Introduction & Overview of Indian Ink

This Study Guide consists of approximately 59 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Indian Ink.

Introduction & Overview of Indian Ink

This Study Guide consists of approximately 59 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Indian Ink.
This section contains 222 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the Indian Ink Study Guide

Indian Ink Summary & Study Guide Description

Indian Ink Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:

This detailed literature summary also contains Bibliography and a Free Quiz on Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard.

Tom Stoppard is a leading British playwright of the twentieth century. His two-act play Indian Ink (1994) is based on his earlier radio play In the Native State and was first performed in London in 1995.

Indian Ink takes place in two different locations and time periods: India in 1930, during the struggle for national independence from British colonial rule, and England in the mid-1980s. The action shifts back and forth between these two settings without major set changes or clearly indicated transitions. The action in India concerns Flora Crewe, a British poetess, whose portrait is being painted by an amateur Indian artist. The action in England concerns the efforts of a scholar of Flora Crewe's work to gather information for a biography. Flora's surviving younger sister, Mrs. Swan, is visited first by this English scholar, and then by the son of the Indian artist. The central enigma is the question of whether or not the Indian artist painted a nude portrait of Flora, and whether or not the two had an "erotic relationship."

This play is concerned primarily with the historical and cultural struggles in India to gain independence from British Imperial rule. Indian and English characters discuss their differing perspectives on the history and meaning of British colonization of India. The play addresses themes of Empire, cultural imperialism, and nationalism.

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This section contains 222 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Buy the Indian Ink Study Guide
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Indian Ink from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.