Macbeth;Gruesome

We are assigned to watch the movie Macbeth and thankfully it is in colour. Nevertheless, it was boring as well although it was better than Elizabeth the Golden Age. Maybe because it was in colour, so it caught our attention. Our class hardly comprehends with this entire Shakespeare thing.

Anyway, the movie itself started with a war scene after which Macbeth gets promoted. Three witches had told Macbeth that he might be king one day. He told his wife. Together they started plotting to kill the present king. At first, Macbeth was reluctant but his wife further persuaded him to carry on with the plot. As the witches proclaimed, Macbeth was the next king.The people in the country however disliked the way he carried out his duty without taking the people’s matter in heart. He turned out to be a cruel king. Soon, the people were getting together to plan Macbeth’s death. Macbeth’s wife, who was earlier behind the plot to assassinate the previous king, had gone insane with guilt. The guilt feeling in her was unbearable that she had to kill herself by jumping out of the balcony.

Macbeth had no worries up to then, had to start worrying when an entire country will not rest in peace until they have killed him. However, there was a twist at the end. Macbeth could only be killed by someone who was not born the normal way. It was a charm that the witches had blessed upon him. Thinking that he could bring anyone down, he braved himself to fight the entire country. Macbeth was wrong because there was someone who could kill him. Eventually, he died. The ending part was horrible and gory as Macbeth’s head was chopped off to prove to everyone that he is really dead.The movie was full of war, backstabbing, murdering, fighting, and suicide.

Teiresias, The Mystery Revolves

As I was reading one of the greatest plays of Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, I came across with the character called Teiresias. When Dr.Edwin explained briefly regarding the characteristics to us, I was enticed to find more about Teiresias. Teiresias was born in Thebes, Greece to Eueres and Chariclo. They were said to be the descendents of Udaeus of Sparti. Teiresias is blind according to myth. There are many reasons or stories regarding to his blindness. There was one which says that the Greek gods blinded him at the age of seven because he revealed certain facts and knowledge that men are not supposed to know.

According to another myth, it is said that Teiresias was blinded by the Goddess Athena after he saw her taking a bath. Athena threw water into his eyes and therefore blinded him. His mother pleaded with her to get back Teiresias’s eye sight, but Athena was unable to do so. So, instead of eyesight, Athena gave him a staff which gave him the gift of walking with vision. He also got the gift of prophecy as well as understanding the language of birds as compensation.

Another tradition says that one day, while Teiresias was having a walk one day, he came across snakes mating, and he killed the female snake with his staff. Since then, he was transformed into a woman. Myth says that he was a famous prostitute during those seven years. After those seven years, he again came across snakes mating and this time around he managed to kill the male snake with his staff. Thus, he was turned into a male once more.One day, Zeus and Hera were having an argument about which sex enjoys intercourse most. Zeus said it was the women who enjoyed more while Hera says men enjoyed more. To settle their disagreement, they called upon Teiresias since he had the weird experience of being both man and woman. He agreed with Zeus claiming that woman enjoyed much more pleasure from sexual intercourse. Therefore, Hera was extremely mad at Teiresias for having said so. She turned him blind. This was another version of how Teiresias got blind. Zeus gave him the gift of inner sight which is wisdom and the ability to see the future and also extended his life span to seven generations.

Basically, these are the different versions of myths regarding Teiresias. It indirectly aroused my interest in reading this play.

Oedipus Rex & Oedipus,The King.

We had a great chance of reading one of the finest works in literature by Sophocles. The title of this play is Oedipus Rex. Dr.Edwin prescribed this text as part of our course for EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. Initially, when I first read the play, it was quite bored and I really don’t understand with the command of language that they have used. It took me a longer period of time to comprehend the text. With the assistance from Dr.Edwin, eventually I was able to get an overall view what is this play is all about. Basically, this play has got four scenes with prologue (beginning) and exodus (ending). Few lectures with the assistance from Dr.Edwin regarding this play have made me to be more confidence to encounter all the questions that I might have for the final examination.

Moreover, we also had a great chance of watching Oedipus Rex in a movie form. This movie is entitled Oedipus, The King. By watching this movie, it enhances and consolidates my understanding of this play better. Moreover, I was able to visualize the scenes subtly because before this, I only had a chance of reading the text. It somehow gives me a visual understanding of the play. In my personal opinion, I felt that, by watching the movie, I was able to comprehend the play better rather than reading the text. I used text as my secondary source to have a better understanding of this play.

Basically, what I have learnt from here is that, as a future English language teacher, we are given the authoritative to choose the best modus operandi that can be used to impart knowledge to the students. We should also bear in my mind that only certain approaches can be applicable to certain group or level of students. Hence, as a teacher, we should come up with different approaches that can cater the students’ needs. As I had mentioned earlier, one of the good example is the movie and the reading text. Teachers can use both approaches as part of their teaching and learning process in the ESL Literature classrooms. Reading text can be used to analyze the literary elements of the play whereas the movie can be used to enhance and consolidate the visual understanding of the play. Both approaches are essential for the betterment of our teaching and learning process. Besides that, this kind of methods will entice the students’ interest and participation in the classroom.

As a conclusion, Oedipus Rex was a great play that I have ever read and watched. The usages of two approaches by Dr.Edwin, which are the reading text and the movie, have made me to have a better understanding of this play.

Teacher Trainee cum Writer

All hell broke loose when Dr. Edwin assigned us to write a script for one-act play for the literature classrooms. This will be our first assignment for EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. This one-act play should be around 15-minutes and it’s meant for the upper-secondary school students. Besides that, we also have to prepare a teacher’s guide on how to teach and use this play as part of the teaching and learning process in the literature classrooms. Luckily, this is a group work. Thus, Ling Leong King, Mohd. Fadzwan and I have decided to come up with a nice storyline.

I was so excited because this was the first time I’m writing a script. At first, we were cracking our heads to come up with a suitable theme for our play. After a long discussion and arguments, we came up with an issue of love since love would be a familiar issue among the youngsters in today’s world. The students would be able to comprehend this kind of issue since it dealt with their life experience. There were several contradictions among us at the very beginning stage because each of us came up with our own storyline that themed loved. We should also bear in mind that this is just a one-act play and it should not exceed more than 15 minutes.

Eventually, we came to a conclusion with a nice storyline entitled ‘Love Rivalry’. Basically, this story based on love triangle between the twin brothers and a girl. The twin brothers were Simon and Richard and both of them were fighting for this girl called Jennifer. Actually, Jennifer is in love with Simon as Simon does. But, Richard, who is much more educated compared to his younger brother, Simon decided to get married to Jennifer since he got the approval from the Jennifer’s mother. At the end, who is she going to get married with? That’s the suspense of our play. Which is more power, true love or social status?

Once we have decided to wrap up our play in just four scenes, we started to work out for the appropriate and suitable sentences. Basically, we only use simple sentences so that it will be easier for the students to understand. Eventually, after a long battle, we produced the script of the play with a nice storyline and hand-in the draft to Dr.Edwin for checking.

I would like to express that the feeling was so great for me since this is the first play that I am writing along with my friends. Indirectly, it entices my interest to write more plays in different genre such as short stories and poems in future. It enhances and consolidates my confidence in me and hopefully I will be able to contribute and give my best in this field.

Love and Marriage

Love and marriage are two different perspectives that are experienced and viewed differently by humans in today’s life. Love can be defined as to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family ; world. Marriage is a legally accepted relationship between a woman and a man in which they live as husband and wife, or the official ceremony which results in this. You might be wondering why I am sharing this topic as part of my fourth blog. This is because for our first and second session of the tutorial session, we were given two texts which are ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun and ‘The Ring’ by Vincent Jeremiah Edwin. It’s was an interesting play with different elements of love and marriage that are being shared by the writer to the audience.

As for the play ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun, the story mainly revolves around Paul, the bridegroom to be and Adelyn, the bride to be. In the first scene itself, the mother viewed marriage as one of the modus operandi of discovering more about your partner after Adelyn felt that she was uncertain of being perfect. In the scene 2, it mainly focuses on how Aunt Mira and Paul look at the marriage. Even though Paul felt the same way as Adelyn felt, which was uncertain of being perfect, but he was quite loyal to his spouse especially when he mentioned that marriage is a once in a lifetime thing. Aunt Mira also played a part here by explaining her view about marriage when she stressed that in marriage, no one is good enough and that’s why it’s called love. Forty-three years of marriage and he still hasn’t… It shows that she is an optimistic lady and can accept the weakness of her husband even though they are married for such a long time. As for the scene 3, it’s all about Adelyn, who wants to be a perfectionist where she wants everything to be perfect and in order. Here, the writer indirectly brought a message regarding the gender treatment where the females are always worrying for the details and are more serious unlike the males. At the end of the play, it was a happy ending for both of them as they were pronounced as husband and wife even though they had some contradicting perceptions about marriage at the very beginning of the play.

As for the play ‘The Ring’ by Vincent Jeremiah Edwin, it’s about a troubled boy seeks the companionship of an imaginary person who may or may not be a demon. To keep her existence for him, he cuts himself to give her his blood. The most interesting part of the play is the poem which is being revealed to express the feelings of young love. The two main characters of this play are Raj, a troubled young man and Leila, his imaginary demon girlfriend. There are few scenes in this play. It’s about Raj, who fells for his girlfriend @ demon where he is willingly cut himself to feed his imaginary girlfriend for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It indirectly shows that he doesn’t want to lose her. At the end, Raj mother notices that it was something wrong with Raj. Hence, she sent Raj to the mental hospital and eventually there is no one to feed Leila. If Raj wants to continue feeding her, the hospital authority will keep him longer in the hosptial for further treatments. So, Leila walks away from Raj’s life and he is left alone and sobbing. Basically, this play brought a message about love where the writer stressed that love is a sacrifice and desperate feeling of owning someone. Meanwhile, the ring symbolizes the pain that they went through.

In conclusion, both plays was a great platform for me to have a better understanding of what is love and marriage, where the writer presented the different perceptions and thoughts about love and marriage to the audiences.

Traditional Dance Enlighten Our Roots

Malaysia is a country with a wide diversity of culture, tradition and customs. It makes us great honored and proud to be prominent Malaysians. Thus, it’s our duty as a Malaysian to uphold this treasure that can never be replaced because it some how reflects our identity to the entire world. Recently, when I attended National Chinese New Year Open House that was organized by the Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts, and Heritage in Bukit Bintang, there was variety of traditional dances that was performed by various ethnics and races during the event which caught my eyes. One of them is Bharatnatyam, the classical Indian traditional dance. Since, it is related to my tradition, I decided to find more about this traditional dance and post the information that I obtained in this blog.

Bharatnatyam is developed in South India, in its present form, two hundred years ago. It’s believed that the Hindu god, Brahma (supreme creator) created Natya by extracting literature elements from the Rig Veda, songs from Sama Veda, abhinaya (expression) from the Yajur Veda and rasa (aesthetic experience) from the Arthava Veda. This dance is the oldest of the classical dance forms, and its origin can be traced to Bharatha’s Natya Shastra. Basically, Natya speaks in great detail of the different kinds of postures, facial expressions, mudra (hand expressions), including the attire and ornaments to be used.

Moreover, the uniqueness of this traditional dance is that they are all devotional in content and it is confined around the nine rasas (emotions or aesthetic expressions). They are hasya (happiness), shoka (sorrow), krodha (anger), karuna (compassion), bhibasta (disgust), adhbhuta (wonder), bhaya (fear), vikram (courage) and shanta (serenity). In fact, Bharata Natyam was till the early 20th Century, only performed by ‘devadasis (maids of God)’, in temples.

In Malaysia, this dance is performed on festivals, ceremonies, and special occasions. It marks the presence of the Indian culture, tradition and custom among the other races in Malaysia. One of the Malaysian famous Indian traditional dancers is Ramli Ibrahim. The twist here is that he is Malay. He is acclaimed as a pioneer dancer and choreographer of international standing in the major fields of dance that he has mastered – Bharatnatyam, Odissi as well as Contemporary dance. Besides that, he is also a teacher for the Indian traditional dance, Bharatnatyam. Basically, he is the treasure of our country that can never be replaced by another.

In a nutshell, we can say that this dance is well received by all Malaysians due to its uniqueness. At the same time, it’s our duty as a Malaysian to know more about other race’s culture, tradition and customs and uphold it so that it remains our treasure forever.

EDU 3217, A Different Outlook

After successfully completed a semester stint of EDU 3214, Teaching the Language of Short Stories, once again Dr.Edwin will walk-in this semester for a new subject which is EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. My colleagues and I were really grateful to Dr.Edwin last semester for making us comprehend on how to examine the language of short stories subtly. In short, as I had mentioned earlier in my previous blog, he resembles how a English Literature teacher should conduct the teaching and the learning process in the ESL classrooms.

As the new term begins, we eagerly anticipated for his lesson lesson. His classes fall on every Wednesday from 12 pm-2 pm. We knew that this subject is going to be presented completely to us in a different outlook. Of course, everyone might be wondering why I am calling this as a new outlook. This is because, when he taught us last semester, he directly started his first lesson by teaching various kind of short stories that was prescribed for us in EDU 3214. As for this subject, his approach was merely different because for the first three lessons, he discussed the overview of the history of theatre. By doing so, it gives us a mental picture what is the world of drama is all about. Moreover, he also discussed about the evolution of the drama that occurred since 384 B.C until today where it is integrated as part of the mankind’s life.

I was quite mesmerized with the achievements of the great poets and play writers on those days with their wonderful piece of works which causes great influences among readers. Initially, poets have defined that literature evolves from the world of theatre where it’s viewed as a part of human’s cultural life. It has never barred any society in terms of their status quo in viewing this theatre. The born of famous Greek philosophers cum writers such as Aristotle, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euridipes and Aristophanes makes the Greek theatre evolves rapidly. It embarks a new chapter in the history of theatre by becoming the first theatre in the world. This is followed by the Roman theatre and the Medieval theatre

During 18th and 19th century (Victorian Period), there was a paradigm shift where the credibility of drama was declining due to the industrial revolutions. The entire focus was moved from the theatre to poetry with the emergence of the first novel in the world, Robinson Crusoe. Slowly it started to evolved back during the 20th century where the writers or authors classified them as a modern or a contemporary drama. It touches upon several elements of drama which are tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, and farce. Besides that, Dr. Edwin also explained to us the differences between tragedy and comedy drama.

During the 20th century, there are two different kinds of play, which are the Aristotelian play and the Brecthtian play. Aristotelian play is a traditional play and it’s too dramatic compared to the Brechtian play which focuses on modern epics that embarks the thinking skills among the audiences. Moreover, Dr.Edwin also taught us about the conventions of theatres, stage characters and the criteria’s of a good play.

Basically, this is the introduction part for the course EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. As I had mentioned earlier, this course will be taught in a different outlook. I really do hope that I will be able to comprehend this course effectively before I move myself further in studying different aspects of literature in English.