Importance of the Character of Marco
R.K Narayan, one
of the most prominent Indian English novelists, has a nice imaginative skill
and can weave the characters according to the realistic extents. His characters
in Swami
and his friends show his artistic skill in narrating the village
customs, sentiments and innocence of the people, where as The Bachelor of Arts
exhibits the theme of love,The English Teacher deals with the
tragic story of a man who spends his remaining life in the memory of his dead
beloved wife. In The Guide Narayan lays bare the situations in the life of his
titular character Raju and also satirizes the tendency of Indian people being
carried away and easily duped by a pretentious sage.
One cannot help
suspecting that R.K Narayan was less interested in developing Marco. He used
this character in developing the consistency of the plot. Compared to Rosie and
Raju, the character of Marco is not sufficiently explored to reader and only
comes across to the reader filtered through Raju’s perception, rather than as
an independent character in his own right. The husband of Rosie, Marco is
a serious, studious, reticent scholar of ancient civilizations, an academician
and archaeologist whose only passion is for his work. His research into the
sites of ancient civilization has turned him into a perpetual tourist, as
evidenced by the traveler’s clothes that he always wears. Arriving in the town
of Malgudi on the railway one day to examine cave
paintings. Marco hires Raju to show him the sights. One can feel
pity towards the characterof Marco because it was a name given by Raju at
railway station “I have, of course, no idea of the original Marco Polo’s
appearance, but I wanted to call this man Marco at first sight, and have not
bothered to associate him with any other name since.” He is also described as a
person with uncertain moods, on one hand he acts as a miser unwilling to spend
lavishly on the other hand he can pay any amount on the production of bills for
his expenses.
His insensitivity
and callousness towards everything other than his work is reflected in his
neglect of Rosie during their visit to Malgudi. Marco’s controlling and
dominant nature is also reflected in the ban that he imposes on Rosie,
forbidding her to pursue the passion for classical dance which she nurtures.
Marco’s rigidity and cruelty become apparent when, upon discovering that his
unhappy and dissatisfied young wife has commenced an
affair with his tourist guide, he completely ignores her for three weeks, and
then abandons her at the railway station of Malgudi as punishment.Rosie
compares Marco to Shakespeare’s Othello-“I felt too hurt. I thought that
Othello was kindlier to Desdemona”.
However the
apparently serious and heartless type of character Marco has another side to
consider. He is an archaeologist and doing research which requires a lot of
concentration and his labour bear fruits when His book, The Cultural History of South India, attracted a good publisher and
complimentary reviews.“Three days later Marco’s photograph appeared in the
Illustrated Weekly of Bombay, on the middle page”, shows his achievement of
fame and respect. He is generous enough to return Rosie’s jewellery in his
possession and also pays thanks to Raju for being his guide in his book.
Thus amidst the
character transformations of the main characters including Raju and Rosie,
Marco is a singular character who remains constant and dedicated to his strict
disciplines and ideology. At the end one cannot but commend Marco for his
dedication to his work and generosity towards a man and a wife who ditched him.
No comments:
Post a Comment