Cultural renaissance is a post- colonial aspect of independent India. Writers like Karnad who was both Indian and English in his writings effected a tension between the East and West. He did this by taking the raw materials for his plays from the myths and legends of his native state Karnataka. GirishKarnad is the most important name in the area of play writing in Indian English Literature. The greatness of Girish Karnad lies in the success on the stage as well as among the readers.
Girish Karnad introduces existentialist issues like identity, split personality, ideological break-ups and dichotomy of life in his plays. His play HAYAVADANA deals with the problem of identity and search for completeness in life. His play TUGHLAQ deals with
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Nagamandala is a powerful portrait of the agony and anguish faced by both men and women in their development into adult roles and social adjustment in a society where the individual is given little space for self-development, awareness and independence as beings (Santosh Gupta, Nagamandla: A story of Marriage and Love, 249). Appana always keeps his wife Rani in a locked room and does not allow her even to talk and smile with anyone. Somehow a cobra, closely associated with the mythical Lord Shiva who is great to grant anything to his devotees and worshipers, appears for her rescue, relief and recreation. Rani’s frustration ends the moment she comes into contact with Naga. The Naga is a powerful symbol in Indian Mythology and Hinduism. These are regarded as having strong magical powers, vast knowledge and a capricious nature, which can quickly change from friendly and helpful to angry and malicious. There is also mythical element in the creation of circumstance of the cobra’s love and affection to Rani. Karuddavva the blind women, as a part of helping Rani from miserable conditions, try to give her a root which has a magical power of creating love and affections (Nagamandala, Act 1 p. …show more content…
The myths regarding herbs or roots which have magical power are narrated in the mythology of India, Greek, Egypt, China etc. The herb Acacia has been connected to a resurrection and immortality in many religious traditions and magical contexts. In West African Vodun and African-American Conjure Acacia is used with frankincense and myrrh in rituals to contact the dead and to open the mind to visions (Catherine yronwode, Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic) Agrimony is used in African-American Conjureto reverse a jinx, curse, or hex after it has been put on you. It is used in protection spells, to banish negative energies and spirits and to reverse spells and send them back to the sender (web, Indian Mirror). Indian mythology narrates about the herb called SanjeevaniBooti which is capable of curing any woe irrespective of its type and origin (Valmiki Ramayana, Yudhakanda). In Indian myth, a miracle has been mandatory to establish the purity of a woman, while a man’s mere word is taken for the truth. Here Rani was compelled to prove her chastity by putting her hand into the ant-hill where a king cobra lived. She should pull out the king cobra and take her oath by that cobra. It was same in case of Sita, the consort of Rama. She undergoes Agni Pariksha (an ordeal of fire) by which she proves her chastity before she is accepted by Rama(Wendy Doniger,
A person is created by the experiences they go through and by the things they learn throughout their life. It is the question of who each individual is and what makes up their identity. Writers, no matter the type, have been addressing the issue of identity for thousands of years. One playwright who stands out in this regard is Shakespeare and his play Hamlet. The play continually questions who the individuals are and what makes up the person they are. Yet another play can be associated with Shakespeare’s masterpiece, as Tom Stoppard takes the minor characters in Hamlet and develop them into something more in his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The twentieth century reinvention of the supporting characters from Hamlet, contains three major messages or themes throughout the play including identity, language, and human motivation. The play has deep meaning hidden behind the comic exterior and upsetting conclusion and each of these three themes add to the ultimate message the play invokes into its audience.
Selvadurai uses an allusion to demonstrate his grandmother’s role as a negative mentor in Shivan’s life. His dream of seeing his grandmother “incarnated as the demoness Kali” running after him (in the body of his mother) is very telling of what Shivan subconsciously thinks of his grandmother. (Selvadurai 371) The demoness Kali is the Hindu goddess of destruction. Though she is seen as a god, her physical appearance is quite appalling. Her dark skin, red eyes, fangs and necklace made of human heads are all quite terrifying. When portrayed, she is often seen standing on top of the Hindu god Shiva as well. Kali’s frightful appearance, paired with her relationship with the god Shiva is very telling of Shivan’s relationship with his aachi. He fears her with every fibre of his being. In said dream, he imagines himself as his mother, carrying a child, running from his grandmother, but proving to be unfruitful when Kali, “snatches the infant from [his] arms and opens her mouth wide to consume him”. (Selvadurai 371) This baby is Shivan, and Kali eating the baby shows how as a mentor, she has taken away all the innocence from Shivan and taken him away from his mother. Shivan’s ammi shows how even negative mentors can push their mentees into
In Cherokee medicine, it is believed that councils of animals created diseases in order to avenge the loss of their families and living spaces. The plants, being sympathetic to humans, decided to each furnish a cure for these diseases. It is believed that the spirit of the plant will tell a sick person which one to use to cure his illness.
In the book Sold by Patricia McCormick shares the story of Lakshmi who at the age of 13 is sold by her step father and is forced into the a life of prostitution. She is born and raised in a simple village community, her only trouble in life is her step father. Lakshmi will soon come to learn there is a whole world outside of her village and it is not as pure as she once believed. Lakshmi is starved and beaten until she finally comes to terms with her new fate. She tells stories of what happened to her while locked away, what she learns from the other girls, and what could happen to her if she angers Mumtaz. Lakshmi does not understand what is happening only they are happening to her. The experiences Lakshmi goes through can relate to everyones’ personal experiences in life.
The existential drama, No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre, and the absurd drama, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard both portray characters with an ambiguous sense of identity. While the characters in No Exit delude themselves with respect to identity and shirk responsibility for their identity-making choices, the characters in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are primarily controlled by outside forces that confuse and limit their sense of identity. Both these authors do a fine job of portraying the relationship between identity and the outside forces
One plant with magical use from the Apiaceae plant family was angelica. It was said to be a preservative against evil spirits and witchcraft. I found this interesting because the plant was connected to Michael the Archangel. As a Christian, it intrigues me that a plant would be connected to an angel. This association must come from the idea that since the flower blooms on the exact day of Michael the Archangel, that they believed that there was a divine reason for it doing so. They might have taken it as a sign that the plant was important. Any plant that bloomed on that Michael's day, could certainly not be evil, and therefore, be the exact opposite, and protect against it.
For this paper, I will be focusing on Erving Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy. Erving Goffman was a sociologist who studied social interaction, and is well known for his work on ‘the self.’ His book, Presentation of Self, continues to be an important and relevant book in sociology since it explains by social interaction within humans is important. In his theory, Goffman explains that people are like actors performing on a stage because of how they live their lives. Drama is used as a metaphor for how an individual presents their self to society. In his work, Goffman explains that ‘the self’ is the result of the dramatic interaction between the actor and the audience he or she performs to. There are many aspects of how an individual performs his or her ‘self’.
Stoppard illustrates the Post-modern existentialist context, setting RAGAD on the periphery of Hamlet. Foregrounding two minion characters signifies individualism in the face of capitalist society, and weakening religion and morality. Stoppard recontexutalises R&G into bewildered innocents, creating meaning for Stoppardian audiences, mirroring man’s subsequent uncertainty and volatility. Stoppard utilises Absurdist theatre, similar to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot that depicts this disillusioned world “lacking visible character”, as R&G “exist” under absurd circumstances that recurringly defies logic. Existence becomes trivial through slapstic...
Intelligent Journal: What do you think of Existentialism as a general philosophy and Jean-Paul Sartre’s perspective as demonstrated through his plays?
Whether we know it or not we all develop a sense of personal identity throughout our lives. Personal identity is the development of the way you view yourself as well as the way you want others to perceive you over the course of your life. For some people this may be more difficult than others because developing a sense of personal identity can be a lifelong journey whereas for others it can be as simple as getting through a certain situation and then realizing what you’re capable of. Personal identity crises not only occur in real life with everyday people but also in works of literature as well since they depict characters or speakers who struggle with the concept of personal identity. Examples of works of literature that
The Indians believed in many gods, spirits, demons and ghosts. Filling the entire world supernatural power could be understood as a set of forces each of them, or as a kind of impersonal force. Whatever its nature, it is thanks to her the knife becomes sharper, the speed of an arrow right and the man stood out among his tribesmen. Also the Indians were analog Scythian god Loki. He was the mythic figure of the cultural hero, which in the past has taught tribal people to their way of life. Another popular figure in Indian folklore was a trickster is the legendary cunning and sly, a former part of a sacred being and partly comic hero.
The ideas used to interpret this play are not classically Freudian, but rather a more contemporary understanding of psychodynamics as influenced by modern existential theory. The ideas of Ernest Becker, one of the more influential figures in the new psychoanalysis, are used throughout this psychological examination.
The identity and utilization of the plant referred as Soma among the Indians is one of the greatest unresolved mysteries in the study of Hindu religion. This sacred plant was regarded as a god, especially when presented during the time of worship to the worshiper to provide powerful attribut...
Classical Hindu Mythology. Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van Buitenen. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978. 38-40. Print.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy tells the story of the communist state of Kerala and the forbidden love between two castes, which changes the lives of everyone. In the novel an ‘Untouchable’, Velutha is a carpenter and works at Paradise Pickles and Preserves for much less than he deserves because of his status as an Untouchable in the caste system. Velutha falls into a forbidden love with a divorced woman, Ammu who is associated with an upper caste Syrian Christian Ipe family. Marriage was the only way that Ammu could have escaped this life, but she lost the chance when marrying the wrong man, as he was an alcoholic and this resulted in them getting a divorce. Ammu breaks the laws that state ‘who should be loved, and how and how much’, as their affair threatens the ‘caste system’ in India, which is a hierarchal structure and social practice in India in which your position in society is determined and can’t be changed. Arhundati Roy portrays the theme of forbidden love within the caste systems and shows how they are t...