"Dear Vishnu,
I'm hoping you never read this letter because that would mean that I am dead and that Shuka has done his job. But since you are reading this, I must, for some very odd and deceitful reason, be dead. Anyways, since I am now dead, I hope that you can forgive me for all my wrong doings. I know that I have done some horrendous things to you and for that I apologize from the bottom of my dead heart. Kidnapping Sita, capturing Hanuman, tricking Sita into thinking you were dead, spying on your army, making Indrajit fight my battles for me and dying on my behalf, etc. Karma has clearly ran it's course since I am now dead. I know that I have caused many deaths and a magnitude of grief and sorrow to people everywhere, but I am now repenting for my sins. I am sorry for all of this Vishnu. Please do yourself a favor and take Sita back. She is innocent. I am not going to lie, I tried numerous times to seduce her and urged her to give in to me, but she refused. She is loyal to you, and you only. She loves you more than she loves herself and you deserve to be happy with the beautiful and charming Sita. Take her Vishnu. Go retrieve her from the Ashoka Grove where I have trapped her and claim her as yours once again. Do not make the mistake of losing the woman that would abandon the world for you.
Your dearest,
Ravana"
Rama finishes the letter, scoffs, and rips it into shreds. Who does Ravana think he is? Trying to guilt trip him into liking him or feeling bad for him? Ravana deserved to die. Ravana had caused so much chaos and misery in his life that his fate had been written for him a long time ago. Rama knew exactly what Ravana's intentions were and was not falling for his sick twisted plan for even one second. Rama looked up at the small crowd gathered around him while he was reading the letter, laughed out loud, and said, "Go, go, I do not care what all this means."
The golden envelope that Shuka delivers to Rama
(Image Information: Photo retrieved from Golden Envelope)
Author's Note: I wrote this story with the purpose of conveying Rama's thoughts as he read Ravana's letter. The most important changes in this story were the contents of the letter. I kept the ending the same with Rama kind of blowing off the letter that Ravana wrote to him.
You seem to have changed the whole spirit of this part of the story by your approach which is not a bad thing. In Buck's version, this scene played out with a different tone. In R.K.'s version Ravana attitude toward Rama seems to fit with your version of the story, though I think Rama in both versions seemed more forgiving but I could be wrong. Still by Rama tearing up the note and throwing it down and saying what he said in your version, I think you have done a very good job of capturing the Karma aspect of the story so good job.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you retold this story and changed certain aspects to make it your own. You really seemed to focus of the karma aspect of things with both the death of Ravana and the thought process that Rama would be having while reading this letter. I think you did a good job at capturing the the thoughts of Rama and what he would most likely be thinking after receiving a letter from his worst enemy. I also like the end that you chose to go with, ripping up the letter and just playing things off. Great job with your retelling of the story.
ReplyDeleteHey man. I like that you chose to go with the letter format for this week's storytelling assignment. I was in Laura's other class, Mythology and Folklore, and I used that one a lot. It lets you kind of zoom out on the situation while providing the opportunity to offer a unique perspective, which is what you've done here. I particularly liked the contents of the letter--I'm a big fan of being a little humorous in my writing. Overall, good job! Keep it up, bud.
ReplyDeleteHi Sehrish! What a good idea for a storytelling post! I love the letter format! I could definitely see why Rama would feel the way he did about the letter. He just killed this guy, and now with the letter, it kind of confuses things. It could easily make him feel guilty for killing him, if he were really looking for redemption for his sins. Ravana does not seem like the kind of guy to ever admit he was wrong while living though! Anyway, I really enjoyed your story! Great job!
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