Supernatural characters mostly form archetypal motifs in many literary writings, meaningfully. In this context, the present paper attempts at making comparative study by analysing the sociocultural influences and modalities of select littérateurs from England and India of different times and genres, those who pioneer in supernatural writings.
Firstly, it puts forth the role of supernatural characters in the writings of the English authors in the forms of soothsayers and apparitions in Shakespeare; necromancy in University wits and compares them with traditional supernatural writings of India like epical, mythological, Buddhist petas and tantric writings. Then, it reflects on mesmerism in the Gothic writings, which is extended up to the role of animagi and metamorphomagi in J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter and compares with the writings of Tagore; ghost stories of Trailokyanath Bandopadhya, Satyjit Ray, Tarasankar, and Manoj Das reflecting on spiritual psychic elements; Samit Basu presents Simoqin prophesies; Shweta Taneja’s concept of cult of chaos, etc. Then, an in-depth critical evaluation has been done regarding the importance of the supernatural characters in such writings from the artistic and philosophical point of views and stylistic factors. It is observed that the traditional authors of both the countries have blended mythological and socio-cultural motifs based on supernatural realities whereas in the modern times, the writers are intertextual, scientific as well as artistic and what’s more, the contemporary writers have been creating new forms unique to their domains of writing or genres
Abstract
Supernatural characters mostly form archetypal motifs in many literary writings meaningfully. In this context, the present paper attempts at making comparative study by analysing the sociocultural influences and modalities of select litterateurs from England and India of different times and genres those who pioneer in supernatural writings. Firstly, it puts forth the role of supernatural characters in the writings of the English authors in the forms of soothsayers and apparitions in Shakespeare; necromancy in University wits and compares them with traditional supernatural writings of India like epical, mythological, Buddhist petas and tantric writings. Then, it reflects on mesmerism in the Gothic writings which is extended up to the role of animagi and metamorphomagi in J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter and compares with the writings of Tagore; ghost stories of Trailokyanath Bandopadhya, Satyjit Ray, Tarasankar, and Manoj Das reflecting on spiritual psychic elements; Samit Basu presents Simoqin prophesies; Shweta Taneja's concept of cult of chaos, etc. Then, an in-depth critical evaluation has been done regarding the importance of the supernatural characters in such writings from the artistic and philosophical point of views and stylistic factors. It is observed that the traditional authors of both the countries have blended mythological and socio-cultural motifs based on supernatural realities whereas in the modern times, the writers are intertextual, scientific as well as artistic and what's more, the contemporary writers have been creating new forms unique to their domains of writing or genres.
Keywords: supernatural, mesmerism, tantric tradition, peta, psychic element, motifs
1. Introduction
First Witch: When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won. (Line 1-4, Sc.1, Act.1. Macbeth)
These lines mark the impressive beginning of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Worth saying, human world has always been allured by some sort of fear, fantasy, miracle or suspense, and the like and this happens to be very much a part of our cultural beliefs. Contents in literary writings referring to spirits, weird elements, psychophony, etc satisfy one of the major readerly or artistic aesthetic components. Critics of our time those who favour realism in literature are of the opinion that horror, magic realism, fantasy, supernatural are deviant features in literature. (Brooks quoted by Smajic in “Supernatural Realism”). But it can be modestly argued that supernatural in literature has been obtained from a number of potential supporting factors associated with mythological, ancient scriptural, religious and creative sources. Some such characters have Biblical, Vedic, epical, prejudiced and ritualistic origin too. As a result, right from the time of the ancient writings till the contemporary horror and detective stories, the supernatural characters assume important positions in the form of ghosts, spirits, vampires, angels, and some other unseen forms. While attributing artistic positions to such elements, the authors incorporate not only creative but also moral, religious, spiritual, tantra and mantra traditions in order to bring out befitting literary taste in their respective writings. What's more, some of the writings become highly imaginative and philosophical only because of the presence of such elements as characters. It may be Alladin fulfilling the wishes or Vetal flying swiftly in the dark stormy night in search of truth; an invisible angel stands as benefactor; rising corpse from the graveyard; a brahmarakshasa residing in a cave or tools like horcrux, pills and potions, alchemy and magic rod used for sorcery. In this context, this paper focuses critically on three components of the presence of the supernatural elements. They are the socio-cultural influences on the authors synchronically; artistry associated with supernatural characters; and a comparative evaluation of use of such characters basing on some of the selected writings from England and India. It includes writings from these two countries because supernatural literature is strong in the both the countries and already a wider spectrum of critical works has been done comparing the content and style of the writings of both the countries.
2. Supernatural in the British Literature: A Critical Focus
To begin with, supernatural elements are very much present there in most of the popular writings in English literature. It ranges from the plays of Shakespeare to Marlowe and then to gets vital constructs in Horace Walpole, Dickens and modern generation writers like J.K.Rowling and many others. The experiment continues as such till now.
2.1 Supernatural in the tragedies of Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Ghost or supernatural plays an important role in Shakespearean tragedies. Shakespeare has introduced ghosts and witches which have supernatural knowledge. For example, in Hamlet, the supernatural appears in the form of the ghost. The ghost in fact is the hero of it. It is often felt that without ghost in Hamlet, the whole play falls to pieces. The ghost in Hamlet has at least a three-fold dramatic significance; it contributes to the general tragic utterances of the play; it monitors the entire action of the play; it shows up the essential manifestations of characters and drives home a certain moral effect. Elizabethan audience believed in ghosts, witches, portents, omens and their harmful effects. Thus, the introduction of the ghosts and witches was a revolutionary innovation in Elizabethan drama.
Analysing the effects of the supernatural elements in Macbeth would be a good attempt. The witches' prophesies to Macbeth and Banquo in the beginning of the play happens to be the most important as they say that Macbeth will become the king. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, upon hearing the witches' prophecies decide that it is Macbeth's fate to become the king. So, they take the "near'st way" to this position by murdering Duncan. It is Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's belief in the truth of the prophesy which propel them to murder. Instead of letting the prophesy come true on their own, they make them happen. In the play, it is noticed that the witches have several roles: that of instigators, tempters, and prophets. Then, in Julius Caesar, a ghost also appears to a leading character on the eve of battle. On the night before the Battle of Philippi, Brutus is sleepless while all around him doze off. As the candle flickers, a ‘monstrous apparition' (4.3.278) appears to him who is the ghost of the murdered Julius Caesar. Brutus interrogates the ghost, asking whether it is ‘some god, some angel, or some devil' (4.3.279). Caesar's ghost seems to represent something much more personal to Brutus and to us too. It represents the things that haunt our lives and our dreams and return to us in our most solitary moments of reflection. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the supernatural serves both to create conflict in the play and also to create resolution. Conflict is created when Oberon decides to punish his wife Titania for not obeying his will and refusing to relinquish the changeling Indian boy to him. Oberon is immensely jealous of her possession of the boy because the boy is particularly beautiful and Oberon had wanted to raise him to be his knights. While focusing on his much-acclaimed play The Tempest, it is noticed that Shakespeare displays the act of magic to mesmerize the audience. The entire plot of this play is very reliant on the supernatural. Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban all have magical powers. Magic lets these characters, mainly Prospero manipulate the other characters and make them do their bidding. Magic also manoeuvres the plot, relationships, love and themes of the play. Magic is the motivation behind movement and plot development. Shakespeare wanted a happy ending in order to make it happen, the characters and events have been manipulated through magic.
2.2.1 Shakespeare, Witchcraft and the Supernatural
Religion was a dominant factor in people's daily life in England during the time of Shakespeare. There are philosophical reasons behind this. At that time, physical science was not developed enough. As revealed by some historians, in Shakespeare's days, people were extremely superstitious. During the Elizabethan era people blamed unexplainable events such as the Bubonic Plague, unexplained deaths or unpleasant illnesses are to be the work of witches. In Macbeth, he used characters such as the witches to bring dark magic and suspense. In 1542 Parliament passed the Witchcraft Act which defined witchcraft as a crime punishable by death. It was repealed five years later, but restored by a new Act in 1562. A further law was passed in 1604 during the reign of James I who took a keen interest in demonology and even published a book on it. The 1562 and 1604 Acts transferred the trial of witches from the Church to the ordinary courts. In addition, he was greatly by the Greek and Roman mythology as well as the Greek dramas written centuries ago.
3. The Character of Mephistopheles and the Concept of Hell in Marlowe (1564-93)'s Dr. Faustus
Mephistopheles is the most important dramatic celebrity in Dr.Faustus. He appears in most of the scenes with Faustus. When he is first seen by Faustus, he looks dreadfully ugly. Faustus immediately sends him away and then he reappears in the form of a Franciscan friar. The mere physical appearance of Mephistopheles suggests the malice of hell itself. Throughout the play, Faustus seems to have forgotten how ugly the devils are in their natural shape. Only at the very end of the drama, when devils come to carry Faustus off to his eternal damnation, he understands the terrible implication of their ugly physical appearance. In most of the scenes, Mephistopheles functions as the representative of hell and Lucifer. Upon Faustus' firmness to know about the nature of hell, Mephistopheles discloses that it is not a place, but a condition or state of being. He leaves a message that heaven is being admitted into the presence of God, and hell, is deprivation of the presence of God. This definition of hell resembled to the newly founded canon of the Anglican Church, which had then broken with the Roman Catholic Church. But Marlowe uses a medieval concept of hell for dramatic purposes. The devils appear in the final scene as Faustus anticipates his eternal damnation, and there are strong suggestions and images of a hell consisting of severe punishment and torment, where ugly devils cloud about and punish the unremorseful sinner. So, here the supernatural character has been used for purely purgatorial and moral purposes. The spirit of renaissance and the dilemma of adopting the right path to wisdom and power (Araalvz: 2012) have been reflected in the play beautifully.
4. Discourses of Yoga, Tantra and Bhakti: Typical Life Transforming Steps in Indian Cultural and Religious System Reflected in Literature
Indian culture, history, mythology, religion and literature have potential resources of varieties of forms and roles of supernatural powers. They can be found in the Vedas, the major epics like The Mahäbhärata and The Rämäyana, the puränas and in the texts of various philosophical schools and religious traditions. There are especially Saiva tantric ones practicing mukti/mumuksu and bhukti/bubhuksus the attainment of liberation on the one hand and worldly enjoyment on the other, and these include attainment of supernatural powers. Yoga and Tantra traditions are the context where it is most heavily situated which is related to jnäna, aisvarya, siddhi and vibhüti as in The Yogasütra, bala in The Mahäbhärata, guna in Hathayoga works, gunästaka and more often siddhi in Saiva Tantric contexts, iddhi, abhinnä, adhisthäna and vikurvana in Buddhist Päli texts, and rddhi and labdhi in Jain texts. So, from this, it is clear that the role of the supernatural is manifold and very much associated with the domain of a complete store of knowledge, intense ritualistic culture and spiritual beliefs. This potential has been transformed into the tapestry of literature too.
4.1 Supernatural in the Ancient Indian Literature
Vishnusharma's The Panchatantra is a widely read book of fables in which there are supernatural elements present as characters. For example, in a story, there was a city called Mahilaropya in the southern country. In it there ruling a king named Amar Shakti. He was like a wish fulfilling tree to the multitudes of supplicants, and his feet shone with rays of light reflected from the jewelled crowns of the kings he had subdued. He was also an adapt in all the sciences but his three sons, named Vasu Shakti, Ugra Shakti and Anek Shakti, were extremely dull headed princes.
The well-known story “Vikram Aur Betaal” is based on Betaal Pachisi, written in the 11th century by Kashmiri poet Somdev Bhatt. These are mesmerising stories told to the wise King Vikramaditya by the witty ghost Betaal. Vikramaditya was a great king who ruled over a flourishing kingdom from his capital at Ujjain. He had immense love for learning as well as for adventure. He was brave, fearless with strong will power. According to the legend the King Vikramaditya, in order to fulfil a vow was required to remove a corpse of Betaal from a treetop and carry it on his shoulder to another place in silence. En route, the spirit of Betaal (in the corpse) used to narrate a story to the king and after completing the story Betaal would pose a query that if he (the king) knew the answer, was bound to respond lest he will break his head into thousand pieces. Moral and religious messages along with defining the right duty of person are what are learnt from this.
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- Pratap Kumar Dash (Autor), 2021, Religious Constructs and the Portrayal of Supernatural Characters. A Comparative Analysis of Select Literary Classics, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1130954
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