The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli: Final Review

Everytime I heard (or read) the word ‘Machiavellianism’, my mind would involuntarily relate it with cunning aspects. That’s why I had a doubt while deciding to add The Prince into my reading list. But, I was so curious about this book, and so I braced myself to pick it for my History Reading Challenge. I am glad I did it, because it turned out to be interesting; it widened my perspective of state’s ruler and power.

Machiavelli wrote The Prince to Lorenzo Di Medici as a guidebook for a prudent prince to keep his state prosperous.

“…for in the same way that landscape painters station themselves in the valleys in order to draw mountains or high ground, and ascend an eminence in order to get a good view of the plains, so it is necessary to be a prince to know thoroughly the nature of the people, and one of the populace to know the nature of princes.”

Although Machiavelli wrote especially of monarchy, most of his guides also benefit modern republican states. I have made a diagram of monarchy models, how to achieve and maintain it. But what I like most is his guides for being a prince, or a ruler. Some of his ideas are too unconventional and even cynical, that people put negative labels to Machiavelli. But I think we ought to separate our ideal with the prosperity of a country or state. I believe that stability is the key to prosperity, as without it, any rulers—competent though he was—would have difficulty to do anything. So, I agree with Machiavelli, that to be feared is more important for a ruler than to be loved; to be slightly miserly is better than to be overly generous. Because people, who love you in better times, could easily become your haters when things gone badly, and who knows….what would happen then? Whereas if you are feared, you can put stability over your state more easily, while at the same time you are trying to bring prosperity to your people.

In conveying his principles, Machiavelli seemed to be lack of consciences or morality. He advised us to always be good, but must be able to do evil when necessary—to be fox and lion at the same time. But, again, I think it is reasonable. To deal with vast multitude in a country is not a simple task; stability is always the key. Thanks to Machiavelli, now I understand these things; that seeking the right ruler is far different from having an ideal patron. Here are more of his analysis.

The Prince is not purely a history. Although Machiavelli used actual histories—mainly Italian rulers, but also other European ones, and even Greek and Roman’s leader—this book is more focusing on politics and power guide book and philosophy. Machiavelli’s analysis is thorough and sharp, and his writing is brave and blunt. But that makes this book more interesting…and classics!

Three and a half stars for The Prince.

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I read the Signet Classics paperback edition

This book is counted as:

3^rd book for History Reading Challenge 2014

3^rd book for Back To The Classics 2014 (A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You)

70^th book for The Classics Club Project

17^th book for WEM Self Project

The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila: Review

I haven’t read many autobiographies, so I was rather gambling when I bought this autobiography of one of the most famous Catholic Saints: Teresa of Ávila. Firstly because autobiography is usually serious; and this one, particularly, is religious. Tough combination! But I don’t know why, this one is tempting me since I put it in my WEM Project, and so….I dared myself to read it. In the end, it is so worth it! Although Teresa’s writing is not quite chronologic—she used to return to the past things related with the current issue that she might have forgotten, or which she thinks now is important, while is wasn’t then—and she seems to have difficulties to make things more clearly. But maybe this is because she had restriction (from God or from her superiors at that time). But above all, her autobiography is really inspiring.

I usually do the three levels inquiries for WEM, but this time I go directly to review. I will still do the inquiries after this, though :). Now about the book…..

Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was born at Ávila in 1515, into a family with good virtues, which I believe is the solid foundation of her own devotion to God in the age of six or seven. Her mother taught her to pray. Unfortunately, at age 14, Teresa began to lose her virtues through bad friends’ influences and amusements of the world. Scared that she might fall to sin, her parents took her to a convent, although with her bitterly aversion. The secluded convent seemed to bring back Teresa’s virtues, however she began to suffer from heart disease, and this forced her father to bring her out, and put her in her relative’s.

Teresa took the habit at the Convent of the Incarnation on 3^rd November 1536, when she was 21 years old. Here she began to have great joy to serve God. Meanwhile, her health got worsened, and so she must be brought out of town for treatment, which unfortunately didn’t work as expected. It seemed that God deliberately sent the illness for her to endure, and she did endure it with patience. She was paralyzed for almost three years, yet she endured the great torment with joy. At this stage she regretted her former sins, and took St. Joseph as her advocate to God. However, once again she fell to sins because the convent provided too much liberty for a restless nun like her. One day Christ appeared before her, looking severe, telling her that her friendship with her current friend displeased Him. While she still disobeyed, God appeared in another vision.

Teresa was weary of her sin, that she lost her previous joy in virtuous things. She abandoned her communing with God (meditation). Through her confessors’ guidance, Teresa returned to her prayers, but she still lived two lives: the earthly and the divine ones. But during those times, God never ceased to veil her sins from public, as He knew that Teresa, deep in her heart, always longed to serve Him. For twenty years Teresa fell and rose in her spiritual life, again and again; this state disturbed her, but thank God, He gave her courage to keep praying, because praying helps us to be nearer to Him, as He will bear so long for us to come to Him.

Reading St. Augustine’s Confessions has helped her to incline more to spiritual graces and to stay away from things that did her harm. She taught us that there are four stages in prayer; the higher the stage the more intimate we would be with God. After 5 or 6 years exercising to 3^rd stage of praying, Teresa was being accused and attacked by people who said that it’s only her innovations. She was disturbed by this fuss, and fell again to sins, until a Dominican Friar woke her up from it, and she realized how God is never tired to forgiving sinners.

Teresa now often had an ecstasy, when God enraptured her. She was afraid at first whether it was not a deception from the devils, however in many visions and appearances God convinced her that it was from Him. God gave her favours in the raptures and visions; He even brought her to visit Hell and Heaven. The ‘tour’ to Hell was very horrible, that she couldn’t even describe it in words. Not only the tortures to body—she felt greater pain than she had ever endured on earth—but also the torture of soul, which was still much more painful than of the body. With these favours, Teresa began to incline to save souls, with the guidance from God.

God commanded her to found a convent of St. Joseph’s. Through so many obstacles (that distressed Teresa so much, since, as usual, she was torn between God’s promise that everything would be OK as this was His wish, and her own thoughts that she was deceiving herself and others—which was clearly came from the devils), the convent was finally founded on 1562. During the process, Teresa received much opposition from others, including her colleagues and superiors, and even her confessors. However, as this was a work from God—and God was extra patience to convince the stubborn Teresa about it—the new convent was finally established. People opposed it because it was a reformation of convent’s standard system. St. Joseph’s convent took poverty as its main rule, and this they did not accept dowry from new members—as the standard of convents at that time—and strictly closed the convent from outer world so that the nuns could focus their devotion mainly to God. It really fitted Teresa, whose sins were mostly from her connection with the outer world.

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From this autobiography, I learned that Saints are ordinary people like us; that although they have achieved higher step in spirituality: 1) They still sinned every now and then. 2) It doesn’t mean that the devils stop tempting them; the tighter your relation with God is, the bolder the devils would tempt and attack you. They become even more aggressive now that the chance to snatch the souls from God is smaller. The only consolation we get from God, is that He won’t let us fall if we put 100% trust in His protection and keep on praying. That is very relieved, but we almost always forget it during trials! :)

People who oppose Catholic and other Christian Church often attack us by saying: If God loves us, why, while we are so devoutly to him, that He let the devils tempt and attach us, that we must suffer much? Oh yes, God do let them do it, as I read from Teresa’s words. God allows the devils to do that to test our strength and to make us realize of His power to save us from harm. That’s why, we mustn’t retreat from our virtuous life when trials come, but strengthen it with more prayers and with humility.

One important fact that astonished me is the powerful effect of Holy Water. Teresa told us that one day a devil appeared to her when she was praying; she was afraid, so she raised a cross to it, and it soon went away. However, a moment later it re-appeared. Teresa did the same action twice more, but the devil kept coming. So, Teresa reached for Holy Water, and sprinkled it to the devil, and this time it vanished and never returned. So great is the power of the Holy Water!

There are so many valuable things I got from this inspiring book, a book which Teresa has written by the guidance of God. Teresa then submitted the manuscript to a Reverence to be published. She died on October 1582, but not before she founded many more St. Joseph’s convents (the Carmelite nuns). Forty years after her death, Teresa was canonized by Pope Gregory XV, and was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.

Last but not least, here’s a lovely quote to help us all living this hard lives….

“For in this life we cannot always remain in the same state. Sometimes we are fervent, and at other times not; sometimes we are restless and at other times calm in spite of temptations. He told me to trust Him and not be afraid.”

In fact, Teresa’s life was like that, she was not a perfect human being, but she kept loving God, did her best to please Him, and put her trust in Him. We are not perfect either, and we might not become Saints, but we can do our best to reach the eternal life as long as we put trust in Him to guide us.

Four and a half stars for this autobiography, for although it is very inspiring, but so tough in reading, with the small fonts and Teresa’s inconsistent writing and sometimes full of ramblings.

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I read Penguin Classics paperback edition

*This book is counted as:*

5th book for Baca Bareng BBI – September theme: biography

8^th book for Back To The Classics 2013

55^th book for The Classics Club Project

WEM Self Project

Romeo and Juliet [Play + Movie]

Let’s Read Play’s theme for this month is tragedy, and I have picked one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies of all time: Romeo and Juliet. Although I‘m not a fan of romance story, least of all teenagers romances, I braced myself to give a try on this particular play. Well, I must say that my instinct has never failed me before, and it doesn’t this time also. It turns out that I could not enjoy this play, and it didn’t move me like Julius Caesar did me, for instance.

First of all, I am annoyed by the harsh—and sometimes very vulgar too—humour Shakespeare put in this play. I know that somehow it is his style, but I think it has come at an annoying point this time. Maybe it’s because I have been expecting ‘Romeo and Juliet’ comes as a romantic yet tragic love story, that there would be flowery sentences and paragraphs. They do appear of course, but especially in the beginning, there are also harassing comments or insults from Romeo and Mercutio around sexual topics. And as this has happened in the very early Act, it diminished my mood (and respect) to read the rest.

What interesting me is the eternal hostility of two Houses in Verona: Montague and Capulet. The play can portray very well how each of the families took their hostility; how the youngsters especially, were eager to ignite strife whenever they met the enemies. It is in the situation that Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet found themselves in love. And apparently, the hostility of the two families could only be resolved by the two teenager’s sacrifice. It’s quite ironic, considering that these two youngsters were merely thinking about their passionate love, but from them the adults would have to learn much about the real meaning of ‘love’.

Considering that this is about teenagers’ love, the story is as ridiculous as you could have expected, but I think the plot is interesting; how the mistiming and misunderstanding caused the tragedy. It’s only proving how love can sometimes be blind for naïve (or foolish?) people. Three stars for this tragic play—which did not really moved me, honestly…

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Right after finishing the play, I jumped to the movie adaptation. I picked Baz Luhrmann’s version, partly because that’s the only one I had (:D), and partly because I was curious to see the earlier collaboration of Baz Luhrmann and Leonardo diCaprio (before The Great Gatsby).

I’ve already known that the movie would be in modern settings, before I watched it, so I was a bit surprised to see that Luhrmann only alter the settings, but not the dialogues! The dialogues were really picked from the original play, and that makes the whole movie is really unique. Listening to those punk boys speak in Shakespearean language was weird but interesting.

Here Leonardo diCaprio is in his earliest career, and this movie shows distinctly the difference with his present acting. However, I think he plays Romeo quite convincingly as the waverer and sentimental young man. The rest of the stars are not very prominent, except for Harold Perrineau, Jr who plays as Mercutio, who is the most interesting character in this movie.

One of my favorite scenes is Juliet’s tomb—which in this case doesn’t look at all like a tomb. It is very eloquent and glamour (typical Baz Luhrmann, of course), and the scene of Romeo and Juliet in their last agony is superb! Only while watching Romeo drinks the poison not knowingly that Juliet is stirring beside him, and Romeo’s expression when he knows the truth, that I am really moved. So in this case, for me, the movie has enlightened the play rather than the other way round. 7 to 10 is my final rating for this adaptation.

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I read the ebook version from Feedbooks dot com

This book is counted for:

May theme of Let’s Read Plays: Shakespeare’s tragedy

5^th book for Back to the Classics 2013

11^th book for What’s in A Name Reading Challenge 2013

43^rd for The Classics Club

I watched the movie for Books Into Movies Monthly Meme #6

The Taming of The Shrew

After being touched by a Greek tragedy on last March, this month we ought to read a Shakespearean comedy for Let’s Read Plays. The Taming of The Shrew has been my choice since the beginning of this event, and now I’m glad I have chosen it. It is perhaps the most satisfying and entertaining comedy I’ve ever read so far (the other was The Merchant of Venice, yet it didn’t feel like comedy in the end). This play uses play within a play structure, and the play within has a much bigger portion than the opening one, that you might even forget that you were inside another play when the whole plays ended.

A drunkard tinker named Sly was asleep outside an alehouse when a Lord and his group passed by in their hunting. Seeing Sly, the Lord had an idea to bring the drunkard secretly home and treated Sly as if he was a rich Lord. The Lord made a serious effort of mocking Sly, he even invited a group of players to play a fine comedy to entertain ‘Lord’ Sly. And here was the original play….

Gremio and Hortensio were both suitors of Bianca—a fair lady, daughter of Baptista, a gentleman of Padua—however they could never won Bianca, as Baptista won’t let Bianca marry before her elder sister—a shrewd lady named Katharina—got a husband. Gremio and Hortensio then raced to find a husband for Katharina to achieve their goal.

Lucentio also fell in love with Bianca, and to compete with Gremio and Hortensio, he would disguise as a school-master, so that he could court Bianca while teaching her. On the other hand, Hortensio’s friend Petruchio was looking for a rich lady as a wife, and liked the idea of taking a shrewd lady. Then Hortensio, Gremio and Tranio—Lucentio’s servant who disguised as his master—decided to support Petruchio’s expenses to woo Katharina.

So, when Lucentio, Hortensio (disguised as a music teacher for Bianca) and Gremio were competing to win Bianca’s heart, Petruchio was in a harder mission to tame the shrewd Katharina. The most entertaining part came from the way Petruchio tamed the shrew. Shakespeare, as usual, was a genius in making us laugh by words-playing—and that’s why it is hard to translate most of his comedies in other languages, because English have so many words with double meanings, that when you just translate them as it is, there might not be any comical situation left. And here is one of the words-playing from Katharina and Petruchio:

Katharina: You were a moveable.

Petruchio: Why, what’s a moveable?

Katharina: A joint stool.

Petruchio: Thou hast hit it. Come, sit on me.

Katharina: Asses are made to bear, and so are you.

Petruchio: Women are made to bear, and so are you.

And this is another one (rather more slapstick than smart, actually) from Petruchio and his servant Grumio when they were in front of the door of Hortensio’s house, and Grumio mistakenly thought he was instructed to knock down his master instead of knocking the door for him:

Petruchio: Here, sirrah Grumio, knock I say.

Grumio    : Knock, sir! Whom should I knock? Is there man has rebused your worthy?

Petruchio: Villain, I say, knock me here soundly.

Grumio    : Knock you here, sir!

As most of Shakespearean comedies, the wittiness of his plays came also from the complexity of disguising situation; the misunderstanding caused by it and how they were revealed. And as you might have guessed from the title, Petruchio finally succeeded in taming Katharina. But it’s not the end result which was important, but more on the process itself which was smart, comical, and acted as a satyr to reflect what women suffered during that era.

From Katharina we can see how an Italian young woman at that time, no matter how smart and ambitious she was, did not have any choices for her future besides waiting for her parents to get her a husband, and all around the complicated of dowry businesses which I have never understood… :) In short, women could not pursue her own ambition and to be distinguished in the society by herself; and without a marriage, there would not be any future for a young woman. I think this injustice which has made Katharina the shrewd she was. From her smart conversations with Petruchio, I believe she was actually a very smart woman, but she was forced to get marry very soon by her parents.

Four stars for The Taming of the Shrew.

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I read the ebook version from Feedbooks dot com

This book is counted for: 

April theme: Shakespeare’s comedy

39^th book for The Classics Club

The Prince And The Pauper

Inggris banget! Itulah kesanku selama membaca buku ini. Dan memang The Prince and The Pauper ditulis oleh Mark Twain berlatar belakangkan peristiwa yang terjadi dalam sejarah Inggris di akhir abad 16, ketika Raja Henry VIII memerintah. Dalam masa ini hiduplah keluarga Canty dalam gelimang kemiskinan. Tinggak di gubuk nan reyot dan kotor, pekerjaan mereka adalah mengemis dan mencuri. Terlepas dari moral ayahnya yang buruk, Tom kecil tumbuh sebagai remaja yang terpelajar berkat didikan seorang pendeta. Banyak buku yang berkisah tentang kerajaan dan kehidupan bangsawan yang dilahap Tom. Dan semua kisah itu menjelma menjadi mimpi-mimpi indah yang menemani tidurnya di malam hari, menjadikannya penawar sengsara setelah seharian dipaksa mengemis, lalu disiksa dan dibentak-bentak oleh ayah dan neneknya kalau ia tak membawa hasil memuaskan dari mengemis. Dan akhirnya bukan hanya mimpi, kerajaan dan kebangsawanan pun menjadi obsesi Tom. Ia mulai berbicara layaknya bangsawan, dan bermain sebagai raja bersama saudara-saudaranya. Hingga suatu hari ia tiba-tiba ingin melihat seorang Pangeran sungguhan di istana kerajaan sungguhan.

Harapannya terwujud, karena tepat saat itu Pangeran Wales yang bernama Edward, putra Raja Henry VIII tengah berada di luar istana. Sang Pangeran melihat Tom tepat ketika para penjaga pintu gerbang memukuli anak gelandangan berpakaian lusuh itu. Pangeran menghentikan penyiksaan itu sambil memarahi si penjaga, lalu segera mengundang Tom ke istananya. Layaknya dua remaja lelaki seusia, mereka dengan cepat menjadi akrab. Tom terpesona pada istana dan semua di dalamnya, yang hingga saat itu hanya ia lihat melalui buku. Sedang Edward, yang sejak kecil terkungkung di istana, terpesona mendengar cerita Tom tentang kehidupan bocah seusia mereka di luar sana. Bermain bersama teman-teman, berenang di sungai, dan semua kenakalan dan kebebasannya. Dan tiba-tiba muncul ide iseng untuk saling bertukar pakaian. Pangeran yang mengenakan pakaian lusuh Tom, dan Tom yang mengenakan pakaian gemerlap Edward, sama-sama terpana saat memandang cermin. Betapa miripnya mereka berdua!

ilustrasi Tom & Edward di istana. Ini sesaat sebelum atau sesudah mereka berganti pakaian? Hayoo..tebak!

Tanpa sempat berganti pakaian kembali, Edward keluar ke halaman istana untuk menegur penjaga yang tadi memukuli sahabat barunya. Bisa anda tebak, si penjaga menganggap Edward sebagai anak gelandangan yang menyebabkannya dimarahi oleh Pangeran. Meski Edward berkeras bahwa ia adalah sang Pangeran sendiri, namun tak ada yang mempercayainya. Ia malah semakin ditertawakan karena bersikap sok memerintah. Sedang Tom, yang menanti kedatangan kembali sahabatnya agar mereka dapat bertukar pakaian kembali, akhirnya menelan kekecewaan karena Edward tak kunjung datang. Malahan ia dikira sang Pangeran sendiri, terlepas dari pengakuannya yang jujur, yang malah dikira sebagai gejala kegilaan sementara. Bahkan Sang Raja pun mengira Tom adalah putranya sendiri yang sedang sakit! Hal yang sama terjadi pada Edward. Ketika ayah Tom menemukannya, ia begitu yakin si bocah lusuh adalah anaknya yang nakal yang lagi-lagi tak membawa hasil mengemis, lalu menghadiahinya pukulan.

Begitulah nasib The Prince and The Pauper kita ini. Cerita jujur mereka malah dianggap lelucon dan bahkan "penyakit pada otak" oleh mereka yang mendengarnya. Baik teman-teman maupun orang terdekat mereka. Banyak cerita lucu saat Tom menjadi "pangeran". Di bagian ini kentara sekali bagaimana Mark Twain mengajak kita untuk menertawakan keabsurdan monarki pada saat itu. Saat rakyatnya banyak yang miskin dan tertindas di bawah pemerintahan tirani Henry VIII, kemewahan yang menggelikan dan sungguh tak perlu terus saja dipraktekkan di istana. Contohnya adalah upacara memakaikan pakaian bagi "Pangeran" Tom di pagi hari. Untuk menyerahkan sepotong kaus hingga dipakaikan pada Tom, butuh 13 orang petugas yang mengangsurkan pakaian itu ke lainnya, terus hingga ke petugas yang memakaikannya pada Tom. Dan ke 13 petugas itu punya jabatan yang mentereng: First Lord of Bedchamber, Second Gentleman of The Bedchamber, Chief Equerry in Waiting, dll. Lalu bagaimana reaksi Tom saat melihat "prosesi kaus" ini? ~"Teman kecil kita terlihat bingung. Itu mengingatkannya pada acara oper-mengoper ember di festival." (hal. 151). Ketika salah satu kaus kaki yang akan dipakaikan pada kaki Tom ditemukan hilang labelnya, kaus kaki itu pun dikembalikan melewati prosesi yang sama!

Tom yang terbiasa serba bebas dalam kehidupan miskinnya, awalnya tak terbiasa dengan pengaturan yang kaku dan serba seremonial dalam segala hal, termasuk ketika bersantap. Yang paling lucu adalah ketika seorang bangsawan mengangsurkan sebuah mangkuk berisi air mawar untuk mencuci tangan. Tom yang bingung, akhirnya malah meminum air itu. Waktu mengembalikan mangkuk pada si bangsawan, yang pasti terkaget-kaget, Tom berkata: "Tidak....aku tidak menyukainya, Tuan. Memang rasanya cukup enak, tapi terlalu keras untukku." (hal. 73). Dan akupun sukses tertawa ngakak waktu membaca bagian ini. Lihat saja ekspresi si bangsawan dalam ilustrasi ini:

ilustrasi saat Tom minum air untuk cuci tangannya..

Sebaliknya dari kisah Tom yang lucu, cerita sengsara tak henti-hentinya menghinggapi Edward saat menjadi anak gelandangan. Kisah Edward jelas lebih menarik karena ia berulang kali bernasib malang, diselamatkan, kembali jatuh dalam kemalangan, begitu terus. Salah satu penyelamatnya adalah seorang pria bernama Miles Hendon yang dulunya prajurit Raja, namun telah ditipu oleh saudaranya yang jahat: Arthur. Dalam semua kemalangannya, Edward belajar banyak tentang kehidupan dan penderitaan yang dialami rakyatnya. Ia pun tak lupa menjanjikan ganjaran atas kebaikan mereka yang pernah menolongnya sekecil apapun.

Begitulah kedua teman kita ini menjalani hidup yang fantastis di dunia yang berbeda, hingga suatu hari sang Raja Henry VIII mangkat. Dan sang Pangeran Wales pun harus dinobatkan menjadi raja berikutnya! Dan di sinilah petualangan kedua teman kita akan berakhir.

Yang menarik bagiku, dalam buku ini Mark Twain tidak saja menyuguhkan kehidupan ala raja-raja Inggris jaman lampau, namun ia juga ingin menyentil tentang kepribadian manusia. Mari kita melihat bagaimana pertukaran identitas ini berpengaruh pada Tom dan Edward. Edward, meskipun berbaju gembel, namun tetap berperilaku dan berbicara layaknya pangeran. Bahkan Miles si penyelamatnya tak boleh makan semeja dengannya, dan harus menunggu hingga ia selesai makan. Meski ia dihina dan direndahkan, kehormatan dalam dirinya tak pernah luntur. Sekarang mari kita kihat kasus Tom. Hanya butuh waktu 3 bulan, Tom si pengemis yang awalnya canggung dengan kegemerlapan istana, perlahan-lahan mulai terbiasa. Bahkan menjelang penobatannya sebagai Raja, ia cenderung menganggap dirinya memang raja, dan membuang semua masa lalu kelam yang tak ingin ia akui. Bahkan ibunya pun sempat ia sangkal ketika sang ibu mengenali putranya (lihat, bagaimanapun rapat sebuah penyamaran, mata seorang ibu tak mungkin tertipu!). Di sini kita melihat bahwa manusia cenderung berubah saat berada pada puncak kekayaan atau kekuasaan. Sudah menjadi sifat manusia untuk berkawan dengan kenikmatan. Aku pernah membaca entah di mana, sebuah penelitian psikologi pada sekelompok orang yang dihadapkan pada kekuasaan mutlak. Hasilnya, hanya dalam waktu singkat perangai mereka berubah 180 derajat! Kita sering mencemooh teman atau kenalan kita yang berubah saat menjadi kaya. Namun, pernahkah anda berpikir, bahwa bila anda yang dianugerahi kekayaan itu, bukan tak mungkin anda pun akan berubah seperti teman itu.

ilustrasi ketika Tom "menolak" ibunya

Hal kedua yang menggelitikku adalah begitu mudahnya manusia menilai orang lain hanya dari atribut fisiknya saja, dari luarnya saja. Lihat saja bagaimana semua orang tak mampu mengenali perbedaan antara Tom dan Edward ketika mereka berganti pakaian. Karena, begitu mereka melihat pakaian lusuh, berarti pemakainya adalah orang miskin, malas, bodoh, kasar, bahkan mungkin jahat. Yang berpakaian mewah pasti agung, berkedudukan, cerdas dan terhormat. Sungguh ironis bagaimana stereotip macam itu sudah melekat pada diri manusia sepanjang jaman.

Akhirnya, anda pasti akan bertanya-tanya, bagaimana cara Pangeran Edward membuktikan bahwa ia lah yang layak dinobatkan menjadi Raja? Akankah Tom menolak asal-usul dirinya? Itulah sebabnya anda perlu membaca kisah berlatar sejarah yang asyik, kocak sekaligus seru ini! Sisipan di belakang buku membantu kita untuk sedikit lebih memahami seluk beluk protokoler kerajaan Inggris saat itu. 3 bintang untuk buku ini, 1 untuk Tom, 1 untuk Edward, 1 untuk Mark.

Gambar di atas adalah ilustrasi ketika Edward berusaha membuat "pembuktian" bahwa dirinya adalah raja yang sah.

Akhirnya aku tergoda untuk mencermati gambar pada cover buku ini, apakah itu gambar sosok asli kedua bocah itu, ataukah gambar ketika mereka bertukar peran? Bagaimana menurut anda?


Judul: The Prince and The Pauper
Penulis: Mark Twain
Penerbit: Orange Books (Grup Penerbit Mizan)
Terbit: Nopember 2010
Tebal: 418 hlm