SHORT QUESTIONS PG 3

SHORT QUESTIONS

PG III

What is the dramatic function of Celia in Volpone?

Every character plays a role, be it for good or bad, the protagonist, or the antagonist, or merely the support. They have a purpose and a part to play. In Volpone by Ben Jonson, as one of the two female characters in the play, the character of Celia plays an interesting role. The part she plays is that of the victim, her overwhelming innocence and beauty are intensified to enhance our sympathy for her plight. She is used as an extreme and the most obvious example of the theme of the commodification of the body that Ben Jonson is trying to present.

Celia is seen as a sexual object, that in merely glancing at a man it must be an attempt to seduce him, that there is no possibility of any other motive. Her husband in a fit of rage accuses her of adultery, asking “were you enamored…?” (2.5.11). He boils her character down to the basest of desires, that seeing a man she sets to instantly lusting after him. Her husband seeks to horde her and lock her way, it becomes a point of reputation, of status to have such a beautiful wife. He wishes to have her simply so no one else does. However, the moment she could be used to gain more, she becomes a possession to be bartered and traded. Mosca in stating Celia had arrived, showed how little the men respected and cared for her, “[Signor Corvino] hearing of the consultation had/ So lately for your health, is comm to offer,/Or rather sir to prostitute—[his wife]” (3.7.72-74).

Mosca in an attempt to seduce Volpone towards her describes her as “Bright as your gold, and lovely as your gold!” (1.5.114). Gold is the commodity Volpone most desires and hordes, the object Volpone lusts after. Mosca is comparing Celia to his gold, and in essence transferring those feelings Volpone has for his wealth to her, feelings of greed, and possessiveness. When Celia refuses to be unfaithful to her husband with Volpone he threatens, “Yield or I’ll force thee,” he sees her as something with no will, no true agency, just more gold for him to do with what he will (3.8.265).

Celia plays another role to Bonario the only one who treats her with any form of respect. To him she is the damsel in distress, the one to be protected, in this way, there is the question of if he simply protects her because he considers it a man’s duty and honor, rather than seeing her as a person with rights and a will. Bonario loudly and rather eccentrically proclaims to Volpone, “Forbear, foul ravisher, libidinous swine!/ Free the forced lady or thou diest, imposter” (3.7.66-67). Celia is merely an object to be guarded.

The readers, are the only ones who have any sympathy for Celia, as they know the true story of her horror, but to the reader she merely plays the simple role of showing us how truly despicable these character are, and how little they think of others. Despite being one of the very few morally true characters, she is not one of the more interesting characters, due to the fact her moral rigidity makes her flat. A morally strong character can be fascinating and fabulous, but they need the wavering and uncertainty that makes us all human.

Ben Jonson uses Celia to comment on the corruption of people and show how far the commodification of the body had gone. He uses her to enhance and flesh out these issues in a way that shows the true destructive nature of vices. The role she also plays is that of the morally good, showing that while there are truly horrible, corrupt Catholics, there are also those who are good and just.

What role does Miss Prism play in The Importance of Being Earnest?

Miss Prism is Cecily's governess at Jack's house in the country. As such, her position is that of a social anomaly in that her status is greater than that of an ordinary servant, but less than that of a member of her employer's family. On the other hand, in other works of nineteenth-century literature (notably Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, 1847, and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey, 1847) the governess's unstable social position was treated as potentially tragic. The governess was generally a middle-class woman whose class status was called into question by the fact that she had to earn her own living instead of being supported financially by either her husband or her father. On the other hand, whilst teaching as a governess in a private home was a low-paid occupation, it was at least respectable.

In this context, however, Miss Prism is a comic figure blissfully unaware of her own comic potential. Like Lady Bracknell, she is past the age when women have traditionally been viewed as sexually attractive: as Lady Bracknell puts it, Miss Prism is 'a female of repellent aspect, remotely connected with education' (Act III, p. 308) – a cruel but accurate description. Unlike Lady Bracknell, however, Miss Prism lacks social power, hence her comically desperate attempts to persuade Canon Chasuble into marriage as a way of escaping her marginal social status. She is also a modified version of the stock character of the sexually voracious older woman to be found in the comedy of manners and other modes of eighteenth-century fiction. Here, though, the comedy comes not so much from the actual pursuit of Canon Chasuble, which is sedate if desperate, but from the fact she cannot break the bounds of propriety to speak her desires in so many words. There is a mismatch between appearance and reality, and between language and the realities it is supposed to express.

Miss Prism's name is important too. In physics, a prism is an object which separates white light into the constituent colours of the rainbow. One assumes that Miss Prism is dowdy rather than well-dressed, so that there is a comedy even in her name. Add to that the possibility that Miss Prism is a near pun on 'misprision', meaning 'misunderstanding', and one can see that Lady Bracknell is more accurate than perhaps she intends when she says that the governess is only 'remotely connected with education'. Her use of language, and in particular her coinage of the neologism 'womanthrope' (Act II, p. 279), implies that her own education is scarcely adequate to the task of teaching Cecily.

She is also profoundly narrow-minded, moralistic and old-fashioned. Her attitude to the 'wickedness' of Ernest is un-Christian and unforgiving, and the novel that she wrote in which 'the good ended happily, and the bad ended unhappily' (Act II, p. 275) is suitable only for the circulating libraries – it is not a work of high literature with complex moral values. She is so concerned with respectability that she even tells Cecily to leave out a chapter on the fall of the rupee in her political economy as unsuitable for a young girl to read unchaperoned: 'It is too sensational. Even these metallic problems have their melodramatic side' (Act II, p. 276). She is a prude who does not really know the proper limits of prudery.

Despite the fact that she is generally ineffectual, however, Miss Prism's role in the play's plot is also important. It is she who is ultimately responsible for Jack Worthing's having been discovered in hand-bag when she mixes up her novel and the baby in her care twenty-eight years before the action begins. Her fortuitous presence in Jack's household is too much of a coincidence to be viewed in any sense realistically: Miss Prism's role is to pile on the comedic grotesquerie of the absurd world which Oscar Wilde has created. The coincidence for which she is responsible, along with her absurd three-volume novel, constitute Oscar Wilde's attack on the Victorian tradition of realism in fiction and drama, in which literary texts were supposed to be accurate reflections of real life, to encompass complex moral problems, and to be based on a belief in cause and effect in narrative lines rather than coincidence.

Comment critically on the use of magic as a trope in The Tempest.

Shakespeare draws heavily on magic in The Tempest—indeed, it is often described as Shakespeare’s most magical play. Certainly, the language in this play is particularly magical and quotable. Magic in The Tempest takes many different forms and is represented variously throughout the play.

Prospero’s Books and Magic

Prospero's books symbolize his power—and in this play, knowledge is power. However, the books also represent his vulnerability, as he was studying when Antonio took his power.

Caliban explains that without his books, Prospero is nothing, and encourages Stefano to burn them. Prospero has taught his own daughter from these books, but in many ways she is ignorant, having never seen more than two men and no women since she was three. Books are all very well but they are no substitute for experience. Gonzalo ensures that Prospero is furnished with his books on his journey, for which Prospero will always be grateful.

Prospero appears to be all-powerful with his magical staff at the beginning of the play, but in order to become powerful in Milan—where it really matters—he must relinquish his magic. His learning and his books led to his downfall in Milan, allowing his brother to take over.

Knowledge is useful and good if you use it in the right ways. At the end of the play, Prospero renounces his magic and, as a result, can return to a world where his knowledge is valued but where magic has no place.

Mystical Noises and Magical Music

The play opens with the deafening noise of thunder and lightning, creating tension and anticipation for what is to come. The splitting ship inspires a “confused noise within.” The island is “full of noises,” as Caliban observes, and many of the characters are seduced by music, following the sounds as if they were being led.

Ariel speaks to the characters unseen and this is alarming and disconcerting to them. Trinculo gets blamed for Ariel’s comments.

The music and strange noises contribute to the mysterious and magical elements of the island. Juno, Ceres, and Iris bring beautiful music to celebrate the nuptials of Miranda and Ferdinand, and the magical banquet is also accompanied by music. Prospero’s power is manifested in the noise and music he creates; The Tempest and terrifying sound of dogs are his creation.

The Tempest

The magical tempest that starts the play represents Prospero’s power but also his suffering at the hands of his brother. The storm symbolizes the political and social unrest in Milan. It also represents Prospero’s darker side, his vengeance, and his willingness to go to any lengths to get what he wants. The tempest reminds the characters and the audience of their vulnerability.

Appearance and Substance

Things are not what they materially seem in The Tempest. Caliban is not considered by Prospero or Miranda to be human: “…A freckled whelp, hag-born—not honored with/A human shape” (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 287-8). However, they felt they gave him good care: “I have used thee,/Filth as thou art, with human care” (Act 1 Scene 2). Even though they didn’t believe him to deserve the human care, they gave it to him.​

It is difficult to fully reconcile Caliban’s true nature. His appearance is described in many different ways and he is often referred to as a ‘monster’ but there are moments in the play where Caliban is quite poetic and describes the isle with love and beauty. There are other moments when he is presented as a brutish monster; for example, when he tries to rape Miranda.

However, Miranda and Prospero can’t have it both ways—either Caliban is a monster and an animal who will do brutish things—at which they shouldn’t be surprised (and, one could argue, could therefore justifiably be treated like a slave) or he is human and brutish due to his oppression which is their doing.

Comment on the significance of the bear squirrel symbol in Look Back in Anger.

The bear and squirrel game in Look Back in Anger is a symbolic device that serves an important dramatic purpose. The conjugal life of Jimmy and Alison is marked by tension .The game in fact makes them forget the bitterness of their marriage life and give them momentary happiness.

Alison and jimmy's bear and squirrel game gives them a way to access a simple affection for each other that they cannot achieve in normal life.

Their relationship is a site of class and social conflict as Alison comes from middle class family and Jimmy from a working class.

When they act like animal they only concern about food and shelter and sex ,they forget the conflict and feel a simple version of love for each other .

As wild animals yet simple as there were no class distinctions and  love was pure and innocent .The bear which symbolize jimmy is a gruff wild creature just like bear and often he behaved like bear as restless and isolate .

And Alison represent softness tender and a tinny creature woolly squirrel. 

The bear and squirrel represent jimmy and Alison respectively only this game shows them as a romantic couple but in the reality they are like enemy of each other and jimmy always mock about Alison’s family and rude to her.

The bear and squirrel are stuffed toy that Alison and jimmy keep on their dressing table .In the beginning of the play it also shows as an important symbol.

Alison has a bitter experience after her marriage with jimmy .She married jimmy much against her parents .The social class were different between Alison and Jimmy .
Alison's parents didn't agree with their marriage, as jimmy had no accommodation of his own and he was jobless .After their married they had to stay with Huge one of jimmy's friend.

The conjugal relationship between Alison and Jimmy was so worst that Alison didn't reveal her pregnancy to him. 

When Helana suggests to her to reveal her pregnancy to jimmy or must ge out of this mad house, Alison points out the game of bear and squirrel as an escape from reality.

The game is a kind of escape for Alison and Jimmy from the harsh realities of life and their failure to adjust themselves to each other in their marital life.

In act 1 when Clifff goes out, Jimmy and Alison begin to play the game bear and squirrel .Jimmy affectionately calls Alison as beautiful grey eyed squirrels.

Alison pleased so much that she produces the sound of squirrel and calls jimmy a jolly bear a really marvelous bear.

In this moment of happiness she was about to tell her pregnancy to Jimmmy but suddenly cliff enters the room and Alison 's dream shattered .

Meanwhile, being fed up with the rude behavior of Jimmy, Alison decides to leave him, picks up the toy squirrel from the drawers, is about to put it in her suitcase but puts it back in the drawer.

Her picking up the toy shows her feeling of nostalgia and putting it back shows her disillusionment and disappointment.

At the end of the play when Alison came back to him there was a romantic affection between them and jimmy takes Alison in his arms and console her saying that they again will play bear and squirrel game.

Thus the game is significant for the developing the action of the play. And it takes them out of reality of life to the romantic world....................................................................................................................

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Milan Tomic

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