Pygmalion by both Shaw and Ovid

It never comes to my mind that the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is actually a name of a sculptor. It is taken from the classical legend of the Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Ovid was a Roman poet who wrote on topics of love, abandoned woman and mythological transformations. Metamorphoses by Ovid on the other hand is a narrative poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world, drawing from Greek and Roman mythological traditions.
Pygmalion is a sculptor from Cyprus who had fallen in love with his own creation. His sculptor is made from ivory and he named it Galatea. Pygmalion lives alone because he hates woman but he found that Galatea fulfills the image of his ideal woman. In the myth, Aphrodite brought the statue to life and Pygmalion and Galatea finally wed.
Eliza Doolittle in Shaw’s Pygmalion represents Galatea but she was not a statue but only a flower girl who have the determination to change her social status with the help of Professor Higgins. Higgins represents Pygmalion because he is the one who trained and teach Eliza how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette same as Pygmalion who mould and build Galatea into a beautiful woman.
However, the play did not follow exactly the same as the legend. Higgins and Eliza did not fall in love with each other. Higgins is infuriated when Eliza declares that she will marry Freddy Eynsford – Hill, a poor gentleman because he wanted his creation to be with someone who is wealthy and from the upper class. He keeps telling Eliza that her success is his success and he made her what she is. As for Eliza, she had learned more than she’s asking for. She had worked hard to recreate her identity as well and she declares to Higgins that she is not his object of creation.
I am more preferred if Eliza be together with Higgins. I can see that Higgins do likes Eliza because he felt hurt when Eliza wanted to return the ring that Higgins bought for her. Maybe the reason why he doesn’t Eliza to get married with Freddy is because he feels jealous? Also, the reason why he doesn’t want Eliza to leave is because he wants Eliza to stay with him. However, his ego and pride prevent him to show his feelings.

Reflection on 13th August class

During this class, we continue studying the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Actually I do more prefer if Dr. Edwin read and study the play in class because it helps me to understand the play better. However, during this class Dr. Edwin kept reminding us that some lines suppose to be funny and we should laugh at it. For me, I do realize that some line is humorous but not until make me laugh only makes me put a smile on my face.
We studied Act II and Act III where the scene in Act III is happen after 6 months from Act II. As from what I notice from both scenes, people are judged from the way they speak. In turns, also reflects their social class. Same things happen to Eliza Doolittle as she wanted to change her status at least by the way she speaks because she will get better jobs and more respected by society. I adore this character because she is taking an effort to change her life. Ironically, she was asking for a help from Higgins who looks like a gentleman but the truth is he slightly no different from Eliza. He swears and has an improper manner even in front of a guest.
Here makes me think that it doesn’t mean that if you can speak well with a correct grammar or exact pronunciation shows that you are a gentleman or a good person. I mean usually it is but it is not necessary. Take Eliza for example, she is coming from a poor family but she do have a good heart. She speaks an improper language but do not mean to hurt others unlike Higgins who is considered as a gentleman but acts rude to everyone and feeling so proud with himself.

Kuda Kepang

Besides Mak Yong, there is another dance that I believe also interesting and have some similarities with Mak Yong that is Kuda Kepang. I feel a little bit foolish as I do remember that once I thought the Mak Yong dancers are riding a horse when they are performing. I mean a real horse! But actually I’m not that one hundred percent wrong because they do ride a horse but only a paper made horse.
Again I want to make a confession here that I did not have any idea what is Kuda Kepang except that they performed with a mock horse. I choose this dance because it is an interesting fact that this dance using an instrument and as far as I know unlike the other dance (or are they?).
Kuda kepang have quite a similar faith with Mak Yong since it is also not being encouraged to be performed and practice. This happens because this dance is believed to have strong links to the spirit world. Hence, it is not uncommon to see the dancer entering a trance during a performance. Wow! That’s cool. I think that is also one of its attractions but ironically that is also the single reason why it is forbidden to be performed. For me that’s sad and totally unfair. Just because it is believe that the hide or pleated bamboo made of horse is said to harbour spirits which have to be appeared in a pre – dance ceremony conducted by a bomoh.
Unlike Mak Yong, there is hope for Kuda Kepang since it is still become a regular fixture in grand occasions such as the birthday of the Sultan Johor, state government celebrations and cultural shows. If that so, how about the part where the dancers are under a spell during the performance? Do they have to skip that part? Hmm…I wonder.
However, I hope one day I will have the chance to watch a Kuda Kepang shows. The part where the dancers are believed to be under a spell really giving me a chill but that is what assumed as the attraction of this dance.

The Faith of Mak Yong

From the extract on page 111 in Now Read On taken from the play entitled In the Name of Love by Ramli Ibrahim, I have an insight that Mak Yong is in critical phase. The speaker expresses her feelings of anger and disappointment to the kind of reaction that Mak Yong has to face from the people. From what I have read, I notice that the speaker is an old woman because she keeps repeating the phrase, “in my old days”. She said that during her time, Mak Yong is alive but now its faith is uncertain whether dead or alive.
Honestly said, I myself also haven’t seen with my own eyes the performance of this traditional dance. I don’t have any idea how it is performed and also what their costumes is look likes. All I know is that it is performed by all women. From what I’ve read from the internet, Mak Yong is originally from Kelantan and it have the feature of elements of ritual, stylized dance and acting, vocal instrument music, story, song, formal as well as improvised monologue and dialogue.
The speaker also told Li that she and her friends have to move to Terengganu because of the new law in Kelantan. It’s true because Kelantan banned this ancient dance in 1991 after the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) took control of the state for having ‘unIslamic’ influence because it is believed that Mak Yong portrayed some elements that against Islam. The year 1991 also the time this play was first performed. Talk about ‘unIslamic’, what does it means? I guess it is probably because this dance deals with spirit and also it is performed by all women often by all Muslims.
In my opinion, we should prevent this dance to become only a legend told by grandmothers to their grandchildrens (if they want to listen!) or from the teachers to the students. Just imagine that even I also did not know any facts about Mak Yong, how about other teenagers and those who are much younger than me? I do admit that I’m not a big fan of traditional dance but be frank, do we really want this to be happen? If Kelantan wanted to ban Mak Yong, just let them but let the other state to continue the tradition. If there is no action being taken, I’m sure and pretty sure that the next generation will only know about Mak Yong from history books, magazines and same as me where I found mine – from the Internet.

me and antigone

Yesterday during the drama class, we learned about the play Antigone (pronounced it as An-tih-gnee, not An-ti-gon) by Sophocles. At first, I was afraid because I forgot to find the Sphinx’s riddle and the poem about the ages of man written by William Butler Yeats. But, Dr.Edwin gave us another chance to find it and bring it to the next class. As for the Antigone play, I read the text before during the holiday but it is hard for me to understand it wholly as the play deals with an old style of language and words. Luckily, he going through the text and discusses it together with the class. We learned some literary terms yesterday as such foreshadowing and metaphor. Before this, I always said that the meaning of metaphor is you said something but you mean something else. However, the accurate meaning of metaphor is actually where there is a comparison between two dissimilar things but rather they have something in common. I’ve also learned a new word yesterday that is folly. Folly is the same meaning as foolishness and its antonym is shrewd and wise. Shrewd is where the person use his wisdom doing things that did not get him into trouble.