Sri Aurobindo And Shakespeare

In this book an attempt has been made to compare the two legendary writers by comparing the eastern way of thinking with the western way. Shakespeare is amongst the writers Sri Aurobindo holds in high esteem. Sri Aurobindo’s admiration for the great dramatist resulted in obvious Shakespearean influences on him. He adopts for his plays Elizabethan model of drama perfected by Shakespeare’s genius. Shakespeare’s influence is traceable also in Sri Aurobindo’s sonnets. It is said that Sri Aurobindo had Shakespearean literature on his bed-side when he left his mortal remains. Both the great writers were not satisfied by merely holding mirror to the nature but due to their greater and deeper life power, they recreated the human life in its beauty and completeness. Therefore, there is an obvious need to compare and contrast Shakeapeare and Sri Aurobindo so as to bring out affinities that may be there between their creative ideal and vision as well as their poetic and dramatic art, along with the former’s influence on the later. In this book an attempt has been made to fulfill the need and to contribute, in some measure to the appreciation of Sri Aurobindo’s poetry and plays. It also briefly touches upon Indian response to Shakespeare. It focuses mainly on Sri Aurobindo’s numerous insights and critical observations on him. To sum up writings of the two such outstanding writers, who represent two very different ways of thinking. On one hand Shakespeare potrays lot of blood shed, gory tales and a wild kind of poetic justice in his writings, but on the other hand Sri Aurobindo truely follows Indian ethos of non violence or ‘Ahimsa’. The author underlines the stark similarities and differences in both the writer’s exploring their plays and sonnets. The structure of plays and sonnets may be same of both the greatest minds but ethos and personna ingrained in their writings is quite different.

Sri Aurobindo was the reveler of the Life Divine and prophet of the great epic Savitri. Both the unsurpassed titles bear divine messages but for those who could read them. But his stage-worthy plays teach his philosophical ideas through entertainments. Perhaps he wrote the plays to teach integral philosophy of life to all beings. Present work entitled Poetic Plays of Sri Aurobindo is an exhaustive study of his five blank verse drama maintaining the essential elements of drama and dramaturgy from Oriental to Occidental. In his plays, we could enjoy the dramatic art of Shakespeare and Shaw, Bhasa and Kalidasa. Sri Aurobindo was the deliverer of the whole human life and hence, this book enlightens - - how to deliberate one's own self along with the all. - how to bring hormony in individual, social, national and universal life. - how to attain Universal brotherhood by revealing oneness with all other beings. - how to build children's characters, so that, they can live a manly life, reveal universal friendship and enjoy a life divine on earth.