John+Jayo

media type="youtube" key="ot3sK-_ELtM" height="315" width="560" Hamlet Blog

**Post Four: February 20, 2012**

**My Reaction:**

 Now that we are completely finished reading Hamlet, I can definitely see why it is such a famous and frequently referenced piece of literature. At the surface, it is an interesting and entertaining story but there is much more to it than that. Hamlet speaks volumes about the human condition and reveals a lot of the uncertainties and not-so-sane tendencies that, to some extent or another, are within all of us. Even though I consider myself to be relatively sane, I definitely related to a lot of the characters in the play and a lot of the philosophical questions that burn in Hamlet's mind throughout the play have often plagued my own. In a way, the story of Hamlet helps reveal us to ourselves.

**Essential Question (Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?):**

My final thought on our essential question is that it is impossible to draw the line between sanity and insanity. It can't be done. This seems to be one of the main points that Shakespeare is trying to make in Hamlet. We are all living, breathing human beings and can not simply be lumped into two superficial categories that are based on loosely defined, arguably arbitrary, words.

This realization also kind of renders the second part of our essential question irrelevant. Since the words "sanity" and "insanity" are subjective, they should not be used as a basis for judgement. We can trust the "insane" to the extent that they are trustworthy. It's as simple as that. If someone is untrustworthy, don't trust them. But to base your judgement of another human being based on your personal perception of the inner-workings of their complex mind is presumptuous and arrogant to say the least.

**Passage:**

__ Laertes __ : // It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain. // // No medicine in the world can do thee good.In thee there is not half an hour of life. // // The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,Unbated and envenomed. // // The foul practiceHath turned itself on me. // // Lo, here I lie,Never to rise again. // // Thy mother’s poisoned.I can no more. // //The king, the king’s to blame//.

I thought this passage was interesting because in it, Laertes pretty much turns his back on everything he previously stood for and completely forgets about avenging his father. With the shadow of death overtaking him, Laertes tried desperately to justify all that he had done by blaming the king and seeking forgiveness from Hamlet, his sworn enemy until about thirty seconds previously. Seems pretty insane if you ask me.

**Post Three: February 12, 2012**


 * My Reaction: **

The story really starts to spiral out of control during this week's reading. Hamlet continues to feign insanity as his real mental state continues to deteriorate, Polonius is murdered, Ophelia kills herself and Claudius, realizing that Hamlet is on to him, formulates a plan with Laertes to kill his nephew. In the scene's that we read this weak, pretty much every character displays a sense of reality that is becoming more and more deluded. From Ophelia's suicide to Claudius' internal moral struggle to Laertes' murderous sense of revenge to Hamlet's increasingly questionable psychology, everyone is slipping with reality and it is clear that there will soon be an explosive clash of these crazy personalities.




 * Essential Question (Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?): **

In the reading this weak, just about everybody is going insane (or already there) and the line between insanity and sanity has all but disappeared. It is impossible to draw a line between two camps if everybody belongs to only one of them. The fact that everyone is going crazy is creating a vicious cycle of insanity because the sanity of each character directly affects the others. They are al pulling each other down into a vortex of madness.

The trust between characters is also at a breaking point. Unsure of the intentions of those around him/her, every character is forced to exercise extreme caution and always have one hand on the hilt so to speak when interacting with the others. So one possible answer to the question "To what extent can we trust the insane?" would be "To the extent that we are willing to put ourselves at risk in doing so."


 * Passage: **

QUEEN GERTRUDE:

 One woe doth tread upon another's heel,  So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes.

LAERTES:

 Drown'd! O, where?

QUEEN GERTRUDE:

 There is a willow grows aslant a brook, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> There with fantastic garlands did she come <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> When down her weedy trophies and herself <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> As one incapable of her own distress, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Or like a creature native and indued <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Unto that element: but long it could not be <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> To muddy death.

<span style="background-color: #f2f29c; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;">LAERTES:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Alas, then, she is drown'd?

<span style="background-color: #f2f29c; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;">QUEEN GERTRUDE:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d00ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Drown'd, drown'd.

The passage that I chose is probably the same one that a lot of other people chose. The primary reason that it stuck out to me is pure stylistic beauty. Shakespeare's words in this passage paint a vividly placid scene and describe, in chilling detail, the last moments of Ophelia's life. The juxtaposition of concepts such as floating "mermaid-like" and trees that are reflected "in the glassy stream" against those of "muddy death" and "dead men's fingers" creates a hauntingly elegant scene that is bound to stick in any reader's mind.


 * Post Two: February 5, 2012 **

**My Reaction:**

Things are starting to get pretty heavy this week. Hamlet, deciding that he doesn't care whether or not it might kill him, loyally follows the ghost into a secluded area where they finally speak. I thought it was interesting that the ghost refused to speak except for when he was alone with Hamlet. This, I think, points to the possibility that Hamlet is not entirely sane. I'm not saying the ghost isn't real. I think the fact that Horatio, Marcellus, and others saw it shows that it definitely is there. The fact that Hamlet only speaks to him alone, however, makes it impossible for anyone to confirm what the ghost says to Hamlet. Therefore, the possibility that Hamlet imagines some, if not all, of their conversation becomes a very real possibility especially considering that he was pretty unstable to begin with.

**Essential Question (Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?):**

As the story is progressing, the gravity of Hamlet's mental state is increasing a lot. At the beginning, he was just a messed up kid trying to deal with the death of his father. So, even if he was a little bit unstable, it wasn't hurting anyone. Now though, his spectral visions are telling him that Claudius is a murderer who needs to feel the poisonous sting of revenge. This makes the question of trusting the insane much more vital. If everyone chose to trust Hamlet and allow him to go ahead with killing his uncle but it turned out that he was just a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of his dead father, then an innocent man would be dead and Denmark would be in shambles. But if, on the other hand, everyone decided to write Hamlet off as insane, then they could possibly be allowing a cold-blooded murderer to sit on the throne. The fate of the story depends entirely on where its characters draw the line between sanity and insanity.

**Passage:**

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">**GHOST** <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

<span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">**HAMLET** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Murder!

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">**GHOST** <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">Murder most foul

<span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">**HAMLET** <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">Haste me to know't, that I, <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">May sweep to my revenge.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">**GHOST** <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">Now, Hamlet, hear: <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">A serpent stung me; but know, thou noble youth, <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">The serpent that did sting thy father's life <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">Now wears his crown.

<span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">**HAMLET** <span style="background-color: #acfbcf; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: x-small;">O my prophetic soul! My uncle!

I chose this passage because it represents a major turning point in the story. Realizing the full extent of his uncle's treachery, Hamlet becomes obsessed with revenge, thus setting the stage for the rest of this tragic story to play out. It is at this point that Hamlet formulates his convoluted plan of pretending to be crazy and eventually murdering his uncle. The choices that Hamlet makes as a result of this discussion with his father will ultimately lead to his own, as well as pretty much everybody else's, dreadful demise.

**Post One: January 29, 2012**

**My Reaction:**

Since I was gone on block day last week, I had to borrow a copy of //Hamlet// from Mrs. Bear and read the first two scenes on my own. Naturally, I was kind of dreading the idea of sitting down and reading Shakespeare alone but once I finally did, I found myself completely absorbed in the story and ended up reading quite a bit more than I was supposed to.

One part that I especially enjoyed was in Scene 2 when Claudius is trying to talk Hamlet into moving on past his mourning. This scene does a lot to characterize Claudius as the sly and manipulative character that he is. But Shakespeare presents the scene in such a way that he doesn't seem entirely wrong or evil to begin with, which hazes the line between good and evil.

**Essential Question ( Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?): **

The events of this week's reading that most deeply relate to our question are the points when both Horatio and Hamlet become convinced that the ghost is indeed real. Horatio comes to believe in the spectral King Hamlet only after he sees it with his own eyes, so one possible answer to the question "Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity?" would be "When empirical proof exists." This answer, however, seems to be incomplete and simplistic, so I trudge on.

Hamlet's path to believing that his father has returned is much less logic-based and rational than Horatio's. He almost immediately believes his friends' story and is so quick to accept it, I think, for two reasons: (1) He desperately wants to and (2) the storytellers have numbers on their side. With strong emotions clouding his judgement, Hamlet is much more likely to believe a tale that, under normal circumstances, would seem completely crazy. The line between sanity and insanity is much less clear when emotions come into play. Also, the fact that there are three people telling him that the king has returned makes it much more believable than it would be if it was only one of them. Even if they were all hallucinating it, collective delusions are much more believable (and likely to be sane) than isolated delusions. So perhaps we can trust the insane if they have other people vouching for their sanity.

** Passage: **

**HORATIO** But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again! //Re-enter Ghost// Stay, illusion! If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, Speak to me: If there be any good thing to be done, That may to thee do ease and grace to me, Speak to me: //Cock crows// If thou art privy to thy country's fate, O, speak! Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus.

**MARCELLUS** Shall I strike at it with my partisan?

**HORATIO** Do, if it will not stand.

**BERNARDO** 'Tis here!

**HORATIO** 'Tis here!

**MARCELLUS** 'Tis gone! //Exit Ghost// We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence; For it is, as the air, invulnerable, And our vain blows malicious mockery.

I chose this passage because in it, the three characters show a level of sound and reasonable thinking that seems to become less and less common as the story progresses. At first, they come up with the ridiculous idea of trying to stab a ghost but they quickly realize the foolishness of this approach. The rationality that leads them to conclude that "[their] vain blows [are] malicious mockery" is something that could have possibly saved some of the other characters from their tragic fates.

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