Introduction of the Poem:
The poem ‘The Queen's Rival’ is based on a Persian folk tale shared with Sarojini by a close friend. It has been taken from the poems’ section of ‘The Golden Threshold’, the first volume of verse by Sarojini Naidu. The monotony and drudgery of Queen Gulnaar's existence has been portrayed in the poem.
The background of the poem is the Persian royalty of medieval times with its riches, splendour and luxury, with which the poetess was well acquainted. In the poem, we have a typical situation where the whimsical queen makes irrational demands of her obliging husband who loves his beautiful life very much knowing fully well that her every demand will be fulfilled. Luxury made her almost eccentric in her demands. But the reigning deity gets a sudden shock when she recognizes the truth that her beauty might be fading with every phase of her own lovely daughter's grown. It is at this point of the queen's life that she, living in a world of make believe is restored to reality through a child's innocence. And she steps out of the cocoon, she has been hiding in and faces reality.
The poem essentially deals with the instinctive and eternal desire of women to relive through their daughters in whom they witness their true rival in beauty and virtue. Queen Gulnaar’s obsession with the mirror has symbolized the average woman's ego and to a certain degree, represents the difference between the world of make believe and the real world. The poem is a balled in the form of a dialogue.
Summary of the Poem:
The King of Iran, Feroz loved his beautiful wife, Gulnaar very much. Gulnaar was famed for her exquisite beauty. She was unrivalled in beauty. She lived in a world of luxury and was isolated from the world of reality. In spite of her riches, enormous wealth and all comforts, she was dissatisfied and discontented with life.
King Feroz always wanted to see her happy. Being surprised at her ‘dissatisfaction’, asked her what else she desired. The queen, actually did not know her own mind, requested him to provide her with rival as she was quite bored at being called a beauty beyond compare.
Since the king never ignored any wish of his queen, he immediately sent messengers all over the seas and round the earth, carrying out the king's command, seven most beautiful. Maidens were brought into the palace. They stood around the queen but she looked at them and declared that she was unimpressed by them. She still gazed in the mirror and lamented her mood of discontent in the absence of a rival. She sighed and expressed that she did not consider them her rivals.
The queen had a two years old daughter. While the queen, being bored, was looking at the mirror, suddenly her daughter rushed into the room, she snatched the mirror from her mother's hands and looked into it, playfully impressed a kiss on it. On observing that capricious action of the infant princess, the queen burst into joy and laughed. Looking at her daughter's innocent beauty, she happily announced to her husband that she had found her true rival in beauty in her infant daughter. The rival was found in the world of reality.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
The poem ‘Queen's Rival’ is based on a Persian legend of King Feroz and Queen Gulnaar. It was narrated to the poetess, Sarojini Naidu, by one of her close friends. The world into which the reader is introduced to is one of love, luxury, beauty and innocence, against the background of the Persian Kingdom of medieval times with its glory and splendour.
It is a characteristic poem of Sarojini Naidu as it is steeped in an oriental and a romantic atmosphere and presented in her typical narrative style. It is narrated by a third person. It is coloured by the wistful and melancholy mood of the narrator.
The reader is communicated the sheer lack of change and excitement in queen's life, the main cause of dissatisfaction despite her luxurious life. Her ivory bed, her gems - inlaid chamber walls, her precious tissue couldn't spoil her world of opulence. It was a world of fancy - delightful and enticing. As the queen is a typical medieval queen - wayward and whimsical the same way King Feroz is a typical medieval despot; the queen wants to meet her rival and the king is ready to fulfil her desire, even though whimsical.
The poem reveals the poet's deep insight into feminine psychology. Sometimes, women are subconsciously threatened by their own daughter's growing beauty which constantly reminds her of her own fading youth.
The climax, retaining the suspense of not having any suitable match to the queen's beauty, is resolved by the queen's own two year old daughter. On seeing her charm and impetuous ways, the queen realizes her - other self, i.e., her beauty reflected in her daughter. The discovery of her budding individuality and beauty enables the queen to gracefully emerge out of cocoon of her own self - centred world. The change in her reactions as she viewed her rivals earlier and later is conveyed in the manner in which she voices them. The earlier ‘murmuring’ is changed to a ‘tremulous’ laugh as she accepts her daughter as her ‘rival’, that also willingly and joyfully. The poet has used ‘mirror’ to symbolize the self, the ego which has isolated her from the reality in the world surrounding her. The contact with the infant breaks that isolation as her daughter's innocent rivalry makes a woman of her once again.
The poem has been written in a ballad form, having its usual features, i.e., simplicity, question - answer form of dialogue and repetition of certain lines. Rhyming couplets have been used to lend a musical flow to the narrative and to permit the poet to portray the monotony and drudgery of queen's existence. Words and images have been repeated giving a free grace to it, e.g., queen Gulnaar's chant “Give me a rival, O king Feroz.” “Where is my rival, O King Feroz?” and brilliantly leading to the final climax “Here is my rival, O King Feroz.”
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