Issues of Sin and the Possibility of Redemption in The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Sue-Jean Joe ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 162
Author(s):  
Else Ribeiro Pires Vieira

Eliot's plays follow the basic pattern of sin - expiation - communion. Murder in the Cathedral and The Family Reunion are cast in a religious context and the characters hope for communion through suffering and in the after-life. The Cocktail Party, The Confidential Clerk and The Elder Statesman are cast in a secular context and the characters seek to integrate themselves through action, rather than through martyrdom. From The Cocktail Party on, the dramatization of the characters' integration reveals Eliot’s shift from transcendental to earthly concerns. That shift influences his choice of literary genre and approach to character, plot, diction and style. The distinction between comedy and tragedy is erased. Sin begins to be referred to also as an existential problem; priest and psychiatrist become one in other words, Eliot gradually overlaps the languages of religion and psychology. However, the secularization of his last plays does not mean that the experience is not religious. Religion becomes less a matter of Church ritual conceived in the ways of the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (01) ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
Damaru Chandra Bhatta

This paper attempts to explore the essence of the principal Upanishads of the Hindu philosophy in T. S. Eliot’s selected seminal poems and plays. The principal Upanishads are the Ishavasya, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chhandogya, Brihadaranyaka and Shvetashvatara. The famous poems are “Ash-Wednesday” and Four Quartets, and the famous plays are Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party under scrutiny in this paper. The essence of the principal eleven Upanishads is that Brahman is source of all creations including the human beings, who get results according to their karma and are born again and again until they get moksha (liberation) through the self-realization of Brahman; therefore, our goal should be to attain moksha or Brahman, only through which we can experience perpetual peace and unbound bliss. Likewise, Eliot suggests that we should attempt to go back to our “Home” (Brahman, also a symbol of peace and bliss), for which we must attempt several times until we become qualified through the non-dual knowledge of “the still point” (Brahman) and its self-realization along with the spiritual practices of renunciation and asceticism. The practice of unattached action done without the hope of its fruit (nishkam karma) and unselfish devotion (Bhakti) are secondary paths to attain liberation. Since the path of spiritual knowledge can make us realize Brahman immediately, Eliot prefers this path of knowledge to the progressive or indirect paths of action and devotion. Thus, his texts reflect the essence of the Upanishads. The significance of this paper within the context of existing scholarship lies in its introduction to the new knowledge that Eliot’s poems and plays could be extensively interpreted by finding the essence of the Upanishads in his texts. Practically, the knowledge of the essence of the Upanishads can help us know the mystery of life and death, and Atman and Brahman, and get liberation from all kinds of suffering and misery, and the cycle of life and death as well before death.


Neophilologus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dídac Llorens-Cubedo

AbstractT. S. Eliot’s presence in Spanish theatres has taken various forms. His verse drama enjoyed a relative popularity in the late 1940s and in the 1950s: Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party were staged by student and amateur groups, “chamber” companies and even a national theatre. Reviews were ambivalent, most of them finding fault with the plays’ poetic density as an impediment for performance. Although, as a conservative Anglo-Catholic, Eliot was a priori an unproblematic author for the Francoist establishment and its censorship, critics loyal to Spanish National Catholicism were uncomfortable with the tragic fatalism of The Family Reunion, or with the non-judgemental treatment of adultery in The Cocktail Party. When Eliot’s plays were losing their appeal from the late 1950s onwards, only Murder in the Cathedral was occasionally performed in Spain. More recently, intermedial transpositions and dramatizations of Eliot’s poetry have consolidated his image as a great influential poet whose drama is a rarity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Kahr

Few books in the burgeoning field of couple psychoanalysis have garnered as much admiration as James Fisher's The Uninvited Guest: Emerging from Narcissism towards Marriage. In this memorial essay, the author pays tribute to the late Dr Fisher and to his perennial book which explores the ways in which pathological narcissism, among other factors, inhibit the development of spousal intimacy, often destroying partnerships entirely. The author describes the creative way in which Fisher drew upon great works of literature, most notably William Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, and T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party, as well as long-forgotten clinical material from Fisher's predecessors at the Family Discussion Bureau (forerunner of the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships), in order to understand the ways in which marital partners struggle with false self couplings. The author assesses the importance of Fisher's contribution in the context of the history of couple psychoanalysis.


1965 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Helen P. Avery
Keyword(s):  

1963 ◽  
Vol XIII (1) ◽  
pp. 106-106
Author(s):  
RONALD GASKELL
Keyword(s):  

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Ho ◽  
Paul Ashton

Although Egyptians are generally known to be a non-migrating people closely tied to their land, the late 1950s and 1960s saw waves of Egyptians leaving their homeland for Europe, North America and Australia. Migration to Australia was limited prior to this period. In 1933, there were only 500 Egyptian-born people recorded as living in Australia. This number jumped to 8,000 in 1954 and 22,000 by 1966. Today there are around 34,000 Egyptian-born people in Australia and approximately 16,500 of them (nearly 50 per cent) live in Sydney.Around three-quarters of Egyptian migrants settled in Australia before 1976. However, there were substantial numbers of 'recent arrivals' (accounting for almost 15 per cent of this group) in 1986–91. Most of these later migrants came under the family reunion scheme. Generally the Egyptian community is a highly educated one, with qualification levels that exceed those of the average Australian. Today many Egyptian migrants living in Sydney belong to the professional and managerial classes.


1968 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 296-302
Author(s):  
H. Z. MACCOBY
Keyword(s):  

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