Essay Questions

What is the significance of quoting Shakespeare in “Sea Coal”?

The bachelor explains, “Where does Shakespeare put the unripe heart-age?-All of it before the ambition, that alone makes the hero-soul. The Shakespearean man “sighs like a furnace,” before he stretches his arm to achieve the “bauble, reputation.” The bachelor exploits a literary allusion to explicate the repercussion of passion which the furnace exemplifies. Passion is conventional in the circumstances of heterosexual affairs.

How does the bachelor endorse postmodernism?

The bachelor exploits intertextuality. For example, he cites Wordsworth: “The good die first/And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust/ Burn to the socket!” This particular intertextuality complements the bachelor’s reflection about the ‘ripeness of hearts.” A mellow heart espouses copious love.

Expound the bachelor’s ideology of marriage.

The bachelor asserts, “May Heaven forgive me again, but I should long to break away, though marriage-bonds held me, and see what liveliness was to be found elsewhere.” The bachelor insinuates that he would not maintain the nuptial oaths. Accordingly, should he get married he is destined to be bored which would prompt him to seek liveliness outside his marriage. The bachelor is not fit for matrimony.