Beyond Reality

Beyond Reality

On a cold winter night, Juliet is talking to herself on the balcony of their house. She is confused about her feelings towards Romeo, her best friend. She is asking herself if what she feels is true love or not. Romeo, unseen by Juliet, is hiding behind the bushes of the garden and overhears everything she is saying. Romeo is actually in love with Juliet ever since they met and he didn't have the confidence to express his feelings. But after hearing Juliet's true feelings, he finally decided to ask her hand in marriage. Romeo shows himself to Juliet and asked her to marry him. After hearing this shocking revelation, Juliet's eyes were filled with tears of joy. Juliet says yes and Romeo was overjoyed. Romeo put the diamond ring given  by his mother to him. This ring was preserved and given from his ancestors and now to him by his mother, saying that it should be passed to whoever he will marry. Their wedding was planned to take place in Italy. They planned the wedding before they board their ship to Rome. On their way to the Verona Royal florist, they came across the soothsayer. They were astonished by the shocking news that the soothsayer said. They were warned to beware of the Ides of March. The couple was so afraid for they planned the wedding to take place on the 17th of March and they will board their ship on the 14th of March. They thought of their plan all over again. The Montagues and Capulets suggested to postpone the wedding but the couple believed that the warning of the soothsayer is only brought about by superstitious beliefs. On the 14th of March, the couple boarded their ship to Rome.

On board the ship are Romeo and Juliet’s guests. They are all well known personalities from various allied kingdoms. From the kingdom of Denmark, Hamlet, from the Kingdom of Rome, Julius Caesar, Cassius, and Brutus, from the Kingdom of Scotland, Macbeth, from the Kingdom of Syracuse, Antipholus and Dromio, from the Kingdom of Ephesus, Antipholus and Dromio, from the Kingdom of Athens, Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia, and from the Kingdom of Messina, Beatrice and Benedick. At midnight, everybody was having the time of their life when Beatrice and Benedick suddenly notice that the Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse and the Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus are actually twins. The mischievous Benedick told Beatrice that they should play a prank on them. Beatrice agreed and commenced their plan. Beatrice flirted with Antipholus of Syracuse and told him to ask Dromio of Syracuse to fetch her a glass of water. Benedick told Antipholus of Ephesus that he will give him a treasure chest full of gold if he gives him a piece of cake. Antipholus of Ephesus easily believes this and told Dromio of Ephesus to get him a piece of cake. When both Dromio got what their master wanted, Benedick and Beatrice switched the places of the two Antipholus. Dromio of Ephesus gave the cake to Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse gave the glass of water to Antipholus of Ephesus. Both Antipholus got mad because they thought that their servants were mocking them. The 2 pairs of twins chased each other all over the ship. Dromio of Syracuse accidentally trips on the floor and accidentally pushes Antipholus of Ephesus towards the captain of the ship. As the captain falls, he accidentally stirred the ship towards an iceberg and caused the ship to sink. Everybody fell overboard except for the Capulets, Beatrice, Benedick, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus because they were able to get on the lifeboats along with the crew of the ship.

After the dreadful shipwreck on March 15 (based on the soothsayer’s Ides of March), all the guests of Romeo and Juliet were drifted upon a mystical island which was then believed to have superstitious beings. Auspiciously, they were able to prosper in the barren island a few days right after the shipwreck. There they came across with Oberon and Titania, the mysterious king and queen of the fairies, together with Helena, their gorgeous princess and Puck, their relentless aide. Puck has this potential to mess up a relationship between two lovers simply by squirting a mystical juice to the eye of either the guy or lady once they were asleep, so that when they woke up, they won’t be together again as if they were not acquainted with each other. Prior to the abhorrence of Capulet and Lady Capulet to Romeo, Capulet ordered Puck to squirt the mystical juice to the eye of Romeo so that he could not be acquainted with Juliet to any further extent. Lucky for them, Puck was able to do so. Meanwhile, Helena was in love with Demetrius, a guy whose love interest is Hermia. Helena has no other choice but to order Puck to squirt his mystical juice to Demetrius so that he will be falling in love with her. At the same time, Egeus, a mighty blacksmith of the island, was also disgusted with Lysander, whom his daughter Hermia loves so much. So Puck was then ordered to do the same like what the Capulets and Helena ordered him before, and he was successful in doing such.

From then on, perplexity between three couples had started. Romeo was now in love with Hermia; Demetrius was stunned by the lovely Helena; and Lysander has a deep adoration to Juliet. Thus, Helena was successful with her plan. Upon having Demetrius in her life, Helena pretended to have been pregnant to him (but actually, this is not true). To his delight, Demetrius ordered his servants to get everything ready for their daughter.

Almost a year had gone by; still Helena seemed not to be pregnant. Upon knowing the truth that Helena was not actually pregnant, Demetrius drove away Helena from his mighty realm, leaving her outside stumbled upon the shimmering hallway. Demetrius, having disgusted with what he knew, started to look for his first love interest which is Hermia. He searched every part of the barren island; day and night he screeched Hermia’s name, but after a month of incessant search, he could not find Hermia any longer. And according to what he had heard from the adjacent realm, Hermia was currently the queen of Verona in Italy with his husband Romeo. This put himself into suicide.

On the other hand, while the prosperity continues to stretch throughout the island, they decided to have a leader to be elected in order to maintain the peace and order of the newly-occupied island. Out of several aspirants, Julius Caesarhas been chosen to rule the island. He overpowered several aspirants, including Brutus and Cassius. Resentful and envious with what has transpired, Brutus and Cassius reunited to topple the leadership of Julius Caesar. They began spreading rumor about Julius Caesar: a rumor that would put his leadership and even his life to an end.
Hamlet who was elected as one of the senators to complete the panel of senators has his father, Alonso executed by a group of armed men after a senate hearing in Naples (since his dad was once a senator, too). The suspects are still anonymous up to date; this gave Brutus and Cassius the idea to point Julius Caesar as the prime suspect. 

Without knowing by Caesar, Brutus and Cassius are already spreading rumors throughout the citizenry of the island about the “execution” of Alonso, which is all a hoax. All was easily convinced since Caesar was once known to be a powerful yet ruthless executioner leader of Mantua. He immediately put convicts into death without prior hearings and court proceedings. 
Upon hearing the rumors, Hamlet had this sudden outburst of anger to Julius Caesar. But since he was a senator and a dignified statesman, he cannot carry out his plan of Caesar’s assassination so as not to besmirch his reputation. Without any hesitation on his part, he ordered Macbeth, his fellow camp-de-aide to execute Caesar in a Senate hearing. 

Few days after, Prospero, a faithful and loyal follower of Alonso who got stranded in the island after Alonso's assassination, heard the surreptitious plan of Caesar’s assassination. On the day of assassination, Prospero tried to avert the plan, saying that he’ll be stating the golden truth about Alonso's death. Hamlet, trying not to besmirch his reputation, decided to bring the plan of assassination an end, since according to him, all was just a rumor and there is no valid evidence to verify that Caesar assassinated his father before. Prospero was relieved and he told Hamlet the truth behind his father's death. According to Prospero, Alonso died when they were on their way home from the Senate hearing in Naples. They were riding their ship when suddenly pirates came aboard and tried to steal their ship. Alonso protected all his men and drove all the pirates away but Alonso didn't notice that one of the pirates stayed behind and stabbed him on the chest. Prospero killed this pirate and Alonso died in his arms. After a few hours, a raging storm came and the ship sunk. Prospero got stranded in the island and was the only survivor from the tragedy that occurred.

Meanwhile, on the mighty realm of Demetrius, Helena was stacked and still wondering what happened to Demetrius. She then ordered her servants to search for Demetrius. After few days of searching, they found Demetrius’ body and saw a knife which he used to stab himself. Upon knowing the news her servants reported to her, Helena ran in the hallway. She then stopped at the fountain and tears kept falling in her eyes. Day and nights had passed yet she is still crying and not eating. Her servants are worried for her condition. By this, her servants decided to send a letter to Romeo, Lysander, Hermia and Juliet. The letter is about the condition of Helena that her servants thought that will surely help to improve her condition. The two pairs of lovers; Lysander and Juliet, Romeo and Hermia came. They were shocked for they saw Helena crying then laughing. In short, she’s out of her mind and now she’s crazy. Her servants tell the whole story of what had happened to Helena. They said that Helena is blaming herself because if she didn’t pretend to be pregnant then Demetrius will not be disappointed and will not find Hermia in the barren island, resulting for him to stab himself after knowing the dreadful news. Hermia was shocked why Demetrius wanted to find her. She ran to Helena’s bedroom.

In Helena’s bedroom, Hermia heard her singing a song. The song is about her act of ordering Puck to pour mystical juice to Demetrius’ eyes. Hermia, upon hearing the Helena singing, called Romeo, Lysander and Juliet. They began to wonder who is Puck and what the meaning of the mystical juice is. They’re mind are full of questions, so for them to satisfy their curiosity and to find all the happenings behind this, they went back to the barren island. There, they searched and searched. Until one night, they were so tired and hungry and wanted to have rest. Then, they heard someone coming. They saw Julius and Prospero. They immediately asked them for help. They asked if they knew Puck. Prospero said that Puck is just beside them. The two pairs of lovers were shocked. They don’t know that Puck is just playing around them. As they started to chase Puck, Juliet tripped at Romeo’s foot. A diamond ring fell from Juliet’s pocket in her dress. There, she suddenly remembered his love for Romeo. She remembered that Romeo is the one who gave that ring. After she remembered and will now tell it to Romeo, Prospero suddenly casted a spell andthe lovers fell asleep. Prospero then ordered Puck to bring back the true feelings of the lovers. Puck poured the mystical juice to their eyelids. Upon waking up, everything is back to normal again. Romeo is madly in loved to Juliet again, same as Lysander to Hermia. They immediately went to Helena and found her asleep. The lovers heard a sound saying “Wake up, wake up.”

The lovers closed their eyes and opened it again. They found themselves in the ship safe and secured. They were shocked for Demetrius is alive and now fell in love with Helena. Then, they discovered that it was just a dream; a bad dream yet to be remembered. That day, they reached the shore of one of Italy’s beaches. A triple wedding occurred with the other boards of the ship as their guests. Then, they lived happily ever after.

Maleficence is next to Malevolence

“Foul is fair and fair is foul…”

                This is one of the thousand lines that completed the tragedy of Macbeth, and this line speaks itself. It evidently exhibits the darkest and most dreadful misfortunes ensued in the play. It sensationalized the mordant psychological and political effects that have transpired when malevolence is chosen as a way to fulfill the desire for supremacy. But in veracity, are these words mean something? Do this statement once left a great impact on our lives?

                Nowadays, several iniquitous outcomes have transpired in our lives. Numerous verdicts have been settled and more than a few judgments have been reconciled. Actually, without even knowing by each of us, we may mar the sentiments of our fellows which could lead for them to turn their backs from us. It is true in such case that a guy left a girl with a broken heart, and it’s complicated enough to mend such.

                 Believe it or not, being deceitful and unethical is considered to be the chief peccadillo that an individual can do (and I am after it, anyway). A simple thievery from our parent’s pocket is the primary cause of foul, although our parents won’t know it (unless you tell the truth). Next step to adulteration is the life-long threatening effects of massive cheating in class. Whether we rebuff it or not, it already exists and continues to obliterate our young minds. I can't even think of a valid reason why most of the students resort to cheating when they don’t even know what to perform next. Sad to say, it prolongs and continues to prolong regardless of the restrictions being impost by the faculty.

                Nevertheless, the government officials started having this cheating be part of their lives as politicians, just like the up-to-date issue concerning the P10 B pork barrel scam which had been taken control by the witness Janet Lim-Napoles. This is more than enough to alleviate the worsening scarcity in this poverty-stricken nation of ours. But what happened? Where did these billions of money go? Is it ironic to think that we, Filipinos are the primary victims of the immorality of our public officials? And if they’ll be reprimanded, then they have this push to complain?

                This merely shows the evidence of what the statement above means. We commit sins because we commit fouls. But in one way or another, the authorities just wanted to be fair that’s why some rascals have been rebuked, and doing such is considered to be foul for them. Anyway, this is the point: if no one will execute any obnoxious deeds then there would be no one to be reprimanded, thus no foul will be committed.

Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Dream to Remember

Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Dream to Remember

                Several tales were told; a lot of plays were showcased. This is how our English class goes on as years go by. But this year would have changed the traditional approach of erudition as we come across the eight Shakespearean classic masterpieces beginning with the love story between Romeo and Juliet. With connection to that, recently we embarked upon the fifth magnum opus of William Shakespeare which is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was considered to be a comedy. It is one of Shakespeare’s most popular works and is widely performed across the world. As we go between the lines, we were carried by the captivating love potion brought about by Puck (Robin Goodfellow) as well as the interconnecting scenes beginning with the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, the Amazon Queen. While having these scenes read, what must be the play’s pinnacle? What particular scene carries most of the readers to their exhilaration?

                I’m absolutely sure that you guys would really have a hard time recognizing what’s the peak of the play. Well, everyone has their own point of view with regards to this matter. But in my own viewpoint, the scene which should be considered to be the peak is when Lysander and Demetrius clash over Helena’s love and the two young Athenian ladies, Helena and Hermia had a duel upon knowing that both Athenian men end up in love with Helena. This quarrel won’t transpire without the jest of Puck, Oberon’s servant. Upon seeing that Demetrius became nasty towards Helena, the King of Fairies Oberon ordered him to spread the juice over the eyelid of Demetrius. By the way, this juice can make a sleeping person fall in love with the first person he or she sees upon waking. Without prior notice, Puck sees Lysander and Hermia, thinking that Lysander is the young Athenian whom his chief is referring to. This leads to the love of Lysander to Helena, leaving Hermia alone jealous. Upon being so jealous, she challenge Helena to a duel, and same thing goes beyond the Athenian bachelors. Good thing, Puck baffled them by imitating their voices, leading them apart in the woods.

                No other scene would make me chortle like this but this scene, and that’s the reason why I think and I consider that this is the scene with the highest point of interest. I suppose, Shakespeare’s wild mind's eye is absolutely exceptional upon having this play being written. Plausibly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is without a doubt, a dream to remember.

To make a better place...

Forgive and Forget

“All we are saying is give peace a chance…”

            At first, you would just think that this is just an ordinary line from a common song. But as go between the words, you would realize the essence behind the song. This song by the English vocalist John Winston Lennon in 1969 reminds me of what is really meant by forgiving.

                In life where nuisance keeps on hindering us, forgiving and forgetting are the two words which should be put into our minds and hearts. Nowadays, most of us stumble upon hullabaloos and controversies which have been thrown to us by the traitors. As what the lyrics say, we should and we must forget all those arguments for peace to make a way into our lives.

                Every one of us has their own share of life’s ups and downs. On the onslaught of our journey towards success, it’s just innate for us to encounter traitors who’ll try to make our lives even more miserable. They will never bring tribulations to a halt. Instead, they keep on persisting till one time we sometimes give up and surrender. But there’s still a way to alleviate this worsening scenario; and this is to forgive them and overlook their own shares of mistakes upon you. 

                 I guess, forgetting is undeniably the best thing to forgive someone. If you learn how to overlook what had they made unto you, then peace will always find a way to our lives. Unquestionably, live would always be at its best when there’s peace and love, isn’t it?  So we should always find ways to let go of their transgressions and forgive them, for vengeance is not ours, it’s God’s and forgiving makes life wonderful and worth living.

“All we are saying is give peace a chance…”

What would you prefer?

An ideal student: Academic or Athletic?

                During the recently concluded Intramurals, several flairs were showcased in different sports. These left a huge impact on the part of the co-players and so with the spectators and committee. But before we dig deeper, let me just ask “If you are to chose, which do you prefer, an academically-superb individual but not that athletic or an athletic student but not academically-inclined?”

                Anyway, when we speak of these two contrasting attributes, it’s quite rare for an individual to be both inclined. Generally, students possess either of the two. An academically-inclined student has something to do with sheer talent with reference to his or her general mental ability. This is a type of student who has special aptitudes when it comes to intellectual potency. Nevertheless, an athletic student has something to do with extraordinary dexterity in diverse fields, either a ball game or throwing events. In contrast with the academic one, an athletic individual is more physically healthy unlike those academically-inclined who have healthier mind than body.

                However, despite of their distinct qualities, they can be somehow complementary. Board games like scrabble and chess make use of the brain to think of winning words or moves. Same thing goes the other way around. You cannot spice up your marks unless you are qualified in the physical fitness tests prescribed by our Physical Education mentor. In other words, these two should be equally distributed to the persona of an individual.

                If we will be weighing the benefits and shortcomings of the two, I guess academic does more benefits than athletic. But that doesn’t mean that athletic has more limitations than academic. Academically-marvelous turned out to be professionals like lawyers, certified public accounts, doctors, engineers and other related professions in which they earn more than enough. These utilize the brain in order to earn some living. Athletes nonetheless are sometimes more recognized than the professionals, especially during championship games. Unlike the professionals, they get better lives; have higher salaries without making use of mathematics and scientific principles. They focus more on physical activities, hence making use of the brain less.

                In my own point of view, I would rather be an academically-inclined but not athletic rather than athletic but not academically-inclined since my ultimate dream is to become a successful and renowned CPA and a lawyer. I guess this would give me absolute contentment and ever since I was a kid, mathematics and dealing with arguments are my passion. This I think would give you a clue behind my sizzling performances in every discussion that we had whenever we have our English class.

                In spite of those comparative ideas, the decision still lies in our hands. We could stand out in both if we try. But I guess, it’ll be ideal if both of them would be balanced in your personality so that you’ll gain not just knowledge but also your health.