20.SING WITH SHAKESPEARE-14

20.SING WITH SHAKESPEARE-14

Fortuna, goddess of fortune, with her wheel. Wikimedia commons.

Fortune

Fortune- who does not smile at the very mention of the word!
We use the word in the sense of good luck- something good that happens to us beyond our effort or expectation, beyond even our control. The Romans had  goddess Fortuna in charge of this. She was depicted as blind or covered with a veil, to show that she is unpredictable and unsteady. She was sometimes shown with two faces. She does not stick to the same place or person for too long! She can cause both good and bad luck, and bring about a reversal in status and state of prosperity! So they used to talk of 'the wheel of fortune' showing how unsteady life is. 

Stoic philosopher Seneca described it well.[ in the play Agamemnon]

“O Fortune, who dost bestow the throne’s high boon with mocking hand, in dangerous and doubtful state thou settest the too exalted.

Never have sceptres obtained calm peace or certain tenure; care on care weighs them down, and ever do fresh storms vex their souls. ... great kingdoms sink of their own weight, and Fortune gives way ‘neath the burden of herself.

Sails swollen with favouring breezes fear blasts too strongly theirs; the tower which rears its head to the very clouds is beaten by rainy Auster. ... Whatever Fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low.

Modest estate has longer life; then happy he whoe’er, content with the common lot, with safe breeze hugs the shore, and, fearing to trust his skiff to the wider sea, with unambitious oar keeps close to land.”^[

So, it was after all good not to depend on fortune, but to be content with what was one's lot!

Statue of Fortuna at Vienna.
By Huberti (Own Work) CC By-SA 4.0 Creative commons via Wikimedia Commons.

Wheel of Fortune

This was before the rise of Christianity. Public sentiment and faith in Fortuna was so strong that Christian doctrine could not shake it, but had to accommodate it. They reconciled with it as the working of the will of God!

The Greeks had their goddess Tyche as the deity of fate. But she was more associated with the city and its prosperity. It was believed that when no cause could be found for events like floods, droughts etc, these could be attributed to Tyche.

Boethius teaching his students. 
14th century painting.

Many kings and nobles have seen the reversal of Fortune in their lives. One of the more notable ones we know from Western history is Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, simply called Boethius. He was  senator and a high official in the service of the Roman king, but was sentenced to death for suspected conspiracy against the king. While in prison awaiting his execution, he composed a treatise on fortune and allied subjects which we know by the name "Consolation of Philosophy". Ranked next only to the Bible in influence in the middle ages,this is still regarded as one of the best philosophical works of all time. This reflected the view that the good and bad turns of fortune were but the workings of the will of God; they were both inevitable and providential. It would not do for one to resist them. Boethius sees only the goodness of God in this troubled world.

[Seneca too faced reversal of fortune, and he was asked to commit suicide! It seems bad luck inspires great philosophy in great minds. Our own Bhadrachala Ramadas sang many kirtans on Rama while imprisoned by the Nawab of Golkonda. But he was freed by the intervention of Rama! Seneca, Boethius and Marcus Aurelius all advocate Stoic philosophy. ]

For us Hindus, the goddess of Fortune is Lakshmi (Sri ) She brings prosperity, happiness, good luck, good looks etc. The opposite of these is dispensed by her elder sister ! Our poets have also recognised that Lakshmi is unsteady in her affections! The popular saying is that no one is on a high for 30 years, or down for that long! Popular poet Shailendra expressed it  in just a single line:

ऊपर-नीचे नीचे-ऊपर लहर चले जीवन की

Oopar neeche neeche oopar
Lehar chale jeevan ki

Up and down, down and up
So the wave of life moves on !

In popular usage, fate, fortune, chance are often used in the same sense. But close reflection will reveal the subtle differences.

Shakespeare's birth place around 1900. Wikimedia commons.

Shakespeare has many illuminating passages on the subject.

Fortune favours anyone!

If Hercules and Lichas play at dice
Which is the better man, the greater throw
May turn by fortune from the weaker hand:
So is Alcides beaten by his page;
And so may I, blind fortune leading me,
Miss that which one unworthier may attain, [The Merchant of Venice]

Here the Prince of Morocco tells Portia:

If Hercules and his servant Lichas play at dice, it is not the better man who will win, but the one who is favoured by fortune! Likewise, in his case too, fortune may help  a less worthy person to obtain what he desires!

So we profess
Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies
Of every wind that blows.

[The Winter's Tale ]

Such people wait endlessly for 'something to turn up'!

You fools of fortune 

[Timon of Athens]


But chance is blind- it makes no distinction between high and low.


The odds for high and low's alike.

[The Winter's Tale.]

Adrishtam!

In our languages, we talk of 'adrishtam' for fortune. It really means what is "not seen". In our philosophy, fortune is not due to blind chance, or whim of some deity, but the result of own good actions in previous births. The result we see here, but the cause is unseen.

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

[Cymbeline ]

But people who are balanced should not depend on blind chance.

A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards

Hast ta'en with equal thanks. And blessed are those

Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled,

That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger

To sound what stop she please. Give me that man

That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him

In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,

[Hamlet]

Here, Hamlet is talking to Horatio.  He compliments Horatio as a man who has taken good and bad times in his stride. People who are balanced in their emotion and reason do not fall victim to fortune's play. Hamlet says such a man is dear to him.

Therefore,

Yield not thy neck 

To Fortune's yoke.

[Henry VI, part three]

For, fortune is whimsical and unsteady.

O You gods!

Why do you make us love your godly gifts,

And snatch them straight away?

[Pericles.]

So we all yearn for the good times to come back!

Fortune, good night;

Smile once more, turn thy wheel. 

[King Lear]

15.SING WITH SHAKESPEARE-9

15.SING WITH SHAKESPEARE-9

Man is born free?

"Man is born free but he is everywhere in chains" said Rousseau. If you really think about it, a more nonsensical statement has never been made upon this wide earth.

No man is born free. A child is born to particular parents, living in particular society, at a historical moment, following a particular religion (or even no religion), speaking  a particular language, etc.  These are the chains with which the child is born. Some chains may be of gold, some of iron, but chains nevertheless. All these are comforts or constraints with which the child has to live, and which the child has to outgrow! Rousseau was speaking in the context of modern states suppressing our physical and civic freedoms. But the very notion that a man is born free is silly to the extreme.

Philosophically , both our external environment and our internal equipment  ( sense organs and mind with its innate tendencies ) are fixed when we are born. Hindus believe this is how karma works.

No man is born free. But everyone can attain freedom: this is the message of Hindu and Buddhist dharmas ! This is the spiritual  hope for humanity.

We are not free to choose our parents or siblings! We cannot change our mother tongue, though we may disown it, and learn any number of other languages. Just imagine what it means to be born a Tamilian in Karnataka, or a Hindi or Telugu speaking person in Tamil Nadu in the linguistically divided India! You are branded for life as non-local, even if you may live there all your life! Non-Hindi speaking people are born second-class citizens in free India! 

In India, one cannot shed or even change one's caste, though the State claims to work for casteless society.

Similarly we cannot choose our siblings! Nor can we choose the time of our birth- which century, era, decade, etc! One may say these are gifts of the gods or decrees of fate! But surely, these are not signs of freedom.

Friendship

One area where we do seem to have freedom is to choose our friends. In reality, our choice is limited to the immediate circle in which we move. Not many of us can choose, fix or change that circle! People used to speak of pen pals; now many avenues of available through the Internet. But do they lead to lasting friendships?

Close comradeship develops in some professions, like in the army when members of a unit face a common danger. But do they all develop into 'friendship' ? [ Nevil Shute wrote about one such relationship in his beautiful novel "The Chequer Board " in the light of military background, though off the battlefield. This is broadly about the true brotherhood of man,  not of close friendship.]




We have many acquaintances. Even in cities where we live in close proximity to  others, we can hardly call them friends or neighbours! We have too many contacts, too little of real friendship. Something is lacking in modern life.

For most of us, our real friends are those of our school days. The classic example we have is of Krishna and Sudama! However, we are reminded in the Mahabharata that true friendship cannot flourish between an aristocrat and a man of poor circumstances, though learned, in the story of King Drupada and the Brahmin Drona. In working life, we have many associates but few of them emerge as real friends.

 Benjamin Franklin said:

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.

We can consider ourselves lucky if we have a single true friend in life. Tiruvalluvar wondered what is there in life so difficult as to acquire friendship!

செயற்கரிய யாவுள நட்பின் ?  781

He wrote 10 couplets on the nature of friendship, and 20 more warning us against wrong or unworthy friends!

There are many passages in Shakespeare which celebrate friendship.

The Winter's Tale

From Folgers Shakespeare Library.


Here we have Hermione, the Queen of Sicily asking  King Leontes's friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia, of their boyhood days.

Come, I'll question you

Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys.

You were pretty lordings then?

Polixenes

We were, fair Queen.

125Two lads that thought there was no more behind

But such a day tomorrow as today,

And to be boy eternal.

Hermione

Was not my Lord

The verier wag o'th' two?

130Polixenes

We were as twinned lambs that did frisk i'th' sun

And bleat the one at th' other. What we changed

Was innocence for innocence. We knew not

The doctrine of ill-doing nor dreamed

That any did. Had we pursued that life

135And our weak spirits ne'er been higher reared

With stronger blood, we should have answered heaven

Boldly, "Not guilty"; the imposition cleared,

Hereditary ours.

Hermione

By this we gather

140You have tripped since.

Polixenes

O my most sacred Lady,

Temptations have since then been born to's, for

In those unfledged days was my wife a girl.

Your precious self had then not crossed the eyes

145Of my young playfellow.

Hermione

Grace to boot!

Of this make no conclusion, lest you say

Your queen and I are devils. 

This shows how associations formed in younger days can turn into lasting friendship. Yet, there is a hint that even such friendships may suffer when they marry! But here the queen is showing good humour and joining in the fun and banter!

Sonnet 29

In the Sonnets, we have heavier stuff. Here in Sonnet 29, the poet thinks of his friend when his luck has deserted him!

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon my self and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate,

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

We are reminded of the lines 

"Dear George: Remember no man is a failure who has friends."

in that wonderful  movie 'It's a Wonderful Life'.[ Frank Capra,1946 ]

{ Incidentally, Capra was a different kind of movie maker. He said: 

My films must let every man, woman, and child know that God loves them, that I love them, and that peace and salvation will become a reality only when they all learn to love each other. }

In the Tirukkural we have the comparable line:

அழிவின்கண் அல்லல் உழப்பதாம் நட்பு. 787

Friend is he who keeps you company in misfortune

4ooth Anniversary edition by Simon&Schuster, 2016



Sonnet 35

We have some heavier stuff in Sonnet 35 where the poet talks of forgiveness among friends.

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done,
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud,
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.

All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorizing thy trespass with compare,
My self corrupting salving thy amiss,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are:

For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense,
Thy adverse party is thy advocate,
And 'gainst my self a lawful plea commence:
Such civil war is in my love and hate,

That I an accessary needs must be,
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.

Forgiveness or mutual give and take for offences committed without thinking!

It is one of life's great pleasures to be blessed with a true friend. Hindu scripture goes to the extent of praying that one should not be in the state of friendlessness!

ऽनमि॒त्रं च॒ मे

Anamitram cha mae

(Sri Rudram- Chamakam, 3)

So, let us vote for lasting friendship!

Note:

Though Cinema can become a creative art form with great possibilities, the industry has descended into infernal depths. Frank Capra noted in his 1971 autobiography:

The winds of change blew through the dream factories of make-believe, tore at its crinoline tatters.... The hedonists, the homosexuals, the hemophiliac bleeding hearts, the God-haters, the quick-buck artists who substituted shock for talent, all cried: "Shake 'em! Rattle 'em! God is dead. Long live pleasure! Nudity? Yea! Wife-swapping? Yea! Liberate the world from prudery. Emancipate our films from morality!".... Kill for thrill – shock! Shock! To hell with the good in man, Dredge up his evil – shock! Shock!

We have descended even lower since then.