Joao+Monteiro+de+Barros

=Something funny : media type="youtube" key="H6IeASZZf1c" height="315" width="560"= =Hamlet #4= = =

//In this past week we discussed about the two last scenes of Hamlet. For me those were the ones which Hamlet's insanity comes out. Everything that was inside him, in the deepest point of his heart and mind went out in a violent way.// = = //In my opinion this is the best scene of the play. It is the one which shows the meeting of two insanities: Hamlet's and Laerte's. Yes, I really think that Laertes was insane, and it is due to his sister's death (Ophelia). So based on our essential question, where can we draw the line between sanity and insanity, I would say that we do not have just one line of sanity and insanity but a plenty of them. Laertes, King Claudius, Ophelia, everyone was a little bit insane and out of their wits. The fight was for me a scene which represented the insanity of everyone meeting up and shocking.//

//We also read about Hamlet's dilemma. He was wondering himself whether or not he would kill King Claudius.//

Now I might do it pat, now 'a is a-praying And now I'll do't. And so 'a goes to heaven, And so I am revenged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and for that I, his hole son, do this same villain send To heaven. (...)
 * Hamlet:**

Conclusion of the story: Hamlet's slowly gets crazier, and also affects everybody around him.

Joao Luis = = = = =Hamlet #3 Postting=

//In this week we worked on one of the most famous speeches from Hamlet: "To be or not to be". In this soliloquy, he is questioning whether it is better to live or to die. "To die" for Hamlet, seems like a verb which means "to get a rid of all the difficulties in life"//

//(III,i,64-89)//

//"To be, or not to be, that is the question:// //Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer// //The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,// //Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,// //And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep// //No more; and by a sleep, to say we end// //The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks// //That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation// //Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep,// //To sleep, perchance to Dream; Ay, there's the rub,// //For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,// //When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,// //Must give us pause. There's the respect// //That makes Calamity of so long life:// //For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time,// //The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's Contumely, [poor] // //The pangs of despised Love, the Law’s delay, [disprized] // //The insolence of Office, and the Spurns// //That patient merit of the unworthy takes,// //When he himself might his Quietus make// //With a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardels bear,// //To grunt and sweat under a weary life,// //But that the dread of something after death,// //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.// //Thus Conscience does make Cowards of us all,// //And thus the Native hue of Resolution// //Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought,// //And enterprises of great pitch and moment, [pith] // //With this regard their Currents turn awry, [away] // //And lose the name of Action. Soft you now,// //The fair Ophelia? Nymph, in thy Orisons// //Be all my sins remembered " //

//In this part of the play, Claudius, Gertrude, Rosecrantz and Guildenstern are all discussing how strange Hamlet has been acting. Everyone leaves but Polonius and Claudius. Polonius hears Hamlet coming so he and Claudius hide. Hamlet begins to talk to himself, which makes them both think that Hamlet's madness is not caused by his love for Ophelia, but something else. What I think is, Hamlet is mad with everything around him. It is not just this or that, everything has its own parcel on Hamlet's madness. But, getting back to the soliloquy above, the line of sanity and insanity does not exist in it. For me it is easier to see a line of insanity-total craziness, where Hamlet's begins just insanity, and ends up with no wits anymore.//



Joao Luis

=Hamlet #2 Postting= = = //In this week we went through the acts 3 and 4 of Hamlet, and assimilating this with our essential question "where do we draw the line between insanity and sanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?", in my opinion, definitely Hamlet is going in crazy. The line of insanity, in this particular case is drawn through Hamlet's vision of a ghost. A ghost in which is supposed to be his father.//



= = //Right after we were done with reading, we watched three videos in which people were trying to represent the scenes with acting. In the first video, the ghost is not scary at all. The ghost was slower, and was trying to involve Hamlet, into its speeches. However, Hamlet is experiencing one of his most insane moments, which makes things easier for the ghost in his attempt of involving. The second last videos show a ghost which was trying the creep Hamlet out, and kind of haunt him down as well. Different videos, but with the characteristics of Hamlet conserved. What makes them different is the Director's interpretation.//

//I think these scenes are one of the big demonstrations of insanity from Hamlet.//

Joao Luis Vieira = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =Hamlet=

//To be (insane), or not to be- that is the question.//
//January 30th 2012//

//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8z4E0_-si4//

Essential Question: Where do we draw the line between sanity and insanity? To what extent can we trust the insane?

//No more than poetic words, no longer than big measures, the insanity slowly takes over of Hamlet's body, spreading itself into his veins and entrails. Would someone, who has just had his/her father killed, do not live on the line of craziness and insanity? That is the point which Shakespeare tries to illustrate through his lines. From the point where Hamlet found himself in a knot of grief and sadness due to his father's death, the line between sanity and insanity shows up.//



//For my understanding, after working on the poetic lines written by Shakespeare, and of course, analyzing the scenes which were shown during the classes, I assume: it is easy to know the line across the sanity and insanity,however it is hard to define the line among the genuine insanity and the theatrical acting of Hamlet. For me, sometimes he was acting.//

//As I watched the version of Ethan Hauwke for Hamlet, I found it hard to relate with the original play primarily, but going through and deeper in the movie we can see that, even it is a not a very entertaining movie, the main plot of Hamlet is there with some of the basic characteristics conserved upon another interpretation of the same play. We have the interference of the Director's interpretation about the story then.//

//One of the big issues from the play: the ghost of Hamlet's father, which seems to be not just visible to Hamlet's eyes but also from other characters. In my view, it is not **at al**l one reason to be pointed out as a insanity of Hamlet. The ghost actually did appear for the human being's eyes, in my opinion.//

João Luís.