HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/anarchy/essays/schoolsucks/karshish.txt

Text File | 1996-04-27 | 6KB | 79 lines

Un-Victorian Tenets of Browning in Karshish
BrowningÆs Karshish

    Robert BrowningÆs ôAn Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish,
the Arab Physicianö is a dramatic monologue in which Karshish writes to Abib about his
experiencing the miracle of Jesus, when he raises Lazarus from the dead.  ôKarshishö is a dramatic
monologue containing most of the tenets of Browning.
    Although ôKarshishö is in the form of a letter, it is still an excellent example of a dramatic
monologue.  There is a speaker, Karshish, who is not the poet.  There is a silent audience, Abib
the reader of the letter.  There is a mental exchange between the speaker and the audience:
Karshish writes as if Abib were right in front of him listening to everything.  This can be seen in
the hang between ôhere I endö and ôyet stay;ö it is as if Abib were getting up to leave (61-2).
There is a distinct critical moment, when Karshish decides to write about his original concern:
ôYet stay.  .  .  I half resolve to tell thee, yet I blush/ What set me off a-writing first of allö (62,
65-6).  ôKarshishö has all the basics to a dramatic monologue.
    It also contains a character study in which the speaker speaks from an extraordinary
perspective.  Karshish is a humble doctor from one of the most civilized nations of the time, he
has seen most of the civilized world, and he is still amazed by the miracle that he witnessed.  His
amazement after having seen many great things in the world proves to the audience that this event
was indeed spectacular and significant.  In the non-Christian world, the most common response is
to doubt and to reject, but because of the conviction of the speaker the audience believe that the
miracle did happen.  This contrast between doubt and believe creates the dramatic tension of the
work.  Thus, ôKarshishö contains the character study and dramatic tension which make the work a
dramatic monologue.
    ôKarshishö contains many of the tenets of Browning.  One of first tenets noticed is the idea
that physical success in this life does not correspond to success in the next.  This can be seen in
the peaceful ôcarelessnessö seen in Lazarus after being raised from the dead despite the
knowledge of the Roman troops coming to conquer his people, the Jews.  Another obvious tenet
is the belief that feeling is superior to reason:
Browning also shows that power, glory, and pride are insignificant in comparison with love,
because love is for ôboth old and young, able and weak, affects the very brutes and birdsö (227-
9).  Another tenet of Browning is the intuitive belief in Christianity and that sufferings are for the
education of the soul.  This is present in Karshish in that he suffers much but does expound upon
them because he accepts them as the education of his soul:
        I have shed sweat enough, left flesh and bone
        on many a flinty furlong of this land.
        àTwice have the robbers stripped and beaten me
and once in town declared me for a spy
But at the end, I reach Jerusalem. (24-34)
This also contains the tenet: need of perseverance.  This shown in his willingness to undergo all of
these pains for his final goal.  Browning portrayed a sense of infinite moment in which life is
measured by the intensity of oneÆs existence.  This is seen in the way that Karshish admires
LazarusÆs composure after being raised from the dead:
        Whence has the man the balm that brightens all?
        This grown man eyes the world now like a child. (116-7)
Despite how Karshish is ôcurious in GodÆs handiwork,ö  truth is difficult to obtain because of its
elusive nature.  TruthÆs elusiveness is seen in KarshishÆs inability to determine scientifically what
happened in the miracle brought about by Jesus.  In turn, KarshishÆs inability causes him
frustration:
        æTis but a case of maniaùsubinduced
        by epilepsy, at the turning-point
        of trance prolonged unduly some three days:
        When, by the exhibition of some drug
Or spell, excorization, stroke of art
Unknown to me and which ætwere well to know,
The evil thing out-breaking all at once.  (79-84)
    Many of BrowningÆs poems create a sense of obscurity.  This sense is caused and
developed through many methods.  One such method is using allusions which require vast
knowledge to recognize:  ôAlso, the country-side is all on fire with rumors of a marching
hitherward:  Some say Vespasian cometh, some his sonö (26-8).  Abrupt transitions are also used
to create obscurity: in lines 24-34, Karshish jumps from his sufferings to rumors of war to his
sufferings which are totally unrelated ideas because he will not be involved in the war.  Obscurity
is also established by attempting to reflect the movement of the mind through abnormally involved
or elliptical syntax.  One such example:
        The reason whyùôÆtis but a word,ö objectù
        ôA gestureöùhe regards the as our lord. (166-7)
Obscurity is created in BrowningÆs poetry using allusions, abrupt transitions, and abnormal
involved syntax.
    Another tenet of Browning is to have a colloquial, discordant, dramatic style.  Browning
creates this style using several techniques.  On such technique is prolepsis, or the anticipation of
the audienceÆs thoughts by the speaker:  ôÆsuch cases are diurnal,Æ thou wilt cryö (102).
Browning also uses aposipesis when Karshish keeps wanting to talk about Lazarus but stopping
short, because he unsure of its reality.  ôKarshishö also contains enjambment and shifting caesurae
throughout the work.  Browning constantly uses parenthetical qualifiers such as ô(in fact they
barried him)ö (98).
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