Jack Worthing on The Importance of Being Earnest

The main protagonist in this Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is Jack Worthing. I see Jack as a respectable young man with a polite manner. Although he was only found and adopted by a rich Mr. Cardew, he had grown up in an honorable family. Of course, Jack also adhered to Victorian values at that time, which were respectable and responsible. Jack has become a guardian to Mr. Cardew’s granddaughter, and I think, has been an honorable example for his community. These are others thought about Jack:

“Dear Uncle Jack is so very serious! Sometimes he is so serious that I think he cannot be quite well.” ~Cecily.

“I know no one who has a higher sense of duty and responsibility.” ~Miss Prism.

 Although he has tried to fulfill the Victorian society expectations (about honor and respectability), Jack felt the responsible is unbearable that he needed something to balance his life. He hid himself in his fictional young brother Ernest Worthing’s role every time he needs to run away. On the contrary to his own qualities, Jack invented an irresponsible character of Ernest, who was pictured as evil by Cecily. This was the only negative side I found in Jack. I knew it was wrong, it was hypocrite, yet I could understand how distressing it might be for Jack to always be perfectly serious and responsible. Sometimes people need to be careless, to do whatever he wants, and don’t have to think about the consequences.

[source]

Other than that, Jack was a patient man. I can’t imagine how he could befriend with the reckless and immoral Algernon without hating him or loosing his temper—well he might have lost his temper once, but it did not bring him to break his friendship with Algy. I also found Jack to be a tender hearted man, for when he—in front of Algernon—said bad things upon Lady Bracknell who has insulted him, he apologized to Algy because he did not want to hurt his feelings. 

Later when Gwendolen (his girlfriend) and Cecily knew the truth about the never-existed Ernest, Jack gallantly admitted that he had deceived them, that he never had any brother, and brave enough to take the risks (of losing Gwendolen’s love). And despite of his eagerness to take Gwendolen to become his wife, Jack spoke the truth about his rather humiliating history (being found in a handbag in a public place) to Lady Bracknell. He never felt ashamed of his life, and has the courage to take any risks, to be able to marry the girl he loved. That was the quality of a man which I always love!

If I can choose between the original Jack and Ernest, I would pick Jack. The real Jack who did not like the glamorous of Victorian social life like theatre or clubs; Jack who—although sometimes told lies (hey…don’t we all too?)—still had the courage to speak the truth when valuable and important things in life were the concerns.   

Classics Authors of August

Meski agak terlambat, aku tetap mau mengajak anda berkenalan dengan para penulis klasik yang lahir pada bulan Agustus. Di antara mereka banyak nama-nama besar seperti Leo Tolstoy, Guy de Maupassant dan Jorge Luis Borges. Mari simak kehidupan mereka, baik sebagai penulis maupun sebagai pribadi….

Herman Melville

Penulis Amerika bernama Herman Melville ini lahir pada 1 Agustus 1819 di New York City. Beliau adalah seorang novelis, selain penyair, penulis esai dan cerita pendek. Meski salah satu novelnya yang paling terkenal adalah Moby-Dick, namun Typee adalah novel pertamanya yang laris. Ayah Melville adalah seorang pedagang, namun setelah dua bisnisnya mundur lalu bangkrut, tak lama kemudian sang ayah meninggal, meninggalkan kemiskinan bagi keluarganya saat Melville berusia 12 tahun. Melville masuk akademi dan menyambi bekerja sebagai anak buah kapal. Pada 1841 Melville kembali berlayar selama 18 bulan ke Pasifik Selatan, dan belakangan mengaku hidupnya ‘dimulai’ pada saat itu. Kemungkinan banyak detail perjalanan itu ia tuangkan ke novel Moby-Dick yang berkisah tentang ikan paus.

Tahun 1847 Melville menikah, kemudian selama 13 tahun sibuk mengurus pertaniannya sambil terus menulis. Di pertanian itu pula ia berteman dengan penulis klasik besar lainnya Nathaniel Hawthore, yang tinggal tak jauh dari situ. Bahkan Melville mendedikasikan Moby-Dick untuk Hawthorne. Namun buku Melville yang berjudul Pierre tidak mendapat sambutan baik, malah ia dicap sebagai ‘gila’ di surat kabar. Di akhir perjalanan karirnya, keadaan keuangan Melville bertambah parah, dan ketika itu perkawinannya goyah, ditambah dengan kematian putranya yang menembak diri sendiri (kemungkinan kecelakaan).

Guy de Maupassant

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant, atau dikenal dengan Guy de Maupassant terkenal sebagai penulis Prancis abad ke 19. Ia dianggap sebagai ‘Bapak’ penulisan cerita pendek modern. Karya-karyanya kebanyakan diwarnai nuansa Franco-Prussian War, dan salah satu karya terbesarnya adalah Ball of Fat selain Mademoiselle Fifi. Beliau lahir 5 Agustus 1850 dari keluarga borjuis kaya yang tinggal di chateau (rumah besar bak istana ala Prancis). Ketika Maupassant berusia 11 tahun, orangtuanya bercerai, dan ia tinggal bersama ibunya yang suka membaca karya klasik terutama Shakespeare. Maka tak heran jika pada usia 13 tahun Maupassant dikirim ke seminari untuk belajar klasik.

Pada usia 18 tahun Maupassant sempat menyelamatkan  Algernon Charles Swinburne, seorang penyair terkenal, yang nyaris tenggelam. Ia juga kemudian berkenalan dengan Gustave Flaubert, penulis klasik terkenal asal Prancis juga, yang kemudian mengambilnya menjadi anak angkat sekaligus semacam pelindung literatur Maupassant, dan membimbingnya memasuki dunia literasi. Di rumah Flaubert lah Maupassant sempat berjumpa dengan Émile Zola dan Ivan Turgenev. Flaubert memuji Ball of Fat sebagai "a masterpiece that will endure". Gabungan antara bakat menulis dan kemampuan bisnis dengan cepat membuat Maupassant kaya. Salah satu novelnya yang paling terkenal adalah Bel-Ami. Di akhir hidupnya Maupassant mengalami ketakutan akan kematian dan ingin menyendiri. Ia mencoba bunuh diri namun gagal, dan akhirnya menjadi salah satu penghuni paling terkenal sebuah rumah sakit jiwa di Paris, di mana Maupasant akhirnya menghembuskan napas terakhirnya.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Lahir pada 8 Agustus 1896 di Washington D.C., Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings kelak dikenal sebagai penulis klasik wanita yang memperoleh penghargaan Pulitzer pada tahun 1939 lewat karyanya The Yearling (diterjemahkan Gramedia). Rawlings sudah menunjukkan minat menulis sejak usia 6 tahun, ia sering mengirimkan tulisannya ke surat kabar di bagian anak-anak hingga usia 16 tahun. Setelah menikah, Rawlings membeli tanah pertanian di Cross Creek, Florida dari warisan yang ia terima dari ibunya, dan lokasi itu kelak menjadi setting novel-novelnya yang terkenal. Karyanya yang lain adalah Cross Creek dan The Sojourner.

Pada tahun 1943 Rawlings dituntut oleh sahabatnya atas tuduhan merusak privasi karena menulis tentang putra sang sahabat di kisah Jacob’s Ladder. Setelah kasus itu selesai Rawlings meninggalkan Cross Creek selamanya dan tak pernah lagi menulis tentang wilayah itu. Dengan uang hasil penjualan The Yearling, Rawlings akhirnya membeli cottage di tepi pantai di St. Agustine, di mana ia tinggal bersama suami keduanya, dan akhirnya meningal dunia pada 1953.

Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott adalah penulis asal Skotlandia yang lahir pada 15 Agustus 1771. Beliau banyak menulis novel sejarah, naskah drama dan puisi, dan menjadi penulis Inggris pertama yang merasakan ketenaran yang mendunia di saat hidupnya. Ivanhoe dan Rob Roy adalah dua di antara novel-novel terkenalnya. Scott lahir di Edinburgh, dan pada usia 2 tahun berhasil bertahan dari penyakit polio, yang setelahnya membuatnya sedikit cacat pada kaki. Untuk menyembuhkan cacatnya, Scott dikirim ke desa tempat kakeknya tinggal. Di sana neneknya mengajari Scott membaca dongeng dan legenda, yang kelak menjadi dasar karyanya. Pada usia 12 tahun Scott sudah mulai belajar klasik di universitas.

Sejak muda Scott selalu tertarik pada dongeng-dongeng Skotlandia yang dituturkan secara verbal (story teller). Ia terobsesi untuk mengumpulan dongeng-dongeng itu. Di usia 25 tahun ia mulai menulis secara professional, kemudian menerbitkan tiga set kumpulan dongeng koleksinya. Inilah pertanda awal minatnya terhadap sejarah Skotlandia. Tahun 1825 terjadi krisis perbankan, dan perusahaan penerbitan ke mana Scott menginvestasikan uangnya jatuh bangkrut, dan Scott pun jatuh miskin. Ak mau mengaku bangkrut, Scott menjaminkan rumahnya pada kreditor dan bertekad akan terus menulis novel serta biografi Napoleon Bonaparte untuk keluar dari hutang, namun sayang kesehatannya memburuk, dan akhirnya  meninggal. Untunglah, novel-novelnya terjual terus hingga akhirnya mampu melunasi seluruh hutangnya.

Edith Nesbit

Terkenal dengan nama E. Nesbit, Edith Nesbit—kemudian menjadi Edith Bland setelah menikah—adalah penulis 60 buku anak-anak dan puisi asal Inggris. Lahir tanggal 15 August 1858, Nesbit menikah pada usia 22 tahun dengan Hubert Bland saat hamil tujuh bulan, pernikahan yang kemudian terbukti membawa petaka. Bland ketahuan berselingkuh dan menghamili sahabat Nesbit dan seorang wanita lain yang mengaku tunangan Bland. Nesbit bertengkar hebat dengan suaminya namun tetap bersedia mengadopsi kedua bayi wanita itu.

Beberapa novel terkenalnya antara lain The Railway Children (diterjemahkan Gramedia) didedikasikan untuk putra tertuanya, serta The Enchanted Castle (diterjemahkan Atria). Nesbit disebut-sebut sebagai penulis modern pertama untuk buku anak-anak, yang mengubah tradisi literasi anak warisan dari Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald dan Kenneth Graham. Menggabungkan kisah anak-anak kontemporer yang bersetting dunia nyata dengan obyek-obyek sihir, Nesbit berpengaruh dalam era penulis kisah anak-anak modern setelahnya seperti Diana Wynne Jones, J. K. Rowling dan C. S. Lewis.

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges, atau yang biasa kita kenal sebagai Jorge Luis Borges lahir pada 24 Agustus 1899 di Buenos Aires, Argentina. Borges adalah penulis cerita pendek, esai dan puisi serta penerjemah. Beberapa karyanya yang terkenal adalah Ficciones, Labyrinths dan The Aleph, yang merupakan komplilasi cerita pendek yang dihubungkan dengan tema serupa, antara lain mimpi, labirin, perpustakaan, agama, Tuhan, dsb. Karyanya masuk ke genre literatur filosofis maupun fantasi. Pada usia 9 tahun Borges sudah menerjemahkan The Happy Prince karya Oscar Wilde ke bahasa Spanyol.

Pada thn. 1938 ayah Borges, yang amat dekat dengannya, meninggal dunia dan mendatangkan tragedi baginya. Natal tahun itu Borges mengalami cedera kepala parah yang nyaris merenggut nyawanya. Setelah peristiwa itu, Borges mulai menerapkan gaya baru dalam menulis yang kelak membuatnya terkenal. Ketika penglihatannya mulai kabur sebelum berusia 30 tahun dan Borges tak mampu menulis lagi, ia menapaki karir baru sebagai ‘public lecturer’. Pada akhir thn 1950 Borges akhirnya buta total, kemudian meninggal dunia karena kanker liver pada 1986.

Mary Shelley

30 Agustus 1797 merupakan tanggal kelahiran seorang penulis wanita asal Inggris yang bernama lengkap Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, namun yang kelak lebih dikenal sebagai Mary Shelley. Selain sebagai penulis novel (novel paling terkenalnya adalah kisah gothic Frankenstein—diterjemahkan Gramedia), Shelley juga penulis cerita pendek, naskah drama, esai, biografi dan kisah perjalanan. Shelley dibesarkan oleh ayahnya, dan saat berusia 17 tahun ia memiliki hubungan romantic dengan pengikut politik ayahnya—Percy Bisshe Shelley—yang sudah menikah. Shelley mengandung bayi Percy, namun sayangnya dalam dua tahun pasangan ini menghadapi pengucilan, belitan hutang dan kematian bayi prematur mereka. Mereka baru menikah thn 1816 setelah istri Percy bunuh diri.

Ide menulis Franskenstein tiba saat pasangan baru ini menghabiskan musim panas di Swiss. Lalu pada 1822 Percy mati tenggelam ketika perahu yang dinaikinya tenggelam dalam badai. Setelah itu Shelley memutuskan untuk mengabdikan hidup untuk membesarkan putra semata wayang mereka dan menekuni penulisan profesional. Sayangnya di usia 53 Shelley harus menghadapi ajal akibat tumor otak yang selama decade terakhir hidupnya terus menggerogotinya.

Karya siapa yang akan and abaca bulan ini?

Aramis on Twenty Years After: Character Thursday (22)

For me, Aramis is always the most intriguing character among the four musketeers. It’s not easy to describe his personal character; if you were asked, what kind of man Aramis is, well…it’s quite difficult to answer in one short sentence. May I just say that Aramis has a flamboyant character? Nevertheless, I am trying to describe him as best as I could, from what I have learned from Twenty Years After and The Man In The Iron Mask (I did not mention Three Musketeers because I did not find the characters being much revealed in that book).

Aramis was described by d’Artagnan as an elegant man with beautiful black hair, elegant figure and lady’s hands. I wonder..has he a handsome and attractive face too? Certainly, for if not, how can all the women got attracted to him easily? :) I noticed in this book, that Aramis often produce that mysterious smile of him, that I suspected to be his main weapon to steal women’s heart….

Do you find Luke Evans to well represent Aramis?

Unlike d’Artagnan, Aramis’ service for the Kingdom was not pure devotion. He is an ambitious man with his own purposes. We can say Aramis has a high ego, and always act for his own interest. However, his true ambition is not quite clear either; it seems that Aramis was always torn between his desire to serve the Church, and to become a chevalier. It’s interesting to look upon d’Artagnan’s comment about his friend:

“I am thinking, my dear fellow, that when you were a musketeer you were forever becoming the abbé, and now you are an abbé you appear to me to have a strong leaning to the musketeers.”

And what was Aramis’ answer to that?

“That is true. Man is a strange creature, made up of contrasts. Since I have been an abbé I dream only of battles.”

But the contrast—as he said himself—is not only that. No matter how often he was called as the Abbé D’Herblay, I can never picture him as an abbé. On the contrary, I always see Aramis as a womanizer. He has made a lot of affair with charming duchess and noble ladies (even when he was already an abbé!). -Also, I have never seen him in any occasion act as an abbé, there is no preaching-like in his words; in short…there is not any indication that can lead us to imagine Aramis as an abbé. His lifestyle, for example, is far from the humble qualities we usually find in God’s servant.

Here’s d’Artagnan observation on Aramis’ bedroom,

“He (d’Artagnan) had never seen a room at the same time more warlike and more elegant. At each corner were trophies of arms… It is true that in addition there was nothing to indicate the abode of an abbé; the hangings were damask, the carpets came from Alençon, and the bed especially seemed more fit for an elegant lady, with its lace hangings and its counterpane, than for a man who had taken a vow to gain heaven by abstinence and hardship.”

Aramis is a man of contradictory and he has a quality of kept hiding his interests in a mask of calm and noble man that he often wears. I remember from The Man In The Iron Mask, d’Artagnan felt that Aramis must have been planning something big, but he could never guessed anything. When Aramis said anything, I can’t but thinking, does he really mean that? Or what he’s really up to?

Although he has a noble taste, but his heart is far from being noble. Aramis is an ambitious man, who always thinks of himself and his interest. How he could always keep his friendship with the three other musketeers, I can’t imagine. Among the bound of their friendship, I think, Aramis’s part is the weakest.

One interesting thing from The Three Musketeers, is the love affair Aramis had with Madame de Chevreuse. Later in the Twenty Years After, I learned that Madame de Chevreuse, in her exile, has had a one-night love affair with Athos. This is one thing Aramis never knew about his former lover, ah yes…in Twenty Years After he has found a new lover, Madame de Longueville :). Can you imagine what he would think or say, if he gets to reveal who Raoul’s mother is?....

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

A Victorian Celebration Wrap Up

Two months have been running so fast…and suddenly we have arrived in the last day of July, meaning that A Victorian Celebration, the event hosted by Allie will soon end. I suddenly realized that for the last two months (or at least the entire July) all my readings are classics-victorian-in-english books. Wow! I mean, I am Indonesian, and reading seven books—all in English—for the whole two months was a new record to me, really! When I first put the list, I did not think I will “survive”, I only thought…yeah, it’s only a list, I can just scrap few books of them if it turned out I could not make it. But in the end, instead of scrapping few books, I managed to add one book and three short stories into the list :) Here are they:

The original list:

Sketches by Boz - Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens: Dickens Bicentenary 2012 - Lucinda Dickens Hawksley

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens

Twenty Years After - Alexandre Dumas

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

In the end, I scrapped Dr Jekyll, and replaced it with

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

…and added this to the list:

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

Besides those novels, I have also added three short stories:

The Three Strangers - Thomas Hardy

A Terribly Strange Bed - Wilkie Collins

The Half-Brothers - Elizabeth Gaskell

Other than the books, I also posted two author profiles, both of them are Non English Victorian Authors:

Emile Zola

Alexandre Dumas

And from Sketches by Boz, I posted four independent posts about Victorian London based on the description in the book:

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Amusements

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Occupations

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Streets & Shops

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Transportation

Finally, I can only say that I really-really enjoyed A Victorian Celebration. It was fun, very fun! All with the posts of all participants (and I must admit I only read several of them), Victorian book reviews, Victorian authors, also quiz and giveaways. Thanks a bunch to Allie, for all your efforts to host this event, it gave me the opportunity to savour the privilege of Victorian readings! I hope we can do something like this again i the future!. :)

Twenty Years After

[conclusion in English is at the bottom of this post]

Pertengahan abad 17 tercatat dalam sejarah Prancis sebagai tahun-tahun penuh pergolakan. Saat itu masih bergolak Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659), perang yang dicanangkan Cardinal Richelieu terhadap Spanyol yang dianggap membahayakan teritorial Prancis. Di tengah-tengah perang itu, pecah pula perang saudara di dalam negeri Prancis sendiri. Saat itu Cardinal Richelieu telah meninggal dan digantikan Cardinal Mazarin yang dekat dengan Ratu Anne of Austria, yang saat itu memerintah Prancis karena sang Raja—putranya—Louis XIV masih kanak-kanak. Mazarin, dalam upaya memperlambat ledakan populasi saat itu, mengeluarkan kebijakan menaikkan pajak yang membuat rakyat marah, dan akhirnya membentuk pergerakan yang dikenal dengan The Fronde. Sementara itu, para bangsawan dan parlemen juga berselisih, ada yang memihak kerajaan, ada yang memihak The Fronde. Di tengah kemelut inilah Alexandre Dumas merajut kisah keempat musketeers yang pernah berjaya di masa King Louis XIII: Athos, Porthos, Aramis dan D’Artagnan.

Dua puluh tahun berlalu, hanya D’Artagnan yang masih mengabdi pada kerajaan sebagai Letnan Musketeers, sementara ketiga mantan rekannya sudah pensiun. Athos (Comte de la Fère) menikmati perannya sebagai seorang ayah dan pelindung bagi Raoul, pemuda berusia 15 tahun. Porthos (Monsieur du Vallon) menikah dengan janda dan memiliki tiga rumah besar. Aramis mengabdikan diri pada Gereja dengan menjadi imam, dan dikenal sebagai Abbé d’Herblay. D’Artagnan dipanggil bertugas oleh Mazarin (yang tidak disukai semua pihak kecuali Ratu Anne yang—menurut gossip—menikah dengannya), dan harus membujuk ketiga mantan rekannya untuk bergabung. Mulailah D’Artagnan yang telah berpisah selama 20 tahun, bergerilya mencari ketiga rekannya untuk kembali mengulang kejayaan mereka masa lalu. Hanya Porthos yang bersedia bergabung, dengan iming-iming dianugerahi status Baron, sementara Athos dan Aramis menolak dengan alasan tak berminat.

Padahal sesungguhnya Athos dan Aramis telah merancang rencana sendiri untuk membebaskan seorang bangsawan yang telah dipenjara oleh Ratu Anne dan Mazarin karena menolak perintah. Di sini jelaslah bahwa meski keempat sahabat sehidup semati yang dahulu pernah mengucap sumpah: “All for one and one for all” itu semuanya telah ‘turun gunung’ untuk berjuang, mereka berada di dua kubu yang bermusuhan. Athos dan Aramis di kubu Fronde, D’Artagnan dan Porthos di kubu kerajaan/Mazarin. Bagaimana mereka dapat tetap memegang prinsip mereka tanpa mengorbankan persahabatan? Inilah aspek yang paling menarik di buku ini, yang dapat anda baca di refleksiku tentang Twenty Years After.

Twenty Years After, sebagai sekuel langsung dari The Three Musketeers, ternyata jauh lebih bagus daripada pendahulunya yang—herannya—justru lebih terkenal. Karakter para musketeers di sini lebih menonjol dan lebih terasah; Dumas tak hanya mengandalkan sisi hiburannya saja lewat petualangan heroik mereka (dan kuakui petualangannya pun Three Musketeers kalah memikat dengan penerusnya), namun ia juga memasukkan nilai-nilai moral, terutama tentang prinsip keluhuran (nobleness), loyalitas dan persahabatan. Kalau di Three Musketeers, musuh abadi keempat sahabat adalah Milady, maka bersiap-siaplah bertemu dengan manusia yang kejamnya hamper sama dengan Milady yang sempat membuat para sahabat kita bergidik ngeri…

Apa yang mereka ucapkan tiap kali menetakkan pedang bersama di The Three Musketeers: “All for one and one for all” mungkin tak mereka ucapkan lagi di buku ini, namun semangat yang mereka bawa tetap hidup di hati mereka masing-masing. Meski berbeda pendapat, berbeda prinsip, berbeda kepentingan, aku senang melihat bagaimana Dumas mengumpulkan mereka—sekali-lagi—dalam petualangan demi petualangan menegangkan dengan selalu mempertahankan prinsip keluhuran.

Lima pedang untuk Twenty Years After!

Conclusion:

First of all, I am surprised that The Three Musketeers is more famous than the sequel, Twenty Years After. Personally I think Twenty Years After is much more entertaining and engaging. Being a direct sequel of Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After followed the story of D’Artagnan—now lieutenant of Musketeers, who were tracing his former three best friends: Athos, Porthos and Aramis, to re-enter the political whirl and intrigue during civil war when Queen Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin ruled France. D’Artagnan and Porthos were on Mazarin’s and Queen’s party, while Athos and Aramis were on the Frondeur side. However, being on opposite sides, the four of them kept firm their friendship which they have had under the oath of “all for one, and one for all”, twenty years ago. For although they were each a different person now, with different interests and motifs, they still had one aspect in common, that is their noble hearts. Read my reflection about how the musketeers reconciled their dispute.

This book offers a high fast-paced adventures, heroic acts, historical events, as well as manifestation of nobility, loyalty and friendship. My favorite would always be D’Artagnan, for he was a brave, smart, honest, loyal, humorous, and witty man. Although I have before liked Athos, I change my mind now, for I found him here too absurd for a man. Athos seemed to live beyond his world. For a chevalier, he used his heart more often than his sense, that sometimes I would think it as cowardice, if I had not known his noble quality. One should follow strictly his principles, but on certain circumstances—especially when it was related to his friends’ life, one ought to make an exception. Here, again, I admire D’Artagnan to be someone of action; I can’t imagine how the musketeers would survive without D’Artagnan’s smart plans which often saved them all.

“I declare, my friend, that you have no equal under heaven for nobleness and courage; while we were thinking you indifferent to our griefs, you alone found that we were vainly seeking. I repeat it, then, d’Artagnan, you are the best of us all; and I bless and love you, my dear son.” ~Athos

However, as a noble man, Athos was the noblest of them all. One thing that I admire from him was his principle to always serve the principle of monarchy, and not the throne sitter. It’s not the figure of King that he praised, but the noble principle that a King held. So, instead of serving the Queen and Mazarin, Athos decided (together with Aramis) to help King Charles I of England who was in desperate position in the English Civil War.

“…the most sacred cause in the world, that of misfortune, royalty and religion.” ~Athos

And what amazed me still is that D’Artagnan turned out to be a brilliant diplomat too. It is he who finally brought peace back to France, in his persuasion to the queen. Here in the last chapters we will see the nobleness quality of D’Artagnan. He pushed and cornered the queen to surrender her stubborn vanity over her people (with his diplomacy), but when the queen was weeping for her lost, D’Artagnan got down on his knees, bending to his Majesty and yielded to his own emotion. This was one of the most emotional parts in this book, which make me love it more.

Dumas has not only crafted France history in a wonderful adventurer fiction, but he also uphold nobility—one thing that has been slowly dissipating through centuries now—and reminded us of how important it always be for the world.  

Five stars for Twenty Years After.

Title: Twenty Years After

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Publisher: Wordsworth Classics

Published: 2009

Pages: 686

The Importance of Being Earnest

[conclusion in English is at the bottom of this post]

Pentingnya menjadi jujur, kira-kira begitulah arti judul buku berbentuk play (drama) ini, The Importance of Being Earnest. Dan nampaknya memang Oscar Wilde—penulis play ber-setting jaman Victoria, abad 19-an ini—memang hendak menyoroti kemunafikan masyarakat yang ada di sekitarnya, dengan segala ketidakjujurannya, lewat play yang kocak namun sinis ini.

Jack dan Algernon adalah dua pria muda yang bersahabat. Meski keduanya memiliki sifat yang berbeda, namun mereka memiliki satu kesamaan, yaitu tidak jujur. Bukan, mereka bukanlah maling atau penipu kelas wahid; mereka adalah manusia-manusia biasa seperti kita. Jack dan Algernon sama-sama menciptakan sosok khayalan yang sering mereka gunakan sebagai alasan saat mereka hendak pergi ke tempat lain, atau untuk menghindar dari kewajiban hadir di suatu tempat yang tak mereka kehendaki. Jack menciptakan sosok ‘kakak laki-laki’ bernama Ernest (kebetulankah bahwa nama itu berbunyi sama dengan ‘kejujuran’ atau ‘earnest’?...), sedang Algernon sering menggunakan sosok ‘kawan pria tua sakit-sakitan’ bernama Bunbury. Bila seorang bibi mengundang Algernon makan malam—dan sungguh, Bibi Augusta Bracknell benar-benar sosok wanita yang tak bakal diinginkan seorang pun menjadi bibinya!—maka Algernon bisa berkelit dengan mengatakan bahwa ia harus mengunjungi Bunbury yang sedang sakit, padahal Bunbury in tak pernah ada. Itulah salah satu bentuk ‘Bunburying’ ala Oscar Wilde—menemukan pelarian dalam wujud sosok buatan mereka sendiri.

Celakanya, Jack dan Algernon sama-sama hendak memikat dua wanita pujaan mereka dengan menggunakan ‘Bunburist’ yang sama, yakni sosok Ernest Worthing. Jack yang mencintai Gwendolen (putri Lady Bracknell; sepupu Algernon), dan Algernon yang terpesona pada Cecily (anak asuh Jack), sama-sama mengaku sebagai Ernest. Lalu bayangkan betapa kocaknya ketika Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen dan Cecily, keempatnya dipertemukan secara tak sengaja dalam satu panggung! Apa yang akan terjadi ketika Gwendolen dan Cecily menemukan bahwa pria pujaan mereka sama-sama bernama Ernest? Dan lebih celaka lagi, kedua gadis ini jatuh cinta pada kedua pria idamannya karena mereka bernama Ernest! Terlepas dari apa yang dikatakan Shakespeare—apalah arti sebuah nama—ternyata nama seseorang mencerminkan kepribadian penyandangnya. Buktinya, Gwen dan Cecily sama-sama menemukan sosok pribadi yang jujur dalam pria yang (mengaku) bernama Ernest. Absurd? Memang itulah yang ingin disampaikan—atau lebih tepatnya—dikritik oleh Wilde.

Sama seperti yang kutemukan di The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde menulis play ini dengan gaya sinis-jenaka-nya. Play ini sungguh menghibur dengan kekocakannya yang sering membuatku kesulitan menahan tawa (karena seringkali aku membacanya ketika sedang berada di tempat umum); kisahnya pendek, tokohnya tak terlalu banyak, dan tak ada banyak konflik. Pendeknya, sebuah karya yang bisa dikunyah dengan santai, dan dicerna dalam waktu singkat. Namun tetap, karya ini tidaklah berlalu tanpa arti begitu saja, karena sindiran Oscar Wilde tentang kemunafikan sangat mengena di hatiku.

Empat muffin untuk Erne(a)st -- (tolong dibagi rata untuk Jack dan Algernon; jangan biarkan mereka rebutan lagi karena sungguh…scene itu bikin aku sakit perut karena menahan tawa!!)

Conclusion:

Help! I think I have just fallen in love with Oscar Wilde… :) After The Picture of Dorian Gray, I found Wilde’s same witty and cynical style in writing, which at the same time contained a sharp criticism for the society. Hypocrisy is something that we can find at all time, and by reading The Importance of Being Earnest, I realized that what Wilde wanted to point out at his time, is also relevant for our today’s life.

Absurdity in human relationship was reflected in this play by Gwendolen and Cecily. They both fell in love with the same ‘Ernest’ just because they had a name that is reflecting ‘earnestness’. Isn’t that absurd? Name is just ‘outer clothes’ that one’s wearing, and I can’t deny that we too often judge others by their ‘clothes’ (appearance, status, wealth, etc). See how Lady Bracknell took her notes and interviewing (or rather interrogating??) the young men who proposed to her daughter; it’s so absurd! (but funny at the same time). And see how she made Cecily to stand before her so that she can ‘evaluate’ her figure. Frankly speaking, it reminds me of how people observe horses’ bodies before they buy them! (suddenly scenes from Black Beauty pop up in my mind..LOL!)

On the other hand, Jack’s and Algernon’s lack of earnest—by creating a fictional figure to whom they can go wherever they need a reason to do (or not to do) something that they don’t want others to know—is something I can accept better than what the ladies did. I mean, it’s indeed absurd to create imaginary person, but aren’t we often create bunch of reasons to protect our own privacy? It’s something that is difficult to avoid entirely. I think what Oscar Wilde meant is the importance of control ourselves, not letting the ‘Bunbury’ inside us be comfortable in his throne, that someday he might steal our identity. This book taught us the importance of being earnest, no matter hypocrite and corrupt our society is.

Four stars for this play—for making me laugh almost entire of the scenes!

[I read ebook version from Project Gutenberg]

Twenty Years After - A Classic Challenge July: Lasting Impression

July prompt of A Classics Challenge is lasting impression – What is a moment, quote, or character that you feel will stay with you? Years from now, when some of the details have faded, that lasting impression the book has left you with... what is it?

I knew when I was in the middle of Twenty Years After (sequel of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas), that this is a book (or rather a series) that has a strongest impression on me.

I read The Three Musketeers for the first time when I’m in elementary school (around 6^th grade), it was a graphic novel my father bought me, an abridged one of course, as it was intended for children’s reading. I remember how I enjoyed it then, though it’s most because of the friendship of the four musketeers and their heroic acts, rather than the political intrigue which I did not comprehend at that moment. Around two years ago I read the unabridged novel (finally), and this time I can say that I (still) really enjoyed it. And now, after just finishing Twenty Years After (review will be posted on 31^st July), I enjoyed it more, that I think it begin to give me a lasting impression!

“All for one and one for all” - and everything around that oath will echo in my heart and mind (I hope) forever.

The oath itself (and the scene when the four musketeers were touching their swords while making the oath) has been buried in my mind since I first read the graphic novel. It’s been echoing ever since, until now when I read Twenty Years After. In fact Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d’Artagnan did not made their famous oath in this book, for most of the time they act separately or formed two different groups; however I feel that the oath has been transplanted into their heart and that the spirit of unity has always inspired them in every occasion. The oath has been transferred to their strong bound of friendship, that when being in danger, each of them rest assure knowing that the others would and could help him.

The personal character of each musketeer is also one of lasting impressions I got from the series. After The Three Musketeers, The Man In The Iron Mask and Twenty Years After, I feel I have been knowing the four musketeers myself, as if we were all old friends. Athos—the calm and brave man with his nobleness (that d’Artagnan said as a ‘demigod’), Porthos—the simple guy with his passion on fashion and food, Aramis—the mysterious man who are always torn between church and women (but often than not, he fell on the first), and of course…d’Artagnan—the bravest and smartest of the musketeers, with his wit and cynical humor and iron wrist. Now tell me, who can ever forget such characters as them?