Here comes the man.............!

Shakespeare is here again!!..parading his attempt to tackle on one of the most popular romantic stories of all times. Even if he must cross the Mediterranean to describe Rome and Egypt. I wonder how Shakespeare collect his datas upon writing this masterpiece....he must have travelled a lot. But Dr. Edwin reminded us that this story is an imagined fiction which uses real life characters. So Shakespeare was making it all up and I evidently believed that he was writing a history piece..what an imagination he had indeed. As far as i have read the play (mind you, its a difficult one...hush!), you'd be torn between labeling Cleopatra as a desperate femme fatale or just a lady in love..But Antony, Antony is another story. I haven't got to the part where Shakespeare revealed the truth bout him, but i sense that he is a definite scoundrel. Daniel Cleaver of the Roman Era.......

Hurrah for Oedipus Rex!!

To miss Siti Norbaiti..hope you''ll get well soon and be with us again. Mr Edwin gave us one last review at Oedipus Rex and my, what a good one he gave, too. He opened up a lot of new perspectives in my way of looking at Oedipus Rex. Reading the play with him, there are so many dramatic ironies which I haven't been able to identify previously. I'd never noticed how the Oedipus-Teiresias dialogue reveals so much about what would happen later in the play. I personally believe that their tongue lashes were very classy (I'd do it in a classy way too - the physical come-and-get-me way) I never cared that much for Teiresias (you can see that by the posts i've been writing) I have always been rooting for Oedipus. But the other day Teiresias just appeared to be such a inspiring figure and i can't help but to think that if ever we were to do a play production of Oedipus Rex, i''d like the honour to carry out the role of Teiresias. His words to Oedipus were wise and tranquil (he should be, he's the prophet for Heaven's sake!!) One important key word in Oedipus - Dramatic Irony...There are a lot of it all over the script which means that Oedipus was being exposed to his incoming predicament every now and then during his quest to find out about the truth. But he was too blind to detect them and led himself into a dangerous self-inflicted world of truth..Two different meaning of 'blindness' clashed as Teiresias met Oedipus. The same as the one we learnt in reading class where Dr Fauziah said and I quote - "eyes do the looking while heart does the seeing. What your eyes may look might not be seen by your heart,hmmm..." Wow I never realize how everything seems connected to each other. Dr Fauziah-Dr Edwin-Dr Jeya...I wonder if the connection ends there....?

How i love Sophocles better than Shakespeare

The first piece of literature that i was taught was boom! - Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. Thus, the era of my passion for the homosexual poet started..No one could shatter this love-hate bond between me and Shakespeare which lasted for 6years (duh!) until a scantily-clad curl-bearded guy called Sophocles came along..Haha. So long Shakespeare dear.....your heavy terms of endearment are so passe in my whole new Apollo-Zeus-Hercules-Hera world...I won't deny that Shakespeare's works are loaded with dramas...there'd be a hero who managed to tame a real awful out-of-this-world girl, a heroine who'd dress as a man to mend a broken heart, a best friend who betrays out of jealousy, a love-stricken pair who'd drink poison to be with each other without even bothering to check if their partners are truly dead.Talk about adrenaline rush...But Sophocles, ah..Sophocles,he is very straight forward..And i guess Greeks spend less time fooling around as there were no comedic anecdotes in-between the lines..and if Shakespeare make use of the Clown/Fool/Puck.....Sophocles generates a whole batch of Choragos...His issues are dead serious and true.You can totally feel the presence of truth somewhere in the dialogues and visuals of real life actions can easily be seen.But the absolute seriousness can definitely be burdening.Halfway through the drama, one can fall into a case of depression and maybe lose interest to venture further.Nevertheless, being a drama addict as it is...I adore seriousness.I don't know for long..because Shakespeare won't be gone for long..He'll try to win me back with romanticsm..in the form of Antony and Cleopatra..Sophocles better be alert.I'm weak when it comes to love.....

Tragic Flaw.....Can somebody define it please....

Last night I ask myself what is the tragic flaw in the form of Oedipus..No matter how far I let my mind wander, it always return to what I stated in the previous post - what's tragic for Oedipus was the fact that he realized his dark path way too late to prevent anymore damage. And for person as noble as he was, as invincible as he was, as worshipped as he was, the calamity was too much for him to endure.

But out tutor pointed out that Oedipus's tragic flaws are not what was bestowed upon him but rather his weaknesses. His profuse anger, compulsive judgements, absolute headstrong, are listed as such flaws. In a complete different perspective, one can easily consider Oedipus was trying too hard to become the saviour of Thebes. His raging curiousity to find out everything and insisting to know details of the past eventually lead him to the discovery of his own horror.

Perhaps those are really his tragic flaws. But to think of it that way, no one is flawless. Rage Impulsive Stubborn Compassion - all of us display those in various situations. But the problems with us humans, we strive to be perfect. We expect such perfection in both ourselves and other people, subsequently leading us to judge and discriminate here and there. We blame others for our own insecurities and fears. Oedipus might lead a sad tragical life, but he was not the only one...

Oedipus...a prey of fate

The whole class did a discussion about Oedipus Rex with Miss Siti Norbaiti last Friday. The discussion gave me a better insight into the tale of Oedipus. There are things between the lines that I failed to make a sense out of them at first, but became quite an impact after the session..

Reading Oedipus, one might be amazed at how a person could be entangled in such a mess without knowing but then again, it can happen to any individual. Even though our lives are not documented or turned into an epic play, we do experience events that are as much surprising as it was for Oedipus when he found out that he was the one causing Thebes to be at the feet of misery. The point is that, for Oedipus, he might be worshipped by his men, magnificently solved the riddle of Sphinx, and became a well-respected king, but deep down he was still a human. He wanted to break free of the premonition he was believed to be destined with, but ironically ended up doing the exact details of it.

That's where we can see how vulnerable people are as humans. We sometimes think we can outrun fate to save everything that is meaningful in our lives but in a cruel twist of events, we are heading to the very obvious destination. For me, Oedipus might be a king, but he was also a sad soul trying to make the best out of everything for everyone. Unfortunately for him, the fact that he is not God deterred that route he was trying to take and drifted him away from it, thus causing pain and misery to almost everyone he knew instead.

He might sound very melancholic but I love Oedipus for his desire to help people and for his human traits because like I said, they made him human.
Just like you and me.