Modern Universities in India (Pre-independence, established before 1947)

A comprehensive and detailed history of modern higher education in India is yet to be written. Following is the Chronological list of Higher Education Institutions from modern day India's pre-independent period based on my search so far. I invite the netizens who land up on this post to help make more comprehensive and complete, posting on the information they might have along with weblinks in the comment section below.  Since both colleges and universities are part of University system and whether an institution remained a college or university was a political decision and not educational one, I do not make a distinction between them in the list below. 

1. St Paul’s College, Goa-Portuguese  [Jesuit] (1542-578) 
2. The Delhi College [Now Zakir Husain Delhi College], Delhi, 1792 
3. Fort William College, Kolkata, West Bengal (1800)
4. CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala (1815)
5. Presidency College [Presidency University] (1817) 
6. Serampore College, West Bengal Danish Charter (1818/1827) 
7. Deccan Herald, Maharashtra (1821)
8. Ecole de Médicine de Pondichéry (1823) in Pondichery by French
9. Agra College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh (1823)
10. Scottish Church College, Kokata, West Bengal (1830)
11. Elphinstone College, Maharashtra (1834) [Became separate college from high school in 1856]
12. Calcutta Medical College, (1835)
13. Madras Christian College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1837)
14. Presidency College, Madras (1840) 
15. Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai (1842) [Gained College Status in 1889]
16. St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu [Jesuit] (1844)
17. University Maharaja College, Jaipur, Rajasthan (1844) [Established as Maharaja's School]
18. Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, (1847) [Started as 'Civil Engineering College at Roorkee' Took the name 'Thomason College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee' in 1854, became "The Roorkee University" in 1948 and became Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 2001. Started the first MArch programme in India in 1969]
19. University of Calcutta (1857)
20. University of Mumbai (1857)
21. University of Madras (1857) [Established as Madras University]
22. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, West Bengal, (1860)
23. Patna College, Patna, Bihar (1863)
24. University College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (1866) [Initially called H.H. The Maharaja's College]
25. Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, Odisha (1868) [Became Ravenshaw University in 2006] 
26. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, (1869)
27. Aligarh Muslim University/Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (1875) [Started  with the name ‘Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind’ was renamed ‘Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College’ I 1877. Became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920] 
28. Mohindra College, Patiala, Punjab (1875) [Also called Government Mohindra College]
29. St Aloysius College, Mangalore, Karnataka (1880) 
30. St Stephen's College, Delhi 1881
31. The American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu (1881) [Initial years called Pasumalai College]
32. Panjab University, Chandigarh (1882)
33. St. Joseph's College (Autonomous), Bangalore (1882) [Jesuit]
34. Hislop College, Nagpur, Mahrashtra (1883) [Started the first Journalism Department  in India in 1954]
35. Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences, Nagpur, Mahrarashtra, (1885) started as Morris College, First College in Nagpur
36. Fergusson College, Pune, Maharashtra (1885) [Now Fergusson University]
37. Central College Bangalore, Karnataka (1886) 
38. Allahabad University (1887) 
39. Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra (1887) [Established as Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, took the present name in 1997]
40. St Joseph's College, Darjeeling, West Bengal (1888) [Jesuit]
41. Maharaja's College, Mysore, Karnataka (1889)
42. Scott Christian College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu (1893)
43. Voorhees College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu (1898)
44. Hindu College, Delhi, 1899 
45. College of Agriculture, Nagpur, Mahrashtra (1906)
46. Jadavpur University, (1906) [From 1906 known as Bengal Technical Institute and later as from 1910 College of Engineering and Technology, Bengal, was made Jadavpur University in 1955]
47. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka (1909)
48. Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics (1913) [Oldest Commerce College in Asia]
49. Banaras Hindu University (1916)
50. University of Mysore (1916)
51. Patna University, (1917) 
52. Ramjas College  Delhi, 1917
53. College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka (1917) [Now called University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering]
54. Mysore Medical School, Mysore Karnatka (1917) [In 1924 it became Mysore Medial School and now called Mysore Medical College & Research Institute]
55. Maharani's College, Mysore, Karnataka, (1917) [1979 bifurcated Maharani's Science College for Women and the Maharani's Arts College for Women]
56. Osmania University, Hyderabad, (1918) 
57. Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh/New Delhi (1920)
58. Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi (1921)
59. University of Lucknow, (1921)) [Established as Delhi University]
60. Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan West Bengal, 1921
61. Union Christian College, Aluva, Kerala (1921)
62. Government Science College, Bangalore, Karnataka (1921)
63. St Berchmans College, Changanassery, Kerala (1922)
64. University of Delhi, Delhi(1922)
65. Nagpur University, [Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University] Nagpur (1923)
66. St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, (1923)
67. St. Edmund's College, Shillong, Meghalaya (1924) [Oldest college in Meghalaya, Second Oldest in North East)
68. Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1925)
69. Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (1926) 
70. Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi (1926) [Education in commerce began 1920 however it became a college in 1926 with affiliation to University of Delhi]
71. Agra University [Now Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University), Agra, (1927)
72. Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, 1929 
73. University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (1937) [Established as Travancore University]
74. College of Engineering Trivandrum, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (1939)
75. Vijaya College, Bangalore, Karnataka (1942)
76. St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, Jharkhand, (1944)
77. Govt. College for Women Parade, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (1944) [Established as Maharani Mahila College]
78. G.S. College of Commerce and Economics, Nagpur, Maharashtra (1945)
79. B M S College of Engineering , Bangalore (1946) -India’s first Private Engineering College
80. B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology (1947) [From 2014 KLE Technological University]

Oldest Colleges in India

A good history of Higher Education in India is yet to be written. Even when some efforts in writing it are undertaken the focus have been on Universities and excluded colleges from that history. The Universities in which until recently were only government entities did not have a college of their own and even if they did, they were treated as separate institutions with little autonomy. The damage the affiliation system has done to innovation and knowledge production in India unimaginable. The contribution of the college in India to the economy, civil society is far more than the Universities. Therefore it is important to map histories of colleges in India. 

A clarification to those who are unfamiliar with the Indian Higher Education. In India to this day colleges cannot award degrees and are affiliated to the University which determines, its number for enrollment, subjects and their curriculum it can teach, conducts examinations, and awards degrees. [Yes, the colleges receive step motherly treatments and get reduced to 'teaching shops' in the process. But the resilience and creativity the colleges have shown in the face of such treatment is amazing] There are about 40,000 colleges affiliated to about 300 State and Central Universities. At least 20,000 of them are likely to close down in the next 10-15 years due to the implementation of National Educational Policy . Hence, it is important to map their histories. 

Following is the Chronological List of Colleges I have put together as a step in that direction. I welcome your suggestions to build this list. This list also includes those Universities which began as Colleges and later were upgraded to a University. You may mention the names of colleges the year of establishment and weblinks to support your recommendation in the comment section below.  

1. St Paul’s College, Goa-Portuguese/Jesuit (1542-578) 
2. The Delhi College [Now Zakir Husain Delhi College], Delhi, 1792 
3. College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, Tamilnadu  (1794) [First named 'School of Survey', named Civil Engineering School in 1858, and College of Engineering in 1859]
4. Fort William College, Kolkata, West Bengal (1800)
5. CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala (1815)
6. Presidency College [Presidency University] West Bengal (1817) 
7. Serampore College, Serampore, West Bengal-(1818/1827) Danish Charter 
8. Deccan Herald, Maharashtra (1821)
9. Agra College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh (1923)
10. Scottish Church College, Kolkata, West Bengal (1830)
11. Elphinstone College, Maharashtra (1834) [Became separate college from high school in 1856]
12. Calcutta Medical College, (1835) 
13. Madras Christian College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1837)
14. Presidency College, Madras (1840) 
15. Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1842) [Gained College Status in 1889]
16. St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu [Jesuit] (1844)
17. University Maharaja College, Jaipur, Rajasthan (1844) [Established as Maharaja's School]
18. College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, (1854) [Started as 'Poona Engineering and Mechanical School' and named  "Poona Civil Engineering College" in 1864. It took other names such as 'Poona College of Science'  in 1879 and later as 'Poona Civil Engineering College' and later as 'Government College of Engineering, Poona' in 1911]
19. Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, (1847) [Started as 'Civil Engineering College at Roorkee' Took the name 'Thomason College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee' in 1854, became "The Roorkee University" in 1948 and became Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 2001. Started the first MArch programme in India in 1969]
20. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, West Bengal, (1860)
21. Patna College, Patna, Bihar (1863)
22. University College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (1866) [Initially called H.H. The Maharaja's College]
23. Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, Odisha (1868) [Became Ravenshaw University in 2006] 
24. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, (1869)
25. St Aloysius College, Mangalore, Karnataka [Jesuit] (1880)
26. St Stephen's College, Delhi, (1881)
27. The American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu (1881)
28. St. Joseph's College (Autonomous), Bangalore, Karnataka (1882)
29. Hislop College, Nagpur, Mahrashtra (1883) [Started the first Journalism Department  in India in 1954]
30. Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences, Nagpur, Mahrarashtra, (1885) started as Morris College, first College in Nagpur
31. Fergusson College, Pune, Maharashtra (1885) [2018 declared Fergusson University]
32. Central College Bangalore, Karnataka (1886)
33. St Joseph's College, Darjeeling, West Bengal (1888)
34. Maharaja's College, Mysore, Karnataka (1889)
35. Scott Christian College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu (1893)
36. Voorhees College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu (1898)
37. Hindu College, Delhi, (1899) 
38. Sri Pratap College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir (1905) [Got is present name in 1912]
39. Jadavpur University, (1906) [From 1906 known as Bengal Technical Institute and later as from 1910 College of Engineering and Technology, Bengal, was made Jadavpur University in 1955]
40. Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, Maharashtra (1913) [Oldest Commerce College in Asia]
41. Amar Singh College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir (1913) [Established as Amar Singh Technical Institute]
42. Women's Christian College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, (1915)
43. Ramjas College  Delhi, 1917
44. College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka (1917) [Now called University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering]
45. Mysore Medical School, Mysore Karnatka (1917) [In 1924 it became Mysore Medial School and now called Mysore Medical College & Research Institute]
46. Maharani's College, Mysore, Karnataka, (1917) [1979 bifurcated Maharani's Science College for Women and the Maharani's Arts College for Women]
47. Union Christian College, Aluva, Kerala (1921)
48. Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra, (1921)
49. St Berchmans College, Changanassery, Kerala (1922)
50. St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, (1923)
51. ILS Law College, Pune Maharashtra (1924)
52. Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1925)
53. Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi (1926) [Education in commerce began 1920 however it became a college in 1926 with affiliation to University of Delhi]
54. College of Engineering Trivandrum, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (1939)
55. Patna Women's College, Patna Bihar (1940)
56. Vijaya College, Bangalore, Karnataka (1942)
57. St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, Jharkhand, (1944)
58. Govt. College for Women Parade, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (1944) [Established as Maharani Mahila College]
59. G.S. College of Commerce and Economics, Nagpur, Maharashtra (1945)
60. National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, Karnataka (1946)
61. BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka (1946)
62. B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology (1947) {From 2014 KLE Technological University}

world-university-rankings-explainer-times-higher-education-arwu-shanghai-qs-quacquarelli-symonds

https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/world-university-rankings-explainer-times-higher-education-arwu-shanghai-qs-quacquarelli-symonds

Reflections on Shaping English Studies Curriculum and Pedagogy in India

Following is the link to the PPT of the presentation made at the Refresher Course at the Department of English, Bangalore University on 08 December 2017. The Topics were
1. Archeology of English Literature and English Studies
2. Reflections on Shaping English Studies Curriculum and Pedagogy in India

Click here to view/download the PowerPoint Presentation

Digital Culture and Higher Education

Following is the link to the PPT slides of the talk delivered on "Digital Culture and Higher Education" at 108th Orientation Programme organised by UGC-Human Resource Development Centre, University of Mysore on 13 January 2015. 

"Digital Culture and Higher Education" 

Centre Rejects private B School request to award degrees

null http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Vfrau4b8xhGeUwxOsqZjKM/Centre-rejects-request-private-Bschools-cant-award-degree.html

Analysis

Murder in Cathedral
Analysis
Dissimilar to those specialists who keep up an unaltered perspective of the world and of the advancement of their specialty, T. S. Eliot's life was one of development. In his childhood, he was basically a humorist, ridiculing the traditions of society in ballads, for example, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" or "Representation of a Lady." Later, he turned into a mosaic craftsman of impeccable sensibility when, piece by part, he sorted out his cursing picture of post-World War I progress in The Waste Land (1922). Still later, discovering his moral negativity basically sterile, he peaked his long enthusiasm for rationality, theology, scholarly history, and government by turning into a royalist in governmental issues, a classicist in writing, and an Anglo-Catholic in religion. 

Conceived in the United States and instructed at Harvard, Eliot early settled in England. All through his initial profession he had grown more than an easygoing enthusiasm for the show, not just as a work of art all by itself, however in the theater as a method for guideline. Such early sections as Sweeney Agonistes (1932) entice by their inadequacy, yet Murder in the Cathedral exhibits Eliot's authority of the excellent disastrous structure. 

In this amazingly powerful play, Eliot joins gadgets got from the Greeks—the theme, static activity, and Aristotelian purgation—with his significant responsibility to the Anglo-Catholic ritual. Murder in the Cathedral from various perspectives takes after a medieval ethical quality play whose object is to edify and additionally engross. Yet the work is never just ethically informational. It transcends instruction on the grounds that Archbishop Thomas Becket's inward anguish is made so individual and immortal. Becket's death turns out to be all the more genuine by the ensuing political and fleeting occasions it inspires. 

Eliot solidly accepted that twentieth century dramatization, to be best, must be composed in verse, a conviction he imparted to William Butler Yeats, his Irish contemporary. Eliot's verse is moving without being pompously wonderful in light of the fact that it achieves the group of onlookers on a level that Eliot himself termed the sound-related creative energy. Reacting from the oblivious, the observers are drawn profoundly into the dramatization and start to share Becket's inner desolations by partaking in the practically primitive cadenced controls of Eliot's misleadingly basic verse. 

What makes Eliot's play so convenient is that the four allurements offered to Thomas by the seducers are decisively those confronted, whether intentionally or unwittingly, by the twentieth century group of onlookers: those of common joy, fleeting force, otherworldly power, and, at long last and most quietly, endless wonderfulness. Thomas negates every one of them, straightforwardly, however is enchanted for a period by the fourth flirt, who shows that if Thomas somehow happened to continue on his course, he would be purposely courting suffering to accomplish interminable bliss with God. Inevitably, Thomas counters the contention with a standout amongst the best lines in the play: "The last allurement and the best conspiracy/ Is to do the right deed for the wrong reason." Thomas' assurance of the profound rightness he could call his own behavior reflects that of individuals from the crowd, who gradually get to be mindful they could call their own culpability in acting accurately for deficient reason in any matter, or even of acting egotistically for a decent end. The inclusion of the gathering of people so significantly is another tribute to Eliot's virtuoso. 

Eliot additionally takes a shot at still another level, that of the contention of forces. Every force might maybe be supported in its own specific manner, and Thomas perceives that the lord and the worldly power he speaks to have some avocation. The ruler, besides, had once been Thomas' nearest companion and had, actually, made him ecclesiastical overseer. Thomas contemplates on the obligations to the worldly domain, to fellowship, and to appreciation, yet he keeps on keeping up the power of the otherworldly request over the fleeting. On the off chance that a few things are Caesar's, they are Caesar's simply because God allowed that to be so. 

Murder in the Cathedral was initially arranged in Canterbury Cathedral, a wonderful Gothic artifact giving a most striking setting. Still frequently created in a congregation building, the play picks up quickness through the verisimilitude accomplished by the blend of setting, formality, verse, and tune. Notwithstanding Thomas' splendid Christmas sermon, which opens the second demonstration, Eliot does not lecture. He doesn't lessen the circumstance to a basic instance of good versus detestable. Rather, he makes a contention of personas, each with an all around created reason. The decision is between choices, not contrary energies. Thomas, who expects that he may be a casualty of the wrongdoing of pride, must nevertheless pick either punishment or salvation. 

Eliot, constantly aware of history, realized that the Shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury was among the most popular of medieval objects of dedication and journey. Along these lines, even the supports of the knights who murdered Thomas merit genuine consideration. More than one twentieth century chronicled pundit has thought about whether Thomas were not "dead set" on paradise, a question that Thomas himself contemplates. In the event that the knights' defense is to be dismisses, the inquiry stays in respect to how their very own lot justifications does not keep on being a piece of what persuades individual activity. 

Murder in the Cathedral is a convincing show for praising the themes of confidence, support, power, and clash, which keep on repeating through the ages. Eliot made an ageless work that envisions his significantly religious and otherworldly gathering of lyrics Four Quartets (1943) and his later medications of very much alike themes in plays, for example, The Cocktail Party (1949) and The Confidential Clerk (1953). The majority of Eliot's later verse and plays, notwithstanding, must be read in view of Murder in the Cathedral, for it speaks to an essential accomplishment in his recognized profes

Murder in the Cathedral: plot analysis

Respected Sir,

Please find the plot analysis for Murder in the Cathedral with respect to Aristotle's Poetics attached below.

Yours sincerely,

Phalguni Vittal Rao

III TCE

Murder in the cathedral

Namya Naresh - Murder in the Cathedral plot analysis

 

Murder In The Cathedral Plot Analysis Through Aristotelian Plot Theory

 

According to Aristotle, a tragedy is an imitation an action according to the law of probability and necessity. It is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe. Therefore, it arouses not only pity but also fear as the audience can envision themselves within the Cause- and- effect chain that is created.

 

Murder in the cathedral written by T.S.Eliot, is a ritualistic poetic drama, where the writer is given the opportunity to consider the inner thoughts and doubts of the central character. T.S. Eliot has used elements of the Greek Tragedy in this particular play for example the Greek chorus, which comments and responds to the unfolding drama. In Murder in the Cathedral the chorus comprises of women of Canterbury. The Greek chorus is an iconic element in the play.

 

The first feature of a tragedy according to Aristotle is the 'Plot'. Aristotle further provides the structure of a plot itself. The first component of the plot is the 'Exposition'. In the play Murder in the Cathedral the exposition will probably be the beginning of the play when the women of Canterbury and the other commoners gather at the Archbishop's Hall to discuss the return of Thomas Becket. Here they also introduce the conflict that had taken place in the past between Henry II and Thomas Becket because of which he was exiled or fled to France. Second is the Rising action, the rising action in this play would be the entrance of Thomas Becket and the tempers. One by one as Becket declines the suggestions of each temper it indicates the rising action. Third, is the climax, the climax arrives when the fourth and last temper arrives and suggests that Thomas make himself a martyr. As in doing so he will be remembered as eternally powerful. The tragic flaw or 'Hamartia' is recognized soon after this as Thomas admits to considering martyrdom in his private time. He does not want to be hated by all but be remembered eternally. He struggles with pride. This is followed by the falling action, which is probably his death. And at last the play ends with the denouement when the chorus claims that living up to the sacrifice of Thomas Becket is very difficult however taking up the challenge will make them spiritually richer.

 

The plot therefore is structurally self contained as Aristotle demands, except for the beginning. T.S.Eliot wrote the play assuming that his audience would be aware of the conflict that had taken place between King Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket. The incidents however are bound together by internal necessity, each action leading inevitably to the next with no outside intervention.

 

The plot of Murder in the Cathedral resembles a complex plot, which includes both 'reversal of intention' or 'peripeteia' as well as 'recognition connected to the catastrophe' or 'anagnorisis'. Here the reversal of intention takes place at the end of part I and in the interlude where Becket does not succumb to the temptation offered by the tempers and making himself a martyr for the wrong reasons and decides that he will "no longer act or suffer," and will instead face `his martyrdom not as something he wants, but as something he is willing to accept. He has accepted his fate.  

 

 

Therefore in all these ways we see that Murder in the Cathedral by T.S.Eliot follows Aristotle's plot structure therefore enabling us to analyze it as such. 

 

Namya Naresh

1314028

TCE

 

Subhiksha sahay

5TCE

Influence of Aristotle on T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral

History is past yet its knowledge is always important for future. Aristotle's concepts about plays are still important for playwrights. The world of playwrights like Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot has always looked up to his understanding of tragedies in his book "Poetics". It is said that past dies with time but these renowned playwrights have kept Aristotle alive for generations and his place in the coming years will be the same as it is today.

If you don't believe me you can refer to T.S. Eliot's remarkably effective play "Murder in the Cathedral" which has a deep influence of Aristotelian concept of tragedy where a great man accepts challenges bravely that attempts to stop him from accepting his fate. The play is a sequence of events that had occurred due to a chain of cause and effect of actions. The play links Greek devices like the chorus, static action, and Aristotelian purgation—with his profound commitment to the Anglo-Catholic liturgy.

"Murder in the Cathedral" is known to demonstrate Eliot's mastery of the classic tragic form. This verse drama portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. The chorus in the play uses the element of foreshadowing which is common among Greek tragedies. "Murder in the Cathedral" in many ways resembles a medieval morality play whose purpose is to enlighten as well as entertain. Yet the work is never merely morally instructive.

 Eliot's creation of Thomas has great influence of Greek tragedies. Even though these tragedies have poor ending for their heroes, audiences are meant to respond to the bravery with which these heroes have accepted their deaths. The author used the concept of 'tragic flaw' to reflect the challenge that Thomas conforms in accepting his fate i.e. his pride and moral superiority. These are qualities that make Thomas an effective Chancellor and empower him to defend his Church. However, his pride is also a big obstacle.  

Eliot's audience also knew the basic plot of the myth like the Greek audience, so the experience of the play was about relating to the hero who accepted his fate as a martyr. The beauty is not in whether he would die but in how he will accept his death. The introduction of tempters is to enrich the play. This introduction emphasizes on the stress on Becket's pride, the flow he must overcome to accept his martyrdom peacefully for the right reason. Thomas realistic flaw does not stop the audience to look at him as a Greek hero.

By using these Aristotelian concepts for tragedies, playwrights are able to achieve success in their writing and leave their mark on the coming generations.

Sources:

1. Aristotle - Poetics

2. T.S. Eliot - murder in the cathedral

3. Sophocles- Oedipus Rex

Assignment -plot analysis of murder in the cathedral

Greek Tragedy

Respected Sir,

Please find the attached document.

Regards,
Tanvi Pathak
1414017
III TCE

Assignment (1414025)

Plot Analysis Of Murder in the Cathedral

MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL

T.S. ELIOT

 

Analysis of the Plot

(Based on Aristotle's Poetics)

 

MANAV GAMI

5TCE - 1314025

Department Of Theatre Studies

Christ University

Bangalore

 

The plot is the most important feature of a tragedy. Aristotle defines it to be the arrangements of the incidents, which in this case of Murder in the Cathedral, is not the story itself but the way the incidents occur, depending on it's tightly constructed cause and effect chain of actions. These actions are superior to those that depend primarily on the characters and personality of the protagonist, Thomas Becket.

 

While analyzing Murder in the Cathedral, we could recognize the influence of Greek tragedy on Eliot's creation of Thomas. Eliot writes his protagonist just like it was prescribed in the Aristotelian conception of tragedy that a 'great' man would brave challenges that attempted to ambush him from accepting his providence. Audiences were meant to respond to the bravery with which the heroes in Greek tragedies accepted their deaths, even though it ended poorly for their heroes. This could make a complete relativity to Eliot's character Thomas, and the series of events that his actions cause leading us to the pen ultimatum.

While the concept of a 'tragic flaw' is often overstated, especially in the case of Thomas, it is worth mentioning that he has often been defined by characteristic qualities that both aid and hampered his journey toward accepting his martyrdom.

 

Murder in the Cathedral puts the base to the action of Thomas Becket returning from his exile, which paves way for the other agents (characters and the chorus) to perform their respective actions according to their moral and intellectual characteristics, expressed in what they do and say. This, in turn, forms one constituent part of the tragedy, giving space for the ordered sequence of events, which make up the action being imitated. Thus, Aristotle also says, Tragedy, like all poetry, is an imitation.

 

The plot centers on various matters, the most prominent being the relationship between King Henry II and Thomas Becket.  At the beginning of the play, when the herald announces Becket's return, there is a sense of doom in the minds of the women of Canterbury in the Chorus. This foreshadows the end of the play from the very beginning.

 

The Chorus of Canterbury Women worry that Becket's return could make their lives more problematical, by angering the king. Later on, three priests enter the hall and also lament his absence and debate the ramifications of his potential return. All of this would lead us to what Aristotle calls Unity. This would potentially mean that a plot is not unified because it is concerned with a single person (Becket for instance). An indeterminately large number of things happen to any one person, not all of which constitute a unity; likewise a single individual performs many actions, and they do not make up a single action.

 

 

In this play, the Cathedral is one determinate structure- the structure of the various sections of the events. This would only work if the transposition or removal of any one section dislocates and changes the whole. If the presence or absence of something has no discernible effect, it is not part of the whole. Hence the entire play revolves around the cathedral and the politics within. If taken apart, it not only changes the whole, but also dislocates it along the way. This theory could also be closely associated with the theory of deconstruction, as explained by Derrida.

 

The plot of Murder in the Cathedral also supports the idea of universality. What is plausible is possible; we are disinclined to believe what has not happened is possible, but it is obvious that what has happened is possible- because it would not have happened if it were not. Eliot has produced a mixture of theology and tragedy, and extending this one step further would have the "tragic" hero having little or no hamartia. Here, the plot may be the universalization of a conventional falsehood; hence, as we have seen, Aristotle has no objections to plots based on traditional beliefs about the gods, even though he would dismiss those beliefs on philosophical grounds. Eliot adapts this understanding to a more optimistic, Christian purpose by suggesting that Christians mourn the world that kills martyrs, while celebrating the sacrifice. It is a similar mystery and contradiction, although Eliot's conception is about subsuming one's individuality to God rather than flaunting it in the face of greater forces.

 

The journey of Becket in order to change himself would lead us to another fact called recognition, which marks the change from ignorance to knowledge. Recognition is best when it occurs simultaneously with a reversal, and Becket's action of reversal proves to be successful at this. Historiography, by contrast, although bound to the truth of what happened, has no commitment to universality; history records what events form a sequence linked by necessity or probability. Aristotle explicitly rejects plots constructed like works of historiography, just as had rejected plots constructed like biographies. Just like in Oedipus Rex, the peripeteia of the play is the Messenger's reversal of intention; in seeking to help Oedipus by telling him that Polybus and Merope were not his real parents, he instead creates the opposite effect, providing the crucial piece of information that will reveal that Oedipus has indeed killed his father and married his mother. In Murder in the Cathedral, the last temptation is sudden and unexpected. This is another step in Aristotle's argument. By allowing the King's assassins to kill him, he can acquire the glory of martyrdom. Plots like these could acquire different, yet inconsistent conclusions. Becket soon realizes that even the desire of martyrdom if filled with sinful pride will lead him to the end. He refuses to commit the sin of cherishing the desire. However, as suggested by Aristotle in Poetics, one could be allowed to reach to different conclusions without contradiction. Plots like Murder in the Cathedral are considered superior, where harmful action is either planned or carried out with full knowledge of the circumstances and consequences. Therefore, the murder of Becket explores this idea of bringing superiority to the plot, regardless of the consequences.

 

Citations

 

1. T.S ELIOT - MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL

2. ARISTOTLE – POETICS

3. DAVE MALLOY - http://davemalloy.com/cathedral.html

4. SOPHOCLES - OEDIPUS REX

 

*****