C. Answer in about 300 words each:
Q1. Discuss the appropriateness of the title ‘The Swan Song’.
Ans. The title of the play ‘The Swan Song’ is based on popular
belief. It is believed that a swan sings a beautiful song before it dies. Here
in this play, Svietlovidoff’s last performance on the stage becomes his swan
song because it is his last performance. It is his beautiful performance like a
swan song. He tells Nikita that the audience called his name sixteen times.
They were mad in enthusiasm and joy. They had also brought garlands for him.
But after the performance, he entered the dressing room, drank wine, and fell
asleep there. When he woke up, he was alone there in the dark pit of the night.
All the theatre crew including the audience had left for their home. No one
woke him up to take him to his house.
Now he laments the apathy he received from his own fellows. Then
he lands down into his memory lane and remembers how the audience was selfish.
They loved his performances but not him. His own worship of art was an
illusion. The lady whom he loved refused him to marry. She wanted him to quit
the stage. He also realises the limitation of age. Nikita becomes a medium for
him to vent out his frustration. He could not make a family because he had an
obsession with acting. But at the fag end of his life, he becomes a victim of
loneliness and alienation. He weeps and cries in front of Nikita. But Nikita
encourages him by saying that he is a genius and has the power to perform well.
Then he performs a few lines from Shakespeare’s play, first from King Lear and
then from Othello. At last, he concludes that old age is no hurdle if a man is
a genius and has a talent.
Thus his last performance and his reminiscences become
Svietlovidoff’s swan song. Thus the title is quite appropriate. (318 words)
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