Courtney+Cox

Something funny that always makes me laugh and gets stuck in my head.
29 March 2012 media type="youtube" key="Tx1XIm6q4r4" width="425" height="350"

Versions of Insanity
Blog Post #4 20 February 2012

We finished the play this week! Yay! The project that we did on friday was very interesting and eye opening to me. My group had to come up with a scale for Hamlet's insanity and then track his sanity throughout the play. It was interesting to hear the opinions of my group members. I felt as if he may have been a little insane but by the end of the play, especially during the fight, I felt as if he was sane and did have control over his emotions. Another member felt as if he was sane throughout the whole play. The final member though questioned him and his sanity the whole play and was not convinced at all that he was sane. We all read the same play but Shakespeare left so much room for interpretation that everyone sees the play differently. Even the film versons portray this to some extent. I also think that the portrayal of the final scene is what marks each character as sane or insane. The actions and words that they say in this scene are the final words most of them will ever say and are also their final chance to in a way, show whether or not they are insane. Laertes defiantly showed that the rage and grief that had been fueling him had led him to insanity where as Hamlet's focused and serious attitute towards the fight and how he felt about his mother's death, showed that he was sane after all (at least for me).

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With regards to our essential question: One thing I have noticed is that singing, at least in this plays, says something about someone's sanity. Ophelia sang when she lost her mind, right before she drowned (or as killed herself). The clown at the graveyard also sang and that seemed to bring back odd memories for Hamlet that were totally irrelevant with regards to the situation at hand. Singing also seems to be a ways to answer a question without actually answering it. In the end, during the whole sword fight, all the way up to his death, Hamlet did not seem insane to me. He seemed very in touch with reality which is a key to being sane. Throughout the whole play, I felt as if I could trust what he was saying and describing to us. There was only one time that I ever thought he may have been insane. Peoples actions show there true nature and reveal their sanity as well. I feel like by analyzing their actions, we are able to tell if they are sane or insane and then, from there, whether we can trust them. I feel to some extent we can trust the insane but I also think it depends on what drove them insane. If it was rage and revenge, then it is easier to trust them but if it emotion distress, we have to be more careful about the extent to which we may trust them.

Act 5 Scene 2: Hamlet He that hath kill'd my king and whored my mother, Popp'd in between the election and my hopes

I chose this becasue brings about the idea that Hamlet may have thought that he was going to get the crown afte his fathers death. It also shows exactly how he feels about Claudius and the whole situation. It is stylistically interesting becasue it contains so much thought and information into two lines of this very long play. Also, the use of the word "popp'd" reminds me how unexpected and sudden all of these events must have been for Hamlet.

Limits of Insanity
Blog Post #3 12 February 2012

This week my group presented our scene and in this scene, I got to be Ophelia and sing as she loses her last grasp on reality. This was the point when she really lost her mind and could no longer handle what was going on and it was interesting to watch all the versions that people have made for how she acts when she sings during this particular scene. Some made her jump around and dance and sound happy in a twisted way while others had her sound depressed. This week was also a turning point for me becasue now I think that Hamlet is no longer acting, but that he is truly driving himself towards insanity with his need for revenge yet his reluctance and willingness to find an excuss to put off getting revenge on his uncle. He would make up excuses saying that since his uncle is praying, he can't kill him becasue he will go to heaven but I think he is just to weak to do it and that this internal conflict is what will drive him completely insane.



With regards to my essential question: this week both Hamelt and Ophelia have gone insane yet one I still feel like I can trust in some way. I feel like Hamlet is going insane but that he still has some grasp on reality. Ophelia, on the other hand, lost her grasp on reality. She acted like she was trapped inside her own mind and emotions about how to respond to the conflict that she has been forced into being involved in. Since she sings about nonsense and such, that makes her unreliable and therefore, untrustworthy. I also am trying to identify the shift that happened that casues me to think that Hamlet is no longer acting like he is insane. I think it started with the Mousetrap play and how he responds and watches intently in the film versions but I can't quite place it yet.



Act 3, Scene 3: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

This is stylistically interesting becasue it contains very few words that say so much. It is also very important becasue it shows the reader that Claudius is not forgiven for murdering his brother. It is also interesting how "words with thoughts" can relate to some many things and shows the importance of how you have be mean what you say whether you speak it or write it, in order for it to have any "heavenly" or true, value.

Hamlet's Insanity
Blog Post #2 February 2012

This week, my group wrote our paraphrased version of our scene that we are acting out and i didn't realize how truly complicated and interwined the story was until doing this. This made me realize how much the insanity of one character affects the insanity of another becasue the scene we paraphrased is when Ophelia is being to go crazy and everyone around her is asking what happpend to her and what is wrong with her. Hamlets actions, I believe, led her to this point.



Regarding my classes essential question (where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the Insane?): we read Hamlet's first soliloquy which really gives insite into how Hamlet feels about everything that is going on that this point. He still hasn't met the ghost but as i was reading it and contemplating what really drove him to insanity and to believe that his father was murdered, I started to think that maybe, his insanity began when his mother married his uncle or he didn't get the thrown. Maybe his bitterness and anger toward his mother for marrying so quickly after his father's death is what made him believe that his father didn't die, he was killed.



Act One, Scene Two: Hamlet: She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor cannot come to good: But break, my heart; for I must hold my tounge.

This passage really gives insight into how Hamlet feels about his mother marrying his uncle. It shows that not only does he disapprove how quickly she married, it also shows that regardless of the time that she took, he doesn't, and would never approve. It also contains some forshadowing by saying that it will never be a good thing or end well. I also find it interesting that Hamlet feels as if he can't say anything to anyone.

**What affects Insanity?**
Blog Post #1 29 January 2012

So far, we are only read the beginning and Hamlet has yet to know about the said "ghost" that is haunting the castle, and as we know, that is the reason that Hamlet then seeks revenge. But is the ghost real? Or is it just a figment of the imagination? It must be real to some extent if all of the guards in the beginning of Scence 1, Act 1 can see it. Or could it be possible that they all see the same ghost that is not real?

On another note, does Hamlet's appearance in the play and movie, as an actor, effect the level of insanity that we might place him at?

I tend to think that it does. In the Kenneth Branagh Version (far left), Hamlet looks a little crazier then in the Mel Gibson version. He looks very suspisous and also reminds me a little bit of Draco Malfoy with the white hair color. In the modern version (center picture), Ethan Hawke, who plays Hamlet, also looks a little crazy to me. He looks like he almost feels trapped and lost in the world and he has an edge to him that makes him untrustworthy. Mel Gibson (far right) is by far, the most normal and trustworthy. He looks like a normal man on a mission with no edge of insanity creeping in. There is also a natural look to him which makes him easy to trust and believe and harder to pin him amoung the insane.

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The Three Fates