Kathryn+Clifford2

[|Funny Posting]media type="custom" key="13801056" check out the videos. I couldnt figure out how to make it hsow on page. Funny posting.

Essential Question: To Be or Not To Be? When is a life not worth living? Who Gets to Decide if Someone Should Live or Die? Hamlet Blog Post # 4  Feb 20.2012 This week we finally finished Hamlet. As much as I thought that I would hate the play in the beginning I actually began to enjoy the play by the end. Maybe not the actual plot, but more the messages hidden throughout. Typically I don't learn much from analyzing passages, besides the stylistic techniques, but the things that we did in class made me realize all the not so obvious things in Hamlet which I enjoyed. One thing that I felt was very useful throughout was the viewing and discussing of different interpretations, not only the films but photographs as well. Overall, I can say that I am walking away from Hamlet with a more in depth understanding then I had ever expected. ** LAERTES ** He is justly served.It is a poison tempered by himself.Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet.Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee,Nor thine on me. // (dies) // ** HAMLET ** Heaven make thee free of it. I follow thee.—I am dead, Horatio.—Wretched queen, adieu!—You that look pale and tremble at this chance,That are but mutes or audience to this act,Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, Death,Is strict in his arrest), O, I could tell you—But let it be.—Horatio, I am dead.Thou livest. Report me and my cause arightTo the unsatisfied. The reason that I choose this passage was because during Act. 5 Scene 2., my classes essential question comes directly in to play ( listed above) because everyone (besides Horatio) dies. Therefore the question of who gets to decide if someone should live or die comes into play. Was it Hamlet that ultimately caused all this destruction? Was it Claudius? Who was responsible and who in the end got to choose. In my opinion, all the death in Hamlet can be directly liked to Claudius and although he didn't kill everyone directly, he is responsible for everyones death. From his first action of killing Hamlet Senior, to his death, everything was a repercussion of an action of his. He for some reason believed that he had ultimate authority and therefore could call the shots when dealing with peoples lives. His motives were pure selfishness and the desire to have a life without complications ( HAMLET!). The interesting thing between Hamlet and Claudius, is Claudius's ability to act upon his thoughts, whereas that is one of Hamlets fatal flaws is the inability to not act, besides in the very last moment when Hamlet does, as his final act, kill Claudius. So does that answer the question that who decides who gets to live or die? The answer being whoever acts upon his thoughts. At least as far as the play goes. What do you think? What is the answer? Hamlet Blog Post #3 Feb 12. 2012 There were a lot of exciting things that happened this week, in the world of Hamlet. First of all we got to analyze the " To be or not to be" speech, which deals directly with our essential question. Then we got to read a bunch of soliloquies by several of the characters that shed light on their inner thoughts, like learning that Claudius really did kill the King ( which makes me believe that all the critics out there that think the "ghost" isn't real, are wrong, because if Hamlet hadn't actually seen the ghost, how could he have known how the King actually died? Claudius's confession actually makes Hamlet seem less insane in my opinion), or we learn the sad news of Ophelia's death from Gertrude, who we rarely here from. It was interesting the way that she spoke of the drowning, and with that another question emerges, Was it an accident or suicide? The other exciting thing was performing my groups scene, which actually went better than expect, all things taken accounted for. The perfoming of my scene gave me an interesting and new perspective that I think I otherwise wouldn't have had. This week in pictures:

To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
 * “To Be Or Not To Be”: Spoken by Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1 **

 The undiscover’d country from whose bournBut that the dread of something after death, No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.–Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember’d.

The reason I choose this passage was because it deals directly with our essential question, as the chickens would say " What sucks more living or dying? Shakespeare was debating whether or not its better to deal with the sorrows of life or to end them all by dying. He speaks that dying basically is sleep in the unknown. Referring to our essential question " who gets to decide if someone lives or dies?" I think that person who holds that life meaning themselves gets to decide what is worth living for. What are your thoughts on this? In other words what is a life that is worth living compared to one that is not?



Hamlet Blog Post # 2 Feb. 06 2012 This week we spent some time discussing the interpretation of the ghost which I find very interesting, that with a single character there can be many perceptions of a single person, well ehm, ghost. I think that Shakespeare being that some people call him more of a director than a writer left this up for interpretation.Each interpretation and picture (down below) offers a different overall mood of the scene, and a different interpretation of the characters in that scene as well.









Act 4 Scene 1

Ghost

 Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

HAMLET

 Murder!

Ghost

 Murder most foul, as in the best it is;  But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;">HAMLET

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> As meditation or the thoughts of love, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> May sweep to my revenge.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;">Ghost

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> I find thee apt; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> 'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Is by a forged process of my death <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> The serpent that did sting thy father's life <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Now wears his crown.

This scene is very powerful. It is the first time that Hamlet gets to speak directly to his father, and that he learns that infact it was his uncle who killed the father and not the snake, which "fooled all of Denmark". This area is also very interesting because Hamlet is so eager to seek revenge and act upon what ever his father tells him to do which in the rest of the play while he has an easy time seeking revenge he has a hard time acting on his actions ( see " to be or not to be" Blog post 3). The curious question is what happened in Hamlet's mind that roadblocked his ability to act later on? Was it deciding who get's to live or die/ to be or not be? Was it his perception of reality? or could it be linked with his insanity? ( yes that's right all essential questions applied!) Any thoughts?

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<span style="background-color: #800080; color: #00ff00; display: block; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">Hamlet Blog Post #1 Feb. 02 2012  David Tennant's //Hamlet// Overall I enjoyed this rendition of //Hamlet.// It was interesting to note that the production was designed to be a "live tv event" which automatically puts a new spin on to things.Based on other versions of the play that I have seen ( clips in class) one of the most notable characteristics in this edition were the cameras. The director employs the use of security cameras all the time, which was eerie, because the cameras moved as if someone was controlling them, but who? Also I thought that it was a little disconcerting that the characters when having a monologue looked directly at the camera, directing at the viewer, directly at me!

Act 1 Scene 2:

<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> CLAUDIUS <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> The memory be green, and that it us befitted  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> To be contracted in one brow of woe,  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> That we with wisest sorrow think on him  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Together with remembrance of ourselves. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state,  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy,  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> With an auspicious and a dropping eye,  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> In equal scale weighing delight and dole—  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone  <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> With this affair along. For all, our thanks. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #203acf; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">This passage is especially interesting considering our essential question. Claudius is speaking of his brother and that while its good to morn, it is time to live. Which applies to our question, who has the right to decide if life is worth living? Futhermore, who has the right to decide what a life is worth. We later learn from the ghost of King Hamlet that, it was Claudius who decided it, that King Hamlets life, was done. <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">

<span style="background-color: #00fff8; color: #9200ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; vertical-align: sub;">__ <span style="background-color: #a7ff00; color: #9200ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; vertical-align: sub;">WElCOME TO MY PAGE! <span style="background-color: #a7ff00; color: #9200ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; vertical-align: sub;">HAVE A WONDEROUS DAY!