Dramatic ironical elements in The Spanish Tragedy

The Spanish Tragedy is a famous play of Elizabethan age. It was written by Thomas Kyd and it is perhaps the best drama of this playwright. We know that it is mainly a revenge play but at the same time it is full of dramatic irony. In fact, from the beginning to the end, we find a lot of examples of dramatic irony. Before going any further we should try to know about dramatic irony. In dramatic irony, what happens is that the character says something but the reality is different. Ignorance is one factor. Out of ignorance, the character says something and we know that the opposite is happening or has already happened or will happen in future. Secondly, an irony is also something by which we see the character says something but the opposite happens.

In The Spanish Tragedy, in many of the occasions, the characters give some speeches and what we can find is the opposite has already happened or will happen. We can perhaps start the matter of Spanish king. He hears Spain has defeated Portugal in a war and he is very happy for this matter. He expressed his satisfaction but we know that this victory will become very bad for the king. Yes, the king has won the war and he will lose a lot of his family members in the end.

The same thing can be said about the Portuguese Viceroy. The Portuguese viceroy hears that his son has been killed. However, it was not true and in fact his son Balthazar has unfairly and unjustly killed Don Andrea who is the lover of Bel-Imperia. This unfair killing starts some other killings. The Viceroy is very sad with the faults news of a son’s death in war. But the irony is that in the end will get murdered in front of his own eyes. When Bel-Imperia hears the news of the death of Don Andrea, she is at first very sad and then she decide that she would take Horatio as her new lover. She tries to give comfort to herself that with this action she will be able to get some revenge of her first lover’s death. However, what we can see is that the opposite thing happens. In stead of getting revenge, for the death of Don Andrea, the love relationship between Bel-Imperia and Horatio become the cause of Horatio. Not only that, Horatio gets killed while secretly meeting Bel-Imperia.

Bel-Imperia and Horatio met each other secretly in two scenes of The Spanish Tragedy and they are full of irony. They feel that they are safe and good time will come to them. However, their secret meeting becomes the place of their death.

Perhaps the best example of irony is the death scene of Pedringano. Pedringano was a bad person and he killed Horatio after being influenced by Lorenzo. Lorenzo thinks that he must get rid of Pedringano so that in future Pedringano can not source of danger for him. So, Pedringano is taken into court for justice and he is sentenced to death. Lorenzo tells Pedringano that he has arranged pardon for him and for this matter Pedringano was very confident that nothing would happen to him. So, he made fun with the hangman. Until the last moment, he did not understand that Lorenzo betrayed with him. As a result he got killed.

A very big example of dramatic irony is the play within play scene done by Hieronimo. Hieronimo arranges a drama and in it, he got the support of Bel-Imperia. Hieronimo killed Lorenzo and Bel-Imperia killed Balthazar. Then Bel-Imperia committed suicide and Hieronimo told everyone that whatever they saw until now was real. The King and the Portuguese Viceroy and the King’s brother could not understand that everything was real. They praised the acting of everyone that the acting was very real but they did not understand that it was real acting and this is very good example of dramatic irony used by Thomas Kyd in this drama The Spanish Tragedy.

Final scene of Doctor Faustus

Doctor Faustus is the best play of Christopher Marlowe. Doctor Faustus perhaps shows that why Christopher Marlowe is sometimes compared with William Shakespeare despite the fact that Marlowe wrote much fewer numbers of plays than Shakespeare. The final scene is an interesting one and it is totally different from the rest of the drama. In the final scene we find a very different Faustus and he is ready to repent to god but it is too late. So, it is totally opposite from what we have seen from the beginning until to the last moment in the play. Thus it creates an interesting fact on the audience of the play.

In the final scene, we find a soliloquy of Faustus. He has only one hour to live. It was eleven O’clock at night and after one hour the devil will capture his soul and he will be damned forever. In other words, he will go to hell forever and he will suffer. He understands that whatever he enjoyed will be lost now. So, he became too much afraid. He also losses hope.

He tries to pray to god but he can not. He has done so big sin that it has become impossible to pray to god or get the forgiveness from god. He also tries to pray to Jesus Christ but he understands that his heart can not do it very well. After thirty minutes gone then he became more afraid. He thinks of Pythagorian philosophy in which it is stated that after the death of a person the soul enters into the life of a beast. He hopes that this philosophy was true and this way he would not suffer but his soul would go to the body of a beast. He thought that the beasts have no pain and no suffering. They have no sorrow. This way he wanted to save himself at any cost.

Whatever Doctor Faustus tried, he grew more desperate and he lost more hope. He understood that there is nothing for him and he must suffer. However, it is difficult for him to accept it. Here, Marlowe has shown that every man has the same mentality. We all are afraid to die. Even the person who knows that he has only six months left is afraid to die and does not want to die. We all think that we can live and we don’t want to think of death. However, for Faustus, it was very tragic and it was very painful. He knew when he would die. One of the good parts of human being like us is that we do not know when death will capture us. This way, there is an uncertainty and we can remain happy and we can feel that may be death will not this year or next year. However, for Faustus it is quite opposite. His perhaps the greatest punishment was that he knew when he would die.

Christopher Marlowe here has dealt with psychology of Faustus very well. The knowledge of Faustus was the source of his all happiness. He got power and all knowledge became under his capacity. However, in the end, the knowledge of the timing of his death became the ultimate source of his sadness.

After Doctor Faustus dies, the chorus gives us the moral lesson of the play. Moral lesson is that we should not be too much obsessed with illegal things and we should try to follow religion. Here, by religion, the chorus has meant Christianity not any other religion. Any way, Christopher Marlowe has perhaps accepted Christianity but at the same time he showed the renaissance spirit when Doctor Faustus talked about the philosophy of Pythagoras. We know that one of the renaissance elements was Greek classical philosophy and literature. Doctor Faustus knows he will die and when he is dying he praises to god and Jesus Christ but at the same time he remembers Greek philosophy.

The soliloquy of Faustus is perhaps one of the best in Elizabethan drama. Here, we find very good analysis of human psychology by Christopher Marlowe.

Doctor Faustus as a tragic hero

Doctor Faustus is the most famous play of Christopher Marlowe and this play alone has perhaps made that his name will be mortal in the history of English literature and English drama. This play shows that he was of high skilled as a playwright and he could write very good drama. It is a tragedy of Doctor Faustus that is the main point of this play.

Before moving on further, we should discuss about the definition of a tragic hero. A tragic hero is obviously a hero of a tragedy drama. However, this is not enough. Perhaps the first tragic hero in history of drama is Oedipus in ‘Oedipus Rex’ of Sophocles. There we could find that Oedipus in the end suffers tragic consequence but he was higher than ordinary people. This matter is very important. A hero of the tragedy should not be an ordinary man but should be some higher and extra ordinary. He is exceptional than other people.

From this point of view, perhaps we can say that Doctor Faustus is a good example of tragic hero. If we look at the opening scene then we will notice that he was unhappy because he grew tired of life. He was a scholar and he wanted new knowledge. He got all the knowledge but except black magic. He realized that he did not have all the knowledge and there was something missing. So, he sought the new knowledge and he was not afraid of it. He was also not afraid of anything a deal with Lucifer and Mephistopheles.

After Doctor Faustus could make a deal with Mephistopheles then he started to enjoy all the knowledge but the main problem is that instead of gaining more knowledge, he became hungry for power. He wanted to be the boss of everyone and he wanted that other obey him. This is the thing that ultimately leads him into the tragedy. This is the thing that perhaps also takes away the sympathy from the audience.

I think that the main problem of Doctor Faustus is that he was proud and he was greedy. Although, he was thirsty for knowledge but in his character, there was a mixture of knowledge and power both. He was not happy along with knowledge but he wanted to become the dominant person. That is why, I think that his tragic flow was pride and thirst. He was also very proud and not satisfied with the things he got. His pride makes him abnormal and this way he wanted to make a deal with the devil despite knowing after a certain period of time his soul will be captured and he will suffer eternal damnation. The last scene perhaps disappoints the audience because there we can find that Doctor Faustus hopeless and desperate. He wanted to get back his belief on god and Jesus Christ. He regretted a lot why he made the deal with Lucifer. He perhaps wanted another chance from god. It is clear that if he got another chance or opportunity from god then he would not waste it and he would denounced Lucifer and come back into the way of god.

I think that Doctor Faustus is a renaissance tragic hero. Like many other people in renaissance time, he had the desire to go beyond the limit of knowledge and religion. He also challenged religion but in the end he could not win over religion. The struggle between religion and the new class of educated people who were secular by nature is perhaps the main theme of renaissance. Thus, I think that Doctor Faustus was a renaissance tragic hero.

Doctor Faustus is a renaissance man/hero.

Doctor Faustus is the most famous drama of Christopher Marlowe. Christopher Marlowe belonged to the Elizabethan age and he was one of the top dramatists of his age. He did not write a lot of plays but all his plays are of high quality and he can be easily compared with his contemporary Williams Shakespeare. If you read Doctor Faustus then you will understand that he was in no way a lesser dramatist than Shakespeare. In Doctor Faustus, we can find renaissance elements and many people think that Doctor Faustus is a renaissance man. I think that it has both renaissance and anti-renaissance elements. However, mostly it has renaissance elements and just one or two anti-renaissance elements.

The word renaissance means rebirth. Here, it means rebirth of classical knowledge of Greece and Rome. What happened is that after the Roman Empire got destroyed, Europe fell into Dark Age and then, the Christian Church was the dominant force. There was no good education and knowledge. Ordinary people did not have any scope of gaining knowledge and this way superstition became more common in the society. The Catholic Church became very powerful. However, in the 12^th and 13^th century, in Italy the renaissance movement started. The main goal was to find out the books of ancient Greece and Rome and again study them and discover the knowledge. It was like breaking the darkness of medieval Europe. There was a conflict between religion and knowledge and in the end the scholars could become the winner. Religion did not lose its importance totally but there was new protest against Catholic ideas of Christianity. The supremacy of Pope was challenged by the Protestants. In Doctor Faustus, renaissance has come in many ways. Here, I am going to discuss about the renaissance elements in Doctor Faustus.

If we look at the character of Doctor Faustus then the first thing we can find about him is that he was a scholar. He valued knowledge more than everything else. He was not satisfied with the knowledge he acquired. He wanted to gather more knowledge. This thirst in him is a very important renaissance element. Renaissance spirit was to gather knowledge, people should sacrifice their life.

Renaissance also praised individualism in stead of society. Faustus was an individualistic type of hero. He did not care for what others thought or what the society said. In stead he wanted to have his own ideas and challenge others. It is not that he was always right but he had individualistic ideas all the way in the drama.

I have stated earlier that renaissance challenged the supremacy of Catholic pope in Vatican. The same thing can be seen by Doctor Faustus. He has challenged Christianity and taken the support of the evil. Mephistopheles was evil and he wanted to take the soul of Doctor Faustus. Well, Doctor Faustus exchanged his soul for gaining more knowledge and Mephistopheles promised that any kind of knowledge will be within the power of Faustus.

A very important renaissance element was an appreciation of beauty and art. When Faustus became very powerful then he wanted to have a very beautiful wife and he selected Helen from Greek mythology. We know that Helen was the most beautiful woman in Ancient Greece and for her the battle between Troy and Greece was fought. Also, it is clear from the drama that Faustus had good appreciation about art. Here, I like to say that in renaissance Italy, painters and sculptures like Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael produced some great piece of works and thus changed the history of human civilization. Doctor Faustus had the same spirit about beauty.

There are some anti-renaissance elements that we can see in Doctor Faustus. Well, what we can see is that after he became very powerful he started to use his power for very small things. For example, he started to use his power to often nonsense and useless people. He turned the people he did not like as animals. This was not a good thing. He also became greedy for money and luxury. He did not give that much importance for knowledge for which his soul is sold. In stead, he spent his life for luxury and this is against the renaissance spirit.

Perhaps the most anti-renaissance element in Doctor Faustus is the death scene. When he was dying, he became very coward and he forgot everything and he wanted to get the forgiveness of god. He wanted to again come back to religion and Christianity. It was he who fought against the Christian ideas and made fun with religion but when death came to him he became very afraid.

Of course, it is natural because when a person is dying then he becomes very afraid. And secondly, if he was shown that he was not afraid of death and accepted death easily and did not care of Christianity then the audience of Christopher Marlowe’s time would become angry. Christopher Marlowe would have suffered from the Church that he was against Christianity. So, we have to think of the time that Christopher Marlowe wrote the drama.

In conclusion, I like to say that Doctor Faustus was a renaissance man and we have to remember the contribution of the scholars who dedicated their lives for bringing renaissance in Europe.

Is night the best Time for Writing?

I have heard this thing from many people that their best time of writing is at night. I do not know the reason but I think that they may feel that at night, nature is quite and there is less sound pollution to deal with if you live in a city. As for me, I am more of a night worker. I don’t know how I can change my sleeping habit. I wish that I could do it but it is very difficult. At day, interruptions are easier to happen. For example, a guest may come to your home. You may have to do the shopping and cooking. Then there is the sound of cars all the time if you live in a busy neighborhood like me. However, at night, there is less distractions. In fact, it is now 5 AM my time in my city and there is no sound at all. So, I can concentrate on my writing better. The only problem is that I have started to feel sleepy.

I don’t think that night is the best time for writing. I think that if possible you should try to work at day time because it is the natural thing to do. If you are awake at night all the time then you just make your health weaker day by day. 

A writer should Work 8 Hours or Even More

When you want to take writing as a profession, you may think at first that it has a lot of freedom. You get free from 9-5 job. Yes, it is true but at the same time, you have to work more. The only good part is that you can work anytime you like. You don’t need to go to office and work 9-5. On the other hand, you can work in your home. Sometimes, you have to go library for research. Thanks God that Internet has done this part much easier. In the past, to check something, I had to go a library that has Encyclopedia Britanica other reference books but now thanks to Internet, I can find any information any time.

Well, I have to say that Internet has given us best opportunity. Anyway, coming back to the original topic, just remember that you have to work at least 8 hours or even more. Sometimes, I feel that I want to write but it is difficult to sit so long time. However, then I have to find another field. Writing is a serious work. You should not neglect it at all.

The Gift of the Magi: Just One Reason to Read a Short Story

It was perhaps my good luck that in college, we had to study the short story The Gift of the Magi written by O. Henry. It my most favorite short story and I have ready it many many times. I first read it in 1990 and that was 19 years ago. My enjoyment of reading it has not diminished at all and has increased over the years. That time, I was a teenager boy and the story profoundly affected. I dreamt that someday, my own couple life will be like this. Thanks God that it has been even perhaps better. However, for the idea of happy couple life, I think that I owe a lot from The Gift of the Magi.

The plot of the story is very simple. Jim and Della are a loving and happy couple. Their economic condition is not good. It is the day before Christmas. Jim had no money to buy any gift for his wife and vice versa. He had a gold watch which he inherited from his family and he sold it to buy a set of expensive combs so that Della can take better care of her lovely hair. Della has extraordinary hair and they are long and shiny. She sold the hair to buy a chain for that gold watch of Jim. This way, what they bought became useless but they understood that they are the happiest couple.

This short story created the thrust in me to find a girl like Della in real life. Fortunately, I found one and she was in Internet in another country. Even we did not have the same language and she was very weak in English. Still, we love each other a lot and we waited for each other in Internet for nearly 4 years. Many people around me laughed at me that I was wasting my time for an Internet girl. I came from a lower middle class family and even saving enough money to visit her country was impossible for 4 years.

It was my good luck that I read The Gift of the Magi at a very early age and it surely influenced me a lot. All I can tell you is that if you have not read the short story then do it right away. You can read it free in Internet here: http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html

I wish that in our own time, we have good short stories like this. By the way, there is one short story that I have written and you can find it here: http://write-translate.blogspot.com/2006/02/helpless-short-story.html

So, enjoy my story for the time being. 

World Cup Cricket 2011 will Start from Bangladesh

It gives me a lot pleasure to inform you that ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 will start from Bangladesh- my country. This will be the biggest event for this country. We have never hosted any sporting event bigger than perhaps SAF Games. So, it is nice to see that the opening ceremony will take place here and also the opening match. The first match will be between India and Bangladesh. In World Cup 2007, Bangladesh caused a major upset by defeating India. So, we are hoping that the same thing may happen in 2011.

I can imagine that Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur will be packed with the spectators and there will be huge support for Bangladesh national team. Bangladesh will play all the group matches in front of their home crowd. The matches will take place in February and March and at this time of the year, weather is excellent. There is almost no possibility of rain despite the fact that Bangladesh has one of the highest rainfalls in the world. When it comes to security concerns, I think that of all the 3 countries hosting the event, Bangladesh has most peace and least amount of violence. So, you can think of coming here that time.

For complete schedule of the event, visit this entry: ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 Schedule

Where is Bangla Literature in this Blog?

Today, I got an email from a reader that in the Feedburner, I claimed that it is a blog about Bangla or Bengali literature but where is any information about it. I replied the reader through email and here, I would like to just remind the readers that in the achieve of this blog, you can find content related to Bangla literature. You can also do some search too. One of the things that discouraged me from continuing about it was the lack of response from the readers. I wish that I could get some dedicated readers who would visit daily and put comments and thus we can have good interaction. I started this blog out of passion about literature not to earn money. So, if we could get some interested readers then writing would have been enjoyable for us.

Hopefully, someday we can give more time and more people would visit here. I started this blog 3 and half years ago and still I cannot find a lot of information about Bangla literature in Internet.