9.SING WITH SHAKESPEARE -3

9. SING WITH SHAKESPEARE -3

picture:languageandthecity

Shakespeare, like all serious philosopher-poets, reflects deeply on the mystery of Time, Life and Death. In the West, his plays are enjoyed mainly as dramas performed on stage. It has its case, as they were originally written to be thus played. But the visuals may distract attention from the serious messages the words contain, that exceed the element of entertainment, and the value they carry beyond the immediate context of the story and its development. For us the literary  value and philosophical content of the plays are more appealing as literature, read and reflected on over the years. Had Shakespeare written only for the entertainment of his generation, he would have been forgotten by this time. His stories or themes are not original but his treatment is. His plays have a relevance beyond his time and place. That is why we continue to read them even though his language  has gone out of usage! Shakespeare is truly universal, as he deals with human nature as such and its deepest aspirations. Shakespeare knew he was writing for posterity and his verse would live beyond him, would indeed become immortal.

All life ends in death.This is what we see. We need no philosopher to tell us this, but is that all to life? In our weak moments we may conclude so. As does Shakespeare make Macbeth utter these lines:

She should have died hereafter.

There would have been a time for such a word.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

This was when Macbeth receives news of Lady Macbeth's untimely death. One day she would surely have died. People think of tomorrows , but time stealthily advances and makes fools of everyone! Life is really brief on earth, as the role of a minor player on stage. Yes, there is so much noise and turmoil, but what do they mean in the end, in the face of death?

Paths of glory lead but to the grave, sang Thomas Gray. But is it all there is to life?








When we look at Nature in all its glory, and not at times of its fury, when we watch children at play, when we watch flowers bloom and birds sing, we may not be so gloomy after all! We all know that there is death, even as the show of the world goes on.As Shailendra wrote:

इधर झूम के गाये जिन्दगी,
उधर है मौत खडी
कोई क्या जाने कहा है सीमा,
उलझन आन पडी

Idhar jhoom ke gaaye zindagi
Udhar hai mauth khadi..
Koyi kya jaane kahan hai seema
Uljhan aan padi

On this side, there is singing and merriment
On that side stands death.
Who knows where is the border?
The mind is confused.


 But that is not the real end! As if to answer Shakespeare here, Longfellow writes:

A Psalm of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 

   Life is but an empty dream! 

For the soul is dead that slumbers, 

   And things are not what they seem. 

Life is real! Life is earnest! 

   And the grave is not its goal; 

Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

   Was not spoken of the soul. 

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 

   Is our destined end or way; 

But to act, that each to-morrow 

   Find us farther than to-day. 

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, 

   And our hearts, though stout and brave, 

Still, like muffled drums, are beating 

   Funeral marches to the grave. 

In the world’s broad field of battle, 

   In the bivouac of Life, 

Be not like dumb, driven cattle! 

   Be a hero in the strife! 

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! 

   Let the dead Past bury its dead! 

Act,— act in the living Present! 

   Heart within, and God o’erhead! 

Lives of great men all remind us 

   We can make our lives sublime, 

And, departing, leave behind us 

   Footprints on the sands of time; 

Footprints, that perhaps another, 

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, 

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

   Seeing, shall take heart again. 

Let us, then, be up and doing, 

   With a heart for any fate; 

Still achieving, still pursuing, 

   Learn to labor and to wait.

Yes, we may leave our footprints which may guide succeeding generations! Thus, we continue to live - achieve a sort of immortality! 

Shakespeare is too great a poet to miss the point! Macbeth's muttering is due to his disturbed state of mind. It is not the poet's own philosophy! Shakespeare sings in Sonnet 15:

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.

When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and checked even by the self-same sky:
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory.

Then the conceit of this inconstant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful time debateth with decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night,

And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

[Here the world is considered a "show" - shadow in terms of Plato. This is not the whole of reality.]

Shakespeare is telling here that the subject of this sonnet may live in his verse as he is! He will never be subject to the ravages of time! 
There is an alternative! The young worthy may live in his children and thus perpetuate his line and memory! This is a subject recurring in 17 of his sonnets. In sonnet 16, Shakespeare sings:

But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant Time?
And fortify your self in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?

Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers,
Much liker than your painted counterfeit:

So should the lines of life that life repair
Which this (Time's pencil) or my pupil pen
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair
Can make you live your self in eyes of men.

To give away your self, keeps your self still,
And you must live drawn by your own sweet skill.

The father lives in and through the son! The son is called "Atmaja" in Sanskrit, that is the soul of the father reproduced! Yet, overcoming Time through living verse is a superior alternative!

Attaining immortality through verse was a theme with Roman poets Horace and Ovid.

"I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze" 

- Horace in Odes.

"Now have I wrought a work to end 
which neither Joves fierce wrath
Nor sword nor fire nor fretting age
with all the force it hath
Are able to abolish quite "  

 -Ovid in Metamorphoses.





Shakespeare is too great a poet and too fine a philosopher to miss the point! He too says in Sonnet 55:

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.

When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn:
The living record of your memory.

'Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth, your praise shall still find room,
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.

So till the judgment that your self arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

There is a nice point here. The verse becomes immortal if it has any worth; but the subject of the verse too becomes immortal irrespective of his worth!  [ Just reflect: as we read the glories of Rama in the Ramayana, Ravana too is remembered!]It is of course inconceivable that a poet worth his salt would write of a worthless subject. But we find extensive references in Tamil literature to starving poets singing the praise of stingy fools who would provide them with a meal, if not the means of living! Arunagirinatha deprecates such poets and prays that he should never be reduced to the state of singing about rich people just for the sake of the belly!

A life is considered well lived if the subject attains fame through performance of some real deeds of merit. What is considered merit changes through time, and today we have organised publicity to hoist tin horns and instant heroes! In the olden days, people were remembered for acts of austerity, charity, piety, valour or some other extraordinary gift.Old masters extolled us to live fruitful and worthy lives. Tiruvalluvar devotes 10 couplets to this theme.

ஒன்றா உலகத்து உயர்ந்த புகழல்லால் 
பொன்றாது நிற்பதொன் றில்.

Everything else dies on earth; but the fame of those grand men
whose achievements are unique in the annals of mankind endures 
for ever. 233

நிலவரை நீள்புகழ் ஆற்றின் புலவரைப் 
போற்றாது புத்தேள் உலகு.

Behold the man that has won a lasting world-wide fame:
the gods on high prefer him even to saints. 234

நத்தம்போல் கேடும் உளதாகும் சாக்காடும் 
வித்தகர்க் கல்லால் அரிது.

The ruin that adds to fame, and the death that brings glory
are impossible of attainment except for men of soulful living. 235

வசையென்ப வையத்தார்க் கெல்லாம் இசையென்னும் 
எச்சம் பெறாஅ விடின்.

It is a disgrace for all men if they earn not the memory
called fame.  238



We can now appreciate how the ancients laid stress on attaining fame through purposeful and righteous living as a means to defeat Time and the destruction it brings to the physical world! So shall we make war "on the bloody tyrant Time" ! So shall the verse of Shakespeare stand for all time!