VISION OF LIFE IN CHRISTOPHER FRY'S SEASONAL COMEDIES
DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Philosophy IN ENGLISH
BY Sehar Fatima Harris
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Professor K. S. Misra
DEPARTMENT OP ENGLISH ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY. ALIGARH (INDIA) DS1967 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH & MODERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH—202002 (India)
Fab Alary 22, 1991
TO tfmn IT nKc CONCSRK
Cortifiea that Kiss, n«»hir ratiif-a Harris has ccacpleted har i^.rhil dissartiticn, castittoa ®Vi3lc!i3 cS £.iea in Cjjristori^ar Fry*o Zsmaontii Coesdl'*-',• wader try auparvtslon ORJ that *jo t!>o !:3ot of cy Irooud odga tha %«5£!c lo '^- Page No. PRBPX:E i Chapter I : INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter II : A PHOEWIX TOO PRSQUBNT 2 6 Chapter III : A YARD OP SUN 62 CONCLUSION 103 A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 116 •***•** PREFACE The present study aims at determining Fry's vision of life as it emerges from his serio-comic plays< nanr.ely, A Phoenix Too Frequent, The Lady's not for Burning, Venus Observed, The Dark Is Light Enough and A Yard of Sun. Fry is a relatively not adequately studied dramatist. He has either been approached as a landmark. in the revival of poetic drama in the twentieth coitury or has been both praised and criticized for manipulating a unique free verse style. The brillaiance of his langu age and the comedy in his plays have bean the prime con cern of the studies on Pry. But an adequate analysis of the vision of life which anerges from his major secular plays has been lacking so far. Because of the constraint on space all the serio-comic plays have not been analysed in detail. Only his first and last comedies have been analysed to demonstrate the consistency in Fry's approach to life. The intervening comedies have been briefly touched upon in the last chapter to support our conclusion about Fry' s vision of life. li The study comprises four chapters. The first chapter deals with Fry's early life, influences on him, his contact with the theatre, major researches done on his plays, his theory of comedy and the stance proposed to be taken in the present study. The second and third chapters contain respectively analysis of his first and last serio-comic plays, namely, A Phoenix Ibo Frequent ^^'^ A Yard of 3un» In the analysis the main thrust has been the working out of Fry's approach to life and hence the other dramaturgical components have naturally received less attention. In the final chapter the general points emerging from the analysis of the plays have been recapitulated. The comedies of which detailed analysis could not be given have been summarized only with reference to the vision of life contained in thern^ so that a reasonably complete picture of Pry's vision of life may be presented. In the preparation of the present study I wish to acknowledge my thanks and gratitude to my supervisor. Professor K.S. Misra, without whose help and assistence it would have been difficult to complete this task succss- fully. I would like to thank Professor S.M, Jafar Zaki, ill Chairman, Department of English £or his encouragement. I am also grateful to the members of the Maulana Azad Library and the English Department Seminar Library for their help in the preparation of the present study. FEBRUARY 1991 ( SSHAR PATIMA HARRIS ) CHATTER I INTRODUCTION Christopher Pry is considered as a landmark in the revival of English poetic drama in the twentieth century. After the hey-day of poetic drama in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, poetic drama had more or less disappeared except for the attempts by John Drydan in his verse plays. After a gap of a hundred and fifty years attempts were made in the nineteenth century by the Romantic and Victorian poets to revive this form. But almost all the poets were uncon nected with the theatre. Moreover, the tyranny of the theatre managers, and stardom of actors compelled thsn to write closet plays. Fresh attempts were made right from the beginning of the present century to reinstate poetic drama to its pristine glory by playwrights, like Stephen Phillips, James Flecker, Gordon Bottomley. John Masefield and John Drinkwater. But their attempts remained of historical importance and the history of theatrical per formance shows that they have been relegated into the lumber-room of past curiosities. The primary cause of their failure was perceived by T.3. Eliot. Eliot made a distinction between poetic drama in prose and poetic drama In verse. He w^s in favour of the latter. But he beli eved that the regular blank verse tradition, which had become outworn and rather remote from the living speech, should be avoided. He felt that the main cause of his predecessors' failure was attributable to their following the already exhausted Shakespearean blank verse tradition. Before we come to Fry it is relevant to have a cursory glance at Eliot's theory and practice in poetic drama and the causes for his failure. Eliot's laudable efforts are well known to the students of modem poetic drama. His main aim was to restore poetic drama to its pristine glory which it had once enjoyed in the Elizabethan period and for this he fought hard. Being a Christian, Eliot naturally started with religious plays which could help in the propagation of his spiritual and religious notions and then moved on to write more secular plays. He wanted the medium of his plays to be verse, not the Elizabethan blank verse tradi tion but which is close to conteir^porary speech idiom and was against poetry being used as a means of decoration. Instead, he believed that the language should be such that the reader is not fully aware of the medium but should be wholly engrossed in the 'dramatic action' and the •situation between the characters.' Eliot also voiced his concern against the mingling of prose and verse in the same play as it distracts the attention of the reader from the play itself to the medium of its expression. In fact, he preferred verse because emotional intensity can best be conveyed only through verse. It makes drama more complete and dramatic. Eliot favoured a poetic drama which should give entertainment not of the crude sort as in the case of the Elizabethans, but entertainment as a fonn of art. On the other hand, Eliot was convinced that a good poetic play should have two levels of actions, one which is outer and another, the inner structure, which Eliot calls the 'musical organization.' This 'doubleness in action' ' could be well explained with reference to Shakespeare's great tragedies — Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear, in which the outer structure is full of bloody action and horrified situations in which the hero is caught, but underneath this can be seen the journey of the hero from a state of darkness to a state of spiritual enlightenment. 1. T.S. Sliot, "Poetry and Dran a, " On Poetry and Poets, (London, Faber i Faber Ltd., 1965), p. 74. 2. See T.S. Eliot, Selected Essays (London, Faber 5t Faber Ltd., 1951), p. 229. This inner structure, according to Sliot, gives unity to the play. 31iot's failure can be attributed to his obsession with 'religious' and 'spiritual' themes and his putting his verse 'on a thin diet' till poetry disappeared comp letely from his last play. He also made the mistake of choosing a worn-out tradition of social comedy to convey serious spiritual themes. "By adopting this pattern of ironic social comedy, Eliot placed upon his genius a regrettable limitation. He tied himself to a social, and still more to theatrical, conventions which were already out worn when the plays were written." Also responsible for his failure is his lukewarm interest in human emotions and issues. It is due to his excessive involvement with the holymen and their problems that he ignores people of lower status and their petty problems. In his zest for imparting spiritual message to the people, he even neglects his characters which are left simply as mouthpieces of the playwright. Apart from this, Eliot also made his charac ters undergo drastic changes in personality without much S.M. Browne, TheMakinq of T.S. Eliot's Plays (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 19 69) , p. 342. incentive on the part of the characters. This leads to the belief that his drama appeals more to the head than to the heart which is contrary to the claim made by the poet - dramatists of the twentieth century. Eliot started writing plays for a small audience but later moved on to a bigger audience. Here he is cont rasted with Yeats who started with a large audience and moved on to a smaller audience. Eliot's contribution lies in his showing the path along which poetic drama could develop further by paying special attention to the verse medium, and subject-matter which should be humane as well as entertaining. Pry was a tort;h-»bearer of the concern voiced and experiments made by W.B. Yeats and T.s. Eliot. In fact, it was "Fry who was to inherit Eliot's mantle in the 4 theatre." Some critics, while emphasizing Fry's position, have gone to the extent of saying that "In the late 1940's and early 1950's, verse drama was repre sented in the English theatre not so much by T.3. Eliot 4. Harry Bl ami res. Twentieth ^Century English Literature (London, Macmillan Fress, 1982) , p. 289". as by Pry." Fry, like 2:iiot, started with religious plays and went on to write secular plays which offer a striking analogue to Eliot's position. Before we deal with his literary contributions it would be useful to summarize some of the biographical details which had helped in the shaping of his dramatic genius. Christopher Pry was bom on 18 December, 1907 at Bristol in the West Country. His father, Charles John Harris, an Anglican lay preacher, was a conscientious man who was sympathetic towards the poor and the needy. When his father died in 1910, Pry was just three years old and was then taken to Bedford by his mother where an aunt also helped in his upbringing. Both of them were religious women. His mother was a quaker and Pry has also inherited some of the quaker tendencies. Fry even sent his son to a c[uaker school later. His aunt would often read to him Bunyan's Pi.lqri.m* s Progress and thus inspire in him a love for English literature. Thus, we see that Pry had a deeply religious bringing up during his childhood which later coloured his thoughts and ideas. Por his education 5. Raymond Williams, Drama from Ibsen to Brecht (London, Chatto and Windus, "l971) 7 p. 232. Fry was sent to Bedford Modem School, one of the best of its kind. He was not an outstanding student nor was he much interested in studies. In 19 35 he married Phyllis Majorie Hart, a journalist. Christopher Pry is a protest ant who believes that a man should be free to make his own moral choices without being fettered by any dogma or creed, but only by his love, compassion and mercy. He was not a fanatic and believed in man's individuality in the spirit of the Renaissance huma nists, not of the Calvin type but of the more liberal protestants. Besides being a playwright, screen-writer, translator and critic Fry also tried his hands at teaching but as soon as he had saved £ 10 he left that job for good for the excitement of the world of the theatre. We will talk about his theatrical contribution separately. Later in 19 40 when Fry was working as the director of the Oxford Playhouse, he was called to serve in the non-combatant army of the forces where he served for four 6. For more details see "Calvin, John" Encyclopaedia Britannic a (Chicago) Helen Hemingway Benton, 197 3-7 4, 111, pp. 67 2-7 3. 8 years and then again retuimad to ths world of the theatre. As a person Christopher Fry is a peace loving and sober man and it seems that this peace has coma over him because of his religious faith. In order to understand Fry's dramaturgy it would be useful to briefly summarize some of the significant influ ences which contributed to the shaping of his dramatic genius. It is neither feasible nor very relevant to go into the details of the influences individually. The most notable influences are Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, the Bible, Malory, Sir Thomas Browne, Wordsworth, Chekhov, O'Casey, Wilde, Shaw, Ibsen, Pirandello, Rilke and many others. Because of Fry's eagerness to learn from his various prede cessors, his habit of reading extensively and his open-eyed observation of all that came along his way, the listing of the influences may appear rather cumbersome. Pry himself has remarked in this regard as follows t To be sure of 'influence' is always difficult. They work underground — and in listing names the important ones are often apt to get left out — as in making 7 a list of Christmas presents. Fry has been acclaimed as a contemporairy Shakespeare because of his use of many of Shakespeare's dramatic devices, his command of the medium and his essentially affirmative view of life. The plays of Shakespeare which appealed to Fry and affected him the most have been Love* s Labour Lost, A Mid-Summer Night's Dream« Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest. Like Shakespeare , and to some extent Sean O'Casey, Pry uses a highly metaphorical, even metaphysical language in his plays and shows great mastery in vituperation. Pry's dazzling language is reminiscent of Shakespeare, "the Shakespeare drunk with words, of a play full of conceits and quibbles and speeches written not as dramatic speeches but as lovely youthful lyrics, such as Love's Labour p Lost," Like Shakespeare, the heroine of his plays are lively, self-reliant and mentally resourceful. They do not only carry the thematic burden of the plays and play dominant roles in the development of plot but are Integrally 7. Fry's Letter to Emil Roy, in Smil Roy, Christopher Fry (London, Southern Illinois University Press, 1968) , p. 153. 8. G.S. Fraser, The Modem Writer And His World (Calcutta, RupaScCo., 19617, p. 158. 10 essential to the vision of. life that Pry presents in his plays. Of course this statement holds true mostly in regard to his secular plays. Besides this. Pry also shows great skill in combining inseparably the tragic and the comic elements. Critics have talked about the parallels between Shakespeare and Pr^' but quite often have used this to Pry's discredit. Emil Roy, for example, has remarked that Fry "had either slavishly imitated the weaker plays or the superficial traits of Shakespeare..., or he had utilized stage conventions which were outmoded or inappro priate : the Elizabethan wit-combats, bombast, passages 9 of ejcjberant invective and word play." In fairness to Fry, as our analysis of his plays will demonstrate, it should be mentioned that though Fry's imitation of Shakespeare was undisguised, the dramatic effects he created by the use of the Elizabethan dramatic conventions went well with the contemporary audience when his plays were performed. It's a common knowledge of the student of Eliot 9. Christopher Pry, p. 3. 11 that like his poetry his plays also were deeply concerned with religious and spiritual problems. Pxr^', a great admirer of Eliot, naturally was influenced by his reli giosity. Pry's religious plays - The Boy with a Cart, Thor^ yiith Angels, and A 31 eep of Prisoners - are an example of this influence. "It may be observed that Eliot and Pry made a virtue of traditionalism and were orthodox in thought and religion, striking roots in the High Church of England. But so far as Pry's seasonal comedies are concerned, the Eliotean spiritual obsession is transcended to a broader non-sectarian religion. Besides this, Eliot's greatest influence on Piry was his continuous ej^eriment with the dramatic verse. 12 Fry, too, like Eliot experimented with verse throughout his dramatic career. His success or failure in this respect will become clear from our analysis of the plays in the following chapters. 10. Por more details see K.S. Misra, Twentieth Century English Poetic Drama- A Revaluation (New Delhi, Vikas Publishing Pfcuse, 1981) , pp. 51-54. 11. John Gassner, Masters of the Drama (New York,. Dover Publications, 1951), p. 731. 12. See Sean Lucy, T.S. Eliqt .And „The Idea of Tradition (London, Cohen 5. West, 1960), "pp. 165-171. 12 Like Sliot, Pry believed that the deeper resonance of the human psyche as well as the spiritual depths of man's existence can best be explored through the poetic medium. But as our analysis will establish, in order to achieve his objective. Pry, unlike Eliot, especially in his seasonal comedies, concentrated on human concerns and kept the spiritual and religious elements, though significantly present, rather subservient to his secular issues. Again, unlike Eliot — though Eliot in theory believed the value of entertainment in drama — Pry was primarily cclaieemed with offeiMng to'the auilence a theatrical experience of life rather than preach them in a gospel howsoever noble it may be. Pry's stance on poetic drama is clear from his following statement : The flight of poetry fr 13. Christopher Pry, "Poetry and the Theatre," Adam, XIX (1959), pp. 14-15, Quoted, K.S. Misra, Twentieth Century English Poetic Drama - A Revalu ation . pp. 312-313. 13 In this respect the following assessment o£ Pry by Professor Misra is pertinent to quote : "he is able to strike a balance between the aesthetic and the didactic interests of the plays by making the moral flow logically and naturally from the dramatic context." 14 The influence of Wilde and Shaw is evident from his use of an aphoristic style and comic character types. Like Shaw his comicality is a surface to hide serious thoughts. Being a religious man Pry has been strongly influenced by the Bible ever since his youth. It is the Bible which has provided the plots for his religious plays. The First Bom 3""^ A Sleep of Prisoners, and has also provided "the under-pattems of spiritual quests and allegory (which link up with both Bunyan and Malory here) , temptation, Paustian motifs and martyrdom." Besides this, his plays abound in Biblical allusions and images. Fry resembles Ibsen and Chekhov in the theatrical context, "a theatre which Francis Pergusson has placed at the point where Hamlet meets Rosencrantz and Guildenstem : 14. K.S. Misra, Twentieth Contury .Snqlis.h _Pqetic. Drama - A Revaluation, p. 313. 15. Emil Roy, Christopher Fry, p. 155. 14 the noncommittal 'center* of human awareness, the •middle' of Fortune's favours, where the beggarly body looks sure and solid, and all the motivations which might lead to wider awarenesses look shadowy and deluded." Pry seems to be interested in the way Ibsen builds his symbols and the way he subtly blends the comic and the tragic ironies but Fry is not able to take the compelling social tone of Ibsen nor does he place such a strong stress on the logical linking of the events as does Ibsen. In Fry, as in Chekhov, the characters have the habit of showing the innermost recesses of their hearts and souls, no matter even if they are with others. "Both dramatists imbue isolated and outwardly trivial events with a sense of spiritual significance, like Fry's Chekhovian Chaplain in The Lady; both deal with the isolation of human beings and their tragic inability to understand one another; and both « writers' comedies are, in part, elegies to a decaying aristocracy." 17 Both Rilke and Pry believe that like death love is also a continuation of human life into the infinite, both of them also have faith in the ultimate Tightness of things. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid. 15 In the works of both Pry and Sir Thcanas Browne a personal individuality can be discerned. Pry has also been influ enced by Strindberg's relationship of love-hate between the sexes, by Pirandello's awareness of the complexities of what we actually are and what other people believe us to be/by Wordsworth* s love for nature and his childlike vKjnder and fascination for natural objects. Pry had been in contact with the theatre ever since he was a child "Unlike most poetic dramatists. Pry is firstly a man of the theatre. His training-ground has been the stage rather than the library of the study; and it is this first hand experience of the medium he writes for that helps to give him his immediacy of expression." 18 Early in age Pry got interested in the musical and theatrical techniques — started playing the piano, composed a ' Fhareioh's March' when he was just five and acted on the stage when he was six . In this respect he offers a striking contrast to Eliot and even Yeats. He also started writing at a very young age. Till the age of fourteen he had produced a farce, a poem and had written an unacted and unpublished verse drama. At the age of seventeen he 18. Derek Stanford, Christopher Fry (London, The British Council Publications, 197 1), p. 12. 16 wrote Youth and Pereqines, which was produced when he had become the director of the Well Repertory Players at TUnbridge in 19 34. He then joined the Citizen House, Bath, a social center and a theatre. But because of the uncertainty of his job, he took up teaching at Limpsfield which he left soon after. After that he took different possible jobs that were connected with the stage. He became Secretary to a well-known song writer and then became a cabaret entertainer. For eight years he kept chtogirig his jobs — edited a magazine, took up cartooning and then became Secretary to a novelist. In 1934 he became the director of the Repertory Players at Tunbridge Wel35 where he also acted and did the lead role in the premiereof Shaw's A Village Wooing, Thus, right frcm his very childhood Pry had a passion for theatrical activities which has conti nued all his life. It is difficult to assign a fixed label to Pry's 'serious comedies.' The conventional genre of tragi comedy, practiced by Beaumont and Fletcher where tragedy was threatened but catastrophe was averted, can be applied to Fry but only partially. A number of theories during the past few decades have been advanced to overcome the 17 difficulty faced by critics to categorize a play where serious and light or comic materials are presented. J.L. Styan feels that the term •Dark Comedy** will best des- crlbe the tragicomedies of the twentieth century. 19 Karl Guthke says in his book on modem tragicomedy that "the light of Pry's comedies is visible only because of the underlying darkness of tragedy that it is focussed on, arousing as it does that strange twilight of pensive melancholy mixed with barely' subdued joy that is the hall mark of Fry's art.'«2 0 According to Bentley Pry writes tragedy with a happy ending and Pry himself says in one of his essays on comedy, "I know that when I set about writing a comedy the idea presents itself to me first of all as tragedy. The characters press c«i to the theme with all their divi sions and perplexities heavy about them; they are already entered for the race to doom, and good and evil are an infernal tangle spinning the fingers that try to unravel them... Somehow the characters have to unmortify themselves. 19. See J.L. Styan, The Dark Comedy (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1968) , pp. 1-2. 20. Modem Tragicomedy (New York, Random House, 1966) , p. 120. 18 to affirm life and assimilate death and persevere in joy.-2^ Pry blends the tragic with the ccMnic. He wants to reach comedy through tragedy. Pry also makes use of ano^ther tragicomic device, that is, having two plots in the same play, tragic and comic. According to Pry there is a close association between tears and laughter and he considers comedy not separate from tragedy but as greater than tragedy. Pry has assigned to comedy a higher status than was assigned by Aristotle. Aristotle considered as some kind of low entertainment having no serious moral purpose. Pry's canedies have a serious aspect also. In his plays we find a blending of the tragic and the comic elements with his religious faith. Pry himself has said "Comedy is an escape, not from truth, but despair : a narrow escape into faith." 22 In this regard M.A.K. Davis's remark is pertinent to quote : "lb Fry, however, comedy rather offers an alternative to the bleakness of the 21. Christopher Fry, "Comedy," The Tulane Drama Review, IV, 3 (19 60) , p. 78. 22. Ibid., p. 77. 19 itiodem vision." 23 Fry's comedies deal with the mystery of human life and have a serious moral purpose. The great achievement of Christopher Pry is that he has brought back comedy to the English verse after a long gap. Pry has written a substantial quantity of plays. Though he has been hailed primarily as a comic dramatist he has tried his hands at several kinds of drama which becomes clear from the listing of his plays under different headings given below : 1. Religious Festival Plays Like Sliot these religious plays were written by Pi^ for promoting Christian faith in the context of the post World-War European culture, a. The Boy With a Cart (1939) . b* Thor, With Aiqels (1948). c, A Sleep of Prisoners (1951) . 2. Comedies These are also called the seasonal comedies of mood, the comedies belong to particular seasons but they 23. "The Narrow Escape in The Lady's Not for Burning," Modem Drama, XXVII, 3 (1984), p. 420. 20 embody not only a mood and idea but also Fry's religious vision of life. 3» A Phoenix too Frequent (1946) b. The Lady's Not for Burning (1949) c. Venus Observe;d (1950) d. The Dark Is Light Enough (1954) e. A Yard of Sun (1970) 3. Tragedy The Firstborn (1946) 4. History Play Curtmantle (19 61) Quite a few studies have been made on different aspects of Pry's art. In a simplistic manner we can cate gorise studies on Pry's seasonal ccwnedies, which is the concern of the present investigation, as follows : 1. Pry's place in the antinaturalistic trend in the present century. "In Theatre technique, he has gaily ignored the sacrosanct 24. See ed. Harlan Hatcher, A ^^odem Repetory (New York, Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1953) , pp. 620-622. See also Derek Stanford, Christopher Pry, pp. 1-2. 21 conventions of naturalistic drama.** 25 Twentieth Centur^', right from Ibsen and on, has been an age of naturalism and realism both in form and content. But like Yeats, Pry believed that certain amount of remoteness in drama will always lend charm to it and therefore he had selected themes which are not strictly topical but have mythical dimensions. 2, Pry's serio-comic vision which is a blend of the tragic and the comic heis been investigated in a number of studies. These scholars have mainly focussed on how Fry reaches comedy by way of tragedy. His plays are evaluated as good entertainment pieces, dealing with serious issues of life. 3. FrY's brilliant language has drawn considerable critical attention. 27 In fact the most extensive resear ches have been done on Pry'z dazzling use of language. Praising Pry, Professor B.A. Khan says : "Incongruity, bathos, verbal jugglery, pun, alliteration, sheer nonsese, 25. Derek Stanford, Christopher Pry, pp. 5-6. 26. See K.S. Misra, Twentieth Century English Poetic Drama - A Revaluation, pp. 302-305. 27. See J. Chiari, Landmarks of Contemporary Drama (London, Herbert Jenkins, 1965) , pp. 10 2-10 3. 22 and all the technicolour devices of which Fry makes such glorious capital in his comedies, are coining in to 28 herald the new poetic drama,'* The hisotry of poetic drama, after Khan's monograph was published, however, has not yet fulfilled the hope contained in this remark. Denis Donoghue has gone to the extent of titling his 29 essay on Fry as "Christopher Fry's Theatre of Words." Pry has been praised for a style which is full of paradox, metaphors, similles, brilliant conceits, and fancies, and for the originality of his verse form. He is considered as a master of brilliant dialogue, which is "predominantly witty, metaphorically opulent and hyperbolic." 30 Fry has also been admired for the open-textured quality of his verse. A. Nicoll has remarked thus : "Fry* s distinction is that he makes his dramas float on a constantly moving foam of words." 31 While Fry has been praised for his masterly handling of almost dazzling language, a number of critics have voiced their disapproval of the dramatic effectiveness and relevance of his medium. They feel that 28. The English Poetic Drama (Aligarh, The Aligarh Muslim University Press, 19 62), p. 65. 29. assays in Criticism, IX, 1 (1959), pp. 37-49. 30. Bmil Roy, Christopher Fry, p. 12, 31. British Drama (London, George G, Harrap & Co., 1962) , p. 328. 23 the brilliance of the language is too dazzling to allow a clear perception of the thematic progress and quite often the deliberate prolixity stalls the movement of the plot. Further, it bedims the sharpness of characterisa tion. Marius Bewley's comments in this regard, though not wholly correct — as our analysis of the plays will demons trate in the following pages — show the critical trend about Fry*s dramaturgy : Pry's plays "are written in verse thoroughly lacking in style, whether one interprets •Style* in a tightly critical or in a loosely fashionable way. Under the surface smartness the verse is thoroughly conventional and academic. It has, it is true, an appea rance of originality, but this is partly because this kind of verse fell into such absolute neglect after the First War that most theatregoers have forgotten that verse dramas with high-pressure poetry were once highly esteaned, if not widely produced, in this century." 32 In religious terms Fry is considered a direct descendant of T.S. Eliot as both are advocates of poetic drama dealing with spiritual matters; but unlike Eliot, Firy has not identified himself with any organised religion. 32. "The Verse of Christopher Fry," Scrutiny, XXII, 2 (1951) , p. 84. 24 Pry's religion is "broad, general, and rather diffused without the stamp of any particular church, discipline or 33 denomination.'* Fry is not sectarian in a religious sense. It is in the light of this popular notion about Pry's religiosity and unlike Eliot's concern with human predicament that a hitherto inadequately unexplored area of Fry's serio-comic vision demands a clear scrutiny. What has been missing in Pry's criticism in an adequate exploration of his vision of life in a non-sectarian religious perspective. Firy, through his religion builds up his view of life. His vision of life is a journey of the human soul from the miserable earthly existence of the world through the path of the religion of life. Religion of life, in Fry, is basically a fervent faith in life, life which is worth- living and should not be destroyed at any cost. In Fry's characters we find an urge to shape thanselves out of the odds of life. The mistake which is patent in the existing scholar ships of Fry is that scholars have heavily relied upon the 33. K.3. Misra, Twentieth Century English Poetic Drama - A Revaluation, p. 262. 25 assumption that Fry strictly adhered to Eliot's spiritual and religious path. As we have mentioned earlier Bliot* s concern with spiritual problems overweighs his grappling with humane, emotional and personal interactional issues. As averred to earlier even when Eliot hesitatingly created humane and anotional situations which were rich in poten tial for dramatic exploitation, he shied away from working them out adequately in human drama. But Pry's spiritual concerns were so subtly fused with human problems and issues that they instead of stalling the plot and obstruc ting theamergence of human vision contribute to the rich tapestry of life which he has presented. CHAPTER II A PHDENIX TOO PREQUEasIT A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946) is Fry's earliest play written in his characteristic serio-comic mood. The structural design of the mood is inherent in the story itself, which, though a serious nature, is throughout intermixed with humour and ends happily inspite of its beginning pointing to a sad end. It is the story of a woman, namely, Dynam«ie, who has taken a vow not to outlive her husband and has come to his tomb to strave herself to death so that she may be reunited with him in the other world, A^cidently a soldier guarding six corpses for the night, out of boredcam with loneliness, joins the company of the woman and her maid servant, Doto. During his conversation with the woman who is determined to die, one of the corpses is stolen. This will mean that the soldier will be court-martial led and may be awarded capital punishment. The woman suddenly decides to make up for the stolen corpse with her husband's newly buried corpse. The main thread of the story is not an original invention of Pry. The theme of a loving wife's resolve to end her life at the demise of her husband, so 27 that she can join the company of her paramour In the next world, is a recurrent? theme treated in different ways in different cultures of the world. What makesthe play a distinct achievement of Fry is his serio-comic fusion in plot, characterisation, language, rhythm and imagery and the final vision of life. The story elanent is rather scanty. But it has a distinct development of a conven tional plot with a beginning, a middle and an and. The story, baldly narrated above, though interes ting, does not have many elaborate events. But as our analysis below will demonstrate even this tiny story has been presented in a close-knit structural framework which, with other dramaturgical elements, unambiguously contri bute to Pry's faith in life on this earth where religious superstitions, social taboos and moral factors negating its affirmation are convincingly rejected. The play starts with a solemn and serious setting, which is clear from the opening stage directions : "An underground tomb, in darkness except for the very low light of an oil~lamp. Above ground the starlight shows a line of trees on which han^ the bodies of several 28 men.**- The 'lowlight* of the oil lamp instead of dissipating darkness, in fact contributes to the thick ness of the gloom of the place. The setting thus creates a befitting mood for unfolding the action. As pointed out in the summary of the story above, the action of the play is overx;ast with gloom and threatened tragedy. It is unfolded through Doto's opening soliloquy in which she tells us about her mistress' resolve to end her life through starvation at her deceased husband's newly made grave. The dismal story of Dynamene is not allowed to become depressing because of Doto's voicing her own predi cament of accompanying her mistress in her mission of starvation while her worldly and sensual inclinations continue with her unabated, Doto's assertion of a strong faith in the pleasures of life even in the midst of death somewhat enlivens the mood of the play. Her soliloquy which is a mixture of the mundane, the sensual and the philosophical, are punctuated by the hooting of an owl, the bird of loneliness, desolation and despair, which makes the dramatist's serio-comic intentions abundantly clear. It is significant to note that the images used in the 1. Christopher Pry, Plays, (London, Oxford University Press, 19 69), p.7. All subsequent textual citations are from this edition. 29 opening situation from classical mythology, of Aphrodite, and Prometheus, are connected with love, vitality and fullness of life. The auditor^' effect of the owl's hooting which is contrapuntal with verbally evoked images of the fullness of life establish Pry's serio-comic dra- m atu rgy, The hooting of the owl wakens Dynamene who had fallen asleep out of exhaustion and starvation. She asks for barley water thinking herself to be in her own house. After the realisation of the reality of her state, Dynamene tells Doto of the dream she had dreamt about her husband 2 as a ship which "flew figurehead for«nost into the sun," The ship image of her husband, moving forward, though a grotesque image, indirectly comments on Dynamene* s sub conscious yearning of life, Doto's remark about Dynamene joining her husband in hell has a Christian overtone. In Christianity negating one's life is a grave sin and Dynamarje about to commit that sin is bound to go to hell where she will meet her dead husband. Dynamene, then, indulges in a narrative of her husband's virtues which is subtly ironical because it tends to portray him as a mechanical being : He was certain to have become the most well-organised provost 2. Ibid., p. 8, 30 The town has knovm... He was so punctual, you could regulate The sun by him.3 In the midst of Dynamene's narration of the loss of her husband, Doto' s expression of her worldly neads and pleasures is deliberately incongruous which is a characte ristic ccsnic device used by Pry. Doto, is unable to curb her hunger and restrain her attraction for the outside world. She feels as if she is dying of food and drinks and becomes almost nostalgic about her uncle's hardware shop. It* s two Days not eating makes me think of my uncle* s Shop in the country, where he has a hardware business. Basins, pots, ewers, and alabaster birds. He makes you die of laughing, 0 madam. Isn't it sad ?* In keeping with her train of fascination for the worldly and the bodily, she elaborates the function of laughter as sustaining and health giving. It is through Doto in the opening situation of the play that Pry conveys his 3. Ibid., p. 9. 4. Ibid., pp. 9-10. 31 vision of life. He believes the world to be a glorious, miraculous place, in which every moment of life should be counted for its meaning. Doto's mature vision of life is contrasted here with Dynamene's nagative view because Dynamene feels that the departure of the source of pleasure of life means the end of life. As the play proceeds Dynamene and Doto acquire symbolic significance. The former stands for the negation of life and the later stands for the urge for life, Bot the characters are foil and ccxnplonentary to each other and their co-existing points toabalanced view of life. This becomes clear as we proceed further with the development of the play, Dynamene-Doto conversation proceeds along the line of debate about the relative validity of the negative and positive views of life. Without taking recourse to philosophy the two characters voice their convictions based on their own contrasted attitudes to life. In this conversation the dramatist's predilection is to lend more credibility to Doto's argument. But at the same time Fry does not reject altogether Dynamene's argument of negation. For example, Doto argues - Life is more big than a bed And full of miracles and mysteries like 32 5 One man made for one woman, etcetera, etcetera. Doto takes life as it comes to her and believes in living it till it lasts. One should not get away with the impression that Pry is advocating here a sort of hedonism. Doto's exaggeration of her preference for sensuality is only a dramatic device to counter Dynamene's well argued debate in favour of negation of this life in order to be ushered into a new world. In holding the almost exclu sive validity of physical life. Fry offers a significant contrast to Eliot, for whom physical life was to be sub ordinated to spiritual existence. lliis is not to say that Pry has rejected the spiritual element in life but he has broadened his vision by assigning supranacy to the worldly and human aspects. This aspect takes into consideration human life in relation to nature as well where the wonder, beauty and mysteries of nature, conveyed in multiple images, or con-comitant with similar attri butes in human life. Here Fry offers a comparison with Eliot for whom, as we see in The Waste Land, and Murder in the Cathedral, the rhythms of human life and those of nature are inseparably linked. 5. Ibid., p. 10. 33 The debate between the negative and the affirma tive aspects of life shows a positive effect upon Dynamene who is caught between a potent death-wish and her sensual interest in life. For me The world is all with Charon, all, all Even the metal and plume of the rose garden. And the forest where the sea fumes overhead In vegetable tides, and particularly The entrance to the warm baths in Arcite street Where we first met; - all 1 - the sun itself Trails an evening hand in the sultry river Par away down by Acheron. I am lonely, Virilius. Where is the punctual eye And where is the cautious voice... ?^ G.S. Praser rightly says that "the lines very gently mock the woman who is mourning just a little more eloquently than her feelings justify for her dead husband, while at the same time allowing a lyrical quality to her grief, as in such lines as • Trails an evening hand in the sultry river* . "^ Of course, to quote Shakespeare, the lady does 6. Ibid., p. 11. "^ • The Modem Writer and His World (Calcutta, Rupa & Co., 19 61) , p. 158. 34 protest too much and in that context Praser's criticism sounds relevant. But Praser misses Pry's dramatic intention which is to inflate emotions- for comic effect. Here the comedy is not loud and pronounced but can be gathered from the manipulations of language and images. Besides, Pry brings in cosmic, divine and human factors into the ambit of the main theme of the play : What a mad blacksmith creation is Who blows his furnaces until the stars fly upward And iron Time is hot and politic! are glow And bulbs and roots sizzle into hyacinth And orchis, and the sand puts out the lion. Roaring yellow, and oceans bud with porpoises, Blenny, tunny and the almost unexisting Blind fish; throats are cut, the masterpiece Looms out of labour,8 It may be that Dynamene unconsciously realises but consci ously conceals the un ten ability of her stand. This uncer- tainity can be conveyed only through a language like this. We find a similar thing in Waiting for Godot where there is a complete collapse of the mind to take any meaningful decision. The decision itself which Dynamene has taken is suspect. 8. Christopher Pry, Plays, p. 12. 35 Our interpretation given above is supported by 9 Doto's "I shall try to grieve a little, too," as if grieving is an act of deliberate choice, as if it needs training. Doto's whole stance is ironical, to keep up the facade of mourning, of negative attitude to life. She goes on to say : It would take lessons, I imagine, to do it out loud For long. If I could only remember Anyone of those fellows without wanting to laugh. Hopeless, I am. Now those good pair of shoes I gave away without thinking, that's a different- Well, I've cried enough about them, I suppose. Poor madam, poor master, ^0 This short speech shows that Doto is too matter-of-fact, too realistic. She wants to say that the urge for life is much stronger than the desire for anything negative. Loss of anything in life should not overweigh the other affirmative things of life. In this single speech Pry is able to intertwine modulations of attitudes and moods — ironical, bordering c«n satire, matter-of-fact, personal, too casual about human relationships and then participating 9, Ibid. 10. Ibid. 36 in someone else's grief. These mocSulations make Doto's character lively as well as point to the complex fibie of Fry's dramaturgy in an otherwise simply structured play as the present one. Doto opposes the pragmatic view of life and asserts the affirmative vision of life. The opposi tion between death-wish and urge for life is proved to be unwise against human nature and subconsciously against human aspirations as well as against the rhythm of life in nature indicated in the nature images which all point to affirmation in the lines quoted earlier. The same idea has been e3 11. Ibid., p. 13. 37 Doto's natural fear is perceived when s stranger suddenly appears in a symbolically significant manner from the dark. The emergence of Tegeus is symbolically integrated with the maiin conflict summed up above. Pry seems to purport that affirmation is always produced from negation. This point is also dealt with by Eliot and many other Christian mystics who believe that the spark of life always comes from the womb of darkness. But soon Doto overcomes her fear and talks to Tegeus in a natural way. In fact, all humour in the play emerges from Doto's speeches. The primary source of the comic is not so much the situation as the language and that, too, of Doto. Doto is Dynamene's counterfoil. If Dynam«ie's speeches were also comic the play would have become farcical. Pry retians seriousness with certain characters all along and allow humorous words for other characters which also throw light on the serious characters. Doto is ironical about the concept of ending this life to have an unknown life. Ending of life is not appropriate even for a noble cause like love. Sometimes Pry makes his characters say such things which do not have any meaning. "Death is a kind of love/ 38 «12 Not anything I can ©jq^lain." Here Tegeus does not fullyunderstand the implications of what he is saying. Pry is also charged with the defect of verbosity which stalls the action and blurs the perspective of the reader. When Tegeus offers Doto a drink she succumbs to the temptation and the excuse she gives for her surrender is as comically ridiculous as the whole action taking place in the cemetary. She says : It's the dust in my throat. The tomb Is so dusty. Thanks, I will. There is no point in dying Of everything, simultaneous. 13 As soon as Doto takes a sip of the drink, the thought of a possible suicide disappears from her mind. This clearly shows how tenuous and fragile the facade of negation actually is. Doto declares her love for Tegeus but Tegeus tries to resist it though he believes in warm human rela tionships. This is supported by nature images of joy and fertility - "mildew, verdigris. Rust, vrood rot," "An oval twirling blasphemy." 14 Pry's love of life includes the world at large, nature included. He believes that God 12. Ibid., p. 14. 13. Ibid., p. 16. 14. Ibid., p. 18. 39 created the world, so everything in the world is beauti ful and even shows his appreciation for God for the creation of the beautiful world. He makes his view go home through Doto who has a deep attraction towards the world and is all for life. She says : I love all the world And the movement of the apple in your throat. Even Dynamene's high sounding, well-modulated language is not that of a person who wants to die. It is the language of a living jserson with vitality. It is her out burst for Tegeus's miserable condition which shows her attraction towards him and also ironically shows her inclination towards aanusements in life. She says : Does the army provide you with no amusements ? If I were still of the world, and not cloistered In a colourless landscape of winter thought Where the approaching Spring is desired oblivion, I should write sharply to your commanding officer. It should be done, it should be done... ,., And why should insolence matter When my colour of life is unreal, a blush on deatii, A partial mere diaphane ? I don't know Why it should matter. 1^ 15. Ibid., p. 19. 16. Ibid., pp. 20-21. 40 The nature symbols "of mortality, the jabbing, funeral, sleek - / with-omen raven, the death-watch beetle," "the spider/weaving his hone," and "the vrorm" have been described not with depressing effect but with a gusto which 17 shows Dynamene's concealed longing for life. Tegeus, too, is drawn towards Dynamene and says - "Beauty's bit is between my teeth. /She has added another torture to me." IB Tegeus in his conversation with the women grows eloquent and sometimes poetic, which has drawn adverse criticism from critics. But Tegeus* s growth from his initial prosaid dialogue to high rhetoric symbolically indicates the impact of the company of two young women upon his present condition of existence, i.e. his company with death represented by the six corpses he was guarding. At Doto's slightest suggestion Dynamene agrees to have some wine and the reason she gives for having it is quite humorous. I might be wise to strengthen myself In order to fast again; it would make me abler Por grief .19 17. Ibid., p. 22. 18. Ibid., p. 21. 19. Ibid., p. 23. 41 This also shows Dynamene's eager readiness to be attracted to all the symbols of life and that the negative strand in her concept of life is rather tenuous. This thin veneer of negativism allows the radiant urge for life to peep through it without any blurring. Throughout the play we are aware of the summer nights working its way to Dynamene's heart to win her back from the suicidal attempt to life. As she feels attracted towards Tegeus's speech, takes wine, she talks about natural things of life. Oh, how the inveterate body. Even when cut from the heart, insists on leaf. Puts out, with a separate meaningless will. Fronds to Intercept the thankless sun. How it does, oh, how it does. And how it confuses The nature of the mind.^*^ This depicts her positive response to life and the presence of Tegeus all the more heightens the life-force at work. Dynamene is guilty of the fact that she has failed Virilius but her outlook towards life is ambivalent. When the thoughts would die, the instincts will set sail For life. And when the thoughts are alert for life The instincts will rage to be destroyed on the rocks. 20. Ibid., pp. 23-24. 42 To virilius it was not so; his brain was an ironing-board For all crumpled indecision : and I follow him. The hawser of my world. You don't belong here. You see; you don't belong here at all.21 But this ambivalence is rather tenuous and Dynamene' s reminiscing Virilius in rhetorical terms is deliberately made more in the nature of fashion than the true voice of her heart. There is a subtle irony here which does pro duce a comic impact. In fact, the dead Virilius* s image is invoked in order to support the instinctual urge for life. Tegeus, who a few moments ago was labouring to show that he has passed secondary education is made to speak high sounding words and sentences. He says : If only you knew the effort it costs me lb motint those steps again into an untrustworthy. Unpredictably, unenlightened night. And turn my back on... etc.22 When he talks about the cruel conceptual norms of life versus the freedom of intuitive urge for life, he grows eloquent and poetic which is dramatic because it indicates 21. Ibid., p. 24. 22. Ibid. 43 as we have mentioned earlier an imperceptible growth in Tegeus* s own attitude to life. Dynamene« on her part agrees to the positive aspect of life in unison with the reality of pain. She says : I will drink with you to the memory of my husband, ... And then we will say GoOd-bye and part to go to our opposite corruptions. The world and the grave, ^^ Tb Tegeus, the climax is that Dynamene needs a drink because she is thirsty, i.e. she needs to give ejcpression to the affirmative urge for life. Besides, the drink itself assumes symbolic significance in the sense that it energises latent instincts of vitality. The assertion of the affirmative urge for life does not necessarily mean that the darker aspect can be thrown away, but both can co-exist. The pain can continue along with joy, the pain necessarily may not be a background for joy. This is effectively conveyed through such phrases as "How it sings to the throat purling with summer," "winter and warmth/moon and meadow," "A cold bell sounding in a golden mouth," "Crystal in harvest," "Perhaps a nightin gale/Sobbing among the pears," "In an old autumnal 23. Ibid., pp. 24-25. 44 24 midnight," This type of sing-song dialogue coneirtns the vision which we have averred to above. The sing-song dialogue suggests that Dynamene and Tegeus have also been romantically transported and are only brought back to the ground by Doto* s abrupt reminder that there are some grapes to be eaten also. Dynamene after coming in con tact with a man symbolising affirmation of life, discovers "a mystery in the world." That is to say that Pry's vision of life in this world is not presented in black and white but Is presented in mysterious terms, Dynamene says: A mystery* s in the world Where a little liquid, with flavour, quality, and fume Can be as no other, can hint and flute our senses As though a music played in harvest hollows 25 And a movement was in the swathes of our memory." The element of mystery in cosmic as well as human terms lends width and depth to Pry's vision of life presented in the play. It is relevant to point out here that very often Pry "deflates false transports of emotion by inserting 24. Ibid. 25. Ibid., p. 26. 45 26 banalities." The sudden punctuation of the serious by the banal has a subtle comic effect and saves the serious from being depressing. When Tegeus and Dynamene repeat the names of scented things "Parsley," "Sea weed," "lime trees," "Pruit in the fire," Doto interjects "Horses. "^^ Dynanene's asking for Tegeus* s name has been delayed because the dramatist wants to present Tegeus in symbolic light rather than in individualised dramatic personae. Tegeus* s name derived from the latin word "Tego" means to cover and that seers exaggerated to Dynamene - That* s very thin for you. It hardly covers your bones.28 She changes his name to 'Chromis,* derived from a Greek word , meaning 'colour.* Dynamene* s distrust of names carrying with them all the paraphernalia reminds one of Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet says : "what's in a name?"^ Dynamene perceives Tegeus in the image of Phoebus. In 2 6. Smil Roy, Christopher Fry (London, Southern Illi nois University Press, 1968) , p. 56. 27. Christopher Fry, Plays, p. 26. 28. Ibid. 29. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986) , p. 93. 46 fact, the image of Tegeus grows gradually from an unedu cated man to Phoebus, to Olympus and there is a wealth of meaning in these classical allusions which are a pointer to the dramatic developnent of the Tegeus symbolism. Tegeus is visualised as an adolescent god. Moreover, there is an indication that Dynamene's journey from suicidal tendency to urge for life is complete when she herself announces that dawn has'approached - I see a thin dust of day light Blowing on to the steps.30 Moreover, she is drawn away from her death-wish to a fresh craving for life, love and ambition and realises that the grave is "for none but the spider,/Raven and worms, not 31 for a living man." Tegeus, too, feels a renewed interest in life from a life of boredom and mechanical routine and company with the "dead," and Dynamene becomes for him "a fountain of confidence/When the %rforld is 32 arld.""*^ There is a moment of more or less idyllic courtship between them while Doto sleeps under the impact of wine. 30. Christopher Pry, Plays, p. 29. 31. Ibid., p. 30. 32. Ibid. 47 Sending Do to to sleep is a convincing dramatic device to allow Dynamene and Tegeus to express their private fee lings to each other in an uninhibited manner. Such devices have been quite frequent in the history of drama and is not an original trick invented by Pry. But Pry's theatrical training enables him to make a clever use of this trick to lead to a speedy resolution of the conflict of the play. We notice that Dynamene and Tegeus are drawn together more intimately but the final confession of love is yet to come. In this context of hesitancy the lover's conversation tends to be in the direction of escapism or avoidance of the central and amorous issue and it veers round philosophy and other abstract irrelevancies. The Dynamene-Tegeus dialogMs about "philosophy," "progre ssion," "retrogression," indirectly points to their closeness 33 which Tegeus, unable to continue his philo- 34 sophical explication, confesses "I love you, Dynamene." This discussion at the intellectual level, moving incon clusively, is brought to a halt in a humorous manner by Dynamene's reminding herself that she had forgotten to eat. Having fortified their spirits with eating, Tegeus and 33. Ibid., p. 31. 34. Ibid., p. 32. 48 Dynainene now revert to their conversation about personal things like Tegeus's birth place, etc. This is because Tegeus knows about the personal history of Dynanene but Dynamene, too, should know the details of Tegeus* s bio graphy before she finally decides to be his life-partner. Tegeus narrates his birth place and time of his birth in terms of the images of fertility and of life "the hills/ Between showers,** "milking time," "beechwood," "cradling of doves," "music? and the "melodious escape of the young river." 35 Tegeus is thus a symbol of life, of the positive aspects of life which is confinred by his own narration of his place of birth. Dynamene also nurtures the same images of vitality and fertility. The imagined meeting of Dynamene and Tegeus when they were young symbo lise that this has beai a recurrent pattern of human life. But in the immediate dramatic context, this serves as a stock dramatic device to express personal emotions about which a character feels hesitant. Dynamene* s attraction towards Tegeus had not been shown as sudden but gradual and this shows Fry's crafts- m anship as a dramatist. She talks with Tegeus in such a 35. Ibid., p. 33. 49 way that she entices him towards her. She says : You use The lamplight and the ipoon so skilfully. So arrestingly, in and around your furrows. A humorous ploughman goes whistling to a team Of sad sorrow, to and fro in your brow And over your arable cheek. Laugh ft>r me. Have you Cried for women, ever ?3^ This conversation centres round praising each other, showing sympathy and tender consideration for each other, and the whole situation here is in the nature of idyllic courtship. Here the nature Images ~ "stars lost and uncertain/ In the sea," "the shining salt, the shiners/The galaxies, 37 the clusters, the bright grain whirling," — are not directly concerned with the immediate situation but they are those aspects of nature that are associated with plea sure*, union, etc, and throw light on the growing inti macy of the lovers. This also shows Dynamene's untenable attraction towards Tegeus, the "Pibsurd disconcerting chromis," 38 Sventually Dynamene* s amorous surrender to 36, Ibid.. p. 35. 37, Ibid, 38, Ibid, 50 Tegeus is unequivocally acknowledged when she dec- lares Tegeus's "nnasculine victory" of **Sros." 39 And when she repeats her desire for death, it is her desire to be completely submerged in the oblivion of love which can only be called ecstasy. Tegeus, on the other hand, under the impact of asnorous fervour grows eloquent and antithetical to the extent of being vague and incompre hensible. He says : Call me Death instead of Chromis. I'll answer to anything It's desire all the same, of death in me or me In death, but chromis either way.*^ Critics have been unhappy with lines like the a3x>ve ones because they require repeated readings and hence can hardly be dramatic. But I feel that Fry is relying in the above lines more on the auditory effect of the language than on the lexical meanings. Hence when the words are said on the stage the dramatic intention of sweeping the audience through the flood of sounds should be produced. The Tegeus-Dynamene conversation continues. Dynamene feels that she is pledge-bound to join her husband in 39. Ibid., p. 36. 40. Ibid. 51 Hades and that her inclination towards any other person would be a violation of her nuptial promise given to her husband. To this, Tegaus reminds Dynamene the futility of such superstitious pledges which go against the affirmation of life. I, If I had bean your husband, would never dream Of expecting you. I should remember your body Descending stairs in the floating light, but not Descending in Hadas, I should say 'I have left My wealth warm on the earth, and , hell, earth ^^ needs it* Tegeus's catechism here, is in fact, in the nature of the dramatist's own vision of life, that is, after some sadness or painful experience life should be renewed. Tegeus goes on to speak in "Dynamene* s deceased husband's personae : "repeat me in love, repeat roe in life,/itf)d let me sing in your blood forever." 42 The per ceptible impact of her husband* s voice through Tegeus is already there. "It's terrible/lb be susceptible to two conflicting norths," she declares. She feels to "have the constitution of a whirlpool," and is "actually 41. Ibid., p. 37. 42. Ibid. 52 twirling** which is, she is not sure, more than a mere "sensation," 43 Dynamene, for sometime becomes conscious of social conventions, "Why, how could I return/To my friends ? Am I to be an entertainment ?" 44 But the social taboos are too thin to hide her strong passion for life and soon they are brushed aside as something which should not interfere with the joys of life. At the sugges tion of being kissed by Tegeus, Dyneffnene admits that her soul is already one with Tegeus. She says : I am there before I reach you; my body Only follows to join my longing which Is holding you already. — Now I am All one again."^5 Pry believes in the physical aspects of love also because life means not only soul but body as well. This type of vision of life may appear to some as not very noble but it is sanctioned with divine approval. Hjman pleasure is a part of God's design. The union of Tegeus and Dynamene symbolises a higher truth, it is a sanctified union which always helps divine creation. Here is an echo of Eliot who believed that the physical union of the two sexes for 43. Ibid. 44. Ibid. 45. Ibid., p. 38. 53 procreative purpose is, in fact, a divine design of perpetuating and multiplying human species. The whole affair is envisioned in cosmic terms and here in lies Pry's religiosity. It was the lamplight which had attracted Tegeus to the cemetary and to the pleasures of life, where Dynamene too was waiting in the dark for light. Pry says that light always comes through darkness and that suffering is not to be shunned but should be taken as a source of life. Here, the vision of life has all the aspects joined together — physical, amorous, spiritual, divine, cosmic and exciting. Tegeus, while summing up his attraction towards Dynamene, is elevated to the level of the erotic. When their desire reaches an ecstasy the romantic situation at this point is interrupted by Tegeus* s reminding himself of the more mundane concerns of life. Technically there isn't any potential left in the romantic story to go on any further. Tegeus suddenly remembers that he is on duty. The love, though romantic in its beginning and development is not meant to ignore the duties of life. Dramatically, as soon as Tegeus goes to have a look at the corpses, Doto wakes up. Doto's sleep was to allow the two characters to fully develop the plot of romantic 54 love. The play has a comprehensive plot .of death-wish and urge for life and within that it is a complete romantic story. The time allowed for the soldier to go and check the bodies is utilized in a dramatic manner, for a conver sation between Dynamene and Doto. The wonder is not that they are dead but that they are alive. Life is a miracle. When Doto says that Tegeus must have disturbed Dynamene* it is ironically true; she has been disturbed or stirred out of her death-wish. Under the impact of Tegeus/ the grave was no longer a suitable place for death but for life. There are light comic touches when Dynamene despe rately tries to get rid of Doto before Tegeus arrives. She, in fact, even confesses to Doto that her earlier decision of negation of life was a wrong decision. The conversation of Dynamene and Doto has now crystallised in dramatic dialogue because the vagueness and incomprehensi bility has disappeared. This vagueness is not a fault of Pry but in fact, in the beginning, the characters them selves are vague. When they have something concrete to say they are clear. When Doto ultimately decides to go Dynamene says: 55 "I won't delay you from life another moment," 46 Outside the graveyard Doto finds the moon which had been shining all along more excitingly. Here Pry is reinforcing the idea that life is in the world. In this regard he differs from Eliot, Pry's vision of life is moire humane, more logical, more acceptible because of the emphasis on the pleasures of life which are profound and unfathomable. And Doto rightly says that "Life is unusual," 47 Meaning of life comes not from negation of life but from affir mation of life. Dynamene's happiness is complete when she says : "the void is space again;/Space has life again. ""^^ Having completed this story of Dynamene and Doto going back to life, the Dynamene-Tegeus life is taken up again, Tegeus returns to the cemetery with his face as "white as wool," announcing that one of the dead bodies hanging on the tree is missing, which means that Tegeus will have to take the place of tlje missing man; that is according to "section six, paragraph/lthree is the Regulations." 49 Tegeus threatens to commit suicide but 46. Ibid.. p. 44. 47. Ibid. 48. Ibid. 49. Ibid., p. 46. 56 he wants to die at the highest peak of his pleasure, on the lips of his beloved. Here & new suspense is intro duced in the story. We become anxious to know whether the romantic story brought to a happy point a few moments ago is going to be crossed by dark clouds again. The suspense is not resolved immediately which keeps our interest in the story at a pitch of increased intensity, Tegeus and Dynamene now discuss this new and unexpectedly cropped up eventuality. During this discussion also Pry uses the opportunity to repeat and further elaborate the vision of life that he has presented earlier in the play. The conversation of Dynamene and Tegeus asserts that life is not all rosy, it is chequered with the doings of fate, chance and mishaps. But the rubs of life make the determination strong. Dynamene argues vehemently in favour of reasonableness, of retaining this life, while in the beginning she was the one arguing against it. Death- wish will be an insult to life. Here igain is a religious feeling. Dynamene says ; Chromis, You must never die, never I It would be An offence against truth.50 50, Ibid., p. 47, 57 Again she says : Kiss you and then Let you go? Love you, for death to have you ? Am I to be made the fool of courtsmartial ? Who are they who think they can discipline souls Right off the earth ? What discipline is that ? Chromis, love is the only discipline And we* re the disciples of love. I hold you to that: Hold you, hold you.^l The Christian feeling is that you are given life to live and not to end it. Life is so sacred, so sanctified that no one has the right to take it. The conversation here is a bit elaborated to give more emphasis to the affirmative view of life, to make it humorous and to bring suspense. Significantly it is Dynamene now, who was earlier the symbol of death-wish, from whom the suggestion to sustain life comes. She suggests that the body of her hus^Jand will take the place of the dead criminal and convinces Tegeus of her logic t I loved His life not. his death. And now we can give his death 51. Ibid., pp. 47-48. 58 52 The jx3wer of life. Not horrible: wonderful 1 Here Virilius is endowed with symbolic significance. He becomes a source of life and is connected with what Tegeus says in his catechism - "Let our love at least/Echo and perpetuate itself." Fry has given a philosophical twist where death becomes a source of life. Dynamene does a great service to her husband by making him a source of life so that he can move in the world. The source (Virilius) and the product (Tegeus) are both toasted in the end by 54 Doto, "The master. Both the masters." The dark becomes the source of life so that the two gets joined together. A Phoenix too Frequent is a short play but a rare piece of wit. The whole play is "steeped in irony which reveals the hollowness of sentimental love through the pretended loyalty and self-denial of the young widow." 55 The imagery of the play "is organised by the rhythmic phoenix-myth ; a binding paralysis of life is 52. Ibid., p. 49. 53. Ibid.. p. 47. 54. Ibid., p. 49. 55. K.S. Misra, Twentieth Century English Poetic Drama - A Revaluation (Kew Delhi, Vikas Publishing House, 1981) , p. 282. 59 released by a rush of vitality." The phoenix is a symbol of Immortality and vitality. It rises after every five hundred years from its own ashes to live again. Just as the legendary phoenix rises from its ashes to live again, the body of the dead husband is hung on the tree in the place of the dead criminal to save the life of the living soldier, thus giving joy and renewed vitality to the grief-stricken wife. Virllius becomes a source of resurrection of all the characters and that has been conveyed through invocation to Virilius which constitutes the concluding lines of the play. Dynamene ultimately realises that life is worth living. It was the same love which made her attempt suicide that gives her joy and becomes a source of renewal of her life. She opts for love, life and youth instead of death - "a joyful illustration of the Life Force at work." 57 Her love for life, ambition and sensual feeling triumphs over her death-wish. By the end of the play the world is not so gloomy and full of despair but is a healthy place to live in. As our analysis of the play 5 6. Emil Roy, Christopher Fr^, p. 143. 57. Ed. James Vinson, Contemporary Dranatists (London, St. James Press, 1973), p. 274. 60 abov3 has established this vision of life has dramatically grown out of human interactions as well as external events like the disappearance of the corpse. Though the play has a Roman background the Chris tian overtones are too potent to be missed. The tree by which the six dead bodies are hanging has religious symbo lism. It is a symbol of the cross. Just as Christ is called the Savior of mankind, the body of Virilius is hanged and there is the resurrection of the dead husband in the person of the second husband, Tegeus. It was on the third day in the tomb that the action takes place and Christ was resurrected on the third day. The eating and drinking of wine in the tomb is symbolic of the Holy Communion. Through this play Fry wants to impart to the people that life is not to be sneered at but should be enjoyed as it is, with all its problems and pains, miracles and mysteries. To destroy life is the biggest offence to life. Life is sacred and should not be destroyed at any cost. His aim is not to ridicule man's foolishness but to make him aware of his errors and weaknesses of the soul. 61 Pry has quite often been taken to task for presen ting flat characters, the distinction between whom is blurred because of their using poetry with similar pxro- sodic and rhythmic characteristics. But as we have seen, the characters, though having symbolical implications, are distinguished and individualised. But since Pry is more interested in asserting a vision of life, certain amount of allegorisation of character becomes a dramatic necessity. Pry has been ciriticized for using a language which is too brilliant to be dramatic. Of course. Fry does use words, images, witty expressions, anagrams, antithesis and circumlocutions as a staple of his dramatic dialogue. The audience used to the post-Ibsenian naturalistic dialogue must have felt both thrilled and confused. But Pry's aim was a heavy reliance upon the auditory exploitation of the medium rather than upon the meanings of the words. However we may not ejoDnerate Pry completely from using at many places undramatic dialogue, Tegeus's eloquence and at places vagueness can be cited as an example of this draw back in Pry's dramaturgy. But what is notable in Fry's play under consideration is that he, in a subtle, amusing manner, fuses the comic and the serious which are not pre sented by alternation but simultaneously. This strain continues in Fry's other seasonal comedies as well. CHAPTER III A YARD OP SUN A Yard of Sun (1970) is the last of Pry's seasonal ccHne- dies. It is the last not in the seose that it registers the final development of Pry's vision,but, it is written in the sane strain of serio-comic mood. It is a summer ccsTjedy in more than one sense and gives a feeling of disenchanted resignation. But the relation between the season, characters, setting and mood is not so strong here as in the other seasonal comedies of Pry. The summer element is seen as more broadly spread over and not con centrated in one character or specific situation. The play is set in July in Siena just after the Second World War. The plot revolves round the family of Angelino Bruno who has three sons. Roberto, the doctor is an anti-Pascist partisan, Luigi was a blackshirt, i.e., a supporter of the Fascist party but now has become a reporter of football matches in the local newspapers. The youngest son, Edmondo, the black sheep of the family, has made a fortune in Portugal by smuggling war materials and providing them to both the parties in the Second World War. Their neighbour and friend, Cezare Scapare had deserted 63 the army and was in hiding but was betrayed by his daughter Grazia. When the play opens there is excitement in the city because the Pal'io or the ceremonial bare-backed horse race is about to take place between the parishes of the city. Angelino Bruno is busy setting the Palazzo right for the expected rich customers. Another reason for the happy mood of the people of Siena is that they have an excellent horse and a good jockey, Cambriccio, who has been sent to them by someone whose identity is not known. Alfio Scapare, Cezare's son whom he had left a long time ago, has also come to Siena from Naples as a jockey of the rival side, to earn money for his sick mother. As it turns out the rich customers to occupy the Palazzo are none other than Angelino* s son, Edmondo and his daughter-in-law, Ana-Clara. And it was Edmondo who had arranged for Cambriccio to win the race for his people. Edmondo also wants to put his 'bunkered family back on the fair way,' but this is more to satisfy his own ego than out of any genuine feeling for them. The father is happy with the return of his son but the brothers quarrel, especially Roberto, who reproaches Edmondo for his unscrupulous profiteering while the country fought and suffered. 64 In the beginning of act two, Gambriccio is hurt in the practice run and is admitted to the hospital. Edmondo bribes Alfio and asks him to give up his claim to victory but Alfio is adamant as he wants to show his worth to his lost father, Cezare, who has now returned. Now Luigi is persuaded to win the race for the parish. Edmondo finally gives up the pretence of befriending the family and in the end leaves along with his wife, while the family and the people of the parish are lost in excitement over the victory of their horse, of which Luigi gets the whole credit. The story thus narrated above has a few elaborate scenes of furious horse racing watched by enthusiastic and clamorous audience and would have been projected better on a screen than on the stage. But nevertheless, the play provides interesting reading and contributes to Pry* s faith in humanity as a whole with its message of hope, reconciliation and harmony without altogether rejecting the serious and depressing moments of life. The play opens on a pessimistic note of hopeless ness in the dialogue between Angelino and Roberto. Roberto is critical about the world and says in his opening speech: 65 Don't you know it's a dirty world, father ? And everyday is as dirty as another. 1 Roberto wants to have a bath but is inforrred by his father that the water has been "turned off at the mains" because 2 of the "stonp" last night. Roberto already knows about the stomn as he had been out in the night to attend to a patient who lived till J ... The storm lasted. Then he seemed to notice the silence : put out his hand As though he'd been sheltering in a doorway. Looked up, and made off.^ It may be useful to note that the images used in the opening situation of the play from nature —"storm," "thun- 4 der," "flood," "rain" etc., symbolise obstruction and difficulties in man's journey towards spiritual regenera tion, which the play explores at a deeper level of signi ficance. When Angelino is told about the death of the patient, his response is : 1. Christopher Pry, A Yard of 3un (London, Oxford University Press, 1970), p.l. All subsequent textual citations are from this edition. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., p. 2. 4. Ibid., pp. 1-2. 66 Still, You did your best, poor old Giovanni. So you knew The streets were flooded : It overflowed the j. sewers. The above two lines show the practical, matter-of-fact attitude of Angelino who regards death as an obvious, accepted fact and talks about it in a casual way. He believes that the pains and problems of the world cannot be altogether rejected but should be carried along with the affirmative things of life. The problems are God given and should be accepted without a fuss. Instead, one should thank God for not giving more problems. He says : I've ssdd the flood-water floated the sewers '. Why don't you listen ? That's an A^t of God ... 1 you ought to be saying seven Hail Mary's For not having to wade up to your gorge Through an epidemic.^ Angelino wanted to live peacefully and enjoy his life with his sons whom he also helps in their careers t«t all in vain, because none of the sons could become the saviour of the family. He is even dissatisfied with himself. He says to Roberto : 5. Ibid., p. 2. 6. Ibid. 57 You are not good enough for.me, your brother Luigi isn't good enough for me, I Am not good enough for me.7 But in spite of all this he is not without hope and believes that the "efivdronment is in for a transformation." He is excited at the prospect of opening up the Palazzo again which has been taken by some unknown rich customers. He is filled with high spirits at the idea of gain and makes no secret of it : We have rich cows coming to be milked. And they'll introduce us to other rewarding udders, And» before you know, we have the most profitable 9 Restaurant in Siena. Angellno is full of hope and wants to live life to the fullest till it lasts. And herein lies Fry's vision of life. He believes that life should be enjoyed and lived along with the pains. The negative aspects of life are not altogether rejected, they are there all along with the joys of life and should be taken in their own strides. Fry makes his view go home through Angelino' s speech who 7. Ibid., p. 3. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid., pp. 4-5. 68 is all for life but who does not altogether reject Roberto's negativism towards life. For example, Angelino says : I like things to have a shine to them - Pnd I know the sun can lure larks with bits of tin And pheasants with a mirror, and all that macaroni. I won't say you are not right. While the argument between Angalino and Roberto is going on, Luigi is heard singing down the street, Roberto is even critical of his singing to which Luigi says : You look like one of your patients - A pity on the first day of a better world. ^^ Luigi is in a happy mood and is full of hope. The sun or light has always stood for light and energy. Luigi is ecstatic at the resurgence of new life after the war. He says : I remembered it as soon as it was light. .,., we're all new men In a new world. I stood at the window, like Adam Looking out on the first garden.^^ 10. Ibid., p. 4. 11. Ibid., p. 5. 12. Ibid. 69 As the play proceeds Luigi and Roberto acquire symbolic significance. While Luigi stands for hope and renewal of life, Roberto stands for the pessimistic attitude towards life. What Luigi says about Roberto is quite true : You only see life through a rifle-sight And only hear it through a stethoscope. You're always either killing or curing. You won't Allow that life ever knows her own business. 13 This portrays Roberto as a mechanical being while Luigi lives life as it comes to him and has the good sense to accept even defeat and loss. The Second World War has ended and new life emerges' out of its destructive violence. There is excitement in the air and the main reason for this eicitement is the Palio which can be taken for the Phoenix, giving renewed vitality and life to the people. The Palio seems to take them back in years, to the happy old times before the destructive war broke out. Luigi is ecstatic at the thought of the Palio and says : Doesn't it lift your heart to think w6're behaving 13. Ibid., p. 6. 70 Like old times 1^^ He considers opening the Palazzo again as a "bright begi nning" after the war. The hot summer sun is shining which Luigi feels would "decontaminate the place" and make it a healthy and lively place to live in. The argument between the brothers shows a marked difference between their attitude towards life. During the argument Edmondo's name is mentioned which the father does not want to hear, and that is because Roberto feels that he wants to "ignore the uncomfortable," Luigi is in no mood to argue. In fact, he says, he had come there "dispen sing drop of light."^^ Grazia is called for by Angelino as she had promised to help him in getting the Palazzo ready but she is nowhere to be seen. Angelino says that "she thinks eternal life is one of the basic/Piiman rights, a kind of public swimming bath." 18 Ultimately Grazia enters upon the scene with a young man, Mfio, with her. Grazia herself is ecstatic about the horse race. In fact, she was late because she 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid.. p. 8. 16. Ibid., p. 9. 17. Ibid. 18. Ibid. 71 had stopped to watch the preparations for the Palio which were going on in full swing. The people of Siena are also full of enthusiasm and Grazia supports this when she says : Everyone I spoke to was a shade off balance As though he had decided to go up in a bad loon. 1^ Luigi feels that only he and Grazia really feel the ejcitement and hopes that better life will come as the war has now ended : The happy times are coming out of their shelter They'll be a bit pale at first until the light Gets to the skin; but there's a taste in the air Of what it was like when we were boys...20 Alfio, who has been hired by the rival Dragon district for the Palio, wants information about his father, Cezare Scapare. Alfio's questioning Luigi and Roberto, their uninterested and vague answers and then Alfio's bewilder ment and confusion make him "as jumpy as a cat" which is quite comic. Angelino is called to talk to Alfio but even he is not interested in his questions but is more interested in the Palio and tells him that he is no threat to them 19. Ibid., p. 11. 20. Ibid. 72 because they have got Cambriccio who is "an immortal centaur of a man** and "His riding is like holy love in 21 a world/Given over to bed-bouncing." But they do not know their benefactor who has procured for them the ser vices of Cambriccio. At Roberto's intervention Alfio comes to know the truth about his father, who lived in that parish with a woman called Giosetta, known to be his wife, and daughter Grazia. He had joined the army during the war tut soon deserted to help his ailing wife and over burdened daughter. But he was betrayed and soon taken from there to where they do not know. Alfio wants to know whom they suspect to have betrayed his father and Angelino replies : Suspicion 7 Suspicion Was like a local sirocco blowing grit Into all our eyes, until even saints would look shifty.22 Fry wants to imply that in this small life, one should live happily with love for each other and not hatred and suspicion which make one's life difficult. Alfio is even scolded by Grazia who says : 21. Ibid., p. 16. 22. Ibid., p. 18. 73 You're like A dog scratching for an old bone With mud plastered on your snout And your paws going like a piston.^-^ The animal imagery of rat, cat, dog and horse also repre sent contrast of spirit. The dog's tendency to bark, bite and hang on shows ferocious and rigid human desires which may lead to destruction. In this play Pry has painted a picture where there is hope but at the same time there is suspicion and hatred which has left its mark even after the war has ended and where people have learned to endure and be patient. This is what Giosetta tells Alfio : The night they came for him Isn't half an hour old yet for you. But we Have borne it nearly three years... After a time You have to want to look at people again. You have to wake in the morning, without the light Pushing you back down on the mattress.^^ Ana-Clara, a beautiful woman from Portugal and wife of the rich customer they had been expecting puts in her 23. Ibid., p. 24. 24. Ibid., p. 27. 74 appearance at the time when Luigi and Roberto are fighting over the little water they have and which Roberto wants all for himself. Ana-Clara doesn't want much water either as a 'dust-bath* is all she needs. Dust here suggests dirtiness and cracks and the dust-bath would give her clarity of vision. She gives further insight into her character when she says : Women prefer to spin a home^ Out of the belly like a spider. Not be laid in it like a cuckoo's egg.25 This shows her liberal and romantic nature with a craving for novelty and adventure. Luigi asks her whether it is by chance that she has arrived there this week - The week of the Palio - the sensational week When the city celebrates an immortal identity. When it hyms our power of survival over oppression. Defeat and death ?26 New life has sprung out of the fury of war but here life and death are intertwined, the presence of one heightens the impact of the other and makes it more forceful. Though Pry has rejected the idea of pessimism and despair in the 25. Ibid., p. 31. 26. Ibid., pp. 31-32. 75 world, he is concerned with the "immortal identity" of man and the values attached to m.ankind. Here Fry portrays a society whose people are in search of inner reality and identity of the self. The crux of it all is that man is craving for spiritual regeneration in a competitive, mate rialistic society. More explicitly Luigi tells Ana-Clara that - We celebrate in the Palio : Pride in our flair for resurrection. Excitement, violence and rivalry. With the Mother of God as carnival queen.^7 After the war there was excitement among the people in the city which was rising towards culmination due to the horse race. The description which Ana-Clara gives of the Palio correctly shows the warm feeling of regeneration for which it stands. She describes the festival of Palio as an unhu rried lovemaking which slowly reaches its climax : At last when the corporate body had been tautened Absolutely to expectation's limit There comes the violent release, the orgasm. The animal explosion of the horse race. Bare-backed and savage. ^8 27. Ibid., p. 32. 28. Ibid., p. 33. 76 The image of the horse turns our thoughts towards God, the compelling force in man's existence. And the horse race at the Palio is presented here as a symbol of holy love. What Fry wants to say is that if the race can be won by riding, so the race of spiritual regenera tion can be won by holy love. Pry is aware of the loss of values and standards but he craves for a fresh start where there is harmony and hope. The people of Siena after the war, too, longs for a fresh start and are sure of their victory which Pna- Clara calls '•A lamb like faith/ In life's justice,* Pnd 29 Luigi emphatically says, "But this is a certainty'." As the conversation between Luigi and Ana-Clara goes on, the expected rich customer arrives and this causes great surprise because he is none other than Edmondo, the good for nothing son. But contrary to his image he comes with an air and splendour natural to a man of fortune. The family wants to know how Edmondo changed his fortune but Angelino is swept off his feet and says : We can't have the story frittered away, ... I want to savour it. 29. Ibid., p. 34. 77 Every blessed minute of the advanture Since you went out through the door, I'm starving for it. But I won't be fed with crumbs.30 And Luigi says ; We need excitement. Nothing but a war ever happens lb us stay-at-homes,31 The above lines show that the people of Siena are hungry for some sort of excitement to enliven their dull and tortured life. Pry believes that man's responsibility is not to force one's values on life but to accept life as it comes with all its joys and pains, and herein lies the possibility of fulfilment in this world. Edmondo and Ana-Clara try to convince the family that the former has returned home because he feels genuine affection for them and wants to change their condition. It is for this that he had also hired Cambriccio to ensure their victory in the horse race. He says ; there isn* t Place for anything less than total pleasure, 30. Ibid., p, 40. 31. Ibid., p. 41. 78 Not in my organization of life, anyhow. 32 He wants to live life to the fullest but this total plea sure without any contradiction seems superficial. It is the ^ense of pain which gives meaning to the life and the joys of life and makes It more humane and life-like. Grazla wants to know how he could bear That silence; not exchanging a word Or trying to find out what was happening. ... and simply plan lb come back as though nothing could have changed. ^3 Edmondo is portrayed as thoroughly materialistic operating on the mundane level, not caring about others and if he does so, it is to satisfy his own ego. He argues that he had "useful contacts in high places/who would give a preserving eye to my family." 34 To this Roberto's rejoinder is : "Who were these benefactors ?/ The Black Brigades ? The 3,S, ? Or the genocides/ Of Berlin ? What circle of the inferno/ Do we owe our preservation to ?" 35 The crux of it all is that Edmondo escaped when 32. Ibid., p. 42. 33. Ibid. 34. Ibid., p. 43. 35. Ibid. 79 there was suffering and pain but returned after the wax when they were hoping for a resurgence of happy life* wanting to take the credit of all the good that could happen to them and inspiring them to have a child-like faith in him. As for example Luigi says : Good old Edmondo, you can Lead me by the hand anywhere you like.^^ Edmondo is treated as a great saviour of the family and a new hope for the community. His character is portrayed by his wife in the following words : Let me say this: no man bom could have talked About you all with such relentless affection As Edmondo did, until I could see you breathe. ... Any man can make a woman his wife. But Edmondo made me daughter and sister, too/ As if I always had been, by the force of his memories. From the day I first met him his guiding thought Has been to come home with his arms crowded with blessings. It become my purpose, too. 37 As the conversation proceeds, Edmondo asks about Giovanni Levanti from whom he had borrowed money before 36. Ibid., p. 45. 37. Ibid., pp. 44-45. 80 escaping from Siena. He learns that Levanti is dead and his son was also killed in the war. Edmondo says : What a shame I can't surprise him, though I had it all planned.. .38 As if joy and happiness is something which can be planned and organised, Roberto reproaches Edmordo for iirmcrally making his fortune while their country was indulged in war, fighting and suffering. Roberto wants to know the trxjth about him because he says "the health of the present time is too critical/ To swallow tainted meat for the sake of 39 the garnish.* On the other hand, Grazia who seemed to have been in love with Edmondo is now sad because he has returned along with his beautiful wife, Ana-Clara. But Grazia accepts nature*s verdict gracefully, puts up a brave front and dresses in one of her best dresses, which she says is In praise of life, of course. For the traveller's Return, and pots of gold, and the sound of the world Plying into the sun, whatever we ought to celebrate. 40 38. Ibid., p. 46. 39. Ibid., p. 48. 40. Ibid., p. 49. 81 Act two begins with a conversation between Giosetta and Angelino when they are impatiently waiting for the other manbers of the family to come back after watching the practice run. Giosetta thinks that their impatience is a sign of old age and that their time of adventuring is over but Angelino disagrees with her saying : Impatience Isn't a sign of age, quite the opposite I want to get on with life, that's all; I'm restless To know everything.^1 Angelino is in a happy roood because everything is going on as he wanted, the summer roood is also having a toll on him inspiring in him a restless urge to penetrate the won ders and mysteries of life and revel in them. "Life consists of love for life." 42 And this is what Pry persistently tries to convey. Angelino refuses to agree with Giosetta that there is any demarcation in enjoying life as far as the age of a person is concerned. He wants to say that old age or any other depressing factors should not bedim their interest in life and in its mysteries, miracles and wonders. 41. Ibid., p. 51. 42. Emil Roy, Christopher Fry (London, Southern Illinois Press, 1979) , p. 24. 82 During the conversation Giosetta tells iVigelino that she has got a message from someone saying that Cezare was seen at Bratislava which means that he is on his way home. Giosetta doubts the outcome of her rela tionship with Cezare and his feelings towards her after three years of separation/ as she had been living with him without being married to him. There is a Christian overtone here because in Christianity this kind of rela tionship is a sin. Giosetta even thinks that Cezare was taken to the concentration camp as a punislwient for this sin. Angelino tries to reassure her saying t I guarantee Whatever he's been through he won't have lost The memory of you turning down the bed clothes- He will have kept you with him: like any other Marooned man who has to improvise His woman out of a desert, out of a breathing. Cinder from the stove,... any thing to keep Body and soul together until he* s rescued. 43 Giosetta tells Angelino that Cezare's wife had been ill even when they got married and it seemed to Cezare that he had been torturing her "so he ran for his life." 43. Ibid., p. 55. 83 Giosetta goes on to say that - He has been happy here - not always happy Questions would come rolling over him Like tanks every now and then ; was he sure She was better off without hlml^^ Here Pry wants to say that life is not rosy all the time but is chequered with problems here and there. If a person's conscience is clear there is better hope of leading a happy life. Cezare himself suspects his deci sion of leaving his wife and son. He didn't have the strength to face reality and can take refuge in getting drunk whenever his memories got too painful for him. Giosetta is not allowed to carry on this depressing discussion for long because Grazia enters at that time dressed up as a model. Edmondo thinks that she would make a good model so she is being pictured to see if she is photogenic. The photographer talks to her as if she is not a living person with emotions but an object which can be measured and manipulated as one wishes. He says : Economize On Body as much as you can. Try to think 44. Ibid., p. 56. 84 Vertically, narrow...... I want to see you Without history or class : a pure, simple Human idea without human fallibility.'^5 In fact. Fry wants to say that if a person has emotions he is bound to make errors which make his character real and life-like. At this moment Roberto and Ana-Clara enters the scene. Roberto is angry to see Grazia being pictured and asks the photographer to pack off. Even Grazia is "tired of being other people" and goes inside saying "I'm going to change into myself again." 46 It is Ana-Clara's Joyful nature which accentuates Roberto' s pessimism. Roberto had taken Ana-Clara on a tour of the city, showing her the conditions in which the people lived and when asked about how she felt about it, she says : I wasn't shocked. I tried to feel Responsible because I knew you expected it. But no, most of the time - most of the time - Well, I was happy.*^ 45. Ibid., p. 58. 46. Ibid., p. 59. 47. Ibid., p. 60. 85 While Roberto, a non-conformist who protests against the whole vgorld "somehow changed each room/ Into a little ark bobbing on the flood," 48 Ana-Clara goes on to say "I wasn't to know/ You kept a sense of humour curled up/ In your black bag." 49 This shows Roberto's eager desire to enjoy life : the urge for life which had remained donnant inside him now peeps through the thin veneer of pessimism. Ana-Clara believes that Roberto consciously conceals the urge for life inherent in him while all the time he desires to be wanted and praised. She says : You wanted me to see you at work, your cuffs Turned back, relaxed in your own elanent. And obviously worshipped. And I saw this marvellously. 50 Fry believes that this short life on the earth should be lived happily and with hope for the better. This is what makes life easy and livable for us as well as for everyone living around us. And this is what Ana-Clara says to Roberto : I don't know why you object To being generous to me, and human - the very 48. Ibid,, pp. 60-61. 49. Ibid., p. 61. 50. Ibid. 86 Charm in you that does them good.^^ Again, she goes on to say - You don't know where your strength is. You deploy in the wrong direction.^2 The destructive war has left its ugly mark: the conditions are bad, but Fry feels that the only thing we can do is to try to make life easier by looking up to the future with hope for the better. As Ana-Clara decides to go and change, Luigi and Edinondo comes back from the preliminary race announcing that the jockey, Cambriccio had fallen off the horse becaiase of some vertigo problem and had to be admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state. Edmondo says that he will use his contacts and find a substitute but the family suffers a set back and Angelino says : What a minefield Life is '. one minute you're taking a stroll in the sun. The next your legs and arms are all over the hedge. There's no dignity in it.53 51. Ibid. 52. Ibid., p. 62. 53. Ibid., P- 64. 87 Fry makes Angelino his mouthpiece when he tries to say that in this world mar has lost his initiative and has become a plaything in the hands of chance and unforseen circumstances. In fact it is man alone who has to face the natural evil that is death and social disaster that is war, famine, flood etc. As Angelino leaves the scene, Ana-Clara, fed up with the inquisitiveness of Roberto, tells him of her poor background : I was bom In a Lisbon slum, in a room more polluted. More of a crowded dungeon under a moat. Then- anywhere you have showm me today. At five I was a better beggar than all the nuns Or Portugal, and as sharp as an adult rat.^^ But she had the will to succeed and improve her status and she did exactly that not caring for the means she had to adopt to do so. Ana-Clara's strong interest in the pleasures of life even amidst war and death somewhat enli vens the grift mood of the play. She tells Roberto that at the age of fifteen she lived with an actor who was "like 54. Ibid.. p. 65. 88: a redeemer/ Piercing the darkness," for her. For two years he taught her to speak and move in order to make her an actress but then she began "to crave for reality" and became a "pupil mistress" to a university lecturer. It was when the university lecturer deserted her that she found Edmondo and with him she found "nothing to frown" on her. But Roberto feels that she is not blissfully happy with Edmondo and toa-Clara replies : "can anyone be at perfect ease with life ?" And Roberto says : "with life, or with himself -/ which do you mean ?" 56 In fact the play brings to light the inner search going on among individuals for identity of the self and more so they want to search out the ways of God to men. Thus the characters in this play do not exist as individuals but as represen tatives of humanity as a whole. As the play proceeds it is made clear that Roberto and Ana-rClara are interested in each other and Roberto openly flirts with her. It is the warmth of summer which makes them heady and incite amorous feelings in them. Edmondo is aware of the attraction between them. Roberto 55. Ibid., pp. 66-67. 57. Ibid., p. 67 . 89 and Ana-Clara stop their flirting as Editiondo, Luigi and Angelino enter the scene. Roberto says that now as Carnbriccio is hurt, Luigi should take his place and ride in the race. He feels that if one has to achieve a goal, one should be involved in it with his heart, his whole being. He says : We need someone prepared to spill his guts To stop us losing, not a coerced celebrity. Blackguarded into coming, with his heart not CT in it.^' He feels that money alone cannot buy everything, it is the inner urge in a person which makes him succeed. Luigi seems to have that. But the invincible Edmondo is not yet ready to give up easily. He kidnaps Alfio, the victor in the preliminary race. Edmondo thinks of every thing in terms of a business proposition, always plotting to succeed, which according to Roberto is simply '•Exploi tation." He raprimands Edmondo for his materialistic interest in life without giving weightage to the feelings and emotions of the people. He is angry with him for coming into their lives and trying to buy them off with his money : "don't you/ Believes in anything in life 57. Ibid., p. 69. 90 except money ?, he wonders." 58 At that time Alfio is brought in a dishevelled state. Edmondo tries to bribe him to give up his idea of winning the race and in return Edmondo would give him enough money so that he could buy the costly drug he wants for his dying mother. Alfio, at first resists the offer because he doesn't want to cheat the peole who had hired him but ultimately he agrees, as he needs the money for his mother, giving "a Neapblitan ^feature of succumbing to fate," 59 He accepts his destiny without much fuss and without trying to impose his own moral standards on life. Giosetta feels sorry for Alfio and Grazia blames herself for the situation in which Alfio is because she had not told Alfio in the beginning that it was she who had betrayed Gezare by babbling it all out to Rosa Levanti, Roberto is deeply moved by Grazia's revelation, of how miserable she would have been all this time keeping it all to herself. He argues it out with Grazia that all of than somehow feel responsible for Cezare* s arrest. He himself feels that it was the 3.S., while keeping a watch on him, found out about Cezare and thinks of many other possibilities. He goes 58. Ibid., p. 77. 59. Ibid., p. 81. 91 on to say : We have to live with not knowing, sometimes : Why this man contracts a cancer, or another's Family bums in a house, or Cezare is taken. It' s not your fault that the world' s name is Hazard.^ What Pry wants to say here is that man has become a puppet in the hands of fate and that he cannot do anything about it than to accept life as it comes to him. Giosetta tells Grazia the news she has got about Cezare and Grazia becomes ecstatic and is full of hope. Ana-Clara touched by her happiness says : Did you ever see Such daylight in a face as that ? Grazia is swept off her feet and wants to go to the station to look for her father in "Every train, every day" till he reaches there. She says : We can sleep in the waiting-room. ... We mu St Be the first faces he sees when he comes back."2 60. Ibid., p. 85. 61. Ibid., p. 86. 62. Ibid. 92 As soon as Alfio hears about his father, he changes his decision which gives a setback to Sdmondo* s plan. Alfio is now determined to prove his abilities as a rider and show to his father that he is not an unworthy son of a father who never cared to remember him. Sdmondo again plays all his cards but in vain. Even Ana-Clara is moved by Alfio's despair and says : It* s ethically, emotionally. Rationally, disgustingly impossible. ^^ It is here when the whole family go against him that Edmondo realises that he must now give up the pretence of beftlending the family and return to his natural element. Angelino says to him s We appreciate what you've done - but the truth is You tried to give us too much - that's what it was. It all came in a flood, everything came Ibgether, except, somehow, us, we didn't Come together. 64 Sdmondo, on the other hand, blames the whole family for his failure, as his self confidence had got a blow there. As the argument between the brothers and Angelino 63. Ibid., p. 88. 64. Ibid., p. 89. 93 goes on, Cezare Scapare enters "dressed in an/ odd mixture of clothes, his feet tied/ up in rags." When he finds out that Giosetta and Grazia are not there he goes out to look for them. In the meantime Roberto and Ana-Clara resume their conversation through which Fry tries to tell us that his model is life in its very widest sense rather than mere surface existence. For him, as Ana-Clara says "reality isn't what, but how/ You experience. Roberto wants to know whether Ana-Clara would go back to '•^fondo•s world" and Ana-Clara replies ilF- Lhe affirmative, saying - He gives me the patience I need Ito make my mistakes, which you would never give me; And the leisure I need to realize myself. How far my mind, unhounded, and my free senses Will take me, which you would never give me. 67 Thus, by rejecting him she makes him aware of the fact that he is in love with Grazia. 65. Ibid., p. 91. 66. Ibid., p. 94. 67. Ibid., 94 The next day everyone had gone to watch the horse race while Giosetta and Cezare are at home. Cezare cannot accept the fact that he has finally escaped the clutches of fear and violence and is among the people he loves. While in the concentration camp he had lost all hope for the renewal of life. He says : You never know How many disguises ^ear can take. This one took me off my guard, A kind of Rising panic to find myself without Anything to fear. It was almost comic. Dropped into life, after so long in a place go Where life was like a belief in the supernatural. As Cezare returns frrari the concentration camp his life is renewed and it seems that he is bom again. Comparing himself to a new-borti calf, he says : When I got down, my legs were trembling and sprawling Like a calf some cow had just dropped. ^^ It seems that the warmth of summer - 'sun,' 'sunshine,' •daylight,' 'moonshine,' has contributed in his renewal. 68. Ibid., p. 98. 69. Ibid. 95 The race finishes off and the family members start coming back one by one. The first to cjome bade are Grazia and Roberto but they do not disclose the result as Angelino wanted to be the first one to break the news to them. In the meantime Cezare breaks the news that he has decided to go to Naples to live with Alfio and his mother, because/ he says : I have to find my way. And easing the sting, of death in the next bunk Is something I know about. It will give me a chance To feel less at sea with the run of the world.70 Soon after, Angelino, Ana-Clara and Edmondo come and break the great news that they have won though Luigi fell off the horse. The description of the horse race given by them is quite comic and evokes laughter. Ana-Clara says : And of course I thought Alfio had won. I couldn't imagine why they were all throwing Their arms round each other's neck in an ecstasy- Till they said if the horse comes in, the race is won. Never mind what happened to the man.^l 70. Ibid., p. 100. 7 1. Ibid., p. 10 2. 96 Grazia further goes on to say : The horse was so happy Not to have Luigi on hlir, be flew past Alfio Right on the last corner like a bird.^^ The conversation takes up a serious turn when Gezare disagrees with fidmondo who believes in making the future secure, and also with Roberto whose idea, of a political revolution does not appeal to him much because he believes that it only takes you back from where you start and conse- • quently to violence and more confusion. It is Cezare who calls for a new spirit and believes that the only hope for man lies in inner development and growth of the self which is "the real revolution/ The transformation." 73 He believes that the sun which shows light to man is never constant but keeps on flickering and the tests through which he passes fail to change him, so he is bound to fadl back into his old errors and weaknesses. The rebirth of humanity does not necessarily mean regeneration of spirit, and the renewal of life only means repetition of the same pattern, of what has happened before. The revolution about which Roberto talks does not mean transformation of 7 2. Ibid. 7 3. Ibid., p. 10 3. 97 our heart and mind. Cezare fails to share Roberto* s opti mism in this regard and says : I haven't your simple faith that a man can be doctored Out of his tragedy into the millennium.^'* Cezare who has just returned, tired and ragged, and who has suffered tortures worse than death in the concent ration camp, is sceptical of Utopias : Don't, for God's sake, reward us By staritjg so long at the gorgon's head It grips the muscles of your living face. We've been in the dirt. We don't want to be remembered By generations playing at mud-pies And calling it the true image of life - I'd rather come soon to the clean skull. Purify us, Roberto, purify us I Insist on all the powers that recover us '. 75 A sound of chanting is heard on the street and then a group of men caurrying Luigi on their shoulders are seen. Luigi is thrilled over his victory. The parish and the family are lost in a frenzy of excitement over the victory 7 4. Ibid. 75. Ibid., p. 104. 98 of the horse for which Luigi gets the whole credit. Thus, the Palio is won not by the power of Edmondo' s money but through the renewed spirit of Luigi, as a result of which the whole Siena is brought to life and activity. Edmondo tries his last chance with the family saying that he would like to change the Palazzo into a restaurant but he does not get encouragement from the family. Ana-Clara is bewitched by the horse race and the summer mood seems to arouse her with amorous feelings. She regards the atmosphere at the Palio as slow lovemaking, and says : It* s a great slow love-making, anyway. And left me vibrating like an instrumait. So nearly the city had no need of the sun Or the moon to shine on it. I could almost see By the light that streamed from the trumpets And shimmered from the bell. The courting sun-birds. The birds of paradise, so nearly sang The indwelling music which created us.7 6 At last Edmondo and Ana-Clara leave while Roberto proposes to marry Grazia. At the same time a screech of motorcycle 7 6. Ibid., p. 107. 99 brakes is heard outside, Alfio has avoided sudden death on his motorcycle for the second time and th^i "Alfio grins, and gives the extravagant Neopolitan gesture he gave before, but this time ironically. Cezare makes the 77 same gesture in sympathetic reply. The others are laughing. This gesture of acquiescence is a typical comment on man's existence, that a man should be both amused and surprised at himself : at his human nature, identity and fate. Regarding this, Derek Stanford feels that "there is a new note of inconsequ«)tiality, the acceptance of something so absurd that laughter, or this humorous half- cavalier dismissal/ of things, appears man's only fit „78 response." What Pry tries to convey at the end of the play is that rest is laughter but a laughter which is superficially hilarious but which may contain a possible undercurrent of nothingness and helplessness. D. Stanford rightly says that "A yard of sun possibly suggests that the small measure of our existence is not without its beauty and and glory, and warmth •— even if that warmth includes the 77. Ibid., p. 110. 78. Derek Stanford, Christopher Fry (London, The British Council Fxiblications, 1971), p. 32. 100 79 warmth of anger, division and violence." Fry is a moralist vd.th a message of hope for everyone. Like Eliot, Pry's themes are religious and spiritual which revolve round the renewal of life. They hint at man's salvation from anguish and guilt, A Yard of Sun may be described as having a grim background with a pessimistic mood erupting but at the same time giving frequent lights of optimism. Pry Imparts his message with goodwill to humanity and a hope for better life but at the same time loaded with doubts as to our ability for regeneration and renewal, A yard is a small space. The title of the play A Yard of Sun, in fact refers to a small road in Siena, It may also be said to mean the small space we occupy on this earth for our short life and the small space we need for our burial. The Imagery of the play is not only meaningful but also useful in the development of the theme of renewal of life. Summer here symbolises a 'waste land* where torturing, 79. Ibid., p. 34. 101 suffering and patience of modem man are displayed. The summer element can also be taken in a number of different ways. It can be seen in the 'heat* of the streets of Siena, in the rising 'hot* spirit of contest between the competitors and their audience regarding the Palio, and in the 'heated* debates and quarrels between the members of the Bruno family who have gathered together after the war. Summer is also symbolised in the warmth of Ana-Clara's amorous feelings. Ilie style of the play is in harmony with the sober, inconsequential theme. It is more earthbound and homely and without the rich style and quality of Pry's previous plays. In this play Pry has used the verse in a restrained and subdued manner with simplicity of idiom. The style varies according to the need of the action and flow and ebb of emotions. The earlier fiery and buoyant ejqjre- ssions are lacking here, though the speeches of the cha racters do contain some powerful similies, metaphors and witty expressions. This partially accounts for the responsiveness of the audience. But the main contribution of Pry lies in fusing the comic and serious and in making his characters indulge in merriment in the grimmest moments. 10 2 The emerging vision of life — that life is a spectrum of both dark and bright shades — is unambiguously dramatised through the complex story of Bruno family. While the dark shades, both in human nature and the circumstances of life, are boldly and unequivocally presented, the brighter shades are firmly asserted. CONCLUSION The vision of life which emerges from the analysis of Fry's first and last seasonal comedies in the foreqoinq chapters is also worked out in his other seasonal come dies, namely. The Lady's Not for Burning (1949), Venus Observed (1950) , and The Dark is Light Enough (1954) . In The Lady's Not for Burning, the seasonal mood of irrationality is established in the beginning of the play and it prevails till the end. This general mood of the play is so intense and pervasive that even rational things seem non-sensical. The play breathes with April elements, gaeity of nature and colourful atmosphere of spring and all the characters seem to be in a mood of intoxication, and pleasant irresponsibility. Most of the images taken from nature are of growth, blossoming and fragrance which also help in the creation of the mood of abandon — a Bacchic mood. The play is set in a medieval world and is prim.arily about two characters, Thomas Mendip, an ambittered ex- soldier who wishes to die and Jennet Jourdemayne, a wealthy and beautiful girl who loves life but is condemned to be 104 burnt as a witch for turning an old man, Skipps, into a dog. There is sharp opposition between the views of both the characters but Jennet's chanr produces its effect on Thomas with the result that his disgust with life gradually wears off and he is led to accept Jennet's ratio nalistic view. The supposed victim appears and the lovers are acquitted. Thus, life triumphs over death in this hilarious comedy. Fry's vision of life lies in Mendip* s change of heart through love, from the disgust with life to a willing ness to accept it. Despite all evils, cruelty and injus tice in the world, he finds life worth living. While Jennet's rationalism is converted into an acceptance of the mystery of existence, thus giving than both a sense to calmly bear the complexities and ambiguities of life and also giving to than an alternative to desolation. This, in a way is a rebirth for them. Pry tries to say that in this world every body is bound to accept this life with all its pains and probleris. If there is suffering in this world there is also pleasure, love and friendship. It is through love that a man can enjoy his life. Negation of life is not the solution to the mystery of life. Thus, 10 5 underlying the whole play is the idea of acceptance of life with all its variety and gaeity which is inseparable from the spring season, and of laughter as the 'surest touch' of genius in creation. Thus, the central conf lict of the play is between death wish-and urge for life where the negative element is not denied but the positive element is made to triumph. ^^ Venus Observed, the autumnal mood is reflected not only in the speeches of the characters but also in the decline of the Duke's age, his fortune and his house which is beginning to fall into decay. Ajtumral decadence, greed of the age and the need of the old to retire gracefully are all clearly illustrated in numerous passages in the play. The whole play is pervaded by the air of autumn — the eclipse of the sun, the presence of the former mist resses past their hey-day, and Duke's fear of loneliness and of old age. The play deals with a middle aged Duke who invites three of his past mistresses — Hilda, Jessie and Rosabel to his house to watch the declining sun through his tele scope. His son Edgar is asked to select a wife for his father from amongst the mistresses. In the meantime, the 10 6 Duke's agent's daughter, Petpetua, enters the scene and soon both the Duke and his son fall in love with her. But in the end it is Edgar who is to marry Perpetua while the Duke has to content himself by marrying Rosabel. Here Fry presents the human situation as justi fying joy and gratitude in life and simultaneously watiting modesty and self surrender. Pry believes that reality must be accepted and that peace lies in this acceptance. The Duke, exhibititig the qualities of endurance, insight, good humour and forgiveness accepts the fact that man's completion may not be in this world. Piry feels that the purging of his affections may become a prophesy of hope for the society. In The Dark is Light Enough, the title itself gives enough indication to the gloomy setting of the play - of the cold, dark and snowy winter. The winter mood is also symbolically depicted in the war between Hungary and Austria with its miseries and violence which form the background to the play. In this play the countess Rosmarin known for her 'Divine non-interference' is determined to save Richard 107 Gettner, a deserter and also the ex-husband of her daughter, G^lda, from the lijngarian army. And later in the play after the defeat of the Hungarian army she gives shelter to a Hungarian Officer, Janik, who had forced his way into her house to arrest Gettner. In the end she herself sinks into final sleep. The message Fr7 wants to impart through this play is his abhorrence of violence, violence which can only be cured by love, love which can endure pain but which cannot inflict it. In this play, the world full of hatred, cruelty and injustice is lighted only by the humanity and goodness of the Countess, Fry wants to say that if man is a slave to the darker passions of life and is blind to love then it is the duty of the spiritually awakened people to show them the right path and herein lies the hope for the humanity as a whole with its message of tolerance and good ness towards others. And it is the 'goodness' which has the strength to survive all violence, evils and inhumanity. Moreover, death being an accepted fact, one should have love and respect for each other, thus preparing ground for life here after. On the basis of our analysis of the two plays and a 108 brief summary of the other serio-comic plays we can ten tatively make the following observations which will confirm Pry's affirmative vision of life in the midst of the harsh realities of existence and in the context of the reality of the darker aspects of human nature. First of all. Pry's themes are not tied down to any locality in specific time though A yard of Sun is specifically located in post Second World War melieu. The winter comedy. The Dark is Light Enough too has war as its background but the revolution of the Hungranians against the Austrians, in this play is a feigned one. But the stories of all the plays of Pry are based on archetypal, legendary or classical sources and are located in some imaginary remote past. For example, in A Phoenix Too Frequent the underlying pattern is classical because of the reference to the legendary Phoenix but the story, as we have mentioned earlier in the analysis of the play, is coiranonly found in the folklore traditions in the West, and seems to be more relevant to Oriental life where widowhood until quite some time back was considered to be a conti nuing life in death. It seems that Fry is ironically satirizing such conventions and taboos in a comic way. 109 For, it was practised not only in India in the form of self-immolation by the widows, popularly known as the Sati system, taut in early England also when re-marriage of widows was forbidden by moral customs. V^e get a glimpse of this in Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, where such taboos and conventions are satirised. Though the satire in Fry is not pronounced but the author's detach ment is surely there and herein Shakespeare's influence on him is quite paramount. In Venus Observed, the Duke's amorous feelings are understandable, though out of season. Pry here is presenting the hopelessness of the love of the old for the young which was dramatised by Yeats and Synge in their treatment of Deirdre Legend. In their plays, the theme of an old man loving a young wife had taken a tragic form bat Pry presents this archetypal theme in a comic mood. This is not to say that the Duke's amorous inclination has any false note in it, and the play could have very easily been presented in the tragic mould. The father* s with drawal in favour of his young son is not so much in the nature of any sacrifice as the defeat of autumn by a regenera tive spirit symbolised by the youthful fervour of the son's infatuation for Perpetua. 110 In The Lady's Not for Burning, Fry gives us a glimpse of medieval witch-hunting, where Jennet is to be burnt as a witch. Here Fry is satirizing such medieval superstitions which do not have any respect for the decen cies of life. In the same play, the justice of the town, Edward Tappercoom, is more interested in the wealth of Jennet than in imparting fair judgement. ^d he, who himself is unjust, boasts of cleanliness, and thus becomes a target of Fry's satire. Here also the satire is not pronounced but is inextricably mixed with the comic ele ments with the result that the comic predominates. Fry' s dramaturgy is not simple as the critics have led us to believe but in fact, in his plays the comic, tragic, ironical, and satirical elem«its are all inextri cably woven together in a subtle manner. For example, in The Lady' s Not for Burning, Thomas Mendip has come to the Mayor of the town with a request to be hanged and to be put on the "waiting list for the gallows with a note recommending preferential treatment." Here, his death wish is so intense and the demand to die so ridiculous as to make him tragic and comic at the same time. Moreover, the language of Fry's plays is plain. Ill colloquial, fantastic, rhetorical, full of similies, meta phors, witty expressions, alliterations, puns, epigrams and is even at times ambiguous. Fry's language is full of exjberance and buoyant expressions and remains the most compelling force in his plays. The magic of his words is such that it can hardly be missed by even a less atten tive spectator or reader. In fact, the charge labelled against Fry that his use of such high flown language stalls the action of the play and blurs the perspective of the reader is not true. This type of language is deliberately used by Pry. Sometimes, he uses such language from which we cannot derive much meaning but such language is spoken by characters who are themselves vague. In such cases, this type of language correctly depicts the character's confused state of mind, as we have already mentioned earlier in chapter two. While at other times Fry uses hyperbolic sounds to bring variety, so that the tragic do not become comic and the comic do not teach the extent of becoming farcical. For example, in The Lady's Not for Burning, Thomas Mendip while talking about a serious issue, of confessing his murder and conse quently wanting to be hanged, saves the situation from getting serious by forcing himself on the mayor's atten tion saying : 112 You hubble-tnouthing, fog-blattering Chin-chuntering, chap-flapping, liturgical TVargidical, base old man t what about my murders. Pry's real talent as a dramatist lies in keeping the tragic and the comic within judicious restraint. It is because of this that it becomes difficult to compare Fry with anyone else. In fact, there isn't any model available and therefore he stands out as a uni<5Qe dramatist, Pry is also a master in twisting words and of coi ning new words. For example, in The Lady* s not for Burning/ he uses such words as ' amphigourious' and • Stultiloquential.' Pry's characters are also fond of using unusual words thinking that it will have unusual meaning as in The Lady's Not for Burning, but such words go with the illogical mood of the play. In fact, we see that in all the seasonal comedies of Pry the language conforms to the mood and seasonal setting of the play. A careful reading of Pry's plays shows that they have a serious, moral purpose, too, and give us a glimpse of Pry's vision of life. In almost all the plays of Fry there is a tussle between urge for life and death-wish, reality and illusion, good and evil but in the end it is 113 always the urge for life or the goodness in life which becomes triumphant. Fry believes that the final outcome of unpleasant contradictions inherent in this world is joy and happiness either in this world or in the other world. Fry is fully alive to the harsh and unjust instances present in this materialistic world and also in the life of man but he believes that this does not dim man's sense of wonder and mystery in the existence of life and the world. He believes that beyond this mundane world where there is pain, injustice and cruelty and where death is the natural evil, he can see a world where there is light and where life is eternal and which will solve the worldly problems, thus ensuring the triumph of good over evil and love over hate. Pry considers life to be sacred, a gift given by God, the destruction of which is a sin. In Pry's plays the society in which his characters live is usually repressive and materialistic. It is only through love for each other that a man can hope for a happy life. In all the plays of Pry we find befitting imagery, according to the mood of the play. Pry's images are drawn mostly from nature and also from all other imaginable walks of life —literature, mythology, Bible, sports, accountancy. 114 journalism etc. For example, in A Yard q£ Sun, the nature images of the Sun and light emphasize the urge for the renewal of life while in The Dark is Light Enough, the images of sterile nature of 'Vanishing Gardens' make us aware of the gloomy setting of the play. In The Lady' s Not for Burning^ the mythological images of Helen and Alexander are used but they are exaggerated to bring in the comic effect. While in A Phoenix too Freguent, one particular speech of Dynamene while describing her hus band's character, has images from mythology. Sports, accountancy and nature. Pry has invariably been approached by critics with reference to his plot, language, imagery, vision of life and characters as types or representatives. What critics have invariably missed in Pry's serio-comic plays is the extraordinary vitality, both negative and positive. For example, in A Phoenix too Frequent, Dynamene's desire to end her life after her husband's death is a strong one in the beginning with an indomitable will to carry it out. While, her maid, Doto's love for life and its pleasures is so powerful that it emanates out of her per sonality and intoxicates everyone around her with the same urge for life. On the other hand in The Lady* s 115 Not for Burning, Thomas Mendip* s desire to be hanged is eqpjally forceful and at one moment it seans that nothing could deter him from attaining his goal. While in the same play Jennet's love for life is also vigorous. But in the end it is always love and life which takes an edge over death and pain. Fry believes that if a person has a craving, it should be vigorous and vital. And it is through such characters that these two vital forces, negative and positive, which we can call Fry's vitalism, have bean fused in such a way that there emerges a vision of life which is strongly optimistic and affirmative but which does not ignore the darker realities of life. A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY SOURCES : Fry, Christopher. The Boy with a Cart : Cuthman, Saint of Sussex. London, Oxford University Press, 19 39. The Tower. England, Oxford University Press, 19 39. Thursday's Child ; A Pageant. London, Girl's Friendly Press, 1939. A Phoenix Ttoo Frequait. London, Oxford University Press, 1946. The First Bom. London, Cambridge University Press, 1946, Thor, with Angels. London, Oxford University Press, 1949. The Lady'_s Not for Burning. London, Oxford University Press, 1949. Venus Observed. London, Oxford Univer sity Press, 1950. A Sleep of Prisoners. London, Oxford University Press, 1951. 117 Pry, Christopher. The Dark Is Light Enough. London, Oxford University Press, 1954. Curtmantle. London, Oxford University Press, 19 61. A Yard of Sun. London, Oxford Univer sity Press, 1970. One Thing More, or Caednon Construed. London, Oxford University Press, 1985, "The Contemporary Theatre : A Playwright Speaks," Listener (February 23, 1950). "Comedy," The Tuiane Drama Review, IV, 3. 1960. "The Play of Ideas," The New Statesman . and Nation, XXXIX (April 22, 1950) "How Lost, How Amazed, How Miraculous We Are," Theatre Arts, XXXVI (1952) . "Poetry in the Theatre," Saturday Review, XXXVI, 12 (March 21, 19 53) . "Why Verse?," Vogue, CXXV (March 1, 1955) . "On Keeping the Sense of Wonder, " Vogue, CXXVIII (January 1956) . "Enjoying the Accidental," Vogue, CXXVIII (October 15, 1957) . 118 Pry, Christopher. "Venus Observed," Theatre Kews Letter (March 11, 1950) . "The Lady's Not for Burning," World Review (June 1949) . An Experience of Critics. London, Oxford University Press, 19 53. SECONDARY SOURCES : Alder, J.H. Shakespeare and Fry. London, Educa- tional Theatre, 1959. Alexander, J, Fry and Religious Comedy, Lon don, Meanjin, 1956. Anderson, B.W. "The Poetry of Mr. Pry," The Spectator, CLXXXIV (March 31, 1950) . Archer, W. The Old Drama and The New. New York, Macmillan, 19 23. Arrowsmith, W. Notes on English Verse Drama. Lon don, Hudson, 1950. Barnes, L.W. "Pry : Chestertonian Concept of Comedy," Xavier University Studies 22, 19 63- Bentley, E. Theory of Modem Stage. London, Penguin, 1979. 119 Bewley, M. "The Verse of Christopher Pry" Scrutiny XVIII, 2, 1951. Blamires, H. Twentieth Century English Literature. London, Macmillan Press, 1982. Bogard, T, St Modem Drama. London, Oxford Univer Oliver, W.I. sity Press, 19 65. Braybrooks, N, "English Poetic Drama ; Sliot and Pry their recent work," Irish Monthly 79, 1951. "Modem Religious Drama Christopher Pry's A Sleep of Prisoners," Irish Monthly, LXX (May 1952) . Brown, I. "Can there be a revival of poetic drama in the modem theatre," Essays by Diverse Hands; New Series, vol. XXIII. Brown, J.R, Modem British Dramatists t A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall, 19 68. Browne, E.H. "Prom T.S. Eliot to Christopher Pry," Adam, 19, 214. 1951. "Henry II as Hero - Pry's new play - 'Curtmantle', " Drama Survey 2, 1962. The Making of T.S. Eliot's Plays. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969. 120 Bullough, G. Fry and the Revolt Against Eliot. London, Macmillan, 1963. Camell, C.S. "Creation's Lonely Flesh - T.S. Eliot and Piry on the Life of the Senses," Niodem Drama 6, 19 63. Chiari, J. Landmarks of Contemporary Drama. London, Herbert Jenkins, 19 65. Clark, B.H. A Study of Modem Drama. New York, D. Apple ton & Co., 1925. Clark, B.H. & A History of Modem Drama. New York, Preedley, G. D. /^pleton & Co., 1947. Clurman'i H. "Theatre : in contact to Fry," The New Republic, CXXV, 1951. Collins, J.A. "Poet of Paradox : The Dreams of Christopher Pry," Literary Half Yearly, XII, 2, 1971. Corrigan, R.W. Fry and Religious Drama. London, Ivory Tower, 1953. Cunliffe, J.W. Modem British Playwrights. New York, Harper St Brothers, 1927. Daiches, D. A Critical History of English Litera ture 4. London, Seeker & Warburg, 1971. Darlirgton, W.A. An Experience of Critics; and the_app roach to Dramatic Criticism. New York, K. Webb, 1952. 121 Davis, E. "Fry, the twentieth century Shakespeare," Kansas Magazine, 1952. Dickinson, T,H. The Contemporary Drama of England. London, John ^^urray, 1920. Dobree, B. "Pry," Literary Half Yearly, Bangalore, 19 61. Donoghwe, D, "Christopher Pry's Theatre of Words," Essays in Criticism, IX, I (January, 1959) . Pox, R.C. "Venus Observed," Sxplicator, 1958. Praser, G.S. The Modem Writer and His Vforld. Allahabad, Rupa & Co. 1953, Purguson, J. "A Sleep of Prisoners," English, x, 1954. Gassner, J. Masters of the Drama. New York, Dover Publications, 1951. Ghatak, T, "What happens in Venus Observed," Literary Criterion, 11, 2, 197 2. "The Dark is Light Enough : A note on some aspects of Pry's winter comedy," Indian Joumal of English Studies, XVII, 9 (May 1974) . 122 Ghatak, T. "The Boy with a Cart : Contemporary Relevance of Fry's First Published PI ays, " Indian Jouimal of English Studies, 12, 1971. Gillespie, D.F, "Language as Life : Christopher Fry's Early Plays," Modem Drama, XXI (1978) . Gittings, R. "The Smell of Sulphur : The Lady's Not for Burning Now," Encounter (January 1978) . Gowda, H.H.A. Revival of English Poetic Drama j, in the Edwardim and Georcfian Periods. Bangalore, Government Press, 1963. Greene, A. "Fry's Comic Vision," Modem Drama, 4, 1962. Guthke, K. Modem Tragi Comedy. New York, Random House, 1966. Harlan, Hate her (ed) A Modem Rgpetory. New York, Brace & Company, 1953. Hayes, R. "The Stage : The Dark Is Light Enough," The Common Weal, LXII, 1955, Hewes, H. "Pry in the Belfry," Saturday Review, XXXV, 19 52. Hobson, H, "London ifells Mr. Pry, Playwright," The New YoiM Times Magazine (April 16, 1950) . 123 Kerr, W. "The Lady's Not for Burning," Life, XXIX (November 27, 1950) "The Stage : Venus Observed," The Common Weal, LV, 1952. Khan, B.A. English Poetic Draana. Aligarh, Aligarh Muslim University Press, 1962, Leeky, E. "Mystery in the Plays of Pry," TXilane Drama Review, I960. Leeming, G, Poetic Drama. London, Macmillan, 1989. Lewis, R.C, "Christopher Pry : Exponent of Verse Plays," New York Tiroes (April 23. 1950). Lewis, T. "The Lady*s Not for Burning," Anerica, XCVI, 1957. Lucy, S. T.S. ^Eliot and the Idea of Tradition. London, Cohen & West, 1960. Lutyens, D.B, "The Dilemma of the Christian Drama tists : Claude! and Pry," lUlane Drama Review, 1962. Mac Arthur, R. "The Dark Is Light Enough," Theatre Arts Monthly, 1955, Mary Ann, K.D, "The Narrow Escape in the Lady's Not for Burning," Modem Drama, XXVII, 3, 1984. 124 Maura, 3. Pry : "An Angel of Experience," Renascence, 1956. Metwolly, A. A. "Pry as a Poet Dramatist," Cairo Studies, 1960. Misra, K.S, Twentieth Century English Poetic Drama - A Revaluation, New Delhi, Vikas Pub lishing House, 1981. Nathan, G.J. "Theatre : Young Man Named Pry," The New American Mercury, LXXII, 1951, Nicoll, A. British Drama. London, George G, Harrap St Co., 1962. Palette, D.B, "Eliot, Pry, Broadway," Arizona Quar terly, 11, 19 65. Parker, G. "A Study of Fry's Curtmantle," Dalhousie, 19 63, Prater, E.G. "Pry Reconsidered," Ball State Univer sity Porum, 6, 19 65. Pryce, J.D. "Pry and Verse Drama," London Magazine 5, 19 65. Redman, B.R. "Fry : Poet - Dramatist," College ^igli^h, 1953. Roy, E. "Imagery in the Religious Plays of Pry," Drama Crltigue, 1961. 125 Roy, E. Chri 3tO|Dher^Fry. Lon don, Sou them Illinois Press, 1969. Schear, B.L, & ••A bibliography on Fry," TUlane Drama Pratar, E.G. Review, 1960. Scott - James, R. A. "Christopher Pry's Poetic Drama," Nation, CLXXI, 1950. Spender, S, "Christopher Pry," The Spectator, CLXXXIV (March 24, 1950) . Sprial, P.I. A Study of Contemporary Verse Drama in England as Exemplified in the Plays of T.s. filiot and Christopher Fry. Dublin, Dolmen, 1960. Stanford, D, Christopher Fry. London, The British Council Publications, 1971. "Comedy and Tragedy in Christopher Pry," Modern Drama (May 1959) , Sty an, J.L. The Elements of Drama. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1963. Subraimanyam, N.S, Fry and the Comic Spirit in Modem Poetic ^Dr am a. New Delhi, Doaba, 1957. Urang, G, "The Climate is the Comedy, a Study of Fry's 'The Lady's Not for Burning," Christian Scholar, 45, 1962. 126 Vinson, J. (ed) Contemporary Dramatists. London, St. James Press, 197 3. Vos, N. The Comedy of Faith. London, Gordon, 1965. The Drama of Comedy : Victim and Victor. Virginia, University Press, 1965. Wlersma, S,M, "A Phoenix Too Frequent - a study in source and symbol," Modem Drama 8, 1965. "Pry's A Phoenix Too Frequent," ExDliCBtor, XXXVII, 2, 1979. More Than the Ear Discovers. God In the Plays of Christopher Fry. Loyola, University Press, 198 3. Williams, R. Drama from Ibsen to Brecht. London, Chatto and Windus, 1971. Williamson, A. "Poetry in the Theatre : Eliot and Fry," Chrysalis, IV, 5-6, 1951. Woodbury, J. "The Witch and the Nun : a study of 'The Lady's Not for Burning'," Manitoba Arts, 1956. *******