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These wayang kulit puppets from Java have been used for centuries to entertain audiences with tales of good versus evil. Morality plays in which good always, eventually triumphs.
Shakespeare said it best,
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
Michael Campbell, the main character in the novel, CAPISTRANO, is seen acting out many of Shakespeare's seven ages. The reader sees him mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. We see him as well as the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad. We see him also as a soldier, jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth.
But morality plays today are somewhat more complicated. The elements of good and evil less clearly defined. Those who survive and in fact prevail, with all the personal angst resulting from their conquests do emerge as the victors. Wounded perhaps, but victors nonetheless.
