Rachel+Rant

I really love this video and have loved it since I was a young child watching AFV...enjoy! :)

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Thoughts on the Murder, Intrigue, and Insanity of Hamlet: Post #4 February 20, 2012

Finishing up Hamlet was really depressing, actually. I enjoyed the complexity of the plotline and insight into the characters' minds, as well as the class performances. Those were entertaining and funny! The fact that everyone died at the end was sad, but I feel like it couldn't end any other way while staying true to the themes and purpose of the story. I felt like one of the main sentiments of //Hamlet// was this:



How Does Our Perception of Reality Change Reality? In response to this essential question, I thought that at the end of the day Hamlet's perception was what really changed the reality of the play. If he hadn't perceived that his uncle had murdered his father, almost none of the plotline would have occured and while he still would have been depressed for awhile, he probably would have gotten over it eventually and moved on with his life. He may have become king of Denmark after his uncle died too. A passage that I thought was significant to our essential question was from Gertrude's monologue:

Act 4 Scene 7

Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds

As one incapable of her own distress,

Or like a creature native and indued

Unto that element. But long it could not be

Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,

Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay

To muddy death

This relates to our essential question because Ophelia may or may not have changed her actions and tried to save herself, if she had realized that she was in danger. Of course it's likely that she committed suicide but there's no way to know for sure! This passage is also stylistically interesting because the queen compares Ophelia to a mermaid and describes the setting as peaceful right until the end.

Thoughts on the Murder, Intrigue, and Insanity of Hamlet: Post #3 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">February 12, 2012

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">This week I felt like I started to understand the character of Gertrude a lot more. Through her interactions with other characters, it's easy to tell that she feels guilty about her actions but not guilty enough to change them.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Also Hamlet progresses into further insanity, some of which I feel might be real at this point. His interactions with Ophelia especially lead me to believe that he is genuinely starting to lose his mind.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">This relates to our essential question: How does our perception of reality change reality? Since the other characters perceive Hamlet to be insane, this changes their relationships with him. Eventually his paranoia, coupled with his deteriorating relationships with the people around him, actually causes him to start going crazy. There are moments, however, when he has insightful reflections about human nature:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hamlet: "But that dread of something after death, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The undiscover'd country from whose bourn <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">No traveller returns, puzzles the will <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">And makes us rather bear those ills we have <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Then fly to others we do not know of?"

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #419f4e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">This passage is stylistically interesting because Hamlet compares death to a foreign country that one travels to, rather than simply a state of being. This metaphor makes his thoughts easier to follow for the audience and also adds a tangible element to the metaphysical concepts that he talks about.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Thoughts on the Murder, Intrigue, and Insanity of Hamlet: Post #2 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">February 5, 2012

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">During this last week, I enjoyed getting to know the characters better (mainly Polonius and Laertes). Once you get past their overly-protective spin on things, they actually have some good and reasonable advice.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Act One, Scene Three: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Laertes: It fits your wisdom so far to believe it <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">As he in his particular act and place <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">May give his saying deed, which is no further <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">In this passage, Laertes is telling Ophelia that even if Hamlet tells her he loves her, his words only mean what Denmark lets them mean because as prince, he has to marry a queen who is best for the country. This is wise and insightful, but difficult for Ophelia to hear. As illustrated by the rest of //Hamlet,// she is a little bit emotionally unstable. Her father and brother realize this, and urge her to protect her heart. It's admirable that she listens to Polonius, but obviously the combination of Hamlet rejecting her, "going insane," and killing her father is a little too much for Ophelia to handle, and she goes crazy anyways.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Does Ophelia look normal to you?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">How Does Our Perception of Reality Change Reality? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1f8eea; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The other scenes that we read this week apply more to this question than the Ophelia/Laertes/Polonius Scene. I would argue that even if the ghost isn't real, Hamlet expects it to be real and therefore it "appears" to him. By this point Hamlet's friends have convinced themselves that the ghost is the real spirit of the dead king. Their perceptions do not change whether or not the ghost actually exists, but they do change the way Horatio, Marcellus, and Hamlet interpret their experience.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Thoughts on the Murder, Intrigue, and Insanity of Hamlet: Post #1 <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">January 29, 2012 <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">I've interacted with a lot of Shakespearian plays through school and acting, but I'll confess that I have never paid any attention to Hamlet! It's really complex and interesting. I think that there is a lot more to the characters than meets the eye, even though some like Ophelia and Laertes seem to have straightforward roles. The beginning of the play sets up the entire complicated plotline: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Prince Hamlet, from what I've read and watched so far, is rightfully grieving and depressed at the beginning of the play. Everyone seems willing to move quickly past the death of his father. His own mother even marries his uncle, who has taken the throne. In the scene that we watched from the Kenneth Branagh version of the play, the king and queen tell Hamlet to get over his grief in front of the entire court. They are insensitive and Hamlet becomes even more upset. This mindset may contribute to his interpretation of his father's ghost. While Horatio, Barnardo, and Marcellus seem to be reliable sources, they seem to feed off each other's excitement and might be imagining the ghost. I'm disinclined to believe this though because Horatio initially doesn't think that the ghost is real:

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Marcellus: What, has this thing appeared again tonight? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Barnardo: I have seen nothing. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Marcellus: Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">And will not let belief take hold of him <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Therefore I have entreated him along <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">With us to watch the minutes of this night, <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">That if again this apparition come <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">He may approve our eyes and speak to it. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Horatio: Tush, tush, 'twill not appear.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">This passage is stylistically interesting because all three men doubt the existence of the ghost and speak as if it might not be real. Horatio seems convinced it won't appear, while Marcellus and Barnardo aren't sure if what they've seen is in their imagination. Barnardo is honest about not seeing the ghost yet, which leads me to believe that the men aren't making it up either. This passage makes the appearance of the ghost later in the play more reliable. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Prince Hamlet, who thinks that the court is behaving disgracefully, might be more willing to believe that his father's ghost has returned and has a special message for him because of the king and queen's behavior. This relates to our essential question: How does our perception of reality change reality? If Hamlet wasn't in such a fragile state of mind he might not give any credence to his friends saying that they saw the ghost of his father. But by perceiving that his father wants him to avenge his murder, it changes his relationship with almost everyone at the court. For example, he no longer trusts his uncle and does not confide in his mother.

Hi and welcome to my pa ge!

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