First
and foremost, it is an honour to do critique, reaction and synthesis to one of
the best literary work of Balagtas, “Pinagdaanang Buhay nina Florante at Laura
sa kahariang Albanya: Kinuha sa Madlang Cuadro Historico o Pinturang Nagsasabi
sa mga Nangyari nangUnang Panahon sa Imperyong Gresya at Tinula ng isang
Matuwainsa Bersyong Tagalog”.
Florante at Laura is an Awit. It is a genius’s work of art. Its
lines, stanzas and rhyme had been thoroughly and meticulously thought. The
topic of the awit included the fight
of Christians and Non-Christian, love, betrayal, friendship, social reality and
many others. The setting is in a foreign land and the content is full of
mystery, making it entertaining to read. The language used and the messages of each
stanza is full of wisdom that not only motivate readers’ mind but also aims to
inculcate moral, emotional, social and
religious lessons and values. The awit
contained profound and strong lexicon and used figure of speech which requires
deep understanding and comprehension. Most of the awit’s content is in the form of rhetorical and idiomatic
expression, and symbols are often used in behalf of a certain place or to
represent someone’s characteristic in the society. Examples are Aberno for hell and Ilog Kosito for
river in hell. Simile, metaphor, metonomy, synecdoche, hyberbole, apostrophe,
personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and irony are also used. To
further understand, examples are cited below for each figure of speech.
Simile
Para ng
halamang lumaki sa tubig,
Daho’y
nalanta munting di madilig
Metaphor
Ngiti
mo’y ulan sa tuyong lupain
Synecdoche
At ang
baling bibig na binubukalan
ng sabing
magaling at katotohanan,
agad
binibiyak at sinisikangan
ng
kalising lalong dusting kamatayan.
Hyperbole
Bumaha
ng dugo sa mga lansangan.
Ang
mukha niya’y naging puting lubos.
Apostophe
Kamataya’y
nahanang dating bangis mo
nang di ko damdamin ang hirap na ito?
Personification
O!
Ibong Masaya sa iyong paglipad
isakay
mo ako sa angkin mong pakpak,
tulungan
mo akong sa dusa’y umalpas
Alliteration
Siya’y
tulad mo, malusog
magandamalalim
sa putikang lubog na
paa
Onomatopoeia
Ang
lagaslas nitong batis
Ng
Alatiit ng kawayan
Halumigmig
nitong hangin ay bulong ng kalikasan
Irony
Talaga
nga palang sabuhay na ito
Marami
ang malikaysa totoo.
The awit revolved around the love story of Florante – a brave warrior and
defender of Albanya – and Laura – the loving and beautiful lover of Florante.
The other characters included Aladin, Princess Floresca, Flerida, Adolfo, Duke
Briseo, Menandro, King Linceo, Antenor, Menalipo, Sultan Ali-adab, Count
Sileno, Osmalik and Miramolin.
Florante, in my own opinion, despite
of his description as Narcissus and Adonis by Balagtas may represent the
innocent, oppressed, the defender and the betrayed. His presence in the awit may mirror and characterize the
Filipino in those times. Laura, on the other hand may represent the country
being fought by two forces such as Florante and Adolfo. Laura in the awit is described as beautiful.
Philippines during those times might be comparable to Laura. Adolfo represents
the powerful that uses power to carry out his evil will. Adolfo might be
compared to the oppression given by the Spaniard to the Filipinos. Other character such as Aladin represent the
good Samaritan, Menandro for friendship, Antenor for wisdom, Sultan Ali-Adab
for greediness and selfishness, Miramolin for bravery and Osmalik for death.
It is noted that the awit starts with the description of the
forest – dark, dangerous, very wild and full of gigantic trees. This is
probably done to condition the minds of the reader that the literary work to be
read might convey an aura of sadness and full of uncertain adventures. On the
other hand the setting in the forest might be a symbolic representation of a
country that suffers from barbaric colonization. Furthermore, the setting in
the forest conveys emotion such as fear, pity, weakness and uncertainty.
Balagtas also used Albania as one of
the setting of his literary masterpiece. Albania is place in Greece. Found in
the north of Yugoslavia, south of Macedonia, east-south of Greece. In the year
1938, almost 80 percent of its population did not have any formal education
(Microsoft Encarta Reference Library, 2003). Balagtas might have used Albania
as a setting to deceived Spanish friars’ scrutiny since censor of literary
works that contains propaganda against Spanish colonization was rampant that
time. The symbolic words such as Albania might not be directly compared to
Philippines since Albania had a King, Queen and Duke which Philippines do not
have. This indirect comparison is one of the most successful ways to publish a
literary work that contains political message in the times of the Spanish.
Persia was also one of the settings
of the awit. Persia is a Muslim
dominated country in Asia located near Turkey and is presently now known as
Iran. Perhaps Persia must have represented something in the story of which I
could not fathom.
The theme of the awit such as fight of Christians and
Non-Christian, love, betrayal, friendship, happiness, pain, grief and social
reality could be related to past and present issues being encountered not only
by individual people but also by our governments politically, economically and
socially stability. The theme found in the awit
could be described as the general truth. Which means if not often it is usually
encountered, felt and experience by an individual.
The rhymes and measurement of the
lines and stanza adds beauty and creativity to the literary work. I think that
if Balagtas used sentence and paragraph, his work would have been less
interesting. The use of such a creative way to make a literary piece makes the
approach of message delivery effective.
For example, Biharang balita’y
magtapat, Kung magtotoo ma’y marami ng dagdag is entertaining to read than Ang balita ay minsan lang tapat at kung
totoo man ito ay kadalasang may karagdagang detalye ng naisasali.
The emotions
in the awit are strong in love, pain
and betrayal. Perhaps Balagtas must have strongly felt each emotion during
those times while he is imprison. I sometimes associate Florante and Laura to
Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare. This is maybe because the two literary works
is a love story. Unfortunately like a fairytale the awit end in “happily ever after” making it unrealistic for me. I
am not a pessimist but it would have been nicer if it ends the opposite like
Noli me Tangere or El Filibusterismo. Over all, the work of Balatas has never
been surpassed by other Filipino writer.
