"The Family Reunion" by T.S.Eliot (2025)

ABOUT AUTHOR:

Thomas Stearns Eliotborn on 26 September 1888. inSt.Louis, Missouri, toa prominentBostonBrahminfamily.His father,HenryWare Eliot(1843–1919),was a successful businessman, president and treasurer of the Hydraulic-PressBrick Company in St Louis. His mother,Charlotte Champe Stearns(1843–1929), wrote poetry and was asocial worker, a new profession in the early 20th century. Eliot was the lastof six surviving children. Known to family and friends as Tom, he was thenamesake of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Stearns.

T.S.Eliot was a poet, essayist, publisher,playwright, literary critic and editor. From 1898 to 1905, Eliot attendedSmith Academy, the boys college preparatory divisionofWashington University, where his studies included Latin, AncientGreek, French, and German. Following graduation, Eliot attendedMiltonAcademyinMassachusettsfor a preparatory year, where hemetScofieldThayerwholater publishedThe Waste Land.He studied philosophy atHarvard Collegefrom 1906 to 1909, earning a B.A. in 1909and a M.A. the following year. he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 andwent on to settle, work and marry there. He became aBritishsubjectin 1927at the age of 39, subsequently renouncing his American citizenship. Eliot diedofemphysemaat his home inKensingtonin London, on 4 January 1965.

Eliot seems to have nostalgia for the medievaltradition linked with his interest in modern life. In his poetry, Eliotcombines both, concern with religious issues (medieval theme) and a trendtowards contemporary issues (modern theme). So as critics observed, Eliot seekssome sort of “integration” between the two aspects. Eliot's writings aim to touch people’slives and try to connect with them. His intentions were to demonstrate reallife by bringing out true emotion. He did this by using real life scenariosthat people could be more familiar with, rather than romance and adventure. Hewas part of the anti- romantic revolution; therefore his poems have a deepermeaning. His poems are more of a combination of mythical, philosophical andChristian imagery in order to find a poetic way to poetically describe a moderndilemma.

What stands out from the beginning in Eliot's poetry is his unique style andcunning. He uses his own form of language that appeals to the reader at themoment. He describes ideas and gives vivid images that seem almost realistic tothe person reading it and he makes one feel as if part of the poem. He isparticularly fond of using phrases and verse quoted from works in languageother than English. The flow of prose is of paramount importance in Eliot’sprose because its length of its work makes them extremely clumsy: and he goesthrough a great deal of effort to maintain this flow even between verses.

WORKS:

Awards:

ABOUT PLAY:

The Family Reunion is a poetic drama by T.S.Eliot.it was written in 1939. It has contemporary setting, characters and speech. Thedramatist has tried to appeal to all the people by this play. It has thesetting of a parlor.

TITLE:

The title of the play is Ironical. Here eachcharacter is isolated spiritually and emotionally. As the family gathering isartificial. The uncles and aunts have cross purposes. The two younger sonsArthur and Jones fail to come because of some accident. Harry comes but leavesthe home after a short stay of some hours. The dreams of Amy (the mother) arebroken. She is badly shocked and dies by the shock as soon as harry leaves thehouse.

PLOT:

The main action of the play takes place at the residentsof the family of the Monchensey. It is in Wishwood, A country house in northEngland. Various members of his family have gathered here to celebrate thebirthday of Amy, the owner of this family. They are here to receive harry, hereldest son, who has been returning home after 8 years.

CHARACTERS:

Amy, Dowager Lady Monchensey, an old member ofthe English aristocracy. She is determined to preserve the family estate,Wishwood, as it has always been and use it as a means to keep the familytogether. Like most people who are used to giving orders, she believes that herdesires eventually will be fulfilled, in this case her wish that her oldest sonwill return to take over the estate and marry her ward. As she dies, she beginsto see that she has been living in an unreal world; some of the thingshappening around her then begin to make sense.

They are the brothers and sisters of LadyMonchensey. Violet and Ivy aresimilarly conservative and proper. They suggest that the new generation isbecoming decadent, and they value propriety. Charles, too, is quiteconservative. His brother, Gerald is more progressive.

Agatha, the oldest sibling, is occasionallyantagonistic to Amy, for the reason (discovered at the end of the play) thatAgatha took Amy's husband. Amy accuses Agatha of convincing her son, Harry, toleave, though he in fact chooses to leave of her own volition.

Harry, the oldest son, lost his wife (whom hismother never liked) at sea, and reveals to his family at the birthday partythat he pushed her over. He is haunted by the Eumenides (creatures fromGreek tragedy.who haunt those who have committed murder). He has been absent foreight years, and has no interest in taking over Wishwood, as his existence ishaunted and unsettled.

Mary, the distant relation of Amy Monchensey,is an age-mate of Harry's. Though the two used to play together as children inthe trees around Wishwood, they do not becoming romantically involved (despitethe fact that Harry's mother thinks she would be a suitable daughter-in-law).Mary is nearly thirty years of age, unmarried, and socially self-effacing.

He is the family doctor of the Monchenseyfamily. He is an expert doctor who has good knowledge of psychiatry. He is invited to the birthday party of Amyand also to consult harry who suffered from the illusion that he had killed hiswife. He says that harry case was a psychic case.

They are actually Greek Goddesses more commonlyknown as Furies. They are infernal goddesses who are responsible forvengeance. They are often portrayed as monstrous elderly crones or sometimesas snakes. In ‘The Family Reunion’ Eliot invokes the play by Aeschylus. Theplay revolves around the guilt of murder within the family.

SUMMARY:

The play is in two acts set in Wishwood, statelyhome in the north of England. At the beginning of the play, the lady Monchenseyis preparing for her birthday party. She is waiting for her family members toattend her both birthday parties. She explains her wish to keep her familyunited and alive. Lady Monchensey has two brothers and 3 sisters available atthe party. Her cousin’s daughter Mary is also present but still her 3 sons arenot there. Her younger sons do not come to attend the birthday party as theymeet with an unknown accident. But soon harry arrives there. It was his firstto visit to Wishwood after eight years.

He ishaunted by the belief that he had pushed off his wife off the ship and killedher. He suffered from a profound sense of guilt.

In fact, harry wasn’t present there when hiswife fell into the sea. The feeling of guilt keeps him tormented his entire life.He was not sure but he felt that he had pushed his wife off the ship into thesea. He did not like his wife and wanted to get rid of his wife. He could notdistinguish between reality and illusion; psychologically he became the victimof hallucination. He feels that Eumenides are feasting upon his dead self. Hehad suppressed many of his desires and thoughts.

LadyMonchensey thinks that harry needed the consultation of the family doctor Dr.Warburton. The doctor joins the party as a dinner guest. He tells him that hesuffering from an illusion that he had killed his wife. He tells him that fromhis childhood he was deeply attached to his mother Amy. He further says thatthe sense of guilt was inherited from his own father. He says that harry caseis psychic case. He has been self – alienated. He is depressed and nervousbecause of self division.

Amywishes that harry should Mary the daughter of her cousin. Mary wishes to escapefrom the life at Wishwood but her aunt Agatha tells her that she must wait. Agathareveals to harry that his father had attempted to kill his mother while harrywas in her womb. But Agatha prevented him from committing this crime. Harry’sfather love Agatha and wanted to marry her. He wanted his wife Amy removed fromhis life. When Amy comes to know this, she feels resented instead of beinggrateful. She still resented Agatha depriving her of her husband. Harry isencouraged to leave Wishwood and hand over the property to her younger brotherjohn.

Amy andAgatha confront each other and all the past comes out before them. Amy getsangry at Agatha and tells her that she had taken away her husband thirty fiveyears ago and now she was taking away her son harry in a different way. Sheaccuses Agatha of depriving her son harry making him leave Wishwood. When Amycomes to know that harry had left the Wishwood, she is extremely shocked andfeel depressed and dies in shock.

The play ends with the birthday party ritualsof Agatha and Mary. They place a cake and candles and on each round, they blowa few candles. At the end, they hope that the curse would end forever.

THEMES:

The major theme of the play is sin, sufferingand redemption. Harry’s father wanted to kill his mother when harry was in her mother’swomb. Harry too did not like to live with his wife anymore and wanted her todie. As Harry’s wife also falls off from the ship. There is no easy solution ofthe problem. Therefore, he felt that he should live Wishwood the accursedplace.

The play relates with the oneness of time. Wetalk of the past, the present and the future. The divisions are temporary. Welive in present with determines of the past and our present determines ourfuture. The past and the future mingle with the present. In this play Amy triesto arrest the movement of time. She tells all to behave as if nothing hashappened during the last 8 years. But it is wrong. Harry has changed a lot. Hisbehavior shows that past is not dead. He lives in its memory. So ‘Time’ cannotbe arrested.

Today man suffers from utter loneliness. He isspiritually empty. He fails to communicate even with his family members. He hasonly one way that is to escape from his family.

Mary and Agatha have some spirituality. They donot seek salvation. Agatha understands harry and inspires him from the rightchoice. Then there is Harry, he gains spiritual insight by suffering and hegoes out for salvation.

The furies and Eumendies are supernaturalcharacters. The dramatist says that everything is predefined. One cannot escapefrom ‘destiny’. It only has the minimum of choice. He selects something andthat is also predefined. The furies indicate Harry’s progress form ignoranceChristianity in this play.

The play begins where all members are at Amybirthday party and all are waiting for harry. They wanted harry to take overthe Wishwood as the head of the estate. Her younger brothers are not at theparty due to some unknown accident. Amy is eagerly waiting for all three butonly one is present but she is happy to his son harry after 8 years.

Harry returns home and finds that the home isunchanged. There are unchanged pictures, unchanged hangings, and unchanged furniture.Harry expected some changes but it was not possible. Harry does not prefer tolive in Wishwood and at the end decides to leave it forever.

Harry returns to his childhood memory home andfeels that he had returned to his childhood. He remembered his childhood daysbut he feels that the days of his childhood were not memorable and sweet. Heremembers the loss of his father and his mother’s dominating attitude. Herstrict attitude make young harry depressed and unhappy. He talks Mary about hischildhood with bitter memory.

Te Monchensey family is broken anddisintegrated. Amy’s husband did not love and wanted to kill her. He was inlove with Agatha Amy’s youngest sister. As the same way harry also don’t loveher wife and wanted her to die and she fell off from the ship. It was anillusion that he plagued him. On the birthday party of Amy, Harry goes toWishwood but his brother’s Arthur and John are unable to reach there. All themembers of the family are expected to b reunited but the reunion is notachieved. As harry gets knows from Agatha that the guilt is inherited from hisfather who wanted to kill her mother , when he was in her womb. Harry decidedto leave Wishwood forever like his father gets frustrated from my leaves thehouse and dies at some unknown place. Amy gets knows the news of harry leavingand get depressed and shocked and dies as the hope and dream for the familyreunion fails.

Conclusion:

We can also find chorus in the play. As thechorus tells about the future turns of events. T.S.Eliot has given itsimitating the Greek writers. The play has some defeats also s the hero homesstays for sometimes and leaves without telling clearly about the reasons. It isa mystery. His departure is unsatisfactory. It is forced and hurried. It keepsthe readers confused. And at last the dramatist has proved that even in modernage a poetic drama can be successful.

QUESTIONS: