Othello as a Domestic Tragedy

Othello as a Domestic Tragedy
Othello is a domestic play in the sense that its subject is one of family or domestic issues. The issues are limited to the scope of a family and personal assistants of the hero: marital relation and happiness, sexual jealousy and personal revenge, intrigue and conspiracy, friendship and betrayal.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)



The central theme of Othello's relationship with his wife, his sexual jealousy and the consequence of his fatal weakness of gullibility doesn't go beyond the limit of his family life.

Othello is a domestic tragedy in the sense that it deals with domestic issues of a couple's married life, the husband's jealousy and the wife's ignorance which lead to their disaster. Earlier dramas, the classical dramas of the Greek model, used to deal with social and universally significant human issues at large, William Shakespeare much narrowed down the subject matter in Othello to a more ordinary 'domestic' issue. Even when compared to his other tragic dramas, this play has a more common issue. Instead of dramatizing an issue of national or communal importance Othello is essentially concerned with domesticity. The pictures of a short lasting conjugal bliss and its disruption through unnatural jealousy become the major thematic aspects in the play. Othello-Desdemona marriage begins violently, ends violently and between these two violent points, there is brief joy and much sorrow.

The play has been called a domestic play, especially in the light of the fact that most serious tragedies before Shakespeare and even Shakespeare's other tragedies used to deal with more public issues. Plays like Oedipus Rex and even Shakespeare's own Hamlet and Macbeth, were about kings and princes, and generals like Othello; but the action and issue in them was not limited to the individual persons or their personal and family lives. They used to be about kings and their kingdoms: the actions and decisions of the characters affected the country and the people. But, in the case of Othello, the main issue is limited to Othello's private life, his relation with his wife, his happiness and failures. The play is limited to the marital life and happiness of a husband and wife; and though the intruder and related people come into the action, their roles also do not lead out the effect of the interactions to people outside. lago and Emilia's lives are also affected by the main line of action related Desdemona and Othello, but that is also a family issue. Cassio's relationship with Othello is more domestic than professional; he was friendly and acted like a family member with Desdemona before her marriage, and he is like a brother to her and Othello. Roderigo is the only character who is not so much in the family structures of relations.

The public and state matters like those that take place at the Duke's court and in Venice are marginal to the theme of the drama. Thus, since family or domestic issues are primary, the play has been called a domestic play.
*Othello as a domestic tragedy*
Before going to answer of the question, we should know the definition of a domestic tragedy. A domestic tragedy is a kind of tragedy which deals with the private life of ordinary people. Such kind of tragedies were very popular in the days of Shakespeare. These tragedies were presented on the stage with groat effect. Othello is a fine domestic tragedy. This tragedy deals with the personal life of Othello and Desdemona.
Othello

Some critics have regarded Othello as a domestic tragedy because it deals with the domestic life of Othello and Desdemona and shows how it fell into ruin by the plot of a villain, lago. logo through his plot makes Othello jealous of Cassio and suspicious of Desdemona. He starts to doubt his innocent wife of having immortal relations with Cassio. He suffers hellish tortures and inspired by lago, he ultimately destroys first Desdemona and then himself. The is the plot of the tragedy, Othello. Moreover, it is a drama of contemporary life having for its background a historical event of recent occurrence. So it has the similarity of the plot of a domestic tragedy and critics have called the play a domestic drama.But the similarity is superficial. It must be remembered that Othello is not a private individual. He is descended from royal family. He is a soldier and military general of great ability and renown. He is considered indispensable for the defence of Cyprus and is appointed as the Governor of Cyprus by the Duke of Venice.Thus he is a man of importance occupying a remarkable place in the life and affairs of the state of Venice. In no way he can be regard as a private individual-like the hero of a domestic tragedy.Othello is not a common individual. He is a man of exceptional nature. His qualities of head and heart raise him head and shoulders above the common run of mankind. He is noble and daring. He has had a romantic career and travelled to distant lands. He comes of a royal family. By his tales of travel he is able to win over the heart of Desdemona. He is frank, honest and confiding. When such an exceptional individual falls, his fall produces the pity and fear proper to the true tragedy.

Thus in a domestic tragedy, the action of the drama moves on a common everyday level. The characters are near to us and so is the action. All this cannot be said of Othello. Its action does not take place in familiar England, but we are transported to romantic Venice and remote Cyprus. Othello is not the type of domestic drama which appeals only to our sense of pathos and satire but it arouses in us the true emotions of pity and fear. It is not the private life of married people that affects the fate and fortune of true lovers turned tragic by the forces of evil embodied in lago.

T.S ELIOT TRADITION AND INDIVIDUAL TALENT

T. S. Eliot’s The Critic

 T. S. Eliot as a Critic

Eliot is one of the greatest literary critics of England. Both from the point of view of the bulk and quality of his critical writings. His critical articles have a far-reaching influence on literary criticism. His criticism was revolutionary which inverted the critical tradition of the whole English speaking world. John Hayward says: “I cannot think of a critic who has been more widely read and discussed in his own life-time; and not only in English, but in almost every language, except Russian.”

As a critic Eliot has his faults. At times he assumes a hanging-judge attitude and his statements savor of a verdict. Often his criticism is marred by personal and religious prejudices blocking an honest and impartial estimate. Moreover, he does not judge all by the same standards. Critics have also found fault with his style as too full of doubts, reservations and qualifications.

Eliot’s criticism has revolutionized the great writers of the past three centuries. His recognition of the greatness of the Metaphysical poets of the 17th century resulted in the Metaphysical revival of the 20th century. The credit for the renewal of interest in the Jacobean dramatists goes to Eliot. He has restored Dryden and other Augustan poets to their due place. His essay on Dante aroused curiosity for the latter middle ages. The novelty of his statements, hidden in sharp phrases, startles and arrests attention. According to Eliot, the end of criticism is to bring readjustment between the old and the new. He says: “From time to time it is desirable, that some critic shall appear to review the past of our literature, and set the poets and the poems in a new order.”

Such critics are rare, for they must possess, besides ability for judgment, powerful liberty of mind to identify and interpret its own values and category of admiration for their generation. John Hayward says: “Matthew Arnold was such a critic as were Coleridge and Johnson and Dryden before him; and such, in our own day, is Eliot himself.”

Eliot’s criticism offers both reassessment and reaction to earlier writers. He called himself “a classicist in literature”. His vital contribution is the reaction against romanticism and humanism which brought a classical revival in art and criticism. He rejected the romantic view of the individual’s perfectibility, stressed the doctrine of the original sin and exposed the futility of the romantic faith in the “Inner Voice”. Instead of following his ‘inner voice’, a critic must follow objective standards and must conform to tradition. A sense of tradition, respect for order and authority is central to Eliot’s classicism. He sought to correct the excesses of “the abstract and intellectual” school of criticism represented by Arnold. He sought to raise criticism to the level of science. In his objectivity and logical attitude, Eliot most closely resembles Aristotle. A. G. George says: “Eliot’s theory of the impersonality of poetry is the greatest theory on the nature of the process after Wordsworth’s romantic conception of poetry.”

Poetry was an expression of the emotions and personality for romantics. Wordsworth said that poetry was an overflow of powerful emotions and its origin is in “Emotions recollected in tranquility”. Eliot rejects this view and says that poetry is not an expression of emotion and personality but an escape from them. The poet is only a catalytic agent that fuses varied emotions into new wholes. He distinguishes between the emotions of the poet and the artistic emotion, and points out that the function of criticism is to turn attention from the poet to his poetry. 

Eliot’s views on the nature of poetic process are equally revolutionary. According to him, poetry is not inspiration, it is organization. The poet’s mind is like a vessel in which are stored numerous feelings, emotions and experiences. The poetic process fuses these distinct experiences and emotions into new wholes. In “The Metaphysical Poets”, he writes: “When a poet’s mind is perfectly equipped for its work, it is constantly amalgamating disparate experiences; the ordinary man’s experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary”.

Perfect poetry results when instead of ‘dissociation of sensibility’ there is ‘unification of sensibility’. The emotional and the rational, the creative and the critical, faculties must work in harmony to produce great work of art. Critics stressed that the aim of poetry is to give pleasure or to teach morally. However, for Eliot the greatness of a poem is tested by the order and unity it imposes on the chaotic and disparate experiences of the poet. Wimsatt and Brooks are right in saying: “Hardly since the 17th century had critical writing in English so resolutely transposed poetic theory from the axis of pleasure versus pain to that of unity versus multiplicity.”

Eliot devised numerous critical concepts that gained wide acclaim and has a broad influence on criticism. ‘Objective co-relative’, ‘Dissociation of sensibility’, ‘Unification of sensibility’ are few of Eliot clichés hotly debated by critics. His dynamic theory of tradition, of impersonality of poetry, his assertion on ‘a highly developed sense of fact’ tended to impart to literary criticism catholicity and rationalism.

To conclude, Eliot’s influence as a critic has been wide, constant, fruitful and inspiring. He brought about a rethinking regarding the function of poetry and the nature of the poetic process. He gave a new direction and new tools of criticism.

 “Tradition and the Individual Talent”

"No poet, no artist of any sort, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists."

T. S. Eliot questions the habit of praising a poet especially for those elements in his work which are most ‘individual’, and differentiate him from others. He argues that ‘the best’, even ‘the most individual parts’ of a poet’s work may be those most alive with the influence of his poetic ancestors. No poet or artist is significant in isolation. The whole of past literature will be ‘in the bones’ of the poet, with the true historic sense which recognizes the presence as well as the ‘pastness’ of the past. Eliot’s sense of the interdependence of present and the past is something which he believed the poet must cultivate. Tradition can be obtained only by those who have a historical sense. This sense of tradition implies recognition of the continuity of literature, a critical judgment as to which writers of the past continue to be significant in the present, and a knowledge of these writers obtained through painstaking effort. A writer with the sense of tradition is fully conscious of his own generation, of his place in the present but he is also acutely conscious of his relationship with the writers of the past. To substantiate his point of view, Eliot says, “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and the artists.” In short, tradition represents the accumulated wisdom of and experience of the ages and so its knowledge is essential for really great and noble achievements. 

Although Eliot attaches greater importance to the idea of tradition, he rejects the idea of tradition in the name of ‘Blind or Timid Adherence’ to successful compositions of the past. By subscribing to the idea of tradition, Eliot does not mean sacrificing novelty nor does he mean slavish repetitions of stylistic and structural features. He believes that, ‘novelty is better than repetition.’  By the term ‘Tradition’, he comes up with something ‘of much wider significance”. He believes tradition is not static or fixed.

By The relationship between the past and the present is not one sided; it is a reciprocal relationship. The past directs the present, and is itself modified and altered by the present. When a new work of art is created, if it is really new and original, the whole literary tradition is modified, though ever so slightly. Meaning of Eliot’s remark that a poet is concerned not only with the ‘pastness’ of the past but with its presence.

The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the ‘pastness’ of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity. He further argues, “It involves... The historical sense... and the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past but its presence; … This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional.”

The work of a poet in the present must be compared and contrasted with the works of the past, but this judgment is not to determine good or bad. The comparison is made for the purposes of analysis and for forming a better understanding of the new. Moreover, this comparison is reciprocal; the past helps to understand the present and the present throws light on the past. It is by comparison alone that we can sift the traditional from individual elements in a given work of art.

The sense of tradition does not mean that the poet should try to know the past as a whole, without discrimination. The past must be critically examined and only the significant should be acquired. Neither should a poet be content merely to know the ages and poets he likes. To know the tradition, the poet must judge critically what the main trends are and what are not. The poet must not ignore the smaller poets as they could also be significant in developing main literary trends. The poet must possess the critical gift in ample measure and must understand that the great works of art never lose their significance; there may be refinement but no development. A sense of tradition in real sense means, “consciousness of the main current, which does not all flow invariably through the most distinguished reputations.”

In brief the sense of tradition means:

·         Recognition of the continuity of literature

·         Critical judgment as to which writers of the past continue to be significant in the present

·         Knowledge of these writers through painstaking effort

 Tradition represents the accumulated wisdom and experience of ages and so its knowledge is essential for great and noble achievements.

T. S. Eliot’s Theory of ‘Impersonality of Poetry’

v Eliot’s Depersonalization theory

v  "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality."

The poet must continually surrender himself to something which is more valuable than himself that is tradition. In the beginning, his self, his individuality may assert itself, but as his powers mature there will be a greater extinction of personality. His emotions and passions must be ‘depersonalized’, and he must be as objective as a scientist, and understand that his personality is merely a medium. He must forget personal joys and sorrows and devote himself completely in acquiring a sense of tradition. That is why, Eliot says that honest criticism is not directed at the poet but upon the poetry.

In the second part of the essay, Eliot develops the theory of ‘impersonality of poetry’. He compares the mind of the poet to a catalytic agent. The mind of the poet is the platinum. The emotions and feelings are the gases. The more perfect he is as a poet, the less his own personality is involved. As the Sulphur and Carbon dioxide form Sulphurous acid, and the platinum remains unchanged, so the poet remains separate from his creation, though his feelings and emotions form new sum whole.  It is necessary for combination of emotions and experiences to take place, but it itself does not undergo any change during the process. In case of a young and immature poet, his personal emotions and experiences may find some expression in his composition, ‘but the more perfect the poet, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates.'

Eliot rejects romantic subjectivity. He compares the poet’s mind to a receptacle in which there are stored numberless emotions, feelings etc. which remain there in an unorganized and chaotic form till “all such particles unite to form a new compound together.” ‘Poetry is thus organization rather than inspiration.’ Moreover, he believes that the greatness of a poem does not depend upon the intensity of the emotions but upon the intensity of the process of poetic composition. Eliot says, ‘the more intense the poetic process, the greater the poem.’ He is of the view that there is always a difference between the artistic emotions and the personal emotions of the poet. For instance, famous ‘Ode to Nightingale’ of Keats is teeming with such emotions which have nothing to do with the nightingale. Being only ‘a medium’ of this poetic expression, poet is impersonal.

The emotion of poetry is different from personal emotions of the poet. His personal emotions may be simple or crude but the emotion of his poetry may be complex and refined. Poet is free from finding new emotions as he may express only ordinary emotions, but he must impart to them a new significance and a new meaning. He further says that a poet may express emotions which he has never personally experienced.

Consequently, we are compelled to believe that "emotion recollected in tranquility" is an inexact formula. For according to Eliot, ‘in the process of poetic composition there is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor, tranquility.’ It is a concentration of several experiences, and a new thing resulting from the concentration. This process of poetic concentration is neither conscious nor deliberate. Indeed, there is a great deal, in the writing of poetry, which must be conscious and deliberate. In fact, the bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious and conscious where he ought to be unconscious. Both errors tend to make him "personal.”  Whereas a mature art must be impersonal. Eliot does not tell when a poet should be conscious and when not.

Eliot Sums up: ‘Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.’  But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things. So, Eliot does not negate emotions, he merely endeavours to depersonalize emotions. There should be an extinction of personality and it can be achieved through the complete surrender of the poet to his work.

An Ideal Critic: His Qualifications and Functions

In a number of critical essays like ‘The Perfect Critic’, ‘The Imperfect Critic’, ‘The Function of Criticism’ and ‘The Frontiers of Criticism’, Eliot has dealt with the qualifications and functions of a critic.

A good critic must have superior sensibility. He must have greater capacity of receiving impressions and sensations from the work of art he studies.

 He must also have wide erudition. This would increase his understanding. His mind would be stored with impressions which would be modified and refreshed by each successive impression he receives from the new works he contemplates. In this way would be built up a system of impressions which would enable him to make generalised statements of literary beauty. Such a universalizing or generalising power is essential for an ideal critic, and he can get it only through erudition.

A good critic must be entirely impersonal and objective. He must not be guided by the inner voice, but by some authority outside himself. Eliot instances two types of imperfect critics, represented by Arthur Symons and Arnold. Symons is too subjective and impressionistic, while Arnold is too dry, intellectual and abstract. Eliot regards Aristotle as an instance of a perfect critic, for he avoids both these defects. In his hands, criticism approaches the condition of science.

A good critic must not be emotional. He must be entirely objective. He must try to discipline his personal prejudices and whims. He must have a highly trained sensibility, and a sense of structural principles, and must not be satisfied with vague, emotional impressions. Critics who supply only vague, emotional impressions, opinions or fancy, as he puts it, are great corruptors of taste.

An ideal critic must have a highly developed sense of fact. By a sense of fact, Eliot does not mean biographical or sociological knowledge, but a knowledge of technical details of a poem, its genesis, setting, etc. It is a knowledge of such facts alone which can make criticism concrete as well as objective. It is these facts which a critic must use to bring about an appreciation of a work of art. However, he is against the ‘lemon-squeezer’ school of critics who try to squeeze every drop of meaning out of words and lines.

A critic must also have a highly developed sense of tradition. He must be learned not only in the literature of his own country, but in the literature of Europe down from Homer to his own day.

Practitioners of poetry make the best critics. The critic and the creative artist should frequently be the same person. Such poet-critics have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the process of poetic creation, and so they are in the best position to communicate their own understanding to their readers.

An ideal critic must have a thorough understanding of the language and structure of a poem. He must also have an idea of the music of poetry, for a poet communicates as much through the meaning of words as through their sound.

Comparison and analysis are the chief tools of a critic and so a perfect critic must be an expert in the use of these tools. His use of these tools must be subtle and skillful. He must know what and how to compare, and how to analyse. He must compare the writers of the present with those of the past not to pass judgment or determine good or bad, but to elucidate the qualities of the work under criticism. In other words, he must be a man of erudition, for only then can he use his tools effectively.

He must not try to judge the present by the standards of the past. The requirements of each age are different, and so the cannons of art must change from age to age. He must be liberal in his outlook, and must be prepared to correct and revise his views from time to time, in the light of new facts.

In short, an ideal critic must combine to a remarkable degree, “sensitiveness, erudition, sense of fact and sense of history, and generalising power.”

 The Critic: His Functions

The function of a critic is to elucidate works of art. This function he performs through, ‘comparison and analysis’. His function is not to interpret, for interpretation is something subjective and impressionistic. Critics like Coleridge or Goethe, who try to interpret works of art, are great corruptors of the public taste. They supply merely opinion or fancy which is often misleading. The critic should merely place the facts before the readers and thus help them to interpret for themselves. His function is analytical and elucidatory, and not interpretative. “Analysis and comparison, methodically with sensitiveness, intelligence, curiosity, intensity of passion, and infinite knowledge, all these are necessary to the great critic.”

The critic must also have correct taste. He must educate the taste of the people. In other words, he must enable them positively to judge what to read most profitably, and negatively what to avoid as worthless and of no significance. He must develop the insight and discrimination of his readers.

A critic must promote the enjoyment and understanding of works of art. He must develop both the aesthetic and the intellectual sensibilities of his readers.

It is the function of a critic to turn the attention from the poet to his poetry. The emotion of art is impersonal, distinct from the emotion of the poet. The poem is the thing in itself, and it must be judged objectively without any biographical, sociological or historical considerations. By placing before the readers the relevant facts about the poem, the critic emphasises its impersonal nature, and thus promotes correct understanding.

Criticism must serve as a handmaid to creation. Criticism is of great importance in the work of creation itself. The poet creates, but the critic in him sifts, combines, corrects and expunges, and thus imparts perfection and finish to what has been created. No great work of art is possible without critical labour.

 The function of a critic is to find common principles for the pursuit of criticism. To achieve this end, “the critic must control his own whims and prejudices, and co-operate with other critics in the common pursuit of true judgment.” He must co-operate with the critics both of the past and the present. He must also realise that all truths are tentative, and so must be ready to correct and modify his views as fresh facts come to light.

The function of a critic is not a judicial one. A critic is not to pass judgment or determine good or bad. His function is to place the simpler kinds of facts before the readers, and thus help them to form their own judgment. He does not supply statements or communicate feeling; he merely starts a process. A critic is a great irritant to thought; he tries to secure the active participation of the readers in the work of criticism.

A critic should try to answer two questions: “‘What is poetry?” and “Is this a good poem?” Criticism is both theoretical regarding the nature and function of poetry and the poetic process, and practical concerned with the evaluation of works of art. With this end in view, he should bring the lessons of the past to bear upon the present.

In short, Eliot’s conception of a critic and his functions is classical. He insists on a, “highly developed sense of fact”, on objective standards, on a sense of tradition, and rejects the subjectivism of the romantics. The concern for a poem as an objective thing is the special highlight of the classicism of Eliot.

 The Metaphysical Poets

In ‘The Metaphysical Poets’, Eliot critically examines ‘metaphysical poets’ and defines that ‘metaphysical poets’ are neither quaint nor fantastic, rather they are great and mature poets. This essay inspects the digression of this so called metaphysical school from the main current. He also tests their validity and importance in the modern age. Eliot also points out the characteristic fault of the metaphysical poets.

Eliot says that it is extremely difficult to define metaphysical poetry and to decide what poets practice it in which of their verses. The poetry of Donne is late Elizabethan. Its feeling is often very close to that of Chapman. The argument put forth by Eliot is that there is no precise use of metaphor, simile or other conceits common to the metaphysical poets. Moreover, there is no common style important enough to isolate these poets as a group. But Donne and Cowley employ a device which is sometimes considered characteristically ‘metaphysical’ : The elaboration of a figure of speech to the furthest stage. Cowley’s comparison of the world to a chess board (To Destiny), and Donne’s comparison of two lovers to a pair of compass. In these poets, instead of a mere explication of content of the comparison, “a development by rapid association of thought which requires considerable agility on the part of the reader”.  Donne’s most successful and characteristic effects are secured by brief words and sudden contrasts. Sometimes we find in them. Donne is more successful than Cowley because in developing comparisons, he uses brief words and sudden contrasts: “A bracelet of bright hair about the bone” where the most powerful effect is produced by the sudden contrast of the associations of “bright hair” and of “bone”. So it is to be maintained that metaphysical poetry is the elaboration of far-fetched images and communicated association of poet’s mental processes.

Dr. Johnson employed the term ‘metaphysical poets’ keeping in mind Donne, Cleveland and Cowley. He remarked that in them ‘the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.’ Eliot says that often the dissimilar ideas are yoked but not fused into a single whole and if we are to judge styles of poetry by their abuse, enough examples are found in Cleveland to justify Johnson’s condemnation. He quotes Lord Herbert’s Ode and says that nothing in the poem that fits Johnson’s general observation on the metaphysical poets. The fault which Dr. Johnson points out is not there, rather the unity of heterogeneous ideas is common to all.

According to Eliot, the language of these poets is as a rule simple and pure. Herbert’s verse has simplicity. Unlike the eighteenth century poems, the seventeenth century poems (metaphysical poems) like Marvell’s Coy Mistress and Crashaw’s Saint Teresa are dissimilar in the use of syllables. In the former, there are short syllables to produce an effect of great speed and in the latter, long syllables are used to effect an ecclesiastical solemnity.
In Eliot’s opinion, Johnson has failed to define metaphysical by its faults. One has to consider whether the metaphysical poetry has the virtue of permanent value or not. In fact, it does not have it. Johnson’s observation is that the attempts of these poets were always analytic. Eliot says that in the dramatic verse of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean poets, there is a development of sensibility. In Jonson, Chapman and Donne, there is a recreation of thought into feeling. That is, there is ‘unification of sensibility’.

Eliot makes a distinction between the Victorian poet (reflective poet) and the metaphysical poet (intellectual poet). Poets like Tennyson and Browning think but do not feel their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose. ‘A thought to Donne was an experience. It modified his sensibility.’ The disparate experiences are amalgamated and they form new wholes.

The poets of the 17th century are the successors of the 16th century dramatists. They are simple, artificial, difficult, fantastic as their predecessors were. In the 17th century, a dissociation of sensibility set in and this was aggravated by the influence of the two most powerful poets of the century - Milton and Dryden. These poets performed certain poetic functions so magnificently well that the magnitude of effect concealed the absence of others. There was improvement in language. While the language became more refined, the feeling became more crude. In one or two passages of Shelley’s Triumph of Life, in the second Keats’s Hyperion. There are traces of a struggle toward unification of sensibility.


Now the question is that what the fate of ‘metaphysical’ would have been if the current of poetry descended in a direct line from them? They would not, certainly, be classified as metaphysical. Like other poets, the metaphysical poets have various faults. But they were trying to find the verbal equivalent for states of mind and feeling. Eliot concludes the essay by saying that Donne, Crashaw, Vaughan, Herbert, Cowley at his best are in the current of English poetry.

HOW TO USE BLOGGER OF ASMA SHEIKH

HOMOGRAPHS

English? Not so simple.

Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning.  A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym. Do you think that English is easy?  I think a bored retired English teacher put this together.  THIS IS GREAT!  Please enjoy it and read it all the way to the end.  This took a lot of work to put together!  
  
1. The bandage was *wound* around the *wound*.

2. The farm was used to *produce produce*.

3. The dump was so full that it had to *refuse* more *refuse*.

4. We must *polish* the *Polish* furniture.

5. He could *lead* if he would get the *lead* out.

6. The soldier decided to *desert* his *dessert* in the *desert*.

7. Since there is no time like the *present*, he thought it was time to *present* the *present*.

8. A *bass* was painted on the head of the *bass* drum.

9. When shot at, the *dove dove* into the bushes.

10. I did not *object* to the *object*.

11. The insurance was *invalid* for the *invalid*.

12. There was a *row* among the oarsmen about how to *row*.

13. They were too *close* to the door to *close* it.

14. The buck *does* funny things when the *does* are present.

15. A seamstress and a *sewer* fell down into a *sewer* line.

16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his *sow* to *sow*.

17. The *wind* was too strong to *wind* the sail.

18. Upon seeing the *tear* in the painting, I shed a *tear*.

19. I had to *subject* the *subject* to a series of tests.

20. How can I *intimate* this to my most *intimate* friend?  

Let's face the real sense of it, English is a crazy language. There is no *egg* in *eggplant* or *ham* in *hamburger*; neither *apple* nor *pine* in *pineapple*. English *muffins* weren't invented in *England* or *French* fries in *France*. *Sweetmeats* are *candies* while *sweetbreads*, which aren't sweet, are *meat*. We take English for granted but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that *quicksand* can work *slowly*, *boxing rings* are *square* and a *guinea pig* is neither from *Guinea* nor is it a *pig*.

And why is it that *writers write* but *fingers* don't *fing*, *grocers* don't *groce* and *hammers* don't *ham*? If the plural of *tooth* is *teeth*, why isn't the plural of *booth* be *beeth*? One *goose*, 2 *geese*. So one *mouse*, 2 *meese*? One index, 2 *indexes*? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make *amends* but not one *amend*? If you have a bunch of *odds* and *ends* and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers *taught*, why didn't preachers *praught*? If a *vegetarian* eats *vegetables*, what does a *humanitarian* eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.  In what language do people *recite at a play* and *play at a recital*? *Ship by truck* and *send cargo by ship*? *Have noses that run* and *feet that smell*?

How can a *slim chance* and a *fat chance* be the same, while a *wise man* and a *wise guy* are opposites?  You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your *house can burn up* as it *burns down*, in which you *fill in* a form by *filling it out* and in which, an alarm *goes off* by *going on*.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human *race* which, of course, is not a *race* at all. That is why, when the stars are *out* they are *visible* but when the lights are *out* they are *invisible*.

PS: Why doesn't *buick* rhyme with *quick*?

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this. There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word. That is *UP*.  It is easy to understand *UP* meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awake in the morning, why do we wake *UP*?  

At a meeting, why does a topic come *UP*? Why do we speak *UP* and why are the officers *UP* for election and why is it *UP* to the secretary to write *UP* a report? We call *UP* our friends and we use it to brighten *UP* a room, polish *UP* the silver; we warm *UP* the leftovers and clean *UP* the kitchen.

We lock *UP* the house and some guys fix *UP* the old car.  At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir *UP* trouble, line *UP* for tickets, work *UP* an appetite and think *UP* excuses.

To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed *UP* is special. A drain must be opened *UP* because it is stopped *UP*. We open *UP* a store in the morning but we close it *UP* at NIGHT. We seem to be pretty mixed *UP* about *UP*! To BE knowledgeable about the proper uses of *UP* look the word *UP* in the DICTIONARY.

In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes *UP* almost one quarter of the pages and can add *UP* to about thirty definitions.

If you are *UP* to it, you might try building *UP* a list of the many ways *UP* is used. It will take *UP* a lot of your time, but if you don't give *UP*, you may wind *UP* with a hundred or more.  

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding *UP*, but when the sun comes out we say it is clearing *UP*. When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things *UP*, when it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry *UP*. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it *UP* for now as my time is *UP* so... it is time to shut *UP*!

Now, it's *UP* to you to decide what you are *UP* to with this post.
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(M.A English Part 1 Paper 4 Prose) Examine Blake’s verdict on Bacon’s essays as “Good advice for Satan’s Kingdom.”

(M.A English Part 1 Paper 4 Prose) Examine Blake’s verdict on Bacon’s essays as “Good advice for Satan’s Kingdom.”

The phrase “Good advice for Satan’s Kingdom” means advice that runs contrary to the principles of good morality, or advice that urges people to follow evil courses. The cynical kind of wisdom means wisdom with which is mixed a point of view that regards human nature as essentially mean and ignoble. The cynic is a person who thinks that human beings are actuated by selfish motives and that they follow unscrupulous and objectionable lines of conduct. There is much in the essay of Bacon that justifies Blake’s verdict and that serves as a basis for the view that Bacon’s wisdom in the essays is of a somewhat cynical kind. However, this is only a one-sided view of the case.

Let us first find the justification for the views contained in the questions above. Bacon is certainly a moralist in his essays, but his morality is subservient to what is known as expediency. Bacon does not preach any ideal morality or advocate any moral idealism. Bacon in his essays appears to be an opportunist. The morality which he preaches has a strong mixture in it of worldliness. It is in fact possible to say that his guiding principle is expediency, while morality is only a secondary consideration. Sometimes we even get the impression that Bacon does not sufficiently recognise the existence of any moral principles of absolute value. In the essay, Of Truth, for instance, Bacon points out that falsehood is like alloy in gold and silver which makes the metal work the better even though it lowers the value of the metal. By pointing out this, Bacon seems to recognise the need of employing falsehood in certain situations in the course of human life. In the essay, Of Great Place, he seems to justify the use of crooked methods for attaining high offices:

 “All rising to great place is by a winding stair.” In the same essay, he even justifies a man’s joining a faction or a clique if by doing so he can improve his prospects:….. 

“and if there be factions, it is good to side a man’s self whilst he is in the rising and to balance himself when he is placed.” 

In the essay, Of Revenge, Bacon takes up a position of compromise between wreaking vengeance upon an enemy and forgiving him. In other words, his position is here ambiguous. He admires the man who forgives his enemy but at the same time he partly justifies the action of a man who does some wrong for the sake of profit or pleasure. As for a man’s doing some wrong merely out of ill-nature, Bacon simply accepts the position by comparing such a man to a thorn which pricks because it can do nothing else. And for Bacon goes on to justify the revenge for those wrong which cannot be remedied by resorting to any legal process. In the concluding lines, however, he is categorical and says that revengeful persons live the miserable lives of witches. The whole argument in this short essay has in it a considerable element of cynical wisdom. In the essay, Of Riches, Bacon makes a cynical remark when he says that men who despise riches should not be trusted because only those persons despise riches who have failed in their efforts to become rich. Certainly there are cases of people who have a noble contempt for riches and who despise riches because of their essential holiness of thought and nobility of feeling, but Bacon does not recognize such people. In the essay, of Ambition, Bacon makes quite a few suggestions that are essentially Machiavellian. For instance, he points out that ambitious men are useful to a king in so far as they help to pull down any man who has reached the top in the political life of the country, “as Tiberius used Macro hi the pulling down of Sejanus.” He then goes on to suggest that a king should see to it that the persons whom he is encouraging are preferably of mean birth because in that case they will be less dangerous. A king should also see to it that his favourites are rather harsh of nature than gracious and popular. It may be a weakness for a king to have favourites, but favourites are the best remedy against ambitkms individuals who are likely to become powerful in the State. One of the ways of keeping favourites under control is to balance them by others as proud as they but then “there must be some middle counsellors to keep things steady for without that ballast the ship will roll too much.”
The political essays of Bacon show indeed, a lot Machiavellianism. In the essay, of Seditions And Troubles, which contains much sound advice. Bacon advises a king “not to be without some great person, one or rather more, of military valour, for the repressing of seditions in their beginnings.” But such military persons, says Bacon, should be “assured and well reputed of, rather than factious and popular” But the most Machiavellian piece of advice in this essay is that a king should feed the people with hopes, because these hopes will serve as a deterrent to sedition: “Certainly, the politic and artificial nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against the poison of discontentments.” This advice, indeed, reminds us of the temptation that Satan held out to Eve when he urged her to taste the forbidden fruit. Bacon is here urging a king to resort to hypocrisy and falsehood in order to keep his subjects unHer control. Bacon considers it a sign of a wise government if “it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.” In the essay, Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms, Bacon again offers advice which is suitable not for the kingdom of heaven but for Satan’s kingdom. Bacon here appears almost as a war-monger. Again and again in the course of this essay, he emphasises the need of keeping a nation in a state of military preparedness. He would like a nation to “profess arms as their principal honour, study, and occupation.” In this context he says: “It is enough to point at it; that no nation which doth not directly profess arms, may look to have greatness fall into their mouths.” In the pursuit of military greatness. Bacon would even urge a government to entrust its manufactures and industries to naturalised citizens and to “the vulgar natives” (that is the commonest people among the native population). War, according to I3acon, keeps a nation healthy: “…..a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health.” He is opposed to peace because peace in his opinion, breeds effeminacy and corruption: “…..for in a slothful peace, both courages will effeminate, and manners corrupt.”
Bacon’s cynicism or disregard of the ethical values of life appears in several other essays also. In the essay, Of Simulation and Dissimulation, he approves of secrecy and of dissimulation which is often necessary to preserve secrecy. He justifies simulation or the pretence to be what one is not. And the conclusion mat Bacon reaches in this essay is: “The best position and temperature is: to have openness in fame and opinion; secrecy in habit; dissimulation in seasonable use; and a power to feign, if there be no remedy.” It is not an elevated or elevating ideal. A reading of this essay shows that, although Bacon’s morality is higher than that of average human beings, it is not of the highest order. He is no upholder of the maxim which demands justice though the heavens should fall. Bacon is particular that pursuing the right and just course should not prove too costly in worldly terms.
The essay, Of Suitors, is yet another example of Bacon’s Machiavellianism. Here he tells us that, if a patron wants to favour an undeserving person in a legal case, he should bring about a compromise between the two parties but refrain from pronouncing the judgment in favour of the deserving person. (Strict justice would demand that the judgment should be pronounced in favour of the deserving person). And, further, if a patron wants to appoint a less deserving candidate to a post, he may do so though he should desist from passing any adverse remarks against the character of the more deserving applicant. In saying this, Bacon seems to be effacing the distinction between right and wrong. It is obvious that Bacon is concerned only with what is known as worldly success, and that his morality is attuned and adjusted to help people to gain worldly advancement.
Bacon condemns cunning not as a thing that is hateful and vile, but as a thing that might lead to unpleasant consequences. In other w6rds. Bacon’s maxims are prudential. Occasionally he even lays down the rules for immoral conduct (as in the essay, Of Suitors) without a word of open disapproval. It is for this reason that Bacon’s morality has been described as a cynical kind of wisdom, and it is for this reason that Blake criticized Bacon for offering advice which is suited to the kingdom of Satan. Bacon confirms such impressions by the tone and substance of even those essays which deal with domestic relations and with special ties between man and man. In the essay, Of Friendship, Bacon puts a high premium upon friendship but his view of friendship is wholly and exclusively utilitarian. He values friendship chiefly for the gains to be derived from it—comfort to the heart, light to the understanding, aid in the affairs of life. He fails to recognise the fact that there can be such a noble thing as unselfish friendship. As regards domestic relations, a wife and children are regarded by him as “hostages to fortune” (Of Marriage And Single Life). He does recognise a wife and children as having a refining effect, as a kind- of “discipline of humanity”, but he does not seem to be aware of their exercising any wider influence. He looks upon a wife as being “useful” at all stage of life rather than as a person attached to her husband by deep and unbreakable emotional ties. In the essay, Of Love, he takes a singularly one-sided and cynical view of one of the greatest and sublimest passions of mankind. He looks upon love as “the child folly”, and he urges men not to allow this passion to affect the serious affairs and actions of life. Bacon’s view of love is certainly most disappointing. His tone in the essay, Of Parents And Children, shows the same blindness to the depth of parental emotions. Here too he talks in terms of worldly success.
But there is another side to the picture, and that is actually the more important side. Essentially Bacon is a moralist even though his moralism is diluted and flawed by Machiavellianism. Everywhere in his essays he shows a high reverence for moral principles. In almost every essay, he emphasises the need of honesty, integrity, fair dealings, truthfulness, charity, justice, and so on. In the essay, Of Truth, he says that truth is “the sovereign good of human nature”, and that “clear and round dealing is the honour of man’s nature.” Winding and crooked courses may, he says here, be compared to “the goings to the serpent which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet.”
He wants that a man’s mind should “move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.” In the essay, Of Goodness And Goodness of Nature, he appears as almost a preacher delivering a sermon on the need of goodness and charity, he says, there can be no excess, “neither can angel nor man come in danger by it.” In the concluding paragraph of this essay, he points out the need of kindness and courtesy to strangers, compassion towards the affliction of others, a spirit of forgiveness towards those who have committed any offences, and a desire to work for the salvation of others. In the essay, Of Riches, he describes riches as an obstruction to virtue and says that riches are of ‘no use if they be not distributed among others. He points out that most of the means of becoming rich are foul, and he condemns these foul means. In the essay, Of Ambition, he considers it a mark of honour to occupy “the vantage ground to do good.” In the essay, Of Great Place, he points out the principal vices of authority—delays> corruption, roughness, and facility, and would like persons in high positions to avoid these vices. He also makes the following memorable statements in this essay: “In place there is licence to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse; for in evil the best condition is not to will, the second not to can.” “Merit and good works is the end of man’s motion, and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of man’s rest.” Such remarks can only proceed from a man who is basically an upholder of the fundamental principles of morality. In the essay, Of Revenge, he admires the person who forgives his enemy and foregoes revenge. He is against doing an injury to a friend in relation for an injury which one has received from a friend.
Thus we come to the conclusion that there is a dualism in Bacon. He represents a combination of moralism and Machiavellianism with the former predominant over the other in many essays and with the latter predominant over the former in some of the essays, especially the political essays, Bacon’s general attitude is one of compromise with morality; it is an attitude that ranks expediency above morality. Moral principles, Bacon seems to argue, should be observed but they may be infringed if infringement becomes necessary for the advancement of one’s position in life, for ensuring one’s principles may also be infringed by kings, rulers, and governments for the strengthening of their position and authority.

BACON AS A FATHER OF MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE PART 1

Character sketch of JAMES SMITH THINGS FALL APART

Give a character sketch of James Smith.

James Smith, the successor of Mr. Brown, was a hard task master. He was of the view that kingdom of God did not depend on large crowds. He stressed the importance of the few who could convey the message of God in the earnest spirit.
He said, "Our Lord used the whip only once in his life—to drive the crowd away from his church." He loved decency. Within a few days of his taking over the charge from Mr. Brown, he suspended a young woman from the church for pouring new wine into old bottles. This woman had also allowed her husband to mutilate her dead child for the fear of its entering her womb to be born and lose again. He said, "Narrow is the way and few the number, to fill the Lord's holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamouring for signs was folly of everlasting consequence."
He was opposed to Mr. Brown's policies of compromise and adjustment. He found certain evils in the administration of church activities and removed them. He condemned Enoch's behaviour at the meeting of the leaders of the church. He also rebuked Okeke his interpreter for supporting Enoch for his unbecoming and indecent behaviour. Okeke advised his master that Enoch should not be hidden in the church because he would draw the wrath of the clan but Mr. Smith did not agree to what he said. He detected so many evil customs prevailing in Ibo society such as throwing away the twins and mutilating the dead children and condemned these as inhuman. According to him Mr. Brown's lenient outlook contributed much to flourish such evils. After his arrival in Umuofia, he found everything topsy-turvy. He saw things as black and white. "He saw the world, as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal conflict with the sons of darkness." He believed in slaying the false deities of the Ibo people.
Mr. Smith was bold. He faced the attack of masked spirits boldly When the spirits came, he walked quietly to the door which commanded the approach to the church compound, and stood there. But when the first three or four egwugwu appeared on the church compound, he nearly bolted. He overcome his impulse and instead of running away, he went down the two steps that led up to the church and walked towards the approaching spirits.
It was for the first time that Mr. Smith was a little afraid, when he heard the mother of spirits wailing for her son. The chilling sound affected Mr. Smith and he was at a loss to understand how to face the challenge posed by the ancestral spirits of the clan.
Ajofia, the leader of the ancestral spirits asked Smith to go back to his land leaving their village. He told him that they would not harm him but the church would be destroyed because it had bred untold abominations in Ibo society. He added that his anger was great but he had held it down so that he might talk to him. In reply Mr. Smith said to his interpreter to ask them to go away from there, Mr. Smith said that the church was the house of God and that he would rather die than permit the spirits to destroy the house of God. The interpretor did not repeat Mr. Smith's words as it is to the ancestral spirits. He acted wisely and told the crowd that the whiteman had said that he was happy to meet them and he would try to remove their grievances. Thus, the interpreter put off the danger which might prove fatal to Mr. Smith's life. Mr. Smith stood his ground. But he could not save his church which was reduced to a pile of earth and ashes.
It is taken for granted that Mr. Smith proved victorious in his mission. But this all happened due to the might of the government's power exercised by the District Commissioner. He was opposed to Mr. Brown in thought and action. His approach was dictatorial and not humanitarian like that of Mr. Brown. He was true to his creed. He preferred death to demolition of the church at native's hands.

Character sketch of DR CHASUBLE N MISS PRISM

These two comic and slightly grotesque caricatures are less developed than the principal players, and Wilde uses them to comment on religion and morality.

The minister is an intellectual character who speaks in metaphors. He is a "typical" country vicar who refers often to canon law and gives fatherly advice. Absent-mindedly in charge of his parishioners' souls, he performs christenings and interchangeable sermons, depending on the situation. Occasionally, however, his mask slips, and an interior world of lusty desire for Miss Prism appears. Often absent-minded, but always spouting moral platitudes, he symbolizes Wilde's view of Victorian religion and respectability.

Miss Prism is also intellectual, but in a literary way. She is a creative writer and a parody of "a woman with a past." She clearly had dreams of becoming a sensational romantic novelist, but, alas, she must make a living, so she is instead the jailer of Cecily and the guardian of her education and virtue. She, like the minister, makes constant moral judgments. Her favorite line, even to dead Ernest, is "As a man sows, so shall he reap." Repeating this often allows Wilde to show how meaningless and clichéd religion and values have become. As an instrument of the aristocracy, Miss Prism educates Cecily to conform to the dry, meaningless intellectual pursuits designed to keep the status quo. But, like Chasuble, beneath her surface she has a hedonistic streak; often her language slips when she ventures outside her Victorian appearance. She persists in inviting Chasuble to discuss marriage, pursues him diligently, and falls into his arms at the end.

Miss Prism is an appropriate character to uncover Jack's true history because she also is not what she seems. Wilde uses her to show what happens when dreams cannot be pursued in a society of strict social structure and stringent moral guidelines. Both she and Chasuble — with their lack of social opportunities — become servants to the system, promoting its continuation.

Metaphysical poetry

Characteristic Features of Metaphysical Poetry
Themes: Metaphysical poetry is spiritual & has often religious themes. Moreover, it focuses on love, as the union of soul.
Literary Devices: Metaphysical poetry uses metaphors, puns, paradoxes & meter to create drama & tension. In addition, Metaphysical poetry uses scientific, medical & legal words & phrases to create arguments about the philosophical aspect of life.
Poets: Metaphysical poets were men of high intellect. They were all graduated from Oxford University, Cambridge University or they studied at one of the Inns of Court in the city of London. With the help of their vast knowledge, they presented new ideas & stories to their readers.
Unclarity: Metaphysical poetry is considered highly ambiguous & obscure due to high intellect & knowledge of metaphysical poets. The poetry is greatly challenging to understand at the first reading. It needs full concentration & full attention to getting to the roots of the matter.
Short Poems: Metaphysical poetry is considered to be brief & concise. Every line conveys a lot of meanings in a few words. Every word is adjusted in every line like a brick in a wall & conveys the message of the author. Hence there is no wastage of words.
Sayings in the Poetry: Metaphysical poetry is a vast collection of maxims & sayings. Thus epigrammatic quality is part & parcel of the metaphysical poetry. John Donne is a pioneer in this regard.
Metaphysical Conceits: A significant feature of the metaphysical poetry is the use of metaphysical conceits. It is the unique quality of metaphysical poetry. A conceit is a comparison of two dissimilar things, which may have very little in common. E.g. Abraham Cowley in his poem “The Mistress” compares his love for ladies to his habit of travelling in various countries of the world.
Originality: Originality is the hallmark of metaphysical poets. All the metaphysical poets were unique & original in their ideas & thoughts. They didn’t follow the path of their contemporary poets. They stood against their contemporaries & followed their own way of writing poetry.
Wit: Metaphysical wit is also a noteworthy feature of metaphysical poetry. Metaphysical wit is the expression of one’s idea & thoughts, using aptly & technically, the words & various figures of speech in such a manner as to provide pleasure to the readers. John Donne is called the “Monarch of Wit” in the history of metaphysical poetry.
Platonic Love: Platonic love is another feature of metaphysical poetry. Platonic love means, spiritual love, which is free from elements of physical love.

Metaphysical poetry

#Metaphysical_Poetry
#charateristics_Of_Metaphysical_Poetry

⚽ The term metaphysical or metaphysics in poetry is the fruit of renaissance tree, becoming over ripe and approaching pure science.

⚽ “Meta” means “beyond” and “physics” means “physical nature”.

⚽ Metaphysical poetry means poetry that goes beyond the physical world of the senses and explores the spiritual world.

⚽ Metaphysical poetry began early in the Jacobean age in the last stage of the age of Shakespeare.

⚽ John Donne was the leader and founder of the metaphysical school of poetry.

⚽ Dryden used this word at first and said that Donne “affects the metaphysics”.

⚽ Among other metaphysical poets are below.
1) Abraham Cowley,
2) Henry Vaughan,
3) Richard Crashaw,
4) Andrew Marvell,
5) George Herbert,
6) Robert Herrick etc.

#Characteristics_of_Metaphysical_Poetry

⚽ Dramatic manner and direct tone of speech is one of the main characteristics of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ In the starting line of the poem “The_Canonization” there is given a dramatic starting
“For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love”.

⚽ Concentration is an important quality of metaphysical poetry in general and #Donne’s poetry is particular.

⚽ In his all poems, the reader is held to one idea or line of argument.

⚽ Donne’s poems are brief and closely woven.

⚽ In “The_Extasie”, the principal argument is that the function of man as a man is being worthily performed through different acts of love.

⚽ He continues with the theme without digression. For instance,

✒ “As ‘twixt two equal armies,
     Fate Suspends uncertain victorie,
     Our souls, (which to advance their state,
     Were gone out,) hung ‘twixt her and me”.

⚽ An expanded epigram would be a fitting description of a metaphysical poem.

⚽ Nothing is described in detail nor is any word wasted.

⚽There is a wiry strength in the style.

⚽ Though the verse forms are usually simple, they are always suitable in enforcing the sense of the poem.
🎁 For_instance.

✒  “Moving of th’earth brings harms and fears
       Men reckon what it did and meant,
       But trepidation of the spheres,
       Though greater far, is innocent”

⚽ Fondness for conceits is a major character of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ Donne often uses fantastic comparisons.

⚽ The most striking and famous one used by Donne is the comparison of a man who travels and his beloved who stays at home to a pair of compasses in the poem “A_Valediction_Forbidding Mourning”

✒   “If they be two, they are two so
       As stiff twin compasses are two,
       Thy soul fixt foot makes no show
       To move, but doth, if th’other do”.

⚽ We find another conceit in the very beginning couple of lines of “The_Extasie”

✒   “Where like a pillow on a bed,
       A pregnant bank swel’d up,”

⚽ Wit is another characteristic of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ So, here we find various allusions and images relating to practicality all areas of nature and art and learning- to medicine, cosmology, contemporary discoveries, ancient myth, history, law and art.

🎁 For_instance in “The_Extasie”, Donne uses the belief of the blood containing certain spirits which acts as intermediary between soul and body.

✒  “As our blood labours to get Spirits,
      as like souls, as it can,
      Because such fingers need to knit
      That subtle knot, which makes us man:”

⚽ In the same poem, the Ptolemaic&system of astrology is also used when he says,

✒ " We are The intelligences, they the sphere”

⚽ Metaphysical Poetry is a blend of passion and thought.

⚽ #TS_Elliot thinks that “passionate_thinking” is the chief mark of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ There is an intellectual analysis of emotion in Donne’s Poetry.

⚽ Though every lyric arises out of some emotional situation, the emotion is not merely expressed, rather it is analyzed.

⚽ Donne’s poem
“A_Valediction:Forbidding Mourning” proves that lovers need not mourn at parting.

🎁 For instance,

✒  “So let us melt, and make no noise,
      No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,
     ‘Twere profanation of our joys
      To tell the laity our love”.

⚽ Metaphysical Poetry is a fusion of passionate feelings and logical arguments.

🎁 For_example, in “The_Canonization”, there is passion expressed through beautiful metaphors:

✒ “Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
Call her one, me another fly,
We are tapers too, and at our own cost die,
And we in us, find the eagle and the dove”.

⚽ But at the same time, the tone of the poem is intellectual and there is plenty of complexity involved in the conceits and allusions, such as the “Phoenix_riddle”.

⚽ Metaphysical Poetry is the mixture of sensual and spiritual experience.

⚽ This characteristic especially appears in Donne’s poetry.

⚽ Poems such as “The_Canonization” and
“The_Extasie”, even though they are not explicitly discussed, the great metaphysical question is the relation between the spirit and the senses.

⚽ Often Donne speaks of the soul and of spiritual love.

⚽ “The_Extasie” speaks of the souls of the lovers which come out of their bodies negotiate with one another.

🎁 For_instance,

✒ “And whilst our souls negotiate there,
      We like sepulchral statues lay;
      All day, the same our postures were,
      And we said nothing, all the day”.

⚽ Usage of satire and irony is another characteristic of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ Donne also uses this in his poems.

🎁 For_example, in “The_Canonization”, there is subtle irony as he speaks of the favoured pursuits of people – the lust for wealth and favours.

✒   “Take you a course, get you a place,
       Observe his honour, or his Grace”.

⚽ As far as Donne is concerned, the use of colloquial speech marks the metaphysical poetry.

⚽ This is especially apparent in the abrupt, dramatic and conversational opening of many of his poems.

🎁 For_instance,

✒ “For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love”

Or

“Or the King’s real, or his stamped face”
(The_Canonization)

⚽ Carelessness in diction is another characteristic of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ These poems reacted against the cloying sweetness and harmony of the Elizabethan Poetry.

⚽ They deliberately avoided conventional poetic expression.

⚽ They employed very prosaic words, if they were scientists or shopkeepers.

⚽ Thus, we find, in their poetic works, rugged and unpoetic words.

⚽ Their versification and their dictions are usually coarse and jerky.

⚽ Affectation and hyperbolic expression is another character of metaphysical poetry.

⚽ It is often hard to find natural grace in metaphysical writing, abounding in artificiality of thought and hyperbolic expression.

⚽ The writer deemed to say “something_unexpected_and_surprising".

⚽ What they wanted to sublime, they endeavored to supply by hyperbole; their amplification had no limit, they left not only reason but fancy behind them and produced combination of confused magnificence”.

🎁 For_instance, the lines of
“A_Valediction:Forbidding_Mourning”

✒   “Our two souls therefore, which are one,
       Though I must go, endure not yet
       A breach, but an expansion,
       Like gold to ayery thinness beat”.

⚽ The lyrics of the metaphysical poems are very fantastic and peculiar.

⚽ According to A.C.Word,

✒ “The metaphysical style is a combination of two elements, the fantastic form and style and the incongruous in matter and manner”.

⚽ Therefore, so far we discussed the salient features of metaphysical poetry, it is proved that #John_Donne is a great #metaphysical_poet.

Wuthering Heights Short Questions

Wuthering Heights
Short Questions


Chapters 1–2 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Why does Mr. Lockwood go to Wuthering Heights?
What happened to Lockwood the previous summer?
How does Lockwood describe himself?
How would you describe Heathcliff?
How does Heathcliff react to Lockwood’s intrusion?
Why do the dogs attack Lockwood?
What prompts Lockwood to leave his house the next day?
Who does the young lady sitting by the fire turn out to be?
Who is the rough-looking young man?
Why can’t Lockwood leave Wuthering Heights?
Quiz Answers:

Mr. Lockwood has just begun renting Thrushcross Grange and goes to meet his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives at Wuthering Heights.
Lockwood accidentally led a young woman to believe that he was interested in her and then treated her indifferently, giving people the impression that he is heartless.
Lockwood believes that he is a loner and somewhat of a misanthrope, though his behavior suggests otherwise.
Heathcliff has a dark complexion and is handsome, though he has a morose expression. He is very gruff and rude to Lockwood and the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights.
Heathcliff is clearly displeased by Lockwood’s intrusion as he, unlike Lockwood, is a true misanthrope.
Lockwood winks and makes faces at the dogs, which leads them to attack him.
Lockwood almost decides to stay home until a maid begins messily cleaning out the fireplace.
The young woman at Wuthering Heights turns out to be Heathcliff’s daughter-in-law.
The hostile young man introduces himself as Hareton Earnshaw.
Lockwood is prevented from leaving Wuthering Heights by a snowstorm.

Chapters 3–5 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Who owns the diary that Lockwood reads?
Why does Lockwood reach out the window?
What happens to Lockwood’s hand?
After he leaves the room, what does Lockwood see Heathcliff do?
Why does Nelly Dean know so much about Wuthering Heights?
How did Heathcliff come to Wuthering Heights?
How did Mr. Earnshaw treat Heathcliff?
What was Cathy’s relationship with Heathcliff like?
What was Hindley’s relationship with Heathcliff like?
How did Joseph influence Mr. Earnshaw?
Quiz Answers:

The diary belongs to Catherine Earnshaw.
Lockwood keeps being awoken by the tapping sound of a tree branch on the window and finally gets frustrated enough to try to grab the branch.
Lockwood tries to grab the branch but instead makes contact with the cold hand of Catherine’s ghost.
Lockwood sees Heathcliff fling open the window and call out desperately to Catherine’s ghost, begging her to return.
Nelly Dean knows a lot about the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights because she grew up as a servant there along with Heathcliff and the Earnshaw children.
Heathcliff was brought to Wuthering Heights as a child after Mr. Earnshaw saw him living on the streets of Liverpool and took pity on him.
Mr. Earnshaw showed great favoritism toward Heathcliff and clearly loved him more than his own children.
Though Cathy was initially mean to Heathcliff, they quickly grew to be best friends.
Hindley was extremely jealous of Heathcliff’s relationship with Mr. Earnshaw and grew to hate Heathcliff, often physically hurting him.
Joseph uses his influence over Mr. Earnshaw to persuade him that Catherine and Hindley are wicked children.

Chapters 6–7 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Why does Nelly suspect Hindley kept his new wife a secret from Mr. Earnshaw?
How does Hindley treat Heathcliff after returning to Wuthering Heights?
Why does Catherine stay with the Lintons after she and Heathcliff are caught spying on them?
How does Catherine change during her time at Thrushcross Grange?
What does Catherine say that offends Heathcliff?
What does Nelly suggest Heathcliff imagine about his origins?
Why does Heathcliff get so upset with Edgar Linton?
What does Heathcliff do in response to Edgar’s comment?
How does Catherine react to the conflict between Heathcliff and Edgar?
Who does Heathcliff swear to get revenge on?
Quiz Answers:

Nelly suspects that Frances probably has neither money nor connections, and Hindley was afraid Mr. Earnshaw wouldn’t approve of the marriage.
Hindley demotes Heathcliff, forcing him to become a servant at the house.
The Lintons keep Catherine because they recognize her as a member of the gentry and want to tend her ankle.
Catherine becomes much more ladylike, both in manners and appearance.
Catherine calls Heathcliff dirty and unfavorably compares him to Edgar and Isabella Linton.
Nelly tells Heathcliff that, were she in his position, she would imagine that she was long lost royalty.
Edgar Linton makes a comment about Heathcliff’s hair looking silly.
Heathcliff throws hot applesauce at Edgar.
Catherine blames Edgar for getting Heathcliff in trouble.
Heathcliff swears to get revenge on Hindley.

Chapters 8–9 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

What does the doctor say about Frances’s health?
What is Hindley’s reaction to the doctor’s news?
What happens to Hindley after Frances’s death?
What happens to Frances’s baby?
Why is Catherine upset that Heathcliff is taking the day off?
Why does Catherine claim that she doesn’t want to spend time with Heathcliff?
What does Catherine do to Edgar?
What does Edgar do later that night?
Why is Catherine conflicted about accepting Edgar’s proposal?
Why does Heathcliff run away?

Quiz Answers:
The doctor says that Frances is ill and will soon die.
Hindley refuses to believe the doctor and insists that Frances is getting better.
Hindley becomes a violent drunk and terrorizes the whole household.
Her son, named Hareton, is put into Nelly’s care.
Catherine knows Edgar will be stopping by and dreads another encounter between him and Heathcliff.
She tells Heathcliff that his lack of education makes him a boring companion.
Catherine instinctively slaps Edgar.
Edgar proposes to Catherine.
Catherine loves Heathcliff, but she feels that she cannot marry him.
Heathcliff only overhears Catherine say that she cannot marry him, and he leaves before she explains her true feelings.

Chapters 10–12 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

How has Heathcliff changed in the three years he has been gone?
How does Catherine react to Heathcliff’s reappearance?
Why has Hindley invited Heathcliff to stay at Wuthering Heights?
What does Catherine do to embarrass Isabella?
Why is Heathcliff interested in Isabella?
How has Hareton changed since Nelly last saw him?
Why does Catherine lock the door and throw the key into the fire?
Why doesn’t Nelly say anything about Catherine’s deteriorating condition to Edgar?
What is Edgar’s reaction when he finally sees Catherine?
What does Isabella do at the end of Chapter 12?
Quiz Answers:

When Heathcliff reappears, he looks and behaves like a gentleman, having apparently acquired a fortune during his three years away.
Catherine is overjoyed to see Heathcliff, though she chastises him for leaving her in the first place.
Hindley has lost most of his money and, knowing that Heathcliff is quite wealthy, hopes to win money off him by gambling.
Catherine tells Heathcliff about Isabella’s infatuation with him in front of Isabella.
Heathcliff is interested in Isabella because she is the heir to Edgar’s estate.
Hareton is now rude and mistrustful and swears at Nelly when she approaches him.
Catherine wants Edgar to fight Heathcliff one-on-one.
Nelly thinks Catherine is merely faking being ill for attention, and Nelly doesn’t want to indulge her.
Edgar is furious when he sees how sick Catherine is and tells Nelly that he will fire her if she ever lies like that again.
Isabella elopes with Heathcliff.

Chapters 13–14 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

How has Catherine changed since her illness?
Why is Catherine’s pregnancy especially significant?
What does Hindley tell Isabella on her first night at Wuthering Heights?
In her letter, what does Isabella ask Nelly to do?
What is Edgar’s response to Isabella’s unhappiness?
What defense does Heathcliff offer for his treatment of Isabella?
Why is Heathcliff especially angry at Edgar?
What does Heathcliff want Nelly to do?
Why does Nelly agree to set up a meeting between Heathcliff and Catherine?
What does Lockwood think about after Nelly leaves?
Quiz Answers:

Catherine recovers a little but remains very weak.
Catherine’s pregnancy is important because the birth of a male heir will prevent Heathcliff and Isabella from inheriting Edgar’s estate.
Hindley warns Isabella that every night, he visits Heathcliff’s room to see if it is locked. He tells her that if he ever finds it unlocked, he will shoot Heathcliff.
Isabella writes to Nelly and asks her to come visit at Wuthering Heights.
Edgar is sorry to hear that Isabella is unhappy but refuses to write or visit.
Heathcliff claims that Isabella knew how brutal he was before she ran away with him and that it is not his fault she romanticized him.
Heathcliff feels that Catherine’s illness is Edgar’s fault.
Heathcliff wants Nelly to help set up a secret meeting between Catherine and himself.
Nelly agrees because she knows Heathcliff will march over to Thrushcross Grange and cause a scene if she does not set up a secret meeting.
Lockwood reflects upon Catherine’s daughter, whom he met at Wuthering Heights, and wonders what would happen if he fell in love with her.

Chapters 15–17 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

What happens when Heathcliff visits Catherine?
Why does Heathcliff not forgive Catherine?
Why doesn’t Heathcliff leave before Edgar arrives?
What happens to Catherine after her meeting with Heathcliff?
What does Heathcliff say to Nelly about Catherine’s death?
What does Heathcliff do when he is allowed to see Catherine’s body one last time?
Why does Heathcliff attack Isabella?
What happens to Isabella after she leaves Thrushcross Grange?
What does Nelly discover about Wuthering Heights after Hindley’s death?
Why is Edgar not able to take Hareton in after Hindley dies?
Quiz Answers:

Heathcliff and Catherine passionately embrace and argue.
Heathcliff says he cannot forgive what Catherine has done to herself.
Catherine won’t let Heathcliff go and faints just as Edgar enters the room.
Catherine wakes up but does not recognize anyone. She dies later that night after giving birth to a daughter.
Heathcliff says that he hopes Catherine is forced to haunt him until he dies.
Heathcliff takes the lock of Edgar’s hair out of Catherine’s locket and replaces it with one of his own.
Heathcliff attacks Isabella after she provokes him by saying that he was the cause of Catherine’s death.
Isabella moves near London and gives birth to a son, Linton Heathcliff. She dies when Linton is only twelve.
After Hindley’s death, Nelly discovers that Wuthering Heights has been mortgaged to Heathcliff, who is now the de facto owner.
When Edgar tries to take Hareton, Heathcliff threatens to take Linton away from Isabella.

Chapters 18–21 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

What is young Cathy’s personality like?
Where does Cathy want to go?
What steps has Edgar taken to protect Cathy?
Why is Cathy upset to learn that Hareton is her cousin?
Why is Nelly frustrated when Cathy mentions Linton at Wuthering Heights?
Why can’t Edgar prevent Heathcliff from taking Linton away?
What does Nelly tell Linton in order to persuade him to come to Wuthering Heights?
What is Heathcliff’s plan for Cathy and Linton?
Why is Hareton the perfect person for Heathcliff’s revenge?
What does Nelly catch Cathy doing after their second visit to Wuthering Heights?
Quiz Answers:

Cathy is passionate, kind, and gentle. Unfortunately, her sheltered life at Thrushcross Grange has also made her somewhat naive and spoiled.
Cathy constantly begs to be allowed to visit Penistone Crags, which she can see from her window.
Edgar does not allow Cathy to leave the grounds and has told her nothing of Heathcliff or Wuthering Heights.
Cathy is horrified to imagine that someone as coarse and unrefined as Hareton is related to her.
Nelly knows that everything Cathy says will get back to Heathcliff, including the fact that Linton (Heathcliff’s son) is returning to the area.
As Linton is Heathcliff’s son, Edgar has no legal claim to him.
Nelly lies and says that Linton has never met Heathcliff because circumstance prevented Isabella and Heathcliff from living together.
Heathcliff admits that he wants Cathy and Linton to marry.
Hareton is perfect for Heathcliff’s revenge because, like young Heathcliff, he has admirable qualities which are not being realized.
Nelly finds out that Cathy and Linton have secretly been exchanging love letters.

Chapters 22–25 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Why does Cathy get stuck on the wrong side of the wall?
What does Heathcliff tell Cathy about Linton?
What does Cathy admit to Nelly when they return home?
What does Cathy do when both Nelly and Edgar are bedridden?
Why does Cathy laugh at Hareton?
How does Hareton punish Cathy and Linton for making fun of him?
What happens when Hareton tries to apologize to Cathy?
What does Nelly do after catching Cathy sneaking out?
Why does Edgar think Linton might be a suitable match for Cathy?
What is the state of Linton’s health?
Quiz Answers:

After climbing down to retrieve her hat, Cathy finds she cannot climb back up the wall.
Heathcliff tells Cathy that she broke Linton’s heart and that Linton is now very near death.
Cathy tells Nelly that she will never be able to rest until she learns whether what Heathcliff said was true.
Cathy secretly goes to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton.
Cathy laughs at Hareton’s attempt to read when he admits he cannot read numbers yet.
Hareton locks Linton and Cathy out of the house, causing Linton to throw a fit.
Cathy hits Hareton with her whip and rides away without accepting his apology.
Nelly immediately tells Edgar after she finds Cathy sneaking out.
Edgar thinks Linton might make a good husband because he is unaware of Linton’s disagreeable personality and knows that Linton will eventually inherit Cathy’s home.
Linton is just as sickly as Edgar and appears to be very near death.

Chapters 26–28 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Why are Cathy and Nelly shocked by Linton’s condition?
How does Linton react when Cathy and Nelly try to leave?
Why do Cathy and Nelly not reveal Linton’s condition to Edgar?
Why is Edgar happy to think Cathy will end up with Linton?
What does Linton admit to Cathy about their visits?
Why does Cathy get angry with Linton when she meets him for the second time?
What is Heathcliff’s plan in locking Nelly and Cathy in the house?
Why is Cathy so distraught about having to spend the night at Wuthering Heights?
Why isn’t Edgar able to change his will when he finds out what has happened to Cathy?
Why do Cathy and Nelly lie about Cathy’s marriage to Linton?
Quiz Answers:

Cathy and Nelly are shocked to see that Linton is so weak that he can barely move, especially as they had heard he was getting better.
Linton begs them to stay longer, though Cathy does not understand why he wants to continue to visit in his weakened state.
Cathy and Nelly are confused by Linton’s health and decide to wait until they have seen him again to pass judgment on whether he is truly as well as he claims.
Edgar likes Linton because Cathy and Nelly have never honestly related Linton’s poor character to him. Edgar only corresponds with Linton through letters, and it is implied that Heathcliff tells Linton what to write.
Linton admits that Heathcliff is forcing him to visit with Cathy.
When she finds out that Linton is being forced to see her, Cathy is furious that she left her dying father’s side to visit with someone so indifferent to her company.
Heathcliff plans to hold Cathy hostage at Wuthering Heights until she marries Linton.
Cathy knows that her disappearance will torment her already dying father and is afraid that he will die before she can see him again.
Edgar attempts to contact his lawyer to have his will altered, but the lawyer cannot be found in time, and it is later revealed that Heathcliff paid him off.
Cathy and Nelly conceal the truth from Edgar because they want him to die happy.

Chapters 29–31 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Why does Heathcliff want Cathy to leave Thrushcross Grange?
What does Heathcliff confess to Nelly while Cathy is packing upstairs?
What is Nelly’s reaction to Heathcliff’s confession?
How does Nelly hear about Cathy’s exploits at Wuthering Heights?
What is Cathy forced to do when she arrives at Wuthering Heights?
Why don’t Zillah and Hareton help Cathy?
How does Cathy respond to Zillah’s and Hareton’s attempts at kindness after Linton’s death?
What does Nelly consider after hearing about Cathy’s life at the Heights?
Why does Lockwood ride out to Wuthering Heights?
How does Cathy treat Hareton during Lockwood’s visit?

Quiz Answers:
Heathcliff says that he intends to rent out Thrushcross Grange.
Heathcliff admits that he broke into Catherine’s coffin when Edgar was buried.
Nelly is horrified that Heathcliff disturbed the dead and reprimands him.
Nelly hears what goes on at Wuthering Heights from Zillah, the housekeeper.
Heathcliff forces Cathy to take care of the dying Linton on her own, though she begs him to call a doctor.
Zillah and Hareton are under strict orders from Heathcliff not to help Cathy.
Cathy rebuffs Zillah’s and Hareton’s attempts at friendship because they abandoned her when she first arrived.
Nelly briefly considers quitting her job and taking Cathy away to live with her in a cottage. However, she quickly realizes that Heathcliff would never let Cathy go.
Lockwood goes to Wuthering Heights to give notice to Heathcliff that he plans to leave early.
Cathy mocks Hareton’s attempts to learn to read, eventually goading him so far that he strikes her and throws the books in the fire.

Chapters 32–33 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

Why is Lockwood in the area?
Why can Lockwood still stay at Thrushcross Grange even though he moved away?
Where is Nelly Dean?
What does Lockwood notice about the outside of Wuthering Heights?
What does Nelly tell Lockwood when he says he is looking for Heathcliff?
Why did Heathcliff summon Nelly to Wuthering Heights?
What causes the confrontation between Cathy and Heathcliff?
Why does Cathy regret trying to turn Hareton against Heathcliff?
Why is Heathcliff startled when he walks in on Cathy and Hareton reading?
Why has Heathcliff lost interest in revenge?
Quiz Answers:

Lockwood is visiting a friend when he realizes he is not far from Thrushcross Grange.
Lockwood is still technically renting Thrushcross Grange, even though he does not live there anymore.
Lockwood is told that Nelly Dean has moved to Wuthering Heights.
Lockwood notices that the gate is unlocked and that flowers have been planted in the yard.
Nelly informs Lockwood that Heathcliff died a few months ago.
Heathcliff unexpectedly called Nelly to Wuthering Heights to help keep Cathy out of his sight.
Cathy convinces Hareton to pull up some of Joseph’s old trees to make room for flowers, and Heathcliff is mad at her for altering his property.
Cathy eventually realizes that Heathcliff is like a father to Hareton and, knowing how close she was to her own father, decides that it would be cruel to abuse Heathcliff in front of Hareton.
Heathcliff is startled by their resemblance to Catherine.
Heathcliff admits that he is so consumed by his desire to be reunited with Catherine that his desire for revenge has been overshadowed.

Chapter 34 Questions and Answers
Quiz Questions:

How do Heathcliff’s eating habits change?
Where does Heathcliff go one night?
How is Heathcliff changed after his night outside?
What can Heathcliff be heard doing in his room at night?
What does Nelly advise Heathcliff to do?
How does Nelly sense something is amiss the morning she discovers Heathcliff’s body?
Who is upset most by Heathcliff’s death?
What do Cathy and Hareton plan to do?
Where does Lockwood go after leaving Wuthering Heights?
What does Lockwood conclude about the dead?
Quiz Answers:

Heathcliff begins eating less and less until he refuses food altogether.
Heathcliff spends an entire night rambling out on the moors.
Heathcliff walks around the next day with an eerie expression of joy on his face.
Nelly can hear Heathcliff pacing, groaning, and saying Catherine’s name in his room.
Nelly advises Heathcliff to turn to God before he dies.
Nelly notices that Heathcliff’s bedroom window is wide open even though there was a rainstorm the night before.
Hareton is the most upset when Heathcliff dies.
Cathy and Hareton plan to marry and move to Thrushcross Grange.
Lockwood wanders to the graves of Catherine, Edgar, and Heathcliff.
Lockwood concludes that the dead must surely be at peace.

1
Analyze the relationship between Lockwood and Heathcliff.

Heathcliff is Lockwood's first introduction to the passionate, terrifying world of Wuthering Heights. Early in the novel, Lockwood frequently confuses himself and Heathcliff. At one point, he backtracks on his description of Heathcliff because he “bestow[s] [his] own attributes too readily on him” (5-6). However, Heathcliff's rudeness to Cathy Linton and his servants, along with Ellen's narrative, eventually convince Lockwood to despise Heathcliff like most of the other characters. Nevertheless, the identification between the two characters remains important because it cements Heathcliff's status as one of the novel's protagonists (in the sense that the narrative sometimes seems to favor his perspective).

2
Interpret the novel’s dream sequences. Why are they important?

Dreams in Wuthering Heights foreshadow future events, but they also reveal important information about the characters' current situations. For example, Lockwood's nightmare about Cathy Linton trying to get into Wuthering Heights foreshadows the young girl's eventual reconciliation with the place, via her relationship with Hareton (although this reconciliation comes only after many months of misery, which may be represented by the wounds she gets from the broken glass). However, her fearsome apparition in the dream also reflects her current psychic desperation. Similarly, Catherine's early dream of choosing the moors over heaven foreshadows her eventual burial (and the importance her buried corpse will have for Heathcliff) but also her current preference for worldly pleasure over future happiness.

3
What is the significance of the frame story?

Wuthering Heights is narrated through many layers of mediation. Not only does Ellen Dean narrate most of the story to Lockwood, but occasionally Ellen herself was not present at important events, and only hears about them secondhand––so we hear what happens through two layers of narration. Examples of this include Cathy's explanation of her correspondence with Linton and Cathy's narration of her first visit to Wuthering Heights. The fact that the story is so potent despite these multiple layers of mediation speaks to the extraordinary power of love and emotion in this isolated society.

4
Analyze the story’s setting. What role does it play in Wuthering Heights?

The natural world of the moors is not merely a setting––it also sets the mood of the novel and exerts a noticeable influence on the characters' choices and personalities. The frequently inhospitable weather establishes the conflict between humanity and nature that becomes an important theme; the frequent blizzards and thunderstorms ensure that the characters constantly struggle for survival against the elements. Moreover, the characters at Wuthering Heights are frequently characterized as 'wild,' which suggests that their dramatic natural surroundings have somehow seeped into the personalities.

5
Discuss Emily Brontë’s portrayal of religion in the novel.

There are distinctly Gothic elements to Brontë's portrayal of Christianity in Wuthering Heights. A riot in a church figures prominently in Lockwood's nightmare in Chapter 3, and Joseph's proselytizing eventually takes on a sinister element as it becomes clear that he is just as cruel and self-centered as any other character in the novel. Only Ellen seems to take Christianity seriously, reminding Heathcliff to make his peace with God when it becomes clear that he is dying. However, Heathcliff ultimately rejects this solace. For the Earnshaws and the Lintons, religion is a weak force that is largely irrelevant to their lives outside the strictures of society.

6
When Wuthering Heights was first released, many readers were shocked by its graphic, violent imagery. Why might the violence be important to the story?

It is important to note that Wuthering Heights features not only extensive physical violence, but also extreme emotional cruelty. These elements serve to demonstrate the potential of the human spirit to be debased by its conditions; although Heathcliff is able to love Catherine in his early life, the compassion and gentleness is slowly drained from him because of his abuse by Hindley. Violence, then, is set up as a counterpoint to love, and as Cathy and Hareton demonstrate at the end of the novel, love is the only thing that can redeem their world from the horrific violence that fills it.

7
Discuss the relationship between gender and power in Wuthering Heights.

Brontë seems to delight in confusing gender roles. Catherine Earnshaw roams free on the moors and works with Heathcliff in the fields, conduct that would have been considered highly unbecoming for a lady at this time, even in rural Yorkshire. In contrast, Linton is characterized as "delicate [and] effeminate" (200). It seems that transcending gender boundaries allows characters to become more powerful; Linton uses his weak health to manipulate others, and Isabella realizes that wielding a knife could give her the means to escape her unhappy marriage.

8
Discuss the role of books and literacy in Hareton and Cathy Linton’s relationship.

From its earliest stages, Hareton and Cathy Linton's relationship is colored by the fact that she can read and he cannot. She drives him away by teasing him about his inability to read, and her decision to teach him to read is what eventually resolves their differences and allows them to love one another. Cathy's reading lessons can also be seen as rehabilitating Hareton after his unhappy childhood with Heathcliff, who purposely prevented him from learning to read in hopes of getting revenge on Hareton's father, Hindley.

9
What is Heathcliff’s role in the story? Is he a protagonist or an antagonist?

Heathcliff can be considered both a protagonist and an antagonist. He is a protagonist in the sense that the novel is structured around his life––Ellen's narrative begins when Earnshaw brings Heathcliff home from Liverpool, and it ends at Heathcliff's death, suggesting that he was the main character all along. Likewise, Heathcliff is the main person to pique Lockwood's curiosity when he first visits Wuthering Heights. However, Heathcliff can also be considered an antagonist in that he actively works to undermine many of the novel's more likeable characters, including Edgar, Hareton, and Cathy Linton. Moreover, the novel is never related from his perspective; for the most part, the narrator Ellen can only speculate on his thoughts and feelings.

10
Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Linton, and Cathy Linton all tend to dwell on their personal ‘heavens.’ What might the significance of this be?

Heaven is an important concept for each of these characters, and their idea of a perfect world reveals their true personalities. Catherine admits that she would rather be on the moors than in heaven, and Heathcliff rejects the idea of a traditional heaven in favor of his remains mingling with Catherine's beneath the earth. The similarities between their ideas of heaven reveal the compatibility of their personalities, and also their tendency to locate themselves in opposition to conventional society. Linton and Cathy Linton both consider heaven to be a beautiful day outdoors, but the differences between their fantasies––Linton wants to lie in the grass, while Cathy would prefer to climb trees––reveal the fundamental differences in their respective characters.