OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

 

OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Little is known of the history of the old English period and indeed very little is extant literature of the time. The earliest inhabitants of the island presently known as England are supposed to be Celts whose one of tribes was called as Brythons or Brytons. They were pagan that is nature worshipers and secular. Though the old English period comprises of the time between the fifth century and the Norman conquest, it is necessary to have look at the earlier time for the sake of the former influences on English literature and English language.

Old English Period is enormous with respect to its time span but in miniscule with regard to the output of literature. When the Celtic people had established their deep roots in Britain, continuous invasions of Rome started to shook their deep-rooted existence. Julius Caesar began invading Britain in 55 B.C. and occupation of Britain was completely accomplished by Claudius in 1st cent. A.D. Romans had to withdraw their power from the country in 410 A.D. due to the attacks on their home country. During their nearly five hundred years’ rule, Britain enjoyed more peace than ever before. The Romans pushed Celts into Wales and Ireland and prevented Vikings from invading for several hundred years. C. Warren Hollister writes that Rome’s greatest gift to Britain had been peace. They developed infrastructures like walls, villas, public baths, etc. Latin became the official language of Britain.

Another crucial influence in the history of Britain was the introduction of Christianity in 597 A.D. by St. Augustine. By the time, Angles, Saxons and Jutes had already started settling in Britain. They were the Germanic tribes who came from Baltic shores of Germany and the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The native Britons had to withdraw from England to Wales. The name ‘England’ derives from the Angles and the language they spoke came to be known as ‘English’. During the 8th through 11th centuries, there were continuous attacks by Vikings. They were violent sea-faring Scandinavians. Due to the Viking invasions, England was continually under political instability and tribal wars.

Eventually England became divided into seven kingdoms known as the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy. They were Kent, Essex (East Saxon), Sussex (South Saxon), East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex (West Saxon). King Alfred of West Saxon came to political supremacy and the dialect of West Saxon became a ‘standard’ language in which all the extant texts are preserved.

2. LITERARY FEATURES

      The old English literature before the introduction of Christianity was pagan or secular in nature. The poems of the period had features of the pagan past. However, Christian elements entered in the poems like Widsith and Beowulf after 597 as the manuscripts were written in the monasteries. Most of the extant literature is anonymous. We know of Caedmon and Cynewulf belonging to the period who signed their poems. Prose came much later and was written for specific purposes so the authorship of the prose writing is established. Many of the works ascribed to the period were mere adaptions or translations from the earlier known sources. The old English literature extant now was preserved in the four manuscripts 1. Beowulf MS, having Beowulf and Judith, 2. The Junius MS, containing poems of Caedmon, 3. The Exter Book and 4 the Vercelli Book. The latter two contained four signed poems of Cynewulf.

3. AUTHORS

3.1 King Alfred: He is regarded as the ‘father of English prose’. He translated some popular books into West Saxon dialect. The five important translations are the Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory, the History of the World of Orosius, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, and the Soliloquies of St Augustine.

3.2 Aelfric: Known for his Grammar, he was a churchman who became abbot of Eynsham in 1005. Other extant works by him include: the Catholic Homilies, the Lives of the Saints and translations from the Scriptures.

3.3 Wulfstan: He was Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York. His well-known piece is the Sermo Lupi ad Anglos.

4. MAJOR WORKS

4.1 Beowulf

Though the theme of the poem is pagan, the extant version was clearly written by a Christian as it contains Christian elements. The poem is likely to have been revised many times. Beowulf is king of the 'Geatas.' Beowulf is the son of Ecgtheow. He sails to Denmark with a band of warriors and rids the Danish King Hrothgar of a terrible monster called Grendel. The mother of Grendel comes after seeking vengeance for the death of her son. She too meets the same fate and Beowulf returns to his native land. He becomes king of the Geatas and after a prosperous reign of some forty years slays a dragon which had ravaged his land but in the fight he himself receives a fatal wound. The poem ends with the funeral rites in honour of the dead hero.

4.2 Other Poems

Widsith which means 'the far traveller', consists of nearly 150 lines of verse. In the poem, an imaginary traveller recounts the places and illustrious people he has visited. Waldere has two fragments, some sixty-three lines in all, telling of some of the exploits of Walter of Aquitaine. The Fight at Finnsburh, The Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon belong to this age. The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wife's Lament and Husband's Message, are among the important elegies which appear in the Exeter Book.

5. LANGUAGE

Due to the constant attacks, England experience political, social and cultural instability except during Roman occupation. As a result, England could not devise any standard language. It was through the endeavours of King Alfred that West Saxon dialect achieved the status of being standard language. Latin language had already exercised its deep influence during Roman occupation. After the introduction of Christianity, Latin became the language of religion. King Alfred himself got converted to Christianity and he translated Latin works in his own tongue. This also made Latin vocabulary enter English language.

 

 

    

                                                        Book Review

        Saraswatichandra

                                A Classic Novel by Govardhanram Tripathi

                                       Name of Book: Saraswatichandra

    Author: Govardhanram Tripathi

    Genre: Novel, Romance

    Pages: 1184 pages

    First Published: 1887 to 1901

    Language: Gujarati

    ISBN: 9351221776

    Publisher: R. R. Sheth & Co. Pvt. Ltd. 

 

Saraswatichandra is the outstandingly classic novel written in Gujarati by Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi. It is set in 19^th century Bombay and surrounding areas which were erstwhile parts of Gujarat. Widely celebrated as one of the greatest masterpieces not only of Gujarati literature but also of world literature, the book is divided into four parts, though each of them dealing with different theme, the novel maintains a strong uniformity with respect to its central theme - an educated man called Saraswatichandra’s journey to spiritual enlightenment.

Saraswatichandra has such a captivating story that keeps one charged and curious throughout the bulky book. It is fashioned in the mode of picaresque novel though not fulfilling all the criteria. We have a host of characters like Saraswatichandra, Kumud, Lakshminandan, Buddhidhan, Vidyachatur, Gunasundari, Chandrakant, Maanchatur, Kusum, Vishnudas, Manoharpuri and many more. Each of them is representing qualities of their name. Saraswatichandra, the central figure, is a barrister by qualification. He is refined, well-educated and a brilliant scholar in literature, philosophy and languages, who is still in search for meaning in life. Finding ample occasion, he abandons his home in Mumbai permanently forsaking his father, step mother, friends and renouncing the worldly comforts and riches of his father’s business. He assumes a new   name   of Navinchandra so that no one can recognize him and reaches to Buddhidhan to whose son his love, Kumud was married. Overwhelmed by Navinchandra’s worldly   wisdom, Buddhidhan allows him to live in his house. The reader gets chance to enter into the world of Buddhidhan. After staying with Buddhidhan’s family, he leaves for Vidhyachatur. Whereby on the way, he is robbed. Everyone assumes him dead in the incident. He, in the meantime, has been saved by a group of sadhus and taken to their ashram on the adjoining Sundargiri hills. Here also, Saraswatichandra overwhelms the main sadhu, Vishnudas, by expressing his knowledge and eventually names him as the inheritor to his sadhu position. Kumud has, on the other hand, also survived in the other incident. She was similarly caught by Lady Ascetic Chandravali. The group takes Kumud to Vishnudas's ashram and she and Saraswatichandra find out about each other's presence there. The story grows more and more captivating as it leads to its end where everything is settled with Saraswatichandra marrying Kusum and the possibility of meeting the two pure love also comes to the end which is rather tragic from the perspective of the genuine love between Saraswatichandra and Kumud.

Incredible Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi! Even more incredible is his novel, Saraswatichandra. Hats off to Tripathi’s art fully at work in his grand epic novel. What wonders me since long time why Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi preferred Gujarati language for expressing his self even though he was a scholar of many languages. Perhaps it was his respect for Gujarati language and he wanted to create something grand in Gujarati which had been in his mind since long. He wanted to heighten the language. The book is the milestone or even the magnum opus in Gujarati literature. It was adapted into several plays, radio plays, films and TV series. The presentation of Govardhanram Tripathi is so vivid that the reader assumes himself to be a close friend of Navinchandra involved in actions with the hero himself. The reader becomes witness to the intense love of Navinchandra for Kumad and vice versa.

I had been infatuated with novel since long when one of my teachers recommended it to me. I was then introduced it as a romantic novel delineating love of Saraswatichandra and Kumud. The thought of reading the novel resided deep in a corner of my mind and the feeling of the nature of love Saraswatichandra had, was in my heart. The residual dream became reality after a great length of time. When I started to read the novel, I found it much more what had thought of. I can with conviction recognize every character of the novel in the present time. The novel is the type as well as the most individual. And every one would find it interesting to read the novel because he/she would find a match for himself/herself in the novel. The book is ‘Everyone’ for everyone. What impressed me about the book is its universality. Whether you are a literature lover, fond of philosophy, history, psychology, religion, spirituality, etc., the present book is surely for you. Go for it and you will have great time, perhaps it would be the greatest book ever read by you.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was a great experience. It gripped me again with as much intensity. I came across the title while searching Ben Jonson’s comedy Alchemist to teach my second year students. Resultantly by chance I picked up a writer whose works have been translated into many languages across the world.

Paulo Coelho was born in Brazil. He is one of the most widely read authors in the present time. He truly possesses the mystic power that untiringly keeps the readers stay tuned until it is finished. One who likes reading The Alchemist, is in acute want of finding his dream treasure like the boy, Santiago from Spanish province of Andalusia meets his treasure of dream towards which he is attracted honestly. And who among us is not in search of dream treasure, who among us does not want to succeed, who does not want to be motivated in every step of life, who is not in constant inner struggle between heart and brain? The book is for all especially for those who are of the age of Santiago.

The Alchemist is the story of a boy who is frequently visited by a dream of hidden treasure in Pyramid for which he has not a slight doubt. He hears his heart and to follow his dream, he prefers to travel and to travel, he prefers to be an ordinary shepherd contracting his desires and leaving his parents and home back which seems to be essential to him. He buys some sheep and sets up on a long adventurous journey. The novel is full of symbols. The boy learns how to reach to a destination comprehending the symbols of the Soul of the Universe. He often talks with his heart, his sheep, desert, snake, horse and even his jacket. He sells wool and with the money, the boy buys books and satisfies his hunger. Upon arriving Africa, he sales his sheep and gets enough money to conduct his exotic journey awaiting him ahead.

On the first day of his journey in Africa which is going to be very tougher than earlier, Santiago who is in Tangiers, is robbed and left completely alone, unable to speak a single word of Arabic. At first he is haunted by the thought of giving up and turning around. He works at the local crystal shop for a year, learning much about life and earns enough money to buy a new flock of sheep and return home. At the last minute, though, Santiago decides to risk it all and join a caravan to Egypt. Santiago meets an Englishman who speaks of a Soul of the Universe of which we are all integral part. The Englishman has come all the way to Africa to seek a renowned alchemist. Moving ahead, they hear rumors of a coming tribal war. Then they lastly arrive at the Al-Fayoum oasis where the Alchemist was residing and where he sees Fatima, a beautiful girl to whom he falls in love at first sight and who also comes directly from the Soul of the World. The Alchemist finds Santiago and tells him that he will lead Santiago to his treasure. Almost about reach to the pyramids, they are taken prisoner by a tribe. The Alchemist tells the tribesmen that Santiago is a powerful magician who can turn himself into the wind. The tribesmen are impressed and will free them if Santiago can do it. After three days of meditation, Santiago uses his knowledge of the Soul of the Universe to ask the elements to blow wind. He asks the desert, the wind and the sun and, finally, he asks the Soul of the Universe. Immediately, the wind whips up and Santiago is found on the other side of the camp. Again towards way to Pyramids, Santiago is attacked by robbers. On finding what he is doing here, one of robbers laughs that he had similar dream and this time the treasure is in Spain. Santiago immediately realizes that the treasure was back in Spain and goes back to Spain. He digs under a tree where he had the dream first time and finds the treasure of gold.

Thus, this optimistic story is full of wisdom and philosophy. Any optimistic journey always leads to impeccable success and this journey is not going to be too smooth. Paulo Coelho here suggests that to find the treasure of success, one should be steady, curtailing needs and to be sensible to listening to the Soul of the Universe. He says that when you desire something from the heart, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. We either have many dreams or no dream to follow. In both of the situations, we don’t listen to heart before embarking on any journey. In the last, readers must not mistake to take the novel about following dream but about listening to heart which is the Soul of the Universe, which is the particle of God in ourselves and which is present in all of us.

Political Implication/Capitalism, Communism and Socialism in Animal Farm

Political/Historical Implications in Animal Farm

Capitalism, Communism and Socialism in Animal Farm

George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Blair, a British political novelist and essayist whose pointed criticisms of political oppression propelled him into prominence toward the middle of the twentieth century. His painful experiences with snobbishness and social elitism at Eton, as well as his intimate familiarity with the reality of British imperialism in India, made him deeply suspicious of the deep-rooted class system in English society. As a young man, Orwell became a socialist, speaking openly against the excesses of governments east and west and fighting briefly for the socialist cause during the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939.

Unlike many British socialists in the 1930s and 1940s, Orwell was not charmed from the Soviet Union and its policies, nor did he consider the Soviet Union a positive representation of the possibilities of socialist society. He could not turn a blind eye to the cruelties and hypocrisies of Soviet Communist Party, which had overturned the semi-feudal system of the tsars only to replace it with the dictatorial reign of Joseph Stalin. Orwell became a sharp critic of both capitalism and communism, and is remembered chiefly as an advocate of freedom and a committed opponent of communist oppression. His two greatest anti-totalitarian novel - Animal Farm form the crucial basis of his reputation.

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system based upon private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labour, voluntary exchange, a price system and competitive markets. In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investment are determined by every owner of wealth, property or production ability in financial and capital markets, whereas prices and the distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services markets.

Communism 

Communism is an economic and social system in which all property and resources are collectively owned by a classless society and not by individual citizens. Based on the 1848 publication 'Communist Manifesto' by two German political philosophers, Karl Marx (1818-1883) and his close associate Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), it envisaged common ownership of all land and capital and withering away of the coercive power of the state. In such a society, social relations were to be regulated on the fairest of all principles: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Socialism:

Socialism is a system of social and economic organization that substitutes state monopoly for private ownership of the sources of production and means of distribution (like Communism), but concentrates under the control of the secular governing authority the chief activities of human life. Socialism is an economic system where everyone in the society equally owns the means of production. The ownership is usually through a democratically-elected government. It could also be a cooperative or a public corporation where everyone owns shares. The four factors of production are labour, entrepreneurship, capital goods and natural resources.

A dystopian novel, Animal Farm attacks the idea of totalitarian communism (a political system in which one ruling party plans and controls the collective social action of a state) by painting a terrifying picture of a farm, allegorically representing Soviet Society in which personal freedom is non-existent and revolution and sacrifice prove futile. It written in 1945. A “fairy story” in the style of Aesop’s fables, it uses animals on an English farm to tell the history of Soviet communism. Certain animals are based directly on Communist Party leaders: the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, for example, are figurations of Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky, respectively. Orwell uses the form of the fable for a number of aesthetic and political reasons. To better understand these, it is helpful to know at least the rudiments of Soviet history under Communist Party rule, beginning with the October Revolution of 1917.

In February 1917, Tsar Nicholas II, the monarch of Russia, abdicated and the socialist Alexander Kerensky became premier. At the end of October (November 7 on current calendars), Kerensky was ousted, and Vladimir Lenin, the architect of the Russian Revolution, became chief commissar. Almost immediately, as wars raged on virtually every Russian front, Lenin’s chief allies began jockeying for power in the newly formed state; the most influential included Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Gregory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev. Trotsky and Stalin emerged as the most likely heirs to Lenin’s vast power. Trotsky was a popular and charismatic leader, famous for his impassioned speeches, while the taciturn Stalin preferred to consolidate his power behind the scenes. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin orchestrated an alliance against Trotsky that included himself, Zinoviev, and Kaminev. In the following years, Stalin succeeded in becoming the unquestioned dictator of the Soviet Union and had Trotsky expelled first from Moscow, then from the Communist Party, and finally from Russia altogether in 1936. Trotsky fled to Mexico, where he was assassinated on Stalin’s orders in 1940.

In 1934, Stalin’s ally Serge Kirov was assassinated in Leningrad, prompting Stalin to commence his infamous purges of the Communist Party. Holding “show trials”—trials whose outcomes he and his allies had already decided—Stalin had his opponents officially denounced as participants in Trotskyist or anti-Stalinist conspiracies and therefore as “enemies of the people,” an appellation that guaranteed their immediate execution. As the Soviet government’s economic planning faltered and failed, Russia suffered under a surge of violence, fear, and starvation. Stalin used his former opponent as a tool to placate the wretched populace. Trotsky became a common national enemy and thus a source of negative unity. He was a frightening spectre used to conjure horrifying eventualities, in comparison with which the current misery paled. Additionally, by associating his enemies with Trotsky’s name, Stalin could ensure their immediate and automatic elimination from the Communist Party.

These and many other developments in Soviet history before 1945 have direct parallels in Animal Farm: Napoleon ousts Snowball from the farm and, after the windmill collapses, uses Snowball in his purges just as Stalin used Trotsky. Similarly, Napoleon becomes a dictator, while Snowball is never heard from again. Orwell was inspired to write Animal Farm in part by his experiences in a Trotskyist group during the Spanish Civil War, and Snowball certainly receives a more sympathetic portrayal than Napoleon. But though Animal Farm was written as an attack on a specific government, its general themes of oppression, suffering, and injustice have far broader application; modern readers have come to see Orwell’s book as a powerful attack on any political, rhetorical, or military power that seeks to control human beings unjustly.

Historical Context

Russian society in the early twentieth century was bipolar: a tiny minority controlled most of the country’s wealth, while the vast majority of the country’s inhabitants were impoverished and oppressed peasants. Communism arose in Russia when the nation’s workers and peasants, assisted by a class of concerned intellectuals known as the intelligentsia, rebelled against and overwhelmed the wealthy and powerful class of capitalists and aristocrats. They hoped to establish a socialist utopia based on the principles of the German economic and political philosopher Karl Marx.

In Das Kapital (Capital), Marx advanced an economically deterministic interpretation of human history, arguing that society would naturally evolve—from a monarchy and aristocracy, to capitalism, and then on to communism, a system under which all property would be held in common. The dignity of the poor workers oppressed by capitalism would be restored, and all people would live as equals. Marx followed this sober and scholarly work with The Communist Manifesto, an impassioned call to action that urged, “Workers of the world, unite!”

In the Russia of 1917, it appeared that Marx’s dreams were to become reality. After a politically complicated civil war, Tsar Nicholas II, the monarch of Russia, was forced to abdicate the throne that his family had held for three centuries. Vladimir Ilych Lenin, a Russian intellectual revolutionary, seized power in the name of the Communist Party. The new regime took land and industry from private control and put them under government supervision. This centralization of economic systems constituted the first steps in restoring Russia to the prosperity it had known before World War I and in modernizing the nation’s primitive infrastructure, including bringing electricity to the countryside. After Lenin died in 1924, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky jockeyed for control of the newly formed Soviet Union. Stalin, a crafty and manipulative politician, soon banished Trotsky, an idealistic proponent of international communism. Stalin then began to consolidate his power with brutal intensity, killing or imprisoning his perceived political enemies and overseeing the purge of approximately twenty million Soviet citizens.

Animalism as Communism

In the novel, Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates a certain system that is used during the revolution of the animals. Old Major, one of the characters, developed 7 commandments that were made for all the animals to follow and believe. Originally the 7 commandments stated,

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal. 

This is a belief that all animals considered and worked towards, in order to govern themselves. Everyone were treated equally, all shares of work were equal and portions of food. None of the animals showed any unfairness in equality. All Animals Are Equal. This is called Animalism. Snowball another character strongly believed in Animalism.

Communism is not at all different from Animalism. The only difference is instead of people, it's animals! By creating, Animalism, Orwell educates us on the system Communism that was followed during the Russian Revolution.  A structure that promotes equality, fairness, classless society, which is followed by a group of people who believe in an egalitarian system. Everyone is treated equally. This is called Communism. Leon Trotsky was a strong follower of Communism.

Some Important Short Questions:

1. Mention the chief element of a short story?

Ans. Few characters, brief setting, simple plot, intense conflict, brevity of length and common theme are the chief elements of a short story.

2. What is an epic?

Ans. An epic is a long verse narrative on a serious subject, told in a formal and elevated style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race.

3. What are the different kind of Essay?

Ans. Descriptive, persuasive, historical, narrative, reflective, subjective, objective, etc. are the different kinds of essay.

4. What is an elegy?

Ans. An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, typical a lament for the dead.

5. What is the soul of short stories?

Ans. Brevity is the soul of short stories

6. What is satire?

Ans. Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles.

7.  Name works of Oliver Goldsmith?

Ans. Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe (1759), The Citizen of the World (1762), Traveller (1764), The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog (1766), The Good-Natur'd Man (1768), She Stoops to Conquer (1773), The Deserted Village (1770)

8. What is the importance of Brevity in short story?

Ans. Short story is meant for a single sitting. Brevity accomplishes the aim of short story.

9. Who are the chief writers of the periodical essay?

Ans. Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Samuel Johnson, and Oliver Goldsmith were the chief writers of the periodical essay.

10. Into how many books is an epic generally divided?

Ans. An epic is generally divided into 12 books

11. Mention the types of ballad poetry?

Ans. Folk ballad and literary ballad are the types of ballad poetry.

12. Mention any four short story writers?

Ans. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry, H. H. Munro, Rabindranath Tagore, Leo Tolstoy

Character of Gora – Rabindranath Tagore

Character of Gora – Rabindranath Tagore

Introduction:-

 “Gora is more than a mere novel; it is an epic of India in transition at a crucial period of modern history, when the social conscience and intellectual awareness of the new intelligentsia were in the throes of a great churning.”

-Krishna Kriplani

            ‘Gurudev’ Rabindranath Tagore was a man of versatile genius. He was a poet, playwright, novelist, educator, social reformer, nationalist and composer. He achieved “a perennial success Bengali as well as in English language.” He became Asia’s First Nobel Laureate, when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in literature for his Gitangali” or “Song Offerings.

Gora; a central character of the novel:-

            Tagore’s ‘Gora’ is the work of supreme art. Among major characters like Binoy, Paresh Babu, Sucharita, Political, Andandmoyi, Gora is drawn as a central character. About the importance of Gora’s character Bhawani Bhattacharya says,

“The main character in the book Gourmohan or Gora has been created with deep sympathy.”

While a critic like K.R.S. Iyenger find “Gora as the mouthpiece of Tagore’s ideal of nationalism and internationalism. He further notes, he is the most striking person ever created by Tagore in his fictional world He represent the nationalist and idealist youth of Bengal at the end of the 19th century. He is an awfully powerful character and voice of Indian. He wants to declare only one thing “India is the land of Hindus.”. He is a violent nationalist. The sea-change which takes place in him is the real study of the novel.

His Personality:-

            Gora has a well-formed personality. Even in his college, his professors call him ‘the snow mountain’ because he was ‘outrageously white’. Tagore describe him

‘‘He was nearly six feet tall, with big bones and fists like the paws of a tiger. The sound of his voice was so deep and rough that you would be startled if you suddenly heard him calling”.

            His face was large and excessively strong. He had practically no eyebrows. His lips were thin. He had a very strong body and impressive physical features of an Englishman. Moreover he was self-confident, orthodox and obstinate. So his Friend Binoy tell him plainly, “You have one great fault, Gora. You seem to believe that all God’s’ strength has been given to you alone’’.

The secret of His Birth and Parentage:-

            The secret of Gora’s personality which keeps him away from becoming an ordinary Bengali young man lies in his birth and parentage. Since birth, Gora himself did not know his real parents. He was neither Bengali or Hindu nor Indian at all. He was the son of an Irish man and English mother. She had been given shelter at Anandamoyi’s house during the Rising of 1857. She gave birth to Gora and died. Anandmoyi had no child of her own. So she adopted him. Krishna Dayal performed his thread ceremony and had him educated in Calcutta.

His Respect for His Parents

            Gora was a foundling in the family of Krishna Dayal and Anandmoyi. He got the child when he was posted the government service at Itawa. Since the very birth of Gora Anandmoyi had great affection for Gora. He had lived with Anandmoyi and Krishna Dayal like their own son. Gora had great respect for Anandmoyi. In her, he finds the true image of mother. He says, 

“Mother, you are my mother. The mother for whom is been seaming all day was the item sitting in my room at home. You have not caste; you make no distinctions and have no hatred. It is you who are India.”

            Gora had respect for his father Krishna Days, yet Gora’s mind revolted against his ways.

His Education:-

Krishna Dayal, out of affection for Gora, had to go through the thread ceremony so that Gora might be considered to be a sacred Brahmin. Anandmoyi took due care of his education. Discussion between Binoy and Gora on India’s freedom and the position of women in India shows that he was a learned man. He used to contribute articles in the paper and Sucharita used to read them with delight. He was an orthodox Hindu and he had gathered quite deep knowledge on Hindu rites and Hindu Shatras. He was able to discuss religious matters quite authoritatively. Thus we can say that Gora was quite highly educated and well informed on religious matters.

Gora as Representative of Hinduism:-

            ‘Gora’ is a novel of discussion and ideas about contemporary social problem related to Hinduism. In it Gora is the most orthodox Hindu. Gora as an idealist believes in the noble ideas of Hinduism. In the initial career at college he was rather indifferent to matters religion like many young men in college. Gora used to ridicule the learned pandits, who visited the house of Krishna Day. But one old and much learned pandit met him and thought him the principle of Vedanta philosophy. It gave him the correct idea of the greatness of Hindu religion. And Gora gradually turned into a strong champion of Hingu religion. He also became ‘an orthodox observer of even minor rules of behavior’. Once he refused a cup of tea served by a Brahmo girl. As an orthodox Bengali and tradition bound young man, he began to dress like the Bengali farmers in rough clothes and began to put caste-mark on his forehead and his body.

His view on Love, Women and Caste System:-

            He was the believer in love. When he discusses it with Andandmoyi, He says,

“You can disregard the Shastras, but you must have regard for those whom you love.”

On status of women Gora says. ‘The scriptures tell us that woman is deserving of worship.

In the best novel Gora Tagore has raised many contemporary social problems and evils related to Hinduism and its adversary Brahmanism. Some critic have call the novel as a novel of ideas suitable to the spirit of the again. It focuses on the caste-system. Gora is quite orthodox in the institution of caste-system. He with Krishna Dayal, discusses the merit of a Brahmin family. He thinks that caste-system is the wisest method of division and labour and intellectual world. A Brahmin is devoted to the highest ideals of spiritual knowledge. He believed in Hindu culture, tradition, rites, and ritual.

His love for Mother land:-

            Gora is a patriot and a great lover motherland. He has been great devotee to the moment for making his country free. Gora took the side of the student and the English Magistrate pushed him for one’s mother’s rigorous imprisonment. He did not like people who favour the Englishmen and follow their custom. Gora did not engage a lawyer and decided to plead his case himself. He explained boldly how the policemen unjustly beat up the boys. These evens lead Sucharita fall in love with Gora.

Conclusion:-

            Like Shaw, Tagore has made Gora the mouthpiece his ideals of nationalism and internationalism. In this respects, a critic K.R.S. Iyengar has pointed out the symbolic significance of the Gora as following, “A character like Gora or the Kauliwhallah, become other than a person; he become a poetic symbol.”