The Literary Representation of Reality: The French Lieutenants Woman and Tragedy of Hamlet

'Literature is the struggle to articulate reality and make it meaningful.' Compare and contrast the literary representation of reality in at least two texts studied in the first half of the module.

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Introduction

In literature world, since the ancient times to the present, the authors have demonstrated their skills in narrating interesting stories that are being debated and discussed in the modern world. In this instance, John Fowles and Shakespeare have both utilized literary representation elements to in their respective literature work, French lieutenants woman and Hamlet. Through this, they were able to bring out the different aspects of the books, making it more delightfully and depicts various themes. The major focus of this essay is to compare and contrast the literary representation of reality in the two literature books.

French lieutenants woman by John Fowles

The novel begins in the coastal area of Lyme Regis, during the Victorian period of 1867. The characters featured in the story migrated from Lyme to another prominent city of Exeter and London. In some instances, Charles departed England and used up most of his time traveling from America to Europe. The literary representation of reality used in this book includes:

Protagonist and Antagonist

In the novel, the main protagonists are Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson, and no single person is an antagonist; however, there are characters who are unsympathetic, such as Mrs. Poulteney. But, the antagonist appears to be the restrictive Victorian society whereby Sarah and Charles lives as the real protagonist of the novel, Charles abandoned the ignorance character to become understanding when he perused the woman whom he believes that he is helping to make him too, but she is his mentor. Charles must reject every cover of the fabricated Charles: Charles the gentleman, Charles the lover, Charles the naturalist, and also Charles the rake, so as to get Charles the human being. Charles arrives at a much better idea since he had abandoned all his illusions, while Sarah left her some while before; though the outcome it is not nasty.

Imagery

Various instances of imagery characterize the novel the French lieutenant's woman. Some are natural imagery, as seen in chapter 10 while describing the Ware Commons; or elemental imagery that was illuminating the connection between Sarah and Charles in the form of fire and water among others. Furthermore, there is an instance where there is the usage of religious imagery which blends fascinatingly with the scientific imagery, for example, when Charles fancies a small wren as "the Announcing Angel of evolution" (191). Additionally, there is another recurrent case of imagery in the comparing Charles to the wild, predator animal due to his sexual arousing. Therefore, he related to a lion when he becomes "debased" (228).

Paradox

The explicitly demonstrated instance of the paradox is the sexuality, character witnessed during the Victorian age. The narrator of the novel denoted with humor that to the Victorians, the woman was sacred" but further stated that "you could buy a thirteen-year-old girl for a few pounds." It is a clear paradox, for something that is scared is expected to be also priceless, or at least be more worthy than a few pounds (211).

Another instance with paradox is the existence f both the brothels and churches a titanic delivery of both the clean literature as well as the scandalous pornography.

Parallelism

The novel also contains an interesting case of false parallelism, in Chapter 28, the tales about of Sarah and Marie are narrated by the doctor Grogan, as similar cases. Therefore, the apparent similarities transform both Charles and the reader to become doubtful of Sarah's motives, as Marie disgracefully lied so as to influence individuals who are around her to let an acquitted man convicted by the society together with the court. The uncertainty brought about by this parallel remains in the minds of Charles until the end of the novel, and the reader is not aware of Sarah's intentions.

Hamlet by Shakespeare

The story settings are in the late middle ages in the Kingdom of Denmark, it involves the revenge of Prince Hamlet against his uncle Claudius, as pre-his father's instructions. Claudius had killed his brother, King Hamlet, before seizing the throne, then married Gertrude, who was the widow of his deceased brother and also the mother to the Hamlet. As one reads the novel, there are several instances that Shakespeare applied the idea of literary representation to bring the story into reality, among them they include:

Protagonist

Hamlet, the play was named after him, and he at the center at the most actions he acts as the main protagonist of the play. Hamlet is the worst enemy of himself. The whole feeling, thinking as well as worrying about his father's killing with also his mother's sex life, makes him develop the quest for revenge. Hamlet declares it "Hamlet is the wronged faction/ His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy" (5.2.252-253). It is certain that the madness is unproven, although he still appears to think he is at war with himself.

Antagonist

Claudius is the chief antagonist of the novel. He murdered Hamlet's father before making continuous efforts to commit suicide. Furthermore, he also took old Hamlet's wife as well as the crown that was meant to go to young Hamlet.

Paradox

There is an instance whereby Shakespeare applied paradox as part of the literary representation of reality. "I must be cruel to be kind." This denotation fails to show some sense. It is hard to understand how an individual can treat the others with kindness while he is cruel. Though Hamlet talks about his mother; therefore, he plots to kill Claudius as retaliation for his father's death. The action by Hamlet will be a disaster for his mother since Claudius married his mother. Hamlet does not like the idea that his mother is beloved by the murder of his father, therefore believes that the killing will be quite noble for his mother.

Imagery

Imagery usage in the novel explains death through poison. N the scene five, the king speaks to his son Hamlet, also the Denmarks Prince. The King is attempting to make things clear to him regarding the manner in which he died citing that is different to what is thought by the citizens, but in a different way. The King stated that "A Serpent stung me, so the whole ear of Denmark, / Is by a forged process of my death. (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 41-42). What implied as a serpent by the king, while looked like a snake, was not stung by it, but rather a treacherous person. He further asserts that the whole Denmark knows nothing regarding his death. It is important since it uses poison to demonstrate death. If the king said that he was stung by the serpent, it expresses to the reader that he succumbed to the poison. Also, it is a significant imagery. The quote is the climax of the play since it stimulates Hamlet's idea to go on the mission to peruse the credibility of the words said by his ghost father who came in the form of a spirit, is the truth.

Conclusion

According to the discussed paragraphs of the two texts French lieutenants woman and Hamlet, which we studied in the first half of the module, there has been a significant use of the literary representation of reality used by John Fowles and Shakespeare. The comparison made has explicitly demonstrated the focal theme, whereby it may be concluded that both the novels played a significant role by using elements such as paradox, antagonist, protagonist and antagonist to bring the reality of the major theme.

References

Fowles, J. (2012). The French lieutenant's woman. Little, Brown.

Shakespeare, W. (1891). Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. W. J. Rolfe (Ed.). Harper and Brothers.