OXYNOTES

  Write a note on the significance of the title The Rivals. Or, Comment on the significance of the title The Rivals .   Ans:    Being a typical comedy of intrigue in the Restoration era, Sheridan’s play, The Rivals is entitled on that light.   The crux of the entire plot surrounds the rivalry of various characters for winning their prizes. Although a casual look on the title throws a comic colour, but in essence the title is purely satirical.   There are a few critics who argue that the title The Rivals does not carry a very precise relevance. It is often suggested that by this to title Sheridan was referring to the pseudo-rivalry of Captain Jack Absolute and Ensign Beverley. Captain Absolute has to assume the personality of a poor sub-lieutenant to tickle the humour of Lydia Languish, the romantic heroine, who is a lady of peculiar taste of eloping someone poor like Ensign, deserting all her fortune. But her aunt Mrs. Malaprop acts as a wall i...

  Sketch the character of Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan’s The Rivals   Ans:    Introduction Mrs. Malaprop is one of the most famous and interesting character of the play The Rivals . Sheridan has aptly named her “Malaprop” because of her silly misuse of words. This “queen of dictionary” is an ignorant, stupid widow. She is the aunt of Lydia Languish. She objects to Lydia’s love for a poor, penniless, beggarly young man called Ensign Beverley. She wants her niece to marry Sir Anthony’s Absolute’s wealthy son Captain Absolute.   Malaprop: Her stupid and fickle-minded of romance Malaprop is angry with Lydia’s love for Ensign Beverley, but she herself loves and wants to marry an Irish Baronet Sir Lucius O’ Trigger. He then asks Bob Acres to marry her. But Bob Acres also refuses to marry her. At this stage, Sir Anthony Absolute cuts a joke with her saying; “Come, Mrs Malaprop, don’t be cast down-you are bloom yet.” Replying to him sharply she says, “Oh, Si...

  Comment on the significance of Julia-Faulkland Episode in Sheridan’s The Rivals   Ans:    The dramatic work of Sheridan marks at once the height of the reaction against sentimental drama. The attack against sentimental excesses in the main plot is unambiguous and straightforward. But the Julia-Faulkland plot in The Rivals has elicited different responses. Therefore it is contended that Sheridan in this plot intends to appease the sentimentalists, and it expresses his compromise with sentiment.   The Rivals was basically written as a pure and simple comedy, but there are certainly a few sentimental scenes in this play. And, these scenes occur between Faulkland and Julia. The right approach to these scenes could be to regard them not as sentimental in a serious sense but to regard them as a parody of sentimentality.   In The Rivals , love lives in many humorous forms. Cupid’s strange way is remarkably displayed in the love story of Julia and ...

  Sketch the character of Captain Jack Absolute in Sheridan’s The Rivals   Ans: Introduction Captain Jack Absolute is the hero of the play The Rivals . He is the son of the rich baronet (Sir Anthony) and a Captain in the army. He is the central character of the play and the plot is woven around him. Interestingly enough he is the only normal and balanced character in the play.   A masquerader for the sake of love Sheridan has portrayed him as a romantic yet sensible lover; intriguing and fashionable; bold and manly like a captain, and witty, decent, and well behaved. As a gallant youth he has fallen in love with a beautiful lady, Lydia Languish, who is a sentimental fool. He is compelled by the peculiar temperament and inclinations of his sweet heart Lydia to pose that he is a poor Ensign of a humble origin.   Jack Absolute: A practical, realistic man Captain Absolute is the only balanced, practical and realistic character in the play. While Lydia ...

  Write a Critical Appreciation of Ode to a Nightingale Or, Critical Appreciation of Ode to a Nightingale:   Ans:    Ode to a Nightingale is one of the greatest lyrics in English literature. It faithfully represents the entire poetic self of Keats. So it is called a representative poem of the poet. Keats is abundantly and enchantingly sensuous and Ode to a Nightingale is replete with sensuousness.   The poem contains lines expressing an intense desire for sweet wine, lines containing magnificent picture of the moon shining in the sky and lines offering mingled perfume of many flowers: “White hawthorn and the pastoral eglantine: Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves; And mid-May's eldest child, The coming musk- rose, full of dewy wine.”   The poem has a deep undertone of pathos. Keats is dissatisfied with the real world. The weariness, the fever and the fret of the world of reality make him feel unhappy. He wants to fade away and ...

  Discuss Keats as a Romantic Poet. Or, Keats as a Romantic Poet:   Ans:     John Keats is in many ways the most romantic of all romantic poets. Romantic poetry aims at the complete expression of the individual as compared to classical poetry, which aims at the expression of social experience. Other romantic poets have some political or social comment in their poetry. But the poetry of Keats is not a vehicle of any prophecy or any message. It is poetry for its own sake. It has no moral, no political or social significance. It is therefore the purest poetry. All romantic poetry is more or less escapist. Romantic poetry presents not the world of reality but the world of dreams. The romantic poet seeks an escape from the hard realities of life in a world of romance and beauty. Keats is the most romantic of all the poets in the sense that he is most escapist of them all. His "Ode to a Nightingale" is marked by a contrast between the happiness of the bird an...

  Keats is a Poet of both Sensuousness and Thoughts. Discuss Or, Keats' as a Poet of Sensuousness and Thoughts in his Odes.   Ans:     Sensuousness is that quality in poetry which is derived from and affects the sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Sensuous poetry would have an appeal to our eyes by presenting beautiful word- pictures, to our ear by its metrical music, to our nose by arousing our sense of smell, and so on.   In Ode To a Nightingale , the poet describes his feelings on hearing the Nightingale's song. The poem contains lines expressing an intense desire for sweet wine, lines containing a magnificent picture of the moon shining in the sky with the stars around her, and lines offering mingled perfume of many flowers: "White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine; Fast fading violets covered up in leaves; And mid-May's eldest child, The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine."   Ode to Autumn is a remarkable ex...

  Q.06. Compare and contrast between the poem 'The Lamb' and 'The Tyger' by William Blake   Ans:    “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” are both representative poems of William Blake. They celebrate two contrary states of human soul – innocence and experience.   “The Tyger” shows how experience destroys the state of childlike innocence and puts destructive forces in its place. It beaks the free life of imagination, and substitutes a dark, cold, imprisoning four, and the result is a deadly blow to blithe human spirit. The fear and denial of life which come with experience breed hypocrisy which is as grave a sin as cruelty. When innocence is destroyed by experience, God creates the tiger (i.e. fierce forces) to restore mind to innocence.   “The Lamb” celebrates the divinity and innocence not merely of the child but also of the least harmless of creatures on earth, the lamb. The child asks the lamb if it knows who has created it, given it its beautif...