SHAKESPEARE’S “LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST”

AND TAGORE’S “CHIRAKUMAR SABHA”: A COMPARISON

DR. (MRS.) ILA RAO

Reader in English, Andhra University

Tagore was essentially a poet–a lyricist who was intoxicated with the music and melody of words. The truth and meaning behind life and existence could be comprehended according to him in the melody and rhythm of day to day activity; even action could be better understood through the form of melody. Thus, in his dramas he has concentrated more on the musical appeal than on mere action. It is not that he ignores the plot or the story, but according to him it is the feeling behind drama that is of utmost importance. He clarifies his attitude to drama in his explanation of his first musical drama which was actually written in the form of an experiment–the Valmiki Pratibha (the genius of Valmiki) which later on became the model of all his musical dramas. The significance of the play is lost if it is not heard, sung and seen acted. In another early play Mayar Khela (The Play of Maya) he stresses upon the musical appeal and the power it has to convey the real significance which is beyond the reach of mere words. He describes this play as “a garland of songs with just a thread of dramatic plot running through. The play of feeling and not action was its special feature.” ¹

This preoccupation with melody and rhythm is very noticeable in all his symbolical, philosophical and allegorical plays. In his social dramas, however, as his concentration is more on the story and plot and not just the feeling, music does not play such an important role. Such dramas where Tagore takes on the garb of a social critic are of course few in number and none of them have been translated. Niharranjan Roy in his An Artist in Life has put three of these social comedies in a group as fruits of his maturity, and these are Goday Galad (wrong at the start), Vaikunther Khata (Vaikuntha’s Manuscripts) and Chirakumar Sabha (The Bachelors’ Club), which is a satire on men who imagine that they can ignore Women and go through life as confirmed bachelors. Besides being a humorous comedy ridiculing the eccentricities of certain types of individuals, it is also a satire on the customs aha traditions of aristocratic life. It was the age of the cultural Renaissance and since the movement involved a synthesis of the values of the East and West there were many Indian attitudes and customs which would have to be modified. At the same time he takes the opportunity to attack the general attitude of society towards women; marriage and the caste system. Apart from this Tagore’s chief idea seems to have been a criticism of the unnatural attitude of suppressing normal human desires and the cultivation of artificial barriers which are bound to break down.

In conception and idea the drama appears to be very similar to Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. In spite of the many points of difference, it is interesting to note that the idea behind both the dramas is more or less identical. It may be too far fetched to say that Tagore had taken the idea of his Bachelors’ Club from Love’s Labour’s Lost, but there are distinct similarities. Shakespeare had based his whole plays on the resolution of the ‘School of Night’ formulated by the king of Navarre....

“War against your own affections

And the huge army of the world’s desire” ²

The main motive of the play is to show that a life of abstinence and celibacy unnatural and gives the opportunity it would easily be given up. In the words of Berowne who is the only sensible man in the group

“These are barren tasks

too hard to keep ³

The action of the play consists in a clash between the ‘little world’ of Navarre and the larger world of reality. When the king forces his companions to take a vow of abstinence and celibacy for three years, Berowne is, the only practical man and is sceptical of the whole idea, and he says ‘Necessity will make us all forsworn”. To prove that Berowne was absolutely correct in his assessment the princess of France and her beautiful ladies arrive at Navarre on an important mission. The king protests that he will have nothing to do with them and does not allow them to enter his court. He, however, has to go and meet them and as can be expected the king and his young men fall in love with the young ladies, though they try to keep it a secret it does not take long for them to discover each other. They all decide to give up their vow of bachelor-hood and propose to the ladies. The princess and her companions, however, resolve to make their lovers wait for a full year and thus the play ends on an unconventional note.

“Our wooing doth not end like an old play: Jack hath not Jill: these ladies courtesy might well have made our sport a comedy”. ⁴ There is nothing like a plot or a story in Love’s Labour’s Lost and thus nothing is lost in the unusual ending. On the other hand a conventional ending would not have been in keeping with the play. Besides, in spite of all the criticism of the verbal extravagancies, and word play in the drama, it will not be correct to call Love’s Labour’s Lost a satire or a comedy that highlights the follies of social life at the court. The main theme of the play is the “confrontation between illusion and reality to include the most humanly generous reality of all–that of the continuing life of the whole community against the perennial rhythm of the season.” ⁵

Tagore’s Chirakumar Sabha (The Bachelors’ Club) is a hilarious comedy; at the same time it is a satire on the conventions and customs of aristocratic life. The plot is built around a group of men who like the “School of Night” are members of ‘the bachelors’ club’, and have resolved to go through life without the company of women and as confirmed bachelors. The action of the play consists of various situations which force the members to give up their resolution and get married. Unlike Shakespeare’s play where there is no story, plot and satisfactory ending, here there is a story, plot and a complete end. There is no doubt that Tagore was criticising the unnatural stand taken by the members of ‘the bachelors’ club’, but his main motive was to criticize the customs and conventions connected with marriage in orthodox Hindu families, where it was made unduly complicated by taking into consideration the caste, creed and family. Tagore could not tolerate many of these meaningless orthodox customs. Besides he also believed in independence and freedom for women. One must not forget that Tagore was actively associated with the social emancipation of women. This attitude is very analytically studied in the book Heroines of Tagore by Biman Behari Majumdar.

Though the plot of Chirakumar Sabha is different from that of Love’s Labour’s Lost it is not entirely impossible to notice some points of similarity. In general both plays are a gentle satire against people who are hypocritical and think they can disregard the dictates of nature. At the same time while criticising the unnatural resolution of the king of Navarre Shakespeare was not unmindful of the artificial manners and language of the courts. Tagore also while ridiculing the attitude of the ‘bachelors’ club’, was out to criticize the artificial manners and customs of aristocratic society in Bengal.

In Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost there is no plot, but there is a very complicated plot and story in Tagore’s drama. The story is about the four daughters of an orthodox Hindu widow. The eldest is well-settled in life as she is married to a very humorous and enterprising young man called Akshoy Kumar, who had been actively associated with the bachelors’ club before his marriage. The second daughter Sailabala is a child widow and is the most vivacious and lively of all the sisters. She is educated and cultured and has a very fine wit and sense of humour. The two younger sisters, Nripabala and Nirabala are still unmarried and they have very individualistic views regarding marriage and orthodox attitudes. The mother’s sole worry is the marriage of these two young girls. With the help of a distant cousin she fixes up two young men from a very high caste. One is thin, tall and ugly, dressed in a dhothi that is too short; the other is stout, fat and hairy. The two pretty, young girls are positively terrified at the sight of these two uncouth candidates. With the help of their brother-in-law Akshoy Kumar they plan to get rid of them. He convinces the old lady who is so orthodox that she would not even hear the name of chicken or meat in her house that these two eat only such food and drink whisky. The old lady drops the negotiations and in sheer disgust decides to go on a pilgrimage to Benares. The coast is now clear for Sailabala to put her plan into execution. She has decided to get two young members of the bachelors’ club as bridegrooms for her sisters. The first step in her plan was to throw these young men into the company of her sisters. This could be done if she could change the venue of the bachelors’ club to her house. Sailabala dresses herself as a young man and enrols herself as a member of the bachelors’ club. It does not take her long to persuade the president’s niece and the three other young members of the club to change the location to her house. The members, who were already tired of their vow of celibacy in no time fall in love with the two charming sisters. The Bachelors’ club is very unceremoniously broken up and three young men are conveniently paired off with the three young girls–the two sisters and the resident’s niece. Sailabala comes out of her incognito and is very happy that her plans have proved a success. In spite of all his emancipated views Tagore, however, does not interfere with the life of Sailabala, the widowed sister. She is the only one who is left alone, but she patiently accepts her fate of a Hindu widow. Tagore has shown a considerable advance in his attitude to a young Hindu widow by depicting Sailabala as an educated and bold young woman. As Mr. Mazumdar in the Heroines of Tagore has written “Saila’s boldness of resolution elicits admiration but Tagore has failed to assign to her any significant part in executing the plan. Consecutive social conventions prevalent at the dawn of the present century seem to have deterred him from depicting the young widow as too free or too witty in her talks with the young men. The result has been that her disguise as a young man is almost futile.” ⁶

There are, therefore, many points of resemblance between the two plays. Both are topical plays and have definite references to incidents connected with their respective centuries. The humour of Love’s Labour’s Lost is based on the manners and customs of the aristocratic society of the sixteenth century, and such is the case with Tagore’s Chirakumar Sabha; there are so many allusions to nineteenth century aristocratic society in Bengal that half the humour is lost on a modern audience. Just as there is a lot of formal poetry in Love’s Labour’s Lost, so also in Tagore’s play there are a number of songs and poems which form an important part of the play. Both the plays deal with the social life of the times; but, what is most remarkable is the similarity in ideas between the ‘School of Night’ and the ‘Bachelors’ Club’. The dissimilarities of the two plays are representative of the character and personality the two great writers. Shakespeare gives his play a very meagre plot and an unconventional ending which was his idea of a ‘celebratory resolution.’ Shakespeare’s main intention was to prove that an unnatural resolution could be easily broken. Thus, he did not feel the necessity of ending the play in a conventional manner as the story element was not important. Shakespeare had achieved his end when the four gallants broke their vow. For Tagore on the other hand, the story was most important as his main intention was to show some of the orthodox customs of his society and the evil effect they might have upon life. The resolution of the ‘Bachelors’ Club’ was only an episode in the story and not the main plot of his drama as in the case of Love’s Labour’s Lost. Shakespeare’s play was an early composition and there are many signs of immaturity. Tagore’s play was the result of his mature views and highly critical attitude towards society. The play is a satire on the hypocritical attitude of some people and an attack on some orthodox social customs of Bengal.

¹ Reminiscences. p. 196

² Love’s Labour’s Lost. Act I, Sc. I.

³ Ibid, Act. I Sc. I

⁴ Love’s Labour’s Lost Act V, Sc. II

⁵ Love’s Labour’s Lost by G. Salgado (The British Council) p. 9.

⁶ Heroines of Tagore.–B. B. Mazumdar. pp. 31-32.

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