Class 12 English Lesson 18: Play: A Matter of Husbands: Reference to Context & Reference beyond Text Literature Section
a. Sketch the character of a Famous Actress.
The Famous Actress is a young, renowned, and beautiful actress who is envied by ordinary women. On the outside, she looks innocent and harmless but in reality, she is mean and wicked. She is cunning and deceitful as seen in the way she concocts a story to sway the woman from believing that her husband was having an affair with her. She also lives an immoral life as seen in the conclusion of the story where it was revealed that Alfred, the ordinary woman’s husband was actually in her house.
b. Shed light on the difference between an ordinary woman and an actress.
In the story, “A Matter of Husband”, the ordinary woman is portrayed as a simple-minded and timid person who was easily deceived by the false story told by the actress. She had come to the actress in tears completely sure that her husband was having an affair with the actress. However, the actress told a story to her of how her husband was trying to regain the love he had for her by doing things to get her jealous. Without asking questions, the ordinary woman believed her and bought into the story. In the end, it was revealed that her husband was actually in the actress’s room. This shows that the actress was cunning while the ordinary woman was timid.
c. According to Famous Actress, men associated with theatre use the theatre actresses to make their estranged wives jealous to woo them back. Do you agree with her argument? Why? Why not?
Yes, I agree with her argument. Men associated with theatre mostly have an ordinary, simple-minded, and timid wives who can be easily deceived by the false story. In the act too, Alfred was hiding in the actress’s room to regain the love he had for her by doing things to get her jealous. Thus, men take advantage of the cunning actress to make their estranged wives jealous to persuade them back.
d. How does Famous Actress make a fool of Earnest Young Woman?
The famous Actress makes a fool of Earnest Young Woman by saying that a misunderstanding may have arrived between her and her husband. She makes Earnest Young Woman believe that her husband has been playing with her to make her jealous and gain her love back. Then, the Earnest Young woman innocently realizes her misdeed and begs for sorry for her.
e. The conversation between the two women takes place on the stage of the theatre. What role does the theatre house as a part of the setting play in ‘A Matter for Husband’?
The scene is a drawing room and the design and colorings are exotic and suggestive of the apartment of the famous Hungarian actress in which this dialogue takes place. When the curtain rises the Earnest Young Woman is discovered, poised nervously on the edge of a gilt chair. It is plain she has been sitting there a long time. For perhaps the fiftieth time she is studying the furnishings of the room and regarding the curtained door with a glance that would be impatient if it were not so palpably frightened. At last, the Famous Actress enters through the curtained door at the right which leads to her bedroom.
f. What do you think about the ending of the play?
The ending of this play ‘A Matter of Husbands’ is perfect. And it quite justifies the ending of the play. The writer does the ending of this play very animatedly. He finishes all the nonplus of the character of the play. All the characters are satisfied with one another. The film actress and advocate are very satisfied at the end of the play. They clear the hurdle between them. They ensure her that they have no affair it is only drama for you. At the end of the play, the young woman is very happy about her husband. The film actress and the husband of a young woman live together without any obstacles. The ending of the play is too good but full of irony. The film actress narrates to a young woman that her husband loves her but in reality, he has no love for his wife. He only cheats on his wife.
So, end of the play ‘A Matter of Husbands’, we can assume that “All is well the end is well.” Innocent people always suffer from shrewd people because they are often sincere by heart but cunning people always take advantage of their innocence.
Reference beyond the text
a. Write a paragraph describing your favorite actor/actress.
My Favourite Actress
Namrata Shrestha is one of the established actresses in the Nepal Movies Industry. She was born on June 14, 1985, and her age is 36 years old. Her height is 5 feet 2 inches. She debuted in the Nepali film industry with the movie named “Sano Sansar”. Namrata rose to fame after the movie ‘Mero Euta Sathi Chha’. Shrestha is a National Film Award-winning actress.
Shrestha completed her grade 12 from St. Xavier’s College and did her bachelor’s degree in Business Studies. Born in a beautiful part of Dharan, she spent her childhood there with full joy and happiness and after completing her SLC education, she moved to the capital to pursue her further education and to build up herself. As she was highly interested in acting and singing, she made her path in acting. She carried some training courses along with her formal education and finally in the year 2008, she debuted in Nepali Cinema Industry. Along with the success of her first movie, she worked as a VJ, and program host, and even appeared in some music videos. All we know is that a person from the film industry is a kind of versatile person who works in each aspect of the entertainment world.
Shrestha has also started a business in Durbar Marg. She is a multi-talented personality. As she has acted in many films and music videos. Her top movies are ‘November Rain’, ‘Classic’ and ‘first love’. In almost all the movies, she has worked with Aryan Sigdel. There is very good chemistry between the two and both of them state that they feel more comfortable working with each other. Shrestha was enlisted in the top 5 models of Nepal as mentioned by The Kathmandu Post. Namrata also appeared on the cover of the Navyaata Magazines. She has acted in more than fifteen movies today. And almost all of them are super-hit.
Shrestha, who is a Korean-faced girl is one of the prettiest girls ever in this industry. She has a very good smile and is one of the legendary actresses of Nepal. People even say that if she was not into these controversies of a sex scandal with DJ Tantrik, she would be the top actress in Nepal. Shrestha was getting a lot of success in her movies and even there was a very good response from the audience and she had many fans all over the country.
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b. John Cassavetes says, “I’m very worried about the depiction of women on the screen. It’s gotten worse than ever and it’s related to their being either high- or low-class concubines . . . . There’s nothing to do with the dreams of women, or of woman as the dream, nothing to do with the quirky part of her, the wonder of her.” How do you assess Famous Actress in light of Cassavetes’ argument about the portrayal of women?
This famous quote by John Cassavetes is about how women are often portrayed in cinema. In a polygamous society, a concubine is a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife. John wants us to be conscious of contemporary society's thinking when it comes to depicting women on film with this quote. Women on Screen are always associated with sex by the general public. They do not judge them in the same way that they evaluate males on screen. No one, according to John, recognizes the wonderful and quirky elements of women on screen and portrays them in a negative light.
The famous Actress is also portrayed as a concubine of Alfred, the Earnest Young Woman's husband, in this play. In the play, they are having a secret affair. The Famous Actress is also depicted in a negative light in "The Matter of Husbands", similar to Cassavetes' argument in his famous quote. The negative side of the Famous Actress has been given more importance than the positive, quirky side of her in the play.
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