English Literature

(10

th

form)

1

“Beowulf” (circa 8

th

c.)

Beowulf (the main character of the oldest known epic poem composed in English) is the powerful warrior who

comes to the aid of the Danish king Hrothgar, whose hall is raided each night by the hideous man-eating monster

Grendel. The epic is probably a conglomeration of ancient Scandinavian folk tales, compiled by a single unknown

author sometime around the 8th century AD. Though the poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known

as “Beowulf” since the early 19th century.

In this extract from the very end of the poem (given in a Modern English translation) Beowulf’s people, the

Geats, celebrate his funeral, and in a certain sense the end of their civilization, as the passage contains many

hints that the golden age of the Geats has come to an end.

2

For him then they prepared a huge

funeral pyre

on the earth,

hung with

helmets,

war-shields, and

bright coats of

mail,

as Beowulf had

asked.

There they laid the famous prince

and lamented that beloved lord.

Warriors then built the greatest of fires.

Wood-smoke ascended, dark black over

the flames.

That roar wrapped around sorrowful

weeping.

The wind stood still.

Then his bone-house broke, the heart

burned.

Beowulf's queen uttered a mournful

song,

spoke her heart's care with her hair bound

tight.

She told earnestly how she feared evil

days,

a great slaughter of warriors, humiliation

and captivity.

Heaven swallowed the smoke.

The Geats built a mound then, in ten

days,

high and broad on the hill, a beacon

for the warrior widely seen by sailors.

They surrounded the ashes by a wall,

as splendid as the cleverest men could

make.

In the mound they placed rings and

bracelets

and all such things as they'd found in the

hoard.

They left that treasure in the hands of the

earth,

as it lies still, as useless to men

as it had been before.

Then twelve warriors rode round the

grave

speaking their sorrow, reciting praises

for their lord's courageous deeds.

(A warrior should do so when his lord

dies.)

3

POST-READING EXERCISES

4

1.

What can you learn about the main hero of the poem – Beowulf? What kind of man was he? What

characteristics are attributed to him? Find the sentences to prove it.

2.

Now consider the description of Beowulf’s tomb (mound, grave):

- Why do they construct such a stronghold (крепость, цитадель)?

- What is inside the mound?

- What attitude to material riches (gold, treasure) does the poet express?

3.

Look at the section where the woman laments the death of Beowulf:

What kind of future does she foresee for the Geat people?

4.

Does the translator of the poem use the same literary techniques (alliteration, half-lines, kennings)

as the ancient poet did? If yes, find any examples.

Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow

When as the sheriff of Nottingham

Was come with mickle

1

grief,

He talkd no good of Robin Hood,

That strong and sturdy thief.

So unto London-road he past,

His losses to unfold

To King Richard, who did regard

The tale that he had told.

"Why," quoth

2

the king, "what shall I do?

Art thou

3

not sheriff for me?

The law is in force, go take thy

4

course,

Of them that injure thee

5

.

"Go get thee gone, and by thyself

6

Devise some tricking game

For to enthral yon

7

rebels all;

Go take thy course with them."

So away the sheriff he returnd,

And by the way he thought

Of the words of the king, and how the

thing

To pass might well be brought.

For within his mind he imagined

That when such matches were,

Those outlaws stout, without doubt,

Would be the bowmen there.

So an arrow with a golden head

And shaft of silver white,

Who won the day should bear away,

For his own proper right.

Tidings came to brave Robin Hood,

Under the green-wood tree.

"Come prepare you then, my merry

men,

We'll go yon sport to see."

With that stept forth a brave young

man,

David of Doncaster.

"Master," he said, "be ruld by me,

From the green-wood we'll not stir.

"To tell the truth, I'm well informed

Yon match is a wile;

The sheriff, I wiss

8

, devises this

Us archers to beguile."

"O thou smells of a coward," said Robin

Hood,

"Thy words does not please me;

Come on't

9

what will, I'll try my skill

At yon brave archery."

O then bespoke brave Little John:

"Come, let us thither

10

gang,

Come listen to me, how it shall be

That we need not be kend

11

.

"Our mantles, all of Lincoln green,

Behind us we will leave;

We'll dress us all so several

They shall not us perceive.

"One shall wear white, another red,

One yellow, another blue;

Thus in disguise, to the exercise,

We'll gang, whatever ensue."

Forth from the green wood they are gone,

With hearts all firm and stout,

Resolving with the sheriffs men

To have a hearty bout.

So themselves they mixed with the rest,

To prevent all suspicion,

For if they should together hold

They thought no discretion.

So the sheriff looking round about,

Amongst eight hundred men,

But could not see the sight that he

Had long expected then.

Some said, "If Robin Hood was here,

And all his men to boot,

Sure none of them could pass these men,

So bravely they do shoot."

"Ay," quoth the sheriff, and scratchd his

head,

"I thought he would have been here;

I thought he would, but, tho he's bold,

He durst not now appear."

O that word grieved Robin Hood to the

heart;

He vexed in his blood;

"E’er

12

long," thought he, "thou shall well

see

That here was Robin Hood."

Some cried, "Blue jacket!" Another cried,

"Brown!"

And the third cried, "Brave Yellow!"

But the fourth man said, "Yon man in red

In this place has no fellow."

For that was Robin Hood himself,

For he was cloathd in red;

At every shot the prize he got,

For he was both sure and dead

3

.

So the arrow with the golden head

And shaft of silver white

Brave Robin Hood won, and bore with him

For his own proper right.

These outlaws there, that very day,

To shun all kind of doubt,

By three or four, no less no more,

As they went in, came out.

Until they all assembled were

Under the green wood shade,

Where they relate, in pleasant sport,

What brave pastime they made.

Says Robin Hood, "All my care is,

How that yon sheriff may

Know certainly that it was I

That bore his arrow away."

Says Little John, "My counsel good

Did take effect before,

So therefore now, if you'll allow,

I will advise once more."

"Speak on, speak on," said Robin Hood,

"Thy wit's both quick and sound;

I know no man amongst us can

For wit like thee be found."

"This I advise," said Little John;

"That a letter shall be pend

14

,

And when it is done, to Nottingham

You to the sheriff shall send."

"That is well advised," said Robin Hood,

"But how must it be sent?"

"Pugh! when you please, it's done with

ease,

Master, be you content.

"I'll stick it on my arrow's head,

And shoot it into the town;

The mark shall show where it must go,

When ever it lights down."

The project it was full performd;

The sheriff that letter had;

Which when he read, he scratchd his

head,

And raved like one that's mad.

So we'll leave him chafing in his grease,

Which will do him no good;

Now, my friends, attend, and hear the

end

Of honest Robin Hood

1 mickle – much 12 e’er – ever

2 quoth – промолвил 13 sure and dead - a

dead shot

3 Art thou– are you 14 pend - written

4 thy – your

5 thee – obj. of thou

6 thyself – yourself

7 yon – вон тот, вон там

8 wiss – know

9 on’t – of it

10 thither – туда

11 kend – known

Geoffrey Chaucer. From the Prologue to “The Canterbury Tales” (1387-1400)

This is the famous and lovely opening of the Canterbury Tales which, in its few lines, reveals some of the

general characteristics of the poem as a whole. First it should be noted that this kind of forceful rhetorical

description of spring was a typical opening for medieval poems, and thus nothing original. And yet its beauty

has always struck readers as realistic (even if all Englishmen know that English Marches are not at all dry as

indicated here!) Still, this masterly blending of realistic details and a multitude of conventions, producing a

totally original and living whole, is typical of the Canterbury Tales, which has characters that are certainly

types, or clichés, on the one hand, but living people on the other.

Below you will find two versions of the text: the first is the original text as it was written by Geoffrey Chaucer,

and the second – is a fine literary translation done in Modern English.

Here bigynneth the Book

of the tales of Caunterbury

1. Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

2. The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,

3. And bathed every veyne in swich licour

4. Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

5. Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth

6. Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

7. Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

8. Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,

9. And smale foweles maken melodye,

10. That slepen al the nyght with open ye

11. (so priketh hem nature in hir corages);

12. Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,

13. And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,

14. To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

15. And specially from every shires ende

16. Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,

17. The hooly blisful martir for to seke,

18. That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

Here begins the Book

of the Tales of Canterbury

1. When April with its showers sweet with fruit

2. The drought of March has pierced unto the root

3. And bathed each vein with liquor that has power

4. To generate therein and sire the flower;

5. When Zephyr (1) also has, with his sweet breath,

6. Quickened again, in every holt and heath,

7. The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun

8. Into the Ram one half his course has run (2),

9. And many little birds make melody

10. That sleep through all the night with open eye

11. (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-

12. Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,

13. And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,

14. To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.

15. And specially from every shire's end

16. Of England they to Canterbury wend,

17. The holy blessed martyr there to seek

18. Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak.

___________

1. Zephyr: the west wind

2. The sun is half way through the constellation of the Ram (Aries), i.e., it is early/mid April.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. Translate the following words into modern English:

shoures, soote, droughte, licour, flour, sonne, foweles, londes, wende.

2. What elements of spring does Chaucer mention? Write down the effect/ activity of the following elements:



The April showers______________________________________________________



The west wind _________________________________________________________



The sun ______________________________________________________________



Birds ________________________________________________________________



Nature in general ______________________________________________________

3. What is the effect of all this on mankind? What is the real reason for going on a pilgrimage in Chaucer’s opinion? Is it

only for pious motives?

Sir Thomas Malory. From “Le Morte D’Arthur”(1469?)

The first great prose work in the English language was written by Sir Thomas Malory who was probably born in 1410 and probably died in 1471. But the

true identity of this Malory is unknown, and no fewer than five historical identities have been proposed. He seems to have been a violent person, which

is not surprising considering the times he lived in, and to have written his masterpiece in prison. His “Le Morte D’Arthur”, as Malory himself wrote, was

based on a “French book” which contained the massive and many-branched story of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Malory eliminated

much of the religious and magical side of the story, but he still depicts these knights as models to follow. In a certain sense, Malory is the last authentic

voice of English feudalism just before the rise of the powerful central state under the Tudors.

In this extract from “Le Morte D’Arthur”, King Arthur has been mortally wounded and wishes to maintain his promise to return his magical sword

Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. He sends his faithful knight Sir Bedivere to throw the sword in the lake but …

“Now leave this mourning and weeping”,said the king, “for all this will not avail (1) me. For wit (2) thou well and I

might live myself, the death of Sir Lucan would grieve me evermore; but my time passeth on fast,” said the king.

“Therefore,” said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, “take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder water

side, and when thou comest there I charge (3) thee throw my sword in that water, and come again and tell me

what thou there seest.”

“My lord,” said Bedivere, “your commandment shall be done, and lightly bring you word again.”

So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft (4) was all of

precious stones; and then he said to himself: “If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof shall never come

good, but harm and loss.” And then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And so, as soon as he might, he came again unto the king,

and said he had been at the water, and had thrown the sword in the water.

“What saw thou there?” said the king.

“Sir,” he said, “I saw nothing but waves and winds.”

“That is untruly said of thee,” said the king, “therefore go thou lightly again, and do my commandment; as thou art to me leve (5) and

dear, spare not, but throw it in.”

Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the sword in his hand; and yet him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword,

and so eft (6) he hid the sword, and returned again, and told the king that he had been at the water, and done his commandment.

“What saw thou there?” said the king.

“Sir,” he said, “I saw nothing but the water wap (7) and waves wan (8).”

“Ah, traitor to me and untrue,” said King Arthur, “now hast thou betrayed me twice! Who would ween (9) that thou hast been to me so

leve and dear and also named so noble a knight, and would betray me for the richness of the sword? But now go again lightly, for thy

long tarrying putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken cold. And but if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I

shall slay thee with my own hands; for thou wouldst for my rich sword see me dead.”

Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it up, and went to the water’s side; and there he bound the girdle

about the hilts, and then he threw the sword as far into the water as he might. And there came an arm and a hand above the water and

took it, and clutched it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished away with the sword in the water. So Sir Bedivere

came again to the king, and told him what he saw.

“Alas,” said the king, “help me hence, for I dread me I have tarried (10) over long.”

Then Sir Bedivere took the king upon his back, and so went with him to that water’s side. And when they were there, even fast by the

bank hoved a little barge (11) with many fair ladies in it, and among them all was a queen, and all they had black hoods, and all they

wept and shrieked when they saw King Arthur.

“Now put me into the barge,” said the king.

And so he did softly; and there received him three ladies with great mourning; and so they sat down, and in one of their laps King Arthur

laid his head. And then that queen said:

“Ah, dear brother! Why have ye tarried so long from me? Alas, this wound on your head hath caught over-much cold!”

And so then they rowed from the land, and Sir Bedivere beheld all those ladies go fromward him. Then Sir Bedivere cried and said: “Ah

my lord Arthur, what shall become of me, now ye go from me and leave me here alone among my enemies?”

“Comfort thyself,” said the king, “and do as well as thou mayest, for in me is no trust for to trust in. For I will into the vale of Avylyon (12)

to heal me of my grievous wound. And if thou hear never more of me, pray for my soul!”

______________________________

1 avail: help

2 wit: you know

3 charge: order

4 pommel and the haft: the handle of the sword

5 leve: beloved

6 eft: again

7 wap: lapping

8 wan: dark

9 ween: suppose

10 tarried: delayed, waited

11 barge: flat-bottomed boat

12 Avylyon: sometimes this is identified with the Fairy Land of

Earthly Paradise of Celtic mythology.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1.

What does Arthur tell Sir Bedivere to do?

2.

Why does Arthur say he will kill Sir Bedivere with his own hands?

3.

What happens when Sir Bedivere finally carries out his command?

4.

Who takes the dying king away? How do they take him away?

5.

The legend of Arthur by the time it reached Malory was a blend of Christian and Celtic elements. This death scene is a perfect example.

- Find the elements which reflect the death of Christ.

- Find the elements which seem to you to be Celtic.

William Shakespeare. Sonnet 18.

This sonnet is certainly the most famous in the sequence of Shakespeare's sonnets; it may be the

most famous lyric poem in English. Among Shakespeare's works, only lines such as "To be or not to

be" and "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" are better-known.

But it would be a mistake to take it entirely in isolation, for it is linked with many of the other

sonnets through the themes of the power of poetry, and the immortality conveyed through being

hymned in these 'eternal lines'.

"Sonnet XVIII" demonstrates the format of the Shakespearean sonnet. To help you understand the

rhyming scheme, the last part of each line is capitalized and a letter to the left of each line indicates

the pattern. The Russian translation appears on the right.

Quatrain 1 (four-line stanza)

A Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?..................... Сравню ли с летним днем твои черты?

B Thou art more lovely and more temperate:.................. Но ты милей, умеренней и краше.

A Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,.........

Ломает буря майские цветы

,

B And summer's lease hath all too short a date:.............. И так недолговечно лето наше.

Comment: In Shakespeare's time, May (Line 3) was a summer month.

Quatrain 2 (four-line stanza)

C Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,.................То нам слепит глаза небесный глаз,

D And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;..................То светлый лик скрывает непогода.

C And every fair from fair sometime declines

,..................

Ласкает, нежит и терзает нас

D By chance or nature's changing course untrimm’d;.....Своей случайной прихотью природа.

Comment: "Every fair" may also refer to every fair woman who "declines" because of aging or bodily changes.

Quatrain 3 (four-line stanza)

E But thy eternal summer shall not fade..........................А у тебя не убывает день,

F Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;..................Не увядает солнечное лето.

E Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,........И смертная тебя не скроет тень -

F When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:..................Ты будешь вечно жить в строках поэта.

Couplet (two rhyming lines)

G So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,.................Среди живых ты будешь до тех пор,

G So long lives this and this gives life to thee..................Доколе дышит грудь и видит взор.

POST-READING EXERCISES.

1.

Fill in the chart below contrasting the characteristics of summer and of Shakespeare’s loved one.

A SUMMER’S DAY SHAKESPEARE’S MISTRESS

Hot ..................................................

Brief ..................................................

Declines/fades ..................................................

Beautiful ..................................................

Can be cloudy ..................................................

Rough winds

................................................

2.

What do you think is Shakespeare’s message? Look especially at the last two lines.

William Shakespeare. From “Romeo and Juliet” (1595?)

The language in Shakespeare’s plays harmonizes with the type of

character who uses it. All the characters speak in a distinctive poetic

style ranging from the talkative almost-prose of Capulet and the Nurse

to the melodramatic posed style of Tybalt. Shakespeare uses lyric

forms and conventions to spotlight some moments in the drama and

thereby heighten the impact of the action.

Act 1, Scene 5

ROMEO

If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

JULIET

Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,

Which mannerly devotion shows in this;

For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,

And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.

ROMEO

Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?

JULIET

Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

ROMEO

O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;

They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.

JULIET

Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.

ROMEO

Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.

Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.

JULIET

Then have my lips the sin that they have took.

ROMEO

Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!

Give me my sin again.

JULIET

You kiss by the book.

Ay = Yes thine - yours

grant thou = permit it purged = forgiven

lest faith = so that faith does not trespass = sin

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. Read the following passage of the first

meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the Capulet ball

in Act I, Scene 5. Mark the rhyming scheme.

What do you notice? Why do you think

Shakespeare employs this poetic form for the

key moment of the drama?

2. Explain Romeo's metaphor of pilgrimage.

What is a pilgrimage? Who is the pilgrim here?

Who is the holy saint? How does the metaphor

characterize the relationship between the two

soon-to-be-lovers? Find other metaphors in the

extract.

3. Note how many repetitive words there are in

the passage. What are they? Why does

Shakespeare use them so many times?

4. Pay attention to the balanced division of lines

between Romeo and Juliet in their sonnet. How

does this contrast with the poetic tradition of a

lover addressing his unresponsive lady? Whose

sonnet is this in the end?

5. Look at the last quatrain. How does the

playful exchange of "sins" here look forward to

the tragic outcome of the play?

6. What does Juliet's closing "You kiss by the

book" mean? How does her stepping out of the

metaphor with this line characterize her role in

their relationship? How does it look forward to

her actions later in the play?

7. Remember that Shakespeare’s plays were

meant not to be read but to be staged. What

actions fit these words? For example, what is

Romeo doing as he speaks his first four lines?

What is Juliet doing - how does she react? What

is the exchange of gestures in this first moment

of their relationship? How many times have

they kissed?

William Shakespeare. From “Hamlet” (1601?)

“Hamlet” is probably the most famous play by William Shakespeare, a play according to

Anthony Burgess, “of all the plays ever written, that the world least willingly be without”.

This ‘tragedy of revenge’ was written around 1601.The plot of Hamlet was borrowed by

Shakespeare from Thomas Kyd’s play (called by scholars “Ur-Hamlet”, the play hasn’t survived

though) who, in his turn, based it on Saxo Grammaticus’ “Historia Danica”, an anthology of

legends and myths from the Norseland. In Shakespeare’s version, he refined the play, making it

poetic and full of thought-provoking meditation on the meaning of life, death, eternity,

relationships, hypocrisy, truth, the existence of God and almost anything else that concerns

mankind. Also Shakespeare changed the time of ‘Hamlet’ from the Middle Ages to the

Renaissance, providing the play with the setting of a contemporary Renaissance court.

PRE-READING EXERCISES

1. What features of the soliloquy made it an important feature of Renaissance drama?

2. Hamlet’s soliloquy is perhaps the best known monologue that Shakespeare wrote. Why do you think a playwright

might decide to employ a soliloquy at a crucial moment?

(Act III, Scene 1)

(Enter Hamlet)

HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings (1) and arrows of outrageous (2) fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

5 And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--

No more--and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to (3): 'tis a consummation (4)

Devoutly (5) to be wished. To die, to sleep--

10 To sleep--perchance (6)to dream: ay, there's the rub

(7),

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off (8) this mortal coil (9),

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life (10).

15 For who would bear the whips and scorns (11) of

time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely

(12)

The pangs (13) of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns (14)

That patient merit of th' unworthy (15) takes,

20When he himself might his quietus (16) make

With a bare bodkin (17)? Who would fardels (18)

bear,

To grunt (19) and sweat under a weary (20) life,

But that the dread (21) of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn (22)

25 No traveller returns, puzzles the will (23),

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue (24) of resolution

30 Is sicklied o'er (25) with the pale cast (26) of

thought,

And enterprises of great pitch (27) and moment (28)

With this regard their currents turn awry (29)

And lose the name of action.

1 slings: kind of weapon

2 outrageous: shocking

3 is heir to: inherits

4 consummation: satisfaction, end

5 devoutly: with religious feeling, sincerely

6 perchance: perhaps

7 rub: problem

8 shuffled off: removed

9 mortal coil: burdens of life

10 make calamity of so long life: makes man

live disastrously long

11 scorns: bad treatment

12 contumely: insults

13 pangs: pains

14 spurns: insults

15 th’ unworthy: undeserving

16 quietus: death

17 bodkin: a dagger

18 fardels: burdens

19 grunt: make a noise of suffering

20 weary: tiring and dissatisfying

21 dread: fear

22 bourn: frontiers

23 will: volition

24 hue: colour

25 sicklied o’er: made ill

26 cast: shadow

27 pitch: intensity

28 moment: importance

29 awry: off course

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What is the main problem that Hamlet poses himself in the first line?

2. What is the alternative expressed in lines 2-4?

3. What advantages does death bring? (lines 5-9)

4. What difficulty does Hamlet, however, see after death? (lines 10-14)

5. Paraphrase in your own words the catalogue of life sufferings in lines 15-19.

6. Why do people tolerate this unpleasantness? (lines 23-27)

7. What is Hamlet’s conclusion about the reason why people do not commit suicides when faced with difficulties in their life?

Jonathan Swift. “Gulliver’s Travels” (1726)

Swift’s most famous and most popular book belongs to the years of maturity and disillusionment. “Travels into

Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships” was

published pseudonymously in 1726 with many changes by the publisher, since he was afraid the book in its original

version would offend a lot of people. In 1735 the complete version was published.

Swift must have been inspired by “The New Voyages Round the World” by Dampier (1717). To persuade his readers

that his novel is a true story, Swift supplied the book with maps, and the narration – with realistic and convincing

details.

“Gulliver's Travels” (though during the 20th century often perceived as a story for children) is one of the most

incisive satires on morals and behaviour ever written.

The novel consists of four books. In four parts Swift reveals four different aspects of humanity: its insignificance,

grossness, wrongheadedness and viciousness.

Voyage to Lilliput. Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon on a merchant ship, relates his shipwreck on the island of

Lilliput, the inhabitants of which are six inches high. Owing to these small propotions, the pomp of the

emperor, the life of the inhabitants, the war with the neighbours across the channel are made to look

ridiculous.

The book reduces court life and political strife of contemporary England to its true dimensions. The

English political parties and religions are satirized in the description of the wearers of high and low heels and

in the dispute whether eggs should be broken at the big or small end. During his visit to Lilliput, Gulliver

understood that human achievements, military glory, and social distinctions are impressive only in our own

eyes.

Voyage to Brobdingnag. Here Gulliver is accidentally left ashore of Brobdingnag, the land of giants. Sir

Walter Scott truly said, “Swift places mankind at the other side of the telescope.” What was small has

become gross, but human virtues: wisdom, kindness, modesty, and loyalty are independent of the size.

In this book Gulliver expresses his horror at the ugliness of human body. (According to Dr. Johnson,

Swift was always washing himself, and was terrified at the dirt of the human body and its functions.)

The book has political satire. It shows how ridiculous and funny are glorious achievements of England.

The king of Brobdingnag, after inquiring about the manners, government, politics, and the system of

education in England, sums up his impressions: “By what I have gathered from your narration [...] I cannot

but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever

suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.”

Voyage to Laputa. This book tells about Gulliver’s visit to the flying island of Laputa, and its continental

capital Lagado. In this book Swift’s satire is directed against philosophers, scientists, scholars and musicians.

Swift was against abstract science that was unable to improve the conditions of the poor. Laputa’s scientists

are wrapped in their speculations, but cannot project a proper house. In the Academy of Projectors, the

professors are involved in absurd experiments, such as extracting sunshine from cucumbers.

Gulliver’s visit to the Island of Sorcerers where he speaks to the great men of the past, reveals the

incorrectness of history. Immortality, the everlasting dream of mankind, is shown as the most miserable and

poor condition one can ever think about.

Voyage to Houyhnhnms. In this book Swift’s hate of man reaches its climax. There is little political

satire in this book, Swift’s bitter sarcasm is directed against man. Man is depicted as a dirty and smelly

animal, a bondage to intellectual horses. The simple virtues of horses are contrasted with the repulsive vices

of men – beasts Yahoos. The most powerful situation in this book is the moment, when Gulliver comes home

and cannot bear the touch of his wife, because she smells like Yahoo.

When the book was finished, Swift had it published anonymously, because he was afraid that its bitter satire and

cynicism would horrify the readers and the government, and he might be imprisoned or pilloried. But nothing

happened. The book was considered as a “merry book”. Its success wasn’t lasting, and soon it was almost forgotten.

At the turn of the 19

th

century Swift’s philosophical ideas were revealed and exposed to the reading public. “The

merry book” became the book of the devil, shameful and unmanly. The contemporary critics failed to recognize the

moral, social or political purpose of the book, they saw only cynicism.

A century later Charles Whimley at Cambridge made a lecture in defence of Swift as an enemy of injustice and

oppression. Since that time Gulliver’s Travels has been described as a serious work with a rare merit of appealing to

both the old and the young. As a powerful satire on man and human social and political life, and as a fascinating tale

of travels, a wonderful fairy tale enjoyed by children.

Jonathan Swift. From “Gulliver’s Travels”

Lemuel Gulliver travels on the ship ‘the Antelope’ to the south seas. The Antelope is shipwrecked in a storm,

and Lemuel Gulliver manages to swim to an island. Exhausted from his adventure, he falls asleep, and when he

wakes up he realizes that he had been tied down to the ground by some tiny men, the Lilliputs.

Once the Emperor of the Lilliputs is satisfied that Lemuel is a friend, he decrees his freedom. Lemuel, who is

of course a great burden on the population because of the massive amount of food and drink he consumes, lives

as best as he can with the Lilliputians, and relates many of their customs.

From Chapter 4. […] for about seventy moons past there have been two struggling parties in this

empire, under the names of TRAMECKSAN and SLAMECKSAN (1), from the high and low heels of

their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves. It is alleged, indeed, that the high heels are most

agreeable to our ancient constitution; but, however this be, his majesty has determined to make use only

of low heels in the administration of the government, and all offices in the gift of the crown, as you

cannot but observe; and particularly that his majesty's imperial heels are lower at least by a DRURR

than any of his court (DRURR is a measure about the fourteenth part of an inch). The animosities

between these two parties run so high, that they will neither eat, nor drink, nor talk with each other. We

compute the TRAMECKSAN, or high heels, to exceed us in number; but the power is wholly on our

side. We apprehend his imperial highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency towards the

high heels; at least we can plainly discover that one of his heels is higher than the other, which gives

him a hobble in his gait (2). […]

It began upon the following occasion. It is allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking

eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger end; but his present majesty's grandfather, while he was a

boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his

fingers. Whereupon the emperor his father published an edict, commanding all his subjects, upon great

penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs (3). The people so highly resented this law, that our

histories tell us, there have been six rebellions raised on that account; wherein one emperor lost his life,

and another his crown (4). These civil commotions were constantly fomented by the monarchs of

Blefuscu (5); and when they were quelled, the exiles always fled for refuge to that empire. […]

Now, the Big-endian exiles have found so much credit in the emperor of Blefuscu's court, and so

much private assistance and encouragement from their party here at home, that a bloody war has been

carried on between the two empires for six-and-thirty moons, with various success; during which time

we have lost forty capital ships, and a much a greater number of smaller vessels, together with thirty

thousand of our best seamen and soldiers; and the damage received by the enemy is reckoned to be

somewhat greater than ours. […]

1. Tramecksan and Slamecksan: Swift has in view High Church and Low Church, or Tories and Whigs. The zeal,

with which they are opposed, too much exceeds their importance. The strong preference of George I for the low-

heels, or Whigs, is indicated by the exceptional lowness of his heels.

2. This is a reference to the Prince of Wales (afterwards King George II), who indicated favour to both parties,

and is thus shown hobbling between the two political creeds.

3. This is a satirical description of the religious controversy between Catholics and Protestants. In Swift’s opinion

their contradictions were as insignificant as between Big-endians and Little-endians.

4. The monarch who lost his life, was King Charles (1625-1649), executed during the Puritan Revolution for

warring against Parliament. The monarch, who lost his crown, was King James II (1685-1688), after the

“Glorious Revolution” (1688) he fled to France, where he was well received by the French King Louis XIV.

5. Blefuscu: J. Swift has in view France.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What does Jonathan Swift aim his satire at in this excerpt?

2. Were the contradictions between Tories and Whigs, as well as Catholics and Protestants of any

significance and importance in Swift’s opinion?

George Gordon Byron. “She walks in Beauty”

This is one of the most famous descriptions of womanly beauty in English poetry. The poem, written to be set to music,

was inspired by Byron’s first meeting with Lady Wilmot Horton, his cousin by marriage, who wore a black mourning

gown with spangles. Byron wrote this lyric as soon as he had returned to his room after a dance at which he saw her.

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that 's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

POST-READING EXERCISES

1.

What figures of speech and images does Byron use to express his sense of the lady’s beauty?

2.

The opening simile is justly famous. How apt is it? How is Lady Horton like the night?

3.

Does Byron’s picture emphasize the physical or the spiritual aspect of the lady?

4.

What does the speaker believe the woman’s appearance reveals about her character?

5.

Compare and contrast this poem with Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130.

Percy Bysshe Shelley.

“ To The Men Of England” (1819

)

Written in 1819, the following poem addresses the working men of England at a time of acute economic distress. The

demobilization of troops at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 was the prelude to a period of depression and

severe unemployment, and Shelley hoped fervently in some kind of proletarian revolution. This song later became a

hymn of the labour movement in Britain.

Men of England, wherefore (1) plough

For the lords who lay ye (2) low?

Wherefore weave with toil and care

The rich robes your tyrants wear?

Wherefore feed and clothe and save,

From the cradle to the grave,

Those ungrateful drones who would

Drain your sweat -- nay, drink your blood?

Wherefore, Bees of England, forge

Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,

That these stingless drones may spoil

The forced produce of your toil?

Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,

Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?

Or what is it ye buy so dear

With your pain and with your fear?

The seed ye sow another reaps;

The wealth ye find another keeps;

The robes ye weave another wears;

The arms ye forge another bears.

Sow seed, -- but let no tyrant reap;

Find wealth, -- let no imposter heap;

Weave robes, -- let not the idle wear;

Forge arms, in your defence to bear.

Shrink (3) to your cellars, holes, and cells;

In halls ye deck (4) another dwells.

Why shake the chains ye wrought (5)? Ye see

The steel ye tempered (6) glance on ye.

With plough and spade and hoe and loom,

Trace your grave, and build your tomb,

And weave your winding-sheet (7), till fair

England be your sepulcher (8)!

1. wherefore: why

2. ye: you

3. shrink: (here) return

4. deck: decorate

5. wrought: made

6. tempered: strengthened by

heat treatment

7. winding sheet: sheet used

to cover a dead body

8. sepulcher: burial vault, tomb

POST-READING EXERCISES

1.

To whom is the poem addressed?

2.

How would you describe the conditions these people live in?

3.

What do these people do and for whom? (Make a list). Shelley compares both groups of people to insects: what

kind of insects are they and what are their characteristics?

4.

Why do you think he invites them to refrain their various activities?

5.

What is the message of the last stanza of the poem? Describe in your own words how you think the poet feels, and

what his feelings for the future are.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. From “Frankenstein” (1818)

The origin of “Frankenstein” is almost as mysterious and exciting as the novel itself. In her introduction to the Standard Novels

Edition of 1831 of “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley herself tells how she came to write the novel. During the summer of 1816, she, Lord

Byron, Shelley and Byron’s personal physician amused themselves by reading ghost stories. As a game, Lord Byron suggested that

they each write a ghost story of their own, but Mary could think of nothing. But her inspiration was close at hand.“ Many and long

were the conversations between Lord Byron and Shelley, to which I was a devout but nearly silent listener”, she wrote. One of these

conversations concerned some experiments of Dr.Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin, bringing to life pieces of little worms.

Mary Shelley suffered from a kind of writer's block and produced nothing until one day she had a sort of vision that finally inspired

her to write “Frankenstein”. A couple of days later, Mary Shelley finally began her novel with chapter IV. She completed it in 1817

and the first edition was published in 1818.Thus, “Frankenstein” was created from that single circumstance.

Initially, Mary meant to turn her horrifying image into a short story, but Shelley insisted that she develop it into a novel, and that

she did. The novel met with immediate success, even though many were shocked by the simple and straightforward language she

used, which was different from the ornate language of the Gothic novels of the day.

“Frankenstein” is first of all a story of what happens when a scientist goes too far. The work epitomizes the scientist who first

experiments and thinks about the consequences later. It analyses in detail the mentality of a good man, Victor Frankenstein, who

abandons everything in order to penetrate the mysteries of nature. But the novel is not a simple fable since Mary also reveals to us

the mind of a creature. Thus, her novel remains a vibrant and complex work of art.

PRE-READING EXERCISES

1. What do you know about Frankenstein’s monster? Have you seen any films about it? How do they portray the monster?

2. Do you think scientists are responsible for their creations? For example, do you think Albert Einstein and other physicists

should be blamed for the dangers of nuclear war?

From Chapter 5

(After two years of hard work Victor finally brings his creature to life!)

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an

anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might

infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning;

the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the

glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed

hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with

such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had

selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work

of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these

luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun

white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly

two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health.

I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream

vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I

rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. At

length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured; and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes,

endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. But it was in vain: I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the

wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and

surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her

features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her

form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew

covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the

moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch -- the miserable monster whom I had

created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened,

and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear;

one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs. I took refuge in the

courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited; where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down

in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of

the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. How does Victor react when his creation comes to life? What does Victor dream?

2. Frankenstein’s subtitle is “The Modern Prometheus”. Find out about the myth of Prometheus and explain the subtitle.

3. How does Victor’s horrific dream of incest relate to his act of creation?

4. Victor says that they are acting for the benefit of mankind. Do you believe them? Do you believe modern scientists when they say

the same thing?

Jane Austen. From “Pride and Prejudice” (1813)

One of Jane Austen’s most popular and enduring novels is”‘Pride and Prejudice”. Charlotte Bronte (as this letter to G.H. Lewis in 1848 illustrates)

was inclined to take a hostile view of the novel: “Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. [...] I had not seen ‘Pride

and Prejudice’ till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a

commonplace face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright, vivid

physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant

but confined houses.”

Whatever one’s opinion of the novel, it certainly contains some fine comic portraits (especially that of Mrs Bennet). The novel deals with Mrs

Bennet’s desperate attempts to marry off her five daughters, preferably to men of sound economic standing. The result, as may be seen from the

very opening pages, is a triumph of humour and well measured irony.

From Chapter 1

]

It is a truth universally acknowledged,

that a single man in possession of a

large fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or

views of such a man may be on his

first entering a neighbourhood, this

truth is so well fixed in the minds of the

surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful

property of someone or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have

you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

"But it is, returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here,

and she told me all about it.

Mr. Bennet made no answer.

"Do you not want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife

impatiently.

"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that

Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the

north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise

and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it,

that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take

possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are

to be in the house by the end of next week."

"What is his name?"

"Bingley."

"Is he married or single?"

"Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large

fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our

girls!"

"How so? How can it affect them?"

"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so

tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying

one of them."

"Is that his design in settling here?"

"Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely

that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you

must visit him as soon as he comes."

"I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you

may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still

better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr.

Bingley may like you the best of the party."

"My dear, you flatter me. I certainly have had my share of

beauty, but I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary

now. When a woman has five grown-up daughters, she ought

to give over thinking of her own beauty."

"In such cases, a woman has not often much beauty to think

of."

"But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when

he comes into the neighbourhood."

"It is more than I engage for, I assure you."

"But consider your daughters. Only think what an

establishment it would be for one of them. Sir William and

Lady Lucas are determined to go, merely on that account, for

in general, you know, they visit no newcomers. Indeed you

must go, for it will be impossible for US to visit him if you do

not."

"You are over-scrupulous, surely. I dare say Mr. Bingley will

be very glad to see you; and I will send a few lines by you to

assure him of my hearty consent to his marrying whichever

he chooses of the girls; though I must throw in a good word

for my little Lizzy."

"I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better

than the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome

as Jane, nor half so good-humoured as Lydia. But you are

always giving HER the preference."

"They have none of them much to recommend them," replied

he; "they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy

has something more of quickness than her sisters."

"Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a

way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no

compassion for my poor nerves."

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your

nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention

them with consideration these last twenty years at least."

Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic

humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-

and- twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife

understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to

develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little

information, and uncertain temper. When she was

discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of

her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was

visiting and news.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What do you understand by the terms ‘pride’ and ‘prejudice’?

2. What do you think Jane Austen might have meant by these

terms?

3. What is the meaning of the two opening sentences? How would

you describe the tone of the narrator in these sentences?

4. How would you describe the reactions of a. Mrs Bennet and

b. Mr Bennet to the arrival of Mr Bingley in the neighbourhood?

Who do you think the narrator sides with on this occasion? Give

reasons for your answer, quoting the text.

5. Do you think Mr Bennet is fond of his wife? Find evidence in the

text to support your answer.

6. How would you define Mrs Bennet’s attitude to her daughters?

And to marriage?

7. Do you think attitudes towards marriage have changed since

Austen’s time? If so, in what ways?

Emily Bronte.

Here, one of Emily Bronte’s poems, published posthumously in 1850, gives a glimpse of her wild and

original nature.

Stanzas

Often rebuked, yet always back returning

To those first feelings that were born with me,

And leaving busy chase of wealth and learning

For idle dreams of things which cannot be:

To-day, I will seek not the shadowy region;

Its unsustaining vastness waxes drear;

And visions rising, legion after legion,

Bring the unreal world too strangely near.

I'll walk, but not in old heroic traces,

And not in paths of high morality,

And not among the half-distinguished faces,

The clouded forms of long-past history.

I'll walk where my own nature would be leading:

It vexes me to choose another guide:

Where the grey flocks in ferny glens are

feeding;

Where the wild wind blows on the mountain

side.

What have those lonely mountains worth

revealing?

More glory and more grief than I can tell:

The earth that wakes one human heart to feeling

Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell.

From “Wuthering Heights”

(1847)

‘

Wuthering Heights’ is narrated by Lockwood, a gentleman visiting the Yorkshire moors where the

novel is set, and of Mrs Dean, housekeeper to the Earnshaw family, who had been witness of the

interlocked destinies of the original owners of the Heights. In a series of flashbacks and time

shifts, Bronte draws a powerful picture of the enigmatic Heathcliff, who is brought to Heights

from the streets of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw. Heathcliff is treated as Earnshaw's own children,

Catherine and Hindley. After his death Heathcliff , who loves Catherine, is bullied by Hindley, but

she marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff 's destructive force is unleashed, and his first victim is

Catherine, who dies giving birth to a girl, another Catherine. Isabella Linton, Edgar's sister,

whom he had married, flees to the south. Their son Linton and Catherine are married, but always

sickly Linton dies. Hareton, Hindley's son, and the young widow became close. Increasingly isolated and

alienated from daily life, Heathcliff experiences visions, and he longs for the death that will reunite him with

Catherine.

One day Mr Lockwood arrives at Wuthering Heights where he spends the night and makes a discovery…

The ledge, where I placed my candle, had a few mildewed books piled up in one corner; and it was

covered with writing scratched on the paint. This writing, however, was nothing but a name

repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small - Catherine Earnshaw, here and there varied

to Catherine Heathcliff, and then again to Catherine Linton.

[Then in some books Lockwood discovers that this mysterious Catherine, who is not the same

Catherine he had met earlier, had written a diary which he read.]

'An awful Sunday,' commenced the paragraph beneath. 'I wish my father were back again. Hindley

is a detestable substitute - his conduct to Heathcliff is atrocious - H. and I are going to rebel -

we took our initiatory step this evening.

[When Lockwood finally falls asleep he has some strange and terrible dreams. The first is about a

bizarre preacher, who at the end of the dream begins banging on the pulpit in the church.

Lockwood wakes up and realizes that the noise of his dream ia merely the branch of a fir tree

in the wind banging against the window.]

This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the

driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the

right cause: but it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought,

I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement. The hook was soldered into the staple: a

circumstance observed by me when awake, but forgotten. 'I must stop it, nevertheless!' I

muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the

importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold

hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the

hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, 'Let me in - let me in!' 'Who are you?' I

asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. 'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shiveringly

(why did I think of Linton? I had read Earnshaw twenty times for Linton) - 'I'm come home: I'd

lost my way on the moor!' As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the

window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I

pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and

soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, 'Let me in!' and maintained its tenacious gripe, almost

maddening me with fear. 'How can I!' I said at length. 'Let me go, if you want me to let you in!'

The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a

pyramid against it, and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep

them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened again, there was the doleful

cry moaning on! 'Begone!' I shouted. 'I'll never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.' 'It is

twenty years,' mourned the voice: 'twenty years. I've been a waif for twenty years!' Thereat

began a feeble scratching outside, and the pile of books moved as if thrust forward. I tried to

jump up; but could not stir a limb; and so yelled aloud, in a frenzy of fright. To my confusion, I

discovered the yell was not ideal: hasty footsteps approached my chamber door; somebody

pushed it open, with a vigorous hand, and a light glimmered through the squares at the top of

the bed.

[Heathcliff comes in to ask about the noise, and sends Lockwood to another room, but then begins

to behave very strangely]

He got on to the bed, and wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an

uncontrollable passion of tears. 'Come in! come in!' he sobbed. 'Cathy, do come. Oh, do - once

more! Oh! my heart's darling! hear me this time, Catherine, at last!' The spectre showed a

spectre's ordinary caprice: it gave no sign of being; but the snow and wind whirled wildly

through, even reaching my station, and blowing out the light.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1.

In this extract the ‘wuthering’ nature of the environment is particularly evident. Go back and underline the words

referring to stormy weather. What impression does this create?

2.

Emily Bronte is often accused of excessive emotionalism and certainly the horror of this scene and its gruesome

details are very gripping. Put the following events in sequence.

[…] the ghost moves the pile of books.

[…] the ghost lets Lockwood’s hand go.

[…] Lockwood smashes the pane of glass.

[…] Lockwood says he will never let her in for twenty

years.

[…] Lockwood cruelly presses the ghost’s hand on the

broken glass.

[…] Lockwood hears a fir branch beating on the window.

[…] Lockwood screams and wakes someone else in the

house.

[…] Lockwood barricades the broken glass with books.

[…] Lockwood asks the ghost who it is.

[…] Lockwood tries to unfasten the window, but finds it

fixed.

[…] Lockwood touches an ice-cold hand.

[…] Lockwood hears a feeble scratching outside.

[…] A sad voice cries ‘Let me in, let me in.’

3.

How do you interpret Heathcliff’s behaviour?

4.

At this point in the story, the flashback to the time of Heathcliff and Catherine has not yet occurred, what can

you deduce about the relationship from the passage?

5.

Do you think that Emily Bronte has any real psychological insight into the nature of passion, or is this simply

an exaggerated story created by the mind of a lonely, shy and frustrated young woman? Give reasons for your

answer.

Charlotte Bronte. From “Jane Eyre”(1847)

One of the most famous novels of all time, “Jane Eyre, An Autobiography” was written by Charlotte Brontë and

published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell. It was an instant success, earning the praise of many critics,

including William Makepeace Thackeray. The novel has engendered numerous film and TV adaptations.

“Jane Eyre” tells the story of a plain but intelligent orphan girl, whose ill treatment at the hands of hypocritical

relatives leads her to be sent away to school by Mr Brocklehurst. Some weeks after her arrival, while Mr Brocklehurst

is visiting the school with his family, Jane drops her slate in class.

"A careless girl!" said Mr. Brocklehurst, and immediately after--"It is the new pupil, I

perceive." And before I could draw breath, "I must not forget I have a word to say

respecting her." Then aloud: how loud it seemed to me! "Let the child who broke

her slate come forward!"

Of my own accord I could not have stirred; I was paralysed: but the two great girls

who sit on each side of me, set me on my legs and pushed me towards the dread

judge, and then Miss Temple gently assisted me to his very feet, and I caught her

whispered counsel -

"Don't be afraid, Jane, I saw it was an accident; you shall not be punished."

The kind whisper went to my heart like a dagger.

"Another minute, and she will despise me for a hypocrite," thought I; and an impulse of fury against

Reed, Brocklehurst, and Co. bounded in my pulses at the conviction. I was no Helen Burns.

"Fetch that stool," said Mr. Brocklehurst, pointing to a very high one from which a monitor had just

risen: it was brought.

"Place the child upon it."

And I was placed there, by whom I don't know: I was in no condition to note particulars; I was only

aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of Mr. Brocklehurst's nose, that he was within a yard

of me, and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage

extended and waved below me. Mr. Brocklehurst hemmed.

"Ladies," said he, turning to his family, "Miss Temple, teachers, and children, you all see this girl?"

Of course they did; for I felt their eyes directed like burning- glasses against my scorched skin.

"You see she is yet young; you observe she possesses the ordinary form of childhood; God has

graciously given her the shape that He has given to all of us; no signal deformity points her out as a

marked character. Who would think that the Evil One had already found a servant and agent in

her? Yet such, I grieve to say, is the case."

A pause--in which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves, and to feel that the Rubicon was passed;

and that the trial, no longer to be shirked, must be firmly sustained.

"My dear children," pursued the black marble clergyman, with pathos, "this is a sad, a melancholy

occasion; for it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs, is

a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien. You must

be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude

her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse. Teachers, you must watch her: keep your

eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her

soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child,

the native of a Christian land,

worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut--this

girl is--a liar!"

POST-READING RXERCISES

1.

Trace Jane Eyre’s sequences of emotions from when she breaks the slate to when she is called a liar.



First she is ____________________________________



but

Jane_______________________________________



She cannot note the particulars because_____________



Then she steadies her nerves and __________________



Miss Temple tries to_____________________________



Then she is ________________ with Brocklehurst & co.



Then she feels everybody’s eyes____________________



and realizes that it is better to _____________________

2, What insight does it give us into Jane’s character?

3. What can we learn about Mr Brocklehurst’s character from his behaviour?

4. What do the ‘silk pelisses and the silvery plumage’ indicate about the class of the people visiting the school?

5. Do you think Mr Brocklehurst and his family have a real understanding of what is good for these girls?

Charles Dickens. From “The Adventures of Oliver Twist” (1838)

“Oliver Twist “, a novel by Charles Dickens originally published as a serial, is probably one of the best-known of all his

works, along with “A Christmas Carol” and “Great Expectations”.

As with most of Dickens' works, “Oliver Twist” brings the public's attention to various contemporary social evils,

including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals.The novel is full of sarcasm and dark

humor, even as it treats its serious subjects, revealing the hypocrisies of the time. It has been the subject of numerous film

and television adaptations, and the basis for a highly successful British musical, entitled simply “Oliver!”

From Chapter Two . [...]

The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper at one

end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled

the gruel at meal-times. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer, and no more- except on

occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing. The

boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long,

the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have

devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously,

with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites.

Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with

hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing (for his father had kept a small cookshop),

hinted darkly (1) to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem (2),Ї he was afraid he might some night

happen to eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they

implicitly (3) believed him. A council was held; lots were cast (4) who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask

for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.

The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook's uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper

assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace (5) was said over the short commons (6). The

gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he

was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand,

said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:

"Please, sir, I want some more."

The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some

seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.

"What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice.

"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more."

The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him (7) in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle (8).

The board (9) were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the

gentleman in the high chair, said,

"Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!"

There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.

"For more!" said Mr. Limbkins. "Compose yourself (10), Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more,

after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary (11)?"

"He did, sir," replied Bumble.

"That boy will be hung," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. "I know that boy will be hung."

Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion. An animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant

confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would

take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. In other words, five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man or woman who

wanted an apprentice to any trade, business, or calling.

"I never was more convinced of anything in my life," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat, as he knocked at the gate and read

the bill next morning: "I never was more convinced of anything in my life, than I am that that boy will come to be hung."

As I purpose to show in the sequel whether the white-waistcoated gentleman was right or not, I

should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative (supposing it to possess any at all), if I ventured to

hint just yet, whether the life of Oliver Twist had this violent termination or no.

1. hinted darkly: said in an indirect and threatening way.

2. per diem: each day

7. pinioned him: immobilized him by holding his arms

8. beadle: a minor church officer, here, working in the workhouse

3. Implicitly: without doubt

4. lots were cast: it was decided by chance

5. grace: prayer of thanksgiving before a meal

6. commons: daily portion of food

9. board: meeting of the officers of the workhouse

10. compose yourself: calm down

11. dietary: (bureaucratic language) rules regarding food and meals

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What is the diet offered in the workhouse? (on weekdays? on festive occasions?)

2. How can you tell that the boys are hungry?

3. What extreme symptom of hunger leads the boys to decide to ask for more?

4. How do you interpret the line: “A long grace was said over the short commons”? What does this tell us about the authorities?

5. How does the master react when Oliver asks for more?

6. How do the members of the board react when they hear about his request?

7. Why does the gentleman in white insist that Oliver will one day be hung? What characteristics of Oliver’s personality lead him to say this?

8. What consequences does Oliver’s request have the next day?

9. Do you think this is a realistic portrait of life in the workhouse or a gross exaggeration?

10. What was Dickens’ aim in satirizing the workhouse board in such a manner?

Lewis Carroll. From “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” (1865)

“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” is a work of children's literature by the

British mathematician and author Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under

the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls

down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy realm populated by talking creatures and

anthropomorphic playing cards.

The tale is fraught with satirical allusions to Dodgson's friends and to the

lessons that British schoolchildren were expected to memorize. The

Wonderland described in the tale plays with logic in ways that has made the

story of lasting popularity with children as well as grown-ups.

“The Mock Turtles Story” (from Chapter 9)

( … ) Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Alice, `Have you seen the Mock

Turtle yet?'

`No,' said Alice. `I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is.'

`It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from,' said the Queen.

`I never saw one, or heard of one,' said Alice.

`Come on, then,' said the Queen, `and he shall tell you his history,'

As they walked off together, Alice heard the King say in a low voice, to the company generally,

`You are all pardoned.' `Come, that's a good thing!' she said to herself, for she had felt quite

unhappy at the number of executions the Queen had ordered.

They very soon came upon a Gryphon, lying fast asleep in the sun. (If you don't know what a

Gryphon is, look at the picture.) `Up, lazy thing!' said the Queen, `and take this young lady to see

the Mock Turtle, and to hear his history. I must go back and see after some executions I have

ordered'; and she walked off, leaving Alice alone with the Gryphon. Alice did not quite like the look

of the creature, but on the whole she thought it would be quite as safe to stay with it as to go after

that savage Queen: so she waited.

The Gryphon sat up and rubbed its eyes: then it watched the Queen till she was out of sight: then it

chuckled. `What fun!' said the Gryphon, half to itself, half to Alice.

`What is the fun?' said Alice.

`Why, she,' said the Gryphon. `It's all her fancy, that: they never executes nobody, you know. Come

on!'

`Everybody says "come on!" here,' thought Alice, as she went slowly after it: `I never was so

ordered about in all my life, never!'

They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a

little ledge of rock, and, as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would

break. She pitied him deeply. `What is his sorrow?' she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon

answered, very nearly in the same words as before, `It's all his fancy, that: he hasn't got no sorrow,

you know. Come on!'

So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes full of tears, but said

nothing.

`This here young lady,' said the Gryphon, `she wants for to know your history, she do.'

`I'll tell it her,' said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone: `sit down, both of you, and don't speak

a word till I've finished.'

So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, `I don't see how he

can even finish, if he doesn't begin.' But she waited patiently.

`Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, `I was a real Turtle.'

These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only by an occasional exclamation of

`Hjckrrh!' from the Gryphon, and the constant heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle. Alice was very

nearly getting up and saying, `Thank you, sir, for your interesting story,' but she could not help

thinking there must be more to come, so she sat still and said nothing.

`When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little

now and then, `we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him

Tortoise--'

`Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.

`We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle angrily: `really you are very

dull!'

`You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question,' added the Gryphon; and

then they both sat silent and looked at poor Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. At last the

Gryphon said to the Mock Turtle, `Drive on, old fellow! Don't be all day about it!' and he went on

in these words:

`Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it--'

`I never said I didn't!' interrupted Alice.

`You did,' said the Mock Turtle.

`Hold your tongue!' added the Gryphon, before Alice could speak again. The Mock Turtle went on.

`We had the best of educations--in fact, we went to school every day--'

`I've been to a day-school, too,' said Alice; `you needn't be so proud as all that.'

`With extras?' asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously.

`Yes,' said Alice, `we learned French and music.'

`And washing?' said the Mock Turtle.

`Certainly not!' said Alice indignantly.

`Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock Turtle in a tone of great relief. `Now at

ours they had at the end of the bill, "French, music, and washing--extra."'

`You couldn't have wanted it much,' said Alice; `living at the bottom of the sea.'

`I couldn't afford to learn it.' said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. `I only took the regular course.'

`What was that?' inquired Alice.

`Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,' the Mock Turtle replied; `and then the different

branches of Arithmetic-- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.'

`I never heard of "Uglification," Alice ventured to say. `What is it?'

The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. `What! Never heard of uglifying!' it exclaimed.

`You know what to beautify is, I suppose?'

`Yes,' said Alice doubtfully: `it means--to--make--anything-- prettier.'

`Well, then,' the Gryphon went on, `if you don't know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.'

Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about it, so she turned to the Mock Turtle,

and said `What else had you to learn?'

`Well, there was Mystery,' the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers, `--

Mystery, ancient and modern, with Seaography: then Drawling--the Drawling-master was an old

conger-eel, that used to come once a week: he taught us Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in

Coils.'

`What was that like?' said Alice.

`Well, I can't show it you myself,' the Mock Turtle said: `I'm too stiff. And the Gryphon never learnt

it.'

`Hadn't time,' said the Gryphon: `I went to the Classics master, though. He was an old crab, HE

was.'

`I never went to him,' the Mock Turtle said with a sigh: `he taught Laughing and Grief, they used to

say.'

`So he did, so he did,' said the Gryphon, sighing in his turn; and both creatures hid their faces in

their paws.

`And how many hours a day did you do lessons?' said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.

`Ten hours the first day,' said the Mock Turtle: `nine the next, and so on.'

`What a curious plan!' exclaimed Alice.

`That's the reason they're called lessons,' the Gryphon remarked: `because they lessen from day to

day.'

This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought it over a little before she made her next remark.

`Then the eleventh day must have been a holiday?'

`Of course it was,' said the Mock Turtle.

`And how did you manage on the twelfth?' Alice went on eagerly.

`That's enough about lessons,' the Gryphon interrupted in a very decided tone: `tell her something

about the games now.'

Robert Louis Stevenson. From “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1886)

Right and Wrong. Joy and Despair. Good and Evil. These are the themes Robert Louis

Stevenson, one of the masters of the Victorian adventure story, addresses in his work.

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, which the author described as a “fine bogey

tale,” was inspired by Stevenson's own recurring dreams, in which he led a respectable life by

day and a completely different existence by night. This classic tale of the divided self came out

in 1886 and met with tremendous success, selling 40,000 copies in six months and ensuring

Stevenson’s fame as a writer.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is a story of a respectable doctor and brilliant scientist Dr Jekyll

who transforms himself into a savage murderer - Mr Hyde. “It deals with the relation of the

baser parts of man to his nobler—of the capacity for evil that exists in the most generous

natures, and it expresses these things in a fable which is a wonderfully happy invention” (Henry

James, American novelist). Truly a great work of English Literature, “Jekyll and Hyde” is a magnificent story that

takes the reader to the very edge of madness.

The following are the descriptions of Mr Hyde’s appearance made by different characters in the novella.

"He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing,

something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce

know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I

couldn't specify the point. He's an extraordinary looking man, and yet I really can name nothing

out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can't describe him. And it's not want of

memory; for I declare I can see him this moment." (Mr. Enfield)

“Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable

malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of

murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat

broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the

hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.” (Mr.

Utterson)

“This person (who had thus, from the first moment of his entrance, struck in me what I can only,

describe as a disgustful curiosity) was dressed in a fashion that would have made an ordinary

person laughable; his clothes, that is to say, although they were of rich and sober fabric, were

enormously too large for him in every measurement--the trousers hanging on his legs and

rolled up to keep them from the ground, the waist of the coat below his haunches, and the collar

sprawling wide upon his shoulders. Strange to relate, this ludicrous accoutrement was far from

moving me to laughter. Rather, as there was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very

essence of the creature that now faced me--something seizing, surprising and revolting-- this fresh

disparity seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce it; so that to my interest in the man's nature and

character, there was added a curiosity as to his origin, his life, his fortune and status in the world.”

(Dr. Lanyon)

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What picture do you have in your mind of Edward Hyde’s appearance? For what reasons might Stevenson have

deliberately avoided describing him fully?

2. All of the characters in the story who see Hyde comment about how uncomfortable his appearance makes them feel.

In your opinion, how might Hyde’s looks be a symbol of something else? Why would this make people feel

uncomfortable? Explain.

3. Authors often give their characters names that are symbolic. Do you think any names in “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”

are symbolic?

4. One issue raised by “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” is that of drug abuse. How does a person who is abusing drugs

change in personality, appearance, and habits?

5. One critic has written of “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, “Without Jekyll, there could never have been Hyde;

without Hyde, one can never fully know Jekyll.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Is any person

completely good or completely evil? Instead, are people usually a mixture of the two? Explain.

O. Wilde. From “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895)

The plot of this brilliant comedy is very hard to explain, but everything hinges on a pun in the title: earnest means

serious, but is pronounced exactly the same as ‘Ernest’, the name. The two male protagonists, for various reasons, wish

to lead double lives: Jack wishes to marry Gwendolen, who has her heart set on marrying someone called Ernest, at the

same time Jack has pretended to his niece Cecily that he has a rakish brother named Ernest (who does not exist) to

justify his frequent trips to London. Algernon pretends to be Jack’s brother Ernest in order to court Cecily, who has fallen

in love with the idea of his dissolute brother. When the four meet up great confusion entails.

However it is not for the admittedly elegant plot that the play delights, but for the cut and thrust of its dialogue, which

lays bare the foibles and hypocrisy of the upper classes of Wilde’s day.

Lady Bracknell is a particularly impressive and hilarious figure and in the classic scene which follows she displays all the

prejudices one might expect from a Victorian lady.

* * *

(Gwendolen has just announced her engagement to Jack Worthing to her mother Lady Bracknell.)

LADY BRACKNELL: [Pencil and note-book in hand.] I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men,

although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. We work together, in fact. However, I am quite ready to enter your

name, should your answers be what a really affectionate mother requires. Do you smoke?

JACK: Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.

LADY BRACKNELL: I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in

London as it is. How old are you?

JACK: Twenty-nine.

LADY BRACKNELL: A very good age to be married at. I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should

know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?

JACK: [After some hesitation.] I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.

LADY BRACKNELL: I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a

delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in

England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and

probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. What is your income?

JACK: Between seven and eight thousand a year.

LADY BRACKNELL [Makes a note in her book.] In land, or in investments?

JACK: In investments, chiefly.

LADY BRACKNELL: That is satisfactory. What between the duties expected of one during one's lifetime, and the duties exacted from

one after one's death, land has ceased to be either a profit or a pleasure. It gives one position, and prevents one from keeping it up.

That's all that can be said about land.

JACK: I have a country house with some land, of course, attached to it, about fifteen hundred acres, I believe; but I don't depend on

that for my real income. In fact, as far as I can make out, the poachers are the only people who make anything out of it.

LADY BRACKNELL: A country house! How many bedrooms? Well, that point can be cleared up afterwards. You have a town house,

I hope? A girl with a simple, unspoiled nature, like Gwendolen, could hardly be expected to reside in the country.

JACK: Well, I own a house in Belgrave Square, but it is let by the year to Lady Bloxham. Of course, I can get it back whenever I like,

at six months' notice.

LADY BRACKNELL: Lady Bloxham? I don't know her.

JACK: Oh, she goes about very little. She is a lady considerably advanced in years.

LADY BRACKNELL: Ah, nowadays that is no guarantee of respectability of character. What number in Belgrave Square?

JACK: 149.

LADY BRACKNELL: [Shaking her head.] The unfashionable side. I thought there was something. However, that could easily be

altered.

JACK: Do you mean the fashion, or the side?

LADY BRACKNELL: [Sternly.] Both, if necessary, I presume. What are your polities?

JACK: Well, I am afraid I really have none. I am a Liberal Unionist.

LADY BRACKNELL: Oh, they count as Tories. They dine with us. Or come in the evening, at any rate. Now to minor matters. Are

your parents living?

JACK: I have lost both my parents.

LADY BRACKNELL: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

POST–READING EXERCISES

1. What does Lady Bracknell’s first speech about ‘lists’ indicate about marriages among the upper classes?

2. Lady Bracknell seems to believe that smoking is an ‘occupation’. What does this tell us about the occupation of a typical member of the upper

classes?

3. Do you agree with Lady Bracknell that it is better to know either nothing or everything about marriage?

4. Paraphrase her views on education in England.

5. What is Lady Bracknell’s view of life in the country? What does this indicate about Gwendolen’s ‘simple, unspoilt nature’?

6. How does she react to the address of Jack’s town house?

7. What can we infer about the dictates of fashion among the upper classes?

8. Why is Lady Bracknell’s reaction to Jack’s statement that he has lost both parents funny?

9. Write a paragraph describing the characteristics of the upper classes that Wilde is satirizing here.

Oscar Wilde. From “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1891)

Published in 1891, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. An immediate and popular success,

it has never been out of print since. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is often described as a melodrama, in other

words a work in which everything is larger than life. It is more like a myth or a morality tale than the realistic

novels which modern readers are accustomed to. It contains so much dialogue that it is almost as if it is a written

version of a stage play. This is not surprising as Wilde went on to write a series of enormously successful plays in

the three years following its publication, including his masterpiece “The Importance of Being Earnest”.

A B O U T O S C A R W I L D E

From the Preface

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.

The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in

beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are

the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

[..] The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in

the perfect use of an imperfect medium.

No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical

sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid.

The artist can express everything.

Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for

an art. [..] All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics

disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he

does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

Chapter II

[...] After about a quarter of an hour Hallward stopped painting, looked for a long time at Dorian Gray, and

then for a long time at the picture, biting the end of one of his huge brushes and frowning. "It is quite

finished," he cried at last, and stooping down he wrote his name in long vermilion letters on the left-hand

corner of the canvas.

Lord Henry came over and examined the picture. It was certainly a wonderful work of art, and a wonderful

likeness as well.

"My dear fellow, I congratulate you most warmly," he said. "It is the finest portrait of modern times. Mr.

Gray, come over and look at yourself."

The lad started, as if awakened from some dream.

"Is it really finished?" he murmured, stepping down from the platform.

"Quite finished," said the painter. "And you have sat splendidly to-day. I am awfully obliged to you."

"That is entirely due to me," broke in Lord Henry. "Isn't it,Mr. Gray?"

Dorian made no answer, but passed listlessly in front of his picture and turned towards it. When he saw it he

drew back, and his cheeks flushed for a moment with pleasure. A look of joy came into his eyes, as if he had

recognized himself for the first time.

He stood there motionless and in wonder, dimly conscious that Hallward was speaking to him, but not

catching the meaning of his words. The sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation. He had never

felt it before. Basil Hallward's compliments had seemed to him to be merely the charming exaggeration of

friendship. He had listened to them, laughed at them, forgotten them. They had not influenced his nature.

Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity.

That had stirred him at the time, and now, as he stood gazing at the shadow of his own loveliness, the full

reality of the description flashed across him. Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and

wizen, his eyes dim and colourless, the grace of his figure broken and deformed. The scarlet would pass

away from his lips and the gold steal from his hair. The life that was to make his soul would mar his body.

He would become dreadful, hideous, and uncouth.

As he thought of it, a sharp pang of pain struck through him like a knife and made each delicate fibre of his

nature quiver. His eyes deepened into amethyst, and across them came a mist of tears. He felt as if a hand of

ice had been laid upon his heart.

"Don't you like it?" cried Hallward at last, stung a little by the lad's silence, not understanding what it meant.

"Of course he likes it," said Lord Henry. "Who wouldn't like it? It is one of the greatest things in modern art.

I will give you anything you like to ask for it. I must have it."

"It is not my property, Harry."

"Whose property is it?"

"Dorian's, of course," answered the painter.

"He is a very lucky fellow."

"How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall

grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than

this particular day of June. . . . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and

the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the

whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!" [...]

Chapter XX

[...] But this murder--was it to dog him all his life? Was he always to be burdened by his past? Was he really

to confess? Never. There was only one bit of evidence left against him. The picture itself-- that was evidence.

He would destroy it. Why had he kept it so long? Once it had given him pleasure to watch it changing and

growing old. Of late he had felt no such pleasure. It had kept him awake at night. When he had been away,

he had been filled with terror lest other eyes should look upon it. It had brought melancholy across his

passions. Its mere memory had marred many moments of joy. It had been like conscience to him. Yes, it had

been conscience. He would destroy it.

He looked round and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward. He had cleaned it many times, till there

was no stain left upon it. It was bright, and glistened. As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter's

work, and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free. It would kill

this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace. He seized the thing, and

stabbed the picture with it.

There was a cry heard, and a crash. The cry was so horrible in its agony that the frightened servants woke

and crept out of their rooms. Two gentlemen, who were passing in the square below, stopped and looked up

at the great house. They walked on till they met a policeman and brought him back. The man rang the bell

several times, but there was no answer. Except for a light in one of the top windows, the house was all dark.

After a time, he went away and stood in an adjoining portico and watched.

"Whose house is that, Constable?" asked the elder of the two gentlemen.

"Mr. Dorian Gray's, sir," answered the policeman.

They looked at each other, as they walked away, and sneered. One of them was Sir Henry Ashton's uncle.

Inside, in the servants' part of the house, the half-clad domestics were talking in low whispers to each other.

Old Mrs. Leaf was crying and wringing her hands. Francis was as pale as death.

After about a quarter of an hour, he got the coachman and one of the footmen and crept upstairs. They

knocked, but there was no reply. They called out. Everything was still. Finally, after vainly trying to force the

door, they got on the roof and dropped down on to the balcony. The windows yielded easily--their bolts were

old.

When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen

him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening

dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had

examined the rings that they

recognized who it was.

George Bernard Shaw. From “Pygmalion” (1912)

In “Pygmalion”, Eliza Doolittle, a poor ignorant flower-girl, is trained by the phonetics expert Professor Higgins to speak and

act like a member of the upper classes. The scene below is her introduction into the society at an ‘At-Home’ (a kind of formal

tea-party), given by Higgins’ mother.

(While reading mind that Shaw’s spelling is unorthodox: no apostrophes in I’ve, etc.)

THE PARLOR-MAID: [opening the door] Miss

Doolittle. [She withdraws].

HIGGINS:[rising hastily and running to Mrs. Higgins] Here she is,

mother. [He stands on tiptoe and makes signs over his mother's head to

Eliza to indicate to her which lady is her hostess].

Eliza, who is exquisitely dressed, produces an impression of such

remarkable distinction and beauty as she enters that they all rise, quite

fluttered. Guided by Higgins's signals, she comes to Mrs. Higgins with

studied grace.

LIZA: [speaking with pedantic correctness of pronunciation and great

beauty of tone] How do you do, Mrs. Higgins? [She gasps slightly in

making sure of the H in Higgins, but is quite successful]. Mr. Higgins told

me I might come.

MRS HIGGINS : [cordially] Quite right: I'm very glad indeed to see you.

PICKERING: How do you do, Miss Doolittle?

LIZA: [shaking hands with him] Colonel Pickering, is it not?

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : I feel sure we have met before, Miss Doolittle. I

remember your eyes.

LIZA : How do you do? [She sits down on the ottoman gracefully in the

place just left vacant by Higgins].

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : [introducing] My daughter Clara.

LIZA : How do you do?

CLARA : [impulsively] How do you do? [She sits down on the ottoman

beside Eliza, devouring her with her eyes].

FREDDY : [coming to their side of the ottoman] Ive certainly had the

pleasure.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : [introducing] My son Freddy.

LIZA : How do you do?

Freddy bows and sits down in the Elizabethan chair, infatuated.

HIGGINS : [suddenly] By George, yes: it all comes back to me! [They

stare at him]. Covent Garden! [Lamentably] What a damned thing!

MRS HIGGINS : Henry, please! [He is about to sit on the edge of the

table]. Dont sit on my writing-table: youll break it.

HIGGINS : [sulkily] Sorry.

He goes to the divan, stumbling into the fender and over the fire-irons on

his way; extricating himself with muttered imprecations; and finishing his

disastrous journey by throwing himself so impatiently on the divan that

he almost breaks it. Mrs. Higgins looks at him, but controls herself and

says nothing.

A long and painful pause ensues.

MRS HIGGINS : [at last, conversationally] Will it rain, do you think?

LIZA : The shallow depression in the west of these islands is likely to

move slowly in an easterly direction. There are no indications of any

great change in the barometrical situation.

FREDDY : Ha! ha! how awfully funny!

LIZA : What is wrong with that, young man? I bet I got it right.

FREDDY : Killing!

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : I'm sure I hope it wont turn cold. Theres so

much influenza about. It runs right through our whole family regularly

every spring.

LIZA : [darkly] My aunt died of influenza: so they said.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : [clicks her tongue sympathetically]!!!

LIZA : [in the same tragic tone] But it's my belief they done the old

woman in (1)

MRS HIGGINS : [puzzled] Done her in?

LIZA : Y-e-e-e-es, Lord love you! Why should she die of influenza? She

come through (2) diphtheria right enough the year before. I saw her with

my own eyes. Fairly blue with it, she was. They all thought she was

dead; but my father he kept ladling gin down her throat til she came to

so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : [startled] Dear me!

LIZA : [piling up the indictment] What call would a woman with that

strength in her have to die of influenza? What become of her new straw

hat that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it (3); and what I

say is, them as (4) pinched it done her in.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : What does doing her in mean?

HIGGINS : [hastily] Oh, thats the new small talk (5). To do a person in

means to kill them.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : [to Eliza, horrified] You surely dont believe that

your aunt was killed?

LIZA : Do I not! Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat-pin,

let alone a hat.

MRSEYNSFORD HILL : But it cant have been right for your father to

pour spirits down her throat like that. It might have killed her.

LIZA : Not her. Gin was mother's milk to her. Besides, he'd poured so

much down his own throat that he knew the good of it.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL : Do you mean that he drank?

LIZA : Drank! My word! Something chronic.

MRS EYNSFORD HILL :How dreadful for you!

LIZA : Not a bit. It never did him no harm what I could see. But then he

did not keep it up regular. [Cheerfully] On the burst, as you might say,

from time to time. And always more agreeable when he had a drop in.

When he was out of work, my mother used to give him fourpence and

tell him to go out and not come back until he'd drunk himself cheerful

and loving-like. Theres lots of women has to make their husbands drunk

to make them fit to live with. [Now quite at her ease] You see, it's like

this. If a man has a bit of a conscience, it always takes him when he's

sober; and then it makes him low-spirited. A drop of booze (6) just takes

that off and makes him happy. [To Freddy, who is in convulsions of

suppressed laughter] Here! what are you sniggering at?

FREDDY : The new small talk. You do it so awfully well.

1 done the old woman in: killed the old woman 4 them as: the people that

2 she come through: she survived 5

the new small talk: the latest jargon

3 pinched it: stole it 6

booze: alcohol

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. Why does Freddy burst out laughing at Eliza’s remarks about the weather? What is inappropriate about them?

2. Go through Eliza’s speeches and note the ungrammatical (dialect) constructions she uses when she gets excited. Give the correct English

equivalent for the following: E.g.



done her in = did her in = killed her



them as pinched it done her in =......................................................................................................



it never did him no harm what I could see = ...................................................................................

3. What is inappropriate about the topics Eliza chooses to talk about? Why?

4. Pygmalion, the title of the play, refers to a Greek myth: Pygmalion falls in love with a statue, Galatea, and has the gods bring her to life. What

significance might this have for Shaw’s play

W. Somerset Maugham. From “The Moon and Sixpence” (1919)

The narrative for “The Moon and Sixpence” was suggested by the life of the French painter Paul Gaugin. The main character of the

novel, Strickland, is a middle-aged stock broker, who takes up painting, throws over his family, goes to live to Tahiti and in the few

years before his death paints highly original pictures with strange haunting colours.

The novel is an illustration of one of Maugham’s favourite convictions that human nature is knit of contradictions, that the workings

of the human mind are unpredictable. Strickland is concentrated on his art. He is indifferent to love, friendship and kindness,

misanthropic and inconsiderable to others.

Maugham borrowed the title of the novel from a review of his book “Of Human Bondage”. Speaking of the principal character of the

book, the reviewer remarks: “Like so many young men he was so busy yearning for the moon that neversaw the sixpence at his feet”.

Strickland made no particular impression on the people who came in contact with him in Tahiti. To them he was no

more than a beach-comber in constant need of money, remarkable only for the peculiarity that he painted pictures which

seemed to them absurd; and it was not till he had been dead for some years and agents came from the dealers in Paris

and Berlin to look for any pictures which might still remain on the island, that they had any idea that among them had

dwelt a man of consequence. They remembered then that they could have bought for a song canvases which now were

worth large sums, and they could not forgive themselves for the opportunity which had escaped them. There was a

Jewish trader called Cohen, who had come by one of Strickland's pictures in a singular way. He was a little old

Frenchman, with soft kind eyes and a pleasant smile, half trader and half seaman, who owned a cutter in which he

wandered boldly among the Paumotus and the Marquesas, taking out trade goods and bringing back copra, shell, and

pearls. I went to see him because I was told he had a large black pearl which he was willing to sell cheaply, and when I

discovered that it was beyond my means I began to talk to him about Strickland. He had known him well.

"You see, I was interested in him because he was a painter," he told me. "We don't get many painters in the islands,

and I was sorry for him because he was such a bad one. I gave him his first job. I had a plantation on the peninsula, and

I wanted a white overseer. You never get any work out of the natives unless you have a white man over them. I said to

him: `You'll have plenty of time for painting, and you can earn a bit of money.' I knew he was starving, but I offered

him good wages."

"I can't imagine that he was a very satisfactory overseer," I said, smiling.

"I made allowances. I have always had a sympathy for artists. It is in our blood, you know. But he only remained a

few months. When he had enough money to buy paints and canvases he left me. The place had got hold of him by then,

and he wanted to get away into the bush. But I continued to see him now and then. He would turn up in Papeete every

few months and stay a little while; he'd get money out of someone or other and then disappear again. It was on one of

these visits that he came to me and asked for the loan of two hundred francs. He looked as if he hadn't had a meal for a

week, and I hadn't the heart to refuse him. Of course, I never expected to see my money again. Well, a year later he

came to see me once more, and he brought a picture with him. He did not mention the money he owed me, but he said:

`Here is a picture of your plantation that I've painted for you.' I looked at it. I did not know what to say, but of course I

thanked him, and when he had gone away I showed it to my wife."

"What was it like?" I asked.

"Do not ask me. I could not make head or tail of it. I never saw such a thing in my life. `What shall we do with it?' I

said to my wife. `We can never hang it up,' she said. `People would laugh at us.' So she took it into an attic and put it

away with all sorts of rubbish, for my wife can never throw anything away. It is her mania. Then, imagine to yourself,

just before the war my brother wrote to me from Paris, and said: `Do you know anything about an English painter who

lived in Tahiti? It appears that he was a genius, and his pictures fetch large prices. See if you can lay your hands on

anything and send it to me. There's money to be made.' So I said to my wife. `What about that picture that Strickland

gave me?' Is it possible that it is still in the attic?' `Without doubt,' she answered, ` for you know that I never throw

anything away. It is my mania.' We went up to the attic, and there, among I know not what rubbish that had been

gathered during the thirty years we have inhabited that house, was the picture. I looked at it again, and I said: `Who

would have thought that the overseer of my plantation on the peninsula, to whom I lent two hundred francs, had genius?

Do you see anything in the picture?' `No,' she said, `it does not resemble the plantation and I have never seen cocoa-

nuts with blue leaves; but they are mad in Paris, and it may be that your brother will be able to sell it for the two

hundred francs you lent Strickland.' Well, we packed it up and we sent it to my brother. And at last I received a letter

from him. What do you think he said? `I received your picture,' he said, `and I confess I thought it was a joke that you

had played on me. I would not have given the cost of postage for the picture. I was half afraid to show it to the

gentleman who had spoken to me about it. Imagine my surprise when he said it was a masterpiece, and offered me

thirty thousand francs. I dare say he would have paid more, but frankly I was so taken aback that I lost my head; I

accepted the offer before I was able to collect myself.'"Then Monsieur Cohen said an admirable thing.

"I wish that poor Strickland had been still alive. I wonder what he would have said when I gave him twenty-nine

thousand eight hundred francs for his picture."

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What clue to Strickland’s character does the extract contain? Did he value the material well-being or was he possessed by his

passion for painting to the exclusion of everything else?

2. What is the author’s attitude towards the old man? How is it revealed in the epithets employed to characterize him?

3. Note the choice of words in which the characters of the book qualify Strickland’s pictures. What was the public’s opinion of

Strickland’s pictures in Tahity and why did they change it?

4. The title served to Maugham as a symbol. Can you interpret it? What do the ‘moon’ and ‘sixpence’ stand for?

James Joyce. From “Ulysses” (1922)

“Ulysses” has been labeled dirty, blasphemous, and unreadable. In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge

John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book--although he found it sufficiently unobscene to allow its importation

into the United States; and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession." None of these

adjectives, however, do the slightest justice to the novel. To this day it remains the modernist masterpiece.

“Ulysses” chronicles the passage through Dublin by its main character, Leopold Bloom, during an

unremarkable day, June 16, 1904. The title alludes to the hero of Homer's Odyssey (‘Ulysses’ is the Latin version

of the Greek name 'Odysseus'), and there are many parallels, both implicit and explicit, between the two works.

Ulysses has become a byword for the "difficult" novel. Part of this is due to the style of the writing - much of

the novel, is written in the stream of consciousness technique rather than conventional narration. This means

there is no smoothing of the way for the reader. People, places and events are referred to with no introduction,

leaving the reader to put the puzzle together over the course of reading the whole work.

The following excerpt is part of Molly Bloom’s celebrated monologue (lasting for about 45 pages without

punctuation). On reading it you will notice that Molly moves from one subject to the next in a series of free associations and random

memories and feelings. It certainly seems to be a more realistic picture of human thought that novelists before had been able to

conjure up. Leopold Bloom, Molly’s husband, has just brought Stephen Daedalus home and as she lies awake thinking about her life

and her day, she speculates on the beginning of their relationship, when Bloom proposed marriage to her on Howth Head (near

Dublin) and her mind also goes back to her first lover in Gibraltar.

(From Chapter 19: Penelope) I love flowers Id love to have the whole place swimming in roses God of heaven theres

nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with fields of oats

and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and

lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches primroses and violets

nature it is as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt give a snap of my two fingers (1) for all their learning why dont

they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off

themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on

account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was

anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun

from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in

the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of

my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said

was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and

the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I

knew I could always get round him (2) and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him on till he asked me to say

yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know

of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say

stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing

round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and

the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of

Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharans and the poor donkeys slipping half

asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls

and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you

to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas (3) glancing eyes a lattice hid for

her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at

Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea

crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little

streets and pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and

Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls

used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another

and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower

and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down Jo me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his

heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

1. I wouldn’t…fingers: I wouldn’t give anything for

2. I could always get round him: I could always get him to do what I wanted

3. posadas: hotels, pensions

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. Try and divide the monologue into the following rough sections:

- Molly considers the beauty of nature and flowers in particular (lines

…)

- Molly meditates on the folly of atheism (lines …)

- Molly remembers her husband’s proposal (lines …)

- Molly reminds herself why she liked Bloom (lines …)

- Molly remembers her days in Gibraltar (lines …)

- Molly remembers her first sexual experience in Gibraltar (lines …)

2. What kind of natural phenomena attract Molly?

3. What is her opinion on atheism and atheists?

4. What winning word did Bloom use when he proposed to her? List a

few phrases.

5. What were the main reasons for her liking Bloom?

6. What sensual images does she remember from her youth in

Gibraltar?

7. Comment on the use of the word ‘yes’ in the final section. What do

you think Joyce is trying to achieve with this accelerated repetition of

the word? And the final capital letter?

Virginia Woolf. From “To the Lighthouse” (1927)

To The Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf's finest, most accomplished novel, and her most autobiographical.

It tells of one summer spent by the Ramsay family and their friends in their holiday home in Scotland.

Offshore stands the lighthouse, remote, inaccessible, an eternal presence in a changing world. A

projected visit to the lighthouse forms the heart of this extraordinary novel which, through the minds of

the various characters, explores the nature of time, memory, transience and eternity.

The structure of the book is very unusual: abandoning a traditional plot (almost no external events

happen in the book: in the first section a group of people plan to sail to a lighthouse, in the middle

section we are shown fragments of the intervening ten years in which several of the characters die, and in

the third section – the trip to the lighthouse is finally made), Woolf concentrates on revealing characters

through thought and speech. There is fairly substantial evidence that the characters of Mr and Mrs Ramsay are based on her own

parents.

In the extract below, Mrs Ramsay has organized a dinner party and is a little worried about the return of some of the guests from a

trip; Paul and Minta are in love and (she thinks) about to become engaged.

But what have I done with my life? thought Mrs Ramsay, taking her place at the head of the table, and

looking at all the plates making white circles on it. “William, sit by me,” she said. “Lily,” she said,

wearily, “over there.” They had that—Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle—she, only this—an infinitely long

table and plates and knives. At the far end was her husband, sitting down, all in a heap, frowning. What

at? She did not know. She did not mind. She could not understand how she had ever felt any emotion or

affection for him. She had a sense of being past everything, through everything, out of everything, as

she helped the soup, as if there was an eddy—there— and one could be in it, or one could be out of it,

and she was out of it. It’s all come to an end, she thought, while they came in one after another, Charles

Tansley—”Sit there, please,” she said—Augustus Carmichael—and sat down. And meanwhile she

waited, passively, for some one to answer her, for something to happen. But this is not a thing, she

thought, ladling out soup, that one says.

Raising her eyebrows at the discrepancy—that was what she was thinking, this was what she was doing

—ladling out soup—she felt, more and more strongly, outside that eddy; or as if a shade had fallen, and,

robbed of colour, she saw things truly. The room (she looked round it) was very shabby. There was no

beauty anywhere. She forebore to look at Mr Tansley. Nothing seemed to have merged. They all sat

separate. And the whole of the effort of merging and flowing and creating rested on her. Again she felt,

as a fact without hostility, the sterility of men, for if she did not do it nobody would do it, and so, giving

herself a little shake that one gives a watch that has stopped, the old familiar pulse began beating, as the

watch begins ticking—one, two, three, one, two, three. And so on and so on, she repeated, listening to it,

sheltering and fostering the still feeble pulse as one might guard a weak flame with a news-paper. And

so then, she concluded, addressing herself by bending silently in his direction to William Bankes—poor

man! who had no wife, and no children and dined alone in lodgings except for tonight; and in pity for

him, life being now strong enough to bear her on again, she began all this business, as a sailor not

without weariness sees the wind fill his sail and yet hardly wants to be off again and thinks how, had the

ship sunk, he would have whirled round and round and found rest on the floor of the sea.

“Did you find your letters? I told them to put them in the hall for you,” she said to William Bankes.

Lily Briscoe watched her drifting into that strange no-man’s land where to follow people is impossible

and yet their going inflicts such a chill on those who watch them that they always try at least to follow

them with their eyes as one follows a fading ship until the sails have sunk beneath the horizon.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1.

What is the “that” that Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle have?

2.

What aspects of Mrs Ramsay’s life does she compare to “that”?

3.

Why does she seem so dissatisfied with her husband?

4.

What is “not the sort of thing one says”?

5.

Why can she not articulate these feelings in public?

6.

How do the external features of the room and the dinner party add to her unease?

7.

How does she manage to continue serving dinner?

8.

How does Lily Briscoe perceive her mood?

9.

What details and techniques make us feel we are really seeing Mrs Ramsay from within?

George Orwell. From “Animal Farm” (1945)

The book Animal Farm by George Orwell is a brilliant example of political satire. The author describes the life at the

farm where animals made a revolution under the leadership of two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon. The owner of the

farm, Mr Jones, left it and the animals started a new order.

The book, written during World War II and published in

1945, is a thinly veiled critique on the Russian Revolution and satire of the claimed corruption of Soviet socialism

under Stalin.

(From Chapter 2) … The animals had their breakfast, and then Snowball and Napoleon

called them together again.

"Comrades," said Snowball, "it is half-past six and we have a long day before us. Today we

begin the hay harvest. But there is another matter that must be attended to first."

The pigs now revealed that during the past three months they had taught themselves to read

and write from an old spelling book which had belonged to Mr. Jones's children and which

had been thrown on the rubbish heap. Napoleon sent for pots of black and white paint and led

the way down to the five-barred gate that gave on to the main road. Then Snowball (for it was

Snowball who was best at writing) took a brush between the two knuckles of his trotter,

painted out MANOR FARM from the top bar of the gate and in its place painted ANIMAL

FARM. This was to be the name of the farm from now onwards. After this they went back to the farm buildings,

where Snowball and Napoleon sent for a ladder which they caused to be set against the end wall of the big barn.

They explained that by their studies of the past three months the pigs had succeeded in reducing the principles of

Animalism to Seven Commandments. These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they

would form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after. With some

difficulty (for it is not easy for a pig to balance himself on a ladder) Snowball climbed up and set to work, with

Squealer a few rungs below him holding the paint-pot. The Commandments were written on the tarred wall in

great white letters that could be read thirty yards away. They ran thus:

THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has

wings, is a friend.

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal.

It was very neatly written, and except that "friend" was written "freind" and one of the "S's" was the wrong way

round, the spelling was correct all the way through. Snowball read it aloud for the benefit of the others. All the

animals nodded in complete agreement, and the cleverer ones at once began to learn the Commandments by heart.

"Now, comrades," cried Snowball, throwing down the paint-brush, "to the hayfield! Let us make it a point of

honour to get in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men could do."

But at this moment the three cows, who had seemed uneasy for some time past, set up a loud lowing. They had

not been milked for twenty-four hours, and their udders were almost bursting. After a little thought, the pigs sent

for buckets and milked the cows fairly successfully, their trotters being well adapted to this task. Soon there were

five buckets of frothing creamy milk at which many of the animals looked with considerable interest.

"What is going to happen to all that milk?" said someone.

"Jones used sometimes to mix some of it in our mash," said one of the hens.

"Never mind the milk, comrades!" cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. "That will be attended

to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward,

comrades! The hay is waiting."

So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was

noticed that the milk had disappeared.

POST-READING EXERCISES

1. What shows that The Seven Commandments was the law for the animals and it was necessary to follow it?

2. Do you think that the principles of Animalism are just? Why?

3. What can the commandments result in? (order / mutual understanding / equality / war / hypocrisy / slavery or something else)

Why?

1.

The commandments gradually changed. Read them and say whether they justify your suggestions.

No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.

No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.

No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.

Four legs good, two legs better.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

5. What kind of a society there could be where some of its members are more equal than

the others?