Guest
Chapter:
1. Write down summary of drama Purgatory.
??Purgatory? is a play written by the Irish playwright, W.B Yeats refers to a place or state into which the soul passes after death to be cleansed of the pardonable sins before going to heaven. In this play, Yeats strongly believes that after death, there is purification of the human soul called Purgatory. This human soul is still polluted with crimes , sins, pains, passions, and other worldy human qualities. If a soul has committed simple crimes or sins, they will be pardoned and the soul will be purified. After purification, the soul is pure and it enters the heaven for the spiritual life. However, if the soul has committed unpardonable sins, it wont be purified in the purgatory. Such soul takes the form of the spirit and begins to suffer. The main theme of the play is the remorse of the dead or a spirit which suffers because of its crime of destroying an honoured house when it was alive. The living who suffers the consequences of the crimes of the dead may help to release the suffering soul.
A groom marries a rich lady and the couple had a son. The lady dies during the child birth and the groom wastes her property by spending a lot and drinking. When the sons becomes 16 years old, he murders his own father who burns the honoured house, wastes property and makes his own son deprived of education. The son has become old now and has a bastard son. It is the anniversary of the old mans mother wedding night. The old man sees the ghost of his mother and hears the hoof-beats of his fathers horse. However, the boy sees nothing and calls his father mad. The old man reveals the history of the destroyed house to his son. After the incident is over, the boy talks about the property he has acquired. The bastard son demands for the share in the property of his father, which is denied by him. It arises anger in him. As a result, he takes moneybag from the old man. A quarrel starts between them and the boy threatens to kill the old man. Now, the old man is afraid of his own son who has become 16 years old. The old man thinks that his son may repeat the polluted lineage of his father by killing him and begetting a bastard son. The old man decides to stop the polluted lineage which may go on from generations to generations. Meanwhile, the boy also sees the spirit of his grandfather and he is horrified. The old man stabs his son to death to finish all the consequences. The old man then addresses his mother and claims that he has ended the consequences and hopes for the purification of his mother soul.