Oct 29, 2012 10:17 AM
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Few days back, when I began to read ‘The Prince and the Pauper’ (TPATP), I thought I know all about this classic story. Having seen some movies which I believed/have been told that they are based on TPATP; having read few reviews, which kind of declared TPATP as more of humorous read; and having heard the story in my childhood from some of my friends. Now that I’ve read the book, I feel how little I really knew about this classic tale. Movies that I have watched were just an idea of TPATP, wherein makers, to make it more humorous, had somewhat driven away from the real tale; reviews that I’ve read are somewhat misleading; and the stories that I’ve heard in my childhood, well, I won’t blame my friends, I was kid then and they were kids too, how could’ve I expected them to deliver the great lessons of life that this gem of a book delivers in short span of close to 200 pages.
ABOUT THE PLOT: Two boys, born on the same day and in the same town - London, grow up to be mirror images of each other. But there is one big difference between them; they live on the two extremes of the society. Tom Canty, the Prince of Poverty, is a beggar and belongs to a very poor family and lives in miserable conditions with an abusive father and Grandma while Edward Tudor, is the Prince of Plenty with every mean of royal life at his fingertips, being the son of Henry VIII.
But Tom is very knowledgeable and has well learnt the ways of royal people through books and all. He yearns to meet a real prince, so one day to fulfill his dream he goes to the Royal Palace of Westminster in London. It’s through an affair of fate that they meet, Tom and Edward; and when Edward realizes the extent of their resemblance, he swaps his cloths with Tom and orders him to stay in the Palace, acting as the Prince, while he goes out and punish the guard who has beaten Tom. But it doesn’t turn out to be as simple as the series of events that follow makes it hard for Edward to return back.
Edward has to tolerate the severities of life as he has to live the life of a pauper and similarities are so much that even Tom’s family could make it out he isn’t really Tom and same goes on in the palace as everyone one takes Tom to be Edward the prince, even his father, the King. But the two of them stick to the truth, as Edward always talks and behaves in princely fashion much to the amusement of others while Tom keeps saying that he isn’t a prince, and everyone think that they have gone mad are so.Then, the king dies, and the prince has to be the new king now. How another series of further events bring Edward back into the palace and get coroneted as king forms rest of the tale. Hugh Hendon that helps Edward, and saves his life at couple of times, all through his agonizing odyssey forms the most interesting character of the tale.
ABOUT THE BOOK: TPATP is a historical fiction and was first published in 1882. It covers a tale of even more older times, 16TH century, of the times of the Kings and the Princes. So the language used is quite old fashioned English but simple and the dialogues are even more Archaic in nature and that’s what make this tale appear even more realistic, as if you really are reading Historical Tale from the first-hand account. There is no dragging from the main plot and story always stick to it with moving from Tom to Edward and Edward to Tom, every now and then, to cover them both in parallel.
There are great lessons that Edward learns while in the disguise of a pauper as he meets various people on his expedition, as he get to know of the harsh laws constituted by his father; miserable condition of the farmers in the villages and that’s what actually prepares him to be a good and generous King. And Tom, though taken by all to be the real prince, never employ the situation for his own benefits and sticks to just playing the prince, but all the way doing the good work as he provides justice to the innocents, victims of the brutal Laws. These aspects form the biggest take away from this book. Yes, it is humorous to read, but that’s not what it is meant for.
FINAL WORDS: It was a mistake on my part that I’ve corrected now by reading the real tale in the real words of master writer Mark Twain. In all, my prior knowledge only matched with close to 40% of the real tale. Humorous! Yes ‘TPATP’ is humorous; but it isn’t deliberately written for that purpose. It’s just that, the way this world finds amusement in the despair of others, so does a reader finds the enjoyment in the miserable adventures of the two lookalike boys as their lives take a huge turn when they swap places with each other. In my opinion, TPATP is more of classic tale with lots to learn from, that’s what makes it a real good read for the children’s; but in today’s world where adults have almost forgotten the values of life, it won’t be a bad read for them either.
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PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA.....
