Susana+Ruiz-Gallegos

FUNNY CLIP 3/19/2012 3:50 p.m. media type="youtube" key="nGeKSiCQkPw" height="315" width="420" I love this video so much! It is the cutest thing ever!

Hamlet Blog Post #4 //Hamlet// 2/15/2012 5:50 p.m.

Today we finished reading, then watching, the burial of Ophelia and the end of Hamlet. I have to give props to the students who acted out these scenes, they were pretty entertaining.
 * In response to the question of whether or not Ophelia's death was an accident or suicide, I would like to say I think it was both. Here is my version of what happened: Ophelia was creating beautiful trinkets made of flowers and other plants when all of a sudden one of her wreaths flew into the stream. Wanting to retrieve it, Ophelia climbs the nearest tree and reaches for the flowery head band. Unfortunately, the weight of her dress broke the branch she was leaning on and down she went into the stream. Her dress swelled with water and her body went under. Thinking how peaceful it felt submerged, Ophelia stayed under water until she ultimately drowned. THE END.

The essential question of period 3 on insanity and trusting the insane has been flipped upside down with Hamlet's conversation with the clown in the graveyard.
 * While talking with the clown, Hamlet appears to be understandable, logical, and coherent (all the ways to say SANE ). His erratic behavior that he displayed in previous scenes seems as though they were just an act to cover up his plot for revenge. Perhaps he knew he had to play "dumb" or people would suspect him of doing mischievous things.
 * I realized that when Hamlet was talking to the skull of Yorick he was only talking about memories that he shared with the dead man. The pass from Hamlet to the skull wasn't because of insanity but because of grief and remembrance.

**Hamlet's Response to Ophelia's Death** // I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers // // Could not, with all their quantity of love, // // Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her? //


 * In these lines of Hamlet we see grief, love, and more confusion for us.
 * At one part in the play, when Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery, I truly believed he held no feelings for Ophelia. Yet these three lines say something else. Hamlet expresses the strong love he has always had for Ophelia and he wonders what he will do without her.
 * I chose this passage because of how it contradicts Hamlet's earlier behavior towards Ophelia and the that analogy it contains.

Hamlet Blog Post #3 //Claudius// 2/9/2012 6:20 p.m.

This past week we have been going over the soliloquies of Hamlet and Claudius, as well as enjoying the acting skills of our classmates. Without the paraphrasing that we do in class, I admit I would be lost. Some days I think "YES, I have finally figured out this language!" Then other days I am completely off base. Those days are pitiful and sad.
 * So today I want to focus on King Claudius. That man has some __**serious mental issues**__ . From what I read and understood of his long rant of a soliloquy, I have come to the conclusion that Claudius is a sociopath and has bipolar. What human being would try to ask for forgiveness only because they want to go to heaven?! Well that's probably half of the world.. But when I was reading the soliloquy it seemed like asking for forgiveness was the hardest thing in the world to do. In fairness, he never felt guilty for murdering his brother therefore God would know he was lying. I wonder if that's what made him give up on trying.

3rd period's essential question on whether or not we can trust the insane applies to Hamlet, and Hamlet's soliloquy, this week in a different way than before.
 * Hamlet's unwillingness to kill Claudius when he had the prime opportunity was ridiculous. While he watched Claudius "praying" he refused to kill him because he thought the king would go to heaven. Honestly who thinks like that? Instead he will wait until he catches Claudius doing an "unfaithful" act in order to send him to hell. So in this sense, Hamlet was completely out of his mind not to kill Claudius at that moment!

**Hamlet's Dilemma** // At game a-swearing, or about some act // // That has no relish of salvation in't. // // Then trip him, that his heels may kick to heaven, // // And that his soul be damned and black // // As hell, whereto he goes. //


 * Hamlet's Dilemma is a great example of insanity at its finest, for Hamlet only believes a man killed during an act of "shame" would send him to hell.
 * I chose this passage from Hamlet's soliloquy because of its dark tone. The tone shows how twisted the plot of the story is becoming. I also particularly like when he says "that his heels may kick to heaven." He is inferring a rejection from the gates of heaven, but he says it in such a unique and stylistic way.

Hamlet Blog Post #2 **//Ophelia//** 2/2/2012 5:15 p.m.

My group and I finished our paraphrased version of Act 4, Scene 5 on Wednesday. I admit, the language in some parts of the scene was hard to decipher and we resorted to asking Mrs. Bear for her ideas. But while paraphrasing, we were able to better understand the importance of the scene.
 * Unknown to myself, this is the part in the play that Ophelia starts going nuts. At first I thought she was just being overly generous and flirty towards people. But then the language of the other characters showed a different meaning. King Claudius kept asking, "What is wrong with her?" and the Queen was unsure what to say. Ophelia's brother, Laertes, was also like, "What happened to my sweet and innocent sister?" Since I haven't read the play before, I am really interested in figuring out what exactly makes this girl crack.



In accordance with my period's essential question, "Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity ? To what extent can we trust the insane?" this past week's readings can somewhat relate to it.
 * When Laertes warns Ophelia of Hamlet's motives, being with her only to get in her pants, and then Lord Polonius forbids her to see Hamlet, this could be foreshadowing for both Ophelia's insanity and Hamlet's. Perhaps the two men knew how crazy Hamlet is bound to be, but then unknowingly, a great desire for Hamlet also caused Ophelia to go loca.
 * On the other hand, in Hamlet's Soliloquy, his loss of mind was actually reasonable. He is a greatly disturbed man but because of what he has been through. I'm sure if any of us found out our father was murdered by the same man who is shaking the bed with our mom, we would fly off the handle too. Although I am still not sure if we can trust him, his crazy actions are justified.

**Hamlet's Soliloquy** // Frailty, thy name is woman! // // A little month, or ere those shoes were old // // With which she follow'd my poor father's body, (150) // // Like Niobe, all tears: -- why she, even she -- // // O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, // // would have mourn'd longer. //


 * Hamlet's soliloquy offers great insight into his mind. This part of the soliloquy shows how quickly Hamlet's mother got over her husband's death and then promptly married her husband's brother.
 * I liked how he compared her to the Niobe river and then to a beast. This shows how she has two complete different sides to her. It is almost as though she has multiple personality disorder. Because of this, I am slightly starting to understand and somewhat like Hamlet.
 * I am glad that we paraphrased this passage in class because without it I wouldn't have understood it very well. When we had to paraphrase in groups, my group completely got it wrong. In fairness we had to paraphrase a part in the middle and didn't understand the passage well. We thought Hamlet was talking about his mother and Claudius, not his mother and his father.

Hamlet Blog Post #1 **//Insanity//** 1/28/2012 10:00 a.m.

I find it interesting how all of Shakespeare's plays revolve around revenge, passion , and death. I bet this made for a great show during his time, but did the audience ever grow tired of such redundancy? Never the less, it is pretty magnificent thinking about how Shakespeare directed his play and how he came up with each individual yet connected plot. His language, although complicated, is beautiful and sensual. I would have loved to been a maiden during those times, strictly speaking of the language, and to have been swept off my feet by a serenade.

So we started Hamlet this past week. What a twisted and disturbed story. Incest and tragedy dominate this play, with an appearance by the ghost of the late King to add even more insanity to the plot.
 * It will be interesting to learn how Hamlet feels of his father's resurrection as a ghost and how he will react to whatever grave thing he tells his son. Horatio definitely believed that since the ghost wouldn't speak to them, he would surely speak to young Hamlet.
 * Come to think of it, this story begins with the late King's death and then the immediate remarriage of the Queen and the late King's brother, King Claudius. Why wasn't the throne immediately turned over to Hamlet? He is the eldest son of the King after all.

I really like 3rd period's Essential Question, "Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity ? To what extent can we trust the insane?" because it fits with the plot like a glove. <-- See what I did? That was funny. :)
 * When the ghost of the late King appears in front of Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, I suspect that they had one too many drinks before taking their post at guard. That is what I would think if I heard three men talking about a ghost.
 * Insanity is presented at the very beginning of the play and it provides for a basis of the rest of the story.



** HORATIO ** // Break we our watch up; and by my advice, // // Let us impart what we have seen to-night // // Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, // // This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. //


 * This small passage by Horatio gives insight on the beautiful language of Shakespeare.
 * In so many words, Horatio is telling his fellow guards to forget the apparition of the late King and although he wouldn't speak to them, he will speak to his son. A hopeful remark after an odd encountering.
 * I chose this passage because of it's poetic language and writing.