Teresa+Barros-Bailey

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GHzEV8awXjE
 * You want humor? There is nothing funnier than a two year old Danish boy dancing the jive.**

//February 20, 2012.//
 * And another one (...two...four...) bites the dust.**

Ah, and this epic tale finally culminates, along with the lives of more than half of the main characters. And now a moment of silence for the dead. Or make that five moments, seven if you include Hamlet's father and Polonius. The end of this play wasn't exactly unexpected, although it is a little ironic. By Hamlet's mind, he didn't want to kill Claudius and send him to heaven, so he wanted to wait until Claudius sinned and them kill him so he'd go to hell. Which is what ends up happening, but doesn't Hamlet end up going to hell as well? So Ophelia and Gertrude go to heaven, while Claudius, Laertes and Hamlet head on down to hell. Sounds like an awesome afterlife if you ask me.



I have to admit, our essential question is giving me a hard time, if only because my views on it don't change as I read more of //Hamlet.// Everyone's perception of reality changes reality. We can't all view a situation in the same light, because we all have different lenses. Hamlet's return to Denmark in the scenes this week shows us this. To everyone in Denmark, Ophelia's death is old news, and reality is grey. Hamlet, however, expects everything to be exactly as it was when he left for England. Therefore, his perception of his old reality is vastly different than the reality he is faced with upon his arrival home.



My favorite part this week was when Hamlet was about to die and Horatio was willing to die along with him. Talk about loyalty. Hamlet, however, holds Horatio back and tells him to tell Hamlet's story, rather than die. Then, Fortinbras invades the castle and Horatio tells him:

So shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fall'n on the inventors' reads: all this can I Truly deliver.

I love this because it is a pretty good summary of Hamlet's story. Horatio references everything from Claudius and Gertrude's marriage ("carnal...acts") to Polonius' death ("casual slaughters") and Ophelia's misinterpretation of her role in Hamlet's insanity ("accidental judgements"). Horatio relays this summary of the play in a tone that is more like that of a storyteller, showing that he took Hamlet's advice and lived to literally tell the tale.

//February 10, 2012.//
 * My mother's a harlot and my uncle is a murderer. What else is new?**

Oh, don't we all love Hamlet. His accusations of his mother, her supposedly "whore-ish" ways and her "incestuous sheets" are becoming commonplace. Whenever I read Hamlet's lines, Kenneth Branaugh always appears in my head; he is the eternal Hamlet of my mind. Anyway, I have to say that this play is getting more interesting by the scene, even though I can't relate to any of it. My favorite part of the week was when we analyzed Hamlet's "to be or not to be" soliloquy, because finally understanding it made me realize how beautiful and right it is.

In terms of relation to the Essential Question, we've seen this past week how Ophelia's perception of reality changed it. From her perspective, her not talking to Hamlet caused his insanity, which is actually not the case. However, this changes how she acts, because she has this guilt that somehow she was responsible for Hamlet's current state. This changes how she acts around him, and makes her eventually go bonkers. Even though she wasn't a part of Hamlet's insanity, her perception of the situation changed the situation itself.



This week, we analyzed Hamlet's "oh-so-famous" soliloquy. Here was my favorite part:

"The undiscovered Country, from whose bourn No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have, Than fly to others that we know not of."

Particularly notable is the capitalization of "Country", which refers to the afterlife. The mysterious tone shrouds the first two lines, claiming that the afterlife is like a country from which we have no information because no one has ever come back. It's like the Dinotopia of life. Hamlet brings out a good point here, that the only reason we are scared to die is because we are scared of the unknown. We'd rather deal with the hardships that we know we have rather than the ones we don't know about.

To be or not to be ... that is the eternal question.

//February 5, 2012.//
 * We've got some rotten eggs in Denmark.**

This week we read about Hamlet and his conversation with the ghost of his father. I am still not so sure whether this ghost is a real thing or a hoax/figment of Hamlet's insanity. Although I have to say, I don't know how the ghost could be a figment of Hamlet's imagination, just because the other guards saw the ghost as well. Anyway, I don't know the agenda of the ghost. I know that my last blog post involved the ghost as well, but I'm just stuck on it! Why is the ghost even there?!? What will be accomplished by telling Hamlet that Claudius killed his farther? Why must he be avenged? I feel like it is just adding fuel to the already precarious emotional state of Hamlet.

The fact that the ghost tells Hamlet how his father died changes everything about his reality. Now he isn't just bothered about his uncle and his mother marrying, he's also extremely angry because his UNCLE FREAKING KILLED HIS FATHER. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark? You bet it is! Hamlet's reality has already changed drastically in the past month, and now the tone has changed from mourning to that of fury and revenge.

I have to say, this next section is my favorite part of Hamlet's soliloquy: O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer -- married with my uncle, Ouch! Hamlet's mother is no better than a stupid animal? Hamlet is definitely trying to insult his mother. My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules: within a month: You see throughout the play how much Hamlet idolizes his father, so through these lines you see how lowly Hamlet sees his uncle. Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, Here Hamlet really emphasizes that within a //month//, not even after the tears from her husband's death had dried, she re-married. She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! Hamlet's tone is very accusatory here, and shows how gross he sees his mother's new marriage.

I just love that part of the soliloquy ... it is so accusatory and dramatic.

//January 28, 2012.//
 * Ghosts and Kings and Danes ... oh my!**

I definitely don't know what to think of Hamlet so far. I mean, the whole "I-am-seeing-my-dead-father's-ghost" is just about as insane as the fact that Hamlet's mother got married to Claudius only a month after her husband died. Furthermore, why wouldn't he just appear to Hamlet in the first place instead of freaking out the guards for three nights? Is the ghost just a figment of Hamlet's imagination? Would that mean that he is insane throughout the entire play?

How does Hamlet's vision of the ghost change his view of the reality before him? Does it make the new marriage of his mother any more ridiculous? Does it change the fact that his father has died? In the eyes of everyone besides Hamlet, nothing has changed. Through the eyes of Hamlet, however, //everything// is different. Therefore, Hamlet's perception of reality is changed when the truth about his father's death comes out and it changes the reality of the future.

There is a certain section of the play in which Claudius is talking to Hamlet, basically telling him to get over his father's death. In the Kenneth Brannah version of Hamlet, this speech is served in a rather condescending, emotionless, and matter-of-fact way. The king says: "'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father: But, you must know, your father lost a father; That father lost, lost his [father] ... but to persevere In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;" The thing about this speech is that it can be read in many ways: condescending, humble, caring, etc. It also could be read as if talking to a child, which is how the king says it. I thought that the versatility of this speech was intriguing, which is why I chose it.

My name is Teresa. I like burritos. And sweet & sour chicken from Chiang Mai. I'm a social outcast. Which sucks sometimes. But I'll get over it. Someday. With lots of therapy. I am currently tutoring Allie Sisson in how to share. It's working. Maybe.
 * About Me.**