1.Write
an essay on your understanding of the concept of Shakespearean Tragedy. Justify
/ Illustrate ‘Macbeth’ as Shakespearean Tragedy.
2.What
is Aristotelian concept of Tragedy? How far does ‘Macbeth’ fit in the Aristotelean
concept of Tragedy?
3.What
do you mean by ‘Poetic Justice’? Is there a poetic justice in ‘Macbeth’?
Illustrate your answer.
4.Can
we read Macbeth as Aristotelian ‘tragic hero’? If so, what is his ‘hamartia’?
5.What
is the meaning of ‘hamartia’? What is Macbeth’s hamartia? Compare it with
hamartia of other tragic heroes known to you (like Hamlet, Othello, Oedipus
etc).
6.What
do you understand by the concept of ‘hero-villain’? Is Macbeth a fit character
for this concept? Illustrate your answer.
7.What
sort of artistic liberties are taken by William Shakespeare in ‘Macbeth’? (Key:
Historical Macbeth vs Literary Macbeth: https://www.scotland.org.uk/history/time-macbeth
- the sequence of the murder of King Duncan and that of Banquo are purely
imaginative interpolation. The goodness given to the character of Banquo is also
questioned on the grounds that the ruling King James I was a lineage of Banquo’s
from Scotland).
8.What
is the content of the ‘letter’ written by Macbeth to Lady Macbeth? What is its
importance in the play?
9.Thematic
Study:
a.The
theme of Ambition
b.Tragedy
of Ambition – the Medievalism
c.The
Unchecked Ambition and its Power to Corrupt the nobleness within humans
d.Cruelty
and Masculinity
e.Theme
of Guilty Conscience
10.Character
Study:
a.Macbeth
– the Hero-Villain – the Valiant Villain – The Milk of Human Kindness wasted on
the altar of ambition – tragic hero
b.Lady
Macbeth – a Witch or a Victim?
c.Macduff
– the ultimate avenger
d.Banquo
e.King
Duncan
f.Malcolm and Donalbain
g.Lady
Macduff
11.The
Study of Scenes from the play ‘Macbeth’:
a.Scenes
of Three Witches
b.Murder
of King Duncan
c.Porter
Scene
d.Banquet
scene – Visitation of Banquo’s Ghost
e.Night
walking scene of Lady Macbeth
f.Final fight between Macbeth and Macduff
12.The
Study of Quotations:
a.Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act I, Scene
3: This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth?
b.Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1, Scene
7: If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well
It were done quickly
c.Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 2, Scene
1: Is this a dagger which I see before me,
This handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
d.Macbeth says these lines in Act 2,
Scene 2:
Whence is that knocking? –
How is’t with me, when every noise appalls me?
What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?
e.Macbeth
in Act 5, Scence 5: Tomorrow,
and tomorrow, and tomorrow
f.Banquo in Act 1, Sc 3: “Oftentimes to win
us to out harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest
trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence.
g.Lady
Macbeth in Act 1 Sc 5: The
raven himself is hoarse . . .
h.Lady Macbeth in Act 5 Sc Out damned spot. . . Hell is
murky.
13.The
Study of Cinematic Adaptations of ‘Macbeth’:
a.Write a note on any one film adaptation of ‘Macbeth’
i.What
changes are made by film makers in the adaptation?
ii.How
are these topics dealt in the film adaptation - ‘the setting’, ‘the witches’, ‘events’
& ‘theme’?
b.Some
of the well-known cinematic adaptations are:
i.Orsan Welles’s Macbeth (1948)
ii.Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood (1957)
iii.Roman Polanski’s ‘Macbeth’ (1971)
iv.Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool (2003)
v.Geoffrey Wright’s ‘Macbeth’ (2006)
vi.Justin Kurzel’s ‘Macbeth’ (2015)
14.Research:
a.Shakespeare
based Macbeth very loosely on historical figures and events. Research the true
story of Macbeth. Explain the differences between history and Shakespeare's
version. Explain the effects that Shakespeare's changes have on the overall
story.
b.Research
the Great Chain of Being in Elizabethan times. Explain the Great Chain of Being
and develop a thesis about its effects on Macbeth. How is this way of viewing the
world evident in Macbeth? Provide examples from the play
c.The Politics
of Aloofness in "Macbeth" BALDO, JONATHAN. “The Politics of Aloofness in
‘Macbeth.’” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 26, no. 3, 1996, pp. 531–560. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43447533.
d."Macbeth"
and the Play of AbsolutesReid, B. L. “‘Macbeth’ and the Play of Absolutes.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 73, no. 1, 1965, pp. 19–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27541080
Video Resources on Research Methodology - PhD Coursework, Dept. of English, MKBU
1. Prof. Sachin Ketkar on "Translation Studies as World Literature and World Literature as Translation Studies"
2. Dr. Kalyan Chattopadhyay on "Academic Writing"
3. Prof. Kiran Trivedi on "Quality Research Publication: Impact Factor, i-Index, h-Index, i10-Index
4. Dr. Valiur Rahaman on 'The Vocation & Life of Research Scholar'
5. Dr. Kalyani Vallath on 'Practical Ways of Organizing Research'
6. Prof. Balaji Ranganathan on 'Research Techniques'
7. Dr. Valiur Rahaman on 'The Art of Literary Research Today'
8. Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya on 'The Academic Writing: The Basics'
9. Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya on 'The Academic Writing: The
Mechanics'
10. Prof. Nigam Dave on 'Philosophy and Ethics'
11. Dilip Barad on 'Introduction to the Course on Research and Publication Ethics' (Gujarati)
12. Critic, Researcher & Scholar | Richard Altick | The Art of Literary Research
The difference between critic and scholar and that between researcher and scholar is a sort of water-tight compartment - or a line drawn in the sand. Critics is the one who concerns with textual analysis. The researcher concerns itself with intellectual insight and imaginative responses through vivid sense of History. The Scholar is the one who is able to use critics' textual analysis as well as researchers pastness of the past in the present context. If researcher is the means, the scholarship is the end. The scholarship is a habit of main. It is a way of life.
13. Mind and Temperament of Research Scholar | The Art of Literary Research | Richard Altick
What are the necessities to make for a rewarding Research Project?
Publish or Perish?
What are the chief qualities of 'mind' and 'temperament' that go to make up a successful and happy scholar?
Modern Times is a 1936 American silent comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a commentary on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the Great Depression — conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization (Wikipedia).
Modern Times, American silent film, released in 1936, that starred Charlie Chaplin as a man at odds with modern technology. It is regarded as the last great silent film.
The film, which was set during the Great Depression, centres on a luckless factory worker (played by Chaplin) who finds himself so unnerved by trying to cope with the modern equipment he must operate that he suffers a breakdown. After being institutionalized, he is freed, only to be mistaken for a communist agitator. He is arrested but released after preventing a jailbreak. He subsequently falls in love with a young girl (Paulette Goddard) whom he met when she was running from the police after stealing a loaf of bread. The factory worker and the girl have many adventures together as they evade the police and struggle for a better life. Eventually they escape for the open road.
Chaplin had not been seen on a theatre screen for five years when Modern Times premiered to great acclaim in 1936. Still stubbornly resisting work in “talkies,” he stood alone in his insistence upon preserving the silent film. As he did with City Lights (1931), Chaplin conceded to recording a music and sound effects track, but there would be no dialogue heard on-screen. (A reactionary in terms of filmmaking techniques, he once predicted sound films would be passé by 1932.)
Modern Times is regarded as one of Chaplin’s most lighthearted films. There is certainly plenty of social criticism (the film highlights the dehumanizing impact of technology), but he plays the story mostly for laughs. The sight gag of Chaplin haplessly trying to keep pace with the assembly line in the factory is regarded as a classic comedy sequence. (Source: Britannica)
Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance has written of the reception and legacy of this classic comedy,
Modern Times is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth-century theme of the film, farsighted for its time—the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world—profoundly reflects issues facing the twenty-first century. The Tramp's travails in Modern Times and the comedic mayhem that ensues should provide strength and comfort to all who feel like helpless cogs in a world beyond control. Through its universal themes and comic inventiveness, Modern Times remains one of Chaplin's greatest and most enduring works. Perhaps more important, it is the Tramp's finale, a tribute to Chaplin's most beloved character and the silent-film era he commanded for a generation. (Click here to read full article)
The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator is a 1940 American satiricalcomedy-drama film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, Chaplin made this his first true sound film.
Chaplin's film advanced a stirring condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis. At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany and neutral during what were the early days of World War II. Chaplin plays both leading roles: a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber.
The Great Dictatorwas popular with audiences, becoming Chaplin's most commercially successful film.[4]Modern critics have praised it as a historically significant film, one of the greatest comedy films ever made and an important work ofsatire. (Wikipedia).
The Great Dictator, American comedyfilm, released in 1940, that Charlie Chaplin both acted in and directed. Satirizing Adolf Hitler and Nazism and condemning anti-Semitism, it was Chaplin’s most successful film at the box office.
Chaplin portrayed a Jewish barber who is mistaken for a tyrannical dictator. He plays up the charade and ultimately gives a speech in which he calls for peace and compassion. Chaplin, in a dual role, also played the fascist dictator, modeled after Hitler.
The Great Dictator was Chaplin’s first feature film with full sound. When the movie was released in 1940, the United States was still not officially at war with Nazi Germany. The names of the characters mock the fascist leaders of the day, including “Adenoid Hynkel,” standing in for Hitler, and ministers “Garbitsch” and “Herring,” who were modeled on Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring, respectively. “Benzino Napaloni,” dictator of the neighbouring country of “Bacteria,” was a satirical portrayal of Italy’s Benito Mussolini. One of the film’s most-celebrated scenes features Hynkel dancing with a balloon of the world to the music of Richard Wagner. Chaplin later said he would never have been able to make the film had the true extent of the Nazis’ crimes been widely known (Britannica).
"But Chaplin wouldn't be dissuaded. He knew that The Great Dictator was worth making, and, sure enough, it was a box office smash: 1941's second biggest hit in the US. On the 80th anniversary of the film's release, Chaplin's prescience is even more startling. The Great Dictator is a masterpiece that isn't just a delightful comedy and a grim agitprop drama, but a spookily accurate insight into Hitler's psychology. "He was a visionary," said Costa-Gavras, the Greek-French doyen of political cinema, in a making-of documentary. "He saw the future while the leaders of the world couldn't see it, and remained on Hitler's side." - Read more - Nicholas Barber - BBC Culture
A Course on Research and Publication Ethics (RPE) - for Ph.D. Students
University Grants Commission (UGC) in its 543rd meeting held on 9th August 20-19 approved two Credit Course for awareness about publication ethics and publication misconducts entitled "Research and Publication Ethics (RPE)" to be made compulsory for all PhD students for pre-registration coursework.Click here to download the syllabus.
In view of the above, many PhD scholars as well as resource persons may be in need of the recommended books to carry out this coursework. All these resources are in public domain and can be downloaded from below given links:
महान रचनाकार 'गुरुदेव' रबींद्रनाथ टैगोर का 7 अगस्त 1941 को अवसान
हुआ था। महाकाव्य गीतांजलि के लिए टैगोर को साहित्य का नोबेल दिया
गया था। यहाँ प्रस्तुत कविता 'दीनो दान' 120 वर्ष पहले लिखी गई है मगर
यह आज के परिवेश में भी प्रासंगिक बनी हुई है। आज रबींद्रनाथ टैगोर की
पुण्यतिथि पर पूरा देश उन्हें इस रचना के जरिए याद कर रहा है।
Tagore's original date mark on this poem is 20th of Shravan, 1307, which happened to fall on August 5th of this year. On 5th August 2020, there was a grand show of by the Trust of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. The Prime Minister was invited. The live telecast of the gala event was witnessed by billions of people over electronic media. The Live Streamed on social media was also greeted with warm emotions by devotees of Lord Ram.
While the people involved in the act tries to narrate the event with their version of truth, the truth which is loved by the majority of the day, the truth which seems to be so sweety sweerty and goody goody that all love to talk about it with ornamental language.
Well, the same event which is so loved by the majority of the people (of the day) may not be seen exactly in same light by literary imagination. The mind's eye of the true littérateurimagines the same event is quite an opposite way.
Rabindranath Tagore was one such creative genius. It is an ironical coincidence that Tagore's poem is said to be written on 5th August. This date may be debated as it was marked with Bengali date but his death anniversary fall just on the second day of the euphoria of the Ram Temper Foundation Stone Ceremony, i.e. 7th August.
It is but obvious that people will read Tagore on his death anniversary and may be surprised to see this poem written by him. The poem is so relevant as well as so succinctly reminds us of the way we should have been behaving in the times of nationalistic religiosity in the times of Corona Pandemic #Covid19.
Here is the Hindi translation of the Bengali Poem. Below it is the English version of the poem.
“उस मंदिर में कोई प्रभु नहीं हैं”, कहा सन्त ने।
राजा क्रुद्ध हो गया;
“कोई प्रभु नहीं? हे सन्त! क्या तुम
किसी नास्तिक जैसे नहीं बात कर रहे?
अनमोल रत्नजरित सिंहासन पर,
स्वर्णिम मूर्ति चमक रही है,
फिर भी तुम कहते वह यहाँ नहीं है?”
“खाली नहीं यह मंदिर, इसमे भरा पड़ा है
राजसी दंभ।
तुमने अपना ही मान बढ़ाया है, हे राजा!
संसार के स्वामी का नहीं”,
यूं कहा सन्त ने।
झुंझलाया था फिर राजा, “बीस लाख सिक्के सोने के
बरसाए हमने उस महान कृति पर गगनचुंबी है जो,
और देवताओं को किया समर्पित
सब आवश्यक अनुष्ठानों के बाद,
और तुम्हारी यह धृष्टता कि कहो
नहीं इस विराट मंदिर में भगवान”?
शांति से बोला संत, “उसी साल जब,
दो करोड़ तुम्हारी प्रजा
पीड़ित थी भयंकर सूखे से;
रोटी और छत विहीन विपन्न लोग!
आए तुम्हारे दर पर मांगने सहारा,
मिली बस दुत्कार,
बाध्य हुए वह ढूँढने को आसरा,
जंगलों, कन्दराओं में, पथ-किनारे वृक्षों के नीचे
और खंडहहर पुराने मंदिरों में;
और फिर उसी साल
जब तुमने बीस लाख स्वर्ण मुद्राएं खर्च कर
बनाया अपना यह मंदिर आलीशान,
वही था वह दिन जब भगवान ने कहा:
“मेरा घर तो जगमगाता है
सदा प्रज्ज्वलित दीपों से,
नीले गगन के बीच,
मेरे घर की बुनियादें बनीं हैं मूल्यों से:
सच, शांति, करुणा और प्रेम के।
वह राजा, निर्धन निर्बल कृपण,
अपनी ही प्रजा को जो दे न सका
आश्रय,
क्या वह सच में आशा रखता है
मेरा घर बना सकने की?”
यही वह दिन था
जब त्याग दिया प्रभु ने तुम्हारा वह मंदिर।
और जा मिले पथ किनारे कंगालों से,
पेड़ों के नीचे।
विशाल समुद्र के झाग की रिक्तता की तरह,
तुम्हारा मंदिर भी खाली है।
धन और दंभ मात्र का यह बुलबुला है।
गरजा था फिर राजा,
“अरे धोखेबाज बेवकूफ इंसान,
निकल जा मेरे राज्य से अभी”।
सन्त बोला शांति से,
“वही जगह जहां तुमने किया है निर्वासित भगवान को,
वहीं भेज दो भक्त को भी”।
(अनुवादक: गौरव)
A 120-year-old Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tegore: Translation in English
“There is no god in that temple”, said the Saint.
The King was enraged; “No God? Oh Saint, aren’t you speaking like an atheist? On that throne studded with priceless gems, beams the golden idol, And yet, you proclaim that it is empty?”
“It is not empty; rather, it is full of royal pride. You have bestowed yourself, oh King, not the God of this world”, Remarked the saint.
The King frowned, “2 million golden coins were showered on that grand structure that kisses the sky, I offered it to the Gods after performing all the necessary rituals, And you dare claim that in such a grand temple, There is no presence of God”?
The Saint calmly replied
“In the very year in which twenty million of your subjects were struck by a terrible drought; The desperate masses without any food or shelter, came begging at your door crying for help, only to be turned away, they were forced to take refuge in forests, caves, camping under roadside foliages, derelict old temples; and in that very year, when you spent 2 million gold coins to build that grand temple of yours,
that was the day when God pronounced:
‘My eternal home is lit by everlasting lamps, in the midst of an azure sky. In my home the foundations are built with the values of Truth, Peace, Compassion and Love. This poverty-stricken puny miser, Who could not provide shelter to his own homeless subjects, Does he really fancy he can give Me a home?’
That is the day God left that Temple of yours. And joined the poor beside the roads, under the trees. Like the emptiness of the froth in the vast seas, Your mundane temple is hollow. It is just a bubble of wealth and pride.”
The enraged King howled, “oh you sham cretin of a person, Leave my kingdom this instant”.
The Saint replied calmly, “To the very place to which you have exiled the Divine, Banish now the devout too”.
- Rabindranath Tagore, 20th of Shravan, 1307 (as per Bengali Calendar)
Shunning the opulent shelter of your golden temple
Is engaged upon the sacred devotions of sankirtana
Under the shade of a tree by the roadside.
Scores of devotees swarm the holy man
Tears of uncontrollable bliss overflow their
Down-turned faces, and cleanse the earth with
Waves of piety.Your temple stands near-empty;
As the honeybee, driven wild by the first wafting
Of the perfume from the lotus grove, instantly rejects
The gilded pot of honey and flies briskly over to
Where the lotuses have blossomed in profusion, eager
To quench his thirst, likewise, the great multitudes,
(Caringnot for the glittering temple) run from
Far and wide to there, where down by the edge
Of the street, from the lotus blossom of the
Devotee’s heart, there emanates the fragrance of Heaven.
Upon the jewel-studded throne- the lonesome Deity
Suffers silently in ultimate rejection.”
Hearing this, and understandably vexed, the monarch
Stepped off the royal throne, and with due haste
Rushed to where under the shade below the bough
Sat the sadhu upon his grassy seat. Offeringpranam
At his feet, he spoke thus. “Behold, Father, yonder
Royal temple with the golden dome- its crest
Piercing the sky itself! Why, pray, would you
Reject such grandeur, and offer praises to the divine
Here by the dusty street?”
“The divine resides not inside that vacuous temple,”
The sadhu responded. “Resides not?” retorted
The sovereign in fury. “O Sannyasi- you blaspheme
Like an atheist! Radiant upon a jewel-encrusted throne
Sits in glory the luminous icon of divinity. You call
That empty and vacuous?”
“Not empty, Your Highness, it is full only of Royal
Arrogance. Within that hall of glamor, it is yourself
You have installed, not the benevolent devata.”
With knotted brow, the irate sovereign then spoke thus.
“With the princely sum of two million pieces of gold
Have I created this unblemished temple which
Rises past the clouds, and through the chanting of
Potent puja mantras consecrated to the sacred divinity-
And you tell me that the devatahas not a place within
This temple of glory?”
With an unruffled voice, the sadhu responded-
“That year when a raging wildfire consumed their
Homes and impoverished twenty thousand of your
Subjects- homeless, penniless and desperately hungry,
They stood at your palace door, begging for relief from
Your royal hands. Their collective pleas fell upon deaf
Ears, and without hope, they retreated to the deepest
Forests, into caverns, under the shades of trees by
Street-sides, the courtyards of abandoned old temples
Split asunder by overgrown invading wildasath. That very
Same year,spending your two million pieces of gold
Your Highness created your temple of gold
And consecrated to the divine. That day Bhagwan,
The Compassionate One, spoke thus. “My timeless
Home spread across the limitless Universe is strewn
With countless luminous points of light dispersed
Beyond the endless blue of the sky. That refuge of
Mine is founded ever upon the four pillars of Truth,
Peace, Compassion and Love. The lowly, impoverished
Miser who cannot provide even shelter and safety to his
Own homeless subjects- he dare offer me a home!”
That instant the Compassionate One departed to where
Under the shades of trees languished the impoverished.
The refuge-giver joined his flock, the refugees. Empty
As the bloated foam riding the vast seas- likewise is
Your vaunted temple empty under the vast skies-
Nothing but bubbles of gold and vanity.”
Lighting up like a conflagration, the monarch thundered,
“Bogus lowlife charlatan, leave my kingdom forthwith-
Make haste and begone!”
His voice calm and resolute, the sannyasi replied-
“Where you expelled, my dear King, the beloved of the
Devotees- Your Highness, pray expel me there.”
[Rabindranath Tagore, the timeless cultural icon, identified consistently with the cause of the oppressed and colonized around the world, and spoke out decisively for them in his speeches, lectures, during travels worldwide and conversationswith the greatest minds of his time (which included, rather importantly, some of the greatest in human history, including Albert Einstein, Romain Rolland, H.G. Wells, and many other luminaries including a great many who were influenced and inspired by his work and his message). Most of all, his empathy for the poor, the downtrodden, the tyrannized of the world is graphically emblazoned across his literary writings, and it is well past time that many of these be brought before the world as a whole. Given Tagore’s immense oeuvre, this is a massive task indeed. This translator intends to present some of these, in bits and pieces as long as fate provides the necessary time.
Tagore’s DeenaDaan is a story narrative whose relevance extends far beyond both the space of the kingdom where the event takes place, and also the time frame which extends to all time. It underscores the obscenity of extravagance on the part of the rich and powerful (here depicted through the grandiose actions of a monarch, and yet just as applicable to the obscenity of imperials looters and plunderers, many, many from the haughty Western world, who routinely lay to waste the precious resources of the earth and pile up unimaginable plunder and heartless consumption at the cost of millions of the poor and deprived whose lives are piled high with suffering and violence to keep running the machinery of the inherent evil and arrogance of the mighty). In this balladic story, a vainglorious monarchexpends enormous quantities of gold to build up a glittering temple to benevolent God while at the same time heartlessly turning away thousands of suffering subjects rendered paupers by a wildfire which consumed their all. The arrogant King is taught a lesson in humanity and morality by a highly revered sage who chooses to offer his devotions to God under the trees and upon the dust of the green earth instead of the King’s opulent temple. There is truth here which applies to the imperial, consumerist and market-economy world (the government, business and military nexus which is running berserk in the capitals in Washington, London, Paris and elsewhere) and its heartless greed and arrogance right now in our times.
Narottama– name of the sannyasi; literally, the highest among men.
Sadhu– a holy man, a renunciate, a recluse.
Sankirtana– sacred devotional chants usually to the Lord Krishna practiced by Bengal’s Vaishnavas.
Pranam– the Hindu practice of touching an elder’s feet out of reverence.
Sannyasi- an alternative name for Sadhu; literally, one who has renounced the world.
Devata– the deity or divinity being worshipped.
Asath- also called aswath or the peepul tree, similar to tree of enlightenment associated with the Buddha.
Bhagwan- the Lord of Destiny in Hinduism; often implying God.
The students of Department of English organised Mobile Photography Event in Aug 2017. The photographs were made available online for public voting. In this online competition, the students requested their friends, family members and social media followers to vote the best photos.
Here is the online form with all photos submitted by the participants.
