Question

The play has a definite message for the readers – ‘Violence and torture can convert a “man” into a “wild beast” but love and sympathy can restore his faith in God and humanity. Justify. (80-100 words) The play has a definite message for the readers – ‘Violence and torture can convert a “man” into a “wild beast” but love and sympathy can restore his faith in God and humanity. Justify. (80-100 words)

Answer 1

Violence and torture can convert a man into a wild beast indeed. Nelson Mandela very rightly said “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” His views have much substance in them. No one is born criminal; it is the circumstances that make one so. Researchers have found some psychological reasons such as, exploitation, injustice, disturbed childhood, etc that pushed people to become criminal.

In the play ‘The Bishop’s Candlestick’, we come face to face with the similar example. As the play unfolds in front of us, the audience comes to know the convict in his past was a normal promising man who had a wife. Owing to bad economy of his country, he had to steal a loaf of bread for his ill wife. The cruel society had no sympathy and pity for him! Instead of sympathizing with him, the police arrested him and tried him in a court. Even the cruel judge did not hesitate passing such a harsh sentence against him.  He was treated like a beast for such a minor and pardonable offence. He was beaten, fed on filth, and tortured. His wife died in his absence that turned him into a criminal. If the society (the police, the judge, and the authorities) had treated him considerately he would not have become a criminal. This is not just the story of the convict; the same applies to all the criminals.

On the other hand love and sympathy can even transform beasts into gentlemen. At the end of the play we find how the same beast of a convict was transformed into again a good human being by the Bishop’s loving, caring, and sympathetic behavior with him. He treated him kindly and empathetically. Thus love and understanding has the power to restore even a criminal’s faith and trust in God and humanity.