Lithuania – Rupert Brooke (IV Sem. Additional English)

The one act play ‘Lithuania’ by Rupert Brooke, depicts the home of a poor family living in a valley of —LITHUANIA, an agricultural country under Russian rule. When the play begins, a rich stranger arrives in the midst of this poor family for a night’s rest at this poor family when the father is not being at home. The mother and the daughter allow him to stay in their house and serve him food for the night. When the rich stranger asked about their son, the mother tells the stranger that he had run away when he was about thirteen and that she is not sure whether she will welcome him if he ever comes back home. When the father returns, the stranger reveals that he has a lot money and a gold watch with him and he shows his wealth before he is going to bed. Looking at the wealth of the stranger the family is being tempted to rob him as it had been under prolonged spell of poverty and misery. The stranger’s wealth provokes them for uncontrollable greed in the poverty stricken family. The parents and the daughter conspire to rob all his valuables and kill him in his bed. They justify their decision of killing the stranger by considering him as a thief and thought that the stranger had stolen money somewhere and had come to this place for safe shelter.

The father goes into the room with a knife but he is not courageous enough to kill the stranger. He wants to drink before killing him. He goes out for a drink and does not return for an hour. Meanwhile, the mother and the daughter are tired of waiting for father. The daughter takes an axe and kills the stranger ruthlessly with her mother’s assistance. The vodka shop keeper and his son bring the father home. The shop keeper reveals that the stranger was none other else but the son of the family who had run away from home when he was thirteen years old. He had now come back to share his wealth that he had accumulated with the members of his family and thereafter give them happy life. However, he wished to keep his identity a secret until the following day. He wanted to give them the most pleasant and thrilling surprise of their lives. This shocking revelation leaves the mother in remorse and anguish. After knowing that the stranger was her own son she could not control her sorrow and she continuously recalling how her son calling her and said. “He kept saying MOTHER …. MOTHER………” 

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Lithuania – Rupert Brooke

The one act play “Lithuania” by Rupert Brooke, depicts the home of a poor family living in a valley of Lithuania, an agricultural country under Russian rule. When the play begins, a rich stranger arrives in their midst for a night’s rest at this poor family when the father is not being at home. The mother and the daughter allow him to stay in their home for a night. They served him food in simple means. During the enquire of their well-being the stranger asked about her son, the mother tells the stranger that he had run away from home when he was about thirteen and that she is not sure whether she will welcome him if he ever comes home back. The daughter declares that her run away brother died of drowning in the water. Later on the father returns, the stranger reveals that he has a lot of money and a gold watch with him and shows it to them before going to bed.

The family had been under prolonged spell of poverty and misery. The stranger’s wealth and fortune provokes uncontrollable greed in the poverty-stricken family. The parents and the daughter conspire to rob him of his valuables and kill him in his bed. Then justify their decision by picturizing him as a thief. The father goes with a knife but he is not courageous enough to kill the man. He wants to drink much more ale to gather his courage before killing him. He goes out for a drink and does not return home for an hour and more to finish his task.

Meanwhile, the mother and daughter are tired of waiting for the return of the father. The daughter takes an axe and kills the stranger ruthlessly with her mother’s assistance. In the next day’s daybreak, the vodka shopkeeper and his son bring the father home. Knowing the grim situation of killing the stranger the vodka shopkeeper reveals that the stranger was none other else but their son, who had run away from the home. He has now come back home to share with them the wealth he had accumulated over the years when he had been away from the home. However, he wished to keep his identity as a secret until the following the day. He wanted to give them the most pleasant and thrilling surprise to their lives. This shocking revelation leaves the mother and the in an explainable remorse and anguish. In this unexpected bout of mental shock she goes on saying: “He kept saying Mother, Mother……”   

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