Folks,
Note: After posting this, I saw Ayesha's extremely well done post above. There is of course a lot of overlap between the two - great minds thinking alike and all that jazz!😉.
In fact, I had included a long section in my marathon post for Episode 125 , Alexander does a Holmes on his attitude towards the Persian ladies, which I am pasting below for ease of reference.
Alexander is perfectly genuine in his attitude to Darius' family after Issus. He feels good about having been kind and compassionate towards them, whereas Darius had abandoned them to his mercy. In response to his honourable behaviour, he expects that they should, even if they cannot adjust to their change of fortune in a day-- what he tells Barsine above hints at a certain measure of empathy and compassion for what has happened to them all of a sudden - at least shed their fear of him, and accept him at face value.
If they had done this, and come at least some of the way to meet him, he would have continued to treat them with consideration. He would not have mocked Darius in front of them as he does now; remember that he calls him the Shah-e-Faras when they meet in the tent'
And while his response to Darius' offer would have been the same, he would not have humiliated Barsine & Co. by rubbing their noses in it.
But things start going wrong at the meeting with the populace itself. As discussed above, Alexander is now sure that Barsine is in league with a Bharatiya, and is planning to run away with his help. And Barsine is silent and sullen towards his overtures, and in general all the Persian royal ladies are frozen, standoffish and seem petrified at the sight of him. No wonder he gets cheesed off , and then there is Barsine's secret as well.
Alexander can be generous and compassionate, and in their case he wants to be so, but he cannot bear to be crossed. This plotting against him by Barsine, when he has been so good to all of them, turns the kaleidoscope upside down as far as he is concerned, and he becomes a mocking, sarcastic, inquisitorial and almost threatening doppelganger of his old self.
Coming back to Ayesha's very perceptive post, I do not feel that Alexander wanted Barsine to fall for him. I do not think he was at all interested in women from that point of view. What he wanted, methinks, was appreciation and gratitude. And when he got the opposite, and the Puru factor surfaced as another and acute irritant, he just flipped, and by now, he is near sadistic towards her.
Shyamala Aunty
Here is my original post intended for this thread.
One more point.
Alexander is not angry towards Porus because of Barsine. After what the Pauravengers did to Alexander's forces (and what was worse, his horses😭), and what Porus did to him personally, not to speak of Puru's magniloquent announcement that he is the rakshak about whom the High Priestess had warned Olympias, he does not need any further reason to be enraged at the very thought of Porus.
Nor is he angry with Barsine only because she called Porus to Persia and then (God knows how, for I am sure the CVs don't!😆) helped Porus and his gang wreak havoc in the Macedonian camp.
I think what he resents the most, maybe only subconsciously, is the lack of appreciation on the part of Barsine & Co, of his generous gesture in promising them full protection and assuring them that their royal status and privileges would be preserved.
If Sisygambis had been there, her abundant and demonstrative affection for Alexander - she is said to have cooked delicacies with her own hands and fed him - would have made him purr contentedly like a sleek, pampered lion cub with its mamma. But Barsine & Co,, far from feeling grateful to him for his consideration, freeze at the very sight of him, and generally behave as if he was something nasty that had crawled out from under a stone.😡
No wonder he is enraged, and on top of it, the hungama created by Puru & Co. adds fuel to the fire of his smouldering resentment. As Barsine is of course the culprit in chief, so his fury is focussed on her. He seeks every possible means of humiliating her, and after her waalid and the fate he intends for him, Porus is the next best stick to poke her with.
Alexander is no slouch at observation and deduction, and it is clear to him that Barsine has a ver y sort corner for Porus, and maybe she even loves him. So naturally his jibes at Barsine are now Porus-centric, as he tries his best to get a rise out of her.
But to no avail, for Ms. Suet Pudding will defeat the most astute and infuriating of provokers. Nothing can touch her. Yesternight, there was no horror in her eyes when she saw Darius' head. And her wail of Abbu! will probably be used in acting schools as an illustration of how not to do that scene.😆
I am sure that pretty soon, with Roxana now on the scene, the bitterness and rage now festering in Alexander's psyche will be leached out, and he will lose interest in humiliating Barsine. But last night, his gesture in tossing the head near the Persian ladies, and his subsequent remark to Barsine, were sadistic, and despite all that she had done against them, were unworthy of him.
Shyamala Aunty
Originally posted by: sashashyam
Superbly argued, my dear. Dil khush kar diya tumne.👏 I don't know what you do professionally, but if you are not a political analyst, you are a signal loss to that fraternity.
It all goes to show that not even Alexander Holmes can get it right without all the data.
This said, Barsine clearly has a crush on Puru, but she is such a suet pudding that there is no chance of an intriguing love triangle there.
Shyamala Aunty
Edited by sashashyam - 7 years ago
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