Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta are the main characters of the drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection. The story starts with an unintended meeting of Sakuntala and Dusyanta, and it expands with their relations, especially the love relationships. The basic theme of this drama is to praise for their sincere love and eulogize Sakuntala who is naive, brave, and beautiful. Also, it includs some praise for the King Dusyanta. Sakuntala is an idealized image of the writer, and she is a symbol of the drama of all virtues. However, the King Dusyanta is a more complex image. So, I want to talk about his personal qualities through his love to Sakuntala in the following paragraphs.
The writer wants to portray Dusyanta as a wise monarch who is both a valiant fighter and a handsome, passionate and responsible man. He has the courage to pursue his love, also has the courage to bear his own mistakes. But as a king, he likes to have fun, and outrageous debauchery. It's better to say he pursues the lovely appreance of Sakuntala than pursues of love (at least not at the first). At the first, Dusyanta pursues the beauty of Sakuntala to meet his own personal desires. From the beginning of the play, we can see the unfaithful quality of Dusyanta from conversation with BUFFOON, “You are like the man who loses his taste for dates and prefers sour tamarind! How can you abandon the gorgeous gems of your palace?" "So she is the reason you reject other beauties!" (P1285) These conversations show the King Dusyanta is divided in mind. The main reason Dusyanta likes Sakuntala is the incredible beauty she has, and this is the king's primitive and most essential impulses-not because of Sakuntala's implication shown manifested in language or behavior. In addition, the purpose of Dusyanta to fall in love with Sakuntala is not for "the happiness of both parties", but simply to give birth to a holy son to pass his thrown. Therefore, the love of Sakuntala and Dusyanta did not show a higher level of moral issues.
Meanwhile, despite the love of Dusyanta is strong, but it is also limited. Even though he is the king, he still cannot challenge the caste system. So, from the beginning, when he knows that Sakuntala has the same caste as him, he performs overjoyed-he will not pay any additional cost to get Sakuntala's love. As the King says " I once made love to her. Now she reproaches me for loving Queen Vasumati. Friend Madhavya, tell Hamsapadika that her words rebuke me soundly." (P1303) However, to this complaint, the king is very dismissive.
At last, the king did not show as a responsible man. He is vaguely perfunctory and capricious. He defaults the duty to what he has done. The king says "even if I admit, I cheat on her, what will happen?" This is such a blatant and shameless confession. We can see the ugly heart of Dusyanta from what he is talking about.
From the above, I can draw such a conclution (of course this conclusion is not the writer to convey to us, but I try to figure out from the drama), the love that Dusyanta shows to Sakuntala is limited, and the love is not totally pure and true. The love of Dusyanta is mixed with the personal interests and secular norms. From the viewpoints about love of the King Dusyanta and his personal qualities, I know that this kind of love is not that strong, and it's not for the happiness of both parties.
That is a very nice picture, it helps to create a visual for the story. What did you think of this play? For the king to have been so in love with Sakuntala, he sure did forget her fast because of the curse.
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