Skip to main content

Christabel by S.T.Coleridge (BA)








Christabel is an unfinished gothic ballad written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It was finished in two years: first part in 1797 and second part in 1800 which was published in 1816 Christabel; Kubla Khan, A Vision; The Pains of Sleep. The story of Christabel is about a central female character of a young lady named Christabel and her encounter with a stranger called Geraldine. She claims to have been kidnaped from her home by a band of rough men.
Christabel is a lovely, innocent, young, and virtuous daughter of Sir Leoline. One night while praying in the woods for her fiancé, she was startled by another distress lady who called herself Geraldine. She further states that she was kidnapped by a gang and left to the jungle for an unknown reason. Geraldine says that she is the daughter of Lord Roland de Vaux, once a friend of Sir Leoline. The two men quarreled, had not spoken for years. She brings Geraldine to share her bed. Once in the bedroom, she puts a spell on poor, innocent Christabel that makes it impossible for Christabel to tell anyone about what had happened that night in the bed.


In reality, however, she is a wicked paranormal woman disguised as Geraldine. Christabel later on finds about her deception, but is forced into silence by that black magic. When she finally breaks the spell and speaks about Geraldine’s deception, Sir Leoline rejects her entreaty, and the long narrative poem ends with Sir Leoline sending a message telling Lord Roland that his daughter is safe and offering reunion. Awkwardly, before any conformation on Geraldine' identity can be established or denied, the poem ends abruptly.

"Christabel" juxtaposes the theme of sin versus religiosity, evil versus devoutness, and sexuality versus purity. In this poem, the central character Christabel represents purity, religiosity and devoutness whereas Geraldine symbolizes evil, sin and sexuality. Christabel is often found praying throughout the poem and one of the most noticeable stuffs in her bedroom is the carving of an angel. In opposite to this, Geraldine says that she does not have the power to praise the Virgin Mary for being rescued by Christabel.

The theme of mysticism is also dominant in Christabel which is Coleridge’s most prominent features. Geraldine is controlled by a mysterious spell in the poem. She puts same spell on Christabel. Once Christabel tangibly recovers from the spell, she seems to change. Christabel’s compassion for Geraldine have vanished and she begs her father to cast Geraldine out of their home. Christabel goes from generous to selfish. The taint of spells upon Geraldine and Christabel suggests the destructive powers of mysticism.

(Roma, Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Summary and Analysis.Bavhloransmaster, 28Mar.2018)

Bibliography

Roma, Shrestha. Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge :.

—. Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Summary and Analysis.Bavhloransmaster, 28Mar.2018. 28 March 2018. <bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/christabel-summary-analysis.html.>.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wordsworth's preface to Lyrical Ballads

  Lyrical Ballads of Wordsworth  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrical_Ballads L yrical Ballads , collection of poems, first published in 1798 by  Samuel Taylor Coleridge  and  William Wordsworth , the appearance of which is often designated by scholars as a signal of the beginning of English  Romanticism . The work included Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” as well as many controversial common-language poems by Wordsworth, such as “The Idiot Boy.” The “Preface” to the second edition (1800) contains Wordsworth’s famous definition of  poetry  as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and his theory that poetry should be written in “the language really used by men.” 1) What is the basic difference between the poetic creed of 'classicism' and 'Romanticism'? Answer) There are two ideologies. We can say that, Romanticism is feel they are free ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pinteresque features of The Birthday Party

The Pinteresque features of The Birthday Party In roduction:- Two of the notable facts about Harold Pinter were, first , that he was a Jew, born of Jewish parents, and , second, that he worked as an actor for some time before he became a playwright. Pinter was born on the 10 th October, 1930 in   Hackney , a London borough. By the time of his birth the Jewish population of North London had risen from about 5000 in 1880 to about 40,000. The North London Jewry was known for its solid middle class respectability and religious conformity. In view of the economic insecurity which the family felt, Pinter’s father worked very hard, working twelve hours a day, making clothes. Eventually, however the old man lost his business and had to work for somebody else. Pinter never forgot this situation in his early life – the combination of calm and unrest beauty and ugliness; and these qualities permeate his work. Personal history had deeply influenced all Pinter’s writi...
1 comment
Read more

SEER

The Source Educational Evaluation Rubric “Seer is a tool to open a discussion with students about evaluating sources and to stress the importance of using quality sources in academic writing. I think SEER is a brilliant idea that will help students become better writers”. -   Danielle Harris, teacher champion high school and a SEER field tester Nowadays, students can use websites for reading materials. So it should evaluate by every students who used the online materials if it is authentic or not. Turnitin Turnitin worked with educators to develop The Source Educational Evaluation Rubric (SEER), an interactive rubric to analyze and grade the academic quality of internet sources used by students in their writing. Instructors and students who use SEER can quickly evaluate a website and arrive at a single score based on five criteria scaled to credibility. Authority, Educational Value, Intent, Originality, and Quality. Authority:-  ...
3 comments
Read more