ODE TO THE BARD !!!

Shakespeare – The Genius

COURAGE and CONVICTION ???

"To be or not to be, --that is the question:--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"

-- From Hamlet (III, i, 56-61)

-- Hamlet, the prince of Denmark at a critical juncture of his life … where his father the King has died, his mother has married the dead king’s brother, his uncle, within a month of the incident and the apparition of the old king informs Hamlet that the new king had a hand in his murder …

-- It is easy to suffer the slings of misfortune and give up … it is tough to take arms up against ill-fate and conquer it …

LOVE ???

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"

"Deny thy father and refuse thy name/

Or it thou wilt not be, be but sworn my love,/And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

-- Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet – the eternal lovers. Born on the wrong sides of “surnames” … the Capulet and Montague families being sworn enemies of each other … theirs is a saga as alive today as it was in its inception …

-- Do we control destiny .. or does destiny control us … if we are mere pawns … why should fear of the consequence stop us from action.

LIFE ???

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."

--From As You Like It (II, vii, 139-143)

-- Jacques’ oration in “As you like it” encapsulating what one of the Vedic epics, Manusmriti, also encapsulates as “ashrams” of life e.g. Brahmacharya ashram, Grishastha ashram, Vanaprastha ashram, and Sanyas ashram each of 25 years’ duration.

-- If we are but playing different roles in our times and have our own entrees and exits … awareness of the same and grace in executing each if what life is all about …

DUTY ???

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

--From Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)

-- Brutus, The trusted lieutenant of Julius Ceasar being persuaded by Cassius to join the band of conspirators to overthrow Ceasar who has designs of doing away with the Senate and becoming an absolute monarch. Brutus, torn between duty and loyalty to his friend is in much the same predicament as Arjuna in Mahabharata, who has to take up arms but his arrows would be directed at his kin …

-- It is not easy to do one’s duty and follow the code of honour whilst the temptation to withdraw and blame it on the stars is so strong … It is easy to preach, it is difficult to practice … May each one of us have the strength.

FATE ???

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."

--From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

-- Romeo Montague would still be the man for Juliet Capulet …. With or without the “Montague” name ….

-- Each one of us has it in himself or herself to make something out of ourselves …. whether born with or without a silver spoon in the mouth … with or without godfathers … it needs conviction in oneself, faith in one's mission and confidence that one can make a difference ..