Character Analysis in Tagore's Home and the World
Delve into the intricate character dynamics between Nikhil, Bimala, and Sandip in Rabindranath Tagore's novel "Home and the World." Explore the contrasting traits, motivations, and relationships that drive the narrative, highlighting themes of love, friendship, idealism, and self-discovery amid a backdrop of societal change and personal introspection.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Hello Students This is JKM. Hope you are all right and following the safety measures against Covid-19 outbreak. Stay home and stay safe. Now, I am preparing this presentation as you are having a problem answering few questions from Home and the World Q.1. Examine the competing characterisations between Nikhil and Sandip in the Home and the World. & Q.2. Tagore s Home and the World presents the clash between the new and the old, realism and idealism, the means and the end, good and evil Discuss the above idea.
Let us start with the basics: Home and the World Original Bengali version Ghare Baire was published in 1916. This was first translated into English by Surendranath Tagore (which was published in 1919), which was incomplete in many respects. Original Ghare Baire is rich with some graet poetic prose, and there are some extracts from the Vaishnab Padavalis, Surendranath Tagore left those things out in his translation deeming those untranslatable. His translation also left out textual matter that is important for understanding the nuances of the characters, and collapsed Nikhilesh s two sisters-in-law into one. The version you have as your text from Penguin publishing house, is translated by Sreejata Guha.
I already have provided you with some study materials on Home and the World, hope those are proving to be helpful. If you have any questions and doubts regarding the study mats. You can put those here I will try my best to answer those. Now, let us begin the discussion on the Q.1. So, we know that there are three main characters in this novel Nikhilesh, his wife Bimala, and his friend Sandip. If we put the character of Bimala at the nucleaus than Nikhilesh and Sandip are two electrons revolving around Bimala. If we make a basic analysis between Nikhilesh and Sandip it is clear that they are nothing like each other though they are very good friends. To answer the first question we have to understand what Nikhil and Sandip competing for. Obviously one of the reasons is Bimala. The second one among others is who is the most ideal man according to their own standards.
Nikhilesh and Sandip are two very good friends or they remained the same until Bimala met Sandip and fell for him. We certainly cannot say that she fell in love with him but it was an indomitable attraction she felt for Sandip and a relationship grew between them which we cannot name as mere friendship. Now, let us have a look at the character of Nikhilesh. We know from the various accounts made by Bimala, Sandip and Nikhilesh that he is an honest and kind of a timid person. He has his own views and ideals and though he can make good arguments advocating them he never pursue another person to accept his ideals. He believes in himself and his ideals and also believes that one day Bimala and Sandip will understand him. We see that even when Nikhilesh could understand that Bimala is falling for Sandip and this illicit relationship will burn his heart and his home he actually does nothing. He even hold no grudge against Bimala or Sandip, but says that he will wait for Bimala to return he believes that she will return as his heart and his love are pure; but if she does not return than he will accept his fate and will console himself saying she was never truly his. In a way we can assume that he not only loves Bimala but respects her too.
If the competition is to get the love of Bimala than Sandip is impatient unlike Nikhilesh. From the very first account made by Snadip we come to know that he does not like to wait but snatch. He believes that his movement will snacth away freedom from the British rulers as well as he will snatch away Bimala from Nikhilesh. He will not wait for anyone s permission, even for Bimala s. He may say that Bimala has instigated a fire in his heart which he likes to call love or respect as he sees Bharat Mata and all the women of Bharat incorporated in her, he actually does not respect her as a woman at all. That is why in every way he tries to pursue her to break the chains of her homeworld. Ironically, even Nikhilesh tried once for Bimala to get out from the narrow household world and to live in Kolkata, in that way she will know the outside world and her mind will broaden up. He even employed a lady teacher (Miss Gilby) for her education in English and all the other things. In the meantime Bimala met Sandip and came to know about the Swadeshi Movement, and the ideas of Nationalism, but these things couldnot broaden up her mind but narrowed it down more. Whereas, Nikhilesh tried to instigate the idea of Humanism in her, she ended up becoming a narrow minded Indian who supported the attack on her teacher (Miss Gilby) as she was a foreigner and belonged to the race of the rulers.
Now, if we analyse some of the Bimalas accounts we see that she actually respected Nikhilesh more than Sandip. Nikhilesh was her husband after all. She always viewed her marriage with Nikhilesh a blessing of the Gods, and also Nikhilesh was a too perfect man for her, she even considered him god and placed him in the temple of her heart. That s why Nikhilesh was competing for the love of Bimala without even competing actively. Now to discuss the next point, who was a more idealistic man we have to point out their believes and ideas; and how they followed them till the end of the novel. We can mention the last part of the novel, where we see Sandip is escaping from the hotspot of the riot and Nikhilesh is receiving a fatal wound, we even do not now by the end of the novel he was alive or not. At last we can mention that Bimala realised her mistake and a drastic change happened towards the last part of the novel regarding who was a real man in the real situation.
So, these are some points you may mention or discuss answering the competing characterization of Nikhilesh and Sandip. Again, stay at home and stay safe. I will discuss the other question on my next presentation. For those who do not have the text I am sending a pdf copy of the text and photocopies of the introduction to the text written by Swagato Ganguly in book published by Penguin. Thank you. s/d Jayanta Kumar Murmu
