The play Digdarshak

The play Digdarshak is very unique in its own theme. It is about the struggle of the hero, who started his journey from a drama artist. He promised to his drama teacher that he never went to the line of film industry, but still he breaks his promise and becomes hero of the industry. This is also the play of sacrifice that how one sacrifice his life, his family for his  work.
While watching the play we feel catharsis at the scene where the drammatist gives the money to his pupil which he saves for his own son to educate him in foreign countries. The teacher  remains totally detached from his family members to make his pupil a perfect drama artist but still that pupil left him alone.
In one sense we feel that the teacher has to expand his thoughts and has to come out to the world of industry to show his talent for progress. But if we think as a pure dramatist we find that an artist who loves his stage and had given his entire hard work to it, never want to leave that platform.
So this is all about the play that how the drama artist are struggled to make their own identity and how they raise their dislike for film industery.

S. T Coleridge

Poem and prose-

S T Coleridge gives his views to differentiate poem from prose in chapter 14 of biographia literaria.
he says that the difference between poem and prose must consist in the different object proposed. Some poems are made in metre or rhyme, but this is done only for remembering it. Coleridge says that the  poem is not only differentiate by using metre or rhyme with prose, but it would gives pleasure. The immediate object of poem is to give pleasure not the truth. On the other hand the immediate object of prose is to give the truth. He again differentiate poem from those prose whose objective is also to please the readers by saying that a poem must be a legitimate poem, means each and every single word of poem should explain and support the entire part of poem. There should be harmonious whole in poem.
In legitimate poem " the reader should be carried forward, not merely or chiefly by the mechanical impulse of curiosity or by the pleasurable activity of mind exited by the abstractions of the journey itself".
The best example to support this lines is of ' Faerie Queen' by Edmund Spenser
https://archive.org/stream/spensersthefaeri15272gut/15272.txt

"Helpe then, O holy Virgin chiefe of nine,                     
  Thy weaker Novice to performe thy will;
  Lay forth out of thine everlasting scryne
  The antique rolles, which there lye hidden still,
  Of Faerie knights[*] and fairest Tanaquill
  Whom that most noble Briton Prince[*] so long                   
  Sought through the world, and suffered so much ill,
  That I must rue his undeserved wrong:
O helpe thou my weake wit, and sharpen my dull tong

In the above canto Queen Elizabeth ask for help to the holly knight. She wants to sent him into the forest where there is a devil. She wants that knight to fight with the devil and killed him. In this lines of the poem there is not only the curiosity of the reader and restless desire to arrive at the final solution that what should this holy knight do, whether he get success in killing the demon in the forest or not, but also the there arise the pleasurable activity of the mind excited by the abstractions of the journey itself.

Poem and Poetry-

Coleridge not only distinguished prose with poems but poetry with poems also. He says that the poetry is a wider than poem, it brings the whole soul of the man. He differentiate poetry with poetic genius. He further explain that poetry of the highest kind may exist without metre and even without the contradistinguishing object of a poem.
"poetry for coleridge is an activity of the poets mind and a poem is merely one of its expression"
the best example which supports this definition of poetry is of William butler yeats's sailing to Byzantium'

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
 
In the above stanza of the poetry the poet describes the present situation of his country. He says that there is corruption everywhere. Thus he wants to sail to the holy city Byzantium. In this poetry the poet covers much wider topics and it is successively presents the activity of the poets mind.

Talk with an author Mahendra sinh parmar on his off-beat short story

Today, in our department our professor organised a session with Dr. Mahendrasinh parmar. In this session Dr. Mahendrasinh talks about his short story Polytechnic and he interlinked the theme of his story to the recent film 'Toilet-ek prem katha'. He says that how this issue of sanitation is taken by our countrymen as shameful. he explain minutely the condition of women in a village where there is no Toilet. Woman feels shame to go outside but still they have not any choice because of some stereotypes members in their family. Some orthodox believers thinks that the place where we eat is not for the sake of toilet also. Dr. Mahendrasinh presents very strong woman in his writing of short story, who fights for their rights. In this way his work comes out to be very interesting work. More interesting than film also, because in the film there is no connection of toilet with the katha. The one theme of TOILET is going in one direction and the other in different direction, there is no inter connection. But in the short story of Dr. Parmar we find connection and deep understanding.
So overall the session is successful in proving its theme.

Dryden, the father of English criticism

Q1- Do you find any difference between Aristotle's definition of tragedy and Dryden's definition of play?

Yes there is huge difference between Aristotle's definition of tragedy and Dryden's definition of the play. Aristotle gives the definition in a very conservative manner. he says that "tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious and also having magnitude complete in itself...." and he ended his definition with the word 'catharsis'. Whereas Dryden gives the definition of the play in a wider sense. he added two new words in the definition that is just and live. He says that a play must represent just and lively image of human nature. And he ended his definition with the word 'delight'. he added that onlookers will feel good if we ended our play with delight and instruction of mankind. In this way Dryden moves further from Aristotle's ways of thinking and thus differentiate his work of art.

Q2- If you are supposed to give your personal prediction, would you be on the side of the ancient or the modern? give reasons.

I would like to be on the side of moderns. Yes it is true that moderns somehow imitate things from ancient, but not whole things they imitate. They present some new ideas as well, regarding the present situation which ancient cannot do. So as like Eugenius I favored moderns over ancients. Eugenius says that the moderns exceeds the ancient because of having learned and profited. We knows that the ages and their rules goes on changing and moderns are supposed to live with changes in their lives.

Q3- Do you think that the arguments presented in favor of the French plays and against English plays are appropriate?

No, I do not think that the arguments present in favor of French plays against English plays are appropriate. Here I want to take side of Neander who favors English plays. Lisideus argues that English tragicomedy is very absurd, "in two hours and a half we run through all the fits of bedlam". But it is not true, in real English plays are very lively by nature, it has plot subplots which we do not find in French plays. French plays are like lifeless and doesn't have subplots as well. There is narrowness of imagination, smallness, too little action in the French play according to Neander(which represent Dryden himself). So therefore I found the English play more appropriate.

Q4- What would be your preference so far as a poetic or prosaic dialogues are concerned in the play?

I would like to go with poetic dialogues in the play. There are two critics who argued in terms of rhymes and blank verse. Crites favors blank verse style of writing whereas Neander favors rhyme.  Crites says that rhyme makes the play unnatural, if someone use rhymes then the naturality of dialogues goes out. But what Neander says that if we choose appropriate word at appropriate place, then there is no point of unnaturality. Same thing what I feel that to use rhyme makes the play more beautiful and live. It affects the reader's soul if we used appropriate rhyme. So the poetic dialogues are more capable to make readers active and live than the prosaic dialogues which sometimes bored a lot. 

feminism in the play Hamlet

Feminist approach and the female characters in the play hamlet

Feminist approach and the female characters in the play Hamlet from Hema Goswami

Kanthapura by Raja Rao

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Narrative techniques used by Raja Rao in the novel Kanthapura

Hema's presentation on kanthapura from Hema Goswami

Kenneth Branagh's 'Hamlet' based on 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare

• How faithful is the movie to the original play? after watching the movie, have your perception about play, characters or situations changed?  

The movie is faithful in terms of the soliloquy and the dialogues spoken by the characters in the play. The main incidents like the madness of Ophelia, grave digging scene etc are very well shown in the film as similar to the way it is described in the original play

But there are many things in the movie which is different from the original play in terms of costumes, customs. Even in the film hamlet is portrayed as too old than the real Prince Hamlet in the play who is very young.

there are many changes made in this film. The presence of ghost is shown by the movement of the sword of the statue whereas in the play the text is unable to show it dramatic movement.Even the falling of the statue at the end is also indicates a big change. So after watching the film my perception about the play, character and the situation is totally changed.

• Do you feel aesthetic delight while watching the movie?

In the film the players came to enact on stage as per the instructions and some dialogues given by Hamlet.When they are performing the incident which relates to the life of Claudius, Gertrude and King Hamlet, both the husband and wife that is Claudius and Gertrude became fearful and Claudius leaves that place immediately. From this scene we saw relief on the face of prince Hamlet because his doubt about hte murder of king Hamlet is clear now and he surely comes to conclude that Claudius is the only murderer of his father. This scene gives aesthetic delight to me, as I feel delightful that how cleverly Hamlet with is wit power unfold the truth in front of the audience.

The way drama performed shows the sense of aesthetic delight. the audience sitting step by step as just like they are sitting in the theater. the director very nicely presents this scene in the film.

• Do you feel catharsis while or after watching the film?

Yes, I feel catharsis in the film when Ophelia gone mad. The madness of Ophelia is very miserable. We feel pity and fear that how innocent Ophelia turns to madness because of the three men in her life. The first is her father who abuse her for his own motives. He did not understand that how truly Ophelia loves Hamlet and he used her against Hamlet.

Even her brother Laertes also involves in the same. Hamlet also used abusing words for her. There is no one in the play who understand the plight of Ophelia. She suffers internally a lot and afterwards she gone mad.

• Does screening of the movie helped you in better understanding?

Yes the screening of the movie helps me a lot in better understanding of the play. It is obvious that by seeing the characters performing lively in the film, we remind them in a better way with each and every incident connected to them. But if we only read the text, it takes time to remember the lengthy text full of characters and all such things which is connected to them.

• Was there any particular scene that you will cherish lifetime

Yes, there was one scene when Hamlet takes the skull of the court jester's in the graveyard. That time he says that the skull of all humans is the same and the condition of all the skull is also same that it resolve into the earth. There is no difference between the skull of rich man and the poor. Similarly the skull of court jester's who made people laugh during his lifetime, is the same as the skull of over proudy human who waste his life in gaining materialistic things. At the end all thing destroy. This scene I will cherish lifetime, because it is the truth of life, it is the reality.

• If you are a director what changes would you like to make?

If I am a director first of all I bring the character of Ophelia strong and life like. A strong female character who knows her rights and who argue against all the wrong decisions taken by his father, instead of following blindly and will put her own point of view  regarding the things.

Even in the film of Robinson Crusoe, the director changed entire character of Friday. In text he was shown as weak and never disobeying his master but in film he is total opposite. Similarly I would like to change the character of Ophelia.

• What does the fallen statue signifies?

In the beginning of the movie, camera rolls over the statue of king Hamlet outside the Elsinore castle and the movie ends with the similar sequence wherein the statue of the king Hamlet is hammered down to the dust.

This fall of statue symbolically represent the fall of the dynasty of the king Hamlet,  or we can say that there remain no heir of king Hamlet and his rule over Denmark ends. The fall of the statue also signifies that at the end after death nothing remains, all things like pride, rule, money destroy with the cycle of the immortal time on the mortal things. 

Even in the poem 'Not marbles nor the gilded monuments', Shakespeare defines that time destroy the marble as well as gilded- gold plated monuments. Nothing is immortal in this world.

                                               

In the poem 'Ozymadias' Percy shelley describes that the statue of the king broken into pieces and the hand, head of the statue lay half sunken in the sand. there remain only pedestel of the statue where written " my name is Ozymandias, king of kings", but this proudy lines becomes useless because after the death, arrogant king and his statue loses its value. there is no one who recall him, his statue is lying all alone in that desert.

The fallen statue also suggests that the king Hamlet is responsible for his own fall. I f he did  not tell to Hamlet to take revenge of his murder then things and events will quite be different.

• While studying the play through movie, which approach do you find  more applicable?

While studying the play through movie I found Feminist approach more applicable. I found that Gertrude is being loved by king Hamlet ans Claudius as well as. Both the men treats her very well. but on the other side Hamlet who seems as misogynist use abusing words not only for his lover Ophelia but his mother also. he is shocked when his mother remarried after the death of king Hamlet immediately. What is the matter of shock? every woman has right to live life as the way she wants to live. Every woman have right to choose her own life partner. Why it is crime for woman only? man can marry to other woman not only after the death of former wife but also when his former wife is living. 

Hamlet used very abusive word for Gertrude:-

"O most pernicious woman"

In this way the morality of the prince Hamlet also breaks down. Therefore i found feminist approach more applicable.