Examine how far Huxley’s theme in his discourse on pleasure reflects the title ‘Pleasures’.

Examine how far Huxley’s theme in his discourse on pleasure reflects the title ‘Pleasures’.

Or

                                            Attempt a critical assessment of the appropriateness of the title, of the essay Pleasures.

                           To Huxley ‘Pleasure’ that the man now enjoying is not the real pleasure. It is the organized activities known by this name. It appears to Huxley as a nightmare. To him pleasure is not pleasure which demands no mental activity or exercise of intellectuality. It is a hollow pleasure, the nonsense pleasure, the pleasure that pleases not the mind, satisfies not the heart.

 It was noticed during the Elizabethan period that the common person enjoyed intellectual pleasure as those of royal personages. They could take part, if it demanded to madrigal or motet for which one had to be intellectual. Moreover, they listened to such complex dramas as — Othello, King Lear, and Hamlet etc. and enjoyed to their heart’s content. Above all, in the remote country the peasants enjoyed various types of traditional rites by singing, dancing, and winter mummings throughout the year in a elevated manner. Their pleasure was intelligent and alive, and it was they who by their own efforts entertained themselves.

To Huxley, in place of old pleasures that demand intelligence and personal initiative we have vast organizations that provide us ready-made distraction for providing pleasures. Million of cinemas are there, but they died quickly and never cross the boundary of countries. The dramatists are non-intellectuals. By the Scrip-writers the cinemas are wide-spread. We, are watching them, rather taking pleasure from them that are nothing but nonsense. No mental effort is demanded of them, no participation is required here. Only we take sit and keep our eyes open. If we like music gramophone is there to supply. If we want literature Press is there to inform. It demands nothing only watching, hearing and dry reading.

The pleasures behind which there is no effort, the readymade pleasures for everyone is really a threat to the civilization. It destroys the intellectuality of civilization. It is more threatening than that of the threatening than that of the threatening of the Germans once were. The vast majority of the population is working their mechanical performances in which no mental effort, no individuality, no initiatives are required. In the hours of leisure we turn to distraction as mechanically stereotyped and demanding as little intelligence and initiative as does our work.

The time will come when human mind will be unable to entertain itself by intellectualism and he will feel tired and lose interest in these ready-made directions. A chronic mental boredom will hang heavy on our heart. In that situation on order to stimulate ourselves we will indulge into crudity. The situation will remind the position of what once the Romans were. Like us the Romans lived on ready-made entertainments into which they had no participation. They were gradually enveloped by deadly ennui and for this they introduced more gladiators, more tight-rope walking elephants and more dangerous items. Huxley imagines that we have perhaps to follow the path if we still remain as we are going on. Perhaps one has to take the membership of the Ku Klux Khan.