest of corruption in the book. As a matter of fact all the other corruption mentioned in the story is stemming from Johannesburg: John, Gertrude, Abasalom, crime, prostitution, racism, segregation. Johannesburg isn’t only corrupt in itself; it corrupts all most all that it touches. This city is very much a downscaled version of anyone of numerous major cities in the world today. It is a sad day when a man of the cloth cannot go unmolested through the streets. The city is overcrowded and everyone is so poor that they must stoop to rob priests just to feed themselves.

A good example of what this city does to a person is Gertrude, the most pathetic character in the book. She has been chewed up and spat out by a city that has no room for good black people. She went off in search of her husband and ended up by herself with "many husbands" as Msimangu said. Gertrude must also sell illegal liquor and has gone to prison. Her child runs around ragged and dirty in the streets, with no education and no supervision or name. Gertrude is like Abasalom in that she is not corrupt at heart, but it was Johannesburg that turned her. At the end of the book she chooses to remain in Johannesburg instead of going to her home, with her child. She did this because she wanted her child to have a good life, but knew that she couldn’t go back when she was that corrupted.

This book very graphically describes all the filth of corruption; it is everywhere, from the small village to the large town. This reflects our society today. IWe must not let this go on.

 Love, isolation and redemption in Great Expectations

Perhaps the greatest sin we commit against ourselves and others, is to shun human companionship as Miss Haversham did. After her betrayal in love she hardened her heart towards her fellow man. By hardening her heart and suppressing her naturally affectionate nature, she committed a crime against herself. Miss Haversham's love for Compeyson is of a compassionate kind, this blinded her to his true nature, as Herbert remarked, "too haughty and too much in love to be advised by anyone." At Compeyson's desertion her anger and sorrow became extreme and she threw herself and Satis House into perpetual mourning and a monument to her broken heart, shutting the world out and herself from the world. Her only concession is in her adoption of Estella.

Miss Haversham has ulterior motives in adopting Estella, this is not a loving action on her part, but a calculated manoeuvre to turn the child into a haughty, heartless instrument of revenge against men. Estella is encouraged to practice her disdain on Pip and to break his heart. Paradoxically, Miss Haversham’s greatest sin, is against herself. By hardening her heart she loses her generous, affectionate nature and becomes withered inside emotionally. Her punishment is that the heartless young woman she has made, uses her lack of feelings against Miss Haversham.

Estella herself is isolated, as for most of the novel she takes pleasure in her role of avenger. Her isolation is in part responsible for Pips snobbery and his estrangement from Joe and Biddy. Like Miss Haversham she becomes a victim of her own machinations. She enters into a loveless marriage to Drummle, who is cruel to her. This shows that no matter how heartless one tries to be, there is always someone more heartless. The instrument of revenge punishes the avenger and is punished in return.

Pip feels emotionally and geographically isolated on his arrival in London. Jagger's isolation is his deliberate rejection to human involvement, he substitutes these with the mechanical process of law. Jagger’s uses the legal system to avoid personal responsibility for the fate of his fellow man. This profession has imprisoned his better instincts, leaving him isolated within the system. Magwitch, however, is isolated by the system, he uses Pip as his agent of revenge. Magwitch motives are not only revenge, but also gratitude for the food Pip gave him in his hour of need. He develops a fatherly affection towards Pip, who in the end returns his affection. It is Magwitch who has the best reasons for disbelieving in human companionship, that supported it the most.

Love in the context of human relationships is best shown through Pip. The relationship between Pip and Joe changed as Pip grew up. As a child, Pip regarded Joe as an equal, though he loved him, "I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart."

Though there is love, the snobbish Pip is critical of Joe, not verbally, but in his thoughts. When Pip attains his "Great Expectations," he is embarrassed by what he regards as Joe's commonness and avoids his company.

Pip's conscience makes him realise, Joe has more gentlemanly qualities than he himself possesses, his remorse however is short lived. When Pip's fortunes take a fall he is too ashamed to approach Joe and Biddy, their love is too strong however and are there for Pip in his hour of need.

In Pip's relationship with Biddy, he is very condescending, and shows disregard for her feelings, " If I could only get myself to fall in love with you," is a prime example. Pip compares Biddy to Estella and overlooks her obviously good qualities. After his loss of fortune, Pip decides to honour Biddy by marrying her. "I would go to Biddy." Pip still snobbishly thought Biddy would be glad to marry him. However, Biddy has married Joe. Though she was once half in love with Pip, Biddy recognised his obsession for Estella and wisely sought a partner elsewhere. Biddy and Joe share the same values and are ideal partners.Herbert and Clara, Mr Wemmick and Miss Skiffin and Mr and Mrs Pocket have loving steady relationships.

Pip's sexual attraction towards Estella is more romantic ideology than genuine love. He envisions Estella as a captive princess and himself as the heroic knight, only he can awaken love in her heart. Even though Estella tells him, "I have no heart", he does not believe her.

Redemption is attained by Miss Haversham when she humbles herself to ask Pip's forgiveness. After the cruelty she has endured at the hands of Compeyson, Estella emerges a more compassionate person. Pip's forgiveness and love from Joe, Biddy and Magwitch.He endures hardship and triumphantly emerges a mature, thoughtful person.

The themes of Love, Isolation and Redemption are the structure the other themes hang from. The loneliness of isolation is the beginning; love is the food that staves it off and redemption is the final cleansing. Love is the backbone of the novel, the thing that binds the others together, redemption is its conclusion. There has to be love or the characters would not be able to interact, if there were only isolation each character's tale would be a separate piece of work. All good novels have a moral to relate and involve love and redemption.

Discuss Forster’s use of symbolism in his novel, Howards End

Howards End is a highly symbolic novel; many critics have described it as parable with archetypal or mythic characters. The Wilcoxes symbolize the practical, materialistic, enterprising sort of people who have contributed to England's prosperity and strengthened the empire. The Schlegels symbolize the intellectual and artistic types who possess humanistic values and recognize the importance of the spirit. Margaret and Henry's marriage demonstrates the relationship between these two personalities, emphasizing a balance between the two.

Of all the Wilcoxes, Ruth is the only one who does not fit the Wilcox "mold." She is withdrawn from modern life, intuitive, spiritual, and not at all intellectual, but as Lionel Trilling states, representative of traditional values and ancestral knowledge. Along with Miss Avery, the caretaker of Howards End, Ruth Wilcox symbolizes the importance of the human connection to nature and the earth. The wych elm tree with the pig's teeth, the vine, and the hayfield at Howards End also emphasize this connection. The movement of the seasons and the rhythms of nature are contrasted to the senseless movement of the modern, industrialized city, symbolized by the motorcar. The motorcar is never portrayed in a very attractive light: chaos and confusion seem to follow it everywhere, as in the scene where Charles hits the cat.

Other important symbols include the Schlegel books and bookcase and family sword at Howards End, which play so significantly in Leonard's death. When Leonard falls from Charles's blow with the sword and literally buries himself in books, it appears that the culture and intellectual sophistication he so desperately sought become his ruin. It is noteworthy that the sword and books belong to the Schlegels, however. Ostensibly, it seems that Leonard dies at the hand of the Wilcoxes—Henry, by giving him bad advice, and Charles, by actually dealing the final blow with the sword. But if Helen had not been overwhelmed by her sense of injustice, her anger toward the Wilcoxes, and her pity for Leonard, he would at least still have his life. The novel's bitter irony is that the person who tried to help Leonard the most effectively destroyed him.

Discuss Flaubert's use of symbolism in Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert presents one extreme side of human life many would very much rather think does not exist. He presents a tale of sensual symbolism within the life of Charles Bovary. Madame Bovary is the story of Emma Bovary, but within the scope of symbolic meaning, the make-up of Charles is addressed. It is representative of deep sadness and a despondent outlook on life whose many symbols are, at times, as deeply embedded in the story line as a thorn in a callous heel. The elements making up the very person of Charles Bovary remain excruciatingly evident, haunting his every move.

Symbolic of his yearning for inner fulfillment, Charles Bovary presents to be a man in search of an unknown sensual satisfaction. It is no wonder, with the detailed writing the French government attempted to censor Flaubert when Madame Bovary was published in 1856. Although the vast majority of theorems penned revolve about the life of Emma, the character of Charles requires examining.

In the opening scenes, Charles Bovary is seen entering a favorite "dive" of escape, an escape from the realities of life. The cafés he frequented appear as "dirty public rooms" (Flaubert 834) housing his passion for the game of dominoes. His obsession and pleasure from this simple entertainment are exposed as Flaubert describes Charles entrance into the den of dominoes. "[His esteem] was beginning to see life, the sweetness of stolen pleasures; and when he entered, he put his hand on the door handle with a joy almost sensual" (Flaubert 834). What, other than a profound uneasiness within his personal life, could bring about so explicit a pleasure from the entering to a dark, dank room?

Charles’ life as a student of medicine is one of avoidance. His lack of sincerity and devotion is shown via the "mother hen" role, which his mother took in excusing his inadequacies. His insincerity and hypocrisy is indicative of one with no foresight. He lives now, exists now, and thinks now, not of what is to come, but of what is now. The author explains how he grew passive toward his presumed goal: medicine. In the beginning, he would miss one lecture in a day. Then, the next day, he would miss all lectures. Eventually, because of his inner thirst for self-satisfaction, he would become idle to the point he would give up work altogether (Flaubert 834).

Charles is a grown man. He is a student of medicine. Yet, he has his mother making justifications for him. "She excused him, threw the blame on his failure on the injustice of the examiners, and took upon herself to set matters straight" (Flaubert 834). Is it no wonder, with a character flaw such as this maternal control, later in the story adultery and betrayal would plague his marriage? On the one hand, there is Charles who is excused and exhaulted by his mother. His father, five years later and on learning the truth, expresses how he could not believe that one born of him could be such a fool (Flaubert).

Conversely, there is Emma. Emma has her decision made on her behalf by her father the day of Charles’ last visit before the engagement. Flaubert represents the affirmative answer to Charles’ alleged proposal by the banging of the shutter as her father turns and walks toward the house. She is, we can only assume, ready to be the wife of a doctor, it making no difference his lack of expertise as a physician, not to mention his lack of masculinity.

Charles is a pitiful sight to see. His rebellious nature toward the attaining of the goal of "physician," as obviously prescribed by his parents, is directly related to Flaubert’s rebellion toward France in relation to enforced censorship. The mandatory overseeing of literature, and limitations thereof, are of prime importance when digesting Madame Bovary.

The many symbolism methods commonly referred to within Madame Bovary are still obviously there. There is the wedding in the pasture where Emma is forced to stop to remove litter from her dress. The obstacles of her future happiness lie beneath her fringe. She is said to stop to raise the hem of her dress, and carefully, with her gloved hands, to pick off the wild grasses (Flaubert). Her happiness falls by the wayside. The plaster priest falls and breaks symbolic of Charles’ future failures in his wonderful world of medicine. Furthermore, this is directing the reader toward the eventual demise of the marriage.

Nevertheless, it is the continued usage by Flaubert of sexual innuendoes and expressive words that bring one to realize France may very well have been correct in its attempt to censor. To understand an author is to read between the lines, then draw conclusions. My conclusion is that Flaubert uses specific scenes to symbolize his flamboyance toward being bawdy. "Sometimes she would draw; and it was great amusement to Charles to stand there, bolt upright and watch her bend over her paper, with eyes half-closed the better to see her work" (Flaubert 856). The better to see her work? Perhaps in the eyes of a creator, ones’ cleavage can be considered "work."

Although it is talent that allows a writer to use and coordinate symbolic meanings within his works toward a specific goal, the plainspoken truth is more easily ingested and digested. There is merit in the skilled stating of ideals, symbolism in place, without making ones’ audience uncomfortable. However, within the pages of Madame Bovary lie a continuous excess of implication, insinuation, and suggestion.

One of the main points Middleton and Rowley are making is that madness at a higher strata of society is not noticed by most people as it lies under the surface of peoples' actions and words. However there are subtle signs of madness in the main plot before it erupts violently (in Beatrice in particular). In order to direct attention to the symptoms in Beatrice the authors leave no doubt that madness is their main theme by making it prominent in the sub-plot. The same is true of folly but this is less important within the play. To Beatrice murder is merely something one thiks about in abstract terms, not as a realityand when De flores shows her the finger with the ring upon it in Act 3 Scene iv she exclaims ‘Bless me What has t thou done.

Much of the main plot is about the exploration of more subtle forms of madness which neverthleless are similarly based on a confusion of fantasy and reality. Beatrice has allowed herself to be corrupted and she must pay the price. As she herself finally acknowledges ‘Tis time to die, when ‘tis a shame to live'. Having joined forces with De Flores she must accompany him in death

As mentioned above, there are two parallel worlds in the play described in the two plots - the main plot and the sub-plot. It is impossible to interpret the play properly without understanding what is happening in the sub plot and how it provides a pointer to the significance of the main plot. In the main plot the way madness is presented is very subtle.

Much of the sub plot of ‘The Changeling' is very comical but it also has a serious aim; the humour portrayed in the world of the lunatic asylum implies that we could obtain order if only we avoided the vices described so amusingly. It is not just making fun of incurable patients who deserve our sympathy; it serves depicts what is inconsistent in our behavior. The main plot does this also as it shows that outside lunatic asylums people like to believe that they are controlled by principle. The sub-plot however portrays the irrational part of our nature in a funny, lighthearted way.

‘The Changeling' illustrates how folly and madness operate within the mind. It explores abnormal mental states. While the focus is on what happens within the individual person the effect on others is not ignored. Madness is of greater concern than folly and it is presented particularly in association with sex.

In both plots there is a sense in which justice finally conquers folly and madness. In the sub-plot Isabella's virtuous spirit triumphs over the folly and madness of the men who are obsessed with her. In this world, nobody comes to any harm and lessons are learned.

In the main plot, however, innocent people are murdered and their murderers are consigned to eternal damnation. Much of the main plot is about the exploration of more subtle forms of madness which neverthleless are similarly based on a confusion of fantasy and reality. Beatrice has allowed herself to be corrupted and she must pay the price. As she herself finally acknowledges ‘Tis time to die, when ‘tis a shame to live'. Having joined forces with De Flores she must accompany him in death.

The play has an unhappy ending but it depends from whose side it is viewed. The ending is not a happy one for either Beatrice or De Flores . However many members of the audience probably do not feel sad about their deaths as they find it difficult to see these characters as anything but evil in that they clearly cause unhappiness for others. But it is too simple to assume that Beatrice consciously chooses to do evil. The authors have tried to show how Beatrice has disguised her corruption even from herself

Much of the time the question of a moral judgement does not arise because an insane person cannot be held responsible for actions which spring from the unconscious. Middleton and Rowley do not wish us to condone her actions or wish us to see them as excusable - it is just that they are more interested in Beatrice's psychology than her morality. In any case it is hard to be sorry about her death except that we can emphathise with her more easily as a result of her having at the end some awareness of the evil she has done.

De Flores is different. He is very conscious of having sinned against the accepted morals of the day but shows himself to be totally unrepentant but it is again difficult to judge him. His peculiar attitude is disturbing but that means that his death is not very tragic either but his defiance provides a strong contrast with the rather shallow characters around him and is almost comically entertaining.

Imagery in both plots is sparse and functional. The creative imagination expresses itself not so much in figurative language as in irony, punning and the imaginative handling of characters and plots. Even images are often treated punningly and ironically. Puns, or at least double meanings abound particularly in the sub-plot although they are also frequent in the main plot. They make us aware of things which we do not normally see. Very often the characters are not themselves aware of more than one meaning. There is a close relationship between punning and irony.

The command of double meanings and irony is very clever in this play as is the relationship between the two plots and the inventive presentation of characters like Antonio and Franciscus in the sub plot.

In summary, the play seems to me more comic than tragic in that at the end of the play the most evil characters have met their just deserts and the society of Alicante appears to be in harmony.

The theme of escape in The Glass Menagerie by Tennesee Williams

The Glass Menagerie is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family. By description, it is a cramped, dingy place, not unlike a jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighborhood. Of the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related to the fire escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable departure.

The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose for each of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside the apartment, not out.

The fire escape separates reality and the unknown. Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the story. Life with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which she just can't take.

The music from the dance hall often provides the background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is the last chance for paradise. Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets his picture remain. Tom always makes jokes about his dad, and how he "fell in love with long distances."

This is his attempt to ease the pain of abandonment by turning it into something humorous. It is inevitable that the thing which Tom resents most in his father is exactly what Tom himself will carry out in the end...escape! Through his father, Tom has seen that escape is possible, and though he is hesitant to leave his sister and even his mother behind, he is being driven to it. Tom escapes reality in many different ways. The first and most obvious is the fire escape that leads him away from his desolate home. Another would be the movies that Amanda is always nagging him about. She thinks he spends too much time watching movies and that he should work harder and find a suitable companion for Laura.

The more Amanda nags, the more Tom needs his movie escapes. They take him to another world for a while, where mothers and sisters and runaway fathers do not exist. As the strain gets worse, the movie watching becomes more frequent, as does Tom's drinking. It is getting harder and harder for Tom to avoid real life. The time for a real departure is fast approaching. Amanda eventually pushes him over the edge, almost forcing him out, but not without laying overpowering guild trips on him. Tom leaves, but his going away is not the escape that he craved for so long. The guilt of abandoning Laura is overwhelming. He cannot seem to get over it. Everything he sees is a reminder of her. Tom is now truly following in the footsteps of his father. Too late, he is realizing that leaving is not an escape at all, but a path of even more powerful desperation. Williams uses the theme of escape throughout "The Glass Menagerie" to demonstrate the hopelessness and futility of each character's dreams.

Tom, Laura and Amanda all seem to think, incorrectly I might add, that escape is possible. In the end, no character makes a clean break from the situation at hand. The escape theme demonstrated in the fire escape, the dance hall, Mr. Wingfield and Tom's departure prove to be a dead end in many ways. Perhaps Tennessee Williams is trying to send a message that running away is not the way to solve life's problems. The only escape in life is solving your problems, not avoiding them.

Discuss  Hartley’s use of magic in his novel, The Go-Between

Hartley uses magic as a part of his deployment of the supernatural in The Go-Between and he makes it an element in the characterisation of Leo. Magic seems to lurk suggestively in the background of the story like the sinister belladonna itself in the shed behind the house. In his role as magician the young Leo seeks to come to terms with events that mystify and threaten him beyond his understanding.

When Leo prays at the end, ‘I even prayed for myself’ (in the Epilogue), we feel something important has happened. But the young is Leo is impatient with church religion because it suggests that this life is imperfect. He prefers pagan mythology, the Zodiac, gods and goddesses. In the world which the novel creates by using Leo’s imaginative response to life, these become very suggestive forces. Symbols arise from magic: the belladonna and the colour green (traditionally a magic colour).

Magic plays an important part in the strange association of connections and coincidences which help to structure the novel. The author relates the idea of magic to the forces of chance. He suggests that there is something magical, too, in passion and love. Marian links love and magic in the Epilogue: ‘tell him there’s no spell or curse except an unloving heart’.

The young Leo is concerned with more practical sorcery. In the two different worlds of school and of Brandham Hall Leo resorts to magic when a situation is out of his control. He does so with his curses against the school bullies, who conveniently fall off the roof and suffer ‘concussion of the brain’ (Prologue). The other schoolboys accept this sort of magic cheerfully and Leo’s reputation rises. In this instance, Hartley is using the magic to show the inventive, resilient capacity in the character of the young Leo.

When Trimingham calls him ‘Mercury’, this name seems to confirm his dizzy impression of being among the gods of his zodiac. Leo the narrator sorts out the symbolism, making Marian the Virgin. Ted the Water-carrier; but symbolic meanings flourish in the heightened fancy of Leo’s state of mind. The heat itself which seems to Leo like a new element becomes symbolically suggestive: perhaps Leo is the Mercury in the thermometer: perhaps Marian is the heat; perhaps, naked, he could find a union with the heat (p.50). Unable to make rational sense of things, more involved with grown-up people than he is used to or able to cope with, moved by instincts (p.233) he knows nothing about, Leo makes his fantasies into more than just a game.

At Brandham Leo thinks of using a spell to bring the heat down when he is uncomfortable in his Norfolk jacket, and to dispose of Trimingham as a rival: ‘perhaps I could cast a spell on him’ (Chapter 5). His real effort as a magician, however, comes when he tries to direct the powers of the belladonna against Ted: ‘he had cast a spell on [Marian]. That spell I would now break’(Chapter 21). In this witchcraft Leo is completely inexperienced. The passage in Chapter 21 where the description of his struggle with the nightshade is filled with sexual suggestiveness puts an end to his magical pretensions. It is the vulnerability of Leo’s imagination which is conveyed to the reader by his role as magician at Brandham: ‘if in ... experience I was fairly tough, in . . . imagination I was not’ (Chapter 15).

The role of magic in the book reminds us of how everything is interconnected in the novel. The idea of a spell connects with themes, situations and even details throughout the book. The reader hopes at the close of the Epilogue that Leo is about to break the spell at last.