The themes and ideas in Auden’s The Age of Anxiety express his belief that the search for self-realization is futile.
I. Auden’s background
A. As a poet in the 1930s
1. Society’s perspectives, 2. Assessment of the industrial society, B. Primary conflicts in his writings I
I. Overview of _The Age of Anxiety_ A. It is considered a quest poem.
- Characters’ search for self-actualization
- Characters’ inevitable failure in the quest
B. The characters’ opinions on the overall situation.
- Their belief to be in Purgatory when they are allegorically in Hell
- Their disbelief in impossibility
III. _The Age of Anxiety_ character analysis
A. Quant
B. Malin
C. Rosetta
D. Emble
IV. Part I A. Commonly referred to as “Prologue”
In this scene, the characters are introduced and their nature is revealed through their thoughts.
- Quant views himself with false admiration
- Malin examines the theoretical nature of man
- Rosetta endeavors to create an imaginary and happy past
- Emble passes his youthful judgment on the others’ follies
First act of Part II, titled “The Seven Ages” focuses on Malin’s control.
1. Serving as a guide, Malin controls the characters by introducing each age.
Besides, others support Malin’s theories by drawing on past, present, and potential future experiences.
The ages are categorized as follows:
The first age: Malin asks the reader to “Behold the infant”.
b. The child is both “helpless in the cradle and / Righteous still,” but already has a “Dread in his dreams.”
2. The second age is youth, as Malin describes it, which is the age at which man realizes the “life-bet with a lying self.”
c. It is a time of naive belief in self and one’s place in life, which knows no bounds.
d. This age is characterized by a belief in the potential for a future.
3. In the third age, there is a sexual awakening and a distinction between dreams and reality. It is discovered that love, as previously thought, is very different from love in real life.
4. The fourth age presents circus imagery that is too realistic to have any purifying effect on the audience. Rosetta provides her definition of life and the world.
5. The fifth age depicts man as a surprised victor who believes he has come to terms with the meaning of life. Anxiety decreases as he learns to speak softer and slower. He is no longer trapped in a world of vibrant colors but is free in a dull and ordinary place. Emble opposes this fifth age by refusing to accept middle age, questioning why he must neglect the worst aspects of youth, and being disturbed by time since he still has a future. Quant dominates this fifth age through attempts to eliminate all hope and his perspective on man’s adaptation to it.
6. In the sixth age, man starts showing signs of aging. Malin portrays a man of this age as impotent, aged, and successful, indifferent to the world.
7. In the seventh age, hypothetical man is exhausted. Malin is prepared for this stage while others are reluctant to die just yet.”The Seven Stages” is the second act of Part II, where it is portrayed as a dream. In this act, the characters embark on a quest to discover the ideal stage of life. The stages are as follows: Initially, each character is alone, lost in their own thoughts, emphasizing the futility of their pursuit. As the characters pair up, hope and possibility arise with Emble and Rosetta, symbolized by a plane, but at the same time, Quant and Malin demonstrate the hopelessness of their endeavors. Progressing to the third stage, the couples venture inland, with Emble and Rosetta travelling by plane and Quant and Malin by train. However, they fail to find their true selves. In the fourth stage, Malin expresses his disdain for the city and its inhabitants based on urban surroundings. Moving on to the fifth stage, Rosetta visits a mansion that represents her ideal upbringing and future return. Meanwhile, the others examine the mansion’s exterior in comparison to the human body. However, Rosetta realizes that life inside the mansion is no better than before. The sixth stage takes place in a forgotten graveyard, symbolizing the outcomes of life. Finally, in the seventh stage, the characters wander deep into a forest, each following a separate path. They eventually reunite at the forest’s edge, facing a desert before them.
The desert becomes the real world, ending the stage of awakening VII as they come to realize that life has no meaning. The remaining three parts follow the characters from the bar to their homes, with a focus on their recollection of the despair in the conclusion of “The Seven Stages” rather than their journey itself. In his analysis of W.H. Auden’s lengthy poem “The Age of Anxiety,” the themes and ideas conveyed reflect Auden’s belief that man’s quest for self-actualization is futile. Born in York, England in 1907, Auden’s poetry during the 1930s captured the atmosphere of that era, characterized by depression, Fascism, and war (Magill 72).
His works explore society through a clinical and diagnostic lens, viewing social and spiritual acts as failures in communication (Magill 74). They offer a critique of English society in the 1930s, highlighting economic and moral decline (Magill 72). The common conflicts depicted in his works revolve around war and peace, the corruption of modern society, and the stark divide between the rich and the poor (Barrows 317). _The Age of Anxiety_ can be considered a quest poem, although it deviates from the traditional heroic quest as it ultimately achieves nothing. The characters embark on a search for self-discovery and the meaning of life, but their quest is futile from the beginning due to their intoxication with alcohol. Throughout their journey, they mistake their allegorical depiction of Hell for a form of Purgatory, oblivious to their true predicament. This ignorance stems from the modern human condition, which denies possibility but paradoxically refuses to acknowledge its impossibility (Nelson 117). _The Age of Anxiety_ features four significant characters.
The first character introduced in the poem is Quant, who looks at himself in a mirror, a typical action for a drunk person. He is an older homosexual widower who uses the mirror as a way to confront himself easily (Nelson 117-118). Malin is the most dominant character and serves as a medical intelligence officer in the Canadian Air Force. His background suggests that he is the “would-be doctor and leader” in this world of _The Age of Anxiety_. His name alludes to someone who pretends to be sick and his personality hints at his hidden evil (Nelson 118). Rosetta, on the other hand, is the most relatable character as she works as a department store buyer and comes closest to achieving her true potential compared to the other characters in the poem. Emble is a young sailor who dreams of being a prince and desires to have sex with Rosetta. Ironically, his failure to do so becomes the main climax of the story (Nelson 118). In Part I of _The Age of Anxiety_, commonly known as the “Prologue,” the scene and characters are introduced. Each character shares their thoughts through monologues, exposing their true nature to the reader. Quant admires himself falsely, while Malin questions the nature of mankind.
Rosetta constructs a fictitious past to compensate for an unsatisfactory one. Emble tactfully passes judgment on the foolishness of others (Nelson 118). Malin takes charge in the first act of Part II, “The Seven Ages,” acting as a guide. He directs the characters’ actions by introducing each age. The other characters support his ideas by drawing on their past, present, and potential future experiences (Nelson 118-119). The initial stage begins with Malin asking readers to “Behold the infant,” as if observing us while lacking his own infancy. The child is “helpless in cradle and / Righteous still,” yet already experiencing “Dread in his dreams.” Auden suggests that even in our innocence, we remain flawed (Nelson 119). Malin describes the second stage as youth. It is during this period that individuals realize they are engaged in a deceitful struggle with themselves. Despite this, their belief in self and role in life knows no bounds. This stage allows for the possibility of believing in the future (Nelson 119). Malin terms the third stage as the age of sexual awakening. It is during this phase that people begin to discern the difference between dreams and reality. With this realization comes the discovery that love, as once perceived, greatly contrasts love within practical boundaries (Nelson 119).In the fourth age, the use of circus imagery is seen as an art form that is too closely connected to life to have any cleansing effect on viewers. This idea is supported by Rosetta’s descriptions of life as a disrespectful and constantly changing force, and the world as a chaotic and absurd place. In the fifth age, Malin portrays humanity as triumphant but also bewildered.
In this era, mankind feels a sense of acceptance towards the meaning of life. The worries and fears of existence gradually diminish as one learns to communicate in a more subdued manner, appearing less eager. At this stage, individuals discover that they are no longer trapped within a vivid and vibrant world, but rather in a mundane and colorless environment (Nelson 119-120). Emble, being the youngest among the group, refuses to embrace the middle phase of old age willingly. Instead, he questions why one must exclude the most painful experiences of youth. Unlike the others, Emble is still young enough to have an impact on his own future (Nelson 120). Quant exerts a greater influence during this period than any other since he epitomizes it. He strives to eliminate any hope for the future, believing that if individuals cannot adapt to mediocrity, then it is unfortunate. Moreover, he believes that the world only worsens when people demand more (Nelson 120). The sixth stage is characterized by the effects of time on man, manifesting as scars and signs of aging.
“Indifferent to the world,” Malin represents man as impotent, aged, and successful (Nelson 120). In the seventh age, “Hypothetical man” becomes exhausted as his final illusions lose patience with the human enterprise. While Malin embraces this stage with readiness, the other characters feel hesitant about facing death (Nelson 120).
“The Seven Stages,” the second act of Part II of _The Age of Anxiety_, sets itself apart from “The Seven Ages” as the first act draws inspiration from real-life experiences, while the second act takes place entirely within a dream. The main objective of “The Seven Stages” is to establish the perfect phase of life for humanity to exist in for eternity (Nelson 121). All characters commence their quest in the first stage, where they find themselves alone, as is typical of any quest’s beginning.
The characters in this story are all isolated with their own thoughts. They each go on a journey that ultimately ends with them being alone, showing that their quest was pointless (Nelson 121). The second stage of the story begins when the characters are paired up. This pairing represents hope through the youngest characters, Emble and Rosetta, but also highlights the futility of hope with the oldest characters, Quant and Malin (Nelson 121).
The third stage commences as the couples start their journey inland. Emble and Rosetta choose to travel by plane, symbolizing their futile attempt to evade life by soaring above it. However, Quant and Malin opt for a train, which also signifies the inability to escape life, but this time through complete immersion into it (Nelson 121).
In the fourth stage, Malin speaks on behalf of the group, expressing his negative opinions about the city. He also judges the people of the city based on their surroundings rather than their personalities (Nelson 122). The fifth stage occurs when the group sees “the big house” while riding on a trolley. Rosetta, with her fabricated history, compares the house to one she imagines she was raised in and will eventually go back to.
During her visit to the house, Quant and the others carefully examine the house’s exterior. Quant remarks on the appearance of the facade, stating “The facade has a lifeless look.” The house is metaphorically compared to a human being, with its “book-lined rooms” representing the brain and the “guards at the front gate who / Change with the seasons” symbolizing the senses. Despite being within the house, Rosetta finds no improvement in her life (Nelson 122).
The sixth stage occurs in a “forgotten graveyard,” which is described as a “still / Museum exhibiting / The results of life.” This could represent death or the aftermath of death as creatures like “Flittermice, finches / And flies restore / Their lost milieu” (Nelson 122).
In the seventh stage, each character ventures into a dense forest and is confronted by a vast desert. Quant raises a existential question, pondering if they love this world enough to desire knowledge of its end. Upon reflecting on this question, they realize that their quest holds no meaning. As they come to this realization, their dream world ascends into consciousness and the vast desert transitions into reality (Nelson 122-123).
The three remaining sections follow each character’s journey from the bar to their respective homes. They remember the despair of the conclusion of “The Seven Stages,” but have no recollection of the actual journey itself (Nelson 123).
In a skilled manner, Auden illustrates the futility of mankind’s pursuit for self-meaning in his portrayal.The portrayal of Quant and Malin as the elderly individuals with an unfortunate future contradicts the optimistic illusion that Emble and Rosetta might have a future. However, the undeniable certainty in life is death.
Works Cited
- Altick, Richard D. _Lives and Letters_. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969. Auden, W. H.. _19th Century British Minor Poets_. New YorkDelacortePress, 1966. —-.
- City Without Walls and Other Poems_. New YorkRandom House,1969. —-. _Secondary Worlds_. New YorkRandom House, 1968. Bahlke, George W., ed. _Critical Essays on W. H. Auden_. New YorkG. K.
- Hall & Co., 1991. Barrows, Marjorie Wescott, ed., et al. _The American ExperiencePoetry_.
- New YorkMacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974. Kunitz, Stanley J. And Haycraft, Howard, eds.. _Twentieth CenturyAuthors_. New YorkThe H. W. Wilson Company, 1942. Magill, Frank N., ed..
- Critical Survey of Poetry_. Englewood Cliffs,N.J.Salem Press, 1982. Nelson, Gerald. “From _Changes of Heart_ (_The Age of Anxiety_).”_Critical Essays on W. H. Auden_. Ed. George W. Bahlke. New YorkG. K.
- Hall & Co., 1991. ————————————————————–
