ISSN 2319 – 7684 MIDDLE FLIGHT SSM JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH SUKUMAR SENGUPTA MAHAVIDYALAYA KESHPUR , PASCHIM MEDINIPUR PIN: 721150 , WEST BENGAL , INDIA Vol.-1 November 2012 No.-1 2 ISSN 2319 – 7684 MIDDLE FLIGHT SSM JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH SUKUMAR SENGUPTA MAHAVIDYALAYA KESHPUR , PASCHIM MEDINIPUR PIN: 721150 , WEST BENGAL , INDIA Vol.-1 November, 2012 No.-1 3 MIDDLE FLIGHT SSM JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Advisory Editorial Board : 1. Professor Parbati Charan Chakraborty, Professor and Head (Ret.), Deptt. of English, The University of Burdwan & Visiting Professor of English , Aliah University, Kolkata 2. Professor Tirthankar Daspurkayastha, Professor of English and Head, Deptt. of English, Vidyasagar University 3. Professor Sankar Prasad Singha, Professor of English ,Vidyasagar University 4. Dr. Goutam Buddha Sural, Associate Professor & Head, Deptt. of English, Bankura Christian College (PG) and Visiting Fellow (2006), Bristol University (UK) 5. Dr. Binda Sharma, Associate Professor and Head, Deptt. of English, C.M.D. PG College, Bilaspur 6. Mr. Satyaki Pal, Associate Professor, Deptt. of English, Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous) Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Debdas Roy, Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) and Head, Deptt. of English, S.S. Mahavidyalaya Published: November, 2012 ISSN: 2319 – 7684 Published By: Executive Committee, Sukumar Sengupta Mahavidyalaya Po. Keshpur, Dt. Paschim Medinipur, Pin: 721150 Ph: 03227-250861, Mail: [email protected] @ Reserved with Executive Committee, 2012 Price: Rs.100/ 4 Editorial The idea of launching a journal from so new a college and so small a department was just a straw in the wind. When the idea was in the embryo my Good Angel came to deliver a timely ‘commandment’: “Don’t go too near the sun”. Thus warned and aided I undertook my middle flight. They say metaphors are lies and hence the image of a motley coat, patched but clean that aptly defines ‘our’ Middle Flight. Exercise, with a pen or without, keeps one warm. It is a survival strategy – therapeutic too. Capacity and commitment never go paired. Fund is a major problem, experience no less. Yet the ‘the mind is its own place’ and is convinced that some ‘work’, noble or ignoble, may yet be done. The launching of the first issue of Middle Flight would hardly be possible without the unstinted support from my teachers, employers, editors, executive members, top guns of the ISSN of India, my colleagues (within the college premises and without) and my beloved students. Congrats to all concerned for making it possible. The readers only know what is in store for us – bouquets or brickbats! Debdas Roy 5 6 CONTENTS Tapan Jyoti Banerjee: English Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Brief Look in Terms of Continuity Parbati Charan Chakraborty Towards A Note Of Interrogation: A Study of The Winter’s Tale Tirthankar Daspurkayastha Re-reading Shakespeare with special reference to Macbeth Satiprasad Maity: ‘… more perjured eye’ : the Paradox of vision in the Dark Lady Sonnets Satyaki Pal: From the Metaphysicals to the Neoclassicists: The Changing notion of Wit in the Seventeenth Century Poetry Indranil Acharya: The Problematics of Gender Identity in the Early Poetry of T. S. Eliot Subhajit Sengupta Generic Strategies and theProblematization of History in Henry V Binda Sharma: Feminism – When does it really start in India? Bijay Kant Dubey: Keki Nasserwanji Daruwalla as a Poet: A Study of His Poetry Sanjay Mukherjee: Interrogating Kingship in King Lear Sudip Kr. Das: A Muse to the poet: ‘One rare fair woman’ in Thomas Hardy’s life 7 Debdas Roy: A Journey from inaction (Akarma) to action (karma): Hamlet and Arjuna in the light of ‘Niskam Karma’ Sunita Tiwari: The Apprentice and Awakened Conscience Satyaranjan Das: Self-interest: The Real Guide in R.K.Narayan’s The Guide Aloy Chand Biswas: Responses to India – Naipaul, N.C.Chaudhuri, Rushdie and R.K.Narayan: A Comparative Study Arup Ratan Chakraborty: Tuberculosis and Nineteenth Century Literature: Aestheticization of the Malady as a ‘Romantic Disease’ Asit Panda: Sanctifying Slaughter: Predatory Culture in Robert Browning’s ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ Samit Kr. Maiti: East-West Synthesis: Rabindranath Tagore, the Janus-headed Nationalist Subrata Sahoo Gala of Friendship and Male-heroism: An Approach to Tennyson’s Ulysses Bisweshwar Chakraborty Nation as Woman / Mother: A Critique of Bankimchandra’s Anandamath Paromita Deb: Body Image in King Lear Soumen Chatterjee: The Lady or the Lord? Gender Politics in ‘The Lady of Shallot’ Anupam Santra: Waiting for Godot: A Play about Man and Religion 8 Contributors: (2012) 1. Professor Tapan Jyoti Banerjee, Professor of English (Retd.), Vidyasagar University and Editor-in-Chief, LITSCAPE (ISSN 0976- 9064) 2. Professor Parbati Charan Chakraborty, Professor and Head (Rtd.), Department of English, The University Burdwan &Visiting Professor of English, Aliah University, Kolkata 3. Professor Tirthankar Daspurkayastha, Professor of English and Head, Deptt. of English, Vidyasagar University 4. Satiprasad Maity, Associate Professor and Head, Deptt. of English, Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous) 5. Mr. Satyaki Pal, Associate Professor, Deptt. of English, Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous) 6. Dr.Indranil Acharya, Reader, ,Deptt. of English, Vidyasagar University and Deputy Coordinator, UGC-SAP 7. Dr. Subhajit Sengupta, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of English, Vidtasagar University. 8. Dr. (Mrs.) Binda Sharma, Head, Department of English , CMD Post Graduate College, Bilaspur (C.G.) 9. Dr. Bijay Kant Dubey, Reader & Head, Deptt. of English & Co- ordinator, NSOU Centre, C.V. Mahavidyalaya, Area of research: Indian English Writings 10. Mr. Sanjay Mukherjee, Associate Professor & Head, Deptt. of English, Tamralipta Mahavidyalaya, Area of research: Shakespearean Drama 9 11. Mr. Sudip Kr. Das, Selection Grade Lecturer & Head, Deptt. of English, Hijli College, Area of research: Thomas Hardy 12. Dr. Debdas Roy, Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) & Head, Deptt. of English, S.S. Mahavidyalaya, Area of research: John Donne 13. Dr Mrs Sunita Tiwari, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of English, CMD PG College, Bilaspur, Area of research: 14. Mr. Satyaranjan Das, Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer), Deptt. of English, Moyna College, Area of research: Indian English Writings 15. Mr. Aloy Chand Biswas, Assistant Professor & Head, Deptt. of English, Egra S. S. B. College, Area of research: V.S. Naipaul 16. Mr. Arup Ratan Chakraborty, Assistant Professor & Head, Deptt. of English, S.B.S.S. Mahavidyalaya, Area of research: Ezekiel, Moraes, Daruwalla and Jussawalla 17. Mr. Asit Panda, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of English, Belda College, Area of research: Wole Soyinka 18. Mr. Samit Kr. Maiti, Assistant Professor & Head, Deptt. of English, Seva Bharati Mahavidyalaya, Area of research: R.N.Tagore 19. Mr. Subrata Sahoo, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of English, Contai P.K. College, Area of research: Indian English Writings 20. Mr. Bisweshwar Chakraborty, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of English, Jhargram Raj College, Area of research: Indian English Writings 21. Dr. Paromita Deb, Guest Lecturer, Deptt. of English, Hijli College, Area of research: Elizabethan Drama (Ph.D.) and Indian English Writings, Diaspora Studies, Partition Lit. (Post-doc) 22. Mr. Soumen Chatterjee, Assistant Professor in FDP, Deptt. of English, Mahishadal Raj College 23. Mr.Anupam Santra, PTT, Deptt. of English, S.S. Mahavidyalaya 10 11 English Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Brief Look in Terms of Continuity Tapan Jyoti Banerjee Tidy divisions of literary history can lead to misconceptions. To say that the “Jacobean age” began with the accession of James I in 1630 is certainly not to suggest that a dramatic change of mood also took place around that time. Is “Jacobean melancholy” an acceptable concept any more? The idea of “Jacobean mutability” is also on its way to obsolescence. In fact, the most sensible thing would be to see the late Renaissance in England as one whole movement … experiencing changes of government, but following (at the same time) its own internal logic. The closing down of the theatres in 1642 dealt a major blow to literature in some minor ways. But the literary modes and genres through the 17th century developed … or declined …following their own laws rather than the fluctuations in the political field. While Walter Raleigh (c. 1552) ignored the Renaissance reassertion of the dignity of man, George Chapman’s (c. 1559) view appeared (much) more forward- looking betraying the newer attitudes extolling human value. At Chapman’s hands Ulysses is turned into a type of Renaissance hero, overcoming temptation and yielding examples of prudence and fortitude. But Francis Bacon was easily the most influential writer of the whole century. He was committed to upholding the Renaissance concept of vita activa – the life dedicated to serving society. He mixed ‘profit’ with ‘delight’, analysed cause and effect in social and psychological terms, and set out to defend the pursuit of knowledge snapping his finger at such stigma as 'forbidden knowledge’, which scientific research during the Renaissance had the misfortune of labouring under. Bacon, prompted by his concern for providing both profit and delight, wrote with obvious affection of the combined attractions of the masque: “Dancing to song is a thing of great state and pleasure.”