CONFLICT OF THE PLAY

The protagonist on the play Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio is a beggar by the name of Serapio.
He is a member of a federation and was accused because of breaking their rules. The accusation was
dug by a trial with three antagonists. They are more powerful than him, by asking questions. One of the
primary conflicts is person against person. It illustrates to us what a man can do to hurt another man
just because of status and greed.

We can also say that it is person against society. It shows to us the social stratification. Social
stratification is present in almost all society as well as social injustice and inequality. It happens that
Serapio is a beggar and a lot of people are more powerful than him. More powerful people found holes
just to punish him. In the end Serapio was blinded because of a very odd reason or crime, having HOPE
and DREAMS.

SYMBOLS OF THE PLAY

To Mang Serapio, the doll symbolizes the memories of his daughter. It gave him the will to
continue his life despite of the fact that his family is gone. The doll is the only thing he have and that it
hurts him that it has to be taken away from him. The doll symbolizes the simple happiness that one
could get which is something priceless. And from that simple happiness comes the real meaning of life.
Life becomes meaningful when we find happiness even though we experience some hardships and
pains.

The blinding of Mang Serapio symbolizes how powerful those people with higher stands
than the beggar. How those people contaminate their selves with vainglory pushing the weak just to
save their faces. They could handicap another man and limit his or her actions. Being a blind man
means a man is limited to see and that is to see the truth and eventually fight his or her right.

KIND OF PLAY

Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio is a play written by Paul Arvisu Dumol, currently an Economics
professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific, during his high school years at Ateneo de Manila
University. This play has been staged by countless theatre organizations already. However, probably one
thing has been constant in each of them since it was instilled in the text itself that Ang Paglilitis ni
Mang Serapio is a tragedy. Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio is not comedy. Being too comedic is like going
away with its actual essence which is to promote pity & fear towards Serapio, the protagonist. Ang
Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio can still be a comedy but it does not guarantee actual laughs, but the irony of
it all (all the significant happenings in the play) can make you think really hard and make you realize.

The fact that most tragic starts with the main character in a good position and as the story
progresses fell into a tragic event but the play Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio starts the play with Mang
Serapio already in the bad position as the trail already had the verdict of him being guilty even before
the trail starts. This kind of element of the play shows to us the reality that even to those who are
already in an unfortunate situation such as beggars can still fell to a more worst situation such as when
Mang Serapio being blinded despite losing almost everything he has. This was a sequel of a tragedy
where the main character falls to an even more tragic situation, thus a tragedy within a tragedy.

THEME OF THE PLAY

The play is about Serapio, a beggar who carries arouXnd a doll and uses it to attract pity which
leads to more alms. Once the authorities are alerted of this, they subject Serapio to a mock trial which
leads to his blinding with ice picks. What makes the story interesting is that even before the trial began,
the authorities already knew that they were going to blind Serapio. It makes the trial a source of
entertainment instead of a channel for due diligence. This doesnt happen just this once either as it is
stated that this is a weekly occurrence and the culprits seem to enjoy torturing these people and it has
turned into a source of entertainment.

In Ang Paglilitis Ni Mang Serapio, we see the corruption in the Philippines and the system. No
matter what would happen in his trial, he would be acquitted guilty and be punished. He basically stood
no chance and he was left at the mercy of the authorities who cheat the system. In our country today,
this still remains true unfortunately. Men like Serapio are merciless at the hands of those with power.
Serapios condition as a lunatic did not change the way that he was treated and he would have been
treated that way no matter what condition he was in.
Hearing of Mang Serapio Summary

Published June 2, 2013 | By Kayee

The story is about an old man named Serapio whos being accused of having a child by the Federation
that consists of poor people living on the streets by the care of others. This Federation were opposing to
Mang Serapios child because the donations that are for him will be spent on the needs of the child in
their place.

The two investigators are too determined to prove Serapios ownership of the child. They have
uncovered his past and learned that his wife and daughter were already gone but it certainly doesnt
conclude his present child. But, three witnesses came and said that they indeed, saw Mang Serapio
taking care of the child. They were desperate to find Mang Serapio to be guilty because all of his
possessions would be passed onto them. Serapio fought his rite that the witnesses proof is not enough
but they insisted on looking over the his chest because they thought theres something inside of it thats
very much related with the situation. As they opened the chest, they found nothing except a dirty plastic
doll. It was actually the toy of his daughter in which he takes care of it as remembrance. The remainder
of his daughters absence in his life and gives him happiness and hope.

Because of this matter, all the accusations werent enough to bring him down but, he was still found
guilty since he violated the law of federation. It said that he shouldnt have spent the money for such
unnecessary interests. Another reason is because they dont want this event to let other members be
encouraged for only their personal happiness. The federation only wants them to live a miserable life
and be dependent on the federation alone. Mang Serapios eyeballs were removed in such a dirty way
because of the reason that they want others to pity him and give him more money for the federation.
Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio is a play about a poor man named Mang Serapio who was accused of
an irrational crime which led to his suffering throughout the play. Mang Serapio is a member of a
syndicate of beggars spearheaded by two men who serves as their master and judge. This
syndicate assembles a group of beggars who experiences disabilities in life such as blindness,
missing limbs, etc., to beg for money and at the end of the day gives back all of the earnings to
the syndicate. For Mang Serapio he was tasked to portray a man who carries his sick daughter
while begging for money. This act was modified by Mang Serapio as the child he was supposed to
carry was replaced by a doll.

Mang Serapios situation in life that time was very miserable as his whole family is in ruins (his
wife and daughter had died in an accident) leaving him hopeless outside the street. Inside the
syndicate, people are ridiculing Serapio as an insane person because of the way he treated the
doll. He treats it is as if it was his daughter who died in a car accident. Mang Serapio treated the
doll like a person; giving it food, clothes, etc. This then alarmed the syndicate of the foolishness
of Serapio as to why he is using his money for the doll; giving less of the funds to the syndicate
and more to Sol, the doll. The judges then put Serapio into trial because of the crime he has
committed, taking care of the doll, which is very unreasonable thus giving Mang Serapio a trial
which he cant defend or win in any way.

The play Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio includes the Greek form of play Angorsis. This is because
the protagonist does not realize at all throughout the play why he was being judged in trial. He
was persecuted without him knowing the reason why.

While the form of play Peripeteia was not portrayed in this play because the protagonist could not
find, in any way, an escape route on which he can change his fate. There are no holes in the walls
of accusation being thrown upon Mang Serapio. If he tries to make a point wherein he proves
himself as not guilty, there will always be something to counter that.

After further discussion about the play, I have realized that Mang Serapio was actually not a
mentally insane guy. This was because he can still distinguish fantasy from reality. He treated his
doll Sol as if it was his daughter but not entirely because his mind is still of this world; knowing
that his daughter was already dead thus the doll for him only serves as a thing to ease his mind of
the situation which he is in. For me, the insane ones here in the play are the people of the
syndicate because why consider taking care of a child a crime? They were all mentally insane
because they were being dragged on by the leader not realizing the situation they are in except
for Mang Serapio who wants change in the way he lives. People of the syndicate judge people
according to the degree of hurt the person is in thus the more injury the more you are respected
in the syndicate. Mang Serapio just merely sits there taking care of his child-like doll Sol. Most of
the time, living outside the box let people think of bad things over you but sometimes people will
appreciate you more; that does not apply in this story but in real life it will.