Sophie+Hansen

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February 20, 2012 Wishy-Washy Hamlet



In Act 5, Scene 1, Hamlet is bombarded with several events that are all centered around Death. I think that these scenes and the order of tem represent Hamlet's increasing fear of death and the mystery of it.

1) **//The Gravedigger and Yoric//**: This scene begins with two "clowns" bantering back and forth, setting a somewhat light-hearted tone for the rest of the scene. Hamlet goes by and speaks with the grave-digger, who speaks of death is a very jesting way, and Hamlet sort of plays along. The realization that the grave used to be that of the King's jester ties the theme of casual thinking of death together. In this scene Hamlet also appears to be very arrogant, mocking death because he thinks himself invincible.

2)**//Ophelia's Funeral://** It is in this scene where death begins to look a little more sinister and close. Ophelia, whom Hamlet claims that he loved with a love that couldn't have been matched by "forty thousand brothers", is now dead through a tragic 'accident'. Hamlet starts to recognize the inevitability of death and and the spontaneity of it.

3//**)The Dual:**// In Act 5, Scene 2, Hamlet is finally forced to come to a full realization of is weaknesses and therefore his inability to save himself and others from death. I wrote in any earlier post how Hamlet seemed to be trying to assume the role of God by punishing everyone in whatever way he saw fit. I think that after he sees his mother and Laertes die, he finally that he is merely a man who is not meant to determine the fates of others. However, he still goes on with his quest and kills Claudius.Hmm. But when he says "I am dead, Horation", maybe this is meant to be kind of surprise that he really wasn't invincible.

HAMLET

I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?

I think that this quote is super interesting, considering that Hamlet basically broke Ophelia's heart by telling her that he did not love her at all!("Get thee to a nunnery."????) Plus, if you really love someone, you wouldn't kill their father...even though it might have possibley been an accident..but you wouldn't make such a joke out of it! So why did he claim that he loved her?? I think that in this case, Hamlet is changing other people's perceptions of reality to make him appear as more of a hero than a villain. No one wants to be known as the jerk who broke someone's heart right before they died! So anyways, Hamlet's quest to be a hero by avenging his father and punishing the wicked is shown once more through this last attempt to honor the dead. Ironically, Hamlet is seen as a martyr by Fortinabras at least, and is hi

February 11, 2012 **Who's the //Real// Villian??? **

What I find ironic about //Hamlet// is the fact that Hamlet is convince that his uncle is a "villain" for murdering his father, but assumes that by killing Claudius himself, he will not be a villain but a hero? It seems hypocritical to me...At what point does killing someone cross the line from an unpardonable sin to a godly act?

And that brings up another point...Hamlet takes it upon himself to kill everyone that in his "course of thought" deserves to be killed. To me it seems almost like he thinks that he should assume the role of God. For example: I don't know, maybe it's far-fetched...thoughts?:)
 * To himself, it is he that should determine whether Claudius should go to Heaven or Hell as seen in the reading from this week.
 * It is //his// responsibility to punish his uncle and mother, even though we know that they already feel horrible for their sins and are in a sense punishing themselves by feeling guilt.
 * Hamlet convinces himself that his quest for revenge is THE most important plight, even more important than the other dozen lives that he destroyed in his attempt to fulfill his destiny.

And then in Act 4, Scene 7, King Claudius ironically,

"Revenge should have no bounds."

I think that this line magnifies the fatal mindset of several characters in this play. As we know, revenge definitely //should// have bounds! Hamlet didn't have to take down Ophelia, Polonius, and the happiness of all of the people of Denmark with his illogical determination to avenge his father! He could have just killed Claudius in the beginning and have just finished right then and there!! Likewise, if Claudius and Laertes hadn't have tried to be so completely sure that Hamlet would die, they might have lived and kept Denmark from falling into the hands of another country!! So basically, Claudius, Hamlet, and Laertes were all completely ridiculous in assuming that their revenge must be carried out exactly, because there narrow-mindedness basically led to each of their own destructions.

February 2, 2012 **Reality Begins to Shift.... **

Period 4's unit question is 'How does our perception of reality change reality?' This is the first scene that came to mind when I thought about our question.....keep in mind how Snow White is sort of like Hamlet, (//sort of//) how she takes a scary, dark forests and blows it out of proportion with her imagination. How does Hamlet do this?

media type="youtube" key="eb11aUGmjeM" height="315" width="560" As most of us hopefully know, after this scene Snow White realizes that all of the scary things that she //thought// she saw were actually cute little woodland creatures. If only Hamlet could have experienced the same relieving ending...of course Shakespeare's reputation might have suffered if this had been the case.

Through the readings through the week, with our question in mind, I've thought about a couple reasons why Hamlet's perception of reality might not be what is exactly correct or even logical. 1) Hamlet is extremely narrow-minded.Claudius is the worst person on earth while his father was a "Hercules". As soon as his friends claim that they've seen the ghost of his father, he doesn't doubt them at all but quickly assumes that they are correct that it truly is the King's spirit. 2) Hamlet has jumped to conclusions, especially with his mother! I mean, yes, she married her brother-in-law pretty quickly, but it's almost as if he blames her for everything that's happened. His attachment to his own reality is shown through this quote from Act 1, Scene 2:

Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not “seems.”
 * HAMLET **

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

these indeed seem,

For they are actions that a man might play:

But I have that within which passeth show;

These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

Maybe Hamlet's pride and stubbornness are a couple the fatal flaws that eventually lead to his own destruction...

And then here's a passage that I found kind of interesting from Act 1, Scene 4...

HORATIO What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness? Think of it. The very place puts toys of desperation, Without more motive, into every brain That looks so many fathoms to the sea And hears it roar beneath.

This warning from Horatio is completely ironic considering that this actually does happen to Hamlet. In a sense, the ghost of his father and the request he made for Hamlet to avenge him does change into another "horrible form". It consumes Hamlet until he directly and indirectly kills or ruins the lives of every character in the play. As shown in the blue portion, his mind is taken over by looking into something ("the sea") that he can't understand and can't see all of. He has lost his logic ability to "reason" completely, and literally goes mad.

January 25, 2012 **Themes in Hamlet**

So since we haven't yet thought of our class's "Essential Question" for the Hamlet Unit, I thought that it might be useful to look at some of the supposed themes in Hamlet so that I actually know what I'm talking about when we discuss possible questions!:) I looked on this random site called litcharts.com where it talked about some possible themes. Here they are...

Basically to sum it all up, litcharts suggested that the whole irony of the play is that Hamlet wants to avenge his father, but when it all comes down it can't actually do it! He kind of dawdles around and takes his time, and even when he's given the chance he can't bring himself to kill Claudius!
 * Action vs. Inaction**
 * Appearance vs. Reality**

=
//"The difference between “seems” (appearance) and “is” (reality) is crucial in Hamlet . Every character is constantly trying to figure out what the other characters think, as opposed to what those characters are pretending to think. The characters try to figure each other out by using deception of their own, such as spying and plotting."//======

From what I've gathered so far, this theme is applicable in a lot of ways in the play.For instance, does the ghost of Hamlet's father really come to him or does he just imagine it so that he can have a tangible justification for killing Claudius? And is Hamlet really pretending to be crazy through the whole thing or in the end does his anger actually make him senile? Well this one is obvious, of course. Essentially the whole play is about Hamlet trying to honor his father by avenging his murder! Plus, I get the sense that there's going to be a lot about religion and dying in an honorable way.... This is an interesting theme. I mean, of course everyone dies in one way or another, but the corruption part is kind of fascinating. Claudius is clearly corrupt, but does Hamlet also become corrupted with pride and anger? He's supposedly a hero character but is there a way that he could have solved his problems without becoming completely obsessed in avenging his father? well...maybe not. I suppose seeing ghosts and having you uncle marry your recently widowed mother might be slightly mentally scarring.....
 * Religion, Honor, and Revenge**
 * Poison, Corruption, and Death**

Anyways, I thought that these themes might be good to consider when thinking about possible essential questions for the unit!:)What do you think?

And then here's a part from Act 1 Scene 2...

//** KING CLAUDIUS **// // How is it that the clouds still hang on you? // //** HAMLET **// // Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun. //

Personally, I think that this is a sort of awkward line...Either Hamlet is being really sarcastic or there's more to his meaning. I suppose whichever way its the director's choice of how its supposed to be portrayed, but I wonder what it means if it's not meant to be sarcastic. It seems as though Hamlet should have "clouds" hanging over him, as Claudius suggests - his father just died suddenly after all! So why does Hamlet say that he does not have clouds over him but that he's "too much i' the sun"? When I read this phrase a couple times, I got a distinct image of that certain time of day when the sunlight is kind of weakening. You know at about 4:30pm how the day just seems to "slump" over? It may be a slightly odd connection, but when I read Hamlet's response to his uncle I got the sense that I was referring to this time of day, where everything fresh and new is behind and night lays in front of you and meanwhile you have those couple hours where there's nothing to do. Maybe Hamlet is starting to get frustrated, having to wade through his dismal new circumstances..what do you think?

[|smitten kitchen]