Discuss Meursault as an existential hero

 Meursault, the protagonist of Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger" ("L'Étranger"), is often regarded as an existential hero. Through his detached and indifferent demeanor, Meursault embodies key existentialist principles and challenges traditional societal expectations. Let's explore Meursault's character and actions, and how they reflect existentialist themes.

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and the absence of inherent meaning or purpose in life. Meursault's character epitomizes these existentialist concepts in several ways.

1. Absurdity and Meaninglessness: Meursault's outlook on life is marked by a sense of absurdity and meaninglessness. He views life as a series of random events with no inherent purpose. This is evident in his indifferent response to his mother's death at the beginning of the novel. Rather than conforming to societal expectations of grief, Meursault remains detached and seemingly unaffected. This lack of emotional response highlights his belief in the inherent meaninglessness of human existence.

2. Alienation and Isolation: Meursault's alienation from society is a crucial element of his existentialist heroism. He feels disconnected from the social norms and expectations that govern the lives of others. This is apparent in his indifference to social conventions and his inability to connect with others on an emotional level. Meursault's isolation is further reinforced when he is put on trial for murder, as his refusal to conform to societal expectations makes him an outsider in the eyes of the court and the public.

3. Authenticity and Freedom: Meursault's authenticity lies in his unwavering commitment to his own experiences and desires. He refuses to play the roles assigned to him by society or adhere to established moral codes. Instead, he acts in accordance with his own instincts and desires. This is exemplified in his refusal to lie during his trial, even when doing so could have potentially saved him from the guillotine. Meursault's actions demonstrate his embrace of personal freedom and his rejection of external constraints.

4. Confrontation with Mortality: Meursault's confrontation with mortality plays a significant role in his existential journey. Throughout the novel, death is a recurring theme, serving as a constant reminder of life's transience. Meursault's acceptance of the inevitability of death and his refusal to succumb to fear or despair align with existentialist ideas. He recognizes that death is the ultimate truth of existence and refuses to allow it to dictate his actions or attitudes.

In conclusion, Meursault embodies the existential hero through his indifference to societal norms, his alienation from others, his pursuit of personal freedom and authenticity, and his confrontation with mortality. His character reflects existentialist themes such as the absurdity and meaninglessness of life, the importance of individual freedom, and the need for individuals to create their own meaning in an inherently chaotic and uncertain world.

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Summary of Madame Bovary by By Gustave Flaubert

 “An infinity of passion can be contained in one minute, like a crowd in a small space.”

Gustave Flaubert is the name of the 19^th century French novelist. He has occupied a vast area in the field of literature by writing some exclusive and comprehensive creations. He is popularly well-known as a novelist speciallly for writing Salammbo and Sentimental Education. At the same time he is famous for his famous novel Madame Bovary that dug in to all sorts interesting themes in complex ways. The novel was first published in 1856. 

Madame Bovery is an autobiographical novel. The personal feelings and emotion are found in this novel. The title of this novel has been named according to the name of its heroine. It is a heroine dominated novel.

At the very beginning of the novel we come to know that one night, a messenger comes to call Charles to the house of a Monsieur Rouault, who has broken his leg. There, Charles meets Rouault’s daughter, the young and pretty Emma Rouault. She fascinates him with her beauty, elegance and artlessness. Charles, who for weeks has been trying to work up the courage to ask Emma, finally proposes, and Emma accepts.

After the wedding Emma’s relationship with her mother-in-law isn’t off to a good start. Charles feels like a new person after his wedding night. Emma’s initial enthusiasm for Charles wanes rather quickly, as she finds that life with him doesn’t correspond to her romantic childhood dreams of happiness and passion.

“She was the lover in every novel, the heroine in every play, the ‘vague she’ in every volume of poetry.”

Emma is bored with her monotonous life. She wants travel, explore foreign places and instill some romance into her marriage. Once she was invited by the Marquis d’Andervilliers to Vaubyessard. She spends the evening dancing with various partners and pretty much forgets that she came with Charles. Charles, on the other hand, is only too glad finally to return to Tostes.

Emma is terribly bored, longs to return to the world of the ball, and devours novels and women’s magazines. Her feelings for her husband have turned into mild disdain. She despises him for his mediocrity and lack of vision and ambition.

“But she – her life was cold as a garret whose dormer-window looks on the north, and ennui, the silent spider, was weaving its web in the darkness in every corner of her heart.”

A year comes and goes. Emma falls ill; a deep melancholy and despair strike her down. Charles suspects that there’s a physical reason for it, but she refuses any medication. He thinks that maybe a change of location might help. When they leave to the village, Emma is pregnant.

There is an important character whose name is Leon Dupuis. When Charles and Emma visit the village, Emma starts talking to the young Leon Dupuis, who works as a clerk in the village. They get on extremely well, and their conversation flows easily from topic to topic. Both are fascinated with and drawn to all things new, and it almost seems like they have found soul mates in each other.

 

Charles and Emma’s first child named Berthe is born and Emma soon grows tired of her and gives her over to a nursemaid in the village. Leon feels more and more drawn to Emma, who to him seems to be so different from all the other people in the village. One day, Emma receives a visit from the cunning shopkeeper Lherueux, who shows her his goods and assures her that he can get whatever luxury item she desires. Heartbroken by Emma’s apparent indifference, Leon decides to leave the village to finish his studies in Paris. He says,

“Ah, good-day! What! you here?”

One day, a Monsieur Rodolphe Boulanger appears at their house to ask Charles to bleed one of his farmers, who suffers from tingling sensations. When Rodolphe sees Emma, he is struck by her looks. The experienced womanizer decides to seduce her. He gathers that her life with her boring husband must be devoid of passion and excitement, and he starts to execute his plan carefully.

At an agricultural fair, Rodolphe seeks out her company and then leads her into a room in the town hall, from which they watch the ceremony. After the encounter, he stays away for weeks. As expected, his absence kindles Emma’s passion. When he finally arrives again at her house, he plays the desperate, unrequited love. He tells her that he believes fate has brought them together.

Emma still resists Rodolphe’s advances but is secretly desperate to have some time along alone with him. The opportunity comes when the naive Charles gives his consent to Emma going horseback riding with Rodolphe. She finally has a lover like all the heroines in her romantic novels. Over the next days and months, Rodolphe and Emma meet regularly, and Emma, recklessly, even starts visiting Rodolphe in his house early in the mornings.

Emma becomes obsessed with Rodolphe. To please and excite him, she dresses in the latest fashion and jewelry from Lherueux. According to Emma’s wish, he agrees to her plan to run away together. At their last meeting before their agreed departure, Rodolphe promises Emma that he will be at the coach, but in reality, he already knows that he won’t go through with the plan. He spills a drop of water on the paper so Emma will think he cried when he wrote it – and sends it to her.

When Emma receives the letter, she breaks down. For the first time in her life, she considers suicide, and a long illness follows. Charles is worried sick about her – and for more than a month doesn’t leave her side.

“She wished at the same time to die and to live in Paris.”

Faced with severe money troubles, Charles takes out a loan with Lheureux with extortionate repayment conditions. Emma starts to improve slowly and begins to turn back to her religious upbringing. When Emma is finally well enough, Homais suggests that Charles take her to Rouen for a day to visit the opera, and Charles agrees – anything to cheer up Emma.

Leon follows Emma and Charles to their hotel, planning to seek her out in the morning. Emma pretends reluctance but eventually agrees to a meeting in the cathedral the next day. Leon persuades her to join him in a carriage, and they set off on a tour around the city – with the curtains drawn. Whenever the driver tries to stop, the only thing he hears is Léon’s command to “keep moving!”

Lherueux starts to hassle her to pay back the money she and Charles have borrowed. When she tells him that she doesn’t have the money at the moment, he suggests that she sell a property that used to belong to Charles’s father. With her power of attorney, she agrees to the sale, but instead of taking her money to pay off the bills, Lherueux proposes that she might want to keep hold of it and pay back the money in six months’ time. Emma agrees and continues to live beyond her means, spending money and visiting Leon regularly. But their feelings for each other begin to grow stale.

“Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers.”

The next day, the bailiff and two witnesses come to Emma and Charles’s house to value their possessions. Emma tries to convince Leon to get a loan of 3,000 francs for her. He is unsuccessful.

At the end of her tether, Emma goes to the apothecary’s house and begs the young clerk Justin, who is secretly in love with her, to let her in. She claims she requires rat poison and, unable to deny her anything, he lets her in without telling Homais. She opens the cupboard, grabs a bottle of arsenic and drinks it. She returns home, writes a letter to Charles – who by now knows that the house is up for auction. The poison works slowly, and Emma is in agony for hours. All of Charles’s attempts to rescue her fail, and after a grueling struggle, she dies.

“To please her, as though she were still alive, he adopted her predilections, her ideas… He put cosmetics on his  moustache , and, like her, signed notes of hand. She corrupted him from beyond the grave.

Charles is inconsolable. He stops working and keeps Emma’s bedroom almost as a shrine. The very same day, Berthe finds him sitting on the bench in the garden – dead.

Eventually, we can comment that Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a tragic novel as we have seen the tragic death of our beloved heroine.

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Summary of Heart of Darkness

 Joseph Conrad has introduced here the deep and dark forest of Congo. In this setting, people are also dark. There is not the slightest touch of civilization. The full primitiveness is there. Even the white people who have gone there to civilize that area have also become primitive in this dark setting as if the white people have lost their civilized value when they are placed in the dark and with the dark. This very dark setting can again be categorized into two steps as the geography is concerned. One is the outer station and the other is the inner station. Both the place are dark, but the inner is darker than the outer one darker in two. According to the depth of the jungle and also according to the evil acts.

The Much darker action is there in the inner station than that of the outer the darker the setting, the viler the theme in the outer station. Marlow needs rivets to the ship but didn't get a single. He is told by the station in charge that there is no rivet in the station, where there are too many. Moreover, the conspiring conversation that Marlow hears in the dark night symbolically represents the evil of the time and of the place. Everything is like a muddle there. And, in the inner station, there is much more corruption and greed for wealth and power.

It is the inner station wherever individual like Kurtz being announced as associate nursing ivory supply agent rejects to provide the expensive ivories and starts his own ivory business. Not only that, but he also starts to practice his evil power over the natives. He becomes so powerful over the natives that he is almost a god to them. And, I the most striking thing is his main motto for going to the Dark Continent was to civilize the area, but in spite of doing so, he himself has turned into a primitiveness person. No doubt, it is a unique style to produce such a theme of primitiveness with evil power, greed, and corruption in such a dark area. If the total area is the body of darkness, the inner station is the “Heart ” the centre of all the evils that “Darkness ” associate.

In Heart of Darkness, the jungle or the forest has been presented as a matter of the profound dark setting. The jungle and all that it signifies in this novella is a symbol of evil, I the major thematic issues. The jungle has been described as “lurking death ”profound darkness and evil. The vegetation imagery means much more than female menace, it means the truth the darkness, the evil, the death, which lies with us, which we must recognize in order to be truly alive.

The jungle, here, is like a cage that society has made for Kurtz. Cannibalism and sexual perversion exist in the jungle, and behind every bush, death is lurking. This deep jungle setting also indicates the mystery of human life, which remains as the unfolded riddle to us. We understand that Kurtz is staying in the inner station, in the dark centre, only because of the fact that he is greedy for wealth and power.

But one general issue also pinches our mind. Example being originated and brought up in a materially civilized society. Kurtz, in his early life, was supposed to get the material comfort, which now, he is deprived of. the weather for which he stays in the dark African forest cannot give him any sort of material comfort and security. Then, whey is he staying here in the deep jungle with the uncivilized native Africans? Is it mainly because of the power that he can practice here? Or, is there something else behind the surface facts?

He is so greedy that even after his death, his mouth remains open-open for hunger open to greed. Why does a man become so? all these are unanswered questions. And, these are the mysteries of life in the HEART OF DARKNESS. We, the readers, are simply amazed to get a such a devilish thematic effect in such a mysterious setting In fact, in Heart of Darkness, darkness its heart give an idea, which associates and relates the themes with the symbolic aspects of the difference of the story.

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Riders to the Sea as a Tragedy

The formulaic tragedies are essentially tagged with the classical Greek plays of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. These plays exerted an enduring influence on the subsequent tragic plays. The classical tragedies were composed of strict observation of rules and regulations, ranging from plot, setting, tragic hero, style, diction, dialogue, catastrophe, cathartic appeal, etc. However, during the Renaissance period, William Shakespeare deviated from strict adherence to rules and tried to create an individualistic style. The majority of modernist playwrights also paid much attention to establish a new type of tragedy. 

However, in all traditions, whether classical, Shakespearean, or modern, the conflicting forces in the human mind and the bitter human suffering constitute the essence of tragedy. The spectacle of man's suffering, caught by some mightier forces, brings the cathartic appeal which is the inevitable experience of a tragic play. So the difference between classical and modern tragedies then chiefly lies with the technique of presentation.

In the 20^th Century, John Millington Synge opted to write moving plays that reverberated the traditions of the Greek tragedies in a rather modern style. Even with the modified style, Synge has been able to produce tragic plays that could arouse the audience’s emotions. His critically acclaimed play Riders to the Sea is also a great tragedy in its representation of human suffering and cathartic appeal. However, the play is not merely a tragedy of an individual rather it is the tragedy of humanity, struggling for survival against the heavy odds of life.

In general, there are two prevailing views on the tragic vision of life:
Man is the helpless victim of fate: In Greek tragedies fate often plays a role in the downfall of a character. The tragic fate for the character is preordained and it's absolutely futile to try to outwit it. For example, Oedipus and Antigone confront tragic end since they maintained overweening self-confidence in their respective attitudes. Again, Agamemnon kills Iphigenia by divine command; Orestes kills his mother by Apollo's direction. In fine, in Greek tragedy, fate is the predominant force that leads the characters to their dooms.

Character is destiny: This view is prevalent in Shakespearean tragedies wherein the role of fate is minimized and the focus is largely on human choice and moral accountability. It is the actions of each character that bring about their inevitable fate. For instance, Macbeth's downfall is engendered by unchecked ambition which entailed a desire for power and position; Othello’s tragedy is brought about by jealousy which flared at suspicion and rushed into action unchecked by calm common sense; Hamlet's inability to act brings about his tragedy.

Keeping the above context in mind we can find that in Riders to the Sea Synge incorporates mostly Greek tragic vision of life. It's more a tragedy of fate than a tragedy of character. In this play, the characters confront their downfall without any hamartia or tragic flaw. Here destiny or the fate controls everything and none can change either its decree or direction. Hence, life means nothing but tragedy and unconditional surrender to the merciless fate.

The inhabitants of the Aran Islands are dependent solely on the sea in order to support their family. They have been going to the sea from generation to generation fully aware of the danger of death. The cruel sea has devoured countless lives, but the struggle of the islanders never ceases as there are no other options for earning living. Thus here the sea assumes almost the role of fate and becomes instrumental to human suffering and death. It is rather the nemesis of human life that comes down to shatter human hopes and happiness.

Riders to the Sea is full of grim wherein we are informed that Maurya has already lost six loved ones to the ocean, her father-in-law, her husband, and four of her sons. In Maurya’s words:

 

“I've had a husband, and a husband's father, and six sons in this house – six fine men, though it was a hard birth I had with every one of them and they coming to the world– and some of them were found and some of them were not found, but they're gone now, the lot of them.... There were Stephen, and Shawn, were lost in the great wind, and found after in the Bay of Gregory of the Golden Mouth.”

Now her only surviving sons are the eldest Michael and the youngest Bartley. Unfortunately, Michael has been missing for nine days and the discovery of his dead body ultimately confirmed his demise. All these loved ones went to the sea being fully aware of the possible danger and faced what the destiny predetermined. They can’t be held liable for their decision, as it was an inevitable part of their living. Eventually, Bartley also walks in the same path and decides to go to the mainland in order to sell a couple of horses at the cattle fair. He too was conscious of the dangers but was determined to stick to his decision. In the end, Bartley is thrown by his horse and swept out into the sea, where he drowns. Thus Bartley falls a victim to fate without having any hamartia or whatsoever. Maurya’s speech also echoes that man is helpless against fate:

“In the big world the old people do be leaving things after them for their sons and children, but in this place it is the young men do be leaving things behind for them that do be old.”

Moreover, Maurya’s closing remark confirms that none can fight against the fate. So she admits the power of the fate and surrenders to fate saying:

“What more can we want than that? No man at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied.”

To conclude, Riders to the Sea is a great modern tragedy having Greek dramatic qualities. Here Synge did an excellent job by representing fate symbolically, however along with its age-old relentless nature. Through the cruelty of the fate Synge universalized the theme of human suffering and loss.

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Anna Karenina: A Novel of Love, Sex and Marriage

   "All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" (1).

This aphoristic sentence is the beginning of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina which gives the reader an introduction to the entire novel: the novel is about the happiness or unhappiness in family life. There are stories of three married couples illustrating their attitude and Tolstoy’s views on love, sex and marriage. Therefore, it is often said that Anna Karenina is a novel of love sex and marriage.

          The character vigorously driven by love is Anna married to Karenin, 20 years older than her, a bureaucrat, always cold and formal, whom she can not love. She is only in chain with the fetters of a social system. Therefore whenever she finds her demands of her soul, and probably of body also, in Vronosky, Anna, an unfulfilled lady decides to possess him at any cost. She transgresses all familial, social and religious bounds. The result of this unlawful love is devastating:

“Yes, to die! Alexis Alexandrovich’s shame and disgrace, and Serezha’s, and my own terrible shame-all will be saved by my death.”

Sex especially adultery has got a critical treatment in the novel. Tolostoy has never approved of adultery but the sanctity of marriage. The accusation of adultery is directed against two persons Obnosky and Anna. But the treatment has been different on the standards of male and female. Anna suffers, and ultimately throws herself before the running wheels of a train, thinking

“I shall … escape from everybody and from myself.”

But Oblonsky doesn’t suffer, rather he asks Levin to “consider” his extra marital relationship with a woman “sacrificing everything” for him. Moreover, he thinks that his duty is to look after her, even though he has his own family:

“oughtn’t one to pity her and provide for her and make things easier?”

Again, Vronosky’s mother is “pleased” at her son’s adulterous relationship with Anna, because,

“in her opinion nothing gave such finishing touches to a brilliant young man as an intrigue in the best Society” (part2, chapter 18)

         

          Anna Karenina is important for its detailed analysis of marriage and family life: love and sex are its ingredients. There are mainly three couples, either married or living together, that illustrate the contemporary social picture and Tolostoy’s views on marriage.

         

          Tolstoy depicts the divided, hopeless and incomplete marriage patterns in urban society. Such relationships are exemplified by Stiva-Dolly and Karenin-Anna couples. Tolstoy shows us that Stiva, Vronsky, and Karenin, unlike Levin, divide their lives sharply between their homes and amusements keeping themselves outside the home, whereas women, like Dolly, center their existence on the family, since family unity depends on the woman.

However, the divided pattern of these marriages and the double standard of the family allow the dissatisfied partner to seek outside fulfillment of social, emotional, or sexual needs. Anna is the strikest example of the divided nature of an unfulfilled spouse: Anna does not hesitate to declare her pregnancy contributed by Vronosky:

“I am pregnant”

Again, she declares her determination to Vronosky:

“[I] Become your mistress and ruin my…everything.”

Without solving these marital problems, Tolstoy develops his characters in such a surrounding that they adjust to their incomplete relationships.

On the contrary, Tolstoy shows that Levin and Kitty have the only mutually complete union of the novel. Their marriage is a fulfillment, not a compromise, because his outside interests and his love are vehicles which aid him to discover the truth of inner goodness. Levin is disgusted at the outward show of love of Dolly-Oblonosky relationship:

“Of course she does not believe in his love. Then why is she so pleased? Disgusting! thought  he.

Tolstoy portrays Anna’s husband, Karenin, as a symbol of maintaining strictly social decorum even compromising with adultery. To him, marriage is not only a personal union rather strictly a social institution. His objections against Anna are that she has shocked public opinion and social code of morality; has grossly transgressed the religious sanctity of marriage with her adulterous relationship. Yet he can not divorce his wife for some social reasons: the separation would prove to be shocking to his son; she herself would be in public scandal, because in that society divorce happens either for any of the spouses’ impotency or adultery:

“I warned you of the consequences from the religious, civil and family points of view. You have not listened to me. Now I can not allow my name to be dishonoured…”(p.189)

Kitty’s parents’s attitude to choosing her husband shows two types of tendencies. The mother selects Vronsky attracted by his outward grandeur. She does not like Levin’s “strange and hard criticisms”, “awkward manner” and “strange way of life in the country”, while,

“Vronsky satisfied all the mother’s desires; he was very rich, cleaver, distinguished…an enchanting man…attentive to Kitty”

On the contrary Kitty’s father seeks inner goodness in Levin:

”Levin is a thousand times better man. This one [Vronsky] is a little Peters burg fop. They are machine-made by the dozen, all to one pattern, and all mere rubbish.”

It must be safely concluded that Anna Karenina is not only the love story of Anna, rather it actually a story of happiness and unhappiness of family life which includes love, sex and marriage. IN this case, critics have persisted in Tolstoy’s contrasts between Anna’s story and Levin’s. W. Gareth Jones comments,

Anna is supposed to illustrate the physical, Levin is spiritual; Anna is affirming personal fulfillment, Levin of the contrary, sees the meaning of life outside himself and a higher plane.

Actually Tolstoy advocates for the sanctity of marriage and the individuals quest for “immanent goodness” which may be weakened by the mere sex-based relationship. And the result in the novel is, as Anthony Thorlby states,

          “hers [Anna’s] ends in disaster whereas his[Levin’s] ends in happiness.”

Works Cited:

Jones, W. Gareth. “Introduction”.  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Oxford University Press, 1995

 

Thorlby, Anthony. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina. Cambridge University Press, 1987

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Is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre a feminist novel?

 Feminism advocates that social, political, and all other rights should be equal between men and women. Bronte's Jane Eyrediscusses many of the struggles and prejudices that nineteenth century middle-class women faced. All rights were not equal between men and women at that time, and Jane's greatest desire is to have a family and to feel accepted and loved. This does not necessarily mean that the novel is not feminist, but the main character's goal...

Feminism advocates that social, political, and all other rights should be equal between men and women. Bronte's Jane Eyre discusses many of the struggles and prejudices that nineteenth century middle-class women faced. All rights were not equal between men and women at that time, and Jane's greatest desire is to have a family and to feel accepted and loved. This does not necessarily mean that the novel is not feminist, but the main character's goal is not to change the legal and political world in order to gain equal rights for women. However, by the end of the story, she does not settle for anything less than the most equal relationship and living circumstances possible for the time period. And at the time, it must have seemed pure fantasy for a governess to acquire her own money and marry higher than her social class. 

 Erica Jong's introduction in the Signet Classic edition provides great insight into how Jane Eyre could be considered a feminist novel by saying the following: 

 "And indeed she cannot marry Rochester until he knows he is as dependent on her as she is on him. Their odysseys have equalized them: Jane has become an independent woman and Rochester has been cured of entitlement. Only thus can a woman and man become equals in a patriarchal society" (ix).

 Bronte portrays Jane as a traditional woman who wants a husband and family while also maintaining her value as an individual in her own right. Many women today want the same things--to have a family and career. However, even though Jane isn't seeking social or political equality, she does find equality in marriage. This could be a big part of the message that Bronte wanted to convey, which would mean that her desired results would have, in fact, been one of the first feminist novels. 

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Anna Karenina: Full Book Summary

  Anna Karenina

By Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

"All happy families are alike but an unhappy family

is unhappy after his own fashion."

1. Leo Tolstoy is the name of the 19" century Russian novelist. He is popularly well-known as a novelist specially for writing War and Peace. Besides, Resurrection is another famous novel written by him. But at the same time, we can't refuse the necessity and the significance of the novel Anna Karenina for having an exact idea about Russian life, culture and society. In fact, Anna Karenina is such a brilliant novel which reflects the decadent Russian society through the illicit love affair of the hero and the heroine..

2. Anna Karenina is a novel of dream, desire, and expectations having the cultivation of illicit love-affair between the hero and the heroine. Anna as a heroine believes in extreme romanticism which is related to passion and sensation. Anna wants to pass her time with her husband peacefully and delightfully. Karenin as a husband loves his wife very much but Anna cannot realize his love. He expresses his feelings about Anna in this way:

"I am your husband and I love you more than life."

But Karenin cannot give her enough time as he likes to invest his valuable time for the welfare of the people of St. Petersburg. In fact, Karenin is a philanthropist and human thinker who prefers social welfare. Anna criticizes Karenin in the following way:

"He is not a man, not a human being, he is a doll. No one knows him but I know him."

The fact is that Anna, the wife of Karenin is only 23 years old but her husband is more than 50 years old like Chillingworth in “The Scarlet Letter”. Karenin really loves his wife very much.

3. Anna feels very boring and monotonous life with Karenin as he doesn't know the very technique of capturing the heart of his wife. She says:

"He is not a human being but a machine, a cruel machine when he is angry."

Anna has a son named Serioza who is 8 years old. Sometimes she wishes to escape from the reality of life but she can't because of Serioza. So it is clearly proved that Anna as a mother is highly responsible, sensible, affectionate and lovable to her son.

4. Once Dolly, the wife of Oblonsky, wrote a letter to Anna to solve the conjugal problem between Oblonsky and Dolly. In fact, Oblonsky made an illicit love affair with a lady of this society. Being very insulted and irritated she has requested Anna to come to her house and to solve her conjugal problem. Finding no other alternative, she has decided to go to the house of Oblonsky and Dolly. While she was going, she stopped at the Moscow Railway Station where Vronsky, the hero of this novel was waiting for a train. Both of them looked at each other and fell in love at the very first sight.

5. Anna who is mentally ready to solve the conjugal problem between Oblonsky and Dolly is seriously obstacled by the extreme handsomeness of Vronsky at the Moscow Railway Station. Vronsky, the hero of the novel is very young and energetic army officer but he has willingly taken his early retirement. Both Anna and Vronsky are puzzled and spell bound to look at each other. Anna who is very unhappy in her conjugal life has considered Vronsky as her life partner. So the mentality of solving the conjugal problem between Oblonsky and Dolly has become a boomerang.

6. In the novel Anna Karenina, there is another significant and important character named Levin who is the mouthpiece and spokesman of Leo Tolstoy. In fact, Levin is highly philanthropic and humanitarian as he likes to improve the social condition by using his merit, labor and energy. Levin as a human thinker believes in the scientific cultivation. As an agro-based philosopher, he always wishes to improve the condition of the farmers of Russia. Actually, he believes in the philosophy that if the farmers are economically developed, the whole country will be automatically developed. So it is clear and vivid that Levin doesn't believe in subjectivity rather he believes in objectivity and universality.

7. Levin has fallen in love with Kitty sister of Dolly. but Kitty has rejected the proposal of Levin as she herself has fallen in love with Vronsky. But Vronsky is not so impressed by the beauty and style of Kitty rather he prefers Anna to make his beloved. Being rejected Levin is very frustrated and broken-hearted. He comments about women:

"Woman is such a creature that the more you study her, the more interesting she becomes."

Kitty becomes sick because of frustration. Once, Dolly tempts Levin to propose Kitty again. Kitty thinks that she is not of that class of Vronsky and not suitable for him. This time she accepts the proposal of Levin. Now she also loves Levin. She comments about Levin:

"She loved him because she understood him completely."

In the meantime, they got married and started a happy conjugal life. Kitty was not so charitable and was not so concerned about the wretched condition of the people of her society whereas Levin was a very industrious and kind-hearted who wanted to change the life of the downtrodden and persecuted people of Russia. Levin says to Kitty:

"You must believe me that nothing in the world is achieved without effort, not even love."

Later Levin notices that gradually Kitty is also becoming a sacrificing soul for the welfare of the mass people of the society.

8. Karenin, the husband of Anna, is a man of social dignity and responsibility as he cherishes philanthropy in his mind. As a political figure, he likes to invest his merit and labor for the improvement of that society. Because of his excessive devotion to work, Anna says:

"Women hate men for their vice but I hate him for his virtues. I cannot live with him."

Anna always expects more time and love from her husband but the result goes against her. When Anna has seen Vronsky at the Moscow Railway Station, she has started to love him which actually goes forward to the illicit love affair. People are making rumor because of the illicit love affair between Anna and Vronsky and in this way the image of dignity and the social position of Karenin has been degraded. People have already started to criticize Karenin for his henpeckedness.

9. Once Karenin decides to take a step against his wife and he fervently requested his wife not to jeopardize his personality in front of the people. Anna has also realized the reality that such illicit love affair can't go on in such a way and decided to make a gap with Vronsky. In fact, Anna is thinking not only about the dignity of her husband but also about the future of her son Serioza. But Anna could not keep up the request of her husband because when she heard about the accident of Vronsky, she rushed to the spot. It means that it was really the spontaneous overflow of her love towards Vronsky. She blames and criticizes herself-

"Had I been in his place, I should have killed and torn that wife of mine into pieces long ago."

In fact, here Anna's sense of realization, sense of self-criticism and sense of penance are vividly reflected.

10. If we want to compare and contrast between Anna-Karenin and Levin-Kitty, we come to see that the conjugal life of Anna and Karenin is based on adultery, infidelity and immorality. On the other hand, the conjugal life of Levin and Kitty is the reflection of morality, idealism, mutual-trust and understanding.

11. Both Anna and Vronsky are infatuated and engrossed with each other and they decided to elope to Italy. Going to Italy, the illusion has started to disappear because of the reluctance and indifferent outlook of Vronsky towards Anna. Anna is pregnant for the second time but this pregnancy is not for Vronsky rather Karenin is the real father of the would be child. But Vronsky has mentality to take the responsibility of the child. When Anna becomes the mother of a daughter, Vrosnky seems to be more indifferent and more reluctant to take the responsibility of her daughter.

12. Anna becomes very shocked and pessimistic as she harbours nostalgia in her mind. She wants to go back to St. Petersburg to see her son Serioza. She requested Vronsky to take her to her own city but Vronsky is very irritated with the childish treatment of Anna. Finding no other alternative, Vronsky is forced to create the opportunity for her to see Serioza but Serioza could not come out from the house.

13. Being rejected and heart-broken, Anna has decided to commit suicide. She believes that suicide is the only alternative in her life as she is isolated from her husband Karenin as well as Vronsky. Vronsky is fed up to see and to bear the acute problem of Anna. When Anna has wished to commit suicide, Vronsky says:

"I am not holding you. You are at liberty to go where you please!"

Hearing the answer from Vronsky, Anna speaks like a mad. She says:

"Where am I? What am I doing? Why?"

Ultimately Anna has jumped over a running train and committed suicide but before committing suicide she says:

"God, forgive me everything"

14. Eventually, we can comment that Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is certainly a tragic novel as we have seen the tragic death of our beloved heroine.

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Crime and Punishment: full book summary

 Dostoevsky (1821-1881) is the most influential and pragmatic novelist of the 19th century Russia. He has occupied a vast area in the field of literature by writing some unique and universal creations. But Dostoevsky is very popular and commonly well-known to us for his masterpiece Crime and Punishment. In this particular novel, he has tried his best to reflect the true picture of Russia focusing on various characters of the novel. Certainly, in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Raskolnicov is the most discussed heroic character i.e. it is a hero-dominated novel.

At the very beginning of the novel, we come to see that Raskolnicov has recently completed his university education and he was highly optimistic to get a good job after his graduation. He is looking for a job but he is failure to manage a job. Because of his unemployment, he is mentally very depressed and disappointed. He blames the social system of Russia because he thinks that corruption, misdeed, tyranny, persecution, class distinction, the difference between the rich and the poor, social injustice and so on have covered the whole range of the society.

Raskolnicov as a hero wants to translate his dream into reality by utilizing his educational skills. He dreams a lot when he studies at university. But when he completed his graduation, he found a big difference between dreams and reality. The mother and sister of Raskolnicov also expected a lot that he will drive the wheel of the family. Rascolnicov is suffering from an inferiority complex because of his inability to help his family members. Truly speaking, Raskolnicov is greatly influenced by the philosophy of Napoleon and he wants to be a superhero by doing extraordinary activities. He played a vital role to change the structure of society by eradicating corruption. So we can comment that Raskolnicov is not a coward rather we cannot but praise his heroic deed.

Dounia, the sister of Raskolnicov, is working in an office where Sidrigailov is the boss or master of Dounia. Dounia feels the unemployment problem of her brother Raskolnicov very deeply. She is very sensible, responsible and dutiful to her brother and mother. She possesses enchanting and mind-blowing beauty. Sidrigailov has fallen in love with the beauty and responsibility of Dounia. He proposes her to marry but she refuses and reacts very strongly. If we want to explain the profundity of his love, it becomes clear to us that he is very genuine and true to love. Because of the refusal of Dounia, he has ultimately committed suicide.

There is another character in this novel Crime and Punishment whose name is Razumikhin. He is very handsome, rich and responsive who also desires to get positive response from Dounia in the field of love. Luzhin is another competitor of love who wishes to win the heart of Dounia. But Dounia has refused his proposal because of his having lose character. Razumikhin is the worthiest person to the eyes of Dounia. That's why, she wants to keep up the request of Razumikhin by giving an important condition. The condition is that he has to provide a big amount of money for the business of her brother Raskolnicov. Razumikhin promptly accepted the proposal of Dounia. But when Raskolnicov has got this information, he bitterly criticizes his sister.

Raskolnicov, the protagonist of the novel, is so depressed and broken-hearted that he wants to change the structure of the society by doing something, even by killing somebody. In the city of St. Petersburg, there is an old lady who is called the pawnbroker. Actually, she would provide money to the people with high interest. Raskolnicov thinks that this old lady is a great obstacle in the way of the progress and the development of the society. He has decided to kill that old lady to remove the curse of the society.

When he was going to the house of that old lady to kill her, he was suffering from indecision. So he decided to come back home. On the way of returning home, he stopped in a tavern where he met Marmeladov, a drunker and a wretched man. Marmeladov expressed his grief to Raskolnicov that he has a sickly wife and a daughter named Sonia who is forced to take the profession of prostitution for maintaining the family. After long days, once Raskolnicov heard that Marmeladov was run over by a carriage.

Raskolnicov, who is determine to kill the pawnbroker, is informed that the old lady is alone in house. According to the preplan, he has fired and killed that old lady along with her step sister. So, we have come to see that Raskolnicov has become a murderer by killing two ladies at a time The police is looking for Raskolnicov and he has seen his old photograph in the daily newspaper as a killer.

By killing this lady, he has invited his own catastrophe and tragic doom because crime does not allow anybody to escape from punishment. As he has committed crime, punishment is a must. Truly speaking, Raskolnicov is now in a great tension not only for himself but also for the family members. Now he is playing the role of a fugitive. Porfiry, an investigation officer, tricks Raskolnicov by saying that he was at that apartment when Raskolnicov murdered that old lady along with her step sister and forces to confess his guilt.

Raskolnicov has taken shelter in a brothel where the heroine Sonia lives as a prostitute. Sonia invites him to stay in her room. Raskolnicov has narrated the whole incident of his life to Sonia. Simultaneously, Sonia expresses her grief with Raskolnicov. Both of them are the victims of the circumstances because they have committed crime only for poverty, nothing else. Sonia comes to know the fact of the hero. When she wanted to know the cause of murdering, Raskolnicov says:

"No, Sonia, I was not hungry. I certainly wanted to help my mother and sister."

He again says:

"I wanted to become Napoleon, that's why I killed her."

He says-

"Did I murder the old woman? I murdered myself, not her."

After hearing the life story of Raskolnicov, Sonia consoles him in this way:

"There is no one- no one in the whole world now so unhappy as you."

He requests her:-

"Then you won't leave me, Sonia."

Sonia says:-

"No, no, never, nowhere-I will follow you. I will follow you everywhere."

Sonia has advised Raskolnicov to confess his guilt in the following way:

"I am a murderer! Then God will send you life again. Suffer and expiate your sin by it."

Sonia has advised Raskolnicov to surrender himself to the police but Raskolnicov wants to stay there without surrendering himself. But Sonia again and again requests him to obey the law of the country by surrendering. She continuously urges him to confess the guilt to the police.

For the continuous request of Sonia, Raskolnicov decides to surrender to the police. He wants to make a purgatorial journey of salvation. Because of his previous good deeds, he wasn't given death sentenced. The decision of the court was that he would have to go to Siberia and have to work hard for 8 years. Sonia was accompanied by the hero to go to Siberia's prison. The hero bowed down his head and kissed the feet of Sonia but he says:

"I didn't bow down to you. I bowed down to all suffering humanity,"

The hero further says:

"I have abandoned my family today, my mother and sister. I have only you. Let us go together. I've come to you. We're both accused. Let us go our way together."

Raskolnicov says:-

"I didn't kill a human being but a principle."

Sonia blames him that he is a hallow man having no spiritual fertility. She says:

"You have turned away from God and God has smitten you."

The Raskolnicov hopelessly answers:-

"Perhaps there is no God."

Raskolnicov thinks that he has got punishment both mentally and physically. Actually, here we can compare Raskolnicov with King Lear of William Shakespeare's King Lear. King Lear also suffers for his wrong decision to give his kingdom among his two daughters depriving Cordelia, the youngest one, from his property. He has suffered more than he committed crime and at the end he realized his fault and we see the purgation of his soul. Similarly, Raskolnicov has ultimately realized his fault and he thinks that as he has committed crime, punishment is a must. He has to penance.

Raskolnicov and Sonia started their purgatorial journey on foot to Siberia because they think that if they go there on foot, the intensity of the crime will reduce with the excretion of sweat. The hero consoles himself that though he is punished, he has done something good for the society. He has broken the long cherished convention.

Eventually, we can comment that Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is a psychological novel where we come to see the mental conflict of the hero Raskolnicov. He suffers throughout the novel from mental anxiety for his wretched condition of the society. He committed crime because of his depression of unemployment, nothing else.

 

Prepared by:

Name: Mehedi Hasan

Batch no: 28.

Roll no: 33

Department of English

Dhaka International University

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