English Literature

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN Comedy of Manners is a name given to witty, intellectual form of dramatic comedy that depicts and often satirizes the manners and affectations of a contemporary society. The plot of such a comedy usually concerned with an illicit love affair or similarly scandalous matter. It also consists witty dialogue and pungent commentary on human foibles. Plays of this type are typically set in the world of the upper class, and ridicule the pretensions of those who consider themselves socially superior, deflating them with satire. With witty dialogue and cleverly constructed scenarios, comedies of manners comment on the standards and mores of society and explore the relationships of the sexes. Marriage is a frequent subject. Typically, there is little depth of characterization; instead, the playwrights used stock character types�the fool, the schemer, the hypocrite, the jealous husband, the interfering old paren...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN �The School for Scandal� is a very skillfully constructed play. It has two separate plots which are linked together through the Teazles. A close examination of the play will show that there are in fact three plots--- one, the marital relations of Peter and his Lady; second, the love of Charles and Maria and third, the arrival of Sir Oliver and his discovery of the true character of Joseph. One might almost add a forth- Lady Sneerwell� attempt to secure Charles for himself. All these are cleverly woven together by the agency of the arch hypocrite Joseph who is equally at home in Sir Peter�s house and in the company of Lady Sneerwell. Joseph is courting Maria; Joseph is making love to Lady Teazle; Joseph is plotting with Lady Sneerwell; Joseph is playing the false friend to Sir Peter; Joseph�s finger is in every pie.           In the opening scene Snake and La...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN Sheridan�s admirers say that his comic characters go beyond others. His dialogue is wittier, is situations are funnier and his satire is more biting. �The School for Scandal� is an excellent example of satirical and artificial kind of comedy, which depicts the manners, follies and hypocrisy of the age with the help of a well-constructed plot and witty dialogues. Realism And Satire On Scandal Mongering           Unlike the Elizabethan romantic comedy, �The School for Scandal� is characterized by realism, social analysis and satire. Sheridan held a mirror to the finer society of his time and portrayed their Love-intrigues and hypocrisy. To destroy other�s characters was a favorite pass-time for the scandal mongers. In the words of Sir Peter Teazle:             �Mercy on me! Here is the whole set! A charact...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN A comedy, like the drama in general, may be of two types�Classical and Romantic. The classical comedy follows the rules of dramatic composition as laid down by the ancient Greek and Roman masters. Its models are the classical dramatists like Plautus, Terence and Aristophanes. The more important of these rules are: The observance of the three unities of time, place and action. The strict separation of the comic and the tragic, or the light and serious elements. Realism. It deals with the everyday familiar life of ordinary people Its aim is corrective and satiric. Some human folly, weakness, or social vice is exposed and ridiculed. It laughs at the people and not with them. The most noted exponent of the Classical Comedy in England was a younger contemporary of Shakespeare, Ben Johnson.           William Shakespeare's ...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare �s The Merchant of Venice . He is a middle-aged bachelor and merchant by trade who has his financial interests tied up in overseas shipments when the play begins. He is kind, generous, honest and confident, and is loved and revered by all the Christians who know him. Even Portia , who sees Antonio as a rival for her husband�s affections, reveres his character and appreciates his willingness to die for Bassanio. Passive And Non-Combative The key-note of his character is melancholy, and it is struck in the very first words he utters: � In sooth I know not why I am so sad�. And again             I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano A stage where every man must play a part And mine a sad one. There is a lack of combativeness and self-assertion in his character. In the process of the trial, while fri...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN Portia has been called by critics one of the most perfectly developed female characters of Shakespeare. S. A. Brooke has called her, �the queen of beauty�. Jessica calls her beautiful �past all expressing�. She possesses physical as well as the beauty of character. She is so beautiful that suitors come to woe her from distant lands like so many Jasons in search of Golden Fleece. Cultured And Learned Portia is one of the most prominent of Shakespeare's heroines in his mature romantic comedies. She is beautiful, gracious, rich, intelligent, and quick-witted. Born in rich, aristocratic family, she is noble, generous and large-hearted. She has been given the best of education by a wise father, and so is cultured and refined. She represents all that is sweetest and best in womanhood. She can quote with perfect ease from classical writers, and frequently alludes to classical mythology. With all her refi...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare 's play The Merchant of Venice . Because of the character's notable request of a "pound of flesh" for security interest, individuals considered to charge excessive interest on loans are sometimes called "Shylock." The creation of Shylock is one of the triumphs of Shakespeare�s art of characterization.  He is highly complex nature, and hence most varied and contradictory estimates of his character have been given. Shakespeare has shown the Jew as cruel, savage, relentless, vindictive and greedy, with all the atrocity traditionally associated with the Jewish character; and yet he has succeeded in enlisting our sympathies for him. His Passion For Money Passion for revenge and passion for money are the two leading traits of his character. He is a miser who hoards, and for him even to spend a single penny is a torture. He...

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN William Shakespeare   (1564-1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His surviving works, including some   collaborations , consist of about 38   plays , 154   sonnets , two long   narrative poems , two epitaphs on a man named John Combe, one epitaph on Elias James, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare   is perhaps most famous for his tragedies. Most of his tragedies were written in a seven-year period between 1601 and 1608. These include his four major tragedies   Hamlet , Othello ,   King Lear   and   Macbeth , along with   Antony & Cleopatra ,   Coriolanus ,   Cymbeline ,   Julius Caesar , all of w...