Milieu, Form and Signification in Wilfrido Ma. Guerreros The Three RatsA research paper presentedTo the faculty of theCollege of Arts and SciencesCebu Normal UniversityIn partial fulfillment of theAcademic requirements of the courseLITCOM 6007 Studies in Southeast Asian Literary !elations"yLorlaine . !acanay#$A$ Literature and Communication StudentTo!r. "ngel #. $esirla%rofessorMarch &' &0()C%"$&' ()ntroduction and Met*odology+ Curtains U,RationaleThe main reason *hy the researcher tries to del+e deeper on triadic affair is its timeliness$Media no*adays has ,een feeding its audience *ith third party relationship-http..en$*i/ipedia$org.*i/i.asecretaffair0 as cinematic theme in the mainstream1ilipinomo+ies$ 2o*e+er' *omen are portrayed to ,e al*ays on the loo/out for their hus,ands$ 3ust li/ethe common adage that goes' 4it ta/es t*o to tangle$5 6hen a man has erred' the chances offorgi+ing him are quite ,ig7 ho*e+er' *omen ha+e suffered the scornful 8udgment of the peoplein the society$Another reason is to gather insights on ho* can friends ,etray a friend *hen it comes to*omen$ In one *ay or another' the traditional connotation of *omen ,eing the source of conflictas she launched a thousand ships in the Tro8an shore7 opened the ,o9 filled *ith misfortunes7 atethe apple and +iolated :od;s commandments$ These are only 8ust a fe* of the manifested roles*omen play$ One *ay or another' e+en these traditions could ha+e ,een implanted orunconsciously included to get across a conflict in+ol+ing *omen in the erring side$Aside from that' the literary critic might ta/e it too seriously *hen the play*right couldha+e 8ust ,een reflecting *hat he had seen in society fi+e decades ,ac/$ The play has included ane*s item containing the same marital conflict7 *ith more or less the same quality of a hus,ande9acting re+enge$ Thus' the in+estigation of the play ,y e9ploring the milieu *hen the play *as*ritten7 the dominant element that encapsulated the *hole play7 and the formalistic elements inorder to go to the structure of the play$ In order to pro+ide e+idences of the contentions of thePage | 1 researcher that 6ilfrido Ma :uerrero *as not only referring to feminine su,8ugation ,ut on theconflict that has started e+en in the childhood of :onstanding friendship ,et*een t*o friends$ #omestic +iolence is there in front of=ita;s eyes7 ,ut social norms in that milieu could ha+e 8ust let this +iolence slip through since=ita is also falli,le *ithin the confines of marriage$Theoretical SettingThe elements of content structure such as milieu' dominant form and signification of theplay The Three Rats enhance the literary scholar;s perspecti+e of the de+elopmental e+olution of%hilippine drama$ The assumption is further supported ,y three other literary theories namely 2istoricalcriticism' O,8ecti+e Critical theory and Mimetic theory$ The milieu category has to ,e +ie*ed inthe light of the historical period *hen the play *as *ritten$ The dominant element of the play isconflict and the researcher has decided to analy