Folks,
No, I have not lost it! This title is a riff on a line from Mark Antony's very famous Friends, Romans, countrymen.. oration, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Those of you who studied English literature, or are Shakespeare aficionadas, will recognize the original line instantly: For Brutus is an honourable man! Of course Antony, while repeating this line many times during his highly inflammatory speech to the Roman populace, means the opposite of what he says about Brutus, and it is in the same context that my title should be taken.
Is Alexander honourable?: Thus far, the answer to this question would be Yes. Alexander has a strict personal code of honour that he sticks to regardless. As he tells Darius at their first encounter at Issus: Alexander peeth par vaar nahin karta. Wo seedhe seedhe, dushman ki aankhon mein aankhein dalke, uske seene se uska dil nikaal leta hai!
He keeps his promises to Queen Ada of Caria.
He meets Darius is face to face battles and defeats him; he does not try to poison him or send mercenaries to assassinate him. Nor, despite having a much smaller army than the Persian one, does he send agents to secretly destroy the Persian armoury or munitions (unlike our fictional Porus. The real one would never have done any such thing).
He treats the captured Persian royal ladies, whom Darius had abandoned to their fate, with respect and looks after them well to begin with, changing to a hostile, sarcastic, mocking avatar only after he sees how Barsine, far from being at least grateful for his being compassionate and kind towards them, has been actively plotting against him with his adversary, Porus.
Given this impeccable track record, the Friday episode no. 134 presents us with a conundrum. How could Alexander, having accepted the hospitality of Shah Bessus in his palace, suddenly whip out a khanjar and throw it at his host (past two of the assiduously undulating females; I was astonished at the accuracy of Alexander's aim, for he could easily have hit one of the dancers!đ) with such deadly force that he expires in short order?
Conduct unbecoming: It was a clear an egregious violation of all the canons of kingly conduct, or indeed that of a warrior. Bessus was unarmed, he had been lulled into a false sense of security by Alexander's acceptance of his invitation, and the serene mien with which he received Bessus' obsequious greetings to the duniya ke sab se taaqatwar Shah.
If Alexander was not effusive, nor did he even smile while accepting Bessus' compliments, that was in line with the behaviour of the CEO of a firm when he visits a provincial branch, which is usually a mix of condescension and slight approval. There was absolutely nothing to warm Bessus about what was coming.
Even earlier, when Roxanne had displayed the grisly tohfa to Alexander, his face, which she studied with great attention, was still and mask-like. Not a muscle moved, and he did not betray any feeling. Now, he had even confirmed to Bessus that he, and his entourage, had all liked the tohfa. Then, all of a sudden, like a bolt from the blue on a clear, cloudless day, came the coup de grace, that stretched Bessus on the ground in mortal agony, blood frothing at his lips.
Alexander was, after the battle of the Issus, the overlord of the whole of the Persian empire. He could have had Bessus tried and sentenced to death for the murder of Darius III, for regicide, as Darius had been his master till Issus (which was what actually happened). Why then did Alexander short-circuit this process and kill Bessus with his own hands, that too in what could only be called a deceitful manner unworthy of a king, not to speak of the emperor Alexander now was?
Cold rage: I can think of only one answer. Alexander hated traitors with a white hot hatred. What he tells the dying Bessus, his eyes lit up with icy contempt, shows how deep was the anger he felt.
Alexander aise logon se rishta nahin rakhta jinhein gaddar aur wafadaar mein koyi faraq maloom nahin hai. Wafadaar se ahem koyi nahin hota, aur gaddaar se aimakh kuch nahin hota. Darius mera dushman tha, magar tumhara dost tha! Alexander's voice and eyes alike spit fire. Usne mujhse bachne ke liye tumhare pas panah li, aur tumne apne aap ko bachaane ke liye usi ka qatl kar diya?
Jo apne dost ka qatl kar sakta hai, wo kal apne fayde ke liye mujh par bhi vaar kar sakta hai. Aur dagabaazon ke liye na meri fauj mein koyi jagah hai, na hi mere dil mein!
At which point, Bessus, with a fine sense dramatic timing, breathed his lastđ. Alexander rose to his feet, moved over to Oxyartes, and appointed him the hukumran of Bactria, of course to rule in accordance with the hukum of Alexander.đ
The point to be noted is that Alexander judges men according to an inflexible standard of loyalty to the overlord. He means every word of what he says to the dying Bessus, and every word he utters is true. He values loyalty above all else, and hates disloyalty above all else. No matter how good a man and ruler Bessus was otherwise - and Alexander has no idea of this at that point of time - in Alexander's eyes he is a traitor to his overlord, and once a traitor always a traitor. So Bessus has to pay the penalty for his treason, even if the treason was towards a man who was Alexander's enemy.
Also, Alexander must have felt very bad about Darius, who was after all of royal blood and an emperor, being treated like a sacrificial goat, in a most demeaning manner, and this must have heightened his anger against Bessus.
That, and Bessus thinking that Alexander would accept a deal based on treachery. An anger that needed to be quenched at once, and preferably personally, without waiting for a trial.
So, do we still rate Alexander as honourable after all? I would, but I would also be greatly interested in your views on this point.
Game plan to win Roxana over?: Some here have seen this as the main reason of Alexander wanting to get rid of Bessus and replace him with Oxyartes. This does not seem to me to hold much water. Alexander could have effected this change without any need to kill Bessus for that. He was the boss , and he could decide, and enforce, anything he liked. Bessus could have been exiled and Oxyartes put in his place.
But Alexander wants to execute Bessus for his treachery towards Darius, and for imagining that he, Alexander, would have gone along with such a demeaning plan. This is the real reason, rooted in a surging inner rage that needs instant quenching.
Rohit's tour de force: The whole sequence of 13 minutes was a marvellous display of impeccable body language by Rohitđ. The unhurried, straight-backed walk, the barest of nods when acknowledging Bessus' fulsome words of welcome, the relaxed air while sitting and watching the jashn in progress, the direct but casual way in which Alexander moves across the hall to talk to Roxanne, the calm but inflexible stance, like a cold and unforgiving god of justice, with which he looks down at the dying Bessus.
Then there was the way he used his eyesđ. A hint of a smile when Alexander says that he and his entourage were all pleased with Bessus' tohfa. Still and unreadable while he watches the dancers, and then again when, standing beside Roxanne, he looks across at Bessus. Again veiled and inscrutable when he is telling Roxanne that he has kept his waada to her, that he would come to the palace. Full of cold fury as he tells Bessus exactly why he met such a fate. Alexander's jawline is then taut with anger, though his voice never rises above a monotone.
A new aspect of Alexander: During the tete a tete with Roxanne that follows, Alexander is more gentle and accommodating than we have seen him hitherto with someone not of his inner circle. It might seem bizarre and unfeeling that he expects Roxanne to be happy at the sudden elevation of her father and herself, at the expense of Bessus (I deliberately do not say at the expense of Bessus' life, because that, for Alexander, is a punishment for Bessus' treachery and the regicide he committed, which need not have anything to do with Oxyartes' elevation).
But this is not so strange or unfeeling as it seems to us, for in most such regime changes in those days, and much later as well, the high officials of the former ruler simply adapted to the new one, no matter how the transfer of power took place, unless of course they were fired or executed. Moreover, till she tells him so, Alexander does not know that Bessus was, in Roxanne's eyes, a very good man and a very benevolent ruler who had done a lot for his people, and one who was very azeez for her.
So he explains to her, with unprecedented patience, that there are two sides to every act, which might be good for some and bad for others. Finally, each person gets what is due to him, and in the cases of Shah Bessus, it was death. When she insists that she and her father are equally culpable in the matter, he again tries to make her understand that whether in success or failure, the buck stops with the top man, sahi, galat, sab kuch.. Keemat to Bessus ko chukani thi.
The change of mood: On both sides, that is.
Till now, Alexander has - though without letting go of his regal persona, which is here expertly blended with the unfamiliar ardour of a lover - exerted himself to an extraordinary extent to make Roxanne understand him. But when she is inflexible and, refusing to accept the logic of his words , wants to go away, his patience runs out. Exasperation sets in, and the imperious Alexander surfaces. He stops her from leaving by grasping her hand, and tells her that he was not interested in her mizaaz, but only wanted to know if Bactria ki nayi shehzaadi mujhse shaadi karne tayyar hai?
Till now, she was not aware of this tremendous new hold that she had on him. She saw him only as someone who could, if he so chose, destroy Bactria, and her anger at what he had done was tempered and controlled by this realization. Now she sees that she can risk a lot more without any fear of retaliation, and then follows the whiplash of her refusal, which is, in its way, as cutting as the one with which Elizabeth Bennet turned down Darcy's proposal in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
So Alexander, who lets go of her hand at once, is left looking at his own as she sashays off (I detest these slo mo movements. Why can't people move normally in Porus?đĄ ). The expression in his eyes is inimitable. It is not dukh, as some here have speculated, nor even crushing disappointment. It is a rather a blend of shock at what this girl thinks of him and a mounting exasperation that she could dare treat him in this fashion. It remains to be seen what he does next.
Mills and Boon nonsense: As for me, I was only surprised that Alexander asked Roxanne if she would marry him. Kings in those days did not propose to their future wives, and definitely not to women whose status in life was so much below their own.
We must also remember that he was an emperor by now, not even just a king, and she was a nobody. Any ruler of Alexander's stature, whether he was in love with the girl or merely wanted her, would simply have had a message sent to her father that he wanted to marry her, and that would have been it. Even if he had not threatened to destroy Bactria if his desire was not fulfilled, both Oxyartes and Roxana would have assumed that the threat existed, and even she would have caved in.
All this stuff they showed is Mills and Boon nonsense.
Roxanne: Olympias Junior: Many here might feel, like Inlieu, that "she is bold and brave, but not heartless and insensitive (at least, not yet). That her emotions are her strength, and goodness knows what she'll do to get back at Alexander once she gets over her grief".
My take on Roxana is very different. To me, she is as hard as nails. Remember that it is she who proposes to Bessus and her father that Darius, an asylum seeker in Bessus' court and his former overlord, should be slaughtered in cold blood and his head presented to Alexander in order to save Bessus' skin, and of course her own and that of her father .
That was like Medea, one of the most violent of the female characters in Greek drama and mythology. Very few women would be able to do what Roxana does without any squeamishness, and Roxana does it with the calm detachment of a Mafia foot soldier!đ˛ This is not bravery, it is total amorality, and this no matter what kind of person Darius was.
In short, she is Olympias Junior, and no wonder the original Olympias liked her! She is now going to try and murder Alexander, definitely once and perhaps twice.
Alexander the besotted lover?: I am sure that many here would now expect Alexander to think of ways of wooing this porcupine of a femaleđ, and trying to find out what she wants in a man. The very prospect of this appalls me.đĄ
This is the problem with falling in love; your grey cells go on vacation! đ Does Alexander think of the qualities he should look for in a wife? No, for he is besotted, and he ends up marrying a woman who will later murder his two other wives and probably an unborn child of his, once he was dead, without any hesitation. If Alexander had thought about it dispassionately, I wonder if he would have really wanted a wife so like his mother! đ
My ultimate nightmare is a script that details how "Roxana ne Alexander ko bereham qatil aur jallad/ haivaan se banaya insaan"? Medea reforming Jason (the chap who ran off with the Golden Fleece)? Or Siddharth Tewary being "inspired " by Ekta Kapoor's Jodha Akbar?
Ugh.. Any time they start that, I am out of watching this show, not to speak of analysing it. Which might not be such a bad thing for all of us!đ
My usual request: Please hit the Like button if you find this interesting. Comments would be most welcome.
Shyamala Aunty
NB: The real Bessus was the Achaemenid (name of the Persian dynasty and empire) satrap (governor) of Bactria and Sogdiana under King Darius III In 330 BC, after Alexander had defeated Darius at Gaugamela (about which we didn't even get a voice over!), Bessus murdered Darius and proclaimed himself the new Persian emperor as Artaxerxes IV. He then attempted to continue resistance against Alexander in the eastern part of the empire, but was captured, and executed for his regicide.
But of course this straightforward script would not do for our CVs. Moreover, they wanted to save money by skipping the battle of Gaugamela, which is universally rated as a triumph of Alexander's military genius. đ˛
Anupamaa
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