LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:11 November 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Kannagi and Desdemona - A Comparative Study

Prof. L. Lakshmanan and Dr. D. Nagarathinam

Abstract

Kannagi, the epic heroine of Silappathikaram in Tamil Literature and Desdemona the heroine of Othello, one of the greatest tragedies of Shakespeare, are compared here with the internal evidences about their characterization.

Keywords: Desdemona, Love-marriage, Platonic love, Anklet, Handkerchief, Revenge, Pathetic end.

Introduction

Silappathikaram(2,4-7) is a long epic story in which ‘Kannagi’ the protagonist represents the Tamil people of 2nd century. She lives among a Tamil community, especially in southern India where three kings (‘Chera’, ‘Chola’, and ‘Pandiya’ ) ruled. It is the long poem, written with songs and dances blended with prose. We find in this epic prose, music and drama. It is called in Tamil as ‘Iyal’ (prose), ’Isai’ (music) and ‘NaDagam’ (drama). It is written in poetic form interspersed with prose and Lyrics. The major characters are not kings or nobles; they belong to the merchant class in the trade city of Poombukar. Hence, it is called a ‘people’s Epic’.

The epic ‘Silappathikaram’ resembles one of the major tragedies of Shakespeare-Othello. The un-heroic hero Kovalan, leaning towards fun and frolic, is lost in sensual pleasure with ‘Madhavi’ - a shadowy character. She plays the role of the villain.

Desdemona is the heroine of Othello(1,3). The story was written roughly before 1604 by Shakespeare. Desdemona was born to Duke Brabantio in Venice. In the tragedy ‘Othello’, a valiant warrior and leader Othello is misled by the poison of jealousy injected into in his mind by Iago, an un-paralleled villain in any literature. The hero is dragged into hell with a thread of envy tied in the nose, like a donkey.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Prof. L. Lakshmanan, M,A., B.Ed., ELT
Visiting Professor
Department of English
Theni Kammavar Sangam College of Technology
Veerapandi
(Via) Theni - 625 534
Tamilnadu
India
laxmanmegalai@gmail.com

D. Nagarathinam, Ph.D.
Principal
Theni Kammavar Sangam College of Technology
Veerapandi (Via.)
Theni-625 534
Tamilnadu
India
Dnagarathinam1960@gmail.com
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