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English - II
Notes Chitra are radiant with the light of poetry and romance. They suggest the gradual development of the
characters. The dialogue by Chitra in the last scene of the play is a fine example of how the character
of Chitra has grown since the first scene. She says:
I am Chitra. No goddess to be worshipped, not yet the object of common pity yo brushed aside like a
moth with indifference. If you deign to keep me by your side in the path of danger and daring, if you
allow me to share the great duties of your life, then you will know my true self. If your babe whom I
am nourishing in my womb, be born a son, I shall myself teach him to be a second Arjuna, and send
him to you when the time comes, and then at last you will truly know me.
Here, an Egoistic Chitra gives place to a devotional Chitra. Her ego has melted away. Her sacrifice
marks out her maturity and understanding power. This love of Chitra is born of deep understanding.
She is content and realizes that she is both a woman and a mother. Now she has a clear vision of life.
Her passion has taught “her the real meaning of love. Similarly Arjuna’s mental growth and spiritual
development is seen in the following lines:
Why these tears my love? Why cover your face with your hands? Have I pained you, my darling?
Forget what I said. I will be content with the present. Let each separate moment of beauty come to me
like a bird of mystery from its unseen nest in the dark bearing a message of music. Let me for ever sit
with my hope on e brink of its realization and thus end my days.
This dialogue points out a gradual rise from the early immature judgement to the ripe understanding
of the character (regarding love and life). Chitra and Arjuna uplift themselves from the physical
level. They understand gradually that the body is only the temple of the soul, and not the God Himself.
It is temporary, changeable and visible. But the principle element is the soul that is immortal, constant
and abstract. They realize:
Atma va are drashtavyaha shrotavyo mantavyo nididhyasitavyon maitrevyatmano va are darshanen
shravanen matya vigyaneneda sarve viditam.
(Neither the body nor anything else is worthy of contemplation. It is only the soul that is worth
seeing, listening, and meditating.)
Thus, the play is a play of passion, love and real love and therefore the dialogues are radiant with the
light of romance and poetry.
21.4 Conflict
Conflict is the soul of a drama. It is the datum and very backbone of a dramatic story. “The dramatic
action develops as a result of the conflict—some clash of opposed individuals, or passions, or interest.”
The conflict may be external or internal. Chitra has both the kinds of conflict—external and internal.
For instance, the external conflict is visible in the beginning of the play, when Arjuna does not pay
attention to the suit of the love of Chitra on the plea that he was in exile and that the vow of celibacy
forbade him to respond to the beauty and charms of a lady. It is with this external conflict that the
play starts. Then Chitra in her conversation with Madana tells him to teach her his lessons; give her
the power of the weak and the weapon of the unarmed hand.
There is an internal conflict too, which is always there in Chitra’s mind when she entices Arjuna by
the charms and graces bestowed on her by the gods. She is fully aware of the fact that the gods have
granted to her this beauty for a year only and therefore she decides that after the end of the period
when she would appear in her real self before Arjuna, she would then eventually repulse him. She
therefore enjoys the period granted with fullness, but thinks continuously that Arjuna does not love
her. It is her borrowed beauty that is loved by him. This inward conflict becomes pronounced when
she ultimately decides that before the expiry of the period of one year she would tell Arjuna all the
facts and thus lift the heavy burden off her mind by this act of penitence. Otherwise, her dream to
clasp Arjuna shall get shattered. Therefore Chitra asks:
Would it please your heroic soul if the playmate of the night aspired to be the helpmeet of the day, if
the left arm learnt to share the burden of the proud right arm?
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