Swan Song || Flax Golden Tales || Four Levels of Interpretation

Flax Golden Tales, Swan Song

Level: B.A/ B.B.S || Lesson 42 Swan Song (Anton Chekhov, Russia 1860-1904)

Words Meaning

Litter = to make dirty

Rascal = mad

Pile up = heap

Muzzy = confused

Lurk = appear

Elegant = graceful

Heap up = pile up

Corpse = dead body

Tomb = grave

Shivers = tremulous motion

Sickening = disgusting

Withstood = resisted

Blissful = happy

Queer = strange

Clown = joker

Exquisite = beautiful

Velvet = smoothness

Blissful = happy

Farcical = comic

Scoffer = mocker

Choke = suffocate

Acclaimed = applauded

Briskly = quickly

Courier = messenger

Haughty = arrogant

Singe = burn

Smite = strike

Rumble = make a deep sound

Vantages = small opening

Fret = distress

Twaddle = silly talk

Shrill = sharp

Flee = run a way

Wreaths = garlands

Steed = horse

Rage = anger

Vaunt = boast

Mould = shape

Eloquent = mobbing, deviate

Weakling = weak person

Rotundity = roundness

Summary

This drama presents Svetlovidov as a main character. He is an actor. The performance is finished. Everyone has gone home leaving the actor-Svetlovidov. He fell asleep in the dressing room. He had two people to look after him when he was sleeping.

Svetlovidov has spent 45 years at theater by enjoying his audiences. Now he has become old. He spends night in dressing room because nobody is there to stay with him at home. One of the actors asks him to go to his house to sleep but Svetlovidov doesn’t like going home. He says he is alone at home. He feels sad for being lonely. Before he started his acting, he was in the armies and he could do much. When he was a young actor, one beautiful woman fell in love with him. She asked him to leave acting if he wanted to get married but he didn’t leave acting. When she didn’t get married, he started drinking. When he drinks he recites lines from Puskin and Shakespeare’s book. Svetlovidov consoles himself saying that there is no old age and solitude where there is art. But he realized his mistake that he has wasted important days of his life fruitlessly.

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Four Levels of Interpretation

Literal Comprehension

This drama presents Svetlovidov as a main character. He is an actor. The performance is finished. Everyone has gone home leaving the actor-Svetlovidov. He fell asleep in the dressing room. He had two people to look after him when he was sleeping.

Svetlovidov has spent 45 years at theater by enjoying his audiences. Now he has become old. He spends night in dressing room because nobody is there to stay with him at home. One of the actors asks him to go to his house to sleep but Svetlovidov doesn’t like going home. He says he is alone at home. He feels sad for being lonely. Before he started his acting, he was in the armies and he could do much. When he was a young actor, one beautiful woman fell in love with him. She asked him to leave acting if he wanted to get married but he didn’t leave acting. When she didn’t get married, he started drinking. When he drinks he recites lines from Puskin and Shakespeare’s book. Svetlovidov consoles himself saying that there is no old age and solitude where there is art. But he realized his mistake that he has wasted important days of his life fruitlessly.

Interpretation

The writer shows poor miserable life of an actor in his old age. When he was young, he was strong and smart. Girls loved him, when he became old he was remained alone. When he was an actor, he was given awards and wreaths but now he is left in dressing room alone. He is spending his night in dressing room. He didn’t utilize his youth at that time. People used that artists for their own entertainment but now he is left. The writer shows that actors seem to be happy I the eyes of audiences but they are also living unhappy life. They also suffer loneliness.

Critical Thinking

This drama shows miserable condition of an actor. Once he was popular and many people got enjoy by watching his performances. But the dramatist shows unpleasant old age of an actor. Does he mean acting isn’t good job? Or he want to say girls don’t marry actors. It is difficult to know the reality of his text.

Assimilation

When I read this text, I realized that everything that is pleasant now can be unpleasant later on. I also learnt that the world is selfish. Nobody thinks about others. We should be careful for our future. We need help in our old age. We should utilize time properly and we should also think about ourselves otherwise we will have similar condition that of Svetlovidov. There is also meaninglessness of public life.

Possible Question

  1. In Swan Song a sixty eight years old Russian actor comforts his host: He recalls a lost love, sorrowfully reflects upon his unremarkable career, and doubts his talent and the choice he made. Do you think he really ever had talent? Explain in your own words.

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