Are The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse Harbingers Of Destruction?

The four horsemen of the apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, allegorically refers to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mentioned in the bible. In the novel, they are stated by Tchernoff who lives in the same building where Julio resides. Tchernoff elaborates his statement and mentions the beast of the Apocalypse, followed by the four horsemen who precede it.

According to the apocalyptic vision of Christianity, the four horsemen will punish the wrongdoings of the world through a divine apocalypse which will be a harbinger of the Last Judgment. Some historical texts associate the four horsemen to the ancient Roman Empire in which the Book of Revelation was written.

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in Revelation chapter 6 of Bible, verses 1-8. The four horsemen descriptively symbolizes the horrendous events that will take place when the world will come to its end.  Revelation 6:2 mentions the first Horseman of the Apocalypse: “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.” The first horseman has been referred as the Antichrist who is believed to be an opposing force to the divinity of Christ. It is believed that the antichrist will be given an absolute authority that will be unconquerable and anything that will come in its way will be perished. He is believed to be a false representation of Christ, who will also appear on a White horse.

Talking about the second horseman of the apocalypse, he appears in the Revelation 6:4, “Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.” The second horseman symbolizes the gruesome war that will deliver the deadliest blow at end of the World. The third horseman is described in Revelation 6:5-6, “Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” The third horseman of the Apocalypse symbolizes the devastating famine that will end up in people shedding each other’s blood to fill their stomach. The famine will be an outcome of the war the second horseman.

The fourth horseman is mentioned in Revelation 6:8, “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” The fourth horseman of the Apocalypse is believed to possess the symbolic powers of the previous horsemen. He is as unstoppable as the Antichrist and is the harbinger of bloodshed. He will bring fatal plagues and diseases wipe out half of the humanity.  

The most heart wrenching aspect of the four horsemen of theApocalypse is that they are only a precursor to the judgement day, a day on which the severest of punishment will be inflicted on the humanity.

A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf’s Tryst With Feminism

There have been many feminist criticisms, long before the idea of feminism became popular, but the most convenient and relevant critique has been Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. It is an extended essay that argues for a substantive space for the women writers within the realms of a literary tradition dominated by men. The idea of the essay sprouts from Woolf’s own conception that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. In this masterpiece, Woolf talks about women both in the realms of a writer and a character in the literary works by men. She concludes about the huge discrepancy between the powerful and legendary male characters and their female counterparts in the classic fictional tales.

A Room of One's Own packs a scathing punch when it comes to delivering an impeccable feminist thought. It digs into the tryst of women with the history of literature through an unconventional and precise perusal of the social and material conditions like the leisure time, privacy, and financial independence that are essential for any literary creation to thrive. The study of such conditions becomes more relevant and interesting when seen through the prism of a woman’s deprived state. A state where they are deprived of the social and financial liberties and a state which strangulates their creativity, therefore restraining their ability to write a fictional masterpiece.

Woolf orchestrates a scathing criticism of the stereotypical hierarchies through a riveting display of her artistry. She innovatively weaves a fictional web in order to compensate for the gaps or the lack of factual record illustrating the literary prowess of women as well as the biases that revolve around the conventional scholarships.   In her tussle with this idea, Woolf launches a number of sociological and aesthetic critiques. She contemplates the state of women's own literature as well as the state of scholarship, both theoretically and historically, concerning women. She also elaborates an aesthetics based on the principle of "incandescence," the ideal state in which everything that is merely personal is consumed in the intensity and truth of one's art.

Through this work of hers, Woolf set the agenda for much feminist criticism to follow, whether by exploring and digging out the work of long forgotten women writers or by examining the assumptions behind the portrayal of women in literature. Kate Millett's Sexual Politics (1971) took an alternate path with its sharp and funny exhibition of male mythologies in D. H. Lawrence, Norman Mailer and others, while Ellen Moers's Literary Women (1976) and Elaine Showalter's A Literature of Their Own (1977) pursued the female tradition of writing along the lines of Woolf's suggestion that women writers can merely learn from their male predecessors on their own, but will never get any help from their (Men) side.

Lily Briscoe in ‘To the Lighthouse’

‘To the lighthouse’ is an excursion that reconnoitered the human consciousness. Written by Virginia Wolf in 1927 revolves around childhood emotions and muddled adult relationships. There are innumerable ways to embark on Woolf’s autobiographical fictional work but the cynosure of this blog is the subdued tone of feminism that permeates gradually through the story.

In a novel that exudes observations rather than action, Lily Briscoe is an ardent artist and idealized feminist. To protect her sense of individuality, she secedes from the male supremacy that has dominated the conventional stereotypes. Her rejection of the bourgeois femininity is contrary to the beliefs of Mrs. Ramasay, who confounds Lily with the prospects of marriage and family. 

In To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Lily’s predilection of artistic achievement makes it difficult for her to keep up with the bounded and confined expectations of society. Yet she is not confident to showcase her paintings to the censorious public. Her lack of confidence can also be linked with stereotypes and impediments that says women can neither paint nor write. Considering that she is adamant to break all stereotypes, she experiences a pervasive sense of guilt while painting Mrs. Ramasay’s portrait as if she is perpetrating an atrocious crime.

“And that was what now she often felt the need of to think; well not even to think, to be silent, and to be alone. All the being and doing , expansive, glittering, vocal, evaporated; and one shrunk, with a sense of solemnity, to being oneself a wedge shaped core of darkness, something invisible to others.”

Lily has a fear that her art work will be ‘hung in attics or tossed absentmindedly under a couch’ and with these self-doubts, she starts her painting in the beginning of the novel. The portrayal of Mrs Ramasay on the canvas in To the Lighthouse by Virgina Wolf, somehow represents the enigma of Lily’s life. From a woman who cannot make sense of the shapes and colors to an artist who achieves her vision and more importantly, overcomes the anxieties that have kept her away from it, the novel projects her transformation beautifully.

Entangled between aberrant and peculiar mindset of the male domineering society, Lily is bivouacked with consequences of her decision to be an artist. At a moment when Lily fears she is ruined by the abiding laws of a society unwilling to accept her unconventional lifestyle, she finds solace in art. 

‘She looked at the steps; they were empty; she looked at her canvas; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if she says it clear for a second, she drew a line over there, in the center. It was done, it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision’

Her finished painting, at the end of the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf establishes her role as an ideal protagonist, who breaks the conventional norms and stereotypes which is portrayed when she experiences the ‘vision’ after completing her painting of Mrs. Ramasay.