Florante at Laura

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"Florante at Laura" by Francisco Baltazar (also known as Balagtas) is one of the masterpieces of Philippine literature. Florante at Laura is an abbreviation of the actual title which is: Pinagdaanang Buhay Nina Florante at Laura sa Kahariang Albanya: Kinuha sa Madlang Cuadro historico o pinturang nagsasabi sa mga nangyari nang unang panahon sa imperyo ng Gresya, at tinula ng isang matuwain sa bersong Tagalog. (The Life Story of Florante and Laura in the Kingdom of Albania: culled from historical accounts and paintings which describe what happened in ancient Greece, and written by one who enjoys Tagalog verse.)

It is called an "Awit", which to the layman means "a song". The Florante and Laura has 339 stanzas. In truth, the Awit is a poetic form which, in Florante at Laura, had the following characteristics:

1. 4 lines/stanza;

2. 12 syllables/line;

3. a rhyme scheme of AAAA (in the Tagalog manner of rhyming described by Jose Rizal in Tagalische Verskunst);

4. a slight pause on the sixth syllable;

5. each stanza is usually a complete grammatically-correct sentence;

6. each stanza is full of figures of speech (according to Fernando Monleon, Balagtas used 28 types in 395 instances throughout the poem);

7. the author is usually anonymous;

8. among others.

[edit] Plot

Most part of the song are the narration of the story of Florante ; the actual events after his story comprises only a few chapters of the epic.

The story begins with Florante, the main protagonist who lived in the land of Albania, tied to a tree. He laments over the loss of his father, Duke Briseus and suspects that his love, Laura is cheating on him for his enemy, Adolfo has finally seduced her to his evil. Suddenly, two lions approaches to kill him, but he is saved by a Muslim from Persia, Aladdin. Thankful, Florante tells the story of how he got there, starting from his childhood.

When he was just 11 years old, his parent sent him to Athens, Greece to study. There, he met Adolfo, son of Count Silenus. At that time, Adolfo was known as the greatest student in their school, but after 6 years of studying, Florante managed to excel and exceed Adolfo's capabilities, talents and intelligence, therefore became popular and recognized as the greatest student in their school, replacing Adolfo. Adolfo took his defeat very personally. Since then, he became very mad at Florante.

One day, at their school play, Florante and Adolfo was supposed to have a mock fight for the play but, Adolfo took this very seriously and was about to strike Florante with his sword, but Menandro was able to save Florante just in time. On the same day, Adolfo was forced to go back to Albania, his homeland. After a year, Florante received a letter from his father, Duke Briseus, telling him that his mother, Princess Floresca, has died.

After 2 months, another letter was sent to Florante, telling him that he need to come back home. Menandro didn't want to be separated from Florante, so he decided to accompany him. By coincidence, when Florante came back to his homeland, the king of Krotona, went to Albania to ask for help because of the incoming war with the Persians.

Inside the palace, Florante met Laura, the daughter of King Linceus, King of Albania.

Coming to the aid of Crouton, Florante fought with General Osmalik for 5 hours, where the opponent dies. He stayed in Crouton for 5 months before coming back to Albania, to see Laura. He was surprised when he saw another flag waving in the air at the top of the palace , the flag of the Persians. He pursued the palace, claimed Albania from the Persians and saved Duke Briseo, Adolfo, Laura, and King Linceo.

When Florante was in Etolia, a letter was sent to him, asking if he could go back to his homeland. He did go and received a surprise attack of 30,000 soldiers. He was thrown in the palace prison for 18 days, coming from the orders of Adolfo. It was there he learned about the fate of his father and the king. They were beheaded, all because of Adolfo. He was then thrown into the forest and tied him to an acacia tree.

Florante details his relationship with his lover, Laura. Adolfo was jealous of Florante and arranged him to be killed. Aladin tells Florante that he too, is in similar circumstances--his own father, Sultan Ali-Adab, also deposed Aladin from power, separating him from his beloved Flerida, so that he can marry her.

In a remarkable coincidence, when Flerida was finding her beloved Aladin in the forest, she happens to save Laura from Adolfo, who was attempting to rape her by shooting an arrow to Adolfo's back, just as Aladin saved Florante. Florante and Laura return to their home country, Albania, and became the king and queen. Aladin and Flerida are baptized, and they return to Persia to become the next rulers there after Aladin's despotic father dies.