(THE TEMPEST) Act - I (Scene wise Summary)

Summary

Act - I Scene - I


"The Tempest" enjoys/occupies a pride of place as one of the last plays of Shakespeare. The play begins with a violent Tempest/ storm. In the aftermath of the violent storm accompanied with thunder and lightning, the sailors are wrestling with masts and sails to control their ship. The ship is seen drifting on the waves. The master of the ship enters the scene with the Boatswain to encourage the sailors so as to face up to the Tempest courageously; otherwise the ship would have been wrecked. There are two important passengers on board the ship. They are Alonso, the king of Naples and Sebastian, his brother. We meet here Ferdinand, his son, Antonio, the usurping Duke of Milan, Gonzalo, the counsellor and several other courtiers. Alonso notices that the ship is in trouble. He comes out of his cabin and ask the sailors in a gentle voice not to be afraid of the storm and behave in a manly way. The Boatswain doesn't take a liking to the idea and asks the king and the courtiers to stay inside their cabin. The sailors try their utmost to save the ship from the impending danger. In fact the passengers get anxious about the safety of the ship. The sailors and the courtiers are involved in a wordy duel but all these proves to be of no avail. Gonzalo's wise and weighty counselling fizzles out. The king's power becomes useless in the face of the powerful tempest. The sailors are completely drenched and wet. They feel dejected. They are looking tired. They have no hope of saving the ship from destruction at such a juncture the king and his so Ferdinand keep praying to God on their benden knees. Gonzalo also decides to play with them. In the meanwhile the ship dashes against a rock. There is a great chaos and confusion. Gonzalo express a secret wish to die on land rather than be drowned in the sea. Of course the confusion of the Tempest is created by the passengers who make the situation worse confounded.


Act - I Scene - II


This scene takes us to Prospero's cell in a deserted island. This is the same island where the ship was wrecked. His daughter Miranda thinks that  Prospero causes the storm at sea through his magic art. Miranda's heart is touched with pity at the painful sight. Here in the heart rending the cries of the passengers, she thinks of saving them. She asks her father to make the turbulent waters of the sea cam and quiet. Prospero tells her that no harm would be done to the people in the sea.

Prospero then explains his real motive for raising the storm at sea. He reveals to Miranda that Antonio is his brother who usurped his estate and wealth while Prospero became "Rapt in secret studies." In order to take Prospero's title, Antonio made a plan to have his brother Prospero and Prospero's daughter Miranda killed secretly. But Prospero is famously known as a good man. Those who were in charge of his death decided not to kill him. Instead Prospero and Miranda were set adrift on the open sea in a ramshackle vessel. They landed on the island where they now live.

After Prospero's story is over Ariel, a magical spirit appears on the scene. It becomes apparent that Ariel has caused the storm at Prospero's bidding. King Alonso and his company are now "dispersed about the isle." Ariel made the incident look like a shipwreck. Ariel now wants to be freed from the clutches of Prospero, although he rescued her from the nasty witch Sycorax. Caliban who was Sycorax's son also makes an appearance. Miranda expresses her strong dislike for him. Ferdinand, son of Alonso meets Miranda and falls in love with her at first sight with her. This appears to have Ariel's doing and part of the laid plan that she must carry out to get her freedom from Prospero. 

(POEMS) Chapter- 1 The Darkling Thrush - By Thomas Hardy (Workbook Questions & Answers)

                                                                  ASSIGNMENTS

Question 1

How has Thomas Hardy depicted nature in the poem "The Darkling Thrush"?

Ans:-  "The Darkling Thrush" at first appears to be a nature poem of indefinable beauty. Here we come across the lurid scene of  a December evening. The air is drawing to a close. It is really a cold and frosty evening. The poet uses a frost metaphor in order to present a scene of desolation and dreariness. It's a twilight time. The sun is setting. Everything looked dull and drab. The tangled stems seemed to be the strings of broken lyres. All human beings who were stirring out of doors had returned home to get close to their household fires. The whole landscape appeared to the poet to be the century's corpse.

            The sharp features of the landscape had a lurid and cheerless look. The clouds overhanging the sky formed a canopy to serve as a tomb. The wind blowing through the trees seemed to be singing a death song of lamentation. Every living being seemed to have lost passion and buoyancy of spirit. The poet himself was deeply depressed, dejected, despirited.

             Everything all around was bleak and dreary. In such a bleak scenario the poet heard the sweet caroling of a thrush pouring out it's music in full-throated glee.The joyful bird was producing a lovely evening song expressing a sense of illimitable joy. Though the bird was storm-tossed and exhausted, it continued singing joyously against the backdrop of an all pervading gloom. Nothing on earth, far and near could inspire such a hope in a world of hopelessness. The poet has an optimistic feeling that the thrush- the song bird seemed to inspire the poet with a sublime feeling which will shore up his decaying spirit.

(SHORT STORIES) Chapter -1 Salvatore - By W. Somerset Maugham (Workbook Questions & Answers)

                                                      REVISION QUESTIONS


Question 1 

(a) Discuss the theme of love and affection as depicted in the story "Salvatore."

Ans:-  Salvatore is the main protagonist of Maugham's story. The story is focused on Salvatore in all his lineaments. The character of Salvatore evolves into an epitome of true love and goodness.

            Salvatore being the eldest brother used to take care of his two younger brothers as a responsible guardian. It is out of a sense of duty and love. He would not let them venture too far in the sea. He would also dress them when they had to climb the hot hill for the mid-day meal. Salvatore had a pleasing personality. He had a pleasant word for everyone even he was assailed by terrible hardships of life.

             Salvatore fell madly in love with a pretty girl. They were affianced but they couldn't marry till Salvatore had done his military service. When he became a sailor in the navy he wept like a child. He felt dreadfully homesick and parting from the girl was too much with him. When he came back home he was happy to see his parents and brothers waiting for him on the jetty. As soon as they met there was a great deal of kissing. Boundless was Salvatore's love for his family, home and the girl he loved. When Salvatore was away as a sailor, he used to write long passionate letters telling her how much he missed her and how much he longed to see her. When he fell ill with rheumatism that made him unfit for further service, his heart for he could go home and meet the girl who was waiting anxiously for him.

              On coming back home from military service the greatest shock which he had to experience in the whole of his life was that he was rudely rejected by the girl he loved. The mother of the girl told him brusquely that his daughter wouldn't marry a man suffering from a disease. Salvatore was so broken hearted that he began to weep on his mother's bosom. He was terribly unhappy but he didn't blame the girl who refused to marry him. He was so passionately infatuated with the girl that he had not the heart to say a hard word of the girl he had loved so well. His smile was very sad and his had the look of a beaten dog.

              Salvatore got married to Assunta and they had two sons. He worked laboriously to sustain his family even though he was suffering terribly. He used to work hard in his vineyard and spent the night catching the profitable cuttlefish.

              Salvatore was a rich storehouse of affection to his children. He loved them with all his heart and took delight in spending time with them. He brought them blown to the beach to give them bath. He would dip them in water very tenderly. He would laugh away his time with them and became a mother-substitute.

              Though he was an ordinary fisherman he possessed nothing in the world except a quality which in the rarest, most precious and the loveliest that anyone can have. It was the quality of goodness, just goodness. It is the quality of goodness tinged with the colour of greatness that shines through the character of Salvatore.


Question 2

(b) According to the author of the story, which one quality shone with a radiance in Salvatore? Give reasons to support your answer.

Ans:-  Salvatore is the principal character in the story "Salvatore." Salvatore is the son of a fisherman whose innocence, simplicity and above all his purity of heart brings out his essential goodness. The quality of goodness tend to invest him with an aura of greatness. Salvatore has been depicted in the story as a responsible brother, a passionate lover and a loving father. In fact he is a static character who remains the same throughout the story. His outlook and personality don't suffer any material change even if the events of the story evolve quite naturally.

            Goodness is the quality which shines with a radiance in the character of Salvatore.Outwardly  his appearance doesn't evoke any emotion but inwardly he is good at heart - a genuinely guileless man. When young he had a pleasant face, a laughing mouth and care free eyes. The most significant thing about his character is that Salvatore has great, emotional attachment to his family. When he left to become a sailor in the navy he wept like a child. Far away from home he was dreadfully homesick. He was missing his family and the girl he loved. After his return from military service he met his family. When he fell ill of some mysterious ailment, "he bore with the mute and uncomprehending patience of a dog." His patience indeed is perennial.

            As a passionate lover Salvatore is overtly sincere to the core. Despite all his suffering he had a positive attitude to life. When he made a comeback from his military service he was rejected by his lady love - the girl he loved. He felt dejected. Broken-hearted he wept. Though terribly happy he didn't blame the girl. He realized that a girl could not afford to marry a man who might not be able to support her. "He never used harsh words for her." He accepted her rejection in a spirit of stoic resignation. So we see that Salvatore was a man of inherent goodness. His inherent goodness is "the rarest, the most precious and the loveliest" quality which shone in him with all its radiance and refulgence.


Question 3

(c) How apt is the title of the story,'Salvatore'?

Ans:-  The title of the story 'Salvatore' by Somerset Maugham is apt and appropriate.The title itself demonstrates the narrative art of the writer. The plot of the story hinges on the life of Salvatore, the main protagonist of the story. In fact Salvatore belongs to the common run of man who is full of emotion, passion and compassion for others. The innate quality of goodness brings out the best in him. The protagonist of the story is a simple fisherman with an exceptional quality of goodness.

           Salvatore's story as presented by the story writer - his life of suffering - the little tragedies and comedies of life moves the reader with a feeling of wonder. In fact he is a wonderful creation. He bears no malice or ill-with against anyone around him. His attitude to life has always been positive and compromising. Never does he resent. He knows how to accept everything with stoicism. Even when he is jilted by the girl he loves, he doesn't blame the girl; on the contrary he accepts the situation as the common lot of man. He never complains against his illness of rheumatism which has assailed him. He learns by experience how to fit in with hostile circumstances. The writer has drawn the portrait of a man like Salvatore with a touch of realism. It is the rarest and the most precious quality of goodness inherent in him, which lends him a most crowning touch. Maugham thus seems to glorify the character of Salvatore by naming the story after him. 

(POEMS) Chapter- 10 We Are The Music Makers -- By Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (Workbook Questions)

                                                             ASSIGNMENTS

Q 1:- How does the poem 'We Are the Music Makers' assess the famous idea of "art for art's sake"?


Ans:-   O'Shaughnessy's famous ode "We are the Music Makers" does not directly reflect the idea of  "art for art's sake." The poet here purportedly celebrates art and artistic creations which tend to glorify life by raising it to greater heights.

             The poet explicitly makes use of the expressions like "music makers","dreamers of dreams", "movers and shakers of the world" in order to glorify the beauty of art as well as the role of the artist in creating something sublime in the realm of art. in point of fact, the artists, be the musicians, poets or painters, have the potential to move the world with their innovative ideas, thoughts and feelings which they can afford to spread through their creative and artistic works. They believe in the transformative power of art which can make people across the world forge ahead with renewed vigour and redoubtable vitality in terms of intellect and imagination. To put it bluntly, "art for art's sake" is a movement which emphasized only the aesthetic importance of art. It bolsters up the idea that art needs no justification and it doesn't need to serve any social, political and didactic purpose. In the poem, "We are the music makers" the poet has depicted the artists as an integral part of the society, rejecting the seminal theory of aestheticism that art exists only for the sake of art. In fact there are some lines in the poem which define in certain nuances the artists aesthetist aloofness from society. The idea of "art for art's sake" gets intense when the poet strives to convey that the artists go on with their timeless creations even when confronted with conflicting situations. But they never show any sign of wavering. Art goes on in its own way, bringing in its wake a measure of aesthetic pleasure. The artists give vent to their creative impulse when they utter in effusive and evocative terms:
      Built Nineveh with our sighing
      And Babel itself with our mirth

Of course O'Shaughnessy's poem written in the 19th century favours the idea of "art for art's sake." Nonetheless the fact remains that even though the artists, according to the poet, have a lonely space outside the realm of society, they can preeminently be "movers and shakers of the world." 

(THE TEMPEST) Act -III (Long Questions)

Q 1:- Write a short account of the conspiracy hatched by Caliban against Prospero and the way it is defeated.

Ans:-  Caliban has a pervasive scorn for Prospero who, he thinks, is the usurper of his land. So Caliban is hostile to Prospero . He thinks of a wicked plan to murder Prospero.

            As Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano walk through the island in a drunken state Caliban proposes to Stephano that he can become king of the island if he kills Prospero. In that case Caliban says, "Trinculo shall be lord of it and I'll serve thee." Stephano asks how it will be "compassed" whereupon Caliban says, "I'll yield upon him thee asleep." Actually Caliban will present Prospero before Stephano while Prospero takes his afternoon nap.

            Firstly, Caliban points out that must take possession of all the books of Prospero and burn them. Without his books on magic Prospero is "but a sot as I am" and is unable to control the spirits of the island. This shows and suggests that Caliban has attempted to take Prospero's life before. He now hopes that Stephano will accomplish the deed.

              Caliban now attempts to motivate Stephano to make the attack by telling him that if he succeeds in killing Prospero he will have Prospero's "brave utensils", that is, his splendid household goods. Not only that, he will have Miranda who is "a nonpareil."

               Caliban suggests three possible ways of murdering Prospero. First Stephano can "brain him" battering his skull with a log. Caliban's other suggestions are to "paunch him with a stake", that is to stab him in the belly.

                Ariel who is present on the scene listens to their plan of murder and tells all about the conspiracy to his master Prospero. On being informed by Ariel about the conspiracy hatched by Caliban, Prospero orders Ariel to hang some showy garments on a lime-tree to divert the attention of the conspirators. They get busy in grabbing the garments. Caliban urges them not to waste their time to kill Prospero. But Stephano and Trinculo pay little heed to his words. At that hour a number of spirits appear in the shape of dogs and hounds. They chase the conspirators who take to their heels in a state of confusion. Prospero then orders the spirits to torment the conspirators. This is how Caliban's conspiracy to murder Prospero is foiled and defeated.

(POEMS) Chapter-8 Dover Beach - By Matthew Arnold (Long Questions)

Q 1 :- Moonlight for Arnold does not go with roses and romance but with melancholy, meditation and sometimes even despair. Discuss.

Ans:- Arnold's "Dover Beach" laments the loss of faith in God and religion. Misery, sadness and melancholy dominate all through the poem. The onslaught of modernity seems to erode the placid citadel of certainty. The poet clings to love as being the only solace and consolation. He emotionally says "Ah love, let us be true/ to one another, And it is the only true certainty as the world around falls to pieces under "struggle" and "fight."

           The poem presents the ephemeral human feeling of sadness through the image of the sea. The sea image is significant because it is a grim reminder of "the eternal note of sadness" in the life of human beings. The expression "The Sea of Faith" is obviously a metaphor for unflinching faith in spirituality and religion. The poet expresses his view that despair, hopefulness and melancholy in the world is due to the decline of religious faith. When the poet hears the grating roar of pebbles of the sea he is reminded of the "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" of faith as it retreats from men's minds. The sounds created by pebbles represent "an eternal note of sadness", Arnold here alludes to Sophocles, who in ancient Greece heard the sound of pebbles on the shore of the Aegean sea. This sound reminded him of the ebb and flow of human misery. Similarly the poet hears the same sound on the Dover Beach and is reminded of the receding faith in God and religion as the cause of human suffering.

            In fact "Dover Beach" is a better expression of Arnold's loss of faith and his melancholous and pessimistic view of life. The world seemed to him strangely unreal without anything real to cling to. It has beauty and loveliness but there is in it neither love nor joy nor light nor peace. Men are seen to be struggling in the world with armies struggling on a plain at night. There is a sound of "confused alarms of struggles and flight where ignorant armies clash by night."

             In a world devoid of faith as well as shorn of strength Arnold learns upon love will create an atmosphere of certainty by restoring man's inveterate faith in religion and in goodness of the world. He says with a note of optimism:

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light.

            In the world beset with the gloom of despair and loneliness, melancholy and pessimism Arnold looks on love as the only comforting thing for men to fall back upon. Amidst all the turbid ebb and flow of human misery and spiritual desiciation love is the consolation. Arnold adroitly and assertively tells of true love as a spiritualizing force in alleviating the evils of the strife- torn world where there is really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain. 

(POEMS) Chapter -3 The Dolphins - By Carol Ann Duffy (Long Questions)

Q 1:- Show how 'The Dolphins' is a poem of protest against the slow destruction of nature and natural creatures by man.

Ans:- 'The Dolphins' is obviously a poem of protest against human oppression, constriction and confinement of non-human natural animals. In this poem the speaker, a dolphin remembers its previous life of untrammelled freedom in the ocean and the sense of bondage and confinement in the artificial aquarium. The dolphin seems to represent a kind of protest against human exploitation and oppression meted out to natural creatures. Ironically enough the human beings are the main exploiters of the natural habitat of the dolphin. By limiting its freedom of movement within the narrow confines of a small pool they destroy nature as well. An entrapped and enslaved dolphin feels forlorn in its confined space where there is little or no scope for freedom. The poet here not only expresses the agonizing feeling of the dolphin but also the collective voice of those animals which have to suffer the same fate as the dolphin. The present oppression is being poignantly felt by the dolphin in relation to its blessed abode in the sea. The life in the man made pool is artificial and unnatural. The dolphin's cry of anguish comes out:
"World is what you swim in, or dance, it is simple
We are in our element but we are not free."

   Naturally the dolphins are not free at all because of their estrangement. They are in their"element" but enslaved. The narrow pool does not give them joy or freedom which they yearn for. The monotony of existence makes them morbid. In the world of captivity they have no certainty. "Our mind knows we will die here / There is no hope"- these words welling out of the heart of dolphins are in fact an expression of protest against human oppression and exploitation.