Antonys Remark Mischief Thou Art Afoot Take Thou What Courses Thou Wilt Shows Him to Be
"Mischief, g art afoot!"
By CNS
The present political chaos or the "constitutional crunch" is as well complex for us "poor mortals" to understand. The electric current confusion and all its complexities, its fury and mire, are not at all easy to grasp and make sense of purely with a careful reading of explanations at printing conferences, in communiqués and Tv discourses or of interpretations in political commentaries and newspaper editorials. Statements or letters from the international community -Richard Armitage, Colin Powell, et al.- are non helpful, either. The contemporary Sri Lankan "crisis" defies analysis because it does not autumn inside "the parameters" (whatever that means) of any political theory or moral ethic.
Then, where shall we look? Look for a "image shift" (whatever that also means) through a 4-hundred-twelvemonth-quondam four-word sentence: "Mischief, thou fine art afoot." These are portentous words that William Shakespeare put into the mouth of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, a play total of conspiracy and potential revolution.
In early November last year iii key cabinet portfolios were wrested from the grasp of the Prime Government minister, who was abroad meeting the President of the world's super power. That was not as bad as in some African countries where the head of state, when he was abroad attending a meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), returned home only to find that he had been removed from power in a coup.
Mark Antony's words may have found resonance in our state: "At present allow it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. Accept thousand what course thou wilt." These are words Antony spoke in soliloquy, after his funeral oration over the expressionless torso of Julius Caesar. The citizens had left with the torso. Soliloquies in Shakespeare's plays lay bare the heart of the speaker, his innermost thoughts, his mind. These words reflect the harsh political realities of our time.
The form that the "most unkindest cut of all" after ii years of promise and warlessness is taking may exist "bound in shallows and in miseries". The henduwa (goad) has gone, leaving the mahout insufficient. This is one mode to look at the situation; another way, we are told, is that the henduwa, the portfolio of Defence, is not an indispensable tool for peace talks or economic growth or stability or investor confidence. The pot of rice that was on the fire has been smashed, the Prime Government minister says. And, those who did not support the peace initiative are, ironically, now restless that information technology has been stalled. Ambiguity and dissension are rife. On the one paw, in that location is talk of "regaining Sri Lanka"; on the other, "resurrecting Sri Lanka". The crux of the matter is that "mischief is afoot".
Mischief, among all other similar concepts, is the one that seems to best describe our predicament, for equally Octavius tells Antony: "And some that smile have in their hearts, I fright/ Millions of mischiefs". "Mischiefs", which nosotros learnt in school was an uncountable noun, in Shakespearian linguistic communication simply means "harmful thoughts". The smile incidentally was also a word in Hamlet, where "Oh villain, villain, grin damned villain!…That 1 may smile, and smiling and be a villain", casts doubts on what lies beneath a smile. Could it be "some ill offence within (the) mind"?
It is not but the political scene that smacks of "mischief". There is "mischief" everywhere: in 5 star hotels and nightclubs, and above all, in courts of police force, where "dark poetic justice" is meted out to criminals brought to justice; " in divisional secretariats, where divisional secretaries are assaulted past MPs, and equally a result hospitalized; in churches, which are stoned and bombed and destroyed and also in temples, where incumbent priests are grievously assaulted by Pradeshiya Sabha members; in v-star hotels and discotheques where the sons of the powerful crusade "grievous hurt" to relatives of other powerful people. "Murder most foul" is everywhere every bit the criminal offence charge per unit rises.
The guarded whispers heard in nooks and corners, cartoon rooms and lobbies, street corners and double-decker halts besides smack of mischief of the type hatched by the conspirators in Julius Caesar. Mischief is truly afoot.
Shakespeare is intimately relevant to the Sri Lankan scene. In fact, it has ever been, for Shakespeare is timeless. Our leaders, "proud men, dressed in a piffling cursory authorisation" since and before independence from British dominion are replicas of Shakespearian kings; their followers are replicas of the Roman mob, swayed past demagogy and roused by rhetoric.
The Roman mob is correct hither in Colombo and everywhere -waving flags, shouting slogans, pasting posters, threatening to commit suicide through hunger strikes, organizing commotion and promoting chaos, waving our red weapons o'er our heads. "Cry Havoc and allow slip the dogs of war."
What of the vast throngs that lined the route from the Airport to Colombo and "pressed upon him" during the Prime number Minister'south nine-60 minutes journeying to "Temple Trees"? That is another kind of Roman mob. What of the devotees clad in white that lined the streets bedecked with saffron flags and queued for hours to pay their last respects to Soma Hamuduruwo?
That is another kind of Roman mob. What of the crowds that mind to the insurrectionists of yesteryear at their well-orchestrated public rallies? What of the crowds that stand spell-leap by the hate for the Prime number Minister that an former insurgent'due south rabble-rousing orations ooze with, resembling the blustering defiant acrimony of Cassius? That is another kind of Roman mob. Remember of all the people who walked from Galle to Colombo and from Kandy to Colombo to "salvage the motherland". That also is a mob. Mobs are not in curt supply in our state.
For a while, the Prime Minister flitting from one capital to some other, building a rubber internet out of the international community, looked as if "he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus" and "grown so great". Cassius'southward question to Brutus: "Why should that name be sounded more than yours?" may have been asked about the Prime Minister by "piffling men", "underlings", whose "fault is not in (their) stars but in (themselves)". Have all the triumphs at the international level - back up and adept will, mega dollars of aid and solidarity from friends "to grapple to the soul with hoops of steel" -"shrunk to this little measure"?
Boldness for the Roman Senate is reflected in the current disdain for our Parliament and the will of the people. "The will, the will", which the Roman populace wanted revealed is like the secret oath taken without an iota of regard for the people's correct to know what's happening at the highest levels of government. The nation waited for several weeks to know the truth since honor-winning young journalist Ranjit Ananda Jayasinghe in a Dominicus Times front folio headline told the country of a surreptitious swearing-in ceremony. Those weeks were like the several minutes of waiting during and after Antony's oration before the mob was told about the will of Julius Caesar. "The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins Remorse from power."
Amid the feigned friendship with those who murdered her husband, isn't there a widow among us who would soliloquize: "O pardon me, chiliad bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers?" while an elaborate handshaking ("Shaking the encarmine fingers of thy foes") takes identify in a majestic memorial hall built in memory of a great father? Isn't there a Cassius somewhere with "a lean and hungry await" and "dangerous" who is request," What compact mean yous to have with us?" And, we heard on Television receiver a one-time insurrectionist describe the onus of the "celebrated brotherhood" of January 20, 2004 equally a "poojaneeya karthavya" (hallowed and sacred task) -" a dish fit for the gods".
The words of a soldier Marcellus (in Hamlet) - "Something is rotten in the country of Denmark"- must truly be true of Sri Lanka, where "sentence has fled to brutish beasts, And men accept lost their reason." A citizen says in response to Mark Antony's oration, "I fear there will be a worse come up in his identify." This is a proverbial expression meaning that all change is for the worse.
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Source: https://www.sundaytimes.lk/040125/plus/4.htm
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