A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

“A Streetcar Named Desire”, uniquely and interestingly written by Tennessee Williams is a story about a woman, named Blanche DuBois who encounters a series of unfortunate avents in her life. Being raised in a rich, relic South town, Blanche has encountered many downfalls in her life. Here, the writer tries to depict Blanche as a tragic figure, who undergoes a reversal of fortune in her life.
Besides that, it is rather picturesque how Blanche is suggested as a moth in the story. Animal imagery of a moth is given to Blanche as it illustrates Blanche’s own character traits to the readers. She is described as a fragile, easily hurt, dependent person who is desperate for man’s protection and love. Moth as it is suggested, always attracted to light. But, strong light will hurt and eventually destroy a moth. Similarly, Blanche is drawn to Elysian Field, as shehas no one else to turn to except her younger sister, Stella. This is where she meets with Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski. on the other hand, Stanley is portrayed as a light too strong for Blanche. Both Blanche and Stanley are two strong opposing characters and they always have fights together.
Towards the end of the story, when Stella is not at home and in labour, Blanche has been raped by Stanley, who has so much grudges with her. Because of her final and ultimate blow, she has a nervous breakdown which ends her up in an asylum. I am very sympathetic with Blanche as what is actually she dreamed of ends up with disaster. From a rich girl she is raised up to, Blanche has undergone a tough life afterwards. Though Blanche has a deep flaw which is her hypocricy and pretentious attitude, she is somehow a character that I sympathize on. She has also succeeded to get Mitch's attention as fast as she loses him in the end of the story.

PYGMALION: A ROMANCE IN FIVE ACTS

Pygmalion is one of the plays that I am supposed to study for this semester. Pygmalion, which is written by Bernard Shaw is a comedy about a phonetics expert who, as a kind of social experiment, attempts to make a lady out of an uneducated flower girl. Pygmalion probes important questions about social class and mobility, education, human behavior, and relations between the sexes.

I am interested in the theme of social class and education, being illustrated by the playwright in Pygmalion. Previously, I thought that social class also resembles our own education. The higher our level of education is, the higher our social class would be. Moreover, supposedly, the more knowledgeable we are, the better our ethics will be. But, this does not entirely rhyme with what have been portrayed in Pygmalion. In my opinion, what Shaw is trying to depict is that, one with knowledge and a good social status in his life may not have the ethics and morals being demanded out of them. For example, though Mr. Higgins is an educated and professional phonetic expert, he has no desired ethics, required from people of upper class and good educational background. He treats other people, either low class or upper class with the same, rude manner that does not at all suit his position.
Besides that, Eliza who is initially an uneducated woman has been portrayed to have better manner than Mr. Higgins. The knowledge and education that she gains obviously makes her a better person. She has accumulated ethics and knows how to interact intelligently with people of upper class. But, in the story, though Eliza has changed in her appearance and has accumulated ethics, suits a lady, she somehow has not really changed in her inner self. She stills a flower girl who always makes an irritating sounds when she is angry. Hmm...an old habit is really hard to leave.

Macbeth

Last week, all of us have watched a movie, "Macbeth" which was written by none other than its famous author, William Shakespeare. The movie uses the original script by Macbeth and it starts with the scene where three witches, burying a hand on the seaside. Later, the audience are introduced with the main actor itself, Macbeth, a brave warrior who has just won a battle over the country's enemy.

Overall, I can say that this movie is a gory tragedy as there are lots of bloody scenes being portrayed. Macbeth, after being told by the three witches that he is going to be Thane of Cordor and the King of Scotland, murders his own King Duncan and conspires against his own friends to become the ultimate and powerful King of Scotland. For Macbeth and his wife, they think that they will get anything they ever desire if Macbeth become a King. Unfortunately, it is not long for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to come to realize that they have got the otherwise. They are very unhappy as their pass sins haunt them down.
The guilty conscience has made Macbeth a person deprived of sleep, meanwhile Lady Macbeth accumulates a habit of washing her hands! She always has hallucination of seeing her hands covered with Duncan's blood and that has depressed and built tension inside her. Here, the inner conflict inflict upon themselves as they are haunted by their pass sins. The guilty conscience also leads Lady Macbeth to her own death. In the movie, she is portrayed to have killed herself, after been mentally ill for a while. Lady Macbeth's death is followed by Macbeth's famous lament and soliloquy, a poem entitled "Life's Brief Candle".
In conclusion, Macbeth is a tragic figure as what he wants to be~ a King of Scotland lands him into a state which makes him an unhappy and disasterous monster!. In his way to become the ultimate king, he has murdered lots of innocent victims and he has created a lot of enemies. In the end, Macbeth is killed by Macduff, the one who was not born from a woman.

Simulated Teaching


I would say that I did miserably horrible for my simulated teaching. I did not have the fluent language that a teacher should possess and nervous was another reason which made it even worst! Instead of encouraging the students to talk, it seemed that I "had encouraged" myself to talk and respond more in the class!
But, this experiences made me realise that as a teacher-to-be, I need to sharpen my language skills, especially in communicating with students. Language is the important asset that I should sharpen as in the real situation in the class, teacher plays a big role of setting example to the students and what's more is that I do not want to embarrass myself in front of my future students for not being able to speak good English.
Besides accumulating good language skill, I think that as a teacher, it is very crucial for me to make myself a person with composure. Teacher should avoid showing that we are nervous as this is a dangerous virus, attacking our own confidence. A teacher also must provide good activities for the students, activities that will make them enjoy learning and studying.
I will try my best for the next simulated teaching and I fervently hope that I will improve in it. Who says teaching is easy? Determination, committment and happiness are some of the ingredient for us to be good teachers. And i think that happy to be a teacher is important criteria as only with that, will the teacher makes the students happy to learn and study!

King Lear's Natural and Unnatural

I am very interested in the theme and element of natural and unnatural in the play, King Lear which is written by the famous and brilliant writer, poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. The element of natural and unnatural have been brilliantly depicted in both, main and sub plot of the play. In the main plot, the King, Lear has three daughters of whom he loves and this is natural.
But, what makes it unnatural is that Lear's two elder daughters, Goneril and Regan act as if they are not his natural and legitimate daughters. When Lear asks his daughters to profess their love to him, Goneril and Regan have professed their exaggerated, false love to him and in return, Lear has given them his kingdom. Only later, does Lear realises that they are liars, but it is futile. They never want their old, foolish father besides them. Only Cordelia, his last daughter proves to be loyal and love him in the true sense of love. Lear regrets that he has disowned Cordelia in the first place.
Meanwhile, in the sub plot of the story, the element of natural and unnatural have also been portrayed. These two conficting elements are depicted by Gloucester's sons, Edgar and Edmund who represent the opposing qualities, legitimacy and illegitimacy. Edgar represents legitimacy as he is the successor and the rightful heir to his father's possessions. Meanwhile, Edmund represents illegitimacy as he is the bastard son of Gloucester. Edgar is very kind and loyal to his father, but Edmund's lie has made him the betrayer in the eyes of Gloucester. In contrast, Edmund is an ambitious and evil son of Gloucester, betrayed his brother Edgar to fulfil his ambition.

Shakespeare Wallah, a movie set in India about a struggling group of English theatre actors, traveling and staging their performances all over India. These Shakespearean actors make for themselves a theatre company, called Shakespeariana and it basically consists of a family, the main actor who is also the father, Mr. Buckingham and 2 main actresses, who are the

mother, and their only daughter, Lizzie and the other sub actors. Tony, Carla and Lizzie Buckingham are all determined in staging the Shakespearean plays as they have devoted their entire life doing exactly what they want. During their tour, they meet a guy named Sanju, acted by Rishi Kapoor. Occasionally, Sanju and Lizzie get together and at this point, Lizzie has fallen in love with Sanju, without knowing that Sanju has got an affair with the famous Indian actress, Manjulah.

Here, the conflict starts as the story portrays not only the conflict between Lizzie and Manjulah, but also in the bigger picture, between theatre and cinema world. During that time, cinema world has been accepted by Indian people and audience are more attracted to go for movies in cinema. Less people are going for the theatre. There is even a scene whereby, Manjulah's appearance in theatre staged by Lizzie and the company has disturbed the flow of audience's attention. Instead of watching the theatre, audience are more interested in taking Manjulah's signatures and photographs.Here, the story conveys to us how people and circumstance always changing.Their life of theatrical world has somehow been threathen especially when the world of cinema become famous.

The Reduced Shakespeare is a very refreshing and entertaining play and from my observation, a farce is more to it. Only presented by three talented and brilliant actors, the play had introduced me into another genre of play which is farce and comedy. I believe all of us, the so-called “audience” as we were watching a performance, staged without the element of aliveness and immediacy, really enjoyed and entertained by the performance. I, for instance, croaked because of so many laughs after watching it for two- sweet -hours.

I admit that at first, I could not make out some of the messages, conveyed by the actors, but later, I felt I understood better. The setting and props used were very simple and not very impressive, but i think the limitation of props that had made the farce funnier! It is rather extraordinary how they acted the reduced Shakespeare’s plays, according to their own interpretation.

I like it very much when they put on various kinds of performance, such as narration of Othello with some sort of rap style, a combination of some Shakespeare’s plays and also Hamlet. They also portrayed how important an actor acting out his character during the performance. At one time, the actors involved the audience down stage to act out one scene of screaming on the stage. In order to build up the emotions and feelings of the character, the whole audience was asked to illustrate the commotion inside the character’s being. It was very fun and refreshing as audience also gets to involve in the success of the play!

The farce was rather unusual performance. There was a time when the actors argued among themselves about their interpretation of one of the Shakespeare’s plays. What I got from it was that how interpretation nowadays is different with that of Shakespeare’s time. When I reflect the scenario, yes, I also sometimes get confused of words and interpreted literary works, produced by much earlier writers differently from the readers of their time. I admire how these actors had successfully and brilliantly made the reduced Shakespeare’s plays a fun and fascinating play to watch. The Reduced Shakespeare, that was exactly what they were doing! Out of 5, I will give them 6 and a half for their awesome creativity and extra sense of humor!

Tiresias, The Theban Seer

In Greek mythology, Tiresias, also transliterated as Teiresias is the prophet who represents the gods and the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Though he is the seer, the one who is given prophecies through the birds, he is ironically a blind man. He gives his foresights to other people , so that people can choose a correct path of life or somehow can prevent themselves from disasters, sent by gods. Tiresias once articulated in Antigone that, he is the seer and that it is his duty to guide the 'blind' who is being referred to Creon.
There are many opinions on how Tiresias becomes blinded, as he is not a blind since born. Some say that Tiresias is blinded by the gods because he discloses their secrets to mortal men. Others saying that Athena blinds the young Tiresias by covering his eyes with her hands when he surprised her naked. Later, not being able to undo the damage, Athena cleanses instead his ears that she causes him to understand the sounds of birds. Athena also gives Tiresias a staff made of cornel-wood and with it, he could walk like those who can see.
It is also said that the old laws of Cronos that has inflicted the penalty of blindness on any mortal who beheld an immortal without consent. Later, he is granted the power to utter oracles, to understand the birds, to live a long life, and after his death, to keep his understanding among the dead. Besides that, Tiresias is also said to be cursed and transformed into woman for seven long years. But, later he has transformed back into a man.
Through his life, he plays big roles both in Oedipus, The King and also Antigone. He is the one who reveals all the secrets lie across the hidden truth. He is the one who makes the revelation that Oedipus is the murderer of his own father, Laius and he also advises the later King of Thebes, Creon not to decide for himself of other people's fate as it is in Gods' power and that his decree will only bring him harm.
Now, the figure of Tiresias has been much depicted by fiction writers and poets in their poems, novels and plays. This is because Tiresias as both the greatest seer of the Classical mythos, a figure cursed by the gods, and both man and woman is seen as very useful to the authors.

It was a delightfully unforgetable day, or maybe to be precise, an unforgetable night as on last Thursday night, I experienced the first living theatre. Hmm..after all theatre is absolutely alive and immediate as both are the characteristics of theatre!The theatre that I went for was Puteri Gunung Ledang, The Musical and it was staged in The Palace of Culture, Kuala Lumpur. I was very happy that I went to watch the theatre as it was brilliantly and superbly performed that the best simple word to comment on it is FANTASTIC! Going to the staged theatre for the first time was really one of the best experiences I had in my life and it certainly gave a whole lot knowledge and experience to me.
Puteri Gunung Ledang, The Musical or PGLM was a play which was performed in both Malay and Javanese language and as it was a musical theatre, the actors and actresses were all singing beautifully composed songs and dancing gracefully. The brilliantly sung songs had portrayed not only the mood of the play, but it also depicted the play itself. Besides the main actors and actresses, there was also the chorus on the stage. They were singing and dancing to narrate the love story between Hang Tuah and Majapahit Princess. Reflecting to what I had learnt, the chorus also plays role as the society of that time.
I also felt amazed at the setting of the stage. With the same moveable prop, they used it as the Gunung Ledang itself, waterfalls and Majapahit palace. The stage was also a moveable one. When the stage was raised, it suggested a higher place or inside a palace. In the 2 hours and a half, we have 15 minutes break and during that time, the stage had been transformed to a new setting for the second part of the play which was in Malacca. If during the play. the stage was set in Majapahit, the culture depicted was the Javanese society, with all the Javanese language being used, costumes, songs and dances, but in the second part of the play, the setting was set in Malacca, all together with new environment. Both of these settings were clearly and obviously portrayed that it seemed as if I had been transported to the place and time. From what I had noticed, white clothes were also used to indicate that the time was passing and the spotlight was always focused to the main characters.
It was amazing how their performance can give so much pleasure to the audience! When the theatre ended, everyone clapped so loud, not only because we were all enjoying and satisfied with the performance, but also it was to give the message to the performers that they did it superbly! Hope to watch pglm again and today,my friends and I have booked places to watch again and perhaps later, I can post more blogs on pglm!

On last Wednesday, 25th January,2006, during our two hour class with Dr. Edwin, we had discussed about the personal traits of Creon, the King of Thebes who is also the tragic hero of the play . In the story, the writer has brilliantly portrayed Creon as an arrogant king, not only to his people, but also to the Gods.Through out his conversation with the guard who has come reporting to him about Polyneices’ body being buried, he has showed that he is dogmatic and unwilling to listen to other people’s view. He only believes what he wants to and he accuses the guard of being corrupted by money. The writer also has exposed that Creon can be unreasonable and unfair. This is portrayed when he has threatened the old guard with torment before death if the guard could not catch the person who disobeys Creon’s law.
Creon’s arrogance extends toward his Gods when he actually disobeys the divine’s law and proclaims a new edict of not allowing anyone to bury Polyneices’ body. He even offends and insults Tiresias, the seer and also the one who is given the prophecies. Offending the representative of Gods is offending the Gods also. "Never to break the ancient law is best", but unfortunately,Creon is too late to realise that.The blow of fate has already taken its place.
Some words were given emphasis during the class such as “wise”, “foolish”, and “shrewd”. Being wise is a king’s personal trait. To have a king with wisdom is to have a king who always thinks for his own people’s benefits. Creon, being unreasonable in his actions has acted as God himself and inflicts the unhonourable punishment for the death. For this, he has been foolish as his edict which is the symbol of his haughtiness has brought disaster to himself. Shrewd is a personal trait for the guard, who reports to Creon about the bad news. He has uses his intelligence for his own advantage. He has struggled to defend himself, bragging his loyalty and showing his determination in identifying the one who disobeys Creon’s law.

Last Monday, Dr. Edwin had given our exercise paper back. After that, we had gone through and discussed some of the questions for every set of exercises. Personally, I was very interested to know the themes of this amazing play by Sophocles. This is because when I did write the answer for the theme of Antigone in the exercise, I simply put the theme of free will versus fate and to be truth, I did not really understand the thing I had written. Hehehe…
After struggling to figure out the various themes of Antigone, we, obviously with Dr. Edwin correcting us, had come out with six interesting themes. There are pride, responsibility to family, obedience and loyalty, gender inequality, self determination and sacrifice. The theme of self determination captivated my intention as it is synonymic with Antigone’s personal trait. Her self determination is admirable as she has shown her loyalty and love to her own blood. She has courageously done honourable deed of burying her brother although she knows that death will be her punishment. For that also, she has proved her obedience towards her Gods, and for her, eternal life after death is preferable than living with the guilt for the death.
In contrast to Antigone, Ismene is faint-hearted and submits to the society’s idea that women are weak and cannot be equal to men. She prefers other option from Antigone; she obeys Creon’s law and fervently hopes that the death will forgive her.

On 18th and 20th of January, 2006, Dr. Edwin had not coming in to the class, but 'luckily' we were all assigned to do some answering in the task sheets he had given on the previous day. Probably, he was quite afraid that we would be bored, doing nothing in the class!haha...Actually, we sweat all through the hours to complete the task as we noticed some of the questions were quite confusing.
I think the questions set in the task sheets that I were to be completed that days were actually very helpful, if not quite difficult to be answered! One of the sets of questions asked about tragic hero and personally, in Sophocles' "Antigone", I choose Creon, the King of Thebes as the tragic hero. For me, Creon is a pity as, though he rules his kingdom, in the end, he has lost both his beloved wife, Eurydice and his only son, Haemon and without them, he also lost happiness in his life.
Because of his inconsideration, overwhelming stubborness and ego, he has sent away his to-be daughter-in-law to a rocky vault to suffer her own actions of burying her brother, Polyneices. But, for me, Antigone has done the right thing! She has chosen to obey God's law, instead of man's law and has preferred honourable life after death instead of feeling guilty and irresponsible for her own blood.The law decreed by Creon is a sign of his doom as this means disobeying Gods' law, as leaving other human dead body unburied will anger the gods and creating a plague to Thebes. Here, the element of divine punishment is made an emphasis to highlight that God is more powerful than human beings!

This is the first time for me to post a blog on-line and I guess this is what we call life. We will always learn and do new things in our life.From somewhere I have read before, probably in one of Shakepeare's poems, he compared life with stage and we are the players and the actors, acting on the stage of life. So much so, back in a few weeks before, I think Dr. Edwin who told us that we are all actors, playing roles in our life. We, the students are acting as his clients!
Enough of that, here, I would like to recapture and try to put into words what I have learnt in my teaching the language of drama class. On last Monday, 16th January, 2006, during our one hour class with Dr.Edwin, we have started learning a playwright, entitled “Antigone”, which was written by Sophocles. The Greek tragedy has portrayed how someone from the advantage and honourable position such as the protagonist herself, Antigone has fallen down because of her own actions. The element of fate itself also has taken a great role in contributing towards this tragedy.
During our class, Dr. Edwin also highlighted how the playwright has used words and language to portray and describe the play. For example, the use of word “think”, articulated by Ismene to Antigone in the first scene suggests that Antigone is not thinking and the word is repeated as to urge Antigone to think harder and be practical of the situation that they both are facing.It is a wonder that literary products can be so laden with meanings, yet the words been used are so minimal. Hopefully, I can somehow produce a literary works in the future, but it is not an oath, just a wish!
That day, we were also made clear that as a teacher, we must be used to the jargons used in teaching students. For example, when referring to the drama text, we were continuously making reference using the line numbers in the text. For me, it was a great reminder as I previously, did not care to use line number reference while reading a drama text and it was great to realize that these jargons are important as I will also introduce the terms to my future students. I think, that is all for now!

January 16,2006