Sally+Balluff

this.

**BLOG POST #4** This is it, guys. It's all over. Hamlet is dead. Along with all his family members and every other main character in the play (except Horatio.. huh.) There's a tragedy for ya. Things just go downhill until EVERYONE dies. So that's cool. Personally, I liked the play overall. Now that I can actually understand the complex language of Mr. Shakespeare, I think it was a pretty funny play for a tragedy. Even though they were all frustrating at times, I liked getting to know each character and seeing how they worked together. Hamlet was crazy but funny, Ophelia was sweet but sad, Horatio was calm and collected, Claudius was power-hungry and evil, and Gertrude was nice but weak. They all had such developed and different personalities. It's a shame they're all dead. (Except that lucky Horatio, once again.) Is everyone in agreement that the last scene, 5.2, was just a little bit over-dramatic? Just a tiny bit? Yeah. I thought it was kinda funny that when Gertrude drinks from the poisoned wine, Claudius makes this feeble attempt to stop her by saying, "Gertrude... Don't drink..." Really, Claudius? She's gonna drink the wine. Come on, man. And then, after he gives up trying to stop her from drinking, he pretty much says, "Oh well, too late. She'll be dead soon." Nice. Claudius was just too darn stubborn to mess up his evil plans to even save his own wife, who married him like 2 days after her old husband died. He was willing to let her die in order to see her son die too. Sick, right? Claudius definitely grew up wrong. Anyways, how does this all pull together? Well, Claudius just accepts that the reality is that his plans need to go through, and that Gertrude's death < Hamlet's death (in importance). Therefore, this becomes reality. This passage is from Act 5, Scene 2, lines 373-388: **AMBASSADOR:** ... Where should we have our thanks? **HORATIO:** Not from his mouth, Had it th' ability of life to thank you. He never gave commandment for their death. But since so jump upon this bloody question, You from the Polack wars, and you from England, Are here arrived, give order that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view, And let me speak to th' yet unknowing world How these things came about. So shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, And in this upshot, purposes mistook Fallen on th' inventors' heads: all this can I Truly deliver. So what was our last remaining friend talking about here? He was basically talking about how horrific and bloody the very recent deaths were and that they weren't necessary at all, in the long run. They were accidents and terrible, casual, stupid murders that made no sense. He says at the end there that he wants to explain this all to someone, to tell them the story, as Hamlet told him to. I thought this was pretty cool of Horatio to do. It just seems like he was the only sane character in the end. Thanks for reading, everyone. :) __**//The End. //**__

** BLOG POST #3 ** Okay, guys. We've all read/seen/acted out Act 3 & Act 4 now. A lot of craaazy (literally) stuff happened in these acts. Hamlet does the whole "To be or not to be" speech, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive to check on Hamlet, Hamlet talks to Ophelia and they both go crazy, and Hamlet kills Polonius and puts off killing Claudius, twice. Oh, and then Ophelia dies. Everything's pretty much going downhill. Act 3 also includes a play that Hamlet puts on, called "The Mousetrap." It is supposed to enact the true story of how King Hamlet died, and Hamlet wrote it in order to get a reaction from his uncle. The play represents Hamlet's view of reality (thanks to daddy's ghost) and he wants to see if his reality actually IS reality. Claudius' reaction pretty much confirms Hamlet's suspicions, once again making his perception of reality //actual// reality (period 4's essential question). Claudius feels extremely guilty after the play, as shown by his attempt at praying. But, of course, he's too selfish to do anything about it. What a jerk. This egg is definitely Claudius.

This is my favorite thing Hamlet has said so far:(Act 4, Scene 3, Lines 33-37) **CLAUDIUS:** Where is Polonius? HAMLET: In heaven. Send hither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. Best way to say "Go to hell!" ever. Maybe Hamlet's not insane. Maybe he's just being more himself, more straightforward and funny, less polite. I think he's a cool guy, deep down. :)

<span style="color: #15e0e0; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">**BLOG POST #2** <span style="color: #131111; font-family: Georgia,serif;">So I think my first post was kinda boring-looking. I'll have to spice it up from here on out. (Definitely check out the picture at the very bottom of blog 1 though. I think it's great.) <span style="color: #131111; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Anyways, this week, I've learned that paraphrasing and reading through each line carefully/thoughtfully reallyyy helps to understand the meaning of Shakespeare. I usually can't wrap my brain around the weird, confusing gibberish of Shakespeare, but this week I've learned how to translate it into actual English. Makes me feel smarter. :)  <span style="color: #131111; font-family: Georgia,serif;">So far, I like (and understand) the play much better than I did when I was in 5th grade. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually a little excited to perform my section with my group tomorrow. I actually comprehend what the scene is about and I can't wait to see how others perform theirs.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I think it's funny how Hamlet's friends feel it's important that they tell him about seeing his father's ghost and then bring him to the place where he'll see it again, but then they don't let him go with the ghost when it beckons for him. What; did they expect the ghost to just be like, 'Oh hey son, what's up. I'm just gonna float on by now. All is well.' ? Really? No. **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This is from Act 1, Scene 4: ** <span style="color: #fa05ab; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">(The stuff in pink is my input, if you can't tell.) **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">HORATIO ** <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">It beckons you to go away with it, <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">As if it some impartment did desireTo you alone. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #fe25bc; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">(Well duh, it wants to talk to him alone!) <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">  Look, with what courteous actionIt waves you to a more removèd ground.But do not go with it. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #fa19b8; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">(Hah, you really think Hamlet's gonna listen?) <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">HORATIO ** <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">    No, by no means. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">HAMLET ** <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> It will not speak. Then I will follow it. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">HORATIO ** <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Do not, my lord. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">HAMLET ** <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">  Why, what should be the fear?I do not set my life in a pin’s fee,And for my soul—what can it do to that,Being a thing immortal as itself?It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #f81bba; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">(Hamlet's like, Meh, what do I have to lose? Here I goooo.) <span style="color: #121111; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Again, fourth period's essential question is: **How does our perception of reality change reality?** <span style="color: #121111; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Well, obviously it seems that Hamlet and his two buddies really do see his father's ghost. Either they're all crazy, or the ghost is real, and their perception of reality lines up with reality. I can't tell which yet, but both seem plausible. I mean, //everyone// in __Hamlet__ goes crazy and dies, right? ;) But then again, Shakespeare has a thing for working fairies and ghosts into his plays, too.  <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Here's a closing picture for you all. See you next week! :)**
 * <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">GHOST **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: right;"> beckons **<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">HAMLET **
 * <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">MARCELLUS **

**BLOG POST #1** So I read //Hamlet// in 5th grade for my gifted and talented class, but since I was 10, I didn't understand it at all. Just that it was about some crazy guy who has a weird family and a girlfriend who drowns herself. But I feel like knowing that is better than not knowing anything about the play. I've gotta admit I'm kinda excited to read it now and actually understand it (hopefully). The first scene of the play seems to set off the mood for the rest of it. It's all eerie and dark and already involves a ghost. I thought it was interesting how King Hamlet's ghost doesn't answer the guards who try to speak to it, but when Hamlet speaks to it (this isn't in the scenes we've read so far, but I saw it in the movie I watched), his father speaks back. This relates to 4th period's essential question: How does our perception of reality change reality? The guards seem a little unsure as to whether the ghost is real or not. They are full of "fear and wonder", and can't tell if it truly looks like the dead king or not. They seem scared to admit that it really could be the king. Later, when Hamlet goes with them to seek out the ghost, it becomes certain that it is his father and it starts to talk to him. I think this could be because, after Horatio tells him about the ghost-sighting, Hamlet has a mindset that he will see his father's ghost. In other words, his perception of reality (the ghost is real and is King Hamlet) becomes reality. I hope that makes sense.

Here's the passage I chose: HAMLET

Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! My father!--methinks I see my father.

HORATIO

Where, my lord?

HAMLET

In my mind's eye, Horatio.

HORATIO

I saw him once; he was a goodly king.

HAMLET

He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.

HORATIO

My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.

HAMLET

Saw? who?

HORATIO

My lord, the king your father.

HAMLET

The king my father!

// (Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 179-191) //

I think this part of scene two is important and definitely relates to what I talked about up there. Hamlet has his father on his mind, and this effects how he later views the ghost as real. I also really like the first lines Hamlet says about the funeral/wedding. I looked this scene up on SparkNotes' No Fear Shakespeare and it translated those first few lines to "The leftovers from the funeral dinner made a convenient wedding banquet. Oh, I’d rather have met my fiercest enemy in heaven, Horatio, than have lived through that terrible day!" I think it is clever how Hamlet says that his parents just saved time by serving leftovers from his father's funeral at the wedding. He makes it obvious that he isn't happy about how convenient it all seemed to be. This may even set the stage for his suspicions of his uncle.

Also, this, down here, is hilarious. Read it. :)