Performance Choices

The scene that my partner and I chose to analyze was the first meeting between the ghost and Hamlet. I felt that ghost even though still was enraged about his murder had to convey to Hamlet a fatherly tone addressing his son about Claudius' true nature. Hamlet in this exchange must come across as in awe or shock at seeing his father, but also take all of his words into consideration as final requests that he must fulfill as his son.

Hamlet Discussion Question #9+p 833 #7

9. In Hamlet's famous soliloquy “To be or not to be.” the character at that moment is an important question, literally one of “life and death”, but the general terms in which it is phrased gives it a resonance that reaches out past Hamlet. Hamlet poses the question on the level –  “shall I kill myself?”, or “can I live like this?” but “to be or not to be”. It is existence itself that is up for debate in this speech. The form of words guarantees that Hamlet’s question will be interpreted in a literal sense. the line uses one of the most basic verbs in the language. The verb is then phrased in the infinitive, “to be”, rather than attaching it to any specific noun or pronoun
7. The theme of deception is the most dominant theme in Hamlet because both the antagonist and protagonist use this attribute to manipulate others into believing every statement they say as truth and to have their motives covered from the people surrounding them.

Hamlet Discussion Question #7+14

Hamlet's madness seems to be a deliberate strategy. In this ambiguous play the reader passes his or her own judgment on Hamlet’s mentality, which in turn causes much confusion as to what the correct diagnosis is. As the reader puts the pieces together and begins to unfold the true feelings and actions of Hamlet, it becomes obvious that this madness just is a clever way to discover who murdered his father. When Hamlet says "I am but north-north-west when the wind is southernly I know a hawk from a handsaw" he implies that he can be rational at any given time, but only when he feels the circumstance permits him to be rational. Thus Hamlet’s “antic disposition” is a reality, and his rationalization for his “mad” behavior is nothing more than a clever deceit.

Hamlet Discussion Question #1

The circumstances in this scene is that both men express their ideas of how Ophelia must not marry Hamlet because she must remain chaste because purity must be fundamental in all women. Perhaps Ophelia shows her unhappiness with all of this, because Laertes stating his argument that, saying, "perhaps he loves you now," but then he goes on to point out that Hamlet, as a prince of Denmark, can't marry just anyone. Hamlet is a prince, but Ophelia is not a princess, and Hamlet needs the approval of "the main voice of Denmark." What Laertes means is that Hamlet must have the permission of the King.

So, for whatever reason, Laertes is convinced that Ophelia cannot marry Hamlet. And if she can't marry him, then the relationship can only harm her. She could "lose heart, or chaste treasure open" (1.3.734). He doesn't stop there, and as he goes on, it becomes clear that although he may love his sister, he doesn't have a very high opinion of her, either. He compares her to springtime flowers, which may be diseased even before they start to bloom. Finally, he reminds her that she is young, and "youth to itself rebels, though none else near" (1.3.735), meaning that young people do stupid things, even without being tempted.

Get out of the room: The dysfunctional family

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a play in which the central conflict results from a disruption in social order. Hamlet portrays how the upset of natural order within a family unit causes the gradual decay of the family. Although the scenarios in the play are extreme, involving murder and revenge, the point of chaos within a family is still made. The causes for the decay are the murder of King Hamlet, the short-lived grief of Gertrude, and the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude. Firstly, the patriarch of the family, the providing and authoritative figure, is removed to create an unstable family unit. While the mother is criticized for her display of a short-lived grief for her deceased husband and therefore ultimately criticized as a female.

Prufrock Analysis

When looking at T.S Elliot's modernistic poetry the theme  of indecision and its role on the speaker's psyche. A line that stands out "for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions,/Before the taking of a toast and tea" In essence Prufrock would be unable to go anywhere, however hard he tried. Open space has been implanted into his mind, and would be movement in the same place, like a man trapped in a dream. There is no way to distinguish between actual movement and imaginary movement. However far Prufrock goes, he remains restricted in his own mind, and all his experience seems imaginary. It seems to be some perception of this which keeps him in his mental state, content to imagine himself going through a limbo, aspiring to obtain a woman, and telling her "all," like Lazarus back from the dead. There is no resurrection from the death, and this is one meaning of the epigraph from Dante.

Mini Essay

      Marvel's Poem To His coy Mistress is strictly a seductive poem that focuses on theme of Carpie Diem the idea of seizing a moment in time. Lines that stand out are  "For, lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate". Sexually speaking our older lover could take things slowly with her; if that is what she wants, then, that, is what she should have; he is committed to the conquest, a conquest that can only come about as a result of him fully satisfying her; and, no doubt it is his goal to satisfy her, though it may take thousands of years; and, he would take pleasure throughout the long wait, if, if, only if, there is some prospect of sexual fulfillment. At this point that there appears the most dramatic shift in tempo that I have ever felt in a passage of poetry. The speaker claims that there battle for love can not last forever since they at some time will die. To finish his conquest the speaker states "Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run". his man wants this woman, this central focus point of his sexual passion. He cannot wait, he begs her not to put off sexual union. He eloquently points out that the cares of the moment do not much matter as time is slowly absorbing them both, as it does all things.

To His Coy Mistress

Marvel's Poem To His coy Mistress is a seductive poem that focuses on theme of Carpie Diem. Lines that stand out are  For, lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. Sexually speaking our older lover could take things slowly with her; if that is what she wants, then, that, is what she should have; he is committed to the conquest, a conquest that can only come about as a result of him fully satisfying her; and, no doubt it is his goal to satisfy her, though it may take thousands of years; and, he would take pleasure throughout the long wait, if, if, only if, there is some prospect of sexual fulfillment. Now, take a breath, for, it is at this point that there appears the most dramatic shift in tempo that I have ever felt in a passage of poetry. Also the speaker claims that there battle for love can not last forever since they at some time will die