Hey class
While reading Sakuntala and the ring of recollection, I have noticed a lot of foreshadowings. I believe these lines could be the foreshadowing for Sakuntalas and kings separation later on the play. “The moon sets over the western mountain as the sun rises in dawn’s red trail rising and setting, these two bright powers portend the rise and fall of men. When the moon disappears, night lotuses are but dull souvenirs of its beauty when her lover disappears, the sorrow is too painful for a frail girl to bear.”(ACT IV, lines 65-73). In class, we also discussed how play itself began with foreshadowing when actress sang a song and stunned the director, which was a foreshadowing of king falling in love with Sakuntala.
Also, I found very interesting how each act shows a specific emotion. In the overview, author talks about how Kalidasa takes us through the entire range of most basic emotions such as love, joy, pity, anger, peace and etc. Play starts off with emotions of love and excitement when Sakuntala and king first met and acts 2 and 3 emphasize love and joy. Act 4 mostly focuses on love under separation. That’s when Sakuntala couldn’t stop thinking about her husband. Act 5 focuses on pity, anger. When Sakuntala came over to the city for her husband but he rejects her. Act 6 is mostly about sadness and tears. That’s when king tried to paint Sakuntalas image but his tears would mess up the painting. “Smudges from my sweating fingers stain the edges of the picture and a tear fallen from my cheek has raised a wrinkle in the paint.” (ACT VI, lines 286-289). In Act 7 they both find each other and emotions return back to love and peace.
After reading this play, I noticed how the whole story returned back its original start which was very different from what we read in the past. I think this play is more for like entertainment purposes rather than educational. What do you guys think about this, is there something you learned by reading this play?
Hey a.khaydarov, I didn’t really notice the change of emotion through each act until I read your blog post. The pattern of emotion is a boomerang. It starts off with love and happiness then going through pretty much every other emotion and eventually returning back to it’s original emotion; love and happiness. To answer your question regarding whether the play is for entertainment rather than education; I would have to agree with you. The play revolves around emotions that a lot people were probably going through. In a way, this play might have be a guide for those who were love sick for someone that wasn’t in there “class”.