Friday 31 August 2012

Weekend Quote #9


“For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.”

A quote from Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, now.

It is after a victorious banquet in the depth of the forest. The parties say farewell to each other, with the Black Knight as the last guest to depart. Before he leaves, he praises Locksley for his conduct, a crime though it is by law, but not by motive. Thus he says our quote this week.

I like the quote. It is true that one who holds power can easily be praised or despised for what he does. Yet Richard praises the Outlaw also for not doing evil things in his power. I admire those who have great self-control over themselves, who restrain from doing things not because they cannot, but because they know that it is wrong.


-----------------------------

Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can:

  • Give the context of the quote
  • Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
  • Share your experience related to the quote
  • Share similar quotes you remember
  • Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.


Thursday 30 August 2012

Character Thursday: Maurice de Bracy


When one reads Ivanhoe, he has many characters to think upon, and to reflect upon, to admire and to abhor, to like and to dislike. There are many of those I find heroic, some merry and liberal, but what interest me are those who play the role of antagonists, but find in themselves praiseworthy virtues. One of the few is Maurice de Bracy.

He is far from being a good man. By politics, he is a follower of Prince John, who just cannot wait to usurp the throne from his valiant brother, King Richard. Richard the Lion-hearted himself is an adventurer, more fitting perhaps to be a general than a king, and would be more happy to live in the eve of battle in Palestine or in the merry forest with Robin Hood than in his dull administrative court. Still, de Bracy sides himself with a traitor, and deserves punishment, according to the code of honour praised in his era.

Not just that, he sets an ambuscade to abduct several persons by their way just because he loves the lady Rowena, whom he desires to be his bride. His act results in the imprisonment of Cedric's party along with Isaac and his daughter, and the wounded knight Ivanhoe. Later, it costs him Front-de-Beouf's life and almost costs him his own, but for the mercy of the Lion-hearted himself.

Even so, he has some virtues that I respect. For example, unlike the greedy Front-de-Beouf, he still has the sense of chivalry that is far higher above private grudge, as we read:

“The ideas of chivalrous honour, which, amidst his wildness and levity, never utterly abandoned De Bracy, prohibited him from doing the knight any injury in his defenceless condition, and equally interdicted his betraying him to Front-de-Boeuf, who would have had no scruples to put to death, under any circumstances, the rival claimant of the fief of Ivanhoe. On the other hand, to liberate a suitor preferred by the Lady Rowena, as the events of the tournament, and indeed Wilfred’s previous banishment from his father’s house, had made matter of notoriety, was a pitch far above the flight of De Bracy’s generosity.”

Not so generous indeed, yet enough to make me believe still in humanity. His pride is also clearly shown when the Black Knight defeats him in one-on-one fight, and demands him to be a prisoner, “rescue or no rescue.” He insists to know the victor's name, for he will not yield to any unknown man. Moreover, when Waldemar Fitzurse counsels Prince John to kill Richard in an ambush de Bracy insists that he will not touch a hair of the merciful king who has spared him his life.

“Not by me,” said De Bracy, hastily; “I was his prisoner, and he took me to mercy. I will not harm a feather in his crest.” 
“Prison or tomb,” said De Bracy, “I wash my hands of the whole matter.”

Well, I've said all I need to. His love for Rowena has been blind, and so far from being honourable. He chooses his liege not wisely, and thus counts himself as a traitor. But there are laws that he lives with, that he doesn't betray even when it offers him much. Along with Brian de Bois-Guilbert I place him, not as lawless men, but men of their own laws. Not so good a thing, but not the worst.

That's my Character Thursday, what about yours?

-----------------------

Character Thursday
Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).
- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.
- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.
- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :
1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.
2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.
3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.
3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.
4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Me, Love, and Pushkin


This sounds more like a confession than an analysis. In fact, I think it IS a confession. Alexander Pushkin's two love poems are my love stories – in real life. I'd like to share it to know whether my readers have the same experience.

All my love stories consist of either of these things below. The first is an unwanted love, or, perhaps, a forbidden love. I liked a person with whom I could never be, and then I found Pushkin's love poem, Confession.

I love you-- though I rage at it,
Though it is shame and toil misguided,
And to my folly self-derided
Here at your feet I will admit!
It ill befits my years, my station,
Good sense has long been overdue!
And yet, by every indication,
Love's plague has stricken me anew:
You're out of sight-- I fall to yawning;
You're here-- I suffer and feel blue,
And barely keep myself from owning,
Dear elf, how much I care for you!
.....
Aline! I ask but to be pitied,
I do not dare to plead for love;
Love, for the sins I have committed,
I am perhaps not worthy of.
But make believe! Your gaze, dear elf,
Is fit to conjure with, believe me!
Ah, it is easy to deceive me!. . .
I long to be deceived myself!

The second type of love that I experience is the love described in Pushkin's other poem, I loved you. I feel like I don't love the person anymore, but who knows whether some love lingers still within my heart?

I loved you; and perhaps I love you still,
The flame, perhaps, is not extinguished; yet
It burns so quietly within my soul,
No longer should you feel distressed by it.
Silently and hopelessly I loved you,
At times too jealous and at times too shy.
God grant you find another who will love you
As tenderly and truthfully as I

Truthful in every line, I was driven to madness upon reading it. I read it over and over again aloud while taking a bath, hurting my heart everytime I did so. I had forgotten this poem for some time, then I remember it again. The occasion dictates so.

I don't know what's wrong. Perhaps Pushkin and me, far separated by time and place in this world, share still the same fate. Or perhaps the story is so common that the poems are just general thoughts or ordinary phase of life. But I'm still grateful that at least somebody can put in words what I cannot put myself. And perhaps instead of these two sad love poems I will find a love fit for Shakespeare's line, a love “for one, of one, still such and ever so” that won't “alter when alteration finds, or bend with the remover to remove.”

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Forgive Me


This weekend my blog will be in hiatus. No Character Thursday, no Weekend Quote, no review. I need to go out of town without my laptop. I hope I will still be able to finish Ivanhoe on my phone (I have an e-book reader on my phone).

This week is the last week of my holiday, which means I will be busy starting next week. I don't think I will be able to blog as much as I have during August, but I will try to review a book at least once a month, and keep hosting the Weekend Quote every week.

So, see you all, and have a nice week.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

(Re-)Reading Ivanhoe


I'm going halfway through reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Just a little background of my reason for reading it.

When I was 14, and was in love with Sherlock Holmes, I went to a friend's house, a fellow fonder of the detective. She told me she made a review of SH's short stories for her homework, and showed me her Sherlock Holmes book, a translation in Bahasa. In the shelf, however, I saw a book, thin and small, with a soft purple cover. That book was a English simplified version of Ivanhoe.

Needless to say, I borrowed the book right away. My friend consented, and I read it. My English was not very good at that time, naturally, but was enough to understand the brave and noble character of Robin Hood and King Richard. Thanks to the book, I've been very fond of them ever since. But simplified version is still a simplified version. I looked for the original, and was frightened by the size of it, not mentioning the difficulty of its language. So for the moment I gave up and diverted my eyes to other books easier to comsume.

Yet it is destined that I must read the book somehow. After Robert Lancelyn Greene's Robin Hood and Dumas' Musketeers, I am hungry for more adventurous tales, and I remember my old bold Ivanhoe. Now, my English permits me to peruse the book without letting the language deprive me the joy of reading it. Besides, the words unknown to me, whether in the old English or the modern one, enrich my vocabulary after I search their meaning.

Anyway, I'm in the 21st chapter of it, and very impatient to finish the story. Hope the end will be as happy as related in the simplified one.  

Saturday 18 August 2012

Weekend Quote #8


“Stone walls doe not a prison make,
  Nor iron bars a cage;
Mindes innocent and quiet take
  That for an hermitage;
If I have freedome in my love,
  And in my soule am free,
Angels alone that sore above
  Enjoy such liberty.”
- Richard Lovelace

This week I take something different. It's taken from Lovelace's To Althea from Prison. I read this from Rafael Sabatini's novel Captain Blood, though in simplified version. Charmed by the verse, I looked for the complete poem and read it.

Lovelace wrote this poem in prison. The poet was one of the cavalier poets, who supported Charles I. (I really didn't know about this before I chose it to be my weekend quote. Any similarity between his ideology and Athos' is not intended). In his poem, he argues that he is still free, because in his mind he does nothing wrong. He is still free to be loyal to Charles I, he is still free to think and to love anyone he wants.

I like this poem because I also believe in that kind of freedom, a freedom that cannot be deprived from anyone – the freedom of heart and the freedom of mind. People can always control others' bodies, acts, and deeds. But no matter how strict they control those things, the heart and the mind will always be free.

-----------------------------

Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can:

  • Give the context of the quote
  • Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
  • Share your experience related to the quote
  • Share similar quotes you remember
  • Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.


Thursday 16 August 2012

A Memorable Quote: Twenty Years After


This prompt is hosted at November'sAutumn. The idea is to share a memorable quote that you find in a book that you are reading, or in my case, the last book that you have finished reading. The last book that I finished is Dumas' Twenty Years After, as you can see from my recent posts.

I'd like to share my favourite quote of the book, which comes from my favourite chapter of the novel and spoken by my favourite character among the Musketeers.

The air is tense, and two of his friends are quarelling, each states that he is right and the other is wrong. Among the four of them, two has drawn their swords, and one is ready to draw any time he needs to defend himself. If they fight, their friendship will be lost forever.

Athos stands, unsheathes his sword, and breaks it. Then he says these lines:

"Never!" exclaimed Athos, raising his right hand to Heaven, "never! I swear before God, who seeth us, and who, in the darkness of this night heareth us, never shall my sword cross yours, never my eye express a glance of anger, nor my heart a throb of hatred, at you. We lived together, we loved, we hated together; we shed, we mingled our blood together, and too probably, I may still add, that there may be yet a bond between us closer even than that of friendship... 
D'Artagnan, I have always loved you as my son; Porthos, we slept six years side by side; Aramis is your brother as well as mine, and Aramis has once loved you, as I love you now and as I have ever loved you. What can Cardinal Mazarin be to us, to four men who compelled such a man as Richelieu to act as we pleased? What is such or such a prince to us, who fixed the diadem upon a great queen's head? 
D'Artagnan, I ask your pardon for having yesterday crossed swords with you; Aramis does the same to Porthos; now hate me if you can; but for my own part, I shall ever, even if you do hate me, retain esteem and friendship for you."

Athos always speaks with such intensity and tranquility that cools his friends down. These words save them all from what might be an 'unevitable fight among ex-friends'. Certainly a quote I will remember.


Wednesday 15 August 2012

Character Thursday: Cardinal Richelieu


Alright. This is perhaps my first time choosing an antagonist for my Character Thursday. I write this based on two novels of D'Artagnan Romances: The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. I choose this character because he appears only in the first, and all people remember him on the second. The other characters, on the contrary, still develop, so I must wait until I finish them all before I can judge Aramis, D'Artagnan, or Raoul. And perhaps I will write more about the dear count, Athos.

Cardinal Richelieu is introduced as an ambitious, lusty person in the first novel. There is a rivalry between him and the king as to who has the best guard. Out musketeers prove that the king wins, in that respect only. The Cardinal rules France. He is even more powerful than the king himself.

The novel hints that he loves the queen, Anne of Austria, who doesn't share the same feeling towards him. Besides the Queen, Richelieu also has two other women mentioned in the novel as his lovers. As Aramis, he's not really faithful to his call as a 'man of God'.

Portrait of the Cardinal by
Philippe de Champaigne (1640)
As a politician, however, he excels. The Musketeers don't like him at all, and refuse to serve under him, but even Aramis admits (sincerely or not) that he is “the most illustrious politician of times past, of times present, and probably of times to come” that would “extinguish the sun if the sun incommoded him.” But France seems to be peaceful during his reign, at least compared to what it becomes under Mazarin, as stated in Twenty Years After.

Being an enemy of the Four Inseparables doesn't make him act unjustly to them. He applauds the courageous action of Athos and his companions in Bastion St. Gervais, and rewards them for their deeds. Later, when he meets the four having a council together, Athos pays a sharp sarcastic statement to him. But instead of killing him, he just goes away, murmuring that he would be happy to have the four. Who wouldn't? Lastly, when D'Artagnan comes to him with Milady's carte blanche, he tears the paper, but he doesn't seem angry towards the young soldier, but instead he promotes him to be a lieutenant. So to a certain degree, he's still a gentleman.

The sequel, Twenty Years After, makes it clear that our friends respect Richelieu, despite their private experiences with him.They even praise him as a great Cardinal. From the second novel, I learn not to judge people too rashly, too hastily. That's my character for this week, what about yours?

PS: This character analysis is solely based on the novel, and not from the real person. I have done no research about Armand Jean du Plessis, and therefore cannot say anything in or out favour of him.

---------------------------------------------


Character Thursday
Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).
- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.
- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.
- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :
1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.
2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.
3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.
3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.
4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik

Twenty Years After: Friendship under Test


Twenty Years After relates the story of our Inseparables (how I love to call them that) twenty years after the end of the previous novel. Richelieu has been replaced by Mazarin, an Italian who is considered inferior than the late cardinal.

This less-favourite minister knows about D'Artagnan and asks him to support him. D'Artagnan agrees as long as he's paid, but he's not really in league with Mazarin. Mazarin asks him to join venture with his former group of four, but both Aramis and Athos refuses to do so. Only Porthos agrees to help Mazarin, with a promise that the minister will make him a Baron.

About the four friends. D'Artagnan is still a musketeer, Aramis is now Monsieur d'Herblay, an abbe with a heart of a musketeer, Porthos is a rich landlord, with three castles, and Athos a happy count living with his son, Raoul. Later in the novel, D'Artagnan and Porthos become a Mazarinist, because they serve Mazarin, and Athos and Aramis are Frondist. There is where the problem lies. They are not the men they were.

The four meet again fighting each other, but retreat the moment they realise who their opponents are. They then promise to hold a council in less intense circumstances, to talk about everything. Each comes with sword on his belt, and doubt in his heart. Will they still be friends? Do they still have faith in each other? It is very important because they still share one enemy – Milady's son who comes for vengeance.

I will not talk about the part I like best, but I will talk about the thing I hate the most from the novel. It's doubt. Doubt between those four that tortures me like a thorn in the flesh. There is this air of disbelief between them; everyone can feel that they are no more four heads and one heart. I don't mind their keeping secret from each other, but suspicions? I just don't know anymore.

This is the conversation between D'Artagnan and Porthos.

“Athos and Aramis have played a game with me which alarms me. We discovered yesterday the truth; what is the use of going to–day to learn something else?"
"You really have some distrust, then?" said Porthos.
"Of Aramis, yes, since he has become an abbe. You can't imagine, my dear fellow, the sort of man he is. He sees us on the road which leads him to a bishopric, and perhaps will not be sorry to get us out of his way."

At the same time, somewhere, Athos and Aramis are having this conversation.

"Oh, no, dear count!" cried Aramis, "is it not a warlike encounter that we are going to?"
"What do you mean, Aramis?"
"That the Place Royale is the termination to the main road to Vendomois, and nothing else."
"What! our friends?"
"Are become our most dangerous enemies, Athos. Let us be on our guard."
"Oh! my dear D'Herblay!"
"Who can say whether D'Artagnan may not have betrayed us to the cardinal? who can tell whether Mazarin may not take advantage of this rendezvous to seize us?"
"What! Aramis, you think that D'Artagnan, that Porthos, would lend their hands to such an infamy?"
"Among friends, my dear Athos, no, you are right; but among enemies it would be only a stratagem."

Needless to say, my heart bleeds when I read these things. As if these weren't enough, there are still more, and I put here another one, that hurts me more than the others, because it comes from the mouth of Athos, the dearest of all four to me.

Athos: (talking about D'Artagnan) "I saw him. He was in the front row of the crowd, admirably placed for seeing; and as on the whole the sight was curious, he probably wished to stay to the end."
D'Artagnan: "Ah Comte de la Fere, is it your habit to calumniate the absent?"
Athos: "I am not calumniating you, my friend. They were anxious about you here; I simply told them where you were. You didn't know King Charles; to you he was only a foreigner and you were not obliged to love him."
...
D'Artagnan: “Go, sir count. You see nothing to keep you a little longer in England? Well, for my part, I, a bloodthirsty ruffian, who can go and stand close to a scaffold, in order to have a better view of the king's execution—I remain.”

Nevertheless, I still love them all. As the story develops, it is shown more clearly that D'Artagnan is a smart and tricky person, Athos a mild but idealistic nobleman, Aramis a capricious and illegible half-abbe, and Porthos a strong and energetic friend. One last sentence: I encourage you to read it and see for yourself.

Saturday 11 August 2012

Weekend Quote #7


“Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man, who like Satan thought himself for an instant equal to God, but who now acknowledges with Christian humility that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom.”

Another quote from Monte Cristo. I think Dumas will dominate my blog this year. Let's save other authors for 2013.

This sentence is a part of the Count's letter to Maximillian, his last letter before returning to probably the East. The letter was brief, and mostly telling Morrel about his affection for him and his reason for his conducts towards the young man. He also informs Maximillian (goodness, what a long troublesome name to write) that he leaves some fortune for him as wedding gifts, which would make him a rich man, no doubt.

But the count only gives us two sentences about himself. The first is this weekend's quote. In all his conducts, in everything that he does as all other identities but Edmond Dantes, he always keeps that haughty air of a deity around him. For he says himself to Villefort this:

Yes, monsieur, I believe so; for until now, no man has found himself in a position similar to mine. The dominions of kings are limited either by mountains or rivers, or a change of manners, or an alteration of language. My kingdom is bounded only by the world... I have only two adversaries — I will not say two conquerors, for with perseverance I subdue even them,— they are time and distance. There is a third, and the most terrible — that is my condition as a mortal being... The rest I have reduced to mathematical terms. What men call the chances of fate — namely, ruin, change, circumstances — I have fully anticipated, and if any of these should overtake me, yet it will not overwhelm me. Unless I die, I shall always be what I am, and therefore it is that I utter the things you have never heard, even from the mouths of kings.

As proud as Satan himself indeed. And yet he says,

I have my pride for men... But I lay aside that pride before God, who has taken me from nothing to make me what I am.

The quote that I take today, reminds us all that there is something higher, wiser, and far more powerful than us, miserable human beings. And that He only is infallible, He only has the right to say, “I shall always be what I am,” because time changes everything, but He upon whom the time has no power.

That's my quote for the week. What's yours?
----------------------------------------------------------------

Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can:

  • Give the context of the quote
  • Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
  • Share your experience related to the quote
  • Share similar quotes you remember
  • Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.


Thursday 9 August 2012

To read, or not to read


To read, or not to read – that is the question. Whether it's better for the mind to suffer all tickling thoughts and curiosity, or to bear the pain of endless lamentation upon finding the end unhappy.

Enough of that. That's my problem in short. I am between my highest possible curiosity to know how the Four Inseparables fare, and the hesitation of finding out because I know the end would not be as I wish. As Shakespeare said:

Journey ends in lovers' meeting – and friends' adieu.

Alright, I made that up a little bit. But that's what exactly happens. There are only few things in the world I read before reading the synopsis, and d'Artagnan Romances are not in the group. So I know what will happen to them all, even though I haven't read the story. And since I hate sad ending, or sappy ending, or whatever you call it, I feel reluctant to read those books.

I've told you that I cried reading the Count of Monte Cristo, and the end is not sad. The same can be said for Robin Hood ballad. Reading about his death made me gloomy for days. Phantom of the Opera haunted me for weeks with its melancholy air. Aragorn's death, which I read in my Physics class, erased all the lecturer's words from my head. Sad ending is not for me.

Parting produces the same effect. Lord of the Rings is a good example. The more I read, the more close I am to the end, the more sad it makes me. Because I know they cannot stay together forever. They must part, at least by death. Even the Epilogue of The Three Musketeers grieves my heart deeply.

So how can I read two more?

And yet I force myself to read. I'm on Chapter 15 of Twenty Years After now, although the book is not on my Project List. If my heart must break, then it will break. After Twenty Years After, and a little fangirling, or weeping, I shall continue to The Man in the Iron Mask – if I have the heart to read it.

(I think tonight I will remain awake, and perhaps, finish the second book of the Romances.)

Character Thursday: Athos

I didn't believe in love at the first sight. And then there was Athos.

“You have sent for me, Sir,” said Athos to M. de Treville, in a feeble yet perfectly calm voice, “you have sent for me, as my comrades inform me, and I have hastened to receive your orders. I am here; what do you want with me?”

Thus he appeared, majestically, heroically, before M. De Treville. His being wounded to the point of dying makes his appearance even more commendable.

He's the oldest of the three, the most silent and the most grim. He even has a lackey, a man called Grimaud, whom Athos has “trained in his service in a thoroughly peculiar fashion,” that is to say, to serve without a sound. I even start to think that they communicate through telepathy.

Alright, to make this post more systematic, and easy to read, let me divide my impression in several little headings.

His looks

He is young, about 30, of “great personal beauty and intelligence of mind.” But of his mind we will talk later. He always makes sure his apparel is worthy of his being a Musketeer and a descendant of ancient nobles albeit he never pays much attention to his looks.

“He was of middle height; but his person was so admirably shaped and so well proportioned that more than once in his struggles with Porthos he had overcome the giant whose physical strength was proverbial among the Musketeers. His head, with piercing eyes, a straight nose, a chin cut like that of Brutus, had altogether an indefinable character of grandeur and grace. His hands, of which he took little care, were the despair of Aramis, who cultivated his with almond paste and perfumed oil. The sound of his voice was at once penetrating and melodious; and then, that which was inconceivable in Athos, who was always retiring, was that delicate knowledge of the world and of the usages of the most brilliant society — those manners of a high degree which appeared, as if unconsciously to himself, in his least actions.”

His personality

Matthew Macfayden as Athos
(The Three Musketeers 2011)
Athos is weird. Even his friends say so. As stated before, he scarcely talks, and talks only as much as he needs to say, no more. He trains his lackey to obey his gesture, and I can imagine his house as a very quiet silent place, with neither him nor Grimaud, his lackey, uttering a single word except very necessary.

But as a proverb in my country says, “Calm water sweeps away swifter still.” Athos silence hides many great qualities that any man would respect and envy at the same time.

First of all, he is brave. His courage is one of the greatest trait one should look in a Musketeer. He is always ready to fight, even when he is badly wounded, as you can see in the opening of this post. He is not afraid, even of the cardinal, upon whose heart he places a singular blow, when he is so desirous to safe a letter that compromises his friends, calmly said, “Monseigneur, the letter is a woman’s letter, but it is neither signed Marion de Lorme, nor Madame d’Aiguillon.” Both lady have love affairs with the cardinal.

This quality, combined with his brilliant mind, produces an excellent man in him. Athos, with his vast knowledge, deep wisdom, and clever strategy would flourish in his military career or anything he likes to choose to do. Still more, he qualifies to be one of the greatest comtes in France. He knows etiquette by heart, and no one can deceive him upon heraldry. I can assure you that both matters are so complex you don't even want to let me start babbling about both. (Now I remember that I still have some posts about coat-of-arms to do.) And the point that makes me love me even more: he understands Latin.

“If a repast were on foot, Athos presided over it better than any other, placing every guest exactly in the rank which his ancestors had earned for him or that he had made for himself. If a question in heraldry were started, Athos knew all the noble families of the kingdom, their genealogy, their alliances, their coats of arms, and the origin of them. Etiquette had no minutiae unknown to him. He knew what were the rights of the great land owners. He was profoundly versed in hunting and falconry, and had one day when conversing on this great art astonished even Louis XIII himself, who took a pride in being considered a past master therein. 
Like all the great nobles of that period, Athos rode and fenced to perfection. But still further, his education had been so little neglected, even with respect to scholastic studies, so rare at this time among gentlemen, that he smiled at the scraps of Latin which Aramis sported and which Porthos pretended to understand. Two or three times, even, to the great astonishment of his friends, he had, when Aramis allowed some rudimental error to escape him, replaced a verb in its right tense and a noun in its case. Besides, his probity was irreproachable, in an age in which soldiers compromised so easily with their religion and their consciences, lovers with the rigorous delicacy of our era, and the poor with God’s Seventh Commandment. This Athos, then, was a very extraordinary man.”

Some more things to say. He never borrows money, though he would lend money easily for his friends. He drinks, but rarely drunk. He doesn't have any mistress, something I find very honourable indeed. He has fatherly tender affection for the young d'Artagnan. He is certainly one of the most exemplary soldier.

His past

Nobody's perfect, and so is Athos. His excellent qualities would make him perfect if not for his dark demon that lives inside his soul. His friends notice that Athos dislike any discussion upon women, and at times, he would stay alone, undisturbed, in the corner of the room, drinking all by himself with a complexion that would move anyone to a mixture of pity and fear.

"Then the demigod vanished; he remained scarcely a man. His head hanging down, his eye dull, his speech slow and painful, Athos would look for hours together at his bottle, his glass, or at Grimaud, who, accustomed to obey him by signs, read in the faint glance of his master his least desire, and satisfied it immediately. If the four friends were assembled at one of these moments, a word, thrown forth occasionally with a violent effort, was the share Athos furnished to the conversation. In exchange for his silence Athos drank enough for four, and without appearing to be otherwise affected by wine than by a more marked constriction of the brow and by a deeper sadness"


It's Milady. Both of them are united in the middle of a secret that nobady knows, but those two. Because of that lady, Athos leaves his home, his land, and his title to become a humble musketeer. But, as Dumas believe, God is just. He doesn't leave unpunished those who commit sin deliberately.

So, can you imagine my face when I read his name on the page? Yes, rosy red. I bet the cardinal would love to give 20 of his best men for this man's service, and a hundred at least in exchange of the four in package. But for me, give me Athos, and do what you will with the rest.

Wait! Maybe, I'll take all four.

--------------------------


Character Thursday
Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).
- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.
- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.
- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :
1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.
2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.
3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.
3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.
4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik

Monday 6 August 2012

Classics Club August Meme: Favourite Classic


This is a meme held by The Classics Club, an awesome club dedicated to classic literature. As you may see from my blog, I love detective stories, adventure, and poetic works. “To love only one would be cruel to others,” for me, as Don Giovanni says in Mozart's opera. Difference is, he talks about women, I about authors. So let's see what I can do.

Favourite Adventure:

Look at my authors list, and you will see Dumas triumphs over others. Why? Simply because I love The Count of Monte Cristo so much. I read the simplified version first, when I was in Senior High, but because I love Faria so much I dashed to my computer and downloaded the ebook. I read it during my holiday and cried. I re-read it and re-read it again, just because I love how Monte Cristo speaks. Definitely my favourite this far.

Favourite Detective Story:

My favourite is the one and only Sherlock Holmes. As I have stated somewhere, he's my first contact with the past, I mean, with classics. His personality is so unique, or perhaps, annoying, that I can't help laughing everytime he mocks other people's stupidity. Among SH's novels, my favourite is perhaps The Valley of Fear, not only because it's thrilling, but perhaps because Sherlock finds himself a worthy collegue, Mr Douglas.

Favourite Children Story:

Does Christmas Carol counts as children story? If it is, then it is my favourite. It moves me to tears. I like to travel with Scrooge and observe as he remembers his past, reflects upon his present, and thinks about his future. The change that comes into his personality reminds us that somewhere inside everybody, there's good, that sometimes slumbers. We only need to shake the soul to wake it up.

Favourite Fantasy Story:

Lord of the Rings, of course. I can't find the right word to express how I feel about it. The details, the legends inside legends, the complexity of the story, the appendix, the languages, each with its own characteristics and alphabeth. I am almost convinced that the Middle-Earth really does exist somewhere here on earth. Once I even studied Sindarin just because I want to appreciate the effort Tolkien exerted to make it.

Favourite Romance:

Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera. It's a beautiful story that makes me cry. I watched the movie first, and lately read the novel for the Classics Club Challenge. I forget whether I cried or not the first time I watched the movie, but I cried the first time I read the novel, and then cried like a baby when I watched the musical. I know it doesn't end happily, but I love it.

Favourite Poem:

I am torn between Shakespeare's Sonnets, Venus and Adonis, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Neruda's 20 Love Poems and a Song of Despair. But I think I will take Shakespeare. His sonnets inspire the Muse in my heart, and only after reading his I was able to write my own sonnets. His vocabulary is unmatched. Perhaps his motto in writing is, “If you can't find the word, make it.”

Favourite non-Fiction Prose:

Milton's Areopagitica. You can find me babbling passionately about this work in the related review. Beautiful and strong language that expresses his thoughts precisely. I always envy those who can write in charming way, because I can't, naturally.

So, instead of choosing one, I have seven favourites here. Haha. Can't wait to read yours. 

Saturday 4 August 2012

The Three Musketeers: The Inseparables


I still can't believe I finished it in one night. It has been long since the last time I read anything without stopping. Thanks to the brilliant writer Dumas, I spent last night, without closing my eyes even for one second, reading The Three Musketeers ebook on my computer, blushing and smiling, even laughing as the story possessed me.

It is clear from my description, that I find the book very much interesting, and that this book, combined with the love I have for Monte Cristo, has placed Dumas among my favourite authors. I cannot deny that I didn't read it earlier because I was afraid that it might be less interesting than Monte Cristo, but an impulse made me read it anyway.

So, to the story. I will not bore my readers by relating things widely unknown. The story is so popular that even mentioning the names of the characters would be unnecessary. Therefore I will just write here the things that impresses me in the story.

I like how Dumas describes the friendship between the four. They would be a role model to any friendship. All four have different ideology, thoughts, and feelings, yet they are united as “four heads united in one heart”. It's touching to see how they trust each other, how they are ready to share all they have, to lay down their lives for the sake of their companions. Had Monte Cristo one of those honourable men as his friend, he would not give up upon humanity.

My favourite scenes from the book? Firstly, it is when the Duke of Buckingham confesses his love to the queen. I have to admit that I blushed like a pink rose as I read the chapter page by page. I almost pity him for such a foolish love, and even would love him if he didn't start a war only for the sake of showing off to the queen. (At least that's what the book implies, though I don't really believe that such a selfish motive would move the smart Duke to kill many of his compatriots in war.)

Second, when d'Artagnan travels to find his friends that he has left behind for the sake of fetching the queens diamond studs. It's funny to see how different the three musketeers are, and to peek into their personal lives. I laughed hard (in the middle of the night, remember) when I read about Aramis and his thesis, and how he tramples upon it the second he knows that his love is not lost.

Lastly, the breakfast at Bastion. Ha! Now that's brave, and very awesome. To think that they actually hold a council amidst the danger of the enemy, surrounded by the dead, and at last win despite being outnumbered, that's really awe-inspiring.
“Shall we return to the camp?” said Porthos. “I don’t think the sides are equal.”
“Impossible, for three reasons,” replied Athos. “The first, that we have not finished breakfast; the second, that we still have some very important things to say; and the third, that it yet wants ten minutes before the lapse of the hour.”

That's my impression after reading the book, and I believe I will write more about it in the future. I have already planned to use some of the characters from the book for my Character Thursdays. So adieu, my friends, or rather, au revoir.

Friday 3 August 2012

Reading Plan


I cannot find appropriate words to express how hard it is for me to choose which book to read among the 44 books I need to before 2017. I know that the Club holds an Austen event this month, but having no Austen among my list I cannot join the readalong, because I want to finish first my list before moving to other works (as much as I can, for I know how capricious my reading mood is, and sometimes I read other books anyway).

While waiting for Shakespeare's readalong on September, I'd like to finish a book or two from my list. Some books have arisen my curiosity, such as Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Goethe's Faust, but I still feel hesitant to try. So instead of forcing myself to read what I don't feel like reading now, I turn my attention to books from more familiar authors, and my heart chooses (again) Dumas.

Seeing two more books under his name on my list, The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask, I feel it would be amusing to read the series, considering how many adaptations have been inspired by the adventures related in those volumes. Some of the movie adaptations, though, show themselves contradicting each other, and it makes me even more curious to find the “true story” of our four musketeers.

I hope I will finish The Three Musketeers before the end of the month. The other novels can wait.

Thursday 2 August 2012

Character Thursday: Jim Hawkins


Following my thoughts about R L Stevenson's Treasure Island, I'd like to mention one of the characters, in fact, the main character, Jim Hawkins.

Jim is an ordinary good boy who lives in his parents inn. Everything is normal for him until an old sailor (who later turns out to be a pirate) comes and stay in that inn. As the story develops he has to leave his homeland in search of Flint's treasure,

In the novel, Jim is the narrator of the story. As a narrator, he does his job well. He doesn't very much talk about his feelings but focuses on how the story develops. In that sense, sometimes we as readers forget that he's there as a part of the story, especially after a long, long description of events.

Character-wise, Jim is more quiet than most of the main characters I've experienced before. He is a good, obedient boy at a time, but later he shows himself as a courageous, smart boy who is also ready to sacrifice himself on behalf of his friends. These qualities even impress the terrible Captain Silver, who at last joins his side.

As I said before, though, Jim is not a stereotype novel hero who is better than other characters in the story. On the contrary, Jim is not braver than most of his friends such as Trelawney, Livesey, or Smollet, and not a better fighter than most of the pirate crews. But there's something in him that is so likeeable to all of us. He makes us feel that even an ordinary boy can do brave and honourable things just like great heroes in history.

The scene I love best? When he steals the ship Hispaniola, alone. That's really something. And also the scene with Silver and his crews.

“Well,” said I, “I am not such a fool but I know pretty well what I have to look for. Let the worst come to the worst, it’s little I care. I’ve seen too many die since I fell in with you. But there’s a thing or two I have to tell you,” I said, and by this time I was quite excited; “and the first is this: here you are, in a bad way — ship lost, treasure lost, men lost, your whole business gone to wreck; and if you want to know who did it — it was I!.. And as for the schooner, it was I who cut her cable, and it was I that killed the men you had aboard of her, and it was I who brought her where you’ll never see her more, not one of you. The laugh’s on my side; I’ve had the top of this business from the first; I no more fear you than I fear a fly. Kill me, if you please, or spare me. But one thing I’ll say, and no more; if you spare me, bygones are bygones, and when you fellows are in court for piracy, I’ll save you all I can. It is for you to choose. Kill another and do yourselves no good, or spare me and keep a witness to save you from the gallows.”

To think that a boy actually says that in front of Captain Silver and all his crew. Whew!

So that's my Character this week. Who's yours?

------------------------------------------------
Character Thursday
Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).
- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.
- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.
- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :
1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.
2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.
3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.
3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.
4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik