Valeria+Ayala

**__02/20/2012__** This week in class we finished watching and reading //Hamlet.// There was a particular part of act 5 scene 1 that caught my attention while we were reading:
 * __Hamlet Post Blog #4__**

"HAMLET How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?

First Clown

 I' faith, if he be not rotten before he die--as we  have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce  hold the laying in--he will last you some eight year  or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year." (Act 5, Scene 1)

In this passage, the clown says that men can rotten before they die, which could be interpreted as choosing the wrong way, like Claudius, who was be rotten. Through this scene it suprised me that the clowns, being of a 'lower class', had higher philosophical reflections, which is something not commonly represented in other plays. The clowns reflect and altough it could appear that they say irrelevant things, there is a lot of reflection in their words.

Analizing the play in regard to our essential question, after watching and reading all scenes of Hamlet, I say, that in my opinion Hamlet was never insane, all his thoughts and acts were logical and he was aware of the situation all the time,of course he was altered by the situation but his acts made sense in regard with his morals and his feelings, Hamlet was faking his insanity when he had erratic behavior like when he talks with Polonius and other scenes. In //  Hamlet  //, the characters are emotionally unstable, but there is logic between their acts, like Ophelia's suicide and Hamlet even under his "madness" could see the facts more clearly than his mother, Laertes and other characters, which tells us that the "insane" are more reliable than the sane.

Quote: HAMLET

 Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,  Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?  Follow my mother.

 KING CLAUDIUS dies

LAERTES

 He is justly served;  It is a poison temper'd by himself. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008ef5; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008ef5; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008ef5; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-left;"> Nor thine on me.

**__Hamlet Post Blog #3__** **__02/12/2012__** <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This week in class we read and watched act 2, 3 and 4 of //Hamlet//. There are several notable scenes, such as Hamlet's 'To be or not to be' soliloquy. I personally found this soliloquy very interesting and want to compare it with the soliloquy of Segismundo of the drama //Life is a Dream//(1635) by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, which is a hispanic literature classic that I read some time ago because there are some similarities between the plot and the content.
 * < <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">ertyuiopqwertyuiowertyuioertyuirtyutyuqwertyuiwertyuwerty

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__**//Life is a Dream://**__

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">"SEGISMUNDO: <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">(...) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Where then is the gain of a throne, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">That shall perish and not be known <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In the other dream that is death? <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">(...) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">And in all the world, I see, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Man dreams whatever he be, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">And his own dream no man knows. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">And I too dream and behold, <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">(...) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">What is life? a tale that is told; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">What is life? a frenzy extreme, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">A shadow of things that seem; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">And the greatest good is but small, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">That all life is a dream to all, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">And that dreams themselves are a dream."

<span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Pedro Calderon de la Barca, //Life is a Dream// (1965) ||< <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">ertyuiopqwertyuiowertyuioertyuirtyutyuqwertyuiwertyuwerty <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">__**//Hamlet://**__

<span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">"HAMLET: <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">To be, or not to be--that is the question: <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Or to take arms against a sea of troubles <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep-- <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">No more--and by a sleep to say we end <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">That flesh is heir to. ' <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Tis a consummation <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Devoutly to be wished. <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">To die, to sleep--To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">For in that sleep of death what dreams may come <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Must give us pause: there's the respect <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">That makes calamity of so long life. <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">(...)"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">William Shakespeare, //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hamlet //(1603) || <span style="color: #008ef5; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> In // Hamlet, // dreams are compared to death, while in // Life is a Dream, //dreams are compared with both death and life but the aspect of life is emphasized. While reading Hamlet's soliloquy in class, I related it automatically to Segismundo's soliloquy and I find really notable that both are comtemporary and made such a big impact in literature. I also find it really interesting how both present contrary ideas of the concept of dreaming and sleeping and how the authors played with the terms and the words.

<span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">I want to relate act 2 scene 2 to our essential question. When Hamlet pretends to be insane while he talks to Polonius, this last notices that behind Hamlet's madness there is logic. In my personal opinion Hamlet is not insane at any point, he is emotionally unstable and he shouldn't be trusted because of this, but Hamlet never loses his mind, he's just in a dilema and he is unable to decide what to do because of his morality and his definition of pride and respect to his father's name. Hamlet is completely aware of the situation around him and notices the manipulations Claudius tries to play on him. <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quote: > have grey beards; that their faces are wrinkled; their eyes > purging thick amber and plum-tree gum; and that they have a > plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams. All which, > sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it > not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir, 1305 > should be old as I am if, like a crab, you could go backward. > Will You walk out of the air, my lord?
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">**Hamlet**:Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men 1300
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">**Polonius:** //[aside]// Though this be madness, yet there is a method in't.-

Act 2, Scene 2

**__Hamlet Post Blog #2__** **__02/05/2012__**

This week in class we read and watched act 1, scenes 3, 4 and 5 of //Hamlet//. In my opinion there are some interesting facts in this parts of the tragedy. For example in scene 3, Laertes and Polonius tell Ophelia not to trust Hamlet, while they are the ones that are not trustworthy, both know that King Hamlet was murdered and distrust the innocent Hamlet who sincerely loves Ophelia. Scenes 4 and 5 are an epiphany for Hamlet in regard of his father's death, which make him only feel more anger towards Claudius and confirm his suspects. In both interpretations we watched of these last two scenes, the directors present Hamlet as a weak person, he doensn't have an opinion and is in shock because of the news he gets from his father's ghost, Hamlet knees and cries; this was completely different from the scene I pictured while reading,for me Hamlet should have been more angry than weak, indignant of the facts. These two scenes are the basis for two of the tragedy's recurrent themes, which are revenge and morality.

In regard to our essencial question //where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?// my opinion about these scenes is divided. In scene 3, everyone seems to be completely sane, Ophelia, Laertes and Polonius act normally. While in scenes 4 and 5 Hamlet talks to a ghost, which in reality would be impossible, Hamlet could be categorized as insane, but he is not. The tragedy is not limited by our reality rules, it is defined by the world created by Shakespeare, in which indeed, the ghost exists, is seen by more than three characters and tells the truth. So, in conclusion, **we need to define a different line between sanity and insanity in every different ´literary world'**, reality rules don't apply and in this part of the play neither Hamlet, nor Ophelia, nor Laertes, nor Polonius are insane.

Ghost So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. HAMLET What? Ghost I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list! If thou didst ever thy dear father love-- HAMLET O God!
 * Quote:**

**__Hamlet Post Blog #1__** 01/29/2012

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">This week in class we watched different movie versions of act 1, scene 2 of //Hamlet.// It was interesting to see the different perspectives that the directors gave to the scene and how the characters and settings were portrayed. For example, in the Kenneth Branagh Version of Hamlet(1996) the atmosphere of the scene is somehow joyful, in a setting full of light and with the people cheering Claudius as a new King, while in the Mel Gibson Version of Hamlet(1990) the atmosphere is more sad and misterious, without much ilumination and with characters that show more pain than joy about the death of King Hamlet, while the Ethan Hawke Version of Hamlet(2000) is a modern representation that uses the absurd and irony to represent the character's feelings and personalities; the characters laugh and the acting is exagerated, while the ilumination and the setting change constantly to give different perspectives.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity in this scene? In my opinion Gertrude and the people of Denmark are the ones that act insane in this part of the play; Gertrude marries Claudius without waiting a reasonable time after the death of her husband and celebrates the new king without even wondering about the causes of the death of King Hamlet. The people of Denmark don't suspect anything about Claudius and his strange behavior and cheer him as new king instead. Hamlet seems to be the only rational one, wanting to protect the honor of his father and doubting Claudius intentions, while the other characters seem blind and ignorant of the reality. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Quote

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">KING Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">And thy best graces spend it at thy will! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son— HAMLET A little more than kin, and less than kind. KING <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">How is it that the clouds still hang on you? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9817ee; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px; text-align: left;">HAMLET <span style="color: #9817ee; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.