English Literature

In this final essay I would like to deal with two extremely interesting genres of literature  play and poetry. Since English Literature is my forte, I have chosen two English plays and the preface of a renowned collection of English poems as the topic for my final essay. The plays and the preface highlight three different eras and the subjects are vastly different yet somewhere they are connected because they are the true portraits of their periods they talk about the prevalent social evils but the tone of each is different. The plays I have selected are The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury. To explore my views on the second genre of Literature, I have selected Preface to Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth. In this particular preface, William Wordsworth has dealt very effectively with poetry and feelings with regards to the society he lived in. So, if we observe these two plays and the preface in totality, we will find that all three of them are a discourse on society, social evils and feelings of the members of different strata of society.

The Importance of Being Earnest deals with frivolities in love as displayed by the society ladies of 19th century. The two young ladies, Gwendolen and Cecily fell in love with two respectable young men, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff respectively the ladies fell in love with them because they thought their fiancs to bear the name of Ernest. Each of them reveals that she does not love the real person but the name. It is apparent in the quoted lines-    

Gwendolen
We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits I am told and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you.

Similarly, Cecily Cardew, the ward of Jack Worthing, falls in love with Algernon whom she thinks to be the (fictitious) jaunty brother of Jack, Ernest. She, too, has her own ideology regarding this particular name. We find her falling in love with the name even before she met the person we find ourselves questioning her sanity when she talks of writing letters to herself on behalf of Ernest. She has bought herself an engagement ring. She has done all this because she is in love with a name.

Cecily (to Algernon)
You must not laugh at me, darling, but it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence. I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest. (Wilde, 1898)
Though the girls come from two different social spheres, one urban and one bred in the country, yet their dreams and aspirations regarding marriage are the same.

In Wildes drama, we get a glimpse at the affluent society whose favorite pastime is falling in love. Now we take up the other play where an African-American family strives hard to survive amidst poverty and racism. The plot is set in Chicago in the 1950s. The two plays present a sharp contrast to each other. We find the Younger family waiting eagerly for the insurance money of the demised Walter Younger, senior. Each member of the family has his or her own plans regarding that money which is yet to come. The poverty of the family is apparent from the following lines quoted from the summary by Maxine Morrin, Lorraine Hansberry-

Then Beneatha, Walters sister, gets up. Walter goads her about her plans for medical school, and it is apparent that this is a long-standing topic of debate between them. He feels she wants the family to make sacrifices for her and resents her claim on any of the insurance money for continuing her education. He feels she should stop expecting them to do anymore than they already have for her. Beneatha, however, does not like the idea of Walters investing in a liquor store.

When Walter is leaving for work, he finds he must ask his wife for carfare because he has given Travis too much money for school. (Morrin, Hansberry, 1994)

Earlier, we learnt that Walter gave his son Travis only 100 cents. Now Walter does not have enough money left with him for travelling.

We find Ruth, Walters wife is struggling hard along with her husband to make both ends meet. She works hard despite her pregnancy however she is having second thoughts about having the baby because of their abject poverty.  

It is then apparent that Ruth is tired, so Mama suggests she stay home from work. Ruth says no, however, because she feels she might lose her job if she does. (Morrin, Hansberry, 1994)

Beneatha rejects her rich suitor George Murchison and declares at home that she might remain a spinster throughout her life. What a contrast While Gwendolen and Cecily are painting rosy pictures of marriage, Beneatha aspires to be a doctor instead of sitting at home planning for marital bliss.

However, the fate sometimes plays crude jokes with us. Mrs. Younger, Walters mother, unknowingly buys a house in a white locality and the house owners of the would-be neighborhood want to purchase that house from the Younger family.

We see the irony of fate prevalent in Wildes play when Gwendolen talks of having absolute confidence in her beloved whom she thinks to be Ernest while Jack Worthing has been concealing his true identity from Gwendolen in fear of losing her love. Cecily, too, finds herself disillusioned with regards to the true name of her beloved.

The two plays are set in two distinctive moods. While the play by Wilde evokes laughter, Lorraines drama imbues in us an ominous feeling of dread. The tone of the first play is jovial and has a carefree and happy-go-lucky attitude. The second play is a true portrait of the adversities faced by a black family in its struggle for survival in a racist ambience.

Along with contrasting features, the two plays have some points of similarity. Both plays have characters that are endowed with strong personalities and they do not hesitate to express their feelings boldly to the world. The female characters display more mental strength than their male counterparts. In both plays, the male characters exhibit weak moral values. Wildes protagonists, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff lead a dual life and for this reason, they have fabricated two imaginary charactersJack Worthing makes up a story of a crafty brother, Ernest and Algernon weaves the story of an invalid friend, Mr. Bunbury. This gives them the excuse to leave their home towns as often as possible to go and enjoy in other parts. Walter Younger, the protagonist in A Raisin in the Sun is a chauffeur who wants to start his own business. He quarrels with his mother, wife and sister all because he wants to open his liquor shop. We find him cheated by a swindler and his precious money is lost.  George Murchison is a conceited man who boasts of his wealth and connections with the white men who are the so-called heads of the prevalent society. It does not take Beneatha to spurn his advances as a suitor she aims high and wants to focus her attention on that. The women exhibit strong moral characters and ultimately it is the men who realize the mistakes they have made, turning over a new leaf. So, though the circumstances are different, we find the men attain higher level of insight and understanding. They realize that life is too invaluable to be wasted away in whimsicalities and vagaries. The ladies guide them on the path of light. Both plays set on two different journeys but the ultimate destination is the sameto reach stability in relationships through hardships. Though the hardships in the two plays are of different kind, one mental and the other one is a combination of mental and physical, yet they are both sufferings that all human beings pass through at some point of their lives.

In his preface to the Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth has talked of the feelings that a poet has, while writing a poem and the feelings of the readers when they go through the poem. The following excerpt from the said preface will establish my claim.

THE FIRST volume of these Poems has already been submitted to general perusal. It was published, as an experiment, which, I hoped, might be of some use to ascertain, how far, by fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation, that sort of pleasure and that quantity of pleasure may be imparted, which a Poet may rationally endeavour to impart.

I had formed no very inaccurate estimate of the probable effect of those Poems I flattered myself that they who should be pleased with them would read them with more than common pleasure and, on the other hand, I was well aware, that by those who should dislike them, they would be read with more than common dislike. The result has differed from my expectation in this only, that a greater number have been pleased than I ventured to hope I should please. (Wordsworth, 1880)

The whole preface stressed on two different perspectivesone of the poet and that of the reader. He talked of public taste (Wordsworth, 1800) and also his apprehensions about how far this taste is healthy or depraved which, again, could not be determined, without pointing out in what manner language and the human mind act and re-act on each other, and without retracing the revolutions, not of literature alone, but likewise of society itself. (Wordsworth, 1800) We see his consciousness regarding the society he lived in. This romantic poet was not only a mere poet but he was a visionary who expressed both the good and evil of his epoch through his different genres of poems (including odes and ballads). In his preface, he endeavored to connect with his readers very adeptly through his justifications of producing such poems as the Lyrical Ballads. The preface is a very long one however, I will contrive to give you another glimpse of the insight of this legendary poet.

The principal object, then, proposed in these poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men, and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain coloring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect and, further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them, truly though not ostentatiously, the primary laws of our nature chiefly, as far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement. Humble and rustic life was generally chosen, because, in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language because in that condition of life our elementary feelings coexist in a state of greater simplicity, and, consequently, may be more accurately contemplated, and more forcibly communicated Wordsworth, 1800

I am not able to present the whole of the preface but I think I have achieved my purpose.

These two plays and the preface to the ballads are two dissimilar oeuvres yet they all deal with society and social evils of their times. We witness the shallow world of the upper class, the struggles of a black family of lower middle class and the emotion of the common man. The plays try to find a way to eradicate these social evils through instilling insight in the protagonists whereas, William Wordsworth takes the direct approach of reaching out to the readers and evoking consciousness in them. The messages conveyed by the playwrights and the poet are eternal. It is time for us to take a look at the man in the mirror and then change ourselves accordingly. Only then we can make the world a better place to live in.