Fair is foul, foul is fair

One of the main themes in Macbeth can be summed up in this phrase - Fair is foul, foul is fair. I believe it was uttered by the witches in the play, who somehow remind me of The Furies (of Greek mythology fame). Basically, it translates to the common English 'peribahasa' of 'Don't judge a book by its cover', albeit in a slightly more convulated manner.

In Macbeth, the valiant hero returning from the war ends up murdering his king. Why? 'Cause these witches prophecised that the day shall come when Macbeth is crowned king. Having had this thought planted in his mind,he endeavours to make that dream a reality, thus completing a self-fulfilled prophecy.

He is helped in no small part by his scheming wife, who belittles her darling husband when conscience catches up with him. To cut a long story short, Macbeth becomes king, only to discover that things aren't exactly what he made them out to be. At the end, after taking further advice from the witches that proved to be quite misleading, he gets beheaded by his own people who were once in awe of him. This, of course, happens after he lost his mind and his wife committed suicide. Isn't shakespeare wonderful?

So, there are 3 main points in which the phrase above comes to mind. Firstly, don't trust someone unless you know him/her well. After all, that innocent looking girl with huge brown eyes could very well be the next Cruella de Ville. Secondly,don't trust people wholeheartedly, even after they've provided you with good news. There was a line in the play about how the devil tempts you with the truth, only to lead you astray further down the line. And finally, the grass ain't always greener on the other side. After attaining the power that they sought for so long, they realised that that power comes with a downside - namely, insecurity and an attack of conscience. Conscience is such a drag, is it not? You want to whack or tell someone off, and suddenly a little voice says 'KEsian dier...'

Anyways, those were the main thoughts that occured to me as I watched Macbeth this afternoon. Not the way one should be celebrating raya, but what the heck... it was a good performance! Much better than Hamlet, and the on-stage effects were pretty cool too, for lack of a better word! One can't help but admire Shakespeare...centuries on, his works still go on strong. And although the plots themselves are pretty way up there, I just love the way he strings words together. Comparable to any piece by Beethoven. One can just sit there and stare in awe as the actors lay out their symphony of words. If only I have but a slice of his talent!

Got back from Carlisle last night, itching to finally be able to see Sweetie online via her webcam. Switched my laptop on, only to discover that the internet has been disconnected. I probably stared at the 'Can't Find Server' page for a good minute, before trying to reconnect again and again in what turned out to be a rather futile endeavour. After banging my head a few times against the table, I decided to proceed to the med school, where a lecture was due to take place regarding our exams.

In summary, I'm scared shit about my long case assessment. This is primarily due to the fact that I didnt' actually know what it would entail, and heck, ignorance is bliss. Another thing I didn't particularly enjoy was meeting all those medics. Jo purposely didn't show up for it bcause of that, even though she actually won a prize for her poster (hooray Jo!). But i know what she means... I can't really get along with people who are too medicky. People who talk about medicine all the time (I have to admit I do talk about medicine quite a lot, but I do attempt to indulge myself in non-medical talk too!), people who act all elitist on others because they think they are in a different plane of existence...can't stand them. Rase nak sepak je muka diorang.

On that note, I shall go eat some of Elly's jam tarts now. Sedap...