Samuvel Sankari

  THREAD OF SCARLET by J.J. Bell. John Joy Bell was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1871. He is generally called as J. J. Bell and he was a prolific writer of fiction, farces, travel books and reminiscences. His work “The Thread of Scarlet” is a one act play and was published in 1923.   It is a thriller. This play mainly depicts the social condition of Scotland during 1940’s.                 This play takes place in small village inn, which is away from the town. It’s night time and the weather too is stormy. Migsworth, Smith and Butters were sitting in the inn and the Landlord is trying to avoid Breen, who is asking for beer. Though Breen promised to pay money in the morning, the landlord refused to give him drinks.                 Migsworth and Smith were talking about Jacob Forge and Breen.   Breen was the close friend...

  REMEMBER CAESAR by Gordon Daviot Gordon Daviot (1896 – 1952) is the pen name of Miss. Elizabeth McKintosh, a Scottish born novelist and playwright. She served educational institutions in England and Scotland as a physical education instructor and soon took to writing novels under the pseudonym Josephine Tey and Gordon Daviot. This play “Remember Caesar” is a light hearted comedy. It revolves around the ides of March. Ides of March is the 15 th of March, the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated. The play “Remember Caesar” is about a pompous and proud judge who fears a life threat after he discovers a message ‘Remember Caesar’ scribbled on a piece of paper. The Play opens up in Lord Weston’s house. Weston is busy in giving advices to his assistant Rodger. He insists that Roger should be more focused on his own achievements in life. He then reminds Roger that he had been in the path of success because he is ambitious, hardworking and focused. He doesn’t forget to dism...

  A TALK ON ADVERTISING by Herman Wouk Herman Wouk is an American author. In his essay “A Talk on Advertising” Wouk points out the negative features of advertising. He considers advertising Job as cheating people and earning more money.   The author went to Marquis Office on his invitation. In his office he found different things used by the Advertiser. The office was filled with many pictures, captions, models etc. The author makes use of this situation to talk about the evil effects of advertising. Herman Wouk asks many questions about the basic needs of human beings. Everyone earns money to eat. The advertisers too earn money to eat, but the way they earn that money is so cheap and is a very worst sort of mischief. A shoemaker, a singer, a pilot, or a coal-miner does his work and get paid by the people cheerfully.   But the advertisers induce human beings to want things they don’t want. The create want, where want does not exist. The author feels that they coul...

  SCIENCE AND WAR – by Betrand Russell. Betrand Russell was a British philosopher and mathematician. He was a great social critic. He was a also a noble Laureate. He wrote a book called “The Impact of Science on Society”. This essay “Science and War” is taken from that book. Russell deals with the relationship between science and war in a detailed way in this essay. The connection between science and war started even from the earlier period. Archimedes was a scientist. He lived during the period of 21 BC. His cousin was the tyrant of Syracuse. He asked Archimedes to produce machines to defend and to assault. Archimedes also produced many machines and   Plutarch in his “Life of Marcelleus” gives a detailed description of those machines. They could throw stones and wood on the enemies on land and in the sea. They could destroy as many people as possible. However history gives a different picture. The Roman got victory and Archimedes was killed by a “plain infantry soldier” ...

THE GAME OF CHESS by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Kenneth Sawyer Goodman was born in Chicago on 1883. He has written many plays and short stories. The Goodman Theater was named after him. His “The Game of Chess” is a well known play and has appeared in several anthologies. “The Game of Chess” is an indirect comment on life and forces in it. A Chess game requires skill, cunning and anticipation of rival’s hostile moves. Just as the game requires smart moves, life also demands one to be cunning to outsmart one’s competitors. The play begins with Alexis Alexandrovitch playing Chess with his officer in charge, Constantine. Alexis loves playing the game and never gets tired of it. Alexis is a governor. In order to keep up his competency power, he plays with Constantine. He thinks that he can improve his mental strength by playing Chess. According to him, Chess game is far more superior in measuring a man’s mental strength than love, war, politics or any other game. Alexis and Constantine ...