Chapter III. The Family Reunion

Transcription

1 125 Chapter III. The Family Reunion The play opens in the drawing room of a country house called Wishwood in northern London on the sixtieth birthday of Amy, Dowager Monchensey. Her younger sisters Violet, Ivy, Agatha, brothers of her deceased husband Gerald and Charles have gathered to celebrate it. Amy's dialogue reveals that Wishwood winters are cold; she is cold; she fears a sudden death before what she would like to accomplish. Her youngest sister Agatha replies that Wishwood was always a cold place which reminds that it is always a sterile house without any love between the family members. Charles comments that modern young men are decadent and irresponsible; because of cocktails and cigarettes. Gerald comes to the defence of young men; the world has become difficult for them. They ask the opinion of Mary, relative of Amy, about this because she' belongs to the new generation. Mary tells that she does not belong to any generation and walks away from drawing room. This conversation betrays lack of understanding between the old and the yoimg generation, Wishwood resists change, and Amy will not allow any change. Her reluctance to changes stresses the necessity of change. Charles gives explanation for Mary's blunt behaviour; she is nearing thirty and ought to have been married. Mary was brought to Wishwood to be an obedient wife of Amy's first son Lord Harry Monchensey. Amy says she could have been married if every thing had happened as she thought. But Harry married another woman. Return of Harry to Wishwood was upsetting Mary. Amy makes an important statement; she wants to keep

2 Wishwood alive and keep together the members of Wishwood, before death attacks. She expects death at any moment: And death will come to you as mild surprise): 'A momentary shudder in a vacant room'.^ Here we get the first clue of roots of the play. Orestiae Amy fears death, as Clytemnestra did from her son Orestes. She had murdered her husband Agamemnon, with the help of her lover Aegisthus. It was prophesied that Orestes, her son will avenge the murder of his father. Amy makes one more diabolic statement. Only Agatha seems to discover some meaning in death which I can not find. (CPP P. 287) Agatha, the younger sister of Amy, does not give any answer; this gives a clue to the first play of Aeschylus' trilogy Agamemnon where Cassandra, the captive prophetess.from Troy, gives no answer to Clytemnestra's invitation into the palace for family sacrifice. Clytemnestra asks to give some ^sign', if she is unable to speak Greek. Amy reveals that her three sons- Harry, Arthur and John would arrive; she would have her birthday cake and her presents after dinner. The day has provided a special occasion because they are all assembling after eight years. Harry is returning to Wishwood after 'eight' years. "Eight years after" takes us back to Orestes myth. The word According to the Greek myth Agamemnon was murdered by his own wife and her paramour. Her son Orestes returned after eight years of exile and killed his mother to avenge his father's murder. We get a hint that Amy may die when Harry returns to Wishwood. Since Wishwood is a 'cold place' haunted by a curse, death looms over the place. 'On him that doeth, it shall be done'.^ The killing of Clytemnestra by her son Orestes is a divine ordain prophesied by Cassandra. it is better to know. 126 ^ Eliot. T.S., Complete Poems and Plays (London: Faber and Faber, 1975) p, 287. ^ Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940) p, 192.

3 127 at this juncture, to refer to 'the curse on the house of Atreus' to have a better understanding of this 'cryptic Christian play' inspired by Aeschylus' trilogy Ores tela. Atreus and Thrystes were brothers; the elders of Argos selected Atreus to be their King. Thrystes opposed this and seduced the wife of Atreus. Atreus became angry and he exiled Thrystes. Thrystes was rearing Atreus' son Pleisthenes as his own. He sent Pleisthenes, (Atreus' son) to Argos, to kill his father. Without knowing the true identity of Pleisthenes, Atreus got his own son killed. When this treachery was known to Atreus, he invited Thrystes to Argos for reconciliation. In a banquet he served the cooked meat of Thrystes' young sons to their own father. According to Greek sentiment, killing of the young and the weak is the mindless violence beyond limit- 'hubrys'. It incurs the 'dyke', the divine retribution: the curse on the house of Atreus by Greek god Artemis. The house of Atreus was given over to furies where crimes would be committed in a chain to bring misfortune on the inhabitants of the house. Thus the sins of the father visit on their sons and make them to commit new crimes to avenge the old ones. Atreus was killed by Thrystes' son Aegisthus. Atreus' son Agamemnon became king of Argos. He fought the famous Trojan War and returned to Argos. On the same day he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Agamemnon's son Orestes returned to Argos after eight years and killed his mother. This would go on endlessly till the last of the Atreus stock, Orestes, surrendered himself to Zeus, expiated the sin by suffering and pilgrimage, faced trial by Aeropagus and was acquitted of his crime. The feud between the two families and its deliverance is the story of the great Greek classical trilogy. Ores tela. Orestes sought the end of the curse by surrendering his will to the will of God, after suffering and pilgrimage which is the theme of all the plays of T.S. Eliot. Both Oresteia and The Family Reunion have a murder, vengeance

4 128 and trial; but in Eliot's play they are only metaphoric or symbolic. Amy is happy that her son Harry is returning to Wishwood. Contrary to Amy's mood Agatha feels that: It is going to be painful for Harry After eight years and all that happened To come back to Wishwood. (CPP. P. 288) Again this comment of Agatha takes us back to Orestes myth. The prophetess Cassandra speaks prophesy; ^the house is given over to the spirit of vengeance, phantom children, their palms filled with their own flesh, are crying for revenge and another crime will bring fresh stain on the house'. All that happened on the outer plane refers to death of Harry's wife, whom Harry thinks that he has killed her by pushing down to sea. It also refers to death of his father in exile. Harry will be responsible for Amy's death. Will it please him? So it is going to be painful for Harry. Thus a death is foretold in Wishwood. This shows Amy had no love for her husband. Her cruel dominance at Wishwood made him to die in exile Coming back to Wishwood is itself painful because it is a haunted place. None, who lived there, were happy. asylum of ghosts, as described by David Jones. The name It is an Wishwood is probably symbolic, in the opinion of Roy Batten House: The name Wishwood is to stand for universal man's Dream house, located in a wood of wish, memory, turned to, by a man for refuge, but discovered to be only an asylum for ghosts.^ Agatha further explains her reason why Harry's arrival is painful. What ever happened in Wishwood is irrevocable; unhappy childhood, mysterious circiomstances leading to his father's death, and more than anything, aftermath of this knowledge will drive him away from Wishwood; because it is responsible for Harry's predicament. This has an exact Eliot's the Family Reunion as Christian prophecy Christendom vol. X No 3. (Summer 1945) p 317 RPT David E Jones, The Play's of T.S. Eliot (London: Earnest Benn Ltd, 1965) P

5 parallel in Orestes' myth. When Orestes returned to Argos, the first place he visited was his father Agamemnon's tomb. The plight of his elder sister Electra together with the memories of his father's death resolves him to the decision of murdering his mother Clytemnestra. Matricide is an unpardonable sin, for the heinous act of which furies will torture him; this will be very much painful. Agatha's words are prophetic: And thought to creep back through the little door He will find a new Wishwood. Adaptation is hard. (CPP.P, 288) Harry might be thinking that at Wishwood he would be happy, after his Wife's death, suffering, and eight years of wandering in Europe. But he will find that Wishwood is the source of his entire predicament. His coming back is the symbolic expression of Amy's murder. Its parallel can be foimd in Orestes myth. Orestes enters the palace, the accursed Atridae, given over to furies to avenge Atreus' crimes, commits matricide and runs away being chased by furies. Amy contends Agatha that nothing has been changed. Harry will find everything as it was, when he left Wishwood. Agatha then explains that, Harry is coming after suffering and is a changed person. He comes to Wishwood to know about his parents. This knowledge will transform Harry. The new Harry will not find Wishwood as a happy place, because there for him, ^the hidden will be revealed, and the spectre shows them'. (CPP.P.289); spectre- the appearance of Eumenides will be shown right inside Wishwood. In Orestes myth, in Choephorie, Electra revealed the infidelity of her mother, and her immoral association with Aegisthus. Orestes killed his mother but furies chased him. Nobody saw them; only he saw them. The persons around Agatha could not understand her words. In this respect also Agatha's role as a foreteller, can be 129

6 compared to prophetess Cassandra in Orestiae. Cassandra revealed that, the Atredae was given over to Alaster, the daemon, who drives inhabitants of the palace to madness and propelled them to commit bloodshed. The dialogue in The Family Reunion turned on the death of Harry's wife who died in a storm. I do not mince matters in front of the family You can call it, nothing but a blessed relief (CPP.p, 289) Amy's sisters join her and call the death ^providential'. Life is so cheap in Wishwood. The death not only refers to Harry's wife but also of Harry's father, the senior Monchensey. Dramatically these deaths also refer to the murder of Agamemnon and Cassandra who were murdered by Clytemnestra together with Aegisthus. After the murder of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra made similar statements: He, the old wrath, the driver of the man astray, pressure of Atreus for the feast defiled; to assail an old debt he hath paid this life, a warrior and crowned king this day, atones for a torn child.'* On human plane, Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter Iphigenia to appease gods to grant favourable winds to voyage for Troy. This made Clytemnestra angry. During Trojan War, Argos' army committed excesses on Troy, which deserved retribution. There was also a curse on his house due to killing of two children of Thrystes by Atreus. New blood is shed to wash the stains of old blood, as vengeance. Thus killing of innocent children of Thrystes' is avenged by Agamemnon's murder. 'Alaster craves blood for blood' the blood of vengeance to wash out that.^ According to Greek sentiment mindless violence, hubrys and dyke, 130 invokes pity in the mind of Artemis, the divine retribution is let loose over the * Whitney's Oates &. Eugene O'Neil, Jr. The Complete Greek Drama, 13,^^ ed. 2-yols. (New York: Random House. 1938) p, 194. Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940) P, 194.

7 perpetuator of this crime. With this background Ivy exclaims the death of Harry's wife as providential; to siibstantiate this she makes one more statement- Harry's wife might have committed suicide in a fit of temper' suggesting a curse on Wishwood, like the one in Orestela. Amy shows an inhuman callousness towards Harry's wife; There can be no grief, And no regret and no remorse. (CPP. P, 290) A similar action of Clytemnestra is seen in trapping her husband in a bathtub with a net and murdering him. Amy had plans for the happiness of Harry, ^And I hope we can contrive for his happiness'. (CPP. P, 290). To consider a person as *happy' is a bad omen according to Greek sentiment; his fortune is likely to fall apart; and that person becomes wretched, like Agamemnon or Oedipus. What waits for Harry is the turning point of the play. Amy wishes all members of the family to believe that nothing has happened in the household during the last eight years. Thus the conflict of the play is set. Amy is bent on keeping Harry at Wishwood. Amy's analysis of Harry's wife and her instruction to her relatives shows that she is a strong lady as Clytemnestra in Oresteia. Past can not be ignored, by not talking about it. The past in Oresteia direct the present and also future. Now Agatha speaks as if in trans; as Cassandra did. Cassandra's words explain the preparations of Orestes and Electra to kill their mother. It also serves as a mock at ignorant hviman beings who think that by ignoring the past they can build a happy future which is the Marxian attitude of life. Here lies the root of Aeschylus' realisation that 'human events are inte2rwoven with the divine^. *Aeschylus interprets events in hiiman life as interplay between the forces of destiny and 131 * Albin Lesky, Tragedy (Trans) H.A. Franfort (London: Earnest Benn Ltd.1965) p, 57.

8 132 personal will'.' Agatha's dialogue just before the first chorus suggests that there is a design in every life, already destined by the power beyond us. But people interfere with their own plans in vain against the destined. generate confusion. This will This reminds us of Clyt-emnestra's spending libations to Agamemnon's tomb to appease the dead and to counter the ill omen of a bad dream. This act of sending libations only helped Orestes and Electra to recognise each other and plot to kill her. Its modernisation is found in Agatha's words: Neglecting all admonitions. From the world around the corner... (CPP. 290) Every one associated with Wishwood knew how Amy illtreated her husband and it was the chief cause for his death in abroad. Clytemnestra became unfaithful to Agamemnon and murdered him. The chorus, who represented, the Greek people, admonished her. It did not like this graceless act of grace' what would atone for the slaughter of the hero. has been over thrown, and success reigns in its stead' ''With him awe Yet stroke of vengeance swift, smites some in clear day; For some who tarry long their sorrows wait, in twilight dim, on darkness borderland. And some an endless night Of nothingness holds fast^. This clearly foretells the fate of Amy in doom: ^The winds talk in the dry holly-tree, the inclination of moon'. (CPP. 290) ^It gives an effect of invisible presence and the - images which follow are suggestive of normal experiences of the world is suddenly heightened... a feeling of being haunted or visited'^ Does Agatha smell the arrival of furies that are already present before Harry's arrival? In the chorus of the play, ' Ibid, p, Richard G Moulton, Ancient Classical Drama (Oxford: OUP, 1890) P,45 ^ Neville Coghill, The Family Re-Union (London: Faber & Faber Ltd. 1969) p, 188.

9 Amy's relatives show their reluctance in participating in celebration of her birth day; just as chorus in Choephorea reluctant to play for the libation ceremony near Agamemnon's tomb. Another link lies in Agatha's words: The attraction of dark passage, The paw under the door. (CPP. P, 244) It reminds Agatha's own secret relationship with Harry's father as well as Clytemnestra's relationship with Aegisthus. The chorus concludes its reluctance to attend the party; Amy feels that some one is passing the window. It was Harry who has arrived, instead of John, as Amy expected. A series of Surprising events begins from here onwards. Everybody was surprised and happy to see Harry. But Harry stops suddenly at the door and stares at the window and asks them if they like to be stared at through window. at Wishwood now. 133 was Amy assures Harry that he is There would be none but servants who all want to see him. But Harry points towards window, where he has seen some one peeping through. Gerald could see nothing. Harry seems to be seeing them Harry clearly states: But You don't see them, but I see them. And they see me. This is the first time that I have seen them. (CPP. P, 292) These are the exact words that Orestes in Aeschylus Choephoroi, the second play of trilogy: You don't see them, you don't-but I see Them. They are haunting me down. I must move on"''. What Harry sees at the window in view of Orestes myth, are the invisible furies that chased him. The furies followed Orestes because he killed his mother to avenge his father's murder. The eventual action of the play enacts the thematic answers as it proceeds. First what puzzles Harry is, he felt their presence at many places but why does he sees them, why do these forces show themselves only at Wishwood. Though 10 Ibid, p, 17.

10 134 pestered with these thoughts, he sets them aside and wishes his mother on her birthday and speaks to all his aunts and uncles. Amy asks Harry to rest till dinner: ^Your room is all ready for you, nothing has been changed there' (CPP 292) Harry feels irritated to hear quite often 'nothing has changed' while time has transformed innocent Harry into a tortured, miserable and haunted Harry. The rest seemed to him to have withered by age. This again reminds us the act of Clytemnestra; after having murdered her husband foolishly sent libations to Agamemnon's tomb as if nothing had happened. Much has happened to Harry during those eight years after he left Wishwood. This fact is not known to his family members. Harry's word has poetic intonation of Eliot's popular siibject as well: ^Time, Time and Time, and, change and no change'. (CPP. 293) These denote time past, time present and time future. It denotes a lot of change for Harry but no change for his family members. While Orestes myth connotes that the past action (crimes) leads to present suffering and only can end in freedom and bliss in future. In Eliot's poetry time past is present in time present and points towards time future. Harry thinks himself a different person-transformed from innocence. It seems he does not want ^to think of him as a boy Harry' any more, who could be controlled and dominated. family to stop to find a Harry of their own choice. He asks his Only Agatha seems to have understood the mind of Harry, she had crossed that state of mind once in the past: guilt, sin, fear, anxiety and peirplexity. She plainly speaks to Harry that if he does not like, let there be no pretence. understand him and he should try to understand them. They will try to The agitated condition of Harry can be compared to the mind of Orestes who returned to Argos and prayed before the tomb of Agamemnon. He is innocent but the house of Atreus

11 will involve him also in the curse, for he bears Apollo's command to avenge his father's murder by murdering his mother. He is also perplexed when his mother bared her breasts before him to appeal for his filial love. Orestes was ordained to commit matricide and suffer madness there after. Agatha's console is: And you must try at once to make us understand. And we must try to understand you. (CPP 293) Lack of understanding between people is one of the reasons for social unrest. we speak plainly. stress of the speaker. of his wife is one of the reasons. 135 Understanding is achieved whenever Listening patiently reduces the mental Harry is in the state of unrest. Death If he is able to communicate his problem something can be done. More over intention of the speaker must be effectively communicated. Oresteia, the chorus asks Electra, who was in irresolute state of mind, ^to cast off all disguise and pray boldly for friend and against foe'. Then she boldly prays for Orestes and vengeance, thus becomes reunited with her brother. Lack of understanding between different sections of society, different members of a family will breed unrest, stress, strife, doubt and split. That is why communication skill is one of the main criteria to recruit business executives in the modem era. Agatha knows the meaning of death. It is not a mere event but a means that transfoirras a person beyond all proportions. Senior Monchensey's death means nothing to Amy, but everything to Agatha; it has transformed her. Harry may be under transformation after his wife's death. Harry's perplexity is inexplicable, just as that of Orestes, after he kills his mother. delusion. Harry has similar phenomenon in his There fore he explains thus: You will understand less, after I have explained it. All that I could hope to make you understand only events; not what has happened. (After it) (C.P.P. 293) In

12 136 Ironically, the aftermath of an event has played devastating effects in Orestes' myth. Before starting a voyage to Troy, Argos navy was stalled at port Aulis; the reason was lack of favourable wind. for remedy. The prophet Calchas was consulted He, in his fits of prophesy, sees: Two eagles tearing a pregnant hare with an unborn young in its womb... yea, the life unlived, and races unborn they slew.^^ The prophet knew the two eagles were the two kings; Agamemnon and Melenus, the hare was Troy. And the unborn young were all Troy's innocent children. It means victory through sin and cruelty. Further Calchas prophesied a royal virgin's sacrifice will bring favourable winds. Agamemnon decided to sacrifice Iphigenia, his own daughter: So this man hardened to his own child's slaying. As help to avenge him for a woman's laughter and bring his ships relief.^^ Thus Iphigenia's sacrifice made Clytemnestra angry and she slew her husband-to avenge this murder, Orestes killed his mother and was chased by furies. So it becomes very much essential to think of all the pros and cons before committing a deed. The event of death of Harry's wife sets furies behind Harry; this is the impact of an event. This will not be understood by spiritually dead persons, who do not \inderstand an event setting the perpetual struggle of good and evil. Harry sees no redemption from the nightmare of personal spiritual guilt in a corrupted world in which he tells his aunts and uncles that: Life would be unendurable If you were wide awake. (CPP. P, 284) To be wide awake means to have spiritual awareness. is awoken person, who will be conscious of Original Sin It ^^ Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus 1940) p, Ibid, p, 189. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,

13 137 inherent in man-from Christian point of view. In mythical way that person would be haunted by furies. Then he gives the perception of sin in a worldly manner. -He pictures an old house (Wishwood) or Atridae with drains that make it stink; ^no plumber can reach it, in which you awake in the early hours, conscious of the haunting sadness in the ancient bedroom'. Stink is the symbol of presence of sin and furies pursuing the sinner; furies smell foul because they are foul. In this way stinking confirms the presence of furies. I am the old house. With the noxious smell and the sorrow before morning. In which all past is present. All degradation is unredeemable. (CPP. P, 294) Harry finds furies at Wishwood and makes a hypothesis that there is some inherited sin in Wishwood which has passed on to him. The sin committed by some one belonging to that house in the past is still present, since, the old sin, in Greek belief compels to commit more sin. So the degradation is unredeemable. This hypothesis is proved correct when Agatha discloses in detail the account of Harry's father. If we come to Orestes' myth, Atreus killed his nephews and served their flesh in a banquet to their own father. Thus Atredae was handed over to Alaster who drove the inhabitants of the house mad, and made them to commit blood shed: new blood to wash the old blood. This goes on till the sin is expiated. Since Atreus is dead, the curse falls on Agamemnon and then to Orestes. The noxious smell untraceable is not physical but metaphorical presence of sin and its outcome - hell and the furies. It is the guilt, and fear of sin and retribution. The unspoken voice is the silent agony of victims of sin that was heard by Cassandra in Agamemnon: the innocent children of Thrystes whom Atrius killed. It was the shriek of his daughter Iphigenia at Aulis. We are to anticipate, to learn, what sin has surrounded the old house and Harry. Harry also declares

14 138 that past incidents are responsible for the present maladies. It indicates the process of reinstating the forgotten past in the present. Agatha encourages Harry to speak about the hidden truths without bothering whether others understand him or not. Tension of the mind is released by speaking about the suppressed emotions. Then Harry reveals the cause of his restlessness. When Harry awakes to the spiritual awareness, he becomes lonely, amidst the crowd that looks like even among the crowds-which look like lost in a desert. The waste Land, of his contemporary world. So much of sin; the original sin, inherent in man, is driving him out without any goal to reach; so that they will return to the same acts of sin again and again, so that the quantum of sin goes on increasing. One thinks to escape by violence, but one is still alone. It was only reversing the senseless direction. (CPP. p, 294) These lines again take us back to the curse on the house of Atreus. The curse forces the descendants of the house to commit violence; they will be chased by furies, which again will make them recourse to the same mindless violence-towards mere sin and retribution. Now and then there will be, some rest, and then the cycle of sin will continue. This gives a clue that he has committed an act of sin jostled by ghosts and another such incidence will be repeated in the near future. Now Harry returns from his delirium and confesses: That cloudless night in the mid-atlantic, When I pushed her over. (CPP. P, 294) Harry's confession is shocking and confusing. It is known already that Harry's wife was washed away from the deck during a stormy night. night. He tells a different story of cloudless It further gives a clue.

15 139 I had always supposed. Where ever I went that she would be with me; what ever I did that she was unkillable. (CPP. P, 294) The clue is that Harry thought often to get rid of her. But he could not do so. So she was un-killable. When he found that she was not at their cabin he enjoyed a moment of joy and slept heavily as if nothing had happened-rather as if relieved off a burden; hence happy to be lonely. condition that he would live in-a solid wasteland. This is his The happiness of Harry is momentary. Harry confesses before his family that in a fit of frenzy he had pushed her to sea. Both Amy and Charles are shocked. Charles comes forward to console Harry by telling him that Harry's wife was washed away in ocean-as reported in News papers; and also that Harry has nothing to do with his wife's death. His conscience can be clear. ridden conscience. disturbing him away. Charles has hit Harry where it pains much-the guilt This conscience, like cancer, is Harry, as if a philosopher, thinks that the thought of killing is not an isolated incident. outcome of an antecedent that caused' it. It is not only It is the conscience or mind that is deceased but the world in which he has to live. It is indeed the modern world identified with The Waste Land. Harry feels the death of the spirit, loveless ness; sterility; the life means nothing to him: I lay two days in contented drowsiness; then I recovered. I am afraid to sleep. A condition in which one can be caught or the last time and also waking. (CPP. P, 295) The state of heartlessness, lovelessness, fear, anxiety, and a feeling of death when still waking represents the condition of the modern men. Harry is not responsible for his wife's death but has willed it; felt happiness and relieved, slept deeply but suffers from moral conscience. This is the event; but the effects are deadly; the guilt haunts him, as if

16 140 his wife's ghost is very near to him. Some supernatural forces are chasing and driving him to near madness: she is nearer than ever. And they are always near. Here, nearer than ever. They are very close here. I had not expected that ever. (CPP. P, 295) Mythical theme surfaces again. We remember that after Orestes killed his mother, some kinds of apparitions were visible to no one but himself could see them. This drove him mad. He ran away from Atredae to Delphi to supplicate God Apollo. When he was on the altar of Apollo, furies surrounding him were rocked to sleep by magic spell of Apollo. Apollo sent Orestes to Athens to supplicate. Then the ghost of Clytemnestra surfaced from Hades and exhorted the sleeping furies to chase and torture Orestes again. Orestes saw furies in Atredae-his own birth place, because the sin, the reason for their arrival, began from there only. In the same way Harry sees Eumenides in Wishwood, they are very near to him because, his sin or a curse originated from there. Amy advises, rather begs, Harry to take a hot bath before dinner and rest. Neville Coghill interprets the bath: '*Some see in this, the ritual cleansing derived from ancient Greek drama'"' ^. Oedipus was asked to take a bath and offer ritual libation before he was given shelter in the grooves of Eumenides in Oedipus at Colonus. Agatha tells Harry that what he has told so far is only a fragment of the explanation, but there is more to understand. This is the way to freedom. Agatha in this play also acts as a witch doctor that cures a sick soul. Amy gives a cryptic reason for Harry's condition that he is not used to ^foggy climate' of Wishwood' betraying some dark secrets. He would be well if he sees Wishwood again by day. The day means light; enlightenment of Wishwood's " Neville Coghill, the Family Re-Union (London: Faber & Faber Ltd. 1969) p, 194.

17 141 secrets. Eliot's esoteric language unites at once different layers of meaning. Charles advises Amy to ask Dr. Warburton, the family doctor, to dinner; he could give some advice to cure Harry. It is accepted. Charles also calls Downing, Harry's driver and friend for interrogation. This is a sort of trial by aunts and uncles over disappearance of Harry's wife. They could gather from him some valuable information. According to Downing Harry and his wife were not compatible; she never allowed him to be away from her sight. depressed. withstand. Harry was always Harry's wife drank cocktails she could not Many times she had threatened to commit suicide, but she was not the type of doing so. He had seen her looking down from high deck of the ship for a long time before going to bed. Harry is psychic. Thus on secular plane incompatibility and loveless ness is the cause for Harry's troubles. Downing makes an important statement, which Eliot has been incorporated in his next play The Cocktail Partyt man and wife Should not see too much of each other... (CPP. P, 300) Too much familiarity breeds monotony, talking too much breeds dissent; dissent breeds strife, strife causes hatred. Eliot sets a code for couples in the play. Meet every day as a stranger. Every moment is a new beginning. Avoid expecting too much from life. Life is just living together. (CPP. p, 300) This scene is a vestigial form of the great trial of Orestes by Aeropagus. Furies argue that torturing Orestes is their right assigned by Zeus; Orestes committed the matricide and he must be punished for it. Orestes argues that his matricide was a divine ordain by Apollo; a social responsibility, and a filial obligation to avenge his father's murder. Moreover it was an interstate affair. Crime was committed in Argos. Can Athens try the case? Athena appoints a

18 142 court, Aeropagus with jurors to hear the nature of Orestes' crime. The circumstances under which the crime was committed and quantum of punishment already suffered was to be taken into account. Jurors were equally divided; then Athena as a representative of Zeus' will cast her vote in favour of Orestes and he was set free. Furies were given the status of angels named Eumenides. Thus the old ways of vengeance came to an end and a civilised hearing by courts over matters of crime came into being. The old ways of vengeance gave way to mercy and normal life there after. Greek society accepted criminals after pilgrimage and suffering as if nothing had happened; some like Oedipus and Orestes were even given the status of heroes. Downing is not a simple driver of Harry's car, but also a trust worthy loyal friend- Pyledus who accompanied Orestes in Ores tela. He is spiritually more advanced. He too has seen Eumenides, (furies) even before Harry does. He rightly thinks that they are pursuing Harry. He considers them as harmless, and that they have come for Harry's good. Eliot seeks in him: A perfect modern man, fundamentally correct, with right sense of humour, and also with unconscious spiritual power, has a good blend of independence and detachment.''"^ Second chorus reveals if something mysterious will happen to them which they have been brought in together, even though they are not willing to do so. Family compulsions are forcing them. Their behaviour confuses themselves; they resist any sudden change. They anticipate that sudden change may fall on them to recognise reality and illusion. Each member of chorus dislikes the other partially representing the lovelessness of the modernity; because they do not understand one another. Their ego prevents it. They resemble the reluctant chorus in Ibid, p, 196

19 143 Ores tela, asked to perform sepulchral gestures before the tomb of Agamemnon as ordered by Clytemnestra. In the scene after chorus Amy is disappointed at John and Arthur not being arrived though their arrival was assumed to be guaranteed. Harry's arrival was doubtful, but he arrived; she feels something is wrong while everything went wrong. Agatha and Mary often make references to spring which is, as in other works of Eliot, symbol of fertility and joy. Mary complains spring is late and uncertain in northern England. It is the symbolic of the dream she has secretly dreamt: marriage with Harry. In Ores tela, Electra Cherished vengeance against Clytemnestra, and waited for Orestes to arrive at Argos. In The Family Reunion it is targeted against Amy: I almost believed it- She had half killed her (Harry's wife) by willing it. {CPP. P, 304) Agatha is sorry that Harry did something which has made him to be in the half insane and half sane state of mind. It is a thought of killing; and its aftermath. It is not what she (Harry's wife) did to Harry. '*0n him that doeth, it shall be done'"""^. This guilt of Harry has many dimensions. It is a guilt psychologically, which can be overcome by confession, a sin religiously, which can be expiated by suffering, and also an unexecuted crime legally, which has a punishment. This is only a sin which is ought to be expiated by suffering. Mary once again confesses that after Harry's arrival she has the courage to go away from Wishwood, breaking from the binding spell of Amy. Mary's condition is similar to that of Electra in Oresteia. She had no courage to defy her dominant mother, could not forget what her mother did to her father. Once she got the clues of the arrival of Orestes, she got the courage to plot for Clytemnestra's murder. 'She prayed for the beloved and vengeance for foes'. Mary seems to represent the ^^ Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940) p, 186.

20 modernist generation whose thought and anticipation is correct. Her will to break away from Wishwood, and seeking help from Agatha to get a job shows her confident, self sustaining, and daunting courage to make moderate adjustment to outward condition. In response to Mary's request Agatha, like Cassandra the prophetess from Troy, makes a cryptic statement coded like puzzle which proves right later; Mary's decision is only due to fear and pride. It is the fear that Harry may not marry her which would be disappointment; if he does she would be entrapped in Amy's bondage. It is the superficial pride, a mere show of reluctance to marry Harry who had once rejected her and married the other woman. This is about Mary. The other important statement is regarding the future of Wishwood: Waiting and waiting, always waiting. I think this house means to keep us waiting. (CPP.305) The meaning of the word ^this house means' refers back to Oresteia, the house of Atrius, and curse on the house; the dweller will not be happy in it. 144 Its dwellers will be waiting for new crimes, like an inherited property, ^the sins of the fathers visit up on the sons'. Harry takes the clue and enters, he asks Mary Vaiting for what? How could poor Mary reply that she was waiting for him only all these seven years? She evades his question. Harry wonders nothing is physically changed at the instance of Amy which he does not like. The house that does not change diabolically changes persons living in it. He expresses his dislike; It is very unnatural. This arresting of normal change of things; It only makes the changing of people. (CPP. P, 305) Wishwood has been changing people. It changed its master into a victim of matriarch Amy; it has made Amy to renounce her husband to become its mistress, it stirred Harry

21 to runaway from it. It also enabled Mary to nourish an unfulfilled dream, and waste her spring. Many more changes that Wishwood has iindergone will be revealed in the further events. It has its counterpart in Orestes' myth, the notorious Atredae-the accursed house of Atreus has more laurels than the house of Wishwood. It is a ritual. Brother killed brother, father killed son and daughter, wife killed husband, daughter plotted to kill mother, son killed mother; and all these heinous' crimes are committed due to the family curse. Wishwood is the counter part of Atridae. on the house: 145 Mary comments Yes, nothing changes here, and we just go on... Drying up, I suppose. (CPP. P, 306) Mary tries to excuse herself, to change her dress for dinner. It was a light remark. Wishwood, because: own decision? A great change befalls on...other memories. Earlier, forgotten, begin to return out of my childhood. I can't explain. But I thought I might escape from one life to another (CPP. P, 306) Why does Harry return to Wishwood, quite against his Death of Harry's wife was a shock to Harry and its aftermath invoked some sort of renouncing of all human relation. Harry's mind was in what Upanishad's call, an inbetween state - an intermediate zone, in which a soul was destined either to wake to full freedom and immortality or to be reborn in some form. In that in between state one sees the evils (of this world) and the joy (of the yonder world). It is a state of extended and enhanced sensitivity. But the soul caught in desire Feels one life is not enough And returns to this world in form. What makes the soul to be caught in desire is:

22 ... Other memories... of happiness spent with Mary in wishwood and he has thought he may find a new happy life here/^ Thus Harry's return to Wishwood has many dimensions. the spiritual plane it is the other memories made the soul caught in desire. On the psychological plane he has no other place to go. The family cause is, to attend his mother's birthday party and for a family Reunion. On On a logical plane, death of Harry's wife and its aftermath is not an isolated incident; but one of the series of incidents which has a root in Wishwood. He returns to Wishwood in search of its root and lastly on mythical plane he comes to kill his mother by pushing her to desperation and to spoil her rehabilitation plans. His conversation with Mary focuses a light on his childhood at Wishwood. There is a parallel of Orestes' return to Argos with the same multiple dimensions. He could never think of returning to Argos because he would be unwelcome there. Aegisthus. What would have been his kingdom is being ruled by Orestes' mother, who knows Cassandra's oracle that, Orestes would avenge the murder of his father, would welcome him with her axe. He would return to an accursed house, which would offer only suffering to her dweller. Knowing all these things Orestes was forced to return because of two things: firstly to avenge father's murder, the greatest value to be achieved and the very purpose of life; secondly society would look down upon such sons. It will treat him as a woman. otherwise: Moreover Apollo's oracle, bid him to kill his mother Leprosy, madness, exile wasting death should overtake him, if he hung back". 146 Carroll Smith, T.S.Eliot Dramatic Theory and Practice: from Sweeney Agonestes to the Elder Statesman (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1963) p37-38.

23 147 Apollo, the God of revelation, interpreter of the will of Zeus, has warned him, that he must kill his mother or else he will lie under dire penalties for the most sacred of duties unperformed: Dyke, the divine retribution'''^. Surprisingly Harry also does not have any other choices left. While coming back he confesses before Mary that he may escape from his present near insane life; ironically it is the only life from which he can not escape. In Oresteia, Orestes had two important duties to be performed after coming to age; to offer a lock of hair to the river by Argos; and to visit, pray, and offer a lock of hair in due respect to his father at his tomb. Akin to these duties Harry shares his moments of freedom during his childhood with Mary thus: It is absurd, that one's only memory of freedom should be a hallow tree in a wood by the river. (CPP. P, 307) He also enquires Dr Warburton about his deceased father. Agatha gives details about his father and her intimate association with him. His main intention of conversation with Mary is to know about their childhood memories and to question whether she was happy during their childhood. Mary answers that their childhood was not happy because it was imposed upon them. They had no time to invent their own happiness. This behaviour and attitude is now beyond tolerance. Harry reveals his own condition which is a civilization syndrome and evil of modernity: Sudden extinction of all alternatives, hopelessness, and a feeling of being dumped among hopeless, to join the legion of hopeless, unrecognised by other men. (CPP. P, 307) " Richard G Moulton, Ancient Classical Drama (Oxford: OUP, 1890), p, 46. '*Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940) P, 196

24 The severe intensity of this situation seems to be an exaggeration. Harry married rather in a hurry, to spoil the matrimonial design and walked away from Wishwood to escape from Amy's domination. In this way he escaped from Wishwood but falls to another web weaved by his wife. She was equally dominant over her husband, as Amy was. Hence there was no ecstasy in marriage. And there came a thought of getting rid of his wife, but he could not do so. She dies in an accident. He felt joy. He slept deeply for two days. Later furies begin to haunt him. He could not sleep thereafter. When he was awake he felt fear, restlessness and self pity. Then he returned to Wishwood; furies followed him. He felt their presence more intensely there. Where should he go from there? Orestes' situation was identical. He was transported from Argos to save his life from Clytemnestra. He neither could live in exile since Apollo's oracle ordered him to kill-to commit a grave sin (matricide). If he kills her, his subjects will not allow him to rule or stay in Argos. survived, furies will torture and consume him. be tortured by furies in Hades as well. Even if he He will even What has to be done on the part of Orestes? What alternative was left to him? Harry was also in such a trap, where there is no hope. At this situation the world of Harry and that of Orestes merge into one. Mary's words of soothing touch are hopes for hopeless. pessimistically. Harry's hopelessness is a deception. Harry replies Imagining the horror is happiness (bright colour) the glow of the world, that is pleasure of youth and riches, is not there. Hence life is moving towards dusk. The twilight where the day meets the night, when he opens his eyes he sees only horror that awaits him; And the eye adjusts itself to twilight. Where the dead stone is seemed to be batrachians, the aphilous branch ophidian. (CPP. P, 308) 148

25 149 Harry feels that a dead stone seems to be a slimy cold repellent frog. A bare branch looks like a snake hanging down from a tree. It is an allusion to his confused state of mind: illusion, propounded by Shankara Bhagavatpada in his Advaitha philosophy (Brahma sathya; jaganmithya. (Only God is real, the world is unreal). He gives an example, when a man is in illusion a rope looks like a serpent. This expression is a prelude to Harry's renunciation of worldly life. Eliot deliberately brings an imagery of serpent, because Clytemnestra had an evil dream, a day before Orestes' arrival. In her dream, she gave birth to a serpent". She wound it in swaddling cloth and offered her breasts to it. The serpent sucked along with sweet milk her clots of blood also. To avert this inauspicious dream she sent libations to Agamemnon's tomb along with Electra where she met Orestes; they identified each other and hatched a design to kill their mother. Harry has lost all his hope in life, he believes, in a delusion, that the twilight zone is near, and the furies will torture him there for his sin. This is comparable to furies. No sooner Orestes killed Clytemnestra, the act of matricide committed; the furies began to torture him. He cries loudly: Like chariot-driver with his steeds, I am dragged out of my course; at my heart stands terror ready to sing or dance. "^ In bust of frenzy, he can see the furies in physical form, dark robed, and all their stresses entwined with serpents.... Orestes rushes through distance to commence his long career of wandering... that explains Harry's wandering:...java straits, Sunda Sea, Haley's Grand hotel... Furies chase him. ''Furies are prayers of the injured for justice on oppressors, the prayers of the forgotten dead lives and works. That is dyke-the inevitable law of divine 19 P, 50. Richard G Moulton, Ancient Classical Drama (Oxford: GUP, 1890)

26 retribution on the wicked'^" Mary kindles a flame of hope for the hopelessness of Harry:... But in this world another hope keeps springing. In an unexpected place, while we are unconscious of it. (CPP. P, 308) Mary infuses optimism in Harry; he need not be all together frustrated. In fact, Harry has returned to Wishwood to seek a hope and his innocent childhood happiness: 150 The instinct to return to the point of departure and start again as if nothing has happened. (CPP. P, 308) Harry's reply to Mary's question confirms the inherent desire to start afresh a matrimonial life, which once they had missed. It is again an allusion to Orestes myth. After matricide, insanity, wanderings, suffering, trial and acquittal Orestes returned to Argos as a freeman, married his cousin Hermeon and lived happily, as if nothing had happened. Harry can not do so because for him the happiness is not in Wishwood: 'it's like the hollow tree. just not there'. (CPP. P, 308) Mary perceives accurately that, Harry has a negative attitude of fear, hatred, and loathing inside him. to be changed. This has A strong will to face difficulties is needed. That was exactly what Orestes had; will to execute what necessity had commanded. Surrendering one's will to the will of god is a positive attitude. Harry should covert his negative attitude of loathing to a positive attitude of loving. Fear, anger, and hatred spoil a person from inside. The words 'inside', and 'here' triggered tension in Harry. He strongly felt the furies at Wishwood. And in 'inside' they are making him to be panic of dreaming dissolution. Presence of furies and its effect can not be explained, because, they are in the world of sin, guilt, and divine retribution. It is their world; it is his world. Mary has an instinctive knowledge of Harry's condition and can ^"Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940) p, 196,

27 analyse it. He is attached to loathing, (like Amy) an infatuation as others do to loving (like Agatha). Attachment to loathing is misdirected. becoming passive prey to circumstances. out of it. Harry is deceiving himself by 151 He should try to come Harry's infatuation to loathing is psychological. He is incapable of loving, and is not loved. Hatred breeds hatred. Love of Clytemnestra for Aegisthus enabled her to murder Agamemnon. Paris' love for Helen led to Trojan War. Thus maintaining a balance in between these infatuations is necessary to lead a happy life. Mary's wisdom astonishes Harry; her words appear to be from a person coming from a very long distance, which is an allusion to ^the arrival of wise men from the East' to pay their respects to infant Jesus in Bethlehem. This is the myth of the Magi. Her voice as per his explanation: And I hear your voice as the silence Between two storms... (CPP. P, 3 09) It is wroth while to remember, that, the chorus of elders of Argos describe Orestes' insanity and his running away from Atredae as a third storm that has burst up on the house of their king. In The Family Reunion, the death of Harry's wife is first storm and Harry's renunciation of worldly life is the other, which lead Harry to kill Amy. Harry is attracted to a woman for the first time after his wife's death. His behaviour is rather calm, speech is coherent, and not at all annoying; that is why he stops Mary twice from dressing for dinner. Her suggestion to alter his self and an indirect reference to some people who have an infatuation to loathing drop a hint to renew a normal life at Wishwood. Now Mary's significance is dramatically enhanced. Now she becomes Mary in The Waste Land who speaks soothingly in summer, Isolde who had to cross ocean and meet his lover, and also hyacinth girl waiting to meet his lover. '*Is the

28 cold spring'... (CPP. P, 309) Harry's initial words seem to be a positive response to a cryptic suggestion. Mary's words of concern and understanding evoke hiiman love in Harry's cold mind: a spring. But Harry's doubt in that very spring instinctively is revealed in the same ciryptic manner: ^Is the spring; is the spring not an evil time, which excites us with lying voices'? (CPP. P, 309) These lines betray Harry's love for renunciation to which Mary's love is a distracting element. 152 The soul in the between state, which can be destined to salvation, is caught in the memories of carnal desires, will again be degraded to take birth in some form. Mary is such distraction. Does Hariry think once is not enough? What if the dead is buried, will not the spring showers turn them up? Do the gods ritually buried in winter will really be reborn in spring? Mary with flowers, like a hyacinth girl, is waiting for her late spring time; spring time invigorates the nature by sprouting the dead winter and must be the symbol of spiritual regeneration. But here, as is in The Waste Land, is evil which excites Mary and Harry, with lying voices for the moment. The spring that Harry faced was evil, cold for Mary. Unsuccessful marriage makes Harry to doubt another alliance. Mary has to give explanation why spring could be an evil time. It goes back to The Waste Land. Showers of the spring surprise lilac tubers buried in dry land. When water is supplied it taunts roots into life again. The memories of sweet events and hidden desires are intensified. Thus spring evokes a thirst for a new life; but for the soul, once was enough; it is tiresome deed to go through the cycle of birth and death; so spring is an evil time. Will Harry bring fertility to Wishwood which was rendered a waste land by Harry's mother? When roots are activated there will be initial pain; roots stir with pain, it is agony in the dark (beneath the earth); dead veins of trunks begin to throb, buds will