Influence of the Renissance, Reformation and Puritan movements on Milton's great epic Paradise Lost

Renaissance

 "Renaissance" literally means "rebirth." It refers to the rebirth of learning that originated from Italy in the fourteenth century, spread to the north, including England, by the sixteenth century, and ended in the north in the mid-seventeenth century (earlier in Italy). During this period, enormous interest in discovering and studying the classical texts developed.The Renaissance period was a time of new discoveries in fine arts, music, literature, philosophy, science and technology, architecture, religion and spirituality.

Characteristics of renaissance

·         Painters began to move away from religious themes and focused more on people and landscapes and started using the technique of three dimension

·         Many writers started incorporating the styles of ancient Greek and Latin writers like Aristotle or Homer into their own works. Literature of the Renaissance focused largely on religion, classic antiquity, scholarship and politics. Sonnets also became a popular

·         Important discoveries and invention took place e.g. Galileo Galilei improved the telescope and made important astronomical observations. Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that instead of earth, the sun was the center of the solar system. Christopher Columbus became the first explorer to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to North America.

·         Theater was also popular during the Renaissance. Whereas earlier theater had often focused on morality plays, comedy became a popular genre during this time.

·         Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.

Elements of Renaissance in Paradise Lost

·         Individualism:

Individualism is one of the features of renaissance that givesimportance to an individual. This feature of renaissance can be seen inParadise Lost as well.The point when Satan is lying in the lake of fire and God gives him anopportunity to rise and do whatever he wants is a kind of individualism asGod knows the future of everything but he provides an opportunity to Satanto do good or evil. As individualism is about personal opinion of anindividual hence we can say that this situation is an element ofindividualism. The point when Eve ate the forbidden food is also an element ofindividualism because at that time she persuades Adam to let her workalone.

·         Greek mythology
 

Milton incorporated Greek mythology in his epic. The initial lines of the poem, the invocation of muses are actually the revival ofGreek mythology.

 Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top

Of  Oreb , or of Sinai, didst inspire

That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed, 

 In the Beginninghow the Heav'ns and Earth 

Rose out of  Chaos: Or if  Sion  Hill [ 10 ] 

In these lines heavenly muses are invoked which was a tradition ofGreeks. Muses are invoked as Urania was invoked, goddess of a stronomy. Oreb is the name of a hill while Sinai is its peak. Sinai actually inspired muses because Moses went to that peak and talked to God. We can also feel spirit of Christianity in these lines. While on invoking muses, Milton is now asking muses that let him inspire and know about the story.

·         Exploration of new world:

Exploration of new things is another key feature of renaissance. Satan rises from the floor of fire and decides to reign in hell and explore hell and tries to drive hope from despairs.

 Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. [254]

·         Scientific inventions

Through Optic Glassthe Tuscan Artistviews (288)

Here Milton is referring to Galileo and his scientific inventions. Galileo’s

Geo-centric theory is the basis of renaissance and here in Paradise Lost it isdiscussed.

·         Departure from superstition world:

As a result of inventions and discoveries people started questioning religion and superstitious beliefs. This wasthe time when people left the superstitious things behind and looked for proofs. This spirit of renaissance can also be seen in Paradise Lost.

  Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings

 A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.

The mind is its own place, and in it self

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.[ 251-254 ]

Reformation

“Reformation” means “rebirth or revival”. Reformation actually refers to a sixteenth century movement from which the protestant churches originated. The Reformation is one of the most profound processes of change in Europe of the sixteenth century. Intense criticism of the Church of Rome led by the pope resulted in various reformation currents and the formation of several Protestant church reformations. The critical views of the religious sphere deeply impacted the spiritual, social, and cultural terrain, as well as upon the political sphere.

Characteristics of Reformation

1.      The main characteristics of Reformation art sprang from Protestant theology which focused on the individual relationship between the worshipper and God.

2.      Protestantism taught that the issue of salvation was reserved exclusively for God.

3.       In addition, a number of important 'mysteries of the faith' were downplayed or ignored by Protestant theologians and artists. - including 

4.       Transubstantiation (the transformation of the Communion bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ) was another key area of disagreement between Luther and Rome. Roman Catholicism believed in a strict interpretation of this doctrine, and therefore tended to use Crucifixion scenes for their altarpieces, while Protestant Churches - at least those who tolerated figure painting - insisted on a symbolic meaning behind the Eucharist, and so preferred scenes of the Last Supper.

5.      Protestant art focused on humble depictions of biblical scenes and moralistic depictions of contemporary everyday life.

6.      Some forms of art, however, were seen as more in keeping with a modest, personal approach to religion: they included book illustration and various forms of printmaking, such as engraving and etching, all of which were used by Protestant authorities to convey their religious ideas to their congregations, and religious education into the homes of the common people.  

7.      Protestants removed public art from their churches and urban spaces.

Elements of Reformation in Paradise Lost

·         Soft and steady Puritanism

In Milton's poetry the Reformation element is found as his soft and steady Puritanism. Puritans were those who "protested" against even the Protestants who in their turn had protested against the Pope and the Popish religion.

·         Religious revolution

The Reformation signifies the great religious revolution of the sixteenth century which gave rise to the various Protestant or Evangelical organizations of Christendom. But some splinter sects rose against the Protestant Church of England which they thought was not yet fully reformed, and who urged to take Christianity back to the religion of Jesus Christ. These Puritans devotedly and rather superstitiously revered the Bible, condemned the Protestant bishop (episcopacy) and every institutionalized religion, emphasized every man's inner light, hated all arts such as painting, sculpture and music and even' drama, all show and luxury, shied at the least appearance of evil, favored highly formalized and rigorous conduct.

·         Moral Ardor

The moral Ardor is very prominent in Paradise Lost as Milton writes,

“I may assert Eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.”

As Milton was a Puritan poet so he selected the fall of man as the theme of this great epic because in the treatment of the fall he meant to condemn the mental levity of man who is prone to forget the importance of his very actions. Adam and Eve feebly commit what they imagine is a trifling error, for which they are punished with a doom out of all proportion to their crime.

“Of man’s first disobedience and the fruit

that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden”

·         Puritan ideology

Now, Milton was born in a Puritan family. His schooling and surroundings, his social and political affiliations, and a number of other factors combined to instil in him a love of Puritan ideology and way of life. However, he was a man of too strong an individuality to accept any formal "ism" in its totality. He was a deeply religious man.

·         Emphasizes the spirit rather than the conduct

Unlike most Puritans, Milton emphasizes the spirit rather than the conduct. And this emphasis brings him into affinity with the Cambridge Platonists who were themselves mostly Puritans. Milton believed that "the Spirit which is given to us is a more certain guide than Scripture.

Puritanism

Puritanism, a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the Church of England of remnants of the Roman Catholic “popery” that the Puritans claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Their efforts to transform the nation contributed both to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in America as working models of the Puritan way of life. Puritanism may be defined primarily by the intensity of the religious experience that it fostered. Puritans believed that it was necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to redeem one from one’s sinful condition, that God had chosen to reveal salvation through preaching, and that the Holy Spirit was the energizing instrument of salvation.

Characteristics of puritan literature

Some characteristics of Puritan literature are: limited atonement, original sin, irresistible grace and unconditional election. A Puritan writer's main focus was to glorify God and show reverence for the Bible.  Puritanism, and Puritan literature, became popular in the 17th century. Writers who penned Puritan literature were well-educated and deeply religious. They used literature to make the Christian God more relevant and understandable.
The main themes in their writings showed the concepts of original sin, which is the belief that everyone was born sinful because of Adam and Eve, and predestination, which is the idea that no matter what a person did in life, his or her salvation had already been determined.Puritanism's decline was influenced by a lack of social behavior and decay in morality.

Puritan element in Milton’s Paradise lost,

The very theme of Paradise Lost shows the Puritan or Hebraic element in Milton. The fact that he chose the Fall of Man as the theme of his great epic shows the Puritan in him. Wars and adventurous deeds did not interest the Puritan poet.

Not sedulous by nature to indite”
War!, hitherto the only argument
Heroic deemed…    

The theme is the most heroic of all great English poems. He based his great work on the story of the Fall of Man, as given in the Bible. To him this story was not fictitious or legendary, but literally and historically true. And in telling the story of “Man’s first disobedience” he set out to justify the ways of God to man. Whether he succeeded in his aim or not, the fact remains that his ultimate design was to show how man fell through disobedience, and how he could regain the lost Paradise through the grace of God. It was indeed his Puritan character that led him to this theme, but it gave full scope for the expression of his stupendous genius. Though he has introduced wars and adventurous deeds into the body of the epic, according to the classical tradition, the central theme of the poem is disobedience to God’s command and the consequent Fall of Man.

 According to Grierson in Paradise Lost, Milton’s object is not only to “assert Eternal Providence and justify the ways of God to men,” but much more. For the poem contains profound observations on religion, morality, politics, government, war and peace and the relationship between man and woman, arts, sciences, explorations and on practically all the important aspects of life.

In Paradise Lost we have a combination which is absolutely unique in the literature of the time; a poem which has all the deep spiritual fervor of Puritanism, decorated and diversified by every ornament and beauty which could possibly be borrowed from classical literature and mythology. The reader will feel a sense of confusion arise at times from the strange mixture of Christian and pagan ideas. It is essentially the Hell of the ancient Greeks and Romans which Milton describes where the river of Lathe, Cocytus and Styx flow, and it is the Greek Fury, named Medusa who guards the fort. The dreadful figures of Sin and Death are modelled on ancient classical monsters, while Chaos is surrounded by the classical figure of Ades, Orcus and Demogorgon. This makes us wonder what Milton really did believe in, but the fact is that the Christian Bible does not supply a clear picture of Hell and is not very definite as regards the geography or population of the lower region. On the other hand, the classical conception was clear-cut, vivid and pictorial and hence Milton did not hesitate to draw boldly from it so that the nakedness and deficiencies of the Puritan conception would be well hidden under gaudy pagan robes.

Puritan’s influences in Milton’s depiction of marriage,

Milton’s Paradise Lost examines, among other things, the relationship between Adam and Eve. While Adam and Eve’s relationship had been explored in a variety of mediums, such as in painting, poetry, and prose, prior to Paradise Lost, Milton’s portrayal of Adam and Eves relationship is important in that it reflects the Puritan doctrine that was emerging in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

As a further reflection of the Puritan influence upon Milton’s depiction of conjugal love, Milton attributes the notion of virginity as being superior to married sexual intercourse to Satan. Specifically, Milton states, our maker bids increase, who bids abstain/ But our destroyer, foe to God and man? (IV, ll. 748-749), insinuating that while God encourages conjugal love, Satan, who is naturally inclined to thwart both God and humankind, attempts to further the belief that God opposes conjugal love and earthly pleasure.

Humanism:

Humanism is a group of philosophies and ethical viewpoints which highlight the value and actions of human beings which individually, mutually and generally prefers individual opinions and evidence over established dogma or faith. Being a humanist means trying to behave civilly without expectation of rewards or punishments after you are dead. Humanism assumes human beings as the makers of their own destiny.

Humanism was the characteristic of renaissance that focused on revival of classical letters, individualistic and classical spirit and emphasized greatly on secular concerns. It emphasizes on love of nature and the dignity of man. Humanism is a philosophy that sees problems of human life with a rational thought without the influence of secular or religious institutions. In short humanism supports the liberty of mankind.

Pioneer of Humanism:

Petrarch is believed to be the pioneer of humanism. He was an Italian poet and writer of the Trecento. He had a great influence over the humanistic movement. Petrarch was being called “Spiritual father” by his successors. He was greatly influenced by Cicero, a Roman philosopher, and used his style in his own Latin writing. Later, Petrarch also wrote in vernacular.

·         Petrarch was the 1^st one to distinguish the Middle ages as a period of darkness.

·         His writing was used to shape the modern Italian language.

·         He formed a bond between the Middle ages to the Renaissance.

·         He believed that humanity could once more reach the altitudes of past accomplishments.

Reflection of Humanism in Paradise lost:

There are various aspects in Milton’s Paradise lost which tell us about the impact of humanistic ideals on the writings of Renaissance period. Paradise lost deals with the self-worth of man, his freedom of choice and his internal struggles.

Humanism basically means spirit of freedom and that spirit of freedom is quite visible in Milton’s Paradise lost. As Satan having humanistic traits is happy and satisfied even in hell because he is free there to rule. Following lines from the poem tell us the humanistic approach of Milton in Paradise lost:

·         “Better to reign in hell, then to serve in heaven”

We can feel spirit of freedom, spirit of humanism in this line, as Satan is really concerned about his own value and feelings that’s why he preferred to rule in hell than to serve in heaven.

·         “The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”

Here again we notice that Satan is focusing on his individual thoughts and power. We don’t observe any reference to religion.

·         “Receive thy new possessor”

In the above phrase we see that Satan is conversing with hell. He shows his possessive trait by saying to the hell:“Welcome your new ruler”.

References

http://franklaughter.tripod.com/cgi-bin/histprof/misc/puritan.html
https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/blending-of-renaissance-and-reformation-in-paradise-lost-book-i/

Summary and analysis of the chapter "PEOPLE(2)" from Aspects of Novel by E.M Foster.

People (continued):

The things that make a novel a good novel are plot, pacing and characters. In this essay we are going to talk about characters. When we talk about characters in a novel being very “life like” what we actually mean is that those charactersshow some similarities to real life people. Now these characters ae living breathing beings inside the novelist’s head, there to basically give life to the plot but the first rule of living is change. So either these characters end up changing the plot or changing with the plot or, if the novelist tries to keep them

The novelist tries to overcome this problem through the following

·         Characterization

·         Point of view

CHARACTERIZATION:

There are two kinds of characters in any book; flat characters and round characters.

Flat Characters: these characters are also called “humorous” characters or caricatures. These type of characters have single quality that defines them and it occurs so frequently that those characters become synonymous to that quality. These characters are the idea they represent and their very existence radiates it. One of the advantages of flat characters is that whenever they appear it gives us a glimpse into the future about what might happen. They act as kind of a foreshadowing. For example, Draco Malfoy from the series Harry Potterrepresents snotty arrogant prick. So whenever he came into a scene it was obvious that something bad was going to happen with our protagonist.

Other two advantages of flat characters are that they are remembered by the reader and do not need re-introducing and they do not need to be looked after for character development. They remain the same by the end of the novel as they were in the beginning.

Round Characters: A round character is extremely realistic, behaving and speaking in a "real life" manner. The character is complex and increases in complexity throughout the story. A round character is capable of contradiction and change with evidence of emotional and psychological development. Round characters are major characters in a story; they encounter contradictory situations and undergo transformation during this phase. Authors develop round characters to make their stories more believable and effective. The first rule of round characters is that they change throughout the story. If these characters do not surprise the reader in a convincing way at some plot during the novel they are flat characters. Round characters also tend to be more organized and bring more to the table than the flat characters. For example, professor Snape from the Harry Potter series was always seen to be a bully and a mean teacher but in Deathly Hallows we found out that he was actually protecting the protagonist the whole time.

One problem with characterization is that complexities of human nature cannot be captured completely. Novelists take what they like and leave the rest. This is something called the “novelist’s touch”. It falsifies life. It is very much possible that what a novelist may right might be true but in no way is it the truth.

POINT OF VIEW:

Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see” what takes place in a story. To some critics it is the fundamental device of novel writing.

There are three different kinds of point of view;

1.       First person point of view which involves either of the two pronouns “I” or “we”.

2.       Second person point of view which involves the pronoun “you”

3.       Third person point of view which employs the pronoun “he”, “she”, “it”, “they” or a name.

Some novelists shift points of view while telling a story in order to explain the lot better. One of the best examples of this is George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones series where each chapter is told in the point of view of a different character. According to E. M. Forster, some critics think that this not the right way to tell a story but times have change and todays day and age, writing in different points f view is not considered such a bad thing as long as the plot is carried out perfectly and the characters are interesting.

References:

Aspects of Novel by E. M. Forster

literarydevices.net

Summary and analysis of the chapter "PEOPLE (1)" from Aspects of Novel by E.m Foster.

People

Foster calls the characters in the novel as actors and are usually human beings, hence in this aspect of novel Foster has called them as “People”. Novelists might introduce animals as in fables or symbolic of human qualities. Nonetheless, characters are either human themselves or representation of human beings. Since novelist himself is a human, in contrast to other arts, there is an affinity between him and his subject matter. Through word masses, novelists gives them existence, gender, voice and action. These “word masses” became living beings that is ‘characters’. These characters may be created in delirious excitement: still their nature is what-he thinks of him and the others-human actions and psychology.

Foster gives notion of real people (Homosapiens) and people in fiction(Homo fictus) in the novel and finds differences between a memoir and novel. If a character in a novel is exactly same as of some historical figure or legend, it is memoir and memoir is a history based on evidence and novel is based on evidence – real life experience and ‘-x’ the unknown quantity being the temperament of the novelist which unifies the effect of evidence to transformation of being a fiction. Historian deals with actions and judge humans through their actions- something apparent or on the surface- dialogues and gestures while a novelist explores the hidden life of a character in his work. Furthermore, Foster talks about French critic, Alan who examines human sides in terms of history and fiction.

History with its emphasis on external causes is dominated by fatality whereas there is no fatality in novel; everything is from the human nature.

All that is observable to man, his actions and experience deduced from his actions fall into domain of history. But his romantic side, passions, dreams, emotions and expression of feelings are functions of novel. To deduce from this, history is based on facts and figure. Novel has element of imagination, exploration of human nature and psychology. History is dominated by the external causes while novel is dominated by everything is found in human nature. Novelist explores both inner and outer life of his characters unlike real life people.

Foster then discusses the five main facts of the human life: birth, food, sleep, love and death comparing them to the homofictus in the novel.

Death and birth are “experiences and not experiences”. We are not conscious of how we are born unless we are told and we are not alive to tell what happens after the death. These two elements are “darkness”.  We are told about them from outer cause but not from first point of view. Novelists keep the balance between real life experience of birth and death in his fiction. He can talk about birth, but not from first narrations.

 A novelist can talk about character’s birth and anticipate darkness; death as he is inside and outside the mind of his characters and he knows all. Foster then talks about the Food that stands from unconscious to his conscious- like the difference between known and forgotten, novelist talks about its both necessity and aesthetic value.

Sleep is another basic desire of human life, where person enters the world of little known- dreams and oblivion. In novel, novelist can talk about character’s dreams but not the experience around him, when character’s unconscious and through his narrations tells that how sleep tastes like food.

Sex and Love is equated with passions and in that comes the feelings of affection and friendship, patriotism and mysticism. But according to Foster, sex isn’t underlying rest of different forms of love, though it can lead to physical intimacy. Foster calls love complicated as it is “give and take” bargaining. It is selfish and altruistic.

Similarly in novel, no new set of facts are introduced above birth or novelist peeking into the mind of new born baby. Death is treated differently in novel, a character’s moves from known to darkness- as its bases solely on imagination so he does not try to bring to life, a life that is beyond his imagination.

Food in novel is treated as social gathering but characters seldom require it. Psychologically and daily life depiction of food longing is seldom shared.

Dreams are rather projected logical or in the dream, there is prophecy. Novels introduce dreams for reason in a plot. It is an amalgam of real life, past and future but not the conscious experience of sleeping.

Love is also treated as something different from daily life. Characters are hyper sensitive and the emotions arise from within novelist’s own sub conscious that is not secretly aware of the intensity of passion. Besides, love is considered as congenial because it ends the book usually at union of lovers or marriage.

Foster discusses Defoe’s’ character “Moll Flanders” that her character is the center of the novel and what separates her character from us is that inner life is visible. A character in novel is visible when novelist knows everything about it. Though many of the facts may not be explained but it is still explicable.

Important difference between real life people and people in novel is that in reality we cannot understand and know each other fully as foster says intimacy is only a makeshift, perfect knowledge is illusion.  We never show our personal persona to anyone but in the novel the emotions and thoughts of people are mostly evident. That is why fiction seems truer than history because history is based on evidence but novel is beyond evidence because as people we share experiences with people in novel. But yet the inner life of people in novel is visible and our inner life is hidden.

In the start the views of E.M Foster about history and novel and their differences are mentioned, at that time the genre of Historical fiction did exist but it was common in dramas.In contemporary novels Historical Fiction is very important genre in which historical events are narrated and the novelist than molds these events according to his will to suit his story. If we take the example of novels of Dan Brown, we come across a lot of historical figures and events along with those events we see the element of fiction as well. So the trend has been changed. For example The Da Vinci Code written by Dan Brown contains many historical facts that can fall prey to intense criticism but he claims that these characters are fictional so that no one can challenge him.

Wolf hall written in 2009 by Hillary mantel is based on the events that occurred during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547) and presents the life of Thomas Cromwell who was the Tudor statesman. This novel falls under Historical Fiction in which historical figures are described and the story is somehow manipulated and created so we can say that fiction and history are merged in the present era. 

Summary and analysis of the chapter "STORY" from Aspects of Novel by E.M Foster.

STORY AS AN ASPECT OF NOVEL:

Edward Morgan Forster was an English novelist, short story writer and essayist. He is best known for A Room with a View (1908), Howard’s End (1910), A Passage to India (1924) and “Aspects of the Novel” originally delivered as a series of lectures at Trinity College.

Apart from the distinction between the two levels story and discourse, which is part of structuralist terminology, there is an older tradition which differentiates between story and plot. These two terms overlap only partly with the terms  story and discourse. Since the terms story and plot are still used frequently in English Studies, one needs to be aware of their meaning. The basic difference between story and plot was pointed out by Aristotle, who distinguishes between actions in the real world and units that are selected from these and arranged in what he calls mythos (Aristotle 1953). The terms story and plot as used in English Studies were introduced and defined by the novelist and critic E.M. Forster in his Aspects of the Novel (1927).

Forster defines story as the chronological sequence of events and plot as the causal and logical structure which connects events (see Forster, 1927: 93f).    These definitions need some further clarification:

Story is an important aspect of novel. A story is a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence — it simply tells us what happened and in what order. It is the time sequence which turns a random collection of episodes into a story. But chronological sequence is a very primitive feature and it can have only one merit: that of making the audience want to know what happens next. The only skill of a storyteller is their ability to wield the weapon of suspense, making the audience eager to discover the next event in the sequence.   

This emphasis on chronological sequence is a difference from real life. Our real  lives also unfold through time but have the added feature that some experiences have greater value and meaning than others. Value has no role in a story, which is concerned with the life in time rather than the life by values. And because human lives measured by time consist of nothing more than the business of   getting old, a story cannot sincerely lead to any conclusion but the grave.

The basis of a novel is a story — the narration of events in the order they happened — but storytelling alone can never produce a great novel. The simple chronological narrative of War and Peace only manages to achieve some kind of greatness because it has extended over space as well as time, and the sense of space until it terrifies us is exhilarating, and leaves behind it an effect like music. After one has read War and Peace for a bit, great chords begin to sound, and we cannot exactly say what struck them. They come from the immense area of Russia, over which episodes and characters have been scattered, from the sum-total of bridges and frozen rivers, forests, roads, gardens, fields, which accumulate grandeur and sonority after we have passed them.

Forster wrote Aspects of the Novel in 1927.” Aspects of the Novel” was a work, examining ‘aspects all English-language novels have in common: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm.’

While in the third century Aristotle had noted the subtle difference between ‘incident’ and ‘plot’, it was Forster in Aspects of the Novel who developed this idea and established the difference between ‘story’ and ‘plot’, defining a story as ‘a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence.’

Forster wrote a story ‘can only have one merit: that of making the audience want to know what happens next. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story.’

‘A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality – “The king died and then the queen died” is a story.’ But ‘“the king died and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time-sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.’

Forster's terms have often been criticised. It has been argued that in a story like 'the king died and then the queen died' we automatically assume that the two events are connected simply because they are told one after the other (Chatman 1978: 45f). Some critics even claim that the distinction between plot and story is artificial and of no practical use in the analysis of literature (Wenzel 1998: 175).

There is no question that the distinction is artificial. In fact, the story itself, the mere sequence of events, is an abstract entity, a construct that exists only in our heads after we have read the narrative as presented in the text (Rimmon-Kenan 1983: 6).

Nonetheless, the distinction between story and plot is still widely (though not always consistently) used to differentiate degrees of connectivity between events in a narrative. And indeed, the story 'the king died and then the queen died' allows for a number of plots apart from 'the king died and then the queen died of grief'. It could also be: 'The king died and then the queen died because she ate of the same poisoned cake' or 'the king died and then the queen died of sheer irritation because he hadn't left her any money in his will'.

At its most basic, the novel tells a story. Forster uses a set of metaphors. He interchangeably describes the function of the story in a novel as either a ‘‘backbone’’ or a ‘‘tape worm.’’ He uses the image of a backbone to explain the role of the story as the internal structure that supports all other elements of the novel. However, he suggests the alternative image of a tapeworm in order to express the idea that the beginning and ending of the story in a novel is arbitrary, just as a tapeworm has no specified length and no discernible head or tail. The novelist must, regardless of where he begins or ends, touch upon a series of events that unfold over a span of time. Forster again uses a metaphor says ‘‘story is the lowest and simplest of literary organisms, yet it is the highest factor common to all the very complicated organisms known as novels.’’ He goes on to imagine the element of story as a ‘‘worm,’’ held up for examination on the ‘‘forceps’’ of the literary critic. There is nothing but curiosity in the story that defines it. He says that story is a narrative of event arranged in their time sequence and what the story narrates is life in time and it is never possible for a writer to deny time inside the fabric of his novel. Though some writer may dislike his clock but there is always a clock in the novel. As in the novel Wuthering Heights the writer Emily Bronte has tried to her clock. He compares the story with the daily life as it is also full of time sense. Along with the time the writer would includes the life by values as well. Scott’s the writer of “The Antiquary” had the primitive power of keeping the reader in suspense and playing on his curiosity. In it he has celebrated the life in time that must lead him to slackening of emotions and shallowness of judgements. He also describes the relationship between the twentieth-century novel Ulysses, by James Joyce, to the ancient Greek mythology of the Odyssey as that of ‘‘a bat hanging to a cornice’’. The novel, like the bat, has a life of its own yet clings to the original mythological text as an essential means of support. In further a metaphor drawn from the animal world. Forster, speaking again of Ulysses, adds that it is overrun with references to a variety of mythologies, to the extent that ‘‘smaller mythologies swarm and pullulate, like vermin between the scales of a poisonous snake.’’ A great novel like Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game has an almost negligible story but is rich in ideas, style, philosophical ideas, etc. 

There is a universal curiosity to know what happens next. Therefore, a successful story is one that keeps the audience guessing and engaged. Like in the Arabian Nights, Scheherazade saves her own life because she keeps the king wanting to know what happens next. Thus, a story is a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence. But in novels, as in life, there is something else that organises our experiences other than time—Forster classifies this as value. When a person looks back on his or her life, they do not remember events in perfect chronological order. The most intense occurrences loom above the others. Forster argues that a novel should be the same way—precedence should be given to value, although the clock cannot be forgotten. Time, however, can be ignored or hidden, but it must always be a touchstone in the novel or it becomes an incoherent mess. A story is not plot. Plot is cause and effect. A story doesn’t need to worry about time—it can be more ragged. What the story does is to narrate the life in time, and what the entire novel does, it pay double allegiance. The allegiance to time is imperative in the novel, no novel could be written without it. It’s never possible for a novelist to deny time inside the fabric of his novel. In novel there is always a clock. The time sequence cannot be destroyed without carrying in its ruin all that should have taken its place. The novel that would express values only becomes unintelligible and therefore valueless. A story can bring in elements that won’t pay off and appeals to what is primitive in us.

Summary of the chapter "PLOT" from Aspects of Novel by E.M Foster.

 Plot:

Aristotle said that all human misery and happiness does and must take the form of an action and while he said that he had in view the drama where this concept holds true. It is true because happiness and misery exists in secret life and by secret it means the life for which there is no external evidence; so existence of any emotion remains unknown to the audience unless any action takes place.

But a novelist has an edge over the dramatist by having an access to the secret life of characters. He has an access to self-communing and from this level he can descend down and peer into their sub conscious. He can show sub conscience short-circuiting into action; he can also show it in its relation to soliloquy. For this he has to shift his point of view from limited to omniscient and can edge back again.

A literary work has two elements—human individuals and art. Human individuals are the characters while art has its two forms. The low form is the story while the higher form is called as plot. A plot is a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. ”. According to Forster in the example “the king died and then the queen” is a story which demands curiosity. To him, curiosity is the lowest, simplest yet the common factor of every literary organisms knows as novels. He justifies his point by unfolding a character who asks you how many brothers and sisters you have every time he meets you. It is not because he is being sympathetic towards you  rather it is the curiosity that fills him with such questions. However, “the king died and then the queen died of grief” is a plot since it is reflecting the sense of causality. Hence a plot is something that makes us ask the question “why”.

Intelligence and memory are the elements that contribute to a good plot. A good reader must be “intelligent” enough to know the inter-dependence of things working in the novel and to grasp all the aspects of novel as a whole. He mentally picks it up and sees the novel with two points of views; isolated, and related to other facts that he has read on previous pages. He gives the example of highly organised yet cross-dependent novel The Egoist which an ideal spectator cannot expect to view properly until he is sitting up on a hill at the end. Intelligence is closely connected to memory for one cannot grasp the situations and cannot develop intelligence unless one remembers the things. Let’s take the already mentioned example of “the king died and then the queen died of grief”. If by the time the queen dies we have forgotten the existence of the king we shall never make out what killed her. The plot-maker expects us to remember, for this is the only way to view all the previous things properly while sitting up on a hill. These two elements Intelligence and memory give rise to the third aspect that is mystery. Mystery is something that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown. It is essential and cannot be appreciated without intelligence. To appreciate mystery, “a part of mind must be left behind, brooding, while the other part goes marching on”. It occurs through a suspension of the time-sequence; a mystery is a pocket in time, and it occurs crudely, as in "Why did the queen die?" and more subtly in half-explained gestures and words, the true meaning of which only dawns pages ahead. Hence, mystery not only creates thrill to the reader but also helps in making the construction of the plot vast.

After discussing the elements of plot, let’s come to the relationship between plot and characters.  Plot is the events and happenings in a story while the characters are the people involved in it. Both the characters and plot are mutually exclusive categories. Just as the plot can affect characters, the characters can also affect the plot. The events of a story shouldn’t just be events randomly jumping out of bushes saying “HEY YOU THERE CHARACTER I’M GONNA GET YOU.” To a certain extent, the characters’ own actions and reactions should be pushing the plot forward. It’s no longer about what can happen but rather what should happen that would have this particular effect on this particular character. If you start out thinking about what the character’s goal is, you can come up with obstacles to that goal. If you want the character to learn some lesson, you can set up conflicts that will teach that lesson.  But the power to develop the plot with the help of the characters lies with the author alone."You can't find someone who doesn't want to be found." says Isabel Allende for her masterpiece, 'The House of the Spirits'. This indicates that a reader cannot find a character which the author does not want to show. Hence, Forster supports this fact by exemplifying the works of Meredith and Hardy.  In Meredith’s works, “incidents spring out of character, and having occurred it alters that character”, whereas, Hardy emphasised too much on plot. His characters are helpless in front of fate and just go with the flow of plot. This is what makes his work unsatisfactory despite many other remarkable qualities.

Too much emphasis on plot demands some compromise. Forster explains this from Charlotte Bronte’s Villette. “She allows Lucy Snowe to conceal from the reader her discovery that Dr. John is the same as her old playmate Graham. When it comes out, we do get a good plot thrill, but too much at the expense of Lucy's character”. His characters are helpless in front of fate and just go with the flow of plot. This is what makes his work unsatisfactory despite many other remarkable qualities.

 Death and marriage are the devices that the author uses to conclude his work. However, there are problems at the end for two reasons. First, there comes a time when novelist loses his creative strength before being able to complete his work and secondly, either the characters become dead because of the excessive over control over them, or they get out of novelist’s hand.

Novels have a note of predetermination since Foster assumes that the plot is always pre-planned by the novelist. The novelist always has a framework of his art in his mind beforehand. He raises the question whether or not this pre-determination is necessary in a plot. Why the work should be logical and the novelist should control his entire work. Forster rejects the modern Gide’s attempts of rejecting the traditional notions of prearranged plots. To him, it is fascinating and admirable to those who either emphasises on plot organisation or characterisation. When a novelist starts writing without any pre-planning of his work before hand, he would not be able to create a balance between everything. Either he would go on with plot or he would go on with characterisation

Modern novelists have done experiments with their art and as a result novels with a different plot structure can be found. Modern novels have more complex plots as compared to simplified plot structure provided by Forester. In addition to it new devices are employed to make the work more unique such as stream of consciousness, flashbacks, frame narrative, open ending etcetera. For instance in the novel If I Stay by Gayle Forman (published in 2009) the plot begins with the climax and then previous incidents are exposed through flashbacks. In another novel The Forty Rules of Love by Eliff Shafak a frame narrative is used—a story within a story.

Forester said that a plot must not be loose ended—it must have a definite resolution. But now lots of novels with an open ending can be found. For example Kim and Krickitt Carpenter’s novel The Vow ends openly, where the reader doesn’t know quite exactly about the relationship of the protagonists. Similarly an open ending technique is deliberately used in sequels where the novelists has to provide the reader with some mystery so that he reads further sequels, example of such a case includes L.J Smith novel series—The Vampire Diaries.