Michael has a little passion to pay the debt. If he can, he will get money soon. He realizes that he is too old but he thinks that Luke can do it well. He is forcing
Luke too much to get the money soon. He does not think the process that is needed. This acts then makes Luke also wants to get the money soon by taking the evil way.
He does not against his old age but he is against Luke’s young age. In Luke’s young age, Michael “makes” him as a “money machine” for the family. He does not
think about his education for him. He creates him as a village shepherd but he wants him as soon as possible as a “money machine” in the city.
“Thou must not go: We have no other Child but thee to lose,
None to remember—do not go away, For if thou leave thy Father he will die.”
Stanza 14, lines 295-298. Isabel realizes that Michael will be very sad if Luke is far from him. Michael
also realizes this but he more cares with the land. He knows that his life will be miserable when Luke goes to the town to work which the rich relatives there. He has
no way out except that. Sending Luke is the best thing because Michael is too old to save the land. Luke still goes away although his mother has told him that it will kill
his father. This is the perfect ‘scheme’ to save the land but this is also the perfect ‘scheme’ that murders his father.
He acts against this scheme by continue to send Luke and continue his life by holding on the memory of both of them. Michael’s way to cheat his sadness by
keeping the memory actually can make him survive. In the end the memory is broken by the news of Luke’s evil act.
“To build a Sheepfold; and, before he heard The tidings of his melancholy loss,
For this same purpose he had gathered up A heap of stones, which by the streamlet’s edge
Lay thrown together, ready for the work.” Stanza 16, lines 324-328.
Michael’s aim to build the sheepfold is that he wants to make Luke always remember with everything about the family. He tells all about the past. By the
sheepfold, he wants him to follow the noble tradition of the forefathers. Also in the sheepfold, he asks Luke to lay the cornerstone as a covenant between them.
By the memory of the sheepfold, Michael wants to prevent Luke from many evil ways. He wants to against every evil way that will attack him and Luke. The
sheepfold becomes “the bridge” between them to remember each other. Michael will not lose the memory of Luke although he will be far from him.
“It looks as if it never could endure Another Master. Heaven forgive me, Luke,
If I judge ill for thee, but it seems good That thou shouldst go.’
Stanza 16, lines 380-382.
Michael wants the land not falling to stranger hand. To prevent this thing, Luke has to go for him and not the land. Between the two choices, Michael thinks to
sacrifices Luke for a while. The loss of the land will make him lose everything. The loss of Luke also will make him dying. He has to make a choice for this problem. It is
exactly a hard choice for him. The two choices have the same consequence for him. Loosing one of them will make him die.
He chooses to send Luke and then he take cares the land by his own hand. He also makes a new sheepfold to keep the memory of Luke. He does this to save the
family and the land. He has a hard principal about the land. He also shows his arrogant by telling that the land can not receive another master.
“Meantime Luke began To slacken in his duty; and, at length,
He in the dissolute city gave himself To evil courses: ignominy and shame
Fell on him, so that he was driven at last To seek a hiding-place beyond the seas.”
Stanza 11, lines 242-247.
Michael lives in a village outside London. Industrial work needs well knowledge and smart person. Michael educates everything about nature to Luke in
order to make Luke become a successful person in London. It is Michael’s unrealized mistake.
The industrial life needs a formal educated people. It is right that because of his education, Luke becomes the best shepherd but not a successful person in the
industrial revolution. Michael treats Luke with his best but Luke is not prepared to face the industrial job. As the result, Luke takes an evil way in London and it leads to
the family’s tragedy.
6. Having a Tragic Flaw
The universal aspect of the loss suffered by Michael is a hope, which has attached itself to a person and seems to die with that person. All the tragedy in the
poem, especially for Michael is due to the love for Luke and his unrealized mistakes. William Wordsworth makes some preview in the lines in the first stanza.
“You will suppose that with an upright path Your feet must struggle; in such bold ascent”
Stanza 1, lines 3-4.
By these lines, there is described that there is a mistake. Something that is unpredictable. The right thing with the right way is not always giving a good result
the story oh Michael is just like that. He has the right capital, the right guidance, but end in the wrong event.
This is a preview explanation of Michael’s tragedy that is given by Wordsworth in the beginning of the poem.
“The mountains have all opened out themselves, And made a hidden valley of their own”
Stanza 1, lines 7-8. Everything has the risk and everything has the barrier. Mountain is something
which is very high but beyond, inside and besides that, the mountain also has the valley. In this story, the city where Luke is working is just like the mountain. The city
offers many precious things but also keeps the risk of destruction, “the deep valley of the world”. The mountain, for Michael himself, is also a prison. The mountain makes
him can not see the outside world. He is trapped in the “valley” of his life. “For passions that were not my own, and think
At random and imperfectly indeed On man, the heart of man, and human life”
Stanza 1, lines 31-33. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Michael tries to reach something that is outside him. He uses his son to get the advantage from the glamour of the city. It is then becomes a “boomerang” for his
family. The tragic flaw is started when he receives the news from his brother. He ever
made an agreement with his brother in the past. Then the misfortune overtakes his brother business. Michael then is called to pay the debt. This news makes him loss his
hopes. He does not want to sell his land to pay the charge. The only way out is by sending Luke to earn money in the city. This is the only choice because Michael feels
too old. “Long before the time
Of which I speak, the Shepherd had been bound In surety for his brother’s son, a man
Of an industrious life, and ample means; But unforeseen misfortunes suddenly
Had prest upon him; and old Michael now Was summoned to discharge the forfeiture,
A grievous penalty, but little less Than half his substance. This unlooked-for claim,
At the first hearing, for a moment took More hope out of his life than he supposed
That any old man ever could have lost. As soon as he had armed himself with strength
To look his troubles in the face, it seemed The Shepherd’s sole resource to sell at once
A portion of his patrimonial fields.” Stanza 10, lines 209-224.
His life becomes miserable when his son goes to the town to work with his rich relatives there. Actually, Michael cannot be separated from Luke. He has to
make a choice between the land and Luke. It is a hard choice and he faces a big PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
dilemma. Michael is also clever by making a new sheepfold to keep the memories of Luke.
He makes the choice to “sacrifice” his son to pay the debt, better then he loses the land soon. This choice then leads him into his family tragedy. Michael forces
Luke too much to get a lot of money soon. This is a force that makes Luke taking an evil way in the city. Luke’s mentality is not strong enough to face the hard way of
industrial life. “Meantime Luke began
To slacken in his duty; and, at length, He in the dissolute city gave himself
To evil courses: ignominy and shame Fell on him, so that he was driven at last
To seek a hiding-place beyond the seas.” Stanza 11, lines 244-247.
Firstly, his reception of the news of his son’s disgrace and flight does not break him physically. Then it becomes ironic. The strength that had once been his
mainstay now becomes a burden to him. His mentality is also not strong enough like his body. His dignity as a single gentleman for many years is broken in a short time.
He is often seen going to the sheepfold and is assumed to be finishing his work there. In the end, Michael dies and then Isabel also dies. Luke seeks a hiding place in
foreign land and this is not the end of the tragedy. The land then goes to another master. All of it is not appropriate with Michael previous plan. All the schemes that
are built by Michael are broken in his own hand but the effect is to all his family and his land.
