Category Famous Characters from World Literature

What is a cliffhanger?

Don’t we all love cliffhangers? It’s the suspense element that keeps us hooked to a story.

The term is used to refer to a book of suspense or the suspense element in a story. In serialised stories, at the end of an episode. The protagonist is placed in a grave situation like hanging from a cliff, leaving the reader in anticipation. The idea is to sustain the reader’s interest in the story and ensure that he reads the next episode.

The technique became popular in the 1900s when newspapers serialised stories. It was then adapted in television serials and soap operas.

However, diffhangers were used even earlier, in Victorian novels. Wilkie Collins, well-known for his novel “The Woman in White”. used the technique very successfully, keeping the readers engrossed with elements of suspense.

What is pulp fiction?

Pulp fiction refers to sensational, racy serialised stories of crime and romance often printed on low-quality paper. The paper was made from cheap wood pulp.

In early 19th century England and USA books or magazines containing sensational serialised stories of crime and romance became very popular among working class men and women. The stories had lurid and colourful illustrations. Since they cost a penny in England and a dime in the US… they were referred to as ‘penny dreadfuls and ‘dime novels. The books were printed on paper made from very cheap wood pulp and haphazardly cut and bound. Each book had just 10 pages, but publishers came out with new issues every week. Though dismissed by educated readers as ‘pulp fiction, film scriptwriters often found them an inspiration and many jumpstarted their writing careers by contributing stories to these books and magazines,

Penny dreadfuls and dime novels were succeeded by pulp magazines or pulps which were 128 pages long and cost 10 cents apiece. Those printed on better quality paper were called glossies or slicks and cost 25 cents each. Many respected authors wrote for the pulps. The stories had characters such as Doc Savage, Phantom Detective and The Shadow and were considered forerunners of the superhero comics such as Superman, Batman and Spiderman. (Content provided by Amrita Bharati).

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Who was Elizabeth Fry?

Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was an English prison reformer of the Victorian era. In 1812, she visited Newgate prison in London which housed men as well as women prisoners. The prisons were overcrowded and filthy, and Fry was shocked to see the conditions in which prisoners lived. She then committed the rest of her life to prison reform.

Fry gave practical solutions to improve the conditions of prisoners, such as bringing food and clean clothes for them. She spent nights in various prisons to understand what it was like to live there. Fry believed that it was important to encourage prisoners to develop a sense of self-respect, as this would help them to reform.

Fry founded the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate in 1817, which was one of the first nationwide women’s organisations in Britain. (This association helped female prisoners to adapt to society after their release from jail.) She also started a night shelter for homeless people after she saw a young boy lying dead on the streets.

Fry’s books include “Prisons in Scotland and the North of England” (1819) and “Observations on the Visiting, Superintendence and Government of Female Prisoners” (1827). The Home Office Minister of the time, Robert Peel, admired Fry’s work and he passed the Gaol Act in 1823, which improved prison conditions in London to an extent.

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What does Jane Austen say in her novel Emma?

English author Jane Austen’s novels employ wit and humour to decipher the sheltered lives of the upper classes in rural England. Her novel Emma explores the baffling collision of emotions and etiquette. Let us revisit this story and see what makes it a classic.

About the author

Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England. She was the second daughter and seventh child of Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh Austen. Her father was a rector and a scholar who encouraged and inculcated a love for learning in his children. The authors mother was a woman of quick wit, popular for her impromptu stories in her circles. Austen shared a special bond with her elder sister Cassandra, who was her lifelong companion as neither of them married. She was mostly homeschooled by her father and brothers due to the poor financial condition of the family. However, as an avid reader, she grew up perusing classics by William Shakespeare, John Milton, Alexander Pope, David Hume, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Jane Austen began writing at a very young age. She finished early drafts of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice in the late 1790s. Her novels shed light on distinct expectations of a woman’s proper role in society and studied the frustrations of her gender, in a society that saw no use for their talents.

Long considered the English authors most perfectly executed novel, Emma is the only one of her books that is named after its heroine. Published in 1815, this titular protagonist is the first and the only one of Jane Austen’s heroines who has something close to power. Emma Woodhouse is generous, smart, rich and in the prime of her youth. She had lost her mother at a very tender her sister is married off, and her father is completely dependent on her. So, she age, runs the household and has the liberty to act according to her will. The novel, many critics argue, is Austen’s homage to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and chronicles Emma’s near-disastrous meddling in the lives of others. Austen famously said this about her heroine Emma Woodhouse “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”.

The mould of a heroine

What is a heroine? All six of Jane Austen’s novels teasingly ask this question. The formulation of a typical heroine of the 19th Century as described by Austen was “Heroine, a faultless character herself – perfectly good, with much tenderness and sentiment, and not the least Wit”. Heroines that dominated the English novel before and in Austen’s time had to be morally impeccable. Breaking away from the trope of the pious heroine, Austen, through her rebellious, mischievous, and flawed female protagonists, broke the unrealistic societal expectations that forced women to lead their lives as pictures of perfection.

The Artistry

One thing about Jane Austen’s writing style that sets her apart from her contemporaries is her way of narrating the story through the consciousness of the characters. Modern novelists call it free-indirect speech. Although Austen didn’t invent this technique, according to Austen scholar Juliette Wells, “she’s certainly the one who took it the farthest and established its primacy, its necessariness.”

According to English critic John Mullon, the most sophisticated use of this technique can be observed in Emma, where most of the novel is seen through the eyes of a heroine who is mostly wrong about everything. So while reading it one is sharing her delusions and misjudgement.

This technique makes us as readers fall in love with Austen’s characters for their humanity and the capacity to make mistakes and learn from them.

Janet Todd, Professor Emerita from the University of Cambridge, said, “Emma is the culmination of her career and it is the cleverest, the most subtle and the one in which she thinks about her artistry as well as putting artistry into the book…. think it is her masterpiece.”

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What’s in Shakespeare’s first folio?

Published seven years after William Shakespeare’s death in 1616, the first folio is credited with sustaining the legacy of the playwright and ensuring that generations could enjoy the bard’s plays.

What is a folio?

A folio is a large book made by folding sheets of paper in half, with each sheet forming four pages. This format was usually reserved for weighty historic or religious subjects. Shakespeare’s first folio was the first of its kind published in England devoted exclusively to plays.

Shakespeare’s first folio Published in 1623, the full title of Shakespeare’s first folio is Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies.

The word folio refers to its considerable size. Plays prior to this were considered too trivial to be printed in such a large format. Assembled and edited by the playwright’s friends and fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell, the first folio contains 36 Shakespearean plays, 18 of which had never been printed before. Were it not for their appearance in the folio, they would most probably have been lost forever – they include As You Like It. The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth.

It is believed that 800 copies of the first folio were produced, out of which 233 still exist. Each copy is said to be unique because the manuscripts were proofread and corrected while the printing was in progress.

Sold for a pound

The original selling price for a copy of Shakespeare’s first folio was one pound and like most books of that era, it was sold unbound so the buyers needed to have it bound in leather. Today, an original copy of this book can fetch more than two million pounds. It is easily the most important collection of plays ever published and valued throughout the world.

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What is the story of Pandora’s box? What is the most important message of Pandora’s box?

Is curiosity a blessing or a curse? The paradoxical nature of this trait is personified in Greek mythology by the tale of Pandora, the woman whose blazing curiosity set a chain of Earth-shattering events.

The birth of Pandora

Pandora was breathed to life by the God of fire. Hephestus, who called for gifts from his divine companions to make his creation extraordinary.

The pantheon of Gods blessed her with her name, a capacity for deep emotion, and creativity. Finally, when Zeus’s turn came, he blessed the mortal with not one but two gifts.

First was the trait of curiosity and the second was a heavy sealed box which came with a warning that she must never open it under any circumstances. Pandora’s life on Earth brimmed with excitement, but her thirst for knowledge often made her wonder about the contents of the sealed box. Her wandering mind was often plagued by the question: What treasure was so great that it could never be seen by mortals? And why was it in her care?

Mystery of the box

The mystery of the box was madding to the point that she was convinced that she heard the contents rattling around inside, trying to get free.

One day she could bear it no longer. As she opened the lid, monstrous screeching creatures were let loose. Turns out Zeus had used the box as a vessel to imprison every calamity and evil being that was ever created.

Crippling anxiety took hold of her as she helplessly tried to direct these creatures back into the box. All seemed lost until a warm beam of light arose from the vessel and a tiny butterfly fluttered away easing Pandora’s mind. This beautiful creature was hope. Ever since then humans have been able to hold on to hope in order to thrive in the darkest hours and to endure and overcome the hardships in life.

In modern times…

The term Pandora’s box refers to the extreme consequences of tampering with the unknown.

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Monarchy & Shakespeare

Royal patronage bestowed upon Shakespeare’s Globe theatre the prestige, and popularity it required to reach a wider audience. This is the reason why literary critics believe that Macbeth which is easily one of the greatest plays written by the bard was skillfully designed to flatter the reigning monarch King James I.

King James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth I as the royal head of the nation following the latters death in 1603. Known for his love for art and generosity towards actors, playwrights and other performers of the day, within ten days of ascending to the throne he offered his patronage to Shakespeare’s acting troupe, which the bard graciously accepted. Overjoyed by the sanction of the royal patent, the legendary playwright changed the name of his troupe to The King’s men, in honour of the reigning monarch.

The role of a patron

A patron was usually a wealthy aristocrat or royal court official who would fund the playwright’s or artist’s work and livelihoods. Acting companies based in London at the time would also require their patrons to get them a licence to perform and this was the reason why many such companies would then be named after their benefactors.

Macbeth

Royal patronage bestowed upon Shakespeare’s Globe theatre the prestige, and popularity it required to reach a wider audience. These favours are the reason why literary critics believe that Macbeth which is easily one of the greatest plays written by the bard around 1606 (his first play under his new patron) and set in King James I’s native land of Scotland, was skilfully designed to flatter the king. It also featured like treason, revolt and downfall of the monarch’s murderers – legitimising the divine right of kings as dictated by the European Christianity of the time.

Shakespeare’s history plays

Ten plays that are referred to as Shakespeare’s history plays cover English history from the 12th to 16th Century and each of these is named after and revolves around, the reigning monarch of the period. These political plays were seen as patriotic exercises that celebrated past greatness and sympathised with the suffering of the bygone days. In An Apology for Actors (1612), Shakespeare’s contemporary Thomas Heywood wrote, that history plays are written with the aim to teach their subject obedience to their king. Some examples of these plays include Richard II, Hendry V, and Richard III. Although critics are still divided about whether or not the bard’s chronicle plays were merely tools of propaganda, one cannot deny the huge impact the works of this legendary wordsmith have had on our collective understanding of these historic figures.

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