BIO-DATA
Name:
Class: XII
Stream: Science / Commerce / Humanities
Roll No:
Unique ID:
Subjective Teacher:
Session: 2022-2023
Name of School:
INDEX
| Sl. No. | Topic | Page No. |
| 1. | Introduction | 1 |
| 2. | Critically analyse the character of Miss Meadows with close reference to the short story ‘The Singing Lesson.’ | … |
| 3. | Conclusion | … |
| 4. | Acknowledgement | … |
| 5. | Bibliography | … |
| 6. | Web Support | … |
INTRODUCTION
Like every year this year the Indian School Certificate (ISC) has made it mandatory to submit project work in every subject following the protocol of the council. In Literature in English the students have been given the task of project work on the character sketch of “Miss Meadows”, the protagonist of the story “The Singing Lesson” by Katherine Mansfield. Miss Meadows is a woman with changing moods, influenced by the circumstances of life. The story is about singing which is coloured and conditioned by the singer’s mood. The entire project revolves round her character. I have gone through the project by presenting every nook and corner of the protagonist. I have been assisted and guided by our respected subjective teacher <Subjective Teacher’s Name>. I have tried to highlight the most remarkable aspects of her contradictory of her bipolar character. I have also taken help from the original story of our textbook as well as from the internet. I express my heart felt gratitude to my teachers as well as my parents for their precious guidence. Awaiting with hope that the project would be properly evaluated by our examiner.
CRITICALLY ANALYSE THE CHARACTER OF MISS MEADOWS WITH CLOSE REFERENCE TO THE SHORT STORY ‘THE SINGING LESSON.’
Miss Meadows is the protagonist of the story the singing lesson by Katherine Mansfield. She is an independent woman who spends her days teaching music at a school. She is susceptible to suffer with the changes of fortune in life and she can make use of her power indiscriminately again the weaker and more vulnerable people to overflow her pain, heated or joy. For the gods, the weaker is the human being. She is betrothed to Basil. However she becomes pale and melancholic after reading the latest letter of her fiance’s. She walks through the ‘cold corridors’, extremely engrossed in her own pensive thoughts and absolutely oblivious to the cheerful surroundings.
She ignores the ‘gleeful excitement’ of the girls. From the beginning of the story we understand that Miss Meadows’ state of mind is terrible and dark. When she talks to the science mistress, the science mistress has a ‘sugary smile’while Miss Meadows appears ‘frozen and grim’, A cold, sharp despair is buried deep inside and thus she walks with a heavy heart.
Her internal chaos affects the girls deeply. She asked them to sing a lament which reflects her present sombre mood. She contaminates them with her state of agitation. She instructs them to sing without expression. They start singing with their mournful voices. Every note they take resembles a shy and a sob.
She analysis Basil’s letter in her mind. His confused state makes her upset. She wants to settle down where as Basil, her fiance views the idea of marriage as a grave mistake. Miss Meadows is thirty-five while Basil is twenty-five and this makes her desperate to settle down and lead a blissful life. Being aware of the societal pressure, Miss Meadows knows she would have to leave the school if Basil calls the engagement off. Her inability to confront the painful reality makes her disenchanted and downcast. Although Basil had insufficient emotional security, she is prepared to settle for the same man. This action of hers also emphasises her tendency to depend on others for happyness and joy. She feels to be filled with instinctive, impulsive and spontaneous infatuation. Going back to her class , she asks them to turn to page thirty-two and sing a song full of zest and energy. This time she accompanies them and her voice is heard the loudest.
Due to the turmoil in her mind she even ignores her favourite student, Mary Beazley. She does neither accept her warm greetings nor her yellow chrysanthemum. Mary was startled at Miss Meadows coldness. She appears to be a sterned teacher who controls her students with baaton. The girls in the class are so scared of her that they turned crimson and are on the verge of crying.
Miss Meadows has human attitudes and defects. She seems to be the kind of person sentimental – introverted. She didn’t even try to share her problem either with her colleague or her students. She prefers keeping all her thoughts to herself. People like this preference to be quiet, difficult approachable, often behind a childish masque.
The drastic change in her character is revealed when she receives an apology note from Basil. Atvthat moment, the scolding of Miss Wyatt didn’t bother her. Immediately she turned cheerful and rushed towards her class. She accepted the yellow chrysanthemum rejected earlier. The music lessons changes to as per her temperament. She ordered the girls to stop being doleful and sing with all their imagination.
CONCLUSION
I have put up efforts to the best of my ability to focus on the character sketch of the protagonist. There might be some unintentional errors. I hope my little effort would satisfy my readers. It is really very difficult to analyse the character of such a lady with contradictory characters having varying moods. I have tried to underline every aspect of the character of the protagonist. Looking forward to with great anticipation for the approval of the examiner.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I (<your name>) extend my heartiest thanks to my subjective teacher for giving us such a beautiful project. To complete my project I had taken help from my parents, teachers, friends. Especially my subjective teacher (<name of your teacher>) guided me how to complete the project.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
To complete this project I came across many books, they are:-
- Echoes – A Collection of ISC Short Stories
- A Collection of Short Stories- Priyanka Bhatt (from Radha Publishing House,Kolkata)
WEB SUPPORT
To complete this project I came across many sites, they are:-
The Pro Literature Hub 