Soliloquy

A new term for me…

I learned many new terms from the class of “Teaching the language of Drama”. Last week, Dr. Edwin introduced us the term of soliloquy. As what written in the book of “Now Read On”, a soliloquy is a very special moment in a play: the character speaks his thoughts, with no one else on stage, so the audience can see right into the heart of the character.

I was very impressed by the most famous soliloquy said by Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s play, “To be, or not to be”. Yes, this is really a big question. When Hamlet said this soliloquy, he is deciding between life and death, whether to go on living or to die.

This soliloquy reminds me on the poem of “Dover Beach” written by Matthew Arnold. Happiness is part of our life, as well as sadness, and we can’t escape from sufferings; our life will not always be calm, just like the sea. There is always something that unexpected will come to break our peaceful day, just like the nature, this thing happen out of our control. When we are enjoying our life here, there is someone at another part of the world experiences suffering, human misery never leaves us.

Everyday of our life is a struggle, for me, to live is hard, but to die is harder. If we live on, the problem might solve one day, but if we choose to die, we give up trying. Nothing will stay permanent; it is a never ending cycle. When we are up, always prepare for down; when we are down, we must believe that we will rise up again one day.

Furthermore, we must always remind ourselves that dying is not the end of the problem; we will face the judgment from God one day. In Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” God is the one who is able to destroy both man’s soul and man’s body. The problem we faced today is far lighter than the judgment day. So, take courage to finish our race of life.

OEDIPUS REX

Interesting Story...

I never read Oedipus Rex before I take this subject. In my first reading of the drama; I feel that it is an interesting story. I don’t really understand everything in it, but I like the content of the story. I think Oedipus is innocent but it iscruel that those bad things happen to him. I feel that it is unfair ending to Oedipus because he did not choose to be like that, it is the fate that playing with him.

When the time Oedipus heard that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother, he runs away from the country to escape from the terrible prediction. However, this action leads to the fulfillment of the prophecy. From the beginning of the play, he has good intention in doing everything. He saved the people from the problem of Sphinx's riddle. He is caring to his peoplewhen he becomes the king of the country. In his good intention to safe his people from plague, his fate reveal little by little.

Our whole life is destined by God as I said before; we might want to use our wisdom to change our fate, but it always does not help. Knowing our future seems become a bad thing to Oedipus. People want to know their future so that they can make better planning, as well as Oedipus. However, the prophecy ruins his life.

The king of Solomon is the wisest king in the earth, he asked wisdom from God to rule his people, he gained all the riches in the world, but in the end he said there is only vanity of vanity. Satisfy with what we have in the present, let the past be lesson, and learn put everything in the hand of God for the future. Our worries for the future can’t change anything. Have faith in God and let Him who is on the throne to arrange everything.

SHORT PERFORMANCE

The things that I will consider for my short performance are as follow:

1. The role of the character
2. The relationship between characters
3. Intonations and gesture
4. Settings

The first thing I would consider is my own role. I have to know who am I in the play, a teacher? Student? Animal? I also will think about the character’s background, high educated? Low social economic status? Traditional woman?

The second thing that I will consider is my relationship with other characters. Are you friends? Father and daughter? Enemy? Because all these details will lead to how I perform, they will determine the intonation of my speeches and all my gesture on the stage.

Well, setting also plays an important role in making a play a success. The setting will help me to get into the right atmosphere of the play. For example, the performance at beach or at school will affect the tone of my speech.

The practice given by Prof Madya Dr.Edwin in the class was a good experience to me. I remember when he asked for something interesting, my mind was blank, and the only setting I can think about is beach. When he said his previous students think of toilet and some act the role as chicken, I was so surprise. So, I think creativity should also be one of the characteristic of a performer. Yes, good script always brings better show but the script is something lifeless; the performers are those who make it lively. Without some creative performers, an interesting script might turns to be bored and dull.

STAGES OF HUMAN LIFE

Way Of Life

The Four Ages of Man
by William Butler Yeats

He with body waged a fight,
But body won; it walks upright.
Then he struggled with the heart;
Innocent and peace depart.
Then he struggled with the mind;
His proud heart he left behind.
Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win

There are seven stages of life in “As you like it” by Shakespeare; however, there are only four stages of life in “The Four Ages of Man” by William Butler Yeats. For Chinese, there are also four stages of life, which includes birth, aged, sickness and death. Chinese used four descriptions for human living: eat, drink, play and joy. Every person has different view of life.

I feel that no matter how many stages of human living, we must have the wisdom to number our life. This is because we might not able to complete every stage in our life. We don’t know when the world will be over neither do we know when we will pass away. Life is too short for us to waste a single day. Our life has been destined by God sovereign hand; no matter how well we plan our life, we cannot go against God just as what had happened to Oedipus. Treasure everyday of our life; we can plan our life but we need to live as if there is no tomorrow.

The short video I post up is taken from Metacafe.com; the title of the video is "way of life". This is a funny video that shows us how short is our life, and the background music of the video create the atmosphere of racing. Hope you all enjoy the video.

BLOGGING

No Experience...

After a few days thinking of what to write in my blog; however, my mind is still blank. This is the first time I blogging. So just want to start the ball rolling, I would like to write my feeling as the first time blogger.

Nowadays, blogging is quite common means for people to express the thinking, opinion or may become an electronic diary. However, I feel that blogging is a waste of time and energy because I am very slow in computer stuff. Up to this point of time, I still don't know the purpose of creating this blog for Prof. Madya Dr. Edwin Malachi subject. Anyway, I will still complete the tasks he assigns to us. I believe at the end of this subject, I will treasure this blogging and will become an active blogger. I wish everyone all the best in this semester.