Short History of English Language in Bangladesh

I was born and raised in Bangladesh, a developing country where English is taught as a subject from elementary to tertiary levels. As a student of the English language and literature, I am very curious to know when and how this language was introduced in my country. For this reason, I used the Google search engine to find out its origins. What I found is very interesting. It is said that this foreign language was first introduced in the Indian subcontinent after the establishment of the East India Company. When England took control of the subcontinent, English emerged as the instrument and language of colonial power. It was the medium of language for colonial administration, education, and commerce. Therefore, it became the common means of communication between the rulers and the educated class of the Indian subcontinent.

However, in 1858, the British Raj began its regime in the Indian subcontinent under the British Crown following the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Their rule came to an end with the partition of India in 1947. Despite this fact, the English language managed to hold its strong position. As a result of the partition, Bangladesh became separate from India and joined Pakistan as a provincial state. During the period from 1955 to 1971, Bangladesh was under the rule of Pakistan and was known as East Pakistan. At that time, English held the position of a second language in this region. It served as the medium for administration and higher education and facilitated communication among educated speakers of Bengali and Urdu.  

On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh achieved independence from Pakistan after a nine-month brutal war. Since then, the English language has begun to lose its dominant position in this newborn country. The first few years after the independence of Bangladesh are noteworthy because, during this period, the English language suffered serious neglect due to the public’s strong preference for their mother tongue, Bengali. As a result, the state of English language teaching and learning in educational institutions deteriorated, even though English remained a compulsory subject from the secondary to the higher secondary level. However, from 1974, this situation began to improve with the formation of the education commission, which proposed various measures regarding language teaching. Subsequently, the Ministry of Education formed an English Language Teaching Taskforce to evaluate the status of the English language in Bangladesh, and it made several recommendations for improving the learning of English. In Bangladesh, the status of English is that of a foreign language, not a second language.

Migris Interview Questions for Lithuania

Lithuania is one of the most popular study-abroad destinations among international students. This Schengen country offers European-standard education at an affordable cost, which is why it is becoming increasingly popular among study-abroad aspirants. However, to obtain legal permission to study in Lithuania, students must secure a Temporary Residence Permit (TRP). This is granted only if applicants perform well in a Migris interview conducted by the Lithuanian Migration Department. Below is a list of probable questions that students may be asked during the Migris interview. 

1. Tell me about yourself.

·       Please introduce yourself and tell us about your academic background, any relevant professional experience, your family background, and your personal interests.

2. Tell us the name of the program you are pursuing and the institute where you are pursuing the program.

3. Why did you choose this bachelor’s or master’s program?

4. Why did you choose this college or university?

·       Who recommended this college or university to you?

·       What other academic institutions did you consider, and why did you not choose them?

5. What do you know about this college or university? What do you know about its reputation?

6. Why did you choose a college instead of a university?

7. Why did you choose Lithuania for your higher studies?

8. If a similar program is available in your country, why did you not choose to study it there?

9. Which other countries did you consider, and why did you decide not to choose them?

10. How did you come to know about this college or program?

·       How did you find out about the opportunity to study in Lithuania?

11. Why did you choose Europe for higher education instead of other continents?

12. How is this program related to your previous studies?

13. What interests you most about this program?

14. What are your future career plans after completing this program?

15. How will this program help you achieve your future career goals?

16. What career options are available after completing this program?

17. How will you finance your studies and living expenses in Lithuania?

·       Who is your sponsor?

·       What is his or her profession?

·       If employed, who issued his or her job certificate?

·       What is his or her monthly or annual income?

·       How long have your parents been saving for your education abroad?

18. Where will you live in Lithuania?

19. Do you plan to work while studying in Lithuania?

·       If you get any part-time work opportunity, will you accept it?

20. Do you plan to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree after graduation?

21. Do you intend to stay in Lithuania after completing your studies?

22. What makes this course suitable for your career goals?

23. What key features of this course motivated you to choose it?

24. Who is the rector or a notable figure of the college or university?

25. What is the medium of instruction for your program?

26. What is the duration of your program?

27. What subjects or modules are included in your course?

28. Can you describe your family background or family circumstances?
29. Have you ever traveled abroad before?

30. How will you adapt to living in Lithuania?

31. Do you have any relatives or friends in Lithuania?

32. Did you do the visa application by yourself, or did you seek assistance from others?

33. How was the visa application process? Can you explain the steps involved in the visa application?

34. How much is the state fee?

35. How did you pay the state fee?

36. Did you do the university admission by yourself? What were the steps involved in the university admission process?

37.  Which application did you submit to the Immigration Department?

38. What do you expect from us?

39. What is the reason for our meeting today?

40. How much do you expect to spend per month on accommodation, food, and other living expenses in Lithuania? Can you provide a cost breakdown?

41. What do you know about Lithuanian culture and heritage?

42. What languages are spoken in Lithuania?

43. What currency is used in Lithuania?

44. What is the climate like in Lithuania?

45. How do you plan to adjust to cultural differences?

46. What types of food are popular in Lithuania?

47. What will you do if your visa application is refused?

Lord Byron’s relationship with contemporary poets

Lord Byron is one of the best poets of the Romantic age, but his relationship with contemporary poets was not good at all. In particular, he had a personal conflict with poet laureate Robert Southey, and they did not even want to be in the same room. Moreover, Byron did not particularly like his senior poets of the Romantic age, William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge. Though he did not have any direct personal conflict with them in that way, there were conflicts in terms of poetic composition and style. If we read Canto 1 of Don Juan, we can understand this very well. Here, he criticized several of his contemporary literati, including Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, in very harsh language. This part has been highlighted here.

William Wordsworth is the pioneer of the Romantic Age, and he, along with S. T. Coleridge, published Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Many people believe that the publication of this book marked the official beginning of the Romantic Age. In the preface of this book, Wordsworth mentioned that the language and style of writing poetry should be of a new kind. In terms of language, he emphasized the use of ordinary language and prioritized everyday life events of common people when selecting subjects for his poetry. Wordsworth also spoke extensively about nature. Lord Byron, with his epic poem Don Juan, tried to show the opposite of what Wordsworth said about poetry. Byron wanted to demonstrate that beautiful and great poetry could be composed by preserving the traditional forms, and Don Juan was that attempt. He called Wordsworth insane, though the exact reason for this is not known. Also, we cannot say whether he harbored any personal jealousy towards Wordsworth. However, what we see in Byron’s Don Juan is largely the opposite of the idealism found in Wordsworth’s poetry.

S. T. Coleridge is another important poet of the Romantic age, and he is famous for his use of imagination. In particular, if we look at his two poems, Kubla Khan and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, we can see that Coleridge was one of the greatest—or perhaps the greatest—poets in English literature in terms of his use of imagination. Byron said about Coleridge that he was a drunk. One possible reason he said this is that Coleridge was addicted to drugs in his personal life. However, Byron was not in favor of Coleridge’s use of imagination, and he did not take imagination very seriously in composing poetry. 

Robert Southey was the poet laureate of that time. He held this position for a long time, and though he did not gain as much fame as Wordsworth and Coleridge after his death, during his lifetime, he was fairly recognized as a poet in contemporary England. Byron had a very bitter relationship with Southey, and the two even wrote poems attacking each other. Byron’s assessment of Southey was that he was a hypocrite and talkative.

Among the poets of that time, Byron had a very good relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley. Their friendship was very deep, and they liked each other very much. Shelley and Byron had somewhat similar thoughts. However, Shelley did not reject imagination and was a devotee of nature. The similarity between Byron and Shelley lies mainly in their ideology, and both were rebellious poets. Byron’s ideals were John Milton, John Dryden, and Alexander Pope. They were all poets of the Neo-Classical era, and Byron was a fan of their satire. All three of them portrayed society in their poems, especially civil society. Byron also portrayed this in his poem Don Juan.

However, we can see the greatest influence of Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope on Byron. Byron, in his poem Don Juan, has largely followed the type of satire on people and human society that Swift used in his book Gulliver’s Travels. In Byron, we can see the power of intense satire, similar to that of Pope.

By reading the poem Don Juan, we may be reminded of Homer’s epic The Odyssey. Just as Odysseus wandered from one place to another in search of adventure or was forced by the curses of the gods, similarly, Byron’s Don Juan traveled from one place to another under the pressure of circumstances and fell in love with one woman after another.

There is no doubt that Byron did not have good relations with most of the poets of his time, and his thoughts were very modern. We can relate Byron’s thoughts and ideas to this age to a great extent. It was Byron’s misfortune that he was born at a time when the social system was not in his favor. 

Lady Macbeth: The Symbol of Power and Influence in Politics

Lady Macbeth had such a profound influence over her husband that such a comparison is not often seen in literature or in real life. If we search in real life or in the pages of history, we will probably find this type of character in Nur Jahan. Nur Jahan was the wife of Mughal Emperor Jahangir, and at that time, her influence had grown so much that Jahangir was only a king in name. Before making any decision, Jahangir would consult with Nur Jahan in all matters. As a result, the outcome was not favorable for the Mughal Empire, since many in the court were dissatisfied with her growing influence. Especially, Jahangir’s son Khurram rebelled against his father and later became king under the name Shah Jahan. It is worth mentioning that Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal for his wife Nur Jahan. There is nothing wrong with a wife having influence over her husband, and husbands and wives should listen to each other. But when a queen’s influence over a head of state or king becomes too much, or when a wife has too much influence over her high-ranking military officer husband, it can bring danger. This is what Shakespeare tried to say. There is a saying that a person can become mad for power, and when a person has too much ambition for power, it creates one danger after another. Shakespeare has beautifully portrayed this aspect of human psychology through Lady Macbeth. 

Though Lady Macbeth’s thought of making her husband king was blameworthy to the people of that era, the present age is the age of democracy. So, if any wife thinks that she can make her husband the President or Prime Minister of the country, the path is open to her through elections. If Macbeth were a man of today’s age, Lady Macbeth might have entered politics and tried to win votes for her husband by giving powerful speeches. However, Lady Macbeth might have stood in the election herself instead of trying to gather votes for her husband. In England, we have seen that one of the most powerful and perhaps most popular prime ministers in the past hundred years was Lady Thatcher, or Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher was called the Iron Lady, and we can also call Lady Macbeth the Iron Lady. Through the character of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare may have tried to show this aspect of human nature—that the matter of changing power should be systematic. One person will be king, and he cannot be replaced—this kind of system brings various dangers to a country. In the present age of democracy, we see that elections are held every four or five years, and power changes. The person who is the Prime Minister or President can remain in power if they receive the votes of the majority of the population. If he does not receive the votes of the majority of the population, a new President or Prime Minister is elected. Because of this aspect of democracy, people like Lady Macbeth are not needed in the modern world, at least in Europe and America. However, there are many aspects of Lady Macbeth’s character, and it is expected that future researchers will use it to conduct a comparative analysis between democracy and monarchy.

Is Lady Macbeth a Machiavellian character?

Lady Macbeth was completely cruel and heartless. Throughout the play, we do not see much of a touch of humanity in her, and perhaps her only good quality was that she used to love her husband with all her heart and soul. Besides that, we do not see any other good qualities in her. At every step of the play, we can see her cruelty. She encourages Macbeth to kill the king. There was not a single bit of kindness or compassion in her, and we rarely see a woman as cruel as her in a play.

To understand the psychological state of Lady Macbeth, her soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5 is very important. In this soliloquy, we see that Macbeth writes her a letter from the battlefield. In this letter, he informs her about the prophecy of the witches. The witches prophesied that Macbeth would become a king, and Lady Macbeth became overjoyed upon reading the letter. However, according to the norms of that era, it was impossible for Macbeth to become a king. This letter demonstrates Macbeth’s deep love and unwavering trust for his wife. This is because, if the contents of the letter had been leaked somehow, Macbeth’s inevitable punishment would have been death. After reading this letter, Lady Macbeth, alongside being overjoyed, begins to think about how she can help her husband succeed on this path. Not even once did it occur to her that it was legally impossible to make Macbeth king. Rather, her cruel thoughts became even stronger, and from then on, she began to think with all her heart and soul about how to remove the king and make Macbeth king. This soliloquy highlights the distinct character traits of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

We can describe Lady Macbeth as a manly woman. Although she was a woman, she did not exhibit any of the typical characteristics of a woman. She did not have any woman-like charm, sweetness, or softness in her. Rather, she had the mental strength of a brave warrior. She did not hesitate to make any harsh and cruel decisions at any time, and she did not care about how much harm this caused to others. In other words, Lady Macbeth should have been a soldier. Perhaps, if she had lived in this era, she would have become a soldier, and her psychology is like that of a soldier.

When a soldier takes part in a war, he does not consider what is right or wrong. He must fight and help his side win the war. If his side wins, peace and happiness come to his heart. But if his side loses, he feels pain and sorrow. Lady Macbeth possessed this kind of psychology, and if we consider it from this perspective, she can be described as a Machiavellian character. The main principle of Machiavellian characters is that “the end justifies the means” — that is, the objective must be achieved at any cost. The thought came to Lady Macbeth’s mind that she must make her husband king, and after that, she had no other thoughts. She had only one thing on her mind: how she could make her husband king. For this, she committed unethical and immoral acts at every step and encouraged her husband to do the same. Sometimes, it felt as if Lady Macbeth were the husband and Macbeth were the wife. 

Is Lady Macbeth a villain in the play Macbeth?

William Shakespeare’s one of the most famous tragedies is Macbeth. Although Macbeth himself is the central character of the play, the role of Lady Macbeth is no less significant. Lady Macbeth can be considered the most powerful and strong-willed among Shakespeare’s female characters. Although she is primarily a negative character, her personality traits and the psychological treatment of her character have made her highly important, and both readers and audiences remain deeply inquisitive about her.

From a psychological point of view, Lady Macbeth is considered an interesting character, even though we do not see any such qualities in her throughout the play. However, a combination of many characteristics is found in her, and Shakespeare has tried to portray this character beautifully and with considerable depth. To the audience of that era, Lady Macbeth may have seemed like a negative character who was the main villain of the play. In the play Macbeth, there is no villain in the true sense, because if we consider Macbeth as the hero, then we cannot consider anyone else as the villain, since it is Macbeth himself who commits all the evil deeds in the play. Moreover, Lady Macbeth can be identified as the main villain because she had no good qualities and encouraged and supported Macbeth in carrying out all the evil acts. Sometimes, when necessary, she actively tried to take action herself. Therefore, if we judge Lady Macbeth from a modern perspective, she must be regarded as an interesting character.

The first thing that will catch everyone’s attention is that she was a very powerful woman. In those days, women did not have much freedom, and in England or Europe, they could not even keep any property in their possession. Once women got married, they would come under the authority of their husbands, and this was the normal situation. Whether rich or poor, women, in the true sense, did not have much personal freedom or power of their own. Lady Macbeth was quite exceptional in this regard, and on the one hand, she was a very powerful woman. Her power did not come from winning wars or wealth, but from her personality. We do not find women with such a powerful personality in today’s world. Shakespeare showed this woman’s power through her intelligence. That is, Lady Macbeth was intelligent, and she knew how to influence her husband. Therefore, even though there was a king in England, the reality is that Lady Macbeth was more powerful than the king.

It has been said earlier that Lady Macbeth did not become powerful by winning battles or by acquiring wealth. She became powerful through the strength of her own intelligence. That is why she had a great deal of inner strength, and inner strength is a very important quality in a person. When a person does not have much, he or she can overcome many limitations with that inner strength and move forward in life. So, we must remember this quality of Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare has portrayed this inner strength in several ways. We see that she herself began to believe that her husband would become king, and for this reason, she started thinking about how to make her husband king. Though it was impossible in those days—because the king was alive and the prince was supposed to become king after him—still, Lady Macbeth did not give up hope and tried to find a way to put her husband in power.

Supernatural elements in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is considered the best poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and various factors have contributed to making it such a memorable poem. Students studying English literature read this poem in almost every university in the world. The poet’s use of supernatural elements is one of the features that has made this poem so unforgettable.

Normally, we can see that poets frequently incorporate supernatural elements when writing epic poems. If we think about The Iliad or The Odyssey, we can easily recall the presence of gods and goddesses and other supernatural elements that play a significant role in these two epics. In poetry, supernatural elements are quite common, and almost every poet during the Romantic age used such elements.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were close friends, and they decided to present nature in opposite ways. Wordsworth was supposed to write about natural things with a supernatural treatment. In other words, he would try to show simple things exceptionally. On the other hand, Coleridge was supposed to present supernatural elements with a natural treatment. In other words, he was supposed to present supernatural or abnormal things in a very normal and natural way. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, we can find this concept very clearly.

Coleridge also used the idea of the willing suspension of disbelief very successfully. While reading this poem, we know that many things are impossible, but we forget this and try to stay with the poet, accepting them as reality. This willing suspension of disbelief is at its greatest in this poem by S.T. Coleridge.

If we want to think about the supernatural elements, we have to consider the beginning of the poem. The Ancient Mariner started talking to the wedding guest in such a way that he became engrossed as if he were hypnotized. He could not move from the spot and was almost forced to listen to the Mariner. Thus, the Mariner had a magnetic power to attract the wedding guests. The writer says:

“He holds him with his glittering eye -

The Wedding-Guest stood still,

And listens like a three years’ child:

The Mariner hath his will.”

The Albatross was not a simple bird. In our everyday life, we often kill animals and birds, but the Albatross that the Ancient Mariner killed was more than an ordinary bird. It was a supernatural element, and after killing it, he suffered greatly and was severely punished by God. It was a test for the Mariner, and he failed, but later he tried to atone for his sin.

Perhaps the scariest supernatural elements in this poem are the dead sailors who came back to life and started to walk and perform their everyday tasks. The Ancient Mariner was the only living person, and the other sailors became dead men who awoke. Even imagining it can make a person feel afraid. He says:

“They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,

Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;

It had been strange, even in a dream,

To have seen those dead men rise.”

However, as I stated earlier, Coleridge presented the supernatural elements in such a way that they seemed normal to us as readers. When we consider that all the sailors were ghosts, yet they were moving like normal people, it feels strangely natural. Even the Mariner felt it was normal, and he was suffering so much that he could not even react or think much about the matter.

Towards the end, the water snakes are also somewhat supernatural because they are not ordinary or natural snakes. They were special, and it was a test for the Ancient Mariner. He had failed his earlier test with the Albatross, but this time he did not fail. Instead, he prayed for them, and this unselfish and loving act saved him in the end. He says:

“Beyond the shadow of the ship

I watched the water-snakes:

They moved in tracks of shining white,

And when they reared, the elfish light

Fell off in hoary flakes.”

Following the Mariner’s foolish killing of the albatross, Coleridge conjures up a spirit known as “the Polar Spirit,” which brings rain and storms upon the beleaguered ship. Whether it is a pagan or divine spirit, it governs the material world to punish the Ancient Mariner and awaken his sense of awe.

Death and Life-in-Death are two important supernatural elements in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The Ancient Mariner discovered these two figures on the deck of the ship when he got a closer look. Death was embodied as a naked man, whereas Life-in-Death had the beauty of a woman. The poet terrifyingly described these two supernatural figures. They were seen deciding the Mariner’s fate with a dice.

The solitary Spirit from the South Pole travels aboard the ship until it reaches the Line, in compliance with the angelic troop, but still requires vengeance. The fellow demons of the Polar Spirit participated in his wrongdoing, and two of them converse with each other, stating that a lengthy and arduous penance has been granted to the Ancient Mariner by the Polar Spirit, who has returned.

Additionally, the Ancient Mariner heard the message of God from angels. The Almighty God, being the most powerful, granted forgiveness to the Mariner. Here, we can see that God is gracious to those who want to be good and punishes those who act wrongly. So, Coleridge tried to present this image of God by stating that even if we make mistakes, if we try to return to a righteous life and seek God’s forgiveness for our wrongdoings, God will always extend His mercy toward us.

In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge portrays the supernatural elements primarily in a favorable light. It seems that he wanted to convey the idea that people are the ones who cause problems for themselves, not the supernatural elements. Human beings should try to follow the right path and show love toward nature and its elements. They should also show kindness and mercy toward all of God’s creatures.