Madeline+Hansen

Funny AND Talented!!

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Ironic February 20th Well, I would just like to say that I actually really enjoyed Hamlet. I thought it was very interesting, surprisingly witty, and extremely ironic, because: > To take him in the purging of his soul, > When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? > No! > Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent: > When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, > Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed, > At game a-swearing, or about some act > That has no relish of salvation in't -- > Then trip him. that his heels may kick at heaven, > And that his soul may be as damned and black > As hell, whereto it goes.
 * 1) **Hamlet ended up basically committing the same crime he was punishing his uncle for //by// punishing his uncle**: he accidently/purposefully murdered Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Laertes, and of course, King Claudius. True, he didn't kill them to obtain the crown or to marry his brother's wife, but they were done with just as much violence and often with just as much trickery.
 * 2) **While pretending to lose his mind, Hamlet actually does go crazy**: Specifically in scene 3.1, when his play The Mousetrap is being presented, Hamlet is pretending to be insane(flirting shamelessly with Ophelia, talking loudly, and just being embarrassing). But in each movie version we watched, his unwavering persistence and triumph at causing his uncle and mother discomfort was translated into an unmistakably maniacal gleam in his eyes. And later with his mother, it seems as if he loses all control of his mind-at least for that scene- as all thoughts of propriety and empathy are replaced with thoughts of bitter hatred and violence.
 * 3) It's hard to tell whether Hamlet's new reality after death will be as "hellish" as the one he just left: And am I then revenged,

 Remember this thought that Hamlet has in scene 3.3, when he decides that the only way for his father to be truly avenged would be to kill him when he was sinning? Well, he did, and so we assume that King Claudius was sent to "Hell". But, what about Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet himself? Were they truly innocent when they died? Hamlet's reasoning implies that since they did not have time to repent, they would continue their afterlife existence with the same people that sent them there?? It seems like that would be what Hamlet(and Claudius, and Queen Gertrude, AND Hamlet Sr.) would consider as a "hell" all in itself.

Well, Actually...  February 9th Have you ever noticed how complicated life can get when you base truth off of first impressions?





And then, look what happens with Hamlet and the King in Act 3 Scene 3!

While attempting to ask forgiveness of God, the King only manages to confess that:

Pray can [he] not, Though inclination be as sharp as will: [His] stronger guilt defeats [his] strong intent;

Defeated, the King decides that there is no chance for him to go to Heaven, and that he is doomed for Hell. But Hamlet, who is secretly lurking in the background, has several first impressions that do not match up with what was previously described to be taking place. He assumes, because of the King's kneeling position, that he indeed is praying.

Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd: A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.

Defeated as well, Hamlet wrongly thinks that by killing his Uncle at that time would surely send him to Heaven, and so refrains from killing him, and actually sending him to the place where the King knows he belongs.

Definitely ironic. And when it comes to the essential question: **"How does our perception of reality change reality?"** we see that Hamlet's first impressions of reality are wrong, and as a result, reality for the king is changed(and even simply allowed to continue for several more acts). But looking at the larger consequences, we see that reality is greatly influenced for not only Hamlet but the entire kingdom of Denmark. The King is able to plot with Laertes and set up the fencing/poison scheme that accidentally results in the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Hamlet,the King himself, and probably of the nation. Definitely not as happy an ending as Pride and Prejudice...

Foreshadowing... February 3

I thought that Act 1 Scene 4 included a few interesting lines by Horatio that seemed like subtle warnings of what was to come:

Horatio warns: 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.

and the later:

He waxes desperate with imagination. The interesting part is that this actually //did// happen. He'd seen his father in a "horrible" and demeaning form, and this terrible sight and the terrible truth led him slowly but gradually to not only pretend to be mad, but to //become// mad!

And then... Hamlet's perception of reality CHANGED reality!



If you think about it, when he saw his father's ghost, Hamlet's eyes were not only opened to the truth behind his father's death, but to the new and innumerable possibilities that this same lack of loyalty and honor could be prevalent in every other relationship in his life. He spurned Ophelia's love, despised his mother, and refused to trust his friends. He became so suspicious that, without a second thought, he stabs Polonius in mistaking it for his Uncle. His perception of reality-warped by the gruesome image and command of his father's ghost-changed reality not only for him, but for everyone else surrounding him: Ophelia, Queen Gertrude, Polonius, Claudius, even his disloyal friends. All of their lives were changed, and all of their lives were prematurely ended, because of Hamlet's sometimes justifiable and sometimes unjustifiable "imaginations".

Hamlet and The Lion King January 28th media type="youtube" key="63QnvcEjzIs" height="346" width="420" align="center"

Holy Cow!(...cough...lion?)The Lion King IS almost completely like Hamlet!( minus the talking animals and musical interruptions...and the like-able characters). But seriously, this video did a really good job of showing all of the similarities, especially the themes! Some they addressed were:


 * Betrayal**: Scar kills Mufasa to get the throne and then steals his wife...that sounds oddly familiar...


 * No hope, No Action**: For a long time Simba refuses to return to his Pride. Instead, just like Hamlet, he becomes very sensitive about death, mulls over it for a long time and avoids addressing the issue. Hakuna Matata, right? But what makes this interesting is both Simba's and Hamlet's weakness of hesitation, of refusing to solve a problem in hopes that eventually it will just "work out". Simba chooses to distract himself from making right what was wrong by enjoying life and forgetting about his duties and his troubles. In contrast, Hamlet is not so lucky as to be able to forget the past, but rather lets THAT distract him from the present duty of killing his uncle.


 * Disgusted with Truth**: In the psychoanalytical essay I read a few days ago in class, it made the point that part of Hamlet's cynicism arose from his discovery about truth. The truth behind his father's death, the truth of Denmark's decay, and most importantly, the truth of humanity in general, he found, was "evil". He lost trust, and therefore he lost a foundation that would have given him more control and more confidence in his abilities, and in the abilities of others. Simba was similarly handicapped by what he //thought// was truth//. He'd// believed that he was unworthy of the world, not that the world was unworthy of him. He eventually overcame that truth, even though it plagued him and frightened him just as much as it had Hamlet.

Anyway, just thought that was interesting. And now our essential question:How can our perception of reality change reality?

Some movies with a similar idea popped into mind:



= =

The opening scene of the guards and the ghost was pretty interesting, because it seemed like it was setting up this feeling of foreboding for the rest of the play. A few points that triggered this feeling: " As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters 10 in the sun; and the moist star, 11 Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, 12 Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse." His description is bordering on apocalyptical( "//almost// to doomsday"), but that subject always invites dread into the atmosphere.
 * **One of the first things voiced "Long live the king!"** - Well, that's ironic. Long live //which// king? As we find out a few pages later, the dead king even seems to still be living(or maybe just existing). And from our knowledge of the play, the present king isn't going to live very long, despite the well-wishing. That's some pretty interesting very subtle foreshadowing of what's to come.
 * **The ghost of Christmas pa-I mean,of Hamlet's father-appears**- Well, number one, its a ghost, so that's definitely a sign that something's up and that "something" isn't right. The ghost looks oddly like the King that recently died, he's drifting around the castle wall, and he opens his mouth to say something...and then the cock crows. Tension, suspense, and curiosity are introduced into the play, and we know that, if its going to be a good play, these things are going to be resolved. So there's an unspoken promise to solve this mystery(but what with the mystery involving a creepy ghost, the truth probably won't be that pleasant).
 * **Impending threat of war**- Horatio speaks ominously of the similarities between Denmark and the Roman Empire, and implies a similar fall of both nations.

So, a being that shouldn't be part of reality is. Will that change the reality that the guards, the royal family, and the country knows? Or will it expose the truth behind what, in reality, happened to the previous king??Hmmm....