Tyler+Harris

=media type="youtube" key="HmJbJs-9ST0" width="425" height="350"= = = =__**The Rest is Silence 2/20/2012**__= __**Act 5 Scene 1**__

Ophelia's death is often understood to be an act of suicide, however, Ophelia still gets a christian burial. The two gravediggers criticize this fact of their society and one give Hamlet Yorick's skull setting up the famous view of Hamlet holding the skull. It was interesting to see the sentiment and passion a seemingly crazy Hamlet could feel towards the skull of his childhood jester. Tension between Hamlet and Laertes is at the boiling point here because of the deaths of Ophelia and Polonius and when Hamlet claims he loved Ophelia more than Laertes, Laertes cracks and they have a fight that is quickly broken up. Claudius likes to see this because it helps his plan of killing Hamlet fit even more into place. __**Act 5 Scene 2**__ The final scene of Hamlet where, as in all Shakespearean tragedies, everyone else dies. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the first known to be dead as Hamlet has changed the letter written by Claudius to tell the King of England to kill whoever hands him the letter. Hamlet and Laertes begin the final fight of the play and just before it begins Hamlet asks for forgiveness and is returned with an acceptance of his gesture but not forgiveness. The king then says he'll drink if Hamlet wins one of the first two hits. The King has become engrossed with his plot to kill Hamlet he has disregarded any of the collateral damage his plans may have and because of that he

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kills Gertrude when she drinks out of the poisoned cup. Interestingly, the killing hit Laertes gets on Hamlet always seems to be a cheap shot possibly hinting at Hamlet being a hero or the destined winner of the fencing match between him and Laertes. Regardless, he angrily attacks Laertes and one way or another ends up with his sword which he uses to kill Laertes. His mother and Laertes have a death sentence and Hamlet finally gets his revenge on his uncle by killing him with his own poison, another overlooked part of Claudius' plot. Satisfied and ready for death Hamlet decides there is no need to keep the lands taken from Norway and orders Horatio to give them back to Fortinbras whenever he comes in.

//O, I die, Horatio.// //The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirit.// //I cannot live to hear the news from England.// //But I do prophesy the election lights// //On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice.// //So tell him, with th' occurrents, more and less,// //Which have solicited. The rest is silence.// The poison is taking over Hamlet and he gives Fortinbras his support for when Fortinbras takes the crown. He tells Horatio to tell Fortinbras what happened and that death is all that is left. I picked this quote because in all the movies and when we read it I felt like this speech by Hamlet should be the end of the play and I also love Hamlet's last line because its so powerful and open to interpretation. =__**Truly Insane, or Not Truly Insane? 2/12/2012**__= We read a ton of Hamlet this week, so much that I'm going to move away from analyzing each scene just because nobody would read it.Over the last week Hamlet began to make the change from just pretending to be completely insane to actually being insane. He is still capable of analyzing situations such as in his famous "To be, or not to be" suicide soliloquy and his soliloquy about whether or not he should kill King Claudius. On the other hand, he nearly slaughtered his uncle and attempted but killed Polonius who he dragged off and hid near the stairs of the main hall. Also, Gertrude and Laertes discuss Ophelia's drowning which will almost certainly have an impact on Hamlet's sanity. Hamlet has begun to perceive his life as meaningless and hopeless for improvement and this view has caused Hamlet's only reality to become seeking the vengeance of his father whom, by means of his play The Mousetrap, Hamlet discovers was murdered by King Claudius. A more optimistic view on life may have perhaps given Hamlet a better reality.
 * //Hamlet//** //(V.ii.351-356)//

//And, England, if my love thou hold’st at aught—// Claudius here shows for the first time that //As my great power thereof may give thee sense, //he wants Hamlet dead and is asking, more //Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red // like ordering because England is still experiencing problems from Denmark's //After the Danish sword and thy free awe //attacks in the past, that the King of England kills Hamlet upon his arrival. =__**Advice**__ __**2/5/2012**__= __**Act 1 Scene 3**__
 * //__Claudius (IV.iii.60-63)__//**

This scene reminded me of the second scene where Claudius gave Hamlet the "advice" of staying in Denmark where it was truly an order. Polonius and Laertes both do the same to Ophelia when the warn her of staying away from Hamlet. In reality Hamlet loves Ophelia but her brother and father don't think he does and it causes Hamlet to push away from Ophelia. __**Act 1 Scene 4**__ Hamlet has met with Horatio and the other guards to encounter his father's ghost and upon its arrival his friends try to stop him from meeting with the ghost and Hamlet shows his true strength not only by taking the risk of being harmed, although he claims to not care for his own life anymore, but by standing up to his friends and going against their advice. Hamlet believed his father was gone but the ghost shows him that in reality his father still lives on, metaphorically of course.

__**Act 1 Scene 5**__ The fact that someone could murder their own brother is something I still cannot get over and shows the corruption that power truly causes. In a speech seemingly meant to advise Hamlet on how to handle Claudius' terrible deed and his mother's possible involvement, King Hamlet again actually orders Hamlet to seek revenge against his uncle but to leave his mother to her thoughts and her eventual move to heaven. Hamlet's deep hatred of his uncle caused him to believe his father's ghost without even a hint of evidence that his uncle actually murdered his father.

//__**Ophelia (I.iii.45-51)**__// //I shall the effect of this good lesson keep// //As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,// //Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,// //Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,// Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven //Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads// //And recks not his own rede.//

I chose this passage because Ophelia is telling her brother the she will take his advice but he also needs to listen to his own advice and that is something that we all need to do.

= = =__**Hamlet Blog Post 1. 1/29/12**__=

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__**Act 1 Scene 1**__ The most important part of this scene is the appearance of a ghost, likely Hamlet's late father and King of Denmark, to two guards and one of the important characters in the play, Horatio. The ghost is an indication that something is wrong in Denmark and foreshadows the future misfortunes of the play as ghosts are often bad omens.

__**Act 2 Scene 2**__ This scene shows the contradicting marriage between Claudius and Gertrude. The marriage creates a great deal of ambivalence in Denmark as King Hamlet passed away only two months prior. This marriage along with his father's death puts Hamlet into a severe depression and is a likely candidate for the cause of his ensuing insanity later in the play. Hamlet also decides he will watch guard with Horatio and the other two guards with the hope of being able to talk to his father.