Florante at Laura: REFLECTION AND SYNTHESIS

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.