Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana, Part B
From the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana, by Valmiki.
Notes/thoughts taken in real time, as I was reading through.
Good man, Bharata. It's always satisfying to see justice delivered, especially when it also portrays not just revenge. It is a good way to make the character really likable. How can you dislike someone who, despite burning with righteous anger, doesn't let the anger go to his head and go on an execution spree, but instead, knowing his place, chooses to do what's right? Though he technically could just assume the throne because he technically had the right, he chose instead to right the wrongs that his mother committed. A good character building strategy to make that character liked by the reader.
I'm also impressed by Rama's loyalty to his father, King Dasharatha. Even with the news that the king is dead, and the urging of the king's counselor to take the throne, he instead chooses to continue following the king's command. I like the argument he uses with the widow: "Is a woman to consider herself a widow when her husband is out of sight?" It's nearly the same with his situation - even though his father is "out of sight," he is still loyal to him. I can see why Sita and Lakshmana would want to follow him into exile. He seems like a good guy.
I guess that's why Shurpanakha falls in love with him as well. But she gets made fun of, poor rakshasi, though with the experience with Viradha earlier, I can kind of see why they get such a bad rap. Maybe a future storyboard could be about a good rakshasa, stereotyped because of his race but generally misunderstood...
Looks like a great war is coming up. No epic is complete without one of these. Of course, the main character is trying to do it alone, and I bet in the battle of one versus 14,000...Rama will win.
Rama won.
As expected. I don't really enjoy battles like this. I mean, they are epic but pretty improbable and impossible. It just displays how thick the main character's plot armor is. In my opinion, a strong character doesn't just have victories. He goes through training, gets stronger, but still has his low points. A great example of character development/storytelling I like is from Avatar: The Last Airbender (the TV show, NOT the Shyamalan movie), which I consider the one of the greatest stories told in the past 15 years. Aang, the main character, is discovered and goes on a journey with these two strangers that eventually become his close friends. On the way, he trains to become the Avatar, master of all four elements, but just because he's the Avatar doesn't mean he wipes the floor with everyone. He meets many people with much more experience and training with him, and goes through physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma, all of which are incorporated into developing who he is as a person and a character. Thus, at the end, when he defeats the "big bad guy," not only is the battle epic, it is also satisfying.
But hey, that's just my opinion. As Chinua Achebe put it, "If you don't like someone's story, write your own."
Until the next post,
Smith
Notes/thoughts taken in real time, as I was reading through.
(Avatar Aang, sketched by DontSpeakSilent on Sketchport)
I'm also impressed by Rama's loyalty to his father, King Dasharatha. Even with the news that the king is dead, and the urging of the king's counselor to take the throne, he instead chooses to continue following the king's command. I like the argument he uses with the widow: "Is a woman to consider herself a widow when her husband is out of sight?" It's nearly the same with his situation - even though his father is "out of sight," he is still loyal to him. I can see why Sita and Lakshmana would want to follow him into exile. He seems like a good guy.
I guess that's why Shurpanakha falls in love with him as well. But she gets made fun of, poor rakshasi, though with the experience with Viradha earlier, I can kind of see why they get such a bad rap. Maybe a future storyboard could be about a good rakshasa, stereotyped because of his race but generally misunderstood...
Looks like a great war is coming up. No epic is complete without one of these. Of course, the main character is trying to do it alone, and I bet in the battle of one versus 14,000...Rama will win.
Rama won.
As expected. I don't really enjoy battles like this. I mean, they are epic but pretty improbable and impossible. It just displays how thick the main character's plot armor is. In my opinion, a strong character doesn't just have victories. He goes through training, gets stronger, but still has his low points. A great example of character development/storytelling I like is from Avatar: The Last Airbender (the TV show, NOT the Shyamalan movie), which I consider the one of the greatest stories told in the past 15 years. Aang, the main character, is discovered and goes on a journey with these two strangers that eventually become his close friends. On the way, he trains to become the Avatar, master of all four elements, but just because he's the Avatar doesn't mean he wipes the floor with everyone. He meets many people with much more experience and training with him, and goes through physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma, all of which are incorporated into developing who he is as a person and a character. Thus, at the end, when he defeats the "big bad guy," not only is the battle epic, it is also satisfying.
But hey, that's just my opinion. As Chinua Achebe put it, "If you don't like someone's story, write your own."
Until the next post,
Smith
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