Friday, February 28, 2014

The Mean Ole Hamlet

At first I liked Hamlet and I felt bad for him. Now things have changed. In Act III, he is extremely rude to Ophelia and his mother! Like shame shame, Hamlet!! Didn't you listen to your father when he said to let her be and that heaven would deal with her?! Yes they have betrayed him but that certainly does not mean they deserve to be bashed in front of everyone! I also didn't think he was going mad, but now I'm starting to change my mind. I mean wouldn't you go a little bit crazy after your mother started sleeping with your uncle and the woman you once loved lied to you? I would probably be more than a little mad. During the play Hamlet has written, he asks his mother is she likes it or not and she responds, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (line 221). Gertrude knows that Hamlet is criticizing her and is trying to make herself look and feel better about how she loved the King and how she loves Claudius now. But then in the very last act, I went back to feeling bad for Hamlet. I mean, his dad was murdered, the woman he loves kills herself, his mom marries his uncle, his uncle accidentally poisons his mom, and Fortinbras shows up to either take the kingdom or he's just passing through. Pretty stinky last couple of months of living. One part that really really stuck out to me is when Claudius lets Gertrude drink out of the poisoned chalice. If he really truly loved her, wouldn't he make her stop? Couldn't he command her to stop? I guess there isn't much really to do because he would've given himself away but he could have offered her a different chalice or asked her to wait until the match was over. But before all of this, Hamlet gets slashed with Laertes's sword, so we all know he's going to die because the sword has been poisoned. Why does Claudius want Hamlet dead so bad? Why does he have to let Gertrude drink from the chalice? I mean, c'mon. There's no way you will live after killing your nephew and wife. Someone is bound to find out which only sets up the domino effect of everything else.

Overall, I really enjoyed this play. Much more than I thought I would. The hardest part for me was figuring out what everyone meant because it's so weird hearing how differently we speak. I did have fun finding the little things Shakespeare did like the double meanings. It was kind of like a puzzle so he give us a bunch of ways to read it and we have to chose which way we want to see things. In the end I feel bad for everyone but Claudius because he really started everything. Hamlet loses most everyone he loves, Ophelia is drawn into madness with her father's death and Hamlet having said he never loved her, Gertrude being betrayed by the man she thought loved her, it's just a sad play. But a really good one at the same time. Now I want to go see it live!!

Hamlet: The Moral Judge

Throughout the play, Hamlet is constantly judging someone for what they have done whether it be Gertrude sleeping with his uncle or his uncle murdering his father. He is infuriated with Gertrude and basically sets her equal to a whore. He says, "She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (line 156) And of course he has to take revenge on his uncle by killing him. I mean how else would you react to your mom forgetting about your father in a matter of weeks and moving on and pretending like everything is just fine and dandy and sleeping with her husband's brother which is basically a crime but it doesn't really matter because she's the queen. Yes I know, big ramble. But a great point was brought up by a classmate--"He judges everyone else on their actions and decisions. Yet he murders Polonius and is planning on murdering Claudius. Is he one to judge?" After he murders Polonius, he really has no right to judge. When he murders him, he believes it's Claudius. It's really one big accident that happens because Hamlet doesn't stop and think like he always does and just acts abruptly. When it comes to Ophelia, he says, "get thee to a nunnery" (line 121) but he can mean two things. He either means get yourself some help because you're an awful person, or he means get yourself there so we can have some help. They both work, but looking at this morally, he's telling her she needs to be forgiven for all the wrongs she has done. Some classmates brought up the fact that he plays God a few times. He thinks he is too! He says, "Then I must be their scourge and minister" (line 196). One in the way of sending Ophelia to get help, and two punishing Claudius for killing another man who happens to be his father. Hamlet thinks to himself, "when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage...then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, and that his soul may be damned and black as hell" (lines 89-95). Hamlet is pretty much saying, "Stop. You shall not pass go. Do not collecteth two hundred dollars. Get thee straight to Hell!" I tried to make that Shakespeareanish but I'm totally not even close to what he would say. He wants to catch him at a bad time when his head is swarming with bad thought so he goes straight to hell. But then what happens to Hamlet if he is killed with all of these thoughts swarming his head before Claudius? Will he go to Heaven because he was trying to save Ophelia, save his mother, and avenge his father's death? ORRR will he go to hell because he's calling Ophelia and his mom whores and plotting to kill Claudius?? The fight can go both ways thanks to Shakespeare's genius double-meaninging (if that even is a word) of every single word.

Credit goes to everyone who helped on the "Moral Judge" poster.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

What does it mean to be invisible?

Invisibility-- not being seen; not able to be seen. or are we just not looking hard enough? :-D

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is an interesting book. It's actually a pretty hard read so far. But it's getting better. To me, it's one of those books that you give to a friend and say read until the 8th chapter and if you still do not like it then put it down. The word invisible is a pretty interesting one. And the fact that the narrator has NO NAME makes it even better because it shows how he is just a nobody. He has no label.

In the last couple of chapters I have read, the main character is having trouble figuring out what is right and what is wrong. Well at least he is right now. Who knows what's down the road. At the moment, he is on the way to find a new job after getting expelled. When one of the trustees comes down from the north, the narrator takes him on a tour of the school's property. When they get back, Dr. Bledsoe is furious that the narrator showed the trustee the bad parts around the school. He claims there were "enough decent homes and drives" to show the trustee (138) and that he shouldn't have shown him the "slum" (138). He wants to lie to the trustee about what is around the school. The narrator does not. The words of his grandfather that he claims have stuck with him all this time go with what he's been doing-- "overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death and destruction, let'em swoller you till they vomit" (16). His grandfather is basically telling him to kill them (the white people) until they "vomit" all of the kindness back up. The narrator is struggling-- he wants to follow his grandfather, wants to do what the trustee wants, but upsets Dr. Bledsoe in the process. He cannot make anyone happy!

The part that really stuck out to me recently is when Dr. Bledsoe says to him, "You don't exist--can't you see that?" (143). Three words: exist. see. invisibility. You cannot see something that does not exist. He cannot SEE that. He didn't say "you're missing the point" he said "can't you see that." What a coinkydink.The way Ellison uses the words exist and see here amazed me. I don't know if I'm explaining it well but it makes sense in my head. It reminds me of Hamlet and how he uses words to mean two or more different things at once. Then again, everything is Hamlet, right?


Sunday, February 9, 2014

"Facing It"

Recently in class we have been preparing for our big exam by doing multiple choice corrections. I am terrible at them. I have no idea why. Last year I typically did well when we practiced but for some reason this year I have gotten a lot worse. If you think about it, it should really be the opposite. I should be improving. Buuut no. Then again I guess it makes sense. But I guess I just have to face it. (Buddumpchhhh get it?)

The most recent practice we did is a poem about the Vietnam Veterams Memorial which is in Washington, D.C called "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa. It's pretty sad but it's also a great way of explaining how the wall affects veterans and families. At first the speaker explains how he gets lost "inside" (2) the walls. When he's lost, he finds himself trying not to cry. The wall reminds him of the hardships he endured at war. Before he came, he knew that seeing the wall and fading inside of it would bring back strong emotions. The speaker never directly says that which shows that he had tried to prepare especially when he says, "I said I wouldn't" (3). The fact that he compares himself to a "bird of prey" (7) parallels to what he was in the war. When he was a solider, he probably felt like bird always looking for either a dead, dying, or alive victim to devour. The small creatures fear the birds that eat them. But at the same time, everyone out there was a bird of prey which cannot exactly provide the best comfort. The speaker talks like when he is looking at the wall, the wall is holding him ever so tightly in his grasp but when he turns away, it lets him go. The speaker can potentially be saying that when he's there at the wall, his mind is infected with all these swarming memories but as soon as he's ready to turn away, they leave. He might be commenting on how we aren't affected by all the details of a memory every day but how we are when we focus and return to a certain state of mind. As the speaker reads over the "58,022" (14) engraved names, he seems to be looking for his own. He even is "expecting" (15) to see it as if he's still amazed at how he is still alive. I mean, considering how many people were killed during this war and being a survivor and going back to "visit" everyone has to make you think that you're still with them. But is he wishing he had died with them? Thinking about everything those soldiers had to come back to after putting themselves out  there and seeing things that we don't even want to ever think about makes me wonder if the speaker had wished he had died there versus coming back. As he touches the name of a fellow soldier, the moment rushes back to him when he was with that soldier. The fact that the veteran is strong enough to even go back and be okay after a tsunami of feelings and memories already shows a lot about his character. The idea of "Facing It", it being the war, being the emotions, being the memories, has to be one of the hardest things the speaker has to do after the war. The wall captures him and his mind. In a split second, it springs back all of the feelings the speaker had. "Facing It" is one of the hardest things the speaker has to do.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Weeding the Garden

Shakespeare: The name I cringe at because we all know reading anything from this time period is not exactly easy. I mean I don't exactly remember much of Romeo and Juliet other than watching the old version and the Leonardo DiCaprio one. I vaguely remember reading a few lines, and stopping to translate it to modern English, and then starting again. But as we've gone on reading and gotten farther into Hamlet and I'm having a much easier time understanding what is going on. It's like Spanish class. You just have to try to flip the switch to change what you think like normally. But also watching it and reading it at the same time has helped a lot too. I can hear how each of the characters sounds which helps me to understand the tone a heck of a lot better.

Skipping over the ghost and Claudius address to the Royal court, I want to talk about Hamlet. First of all, I feel terrible for Hamlet. Absolutely terrible. I mean it can't get much worse than your uncle becoming your dad and taking over the throne. He just sounds completely heartbroken. He says, "'tis an unweeded garden/ that grows to seed: things rank and gross in nature" (135-136). He is seeing nothing but death and evil overgrowing in what used to be a beautiful garden. When I think of  garden, I think of my grandmother's garden that is always full of the most beautiful flowers in the spring and butterflies are all around. But I also think of my grandfather's vegetable garden that's just a skip and a jump down from my grandmother's. His garden always is growing something. Whether it be tomatoes, or eggplant, or raspberries which just happen to be my favorite. It's always providing. If we go off of the providing idea, while the King was alive, he was the garden that supplied his kingdom with goodness and nutrients. He was the reason they were able to live so happily and enjoy the butterflies. But now that Claudius has come into the picture, he has taken over that garden that was once able to provide for everyone and all it is now is dead. The evilness has not been taken away from the garden. But who tends the garden?? Is it Gertrude?? Hamlet's mother that has betrayed her late husband and married his brother? Why yes it must be! Behind every happy man is a happy wife! As some say: "Happy wife, happy life!" And this might just be me, but I feel the woman secretly has control over her husband most of the time. Flashback: Nora controlled Torvald with ease. She was manipulative by the way she danced for him or put on shows. She tempted him. Gertrude can be the same way! Hamlet remembers that Gertrude would "hang on him/ As is increase of appetite had grown" (143-144). Gertrude was probably the mastermind behind the thrown. And while we are comparing the two, if Nora had others that she flirted with, Gertrude probably did as well. Claudius perhaps. It's all one big loop between the garden and who tends the garden. But if this little tangent is right, what will become of the kingdom? Will Hamlet take over Gertrude's role of tending the garden since she can't see what has grown right under her nose? Or will he let it collapse as he still mourns the death of his godly father? 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Bilbo Bagginses

Ok, I admit it. I'm a Hobbitee. Not a Whoovian, a Hobbitee. Yes, I know--kind of strange. But I cannot get enough of The Hobbit. Bilbo just cracks me up. And so do all of the dwarves. But what I've never really thought about until recently is their journey--a hero's journey. But what else could it be, I mean c'mon, most journeys can be argued to be hero's journeys. But see The Hobbit is a peculiar case. Can it be divided into three different journeys with the movie or is it just one? Ok, this is where I have a big confession. It's pretty bad too. I haven't even read The Hobbit yet. I'm breaking one of my own rules!!! I am usually very good about reading the book before I see the movie but this time I was dragged into seeing the movie. So I didn't really have much time to prepare. So for now, I am just going to analyze The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Then I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the second one (if you haven't, go see it now. it's amazing).
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Digital image. IMDb. N.p., 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Alright. So, at the beginning, Bilbo meets Gandalf-the wizard- and then dwarves start to show up at Bilbo's cute little Hobbit-hole. While they are there, Bilbo learns of their problem--they need to reclaim their mountain. There we go. The first step already done--he know's their problem. Secondly, he learns why it's an issue. The dwarves don't have a home and they want their gold back because dwarves are greedy and who wouldn't want their gold back?! Third: When Bilbo is asked to go as the "burglar," he reads the contract and is terrified after he realizes he could be burnt to death he passes out right then and there. When he comes to, he backs out of the entire journey because he is scared. But then, he overcomes the fear of leaving his home and going on an adventure and runs after the dwarves. In this he completes step five as well, he cannot go back and commits to the new life he has agreed to. And then of course, with the new life, he has to play around to find where he should be. When he is out in the mountains, he has to get some horses back from some trolls. Because he is nimble, he is able to sneak around the trolls as they prepare for their meal. The old Bilbo would never have done this. Heck, he would have never been in this situation! In the process, the dwarves have to come rescue him and in the end, it's Bilbo that saves them from the trolls. Actually, that can be argued. According to Gandalf, Bilbo saved them, but according to others, Gandalf is the one who split the rock so the trolls would turn to stone. Either way, Bilbo was smart enough to stall. With the trolls out of their way, they move onto where the trolls would have been looking for whatever can be useful. This is one of Bilbo's biggest changes because now he gets a sword. Sweet, little Bilbo that once needed a handkerchief now has a sword. Sounds like a major change, yes? A lot of this stuff can be arguable so I'm going to skip a lot of the good stuff because I don't think it's really necessary. Step Eight: They are captured by trolls!! However the trolls do not see Bilbo. Well one does, and then they tumble into the depths of the cave and we meet Gollum!!! Sorry, I love him and his riddles. I quote him with my step-brother allllll the time. It's precious. ;) And Sméagol of course. How can you not like him.  In the game with Gollum/Sméagol, Bilbo almost dies. However, the reason he lives is because he finds the ring (BUM BUM BUMMMM). He's not really sure what to do with it at first. When he realizes he cannot be seen while he is wearing it, he uses it to his advantage and follows the dwarves and Gandalf out of the cave. One of the dwarves makes a comment about Bilbo going home and Bilbo takes the ring off so he is seen again and says that he is staying. Right after, the Orcs come. So right after Bilbo reestablishes that he wants to say he regrets his decision because he is pretty sure that he is going to die. In the battle with the Orcs, the dwarf who is in charge tries to kill the mighty Orc. In doing so he gets himself knocked out and almost beheaded. Bilbo, being the new Bilbo, goes and defends the head dwarf, completing step eleven--the last minute troubles. He again is able to stall enough for Gandalf to call for help. Now, Bilbo has completed his last step. Or what I'm going to call his last step for now. He has mastered stalling! And fighting with a sword and basically just being the complete opposite of what he was before step one. Bilbo has finished part 1 of three and has more to overcome and more to stall for. Soooo now to see what else he does, you need to go see The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. Because it's just as amazing. If not better. 

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Lips and Eyes

Lips and Eyes
By Thomas Carew

In Celia's face a question did arise,
Which were more beautiful, her lips or eyes?
"We," said the eyes, "send forth those pointed darts
Which pierce the hardest adamantine hearts."
"From us," repli'd the lips, "proceed those blisses
Which lovers reap by the kind words and sweet kisses."
Then wept the eyes, and from their springs did pour
Of liquid oriental pearl a shower:
Whereat the lips, moved with delight and pleasure,
Through a sweet smile unlock'd their pearly treasure
And bad Love judge, whether did add more grace
Weeping or smiling pearls to Celia's face.

Today in class it was suggested that we research a poet from around Shakespeare's time to prepare us for Hamlet. In doing this, I came across Thomas Carew, who was born in 1595 and lived until 1640. He died really young compared to what we see people live to today. However, he grew up around England and became a secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton and became a part of an embassy.
So when I read the first line, I am curious. Who is Celia? Is it Sir Dudley Carleton's wife that Carew made comments about? He clearly cannot decide whether he likes her eyes or her lips more. They seem to satisfy him in different ways. When Carew personifies Celia's eyes, they are fighting a battle. They want to be considered more beautiful than her lips. Same goes for the lips-they want to end up on top. Carew seems to be seduced by both. The eyes break through hearts that are expected to be impenetrable hearts no matter who is it. The fact that Carew compares them to darts makes me think that they can be thrown at anything and anyone and still make a mark. However, when I think of eyes getting called "darts" I think of that look I used to get from my parents when I was serving at church, sitting up front and talking and then I would look over and see my mom in the pew and she just had this look and her eyes were daggers. There is no way a child has never gotten that from his or her mother. I still get it all the time! Mainly when I'm talking at church still but that's not the point. It just seems more negative than positive to me.I guess that also goes back to breaking through any heart. Or the looks Celia gives are just so capturing that the speaker cannot break away from her.The lips on the other hand, excite Carew. Carew apparently had many troubles with certain sexual remarks and mistresses. Going along with that, the talk of lips is very sexual. After the lips give their statement, the eyes cry! They full on cry! They cry because they feel that they have lost the argument. The eyes know that even though they can break through any heart, that the lips ultimately bring the love. And the lips seem to think they have won as well! They dance and frolic over Celia's face. However, the speaker seems to still be having trouble when he/she says "whether did add more grace/ weeping or smiling pearls to Celia's face."  It seems that even when Celia is upset, her eyes are still beautiful and when she smiles it's as if she is full of treasure--pearls. But what can this mean! The only thing I can think of is that it's going to be a continuing battle for the lips and eyes.


Jokinen, Anniina. "Life of Thomas Carew." Luminarium.
        23 March 1997. 8 January 2014.
        <http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/carew/carewbio.htm>