Page 33 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

Elective English—III

Notes Chitra/Chitrângadâ: Daughter of the King of Manipur, Chitrângadâ was raised as a boy
due to the lack of a male heir.

Assorted villagers
Arjuna: A prince of the house of Kurus, Arjuna is a former warrior that is living as a hermit
as of the start of the play.

3.4 Critical Analysis of ‘Chitra’

“I am Chitra, the daughter of the Kingly house of Manipur” utters the princess in this play as she
reveals herself, to the Gods. Undoubtedly this indicate the key to her whole character which is
at once frank and dignified, free as well as self-poised. Born as a woman, she has none of the
untaught arts of look and language of her sex. The simplicity of her speech draws us to her as
much as the purity of her soul. We admire her when she spurns the boon of a God that has made
her person lovely as she craves the perfection of the spirit even more than that of the body. She
appears all the more radiant in her knowledge of true love; for hers “has no touch of earth”. Her
hero and Lord, Arjuna, stands almost a contrast before her even as “the low sun that makes the
colour”.

Rabindranath Tagore has wonderfully divined this short drama containing a thoughtful
suggestion capable of capturing readers for long. For he alone knows to weave with consummate
skill, “an endless meaning in the narrow span of a song”, The whole purport of this drama
strikes us as original both in form and substance. The anguish of Love when it fails in its
expectation of a higher purpose awakens in us the sense of the futility of much that passes for
that noble quality in this world. All that is given us, we begin to realise, is only the shadow. The
psychological factor playing a significant part in this play cannot fail to whet the edge of our
enjoyment, when the poet robes it in the ineffable sweetness of his language with the powerful
aids of fancy and feeling.
There is not much wealth of detail or warmth of expression to engage us here. It is almost all the
narration by either Arjuna to himself or Chitra to the God of Love, of their respective thoughts
and hopes of the other. We are not often treated to situations wherein Arjuna and Chitra are
wrapped up in ecstasy. Yet our heart’s desires receive ample fulfilment from the unlimited
scope for conjuring up the felicity of love from their own speeches which impress us with the
indescribable charm of delicacy. Critics may find this drama too short to deserve the name. But
the true lover of art will scarcely pass without realising that the rare suggestion in Rabindranath
answers for the perfect enjoyment which we may derive from a complete play of many acts.

To minds, which often receive real sustenance from the infinite variety and unstinted flow of
expressions vivifying and portraying to us the depths of love, jealousy, disappointment, and
revenge, which the immortal characters of Shakespeare illustrate, the comparatively little
soliloquy or the brief passages wherein Arjuna and Chitra are made to reveal themselves in this
play, may not have any great appeal. But this is perhaps where Tagore’s genius distinguishes
itself by its singular chasteness and individuality. It is truly the product of the Oriental
imagination. The tendency of art and activity in the West is expansive while in the East it has
shown an immense concentration and singleness of purpose. Her love at first sight when described
by Chitra to the God Madan, has no more ado about it than the typically simple language,
devoid of the colour and detail, naturally imported by poets in order to evoke our emotions.
“Ah, foolish heart! whither fled thy presumption. I know not in what whirlpool of thought I was
lost,” says the princess indeed conveying to us more than adequately the sudden gush of fresh
impulses in her heart which deprived her of the power of speech. Really nothing more is
required to keep the reader alive to the springs of love bubbling in her virgin soul. Nay, the
imagination can fill in the rest left unsaid by her. The mind enjoys the refreshing device of
the poet that has opened up for it a vista of love’s longings by one gentle stroke of the pen.

28 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY