Hard Times
Charles Dickens
Hindi play adaptation review
This blog is assigned by dr. Barad sir. In this blog I am going to discuss the theme of "Utilitarianism" and give the review of the play adaptation of the novel and also discuss the other themes of "Hard Times".
Charles Dickens-
Charles John Huffam Dickens was a writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best known fictional characters, and he is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His last words were "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
Introduction-
"Hard Times" is the tenth novel of Charles Dickens. This novel was first published in 1854. The story concerns one Thomas Gradgrind, who raises his children, Tom and Louisa in a stifling and arid atmosphere of curious practicality.
"Hard Times" is the tenth novel of Charles Dickens. This novel was first published in 1854. The story concerns one Thomas Gradgrind, a "fantic of the demonstrable fact". He raises his children , Tom and Louisa, in a Stifling and arid atmosphere, of very serious practicality. This book surveys English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era.
"my satire is against those who see figures and averages, and nothing else".
Said by Charles Dickens in explaining the theme of this classic novel.
Victoroan critic John Ruskin had said of Dickens's work.
"He is entirely right in his main drift and purpose in every book he has written and all of the time, should be studied with close and earnest care by persons interested in social questions."
""Hard Times" is the shortest novel of Dickens, and "Hard Times" has neither a preface nor illustrations, moreover it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. The story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill- town similar to manchester.
'Hard Times' is a musical adaptation of Dickens' novel of the same name. By Khilona Theater for children.
Direction and custom design - kiranDeep Sharma
Adaptation and editing - V.K. Sharma, Kiran Deep Sharma
Lyrics - V.K. Sharma
Muzic direction - kashish Sharma
Voice training and flute - Esra Seher Jung
Cast
Aarti Vasan - Jane and Josephine
Aakash Hingorani - Josiah Bounderby, Clown
Abhishekh - Childers, Jupe, doctor
Chitra - Clown, Mr. pegler
Isha - Mrs. Gradgrind, Mrs. Sparsit
Jyotsana - Louisa
Kajori - Rachel
Kiran Deep Sharma - Singer
Kunal - Tom, Clown
Lakshya Goel - Stephen, narrator, Stuntman
Prakash - Mr. Sleary. James Harthouse
Pulkit - butler, clown
Santosh - Dilkhush, Circus crowd
Saif - Bitzer, Stuntman
Sujid Anwer - Mr. Choakumchild, kidder, stephens wife
Shubham - sissy
Sudito Banerjee - Mr. Gradgrind
V.K Sharma - narrator
This novel is a form of a play adaptation. This play adaptation is very well done. In this adaptation there were Sutradhar and a Nat. They one by one tell the scenes of the novel, and also discuss Charles Dickens' thoughts in this novel. In this adaptation there were many songs, and this is divided into three parts.
Sowing
Reaping
Garnering
Play review
This play adaptation is totally based on the novel HardTimes by Charles Dickens. This adaptation follows every chapter of the novel. On stage they create many scenes, like a home , factory, forest, etc. This play adaptation is beautifully played by characters and this is divided into several things like.
Songs
Sutradhar and Nat
Starting and ending of the play
Themes
Starting and Ending
The play starts with the classroom scene. There were many students,and they were learning about the importance of facts. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind and Mr. McChocukumchild believes that facts are more important than imagination and emotion. Facts are the key to a good education. Mr. Gradgrind educated his own children. Louisa and Tom. According to his philosophy. The novel begins with a sentence.
"Now what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. "
The play contains all the scenes, one by one. Sutradhar narrates the novel, and at the end, Mr.Gradgrind comes to know that imagination, and emotions are more important than facts.
Sutradhar and Nat
Sutradhar and Nat narrate the novel. Sutradhar is an important figure in the play. The use of Sutradhar is to reveal the truth, which may not be directly revealed.
When the novel started, Sutradhar and Nat welcomed the audience. Nat asks Sutradhar why we don't take the new Novel, why we take this old novel, Sutradhar answers that every novel has its own imagination. People take whatever they like into the novel. He said that this novel has its own imagination, and he also gave information about the location of the novel located at cocktown, and also gave the meaning of this Cocktown name.
Nat said that he didn't read the novel, he just prepared these dialogues. There were also many actors in the film industry, who didn't know about the story, they just prepared their dialogue. Sutradhar said that dont worry he narrates the whole story, and told Nat to focus on his dialogue.
Songs
This play adaptation has 5 songs, it is related to the novel. The first song is about industrialism and how it affected characters, it is also about emotion, imagination and compassion.
कमाल की कहानी यह हेतो बड़ी पुरानी जी।
पर गौर से जो देखेंगे तो साफ नजर आयेगी सच्चाई इसमें आजकी।
छू न जाए छाव अगर आप को ये आजाकी तो जो चाहे वो कहेना जी।
तो चार्ल्स डिकेन्स की तरह हम भी क्यों न करे कल्पना कॉकटाउन जैसे शहर की।
रंग जहां की नदी के निर्मल पानी का भी हो चुका ही बैंगनी।
कमाल की कहानी…
ये मशीनी कारखानों का जमाना यूं समझो कि आज का है।
मैटेरियलिज्म पेर अपने अच्छी तरह जमा चुका है।
हर व्यापारी नेता को ये खेल समझ में आ चुका है।
आए हो इस दुनिया में तो कम करो कुछ ऐसा,
हाथो हाथ माल बीके, अच्छे खासे दाम मिले,
ताकि और ज्यादा हो मुनाफा।
Emotions, imagination या compassion से कभी, पेट किसका भरता है क्या?
इनके बदले डॉलर या फिर पाउंड किसी को मिलता है क्या?
इसीलिए तो नजर में इनकी करना और सहानुभूति या किसी से हमदर्दी चीजें हैं बेकार की?
कमाल की कहानी यह हेतो बड़ी पुरानी जी।
पर गौर से जो देखेंगे तो साफ नजर आयेगी सच्चाई इसमें आजकी।
The second song
The second song is about happiness and sorrow. In our life we face such bad things but in the end merricle happens and truth wins.
सुख और दुख का संगम यू तो हर कहानी।।
उलझी उलझी गुत्थम गुत्था।
समझ किसके आए न आखिर आगे क्या होगा।
हर कहानी का मगर अंत निकट जब आता।
चमत्कार कुछ ऐसा होता,
अंधकार को दूर। भगाती आशा की एक नई किरन।
जीत होती अच्छाई की, अंत होता सब जुल्म का।
आज नही तो कल सच्चाई का मिलता फल।
उम्मीदो के दीप जलाती,
हर कहानी नई पुरानी।
शोख मुझे है बचपन से ही।
Third song
Third song is about industrialism in Cocktown city, in this city factory works day and night, here made several things for world workers work very hard and it also about the time that how it goes very fast that when man grown and died they even don't know that their children grown taller than their father, they are busy in their works.
दिन-रात रात-दिन रात-दिन शोर मचाती।
घड़ घड़ करती चलती जाती।
कोक्टाउन की ये मशीने रुक ये जाती कभी कभी।
समान बनाते दुनियाभर का,
बेचारे ये कारीगर भी थक जाते तब कर लेते आराम कभी कभी।
बड़े बड़े सब कारखाने धुआं उगलना जहरीला कर देते ये बंद कभी कभी।
पर कभी न थकता, कभी न रुकता समय का अद्भुत कारखाना।
टीक टीक करना अपनी धुन मे सदा-निरंतर चलता रहता।
ऐसा क्या बना अखिरब्ये समय का कारखाना।
चमत्कार इसका तब नजर आता जब समय गुजर जाता।
लंबा अपने बाप से भी बच्चा हो जाए,
किसके सारे दांत गिरे या गंजा हो जाए,
या नन्हा एक बीज फूट कर कल वृक्ष बड़ा बन जाए।
समय बड़ा बलवान यू टू एक कम ये न कर पाए,
बोए पेड़ बबूल का सोचो उसमे आम कहा से आए?
सोचो… सोचो… सोचो उसमे आम कहा से आए?
Forth song
The Fourth song is about logic and reason.
आंखो में वो चमक नही
होती पे वो बात नही
है ज्ञान के भंडार मगर
पत्थर दिल हम रहे
रत्ती भर भी प्यार नही।
जीवन की मिठास नही
छूने का एहसास नही
छोटी सी एक आस नही।
क्या ही logic क्या है Reason
खतम नही होता, बैठा है सन्नाटा
क्यों है इतना खालीपन
सुनी सुनी क्यों है इतनी सबकी जिंदगी
किस चीज की है कमी?
इस घरमे किस चीज की है कमी?
ये सब जो कुछ हमे सिखाती
कहा से मिलती फुरसत ऐसी
या इतना ही कोई बताओ
कौनसी ऐसी शिक्षा है जो मिली नही इन्हे कभी?
Fifth song
This is the last song of this play-
अमीर हो गरीब हो चाहे, है आखिर इंसान।
बेल नही हम जो करे भाग भाग के काम, रात-दिन सुबह-शाम।
इसीलिए हम करे जगन, Tension थोड़ी हो कम।
कुछ तो मोज-मस्ती हो, या कोई ऐसा खेल-तमाशा।
सोच पुरानी बदले जो, नई सोच से करे शुरुआत।
किसकी है ये जिम्मेदारी, कौन करेगा Drama esa।
कल्पना के घोड़े पर बैठे मिलकर साथ सब
दुनियाभर की सैर करे,
और दुसरो की गलतीओ से के सबक…
हर पेचीदा सवालों के जवाब ढूंढे हस्ते-हस्ते
ताकि सबकी जिंदगी में कुछ तो पड़े फरक।
Question -
Discuss that theme of "Utilitarianism" with illustrations from the Novel or discuss any other theme of your choice.
Theme of "utilitarianism"
Basically utilitarianism is the assumption that human beings act in a way that highlights their own self - interest.
In this novel Dickens provides three examples of utilitarian logic in "Hard Times".
The first example-
In this novel Thomas Gradgrind was one of the main characters. He was the principal of a school in cocketown. He strongly believed in Utilitarianism and continuously provided this philosophy to the students at the school from a very young age, and also as well as his own children. Mr. Josiah Bounderby was also a believer of utilitarianism but he was more interested in the profit, on the other hand a group of circus members, they are totally opposite of utilitarianism.
Thomas Gradgrind example of utilitarianism.
The character Thomas Gradgrind lives with his philosophy that life is nothing more than facts and statistics. He was a successful mind, and the school system of cocktown. Here the educators see children as easy targets just waiting to be filled with information they didn't consider children's need for fiction, poetry, and other fine arts.
In this novel Dickens does not tell us about the success of the other students of the school besides Bitzer. He is successful on paper but he does not have the capacity as a person to deal with life's everyday struggles, Gradgrind's two oldest children, Tom and Louisa are examples of how this utilitarian method failed miserably. Tom and Louisa never have the opportunity to think for themselves, experience fun things in life, or even use their imaginations. But I don't have the strength to smartly survive. Tom was fed up with his fathers strictness and he revolted against him, and he left home.
Louisa's marriage-
Louisa who is the daughter of mr. Gradgrind agrees to marry mr. Bounderby, even though she does not love him. She stays in the marriage with Bounderby and goes about life normally and factually until she is faced with a panic.
When mr. James Harthouse, a young, good looking man, proposes to Louisa, she does not know what to do since she has never had feelings of her own before.
Josiah Bounderby example of Utilitarianism.
He is another prime example of Utilitarianism. He is one of the Wealthiest people in Coketown. He owns a bank and a factory, but he is not really a likable person. His utilitarian philosophy is similar to gradgrinds, In the sense that the factory is the single most important virtue.
Mr. Bounderby maintained through the story his utilitarian views, which says that nothing else is important besides profit.
Here Dickens portrays a different picture of this inequality between social classes and shows he does not care much for it. This book details the philosophy then shows how miserably it failed. How much different would their lives be if the town was not run by Utilitarians?
Circus people as a contrast of utilitarian approach.
The circus people are simple, and open minded human beings whose goal in life is to make people laugh. Dickens portrays them as a step up from the hands but still close to the bottom in the social structure. Those people are hated by others because they are different from others. They represent love, imagination and humor.
Sissy Jupes totally opposite of utili telianism.
Sissy Jupes is daughter of a circus man; she was taken by the Gradgrainds to live in their home; she represents The Circus people with her Innocence and free will. By her presence, her goodness rubs off on the people around her, although it is too late for most of them.
Dickens shows the effects of the utilitarian lifestyle as opposed to the non - utilitarian lifestyle, because of their narrow mind utilitarians ultimately
ended with a great downfall.
"Hard Times" other Themes-
Fact VS Fancy-
Here Dickens despite a horrible system of education where facts facts and only facts are pounded into the school children all day. HereMemorizationInformation is valuableOver actAlt imagination or anything elseCreative thing.
Mr Thomas great Grand believes completely in this system as a result things go very badly for his children Tom great Grand and Louisa great Grand.
Industrialism
Mr Boundary shows the class difference by industrialism. He was owner of a factory airbag and Bank he employs many factory workers as hands because that is all they are to him.
When one of his work works works Stephen black pool come to boundary bees house asking for advice about his bad marriage he was treated as just because of his social status black pool was told that he could not divorce is wife because it would be against the law laws of England but it but if heard one it and easily he came devox is 5 wife.
Unhappy marriage
Lui Sahu is daughter of Mr great Grand she agreed to marry Mr boundary even though she does not love him she marry him because her father told her to marry Mr jayams house who is young good looking man propose her and she doesn't even know what she should do her father never give her three opportunity to think for herself Fong to love someone that's why she does that's why she goes and subscribe in her father slip father left she always been told what to do at what is right for her.
Femininity
Most good characters of hard times are woman Stephen black police a good man but his wife his love his child is a angel CC jupied overcome even the worst intentions of gym her house with her form pure gas fuel games and she married.
To sum up all the things we come to know that facts and practical education are important in life but it is nothing without emotions and imagination. Emotion and imagination are more important things in life. In this novel Mr. Gradgrind teaches facts to their student and his own children, his own children even don't allow to watch circus and enjoy their life, at the end his daughter cried on his lap and Mr. Gradgrind doesn't have any answer about his decisions because he never thinks through his emotions.
Here is Hindi play adaptation of this novel-
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