Character Analysis of Florante and Laura

CHARACTER ANALYSIS
(FLORANTE AND LAURA)

I. Florante at Laura

Florante and Laura are the main characters of the great metrical romance of arguably the greatest Filipino poet, Francisco Balagtas. Florante is the son of Duke Briseo and Princess Floresca of Albania and the main protagonist of the romance. Laura is the daughter of King Linceo of Albania and the love interest of Florante and is later married to him. This is a package deal, because they can’t stand alone on their own for their cultural meaning stems from them being together, as they symbolize love overcoming extreme difficulties, even the great divide of culture, family and religion. The relationship between Florante and Laura is so divine and special because their love for each other proved that love conquers all. Their love for each mother must set a standard to all of us that we should fight for the one we love and cherish the most. In the story, even if there were so many obstacles and problems that came into their lives they still manage to maintain what they have for each other. It should be an example to all of us of how real love is.

II. Comparison or Parallelism

Local: Crisostomo Ibarra and Maria Clara

Crisostomo Ibarra and Maria Clara are the two protagonists in Jose Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere. They share a love that even distance can’t break. Just like the happenings between Florante and Laura. They’ve been separated or away from each other for some days, weeks, months or even years but their love stay.
Another similarity is the love triangle present in both stories. In Florante and Laura, there is Adolfo who wants to destroy the love between the lovers to get Laura. In Noli Me Tangere, there is Linares who wants to marry Maria Clara. Even if there’s someone who tried to ruin their love they still remain faithful to each other.
One of the best similarities of them is that they are willing to die just to protect each other. Crisostomo is ready to fight the Spaniards or even the priests to set Maria Clara free but unfortunately Maria Clara died inside the convent and Crisostomo was left with revenge and guilt in his heart. On the other hand, Florante fight his enemies even if it means that it’ll cost his life. Good thing Florante manage to stay alive.

Foreign: Romeo and Juliet

The very famous Romeo and Juliet can be compared to our very own Florante and Laura because of the flow of their story and most significantly its theme. The theme is the difference of their culture and family. The Montagues and the Capulets are very nice enemies so if someone established an intimate relationship with one another it’s a sin. In Florante and Laura, there’s a conflict between cultures and because of that their families became nice enemies also.
Same as Crisostomo Ibarra and Florante, Romeo has a competitor also for the hands and heart of Juliet, his name is Paris. Paris is the suitor of Juliet and the Capulets want Paris to be Juliet’s husband but we all know that Romeo is the one for Juliet. This shows that if you really love the person you will not be attracted to another person even if he do good to you or even if your family wants him for you. You should follow your heart if it is what makes you happy, you should fight for it even if it means that you will have a battle and war between people.
The good thing that happens in the end of both stories is of course when their families finally have peace. This happened on Romeo and Juliet when both families realize that it’s wrong to fight each other for a very long time if they should have resolved it from the very first time it occurs when Romeo and Juliet died together. In Florante and Laura peace was made when all of the fights were ended and their religions and culture became one.

III. Conclusion

The similarities on the characters are very obvious. They would do anything for love and they symbolize love as being able to overcome obstacles and problems in life.
I’ve learned that love conquers all and if you really love someone you should not be ashamed to fight for it even if the things that you will encounter are as hard as a diamond. Time flies so fast you’ll never know what will happen so you must cherish and do everything you can do to make every moment lasts.
I think another thing that I’ve learned is that you should not be fooled by prejudice because some conflicts are caused by that.
But the main lesson of the stories and the characters is love is unconditional and sacrificial.