Character exploration post-1: Arjun in Vith Vithi Cha
Alright, folks! Starting off with the first post of my expected character exploration post series!
These posts will explore the character in question from the purview of the work being discussed. Since Arjun is my main protagonist in all the works discussed, I will be starting off the series with an in-depth discussion of the way I write him.
For those of you who might not know him, Arjun/Arjuna is one of the main protagonists of the Mahabharata, who is renowned as an archer for his focus, as a warrior for his compassion (which some people might read as indecision, although I am not one of these people), who is one of the key warriors and players in the major war of Kurukshetra. I would advise at least a slight background into who he is, before pursuing this post, as this post is written in the assumption that the reader is conversant with who Arjun is, for he is not an original character, rather, a hero of legend.
This is the shortest of the character exploration posts at 389 words, the one for Antraatman, the work to be discussed next, is stretching its limits at nearly 1.5K, so please let me know, readers, if I should release that post part by part, in the comments. :)
[ Image ID: A collage of five images. The top-left image is a stalk of white flowers with drooping petals shot on a grey background. Top-right, there is a man, shadowed in grey, holding his face in his hands, a sad expression on what we can see of his face. The bottom-left image is a young man with brown eyes, crinkled in joy, and slight brown stubble on his face, smiling wide with his teeth showing on a yellow background. Bottom-right, there is a blurred green background, with focus on a man’s larger brown hand, his index finger, approximately, being held by a smaller, fairer hand, presumably a child’s. In the center image, rays of sunlight are streaming through a canopy, splintering into individual rays. In the center of the image, where the light is the brightest, the words ‘Exploring Arjun in Vith Vithi Cha’ are written in white cursive script. End ID]
Moving to the post proper:
Starting off with the work that is penultimate on my list, because this work does not focus much on Arjun’s character as an arc. Instead, it focuses on certain aspects of Arjun’s character- his emotions as a father, his way of battle, his reaction to its aftermath. Neither does it completely focus on Arjun’s PoV alone. Abhimanyu, Arjun’s son, is the introductory PoV, followed by Arjun himself, then, in the chapter I am working on, Bheem, Arjun’s brother, has a voice. This is the reason I am discussing this work, which is one of my shortest to date, first, because we also see Arjun in the perspective of eyes that are not his own.
In Abhimanyu’s eyes, the eyes of a child for whom his father is all but ideal, Arjun takes on a larger-than-life persona, the consummate warrior, the invincible hero.
Then we switch to Arjun as he sees himself. We see that, for all that he may be a heroic warrior, he too, is a man, with a man’s weaknesses and strengths. We see the man who tries his best to be resilient, to be the father he feels he ought to be, a man who does not forgive his own failures easily, someone who feels responsible for a gamut of events. We see the decisive soldier, who takes strategic decisions in spite of warring inside with guilt and grief (or is it the very same guilt and grief that makes him take the decision he does? That, I leave to you, dear reader.) We have a glimpse of him as the fighter and the warrior he is, the way he holds on to his dignity and pride, even at a disadvantage, we see his will to hold on as long as he can.
In Bheem’s eyes, Arjun is his younger brother, who he has a protective instinct towards, for all that he might be a warrior to be feared. When he sees Arjun as vulnerable as he is in the story, these instincts of his rush to the fore. He sees Arjun’s compassion as a fact of life, he feels Arjun’s pain, both physical and emotional, as an elder brother would. He is, in a way, Arjun’s closest and dearest support, the brothers sharing a bond in which silences are almost equal to spoken words.
As stated above, this post is different from the upcoming ones, simply because the upcoming ones go into detail about Arjun as I see him, and Arjun as he sees himself in three different scenarios. The other posts will probably not discuss Arjun from the perspective of other characters all that much. That said, I’m open to feedback, as long as it is not hate, or abuse, or any outright negative stuff with the exception of constructive criticism.
I’ll tag a few mutuals, please shoot me a message or an ask if you want to be added/removed from the tag list!