" Great Expectations " -- Charles Dickens.

 Introduction : 

        " Great Expectations " , a Bildungsroman, , written by   Charles Dickens was published in 1861. This novel appeared in a serial form in "All the Year Round ", a periodical of that time. Having suggestion and advice from his friend cum adviser, Mr. John Forster, in 1860, Dickens wrote this novel and he wrote his friend : "The book will be written in the first person throughout, and during these first three weekly numbers you will find the hero to be a boy-child, like David Copperfield." This novel is regarded Dickens' best novel and obviously the master piece of  of this great literary artist.

Characters of the Novel :

          The major characters of this novel are : Pip , Mr. Joe Gargery , Mrs. Joe Gargery , Biddy, Miss Havisham , Estella, Herbert. Mr. Jaggers. Wemmick, Compeyson and Magwich.  

The Story in brief:    

       The protagonist of the story is a boy of seven  named Pip who is an orphan. Pip lives with his sister and his brother-in-law Mr. Joe Gargery in the marsh-country. A fearful strange  event happens one afternoon when Pip is standing in the churchyard not far from their house. A stranger of awful appearance, exhausted and haggard looking, with a great iron on his leg, suddenly appears and commands Pip menacingly to bring some food for his hungry self and a file from Joe's smithy. The man threatens Pip if he fails to fulfill his demand or tells the matter anybody he would be killed by a fierce young fellow in a cruel manner. Pip promises and runs home.

       Pip fulfills the demand of the strange man and keeps the matter hidden totally. Now he passes his time  with anxiety and a sense of guilt overtakes him. Gradually Pip grows old enough. A good change comes in Pip's life when Miss Havisham, an immensely rich and grim secluded old woman who lives in 'Satis House', calls Pip to pass some time with her, by playing card and by this or that. Pip meets there with an arrogant girl Estella who is brought up by this lady  Miss Havisham. Estella humiliates Pip in various ways for his rustic appearance and manner. Her behaviour  also instills a  sense and urge to Pip for becoming sophisticated and a gentleman. Not only that, a sort of good feeling for Estella dawns in Pip's mind. However, after some days Pip is released with some  gift cum remuneration amounting twenty five guineas. Next Pip is legally bound as apprentice to Joe. The relationship with  Miss Havisham is not terminated as Pip goes her house occasionally and Pip has high esteem for this venerable lady. 

     Pip works without enjoying it. The profession of blacksmith's apprentice is not honorable to Pip and his way of living in that poor house. He feels that he is doing some degrading. More than that, Estella would soon discover him with his 'black face and black hands'. A sadful incident happens.  Pip's sister is hit from behind by someone and she becomes incapacitated. Biddy, an orphan and the assistant in the night school, who helps Pip to learn the 3Rs, is engaged  for maintaining  the household of Joe and helping Pip's sister. 

    Pip's  helpless cry seems to be like this 'I want to be a gentleman'. Will his desire get a material shape ? God's wish makes every thing possible . A lawyer from London Mr Jaggers appears suddenly on the scene and discloses that one of his clients wants to make Pip a gentleman and Mr Jaggers would take Pip to London if Mr. Joe raises no objection. The condition is that the identity of the benefactor will not be disclosed now and it would come to light at a suitable point of time. All arrangements are made and Pip sets out for London with Mr Jaggers and is settled in this dazzled aristocratic town. Pip is settled in Herbert Pocket's room and an intimacy between the two is developed. Pip has the notion in his mind that his benefactor is no other than Miss Havisham. From Herbert Pip collects much information about Miss Havisham an it is totally surprising. Miss Havisham inherited lot of property from her father. She courted a young man who proved to be a traitor. Her lover promised to marry but  at the appointed hour he did not come. Not only that, he robbed Miss Havisham of a lot of money with the help of her own brother. For all this, she is now fully antagonist to the male folk. She is bringing up Estella in an arrogant way and wants to take revenge with the help of her. Pip is really astonished, yet he still keeps belief on Miss Havisham as his benefactor. 

     Pip has undergone a lot of unexpected changes. He fails to maintain a healthy and good relationship with Joe. When he comes to home town he resides in an inn, not in Joe's house. Actually he is going to  be a gentleman and he wants to win Estella. Pip's intimate friend Herbert is now passing in some financial crisis . Pip, under the guidance  of Wemmick  invests a certain amount of money with a wealthy broker so that Herbert would get a certain handsome amount every year. Herbert is totally in dark about all this and he believes that he has got the amount by chance or by god's grace. The other matter is that Estella falls out with Miss Havisham and proves to be a heartless and ungrateful lady. She also engages herself with Drummle whom she marries later though the marriage proves fruitless. 

        One day the cat must be out from the bag and the identity of Pip's benefactor would come to light. That moment has come in a stormy night when Pip was alone in his boarding. An unexpected visitor arrives to Pip and that person is no other than the convict whom Pip, when a boy of seven, helped with food , wine and a file. The name of this convict  is Magwitch  and he is the benefactor of Pip. He declares that he may be treated as the second father of Pip  and he looks upon Pip more even that a son. All the money he has saved is only for Pip. Magwitch tries to touch Pip but the latter recoils every time . Not only that Pip is flung into an agonized state. He can not imagine that he is a beneficiary of  a criminal, a convict.It is a pathetic as well as a dramatic situation to both Magwitch and Pip. Magwitch tells Pip that he has come to London with a great risk as he was transported for life and the punishment of this crime is death. Strangely enough, Magwitch has decided not to go back from London to Australia.

      Here we see a strange development in the life of  Pip who has recently been suffering from sleeplessness. However, Pip has made a separate secret arrangement for Magwitch which is totally in the knowledge of Herbert who has helped his friend Pip much in this regard. Arthur, brother of Miss Havisham and Compeyson, her escapist and opportunist lover, appear to the scene and start the old antagonism with Magwitch and naturally his life is in a risk now. The complicated situation necessitates the escape of Magwitch. Pip and Herbert plan perfectly and try hard in the process of escape of  Magwitch but all plans and efforts end in smoke. Magwitch  is captured again.

   The last part of the novel is really eventful. Miss Havisham's dress catches fire and this venerable old lady is hurt severely. Magwitch breathes his last in prison. Pip who runs after a lot of debt is severely ill. Naturally, Joe comes, repays Pip's debt, takes care of Pip and departs in an abrupt and strange way. Herbert leaves for Cairo to take charge of the branch office of his firm there. Estella is deserted by her husband Drummel. Joe and Biddy are tied in wedlock. Pip returns to his native village after eleven years. Pip gets a chance to meet Estella who is no more arrogant, but a changed and chastened woman. Pip takes Estella's hand and  they vow that they would never part from each other. This happy union marks the end of the novel.    

Fairy tale elements in " Great Expectations "       

 

     Fairy  is at the centre of the 'fairy tale'. A fairy is an imaginary being, generally in the female shape, with  some magical power and enchanting activities.  A fairy tale transports the listeners or the readers to some wonderland where he/she feels mysterious. In it something happens unexpectedly beyond the capacity of mind and knowledge. Fairy tales, enjoyable and encouraging,  are designed for providing entertainment and  some moral lessons. Sometimes fairy tales are so fabricated that the story seems to intend to deceive someone. Now, we have to probe the story of the novel " Great Expectations "  with a view to find the elements which conform to the fairy tales.

     " Great Expectations "  is a fantasy with some fantastic figures and incidents. Two fantastic figures who come into Pip's life are Magwitch and Miss Havisham. On a cold Christmas eve Magwitch,  a notorious convict who escaped from jail, appears suddenly before Pip, the child protagonist , and projects his hungry, haggard and desperate appearance. He demands menacingly from  Pip some food and a file to cut the irons on his legs. Pip, terror-stricken , rushes to home and steals some food from kitchen and a file from Joe's smithy

and helps the stranger. 

Discussion on the Husband-Wife relationship between Marco and Rosie in Narayan's novel "The Guide" .

Introduction : A young couple , Marco and Rosie, arrived at Malgudi (Rosie came one day after Marco's arrival) and started boarding at Anand Bhavan Hotel which was properly arranged by Raju the tourist guide. From the behaviour of this couple and the description of Raju we get a realistic picture of  husband-wife relationship adeptly maintained by Marco, the research scholar and his highly qualified ( M.A. in Economics) wife  Rosie.  

Husband - Wife Relationship : Marriage is an institution that helps to establish the husband-wife relationship. A young man and such a woman start their conjugal life through marriage which is generally performed amidst incantation, rites, blessings and benediction of the priests, superiors and other well-wishers. The Sanskrit Mantra " Jadidang Hridyang Taba, Tadastu Hridayang  Mama" (the heart of the groom and that of the bride  become one) is distinctly uttered by  both bride and groom. In the midst  of the marriage troop it is a sort of promise  that would maintain and strengthen the husband-wife relationship like the everlasting one. Different marriage rites are prevalent in different community throughout the world and it is the old traditional arrangement.

Come to the point and concentrate on a Newspaper advertisement : "Wanted an educated, good-looking girl to marry a rich bachelor of academic interests. No cast restrictions ; good looks and university degree essential." This was Marco's advertisement and Rosie was not ready to miss the chance. What happened is in Rosie's words : "Well, we met, he examined me and my certificate,we went to a registrar and got married." No congregation was found, no conch was blown, no incantation was uttered, no blessing was showered. The best relationship in the life of  Marco and Rosie started through a commercial instrument and a professional individual.God knows how smooth would this relationship run and how long it would exist. It is indeed  a legally established marriage and this wed-lock has tied Marco and Rosie in the husband-wife relationship.

Relationship is a sentiment and it is to be maintained properly. Social code of conduct and the existing laws of the land may monitor a relationship, may control it to a little extent but can not maintain it, can not develop it. It is the temperament and the characteristics of both the parties that maintain a relationship properly and bring healthy development. When the mentality, taste and activity of two persons become similar to a certain extent a relationship is developed.Quite naturally, the taste and temperament of Marco and Rosie contribute much in the  husband-wife relationship between them. Let us throw some light on this matter.   

Marco is a highly qualified person and  now he is engaged in his research work of  cave painting in the Malgudi area. Some odd behaviour and eccentricity are the elements of Marco's  character. Only the research work, no other thing is important to him. He is a very methodical man who maintains the punctuality and observes the discipline in every step of life. The problem is that he is blunt to the finer feelings and emotional appeal of others,  particularly of his wife Rosie who is  considered as a living domestic machine to him. Rosie,his wife hails from 'a family traditionally dedicated to the temple as dancers', but she is unconventional and unorthodox. Rosie is educated, beautiful and to some extent modernized. What is more, she is sexually fascinating and she does not care for the norms of loyalty and chastity. These two types of individuality can not be well-matched.

 That the  husband-wife relationship between Marco and Rosie  is very much loose is marked at the very moment of their arrival and it is clear from some  words of Raju : " Her arrival had been a sort of surprise for me . The man was the first to appear. I had put him up at the Anand Bhavan Hotel. After a day of sightseeing he suddenly said one afternoon, 'I must meet the Madras train. Another person is coming'. " Marco's  arrival without Rosie and the delayed arrival of Rosie may be due to some unavoidable circumstances,but Marco's mention of his wife Rosie as 'another person' is not normal. Some bitterness in the husband and wife  relationship is exposed from such utterance. 

The meaning  of the relationship in which the  parties are involved must be known first by both of them and then they should realize it properly. This is enough for the smooth development. A good relationship must grow imperceptibly. The true meaning of wife is not clear to Marco who wants such a woman as his wife who would take care of his household and would help him in his academic  career, in every matter of life and would support him both mentally and physically. Marco provides all sort of comforts, money and ornaments. He allows Rosie to move freely but within a protected area. Rosie seems to be a free lady, though she is dealt with a very conservative way. Rosie is destined to be a gifted dancer, but Marco,in no way, would allow her to take part in any dance. Like a caged bird Rosie would have to live with broken wings. She may jump and hop, but would not be allowed to open the wings. If she tried to cross the boundary, her wings would be  clipped again. Such a relationship can not be called  sound and healthy.

  
 

"A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" of James Joyce -- Aesthetic Theory, Epiphany and symbols.

Aesthetic Theory

Introduction : The term 'Aesthetic' is related to art and beauty, very sensitive in the field of art. Aesthetic is based on a very good taste and an elegant style adopted by a person or group of persons in a society or in the  cultural field. In Joyce's novel "A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" we come across some great aesthetic temperament and growth of an artist. The aesthetic enquiries in the mind of the protagonist  Stephen have taken the form of  theory which is known as the Aesthetic Theory of Stephen. The fifth and the final chapter of the novel is devoted to the formation of aesthetic theory of Stephen.This theory is disclosed  by Stephen to his friend Lynch.

Pity and Fear/Terror : Aristotle has introduced the terms 'pity' and 'fear' in structure of a tragedy but these terms are left undefined by Aristotle. Stephen tries hands to define the terms'pity' and 'fear' and begins his aesthetic theory.He says that 'pity' is something that unites one's mind with the sufferers and ' fear' unites it with secret cause. Both the 'pity' and 'fear' (terror) arrest the mind. Both of these are the phases of the 'tragic emotion'.

What is art ? :  Art is the expression of human creative skill,the manifestation of creative activity. Art, according to Stephen , may be proper or improper. The art which excites desire or loathing are improper art. The feelings excited by improper art are kinetic. For example, the porno-graphical  art excites desire and didactic art excites loathing, so both are improper art.Proper art is just the opposite. Feeling aroused by proper art is static. We know, the mind with aesthetic emotion is raised above desire and loathing and in that state mind becomes static. Aesthetic art which is non-kinetic and non-physical is proper art.  

Defination of Beauty : Stephen explains that a thing is called beautiful when its perception pleases a mind. To him good is that towards which the appetite inclines. Following the line of Aquinas Stephen mentions three qualities of universal beauty : 'Integritas' or wholeness, 'Consonantia' or harmony and 'Claritas' or radiance. 'Integritas'  means apprehending something as one and as complete.  'Consonantia' means apprehending something as a thing that is complex, multiple, separable and made up of its parts. 'Claritas'  deals with the whatness of something. This noble quality is experienced by the artist when the aesthetic image is first formulated in his imagination. Stephen says, if any aesthetic work contains integritas, consonantia and claritas, it will appeal to every normal reader as being beautiful.

Mode of communication : In  aesthetic theory  Stephen has said about the mode of communication. The image of beauty in the mind of an artist can be expressed in three forms : lyrical, epical and dramatic. The artist chooses the form 'lyrical' which is the "simplest verbal venture of an instant of emotion".  As it is the projection of the artist himself, his views  or his experiences, it is evidently subjective. The epical form emerges  out to the lyrical. In it the artist presents an image "in immediate relation to himself and to others". It is not subjective like lyrical art. In the dramatic form the image is presented in close relation to others. The personality of artist remains invisible. it is totally impersonal or objective.

Conclusion : Stephen concluded his aesthetic theory  by emphasizing  the artist's objectivity. The personality of the artist, he said, should refine itself out of existence, should impersonalize itself. The artist is " like the God of creation and remains within or behind or beyond or above his art" ; he remains invisible.

Epiphany

        Epiphany means 'manifestation'. Epiphany is a religious term which refers to the Magi who came to see the "babe in manger, but they saw more than the baby, the son of God, Jesus Christ. In  "A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" of James Joyce Epiphany signifies the moment when a man experiences a sudden spiritual manifestation. Epiphany means the revelation of divinity to mortal beings. 

         The spiritual development of Stephen is presented through epiphany in  "A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" of James Joyce. At the end of each chapter we witness the manifestation. For example we may cite Stephen's vision of " the hawk like man flying 

sunward above the sea"

Character sketch of Urmi, the protagonist of Shashi Deshpande’s “The Binding Vine”.

“ My characters are all human beings one sees in the world around. No supermen”, remarked the author Shashi Deshpande in an interview published in ‘The Sunday Observer’. She culls her characters from the urban middle class of modern India focusing on the women and all her novels have the woman protagonist . The same thing happens in the novel “The Binding Vine” in which the protagonist is Urmila, called Urmi in the novel. Urmi is portrayed as a vivid , practical and remarkable character worthy to mention.

Urmi , a lecturer by profession, is a smart and active woman but not very particular about her appearance. Being the upholder of inner beauty and qualities, this plain looking woman wears such glasses and blouses that do not match with her sarees. She cares little about her look and dress, the equipments of outer beauty and attractive appearance. However,  Urmi’s character may be studied and judged on three different heads : Urmi as a mother, Urmi as a house wife and Urmi as a feminist Social Worker

Urmi as a mother: The novel opens and one immediately discovers an angry common place woman who is thoroughly grief-stricken and  restless. She is Urmi, a bereaved mother who has recently lost her daughter Anu. Urmi keeps on brooding on her daughter Anu with a fantastic psychological idea, with heartrending everlasting pain  and naturally she says, “ This pain is all that’s left to me of Anu, without it, there will be nothing left to me of her; I will lose her entirely.” What an expression of a bereft mother it is !  She keeps engulfing love and  immeasurable affection  for not only departed Anu, but also her living son Kartik. Urmi takes all cares of Kartik perfectly and he has no complaints against his mother. Her daughter’s memory always haunts her and the least mention of Anu by anyone of the family makes her impatient and irritated. Even Vanna’s  words of consolation enrage her because she wants no one’s sympathy. This strong-willed lady wants to endure her grief and pain alone, rather stoically. Poor Urmi  is an ideal mother.

Urmi as a house wife: As a house wife  Urmi is readily acceptable. Though she is grief-stricken, she is not a fretful and nagging woman. In her day to day conduct with other members of the family and  with the outsiders she is not insensitive and unsympathetic. Urmi maintains a balanced familial relationship with Kishor and Vanna , she treats her brother Amrut with all tenderness and with her mother-in-law Akka she has no problem. As a housewife Urmi is not submissive like Mira and Vanna and marriage never proves to be a trap to her. She likes independence and always tries to preserve it. This free  and frank woman welcomes the friendship of Dr. Bhaskar for the  warmth and closeness in his behaviour. Being bored for quietness and remoteness of her husband  Urmi finds an ideal companion in Dr. Bhaskar which society may not approve. Her mother does not like   this extrovertness, but Urmi does not like to live like a cloistered  nun just because she is housewife. In spite of all these Urmi’s love for Kishor remains intact and she never proved to be unfaithful in the relationship with her husband. As house wife, though Urmi crosses the boundary of  conventionalism, can not be blamed for the deviation of social code of conduct.     

Urmi as a feminist Social Worker: Feminism is like a crusade in the so called male dominated societies. The feminists have  the legitimate demand that a woman must have right to her mind and body, she must have freedom to choose the way of her life. Urmi is a dauntless soldier in this battlefield. She dislikes the patriarchal society, she abhors the male domination in the wrong way. According to her marriage, the age old honourable institution, should not be a trap in which the womenfolk loses all their honour. Urmi wages a battle to establish the equality for woman. To her woman is not merely an asset of her husband, not merely a thing to fulfil their lust, but to be loved , to make a suitable partner , the better half of life. For this mind she grieves for  Mira’s suppressed conjugal life which finds expression in her poems exposed after her death. Urmi wants to publish these poems. Beyond the boundary Urmi has much sympathy for the helpless mother of lower class Shakutai whose problem she hears empathetically. She keeps constant touch with Shakutai and fights for justice for the rape of her daughter Kalpana. In this cause Urmi is desperate and  dauntless and cares little to the opinion of the members of her families and public in general. She compels the reluctant administration to enquire the rape case of Kalpana, to detect the criminal and to extent the justice to Kalpana,  the helpless victims of wolf like male  persons throughout the world. As a  feminist social worker Urmi is well established. Appreciation goes to Urmi as R.S.Pathak observes, “Deshpande’s woman characters have a strength of their own, and in spite of challenges and hostilities, remain uncrushed”

Ref: IGNOU Study Guide

Theme of love and marriage in Shashi Deshpande’s novel “The Binding Vine”

A few words about the Author:

Shashi Deshpande , an Indian English woman novelist, was born and brought up in Dharwar in Karnataka. Being the daughter of a famous Kannada writer and a Sanskrit scholar she developed a natural love for reading and writing. A Ph.D in English (literature), Mrs. Deshpande, also got her degrees in Economics , Law and Journalism. Though she started her writing  quite late, she became a novelist of repute with her novels entitled ‘The Binding Vine’, ‘Roots and Shadows’,’ The Dark Holds No Terrors’, ‘If I Die Today’, ‘Come up and Be Dead’, ‘That Long Silence’ ( for this novel she was awarded the Sahitya  Akademi award in 1993), ‘A Matter of Time’, ‘Small Remedies’ and ‘Moving On’ and her short story collections with the titles ‘The Legacy’, ‘It was the Nightingale’, ‘It was Dark’ and ‘The Miracle’. The main feature of this novelist is that all her novels have the woman protagonist. Shashi Deshpande has mainly written about the regional culture (Maharashtra and Karnataka) which she knew the best.

Theme of love and marriage : Theme is an important element of a novel as theme helps in developing the plot and the valuable messages are hidden in it. A standard novel is generally developed on  the themes  more than one and this novel of Shashi Deshpande   “The Binding Vine” is not the exception of it. Several themes are explicit in this novel and these are : 

(a) Theme of male domination or patriarchal power 

(b) Theme of woman’s position and their  voice   

(c) Theme of love and marriage 

(d) Theme of human relationship 

(e)Theme of justice 

(f) Theme of social code of conduct  etc.           

The theme love and marriage is perhaps more pervading throughout the novel.

Our society is divided into three stratum- Higher aristocratic class, Middle class and Lower class families and the matter of love and marriage is not identical in these three different levels. In this novel the plot, action and characters are related to the Middle class family and the Lower class family, the Aristocratic class being absent. In these two echelons the theme of love and marriage is manifested in different ways. Love may have different classification like emotive  and impassioned love, sadistic love, perverted love and commercial love, again marriage may be social or arranged marriage, love marriage and accidental marriage. In all the different categories love  and marriage gain different  shape, meaning and dignity. 

In “The Binding Vine”  the theme of love and marriage may be examined  and discussed with the help of the lives of the married couples like Mira-Akka and their husband, Urmi and Kishor, Inni and Urmi’s father, Vanna and Harish, Shakutai and her husband and Sulu and Prabhakar. The first four couples belong to middle class family whereas the last two are from lower class. In these two different echelons  both love and marriage project different meanings and values, but in all cases love remains unfulfilled and marriage proves meaningless in the true sense of the term. Let us through some light in the inner sanctum of love and marriage of the above mentioned couples.

Mira and Akka  are mothers-in-law of the protagonist Urmi. Mira was considered fortunate enough when she was married to ,though without taking her opinion, a young man of a middle class family. Hers was a loving husband who showed obsessive love which proved torture to Mira. His love was too demanding, oppressive in a sense, and naturally Mira was afraid of her husband’s advance. True love for a wife was never cultivated by Mira’s husband to whom love was a sort of physical gratification achieved through the social institution  popularly named Marriage. Mira had no will of her own, no freedom to say ‘No’ that reduced her to a resented unhappy wife. She untimely demised in time of child birth, the birth of Kishor. Akka Was educated and a teacher but she reached at 22, the past marriageable age of that time, and so she came as second wife, not as a bride but as a mother, mother of Kishor, to take care of this little child. It was definitely a marriage, but Akka was unfulfilled as she got neither  love nor freedom from her husband. The conjugal life of Mira and Akka prove that the better half is exploited and wronged in the name of love and marriage.

The story of Urmi  and Kishor is different as they are apparently a good couple. Urmi, unlike Mira and Akka, enjoyed  unlimited freedom for which Kishor never questioned. Kishor was caring and tender to her but he was very quiet by nature which Urmi disliked. In her words : “Kishor will never remove his armour, there is something in him I will never reach.” Urmi had to accept Kishor;  the marriage was normal, the love between them was not pretentious, yet there was an undercurrent of an inscrutable feeling in them. For the coldness of Kishor Urmi was attracted to the closeness of Dr. Bhaskar bur she never proved to be unfaithful to her husband. 

The traditional and  age old  concept of marriage in our society is that the wife would be submissive and the husband is a dominating figure. The wife will always remains passive in taking any decision, passive recipient of husband’s love and active worker in in-law’s house. The perfect examples of it are Inni, Urmi”s mother and Vanna.  Both Vanna and Inni do never assert themselves. They are, as if, dragging love to make the marriage meaningful. Sense of equality, sense of dignity for womenfolk were totally absent in the life of Vanna and Inni which Urmi disliked most. These pictures of love and marriage of middle class families are reflected in ‘ The Binding Vines.’

In the lower stratum of society , in Shakutai and Sulu’s family, love and marriage have a different connotation. Shakutai’s husband left her with three children and lived with another woman. Sulu’s husband Prabhakar only lives with Sulu but his mind is full of bad and pernicious intention . He is attracted to his sister-in-law’s daughter  Kalpana and wants to marry her, to fulfil his lust, not to show love.  The term Love has lost its finer sense and original meaning in the lower class people as love and lust are synonymous to them.  Marriage to them is a social process by which the male members get the licence of procreation and the female members gain a person as security. Both love and marriage may be crumbled up by the male members of the lower echelon of society.

The scrutiny of the lives of the  married couples in‘ The Binding Vines.’ makes it clear that love is an illusion, it is like a mirage; it is very near to be caught but not easy to catch. Love  may be established through marriage but no marriage, either it arranged marriage or love marriage,  can guarantee it. Whatever it may be, so long this world be peopled, love and marriage would be heard, would be seen and would be enjoyed in every stratum of society  in their own shape, style and meaning.  

Ref: IGNOU Study Material.