Dear vacationers,
I wonder if anyone is reading these posts during the snow and the hazy daze of Christmas. Maybe…but maybe not.
Well, just in case you are -- or if, after Christmas, you begin to want to move forward with your essay but still feel stuck, please use this posting to ask questions of anyone, including me. I'll be checking it even if no one else does. And if anyone has an insight to share or a solution to a thorny problem, your comments above all are welcome here.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Frost on Snow
I'm going to rip off Mrs. Minor and publish here a beautiful poem by Robert Frost that I had not read before. And I was just noticing how very big and black these crows appear against the pure white landscape -- twice as big as during ordinary weather.
Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree,
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And changed some part
Of a day I had rued.
Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree,
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And changed some part
Of a day I had rued.
Your Hamlet essay ideas
Dear Class,
Other than Michelle Dingsun's and Sam Engle's (I looked at theirs and talked with both students way back when we had school), all thesis statements from those who submitted them are listed below with my responses, many of which are far more substantial than I had at first intended. I was going to e-mail these separately -- then I got the inspiration to post everything so that the thinking of these students and my thinking would be available to everyone.
My hope is that there is some sort of answer or guidance to be found below for all of you. Many of the issues that we've considered or that lend themselves to essay analysis are raised and so I've found that I have written a sort of patchwork essay of my own on Hamlet. I've also been careful to cite the text wherever necessary as an example of what you can and should do.
As I write now, the snow has risen above a foot in my neighborhood. It makes last week's weather, which was enough to suspend school, look pitiful. Well, I hope you enjoyed the added vacation and I hope you are rollicking in the snow while it lasts.
To quote that noted thinker and philosopher, Santa Claus,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
best wishes,
JD
THE THESIS PROPOSALS:
Aditya Arun wrote:
Hamlet's view on women is based upon his sole judgment on his mother Gertrude and the woman he once loved, Ophelia. His dismal view on women is founded upon his ill experiences with these two women and helps to solidify the hatred shown by Hamlet towards women illuminating the sort of society women lived in during that time period.
Aditya,
I don’t like your thesis proposal very much. It’ll get you into trouble. For one, Ophelia is the primary victim of Hamlet’s poisoned view of women, and so hardly responsible for his skewed opinion of womankind. Her situation is complicated, moreover, because she has a father who is fond of espionage, as Hamlet undoubtedly knows. Polonius does in fact set Ophelia out as bait for the prince, and any suspicion Hamlet has that she is acting on someone else’s behalf makes things worse for her.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to attempt to draw conclusions about the women of “that time period.” You don’t know enough about Shakespeare’s time and society, and anyway that’s exactly the sort of phrase you should quit using in your essays.
If you want to examine this aspect of Hamlet, I think you must concentrate upon Gertrude as the source of his misogyny, and perhaps as the catalyst for his disillusionment with people in general. He finds wherever he turns that people are not as they seem, starting with his own mother. When first we meet him, he is depressed to the point of suicide and disgusted with the world in general: “…‘tis an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely…” His disillusionment is an important factor in his subsequent behavior—from behind his “antic” mask he pokes fun at the pretenses of people like Polonius and Claudius, whom he sees as cynical manipulators, and Ophelia, whom he decides is too easily manipulated and thus false to her true feelings.
See what you can develop in that direction.
JD
Scott McIntire wrote:
Thesis: Hamlet's madness is a cleverly disguised persona that he puts on to carry out his rage and ultimately avenge his father's death.
My essay will be all about Hamlet's madness, and how he isn't as mad as he seems, but actually just more full of rage. I'll also maybe compare it to ophelias madness, which I think is true madness, and show how the two differ.
Scott,
I think you must think more specifically. Hamlet himself tells Horatio that Hamlet’s friends should not be surprised no matter “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, / As I perchance hereafter shall think meet / To put an antic disposition on…,” nor should they breathe a word to anyone that his madness is anything but genuine.
Comparing Ophelia’s genuine madness with Hamlet’s “antic disposition” could be more fruitful, provided you have a clear purpose. If you can argue for Hamlet’s strategy in finding the truth under an assumed madness, and perhaps show that, once he adopts that mask and is drawn into the quest for revenge he really does snap the night of the play, when he unmasks Claudius but kills Polonius. His wild action provokes Ophelia’s madness (Hamlet, the one she loves, not only treats her harshly and cynically, but is responsible for her father’s death), you might have something. After all, he uses madness as an excuse in his final apology to Ophelia’s brother Laertes—and we can almost believe that Hamlet is momentarily overcome by passion when he leaps into Ophelia’s grave to fight with her brother over who loved her the most. His credentials for being the most aggrieved, at that point, are suspect to say the least.
Consider these things, then, as you build a stronger thesis.
JD
Brianna Tilleman wrote:
Ophelia is only a pawn in the struggle between the men of the court, manipulated by them all to achieve their own ends.
Brianna,
I think you can write a good essay that focuses upon Ophelia, but you’ll need a more definitive thesis than you presently have. Re-read her first scene, in which first Laertes, then Polonius, lectures her on Hamlet and his true intentions. Then look at the first scene of Act II, in which Polonius sets Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris. He makes it clear that he expects some misbehavior, of much the same sort that Laertes promises his sister he won’t do. In his advice to his sister, Laertes is nearly as pompous, and certainly as judgmental, as his father Polonius—just more loving and less harsh. The double standard is impossible to miss, though.
We see later that Polonius is willing to use Ophelia as bait with which to probe Hamlet, and that Hamlet uses her quite roughly (but that is a separate issue that you must clearly deal with as such).
A young woman of marriageable age was not to be anywhere public without an escort, and so Polonius provides his daughter with a book—not much of a substitute for her father, for example. We can see that Ophelia, once she severs her ties with Hamlet, has no confidante
You might find a point of connection with Marlow’s recommendation that women be kept in blissful oblivion when it comes to the ugly matters of men and their arena of action. He lies to “the Intended” to keep her in that state.
See what you can do,
JD
Shea Meisner wrote:
Mr. Duncan,
Here are some (rough) thesis idea’s for my Hamlet paper:
• It is in Hamlet’s soliloquies that his true character is most easily seen.
• If not for his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle, Hamlet would likely not view all women with such distaste.
• Gertrude plays a much more important role than she is given credit for.
• It is quite possible that Shakespeare based Hamlet off of the Garden of Eden and what took place there.
Thank you,
Shea Meisner (ap lit, per 1)
Dear Shea,
Your ideas are interesting. I’m not sure they belong all in one thesis, but they are not incompatible. You can sort the soliloquies by their theme:
#1 “O that this too too sullied flesh…”Hamlet, clearly depressed, expresses his disgust with the world and particularly his mother’s weakness, as well as his consideration of suicide, which continues in #3. Yes, here he says, “Frailty, thy name is woman” and much of his subsequent treatment of Ophelia is clearly warped by the trauma of what he perceives as his mother’s betrayal.
#2 “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I…” After witnessing the passionate impromptu performance of the player, who brings himself to tears, mingled disappointment and anger directed toward Hamlet himself for his own weaknesses as a “swift avenger.” Then inspiration: his resolve to use his doctored play “to catch the conscience of the king.” Thus this is a more positive reflection that results in the sort of action at which Hamlet excels.
#3 “To be or not to be…” I see this Hamlet turning away from action to reflect on the world in which he dwells (and all of us dwell), and I think it is in some way related to his imprecation at the end of Act I: “The time is out of joint: o cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right!” He is an introvert, and perhaps not ideally suited to revenge, as say Fortinbras might be. He ranges over nearly all the frustrations of human existence and considers the afterlife. This is sort of the calm eye of the storm, in which Hamlet questions the point of existence.
#4 “How all occasions do inform against me…” This one is related to #2, as Hamlet sees Fortinbras coming across Denmark on his way to make war in Poland “to gain a little patch of ground / That hath in it no profit but the name.” Now he considers what honor is worth—everything, he decides. Hamlet now seems to believe that he should be more like Fortinbras: make his thoughts “bloody or else nothing worth.”
I think you should also look at his final statement to Horatio, in which his mood, though fatalistic, is serene. He no longer chastises himself or seeks a way out, and he even paraphrases the Bible: “there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” Maybe his tussle with Laertes in Ophelia’s grave and his cathartic confrontation with Gertrude have together purged him of his inner rage and conflict? That idea, if you develop it, might tie your analysis of Hamlet’s development seen through his soliloquies to your Gertrude/womankind idea.
As far as the “Garden of Eden” theme goes, that’s probably material for a separate essay, and a rather technical one that seeks to find parallels and allusions. Very tricky—I’d avoid it (and by the way: the expression is not “based off of” but “based on” or “based upon”).
I hope this is helpful.
JD
Meiying Piao wrote:
I have a pretty uh interesting thesis statement that many people might disagree with.
Should I scape it all together and start a new thesis with a brand new essay?
My thesis statement: Hamlet cannot handle the truth regarding his father's murder. His grief and sense of betrayal possess him and he becomes a man with a blurred sense of justice. Hamlet's wretched state is more caused by Gertrude's betrayal, than his father's murder.
Dear Meiying,
I think your idea could work, provided you structure your thesis properly. Right now you have the idea only. Think about some of these things: Hamlet’s sense of his mother’s betrayal he clearly expresses in his “O that this too too sullied flesh…” soliloquy. We learn that he is disenchanted not only with his mother, but with the world in general: “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world! / Fie on’t! ah fie! ‘tis an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely…”
Remember his standards are very high—he is an idealist who sees cynical behavior (Claudius, Polonius, etc.) all around him and can’t abide it. Hamlet sees Claudius and all who resemble him as the enemy, and now Hamlet’s mother has joined them! I don’t really think his sense of justice becomes blurred (if anything it is so highly developed that any injustice offends him to the core) —but his view of womankind is certainly distorted, and this clearly arises from his feelings about Gertrude.
The way his mood and resolve lift when Horatio tells him of the ghost that resembles Hamlet, Sr. (no more thoughts of suicide for a while at least) supports your idea. The Ghost gives him concrete action—revenge—to take, and tells Hamlet that Claudius is a murderer who committed the sin of Cain. It’s just that, as soon as he has time to pause and reflect, he realizes what a terrible responsibility he now carries: see my note to Shea about Soliloquy #3. The world appears an even worse place than before, with treachery everywhere and no solution but to kill, to be killed, or to kill onself—and then there may still be no escape from the agony of existence (“…what dreams may come, / when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / must give us pause…). There is thus no end to calamity, he decides, and the responsibility is all ours. He’s quite an existential prince.
On the whole, his mother’s defection appears to be the catalyst that turns a young man I assume (from his banter with Horatio and later with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, and his love for Ophelia) to have been an utterly witty, charming and brilliant Renaissance prince into a man whose humor is expressed through bitter irony and who must hide his inmost feelings from everyone.
Well, I hope there’s something in all this you can make use of.
JD
Hari Raghavan wrote:
Sorry for the delay but I was foolishly under the assumption for most of this weekend that I could put away my thesis statement since you'd looked at it once already. I didn't realize until only just now that I needed to revise it, so I've printed my revised version here now, for posterity:
Women occupy an important role in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, as their presence in the story reveals aspects of the title character that could not otherwise be glimpsed. After all, it is only in the company of his mother Gertrude that Hamlet makes evident his absolute, god-like reverence for his father and reveals his distorted notions of spousal loyalty; it is also only in the company of his adored Ophelia that he exposes his warped perception of women, of their position in society and the duties he feels they ought to serve. It is among the play's female characters that Hamlet is most emotional, that he is most vulnerable, and it is through his interaction with them that Hamlet offers a window through which can be observed his slow, tragic undoing.
Please reply back with thoughts/further edits if possible! And please let me know if I got credit for showing you my original thesis statement! Thanks! Enjoy the snow!
Hari.
Dear Hari,
You might also note that Hamlet admits faults of his own to Ophelia in that bitter confrontation. Yes, those two scenes are, next to the soliloquies, perhaps the most revealing of Hamlet’s complex nature and outlook than any others. I don’t like your expression “distorted notions of spousal loyalty,” though. That sounds like an unsubstantiated value judgment. In that first court scene, when Claudius introduces Gertrude formally to the court as “our sometime sister, now our queen,” Hamlet, Sr. has been dead less than two months, as Hamlet, Jr. tells us:
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she follow’d my poor father’s body,
Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she—
O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn’d longer—married with my uncle,
My father’s brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules…
And to Hamlet, Claudius stands for everything he despises, so Gertrude has, as I observe to Meiying, betrayed more than her love for her son and her former husband. I don’t think many of us, in similar circumstances, would feel less than does Hamlet, though we would express our feelings less elegantly.
Your basic idea is promising, as long as you are specific about what you believe constitutes Hamlet’s “slow, tragic undoing.” Maybe keep in mind the Aristotelian notion that tragedy encompasses the fall of a great man and the grief and destruction that is a part of it.” Hamlet seems to know, in his last speech to Horatio, that he is heading that way, has always been heading that way since the news of his father’s death, and “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.”
JD
Krista Young wrote:
I’ve been trying to form my thesis for my Hamlet essay but so far I have been unable to get a good concise idea to work off of. I was contemplating writing about gertrude; i don’t think she was truly in love with Hamlet senior and I think that she married Claudious out of duty, i was going to defend this position by discrediting Hamlets observations of her by the fact that a mother especially a queen must keep a certain attitude of everything being alright to their children and if she was having marital issues she wouldnt have told him, especially since Hamlet idolizes his father. I was also going to use gertrude’s optimism toward ophelia and Hamlet to show that she wanted them to have true love because as a mother she would want for her son what she was never able to have or what she was robbed of because of her position. I was also looking at writing about the nature of revenge and why it doesnt work and the consquences of Hamlet seaking revenge. I was thinking about discussing why Hamlet felt the need to seek revenge despite the fact that he is obviously not a murderer and didnt want to be one. He was trying to fill the role society hat set before him and act how he believed princes were supposed to act— similiarly to how pip acted how he thought a gentleman should act. Im not sure of either of these ideas could bear to fruit in an essay and I was wondering if you thought there was potential or if I should look for something else. Also I feel most of my ideas are coming from the essays we’ve read on Hamlet, and since you said you had some others we could read I was wondering if you get send me the titles and authors so I can look them up online. Thanks so much, I would have just asked you this at school but I didnt want to delay my essay since it looks like more bad weather for the next few days
Dear Krista,
I think there is a lot of evidence tucked away between the lines of Hamlet that Gertrude was an unhappy queen and that Claudius is, ironically, a better husband to her than the elder Hamlet was. If they lived near Tanasbourne circa 2008, a quick divorce and remarriage might have been in the cards, with young Hamlet disgruntled and maybe even depressed but hardly required to revenge papa, and full permission to return to his studies in Palo Alto. Claudius strikes me as a king who likes to stay around the castle and enjoy life, while employing his political savvy through delegates to keep everything in tip-top order around Denmark. The problem is: Claudius murdered Hamlet, Sr., and gained the throne and his queen in criminal fashion. Regicide and fraticide all in one! Shakespeare was highly concerned with the natural order of humankind, under which the king served on earth as God’s designated representative. It is because of Claudius’s heinous act that “there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Gertrude doesn’t know that, of course. Even Hamlet accepts her stunned reaction as clear evidence of her innocence on that score.
Still, we have Hamlet’s view of his father as the incarnation of Hyperion, and his hateful attitude toward mom’s new husband that was poisonous even before Claudius poisoned Hamlet the elder. Note his fearful, even guilty response to the Ghost when it appears only to him in Gertrude’s chamber, Act III:
“Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!”
He sounds a bit like a son who has failed to please his father, or to measure up to his father’s expectations (there’s even a hint that this apparition of the Ghost could be a figment of Hamlet’s imagination).
Hamlet the elder appears to have been a fairly grim sort, who was comfortable in a suit of armor waging war on his neighbors, as when he “smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.” There is much description of him and his legacy among the men on the parapet in the first scene of Act I. Take a look. Hamlet’s own words regarding his father also are important. Hamlet seems not to value his own attainments when he considers his father’s greatness. For example, he almost classes himself with the despised Claudius when he says his uncle is no more comparable to Hamlet’s father “than I to Hercules.” I say that because I believe Hamlet would compare his father favorably to Hercules (definitely smarter, but so is most everyone). If you take Carolyn Heilbrun's favorable assessment of Gertrude’s way with words as valid (I do), I think you could by extension argue that Hamlet, the brilliant and incisive wit of Elsinore, is more an intellectual and spiritual product of his mother than of his father. Thus, when Hamlet compares himself unfavorably to Fortinbras (IV, iv), he implies that Fortinbras is more the sort of princely offspring one would imagine as the heir to Hamlet the elder—and, of course, that is how our drama turns out!
Don’t be afraid to use the ideas of others (Heilbrun, for example) in support of yours. As far as essays on Hamlet go, you’ll have a tough time getting any relatively recent ones online. I could suggest a few of the essays in the Norton Critical edition of Hamlet if you like. But think of Hamlet as perhaps the Renaissance philosopher and artist prince (note his easy relations with the players) and his father as more of a Medieval warrior king. And trust your instincts, too.
JD
Camden Hardy wrote:
i'm really struggling with my thesis ( as always) , you're thoughts would be very much appreciated. I apologize for my tardiness, my diligence in checking the blog has been lacking. Shame on me. But if you could give me some help, that'd be great.
I was considering focusing on death as a theme throughout he story, specifically suicide. I was hoping to discuss it with you in class on Monday, but that's clearly impossible. U, would it be possible, do you think, to focus on suicide with regard to the different approaches to it? Namely Hamlet's and Ophelia's opposite opinions and how that accentuates their characters individually? I'm not sure there's enough material in this...
Perhaps something like this.
Suicide, as a central theme of HAMLET, is used by Shakespeare to accentuate the individual attitudes and personal struggles of his main characters as well as draw attention to the intensity of their suffering.
Your assistance would be much appreciated!
Thanks, Camden
Dear Camden,
If you wish to write about Hamlet and suicide, I don’t think you’re going to find any of Ophelia’s opinions on the matter. Her genuine madness is understandable: Hamlet, the one she loves, not only rejects her harshly and cynically, but is carelessly murders her father. She goes mad and drowns, without getting her thoughts down on paper.
Hamlet, on the other hand, has much to say on the matter. His assumed madness is at least in part a response to the “seeming world” around him; through the madness he can meet the “seemers” on his own terms. But he also takes up the idea of suicide at least twice in his soliloquies, when he examines the deepest recesses of his conscience. His mother’s lack of fidelity has triggered a disgust for the world in general. He tries to express some of this disgust to his old school chums Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in his Act II speech—“ I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory…” That speech could be examined in conjunction with the two soliloquies ‘O that this too too sullied flesh…” and “To be or not to be…” To him suicide could be a release from all the burdens, disappointments and humiliations of living (To be or not to be is his major statement) but he rejects suicide at least in part because he fears the dreams that may come to his still living conscience: “the dread of something after death,” and because “the Everlasting” has “fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!”
The irony, then, is that Ophelia does (in a maddened state, however) take the route that Hamlet has considered and rejected. And he perceives that she is receiving the diminished rites of a suicide when he witnesses the funeral party, and must feel his part in her death. The more I look at that funeral scene, the more I think Hamlet’s irrational outburst towards Laertes is a key moment. After all, Laertes has not only a father’s death to avenge, but a sister’s, and Hamlet is responsible for both! He must look across the grave at Laertes as his mind clears and see himself to some extent.
Well, that’s all I intend to say. Hope it gives you something to go on.
JD
Lisa Chau wrote:
1. Concerning #10: As Hamlet considers suicide – a method that would surely ease life – he understands, somewhere within himself, that he can not kill himself; to kill himself would be too easy, too cowardly; life should be lived under God and human nature obstinately.
2. Concerning #6: Feigned madness and real madness are exhibited by Hamlet; he fakes his antic disposition to mask his intentions from the King’s spies, yet is also severely grieved by his father’s death to the point where he considers suicide and killing others.
3. Concerning #1: To be rational, or not to be, that is the internal conflict Hamlet faces; his long speeches provide a way for Hamlet to present multiple opinions about a subject and a way to rationalize his actions.
I think I might have to read the play again, or watch it, or download an audio book version before my thesis and subject is made definite.
Dear Lisa,
With regard to suicide, see my note to Camden above. With regard to madness, see my note to Scott. With regard to Hamlet’s speeches as vehicles whereby he comes to terms with his world and it events, see my very long note to Shea. From reading the three thoughts you include, I get the impression that your first contains the idea that most intrigues you. You could read Hamlet, for all its catastrophe, as a rejection of suicide. The act is in Hamlet’s mind when we first see him, and then he speaks of it as something he must regretfully put aside because God forbids it. Later, in the “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet does not invoke God, but examines suicide almost as a philosopher would. He is just about completely alone, with no one but Horatio to rely upon, and no one including Horatio to confide in completely. He classes himself with the rest of humankind as desirous of escape from the hateful aspects of life, but fearful of what lies beyond. His glimpse of his father’s spirit (if that’s truly what it is) could hardly be reassuring on that score.
Still, he moves away from suicide and takes the most positive route he can follow to find the truth, until he loses his composure and runs his sword through the fateful arras—the 137th that Polonius has hidden behind in his career as chief minister to the kind, I’ll bet (and doesn’t count the spying within his family).
As I said to Shea, look also at Hamlet’s acceptance of whatever fate may await him, in that short Act V speech to Horatio.
Grace Chang wrote:
Gertrude’s personal mistakes are not solely driven by lust or a simple desire to see those around her happy and whole but by a compulsion to find intimate understanding and relationship with the characters around her.
Dear Grace,
I think an essay centering on Gertrude could be good, but you must make your thesis more compelling. How about examining Hamlet's dilemma based upon an analysis of his relations with both his parents. There are many hints about the character of the elder Hamlet, and most of them indicate a personality very different from the prince's. Hamlet clearly idealized his parents's relationship and held his father in near awe. Why did his mother fall? How much of his plight derives from her failure as a wife and mother and how much from the role of revenger that Hamlet must play?
I'm not asking you to psychoanalyze Hamlet, but to view the tragedy that comes of his mission of revenge from a unique angle--that of a son whose nature is more like his mother's than his father's.
What do you think?
JD
I’m going to take Alexander and David Kim together, as they have something similar in mind:”
Abert Johnberry, Phd. (aka Alexander Fine) wrote:
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the readers are given a prolonged glimpse of Hamlet’s most personal sentiments. His sharp expression of his disillusionment engages, and speaks for, mankind in ways we couldn’t articulate but still feel. Many have, from Hamlet’s behavior, attempted infer his presumed age. Yet, to define his age is to limit his message. Part of his effectiveness as a character lies in the ageless state in which he exists. Hamlet, in his most speculative moments, speaks for all man, and achieves a state of equilibrium, of both old and new. His existence, like the electron’s wave particle duality, is best interpreted if it is treated at once as two entities—in this case, old and young.
David Kim wrote:
Four Hamlet theses
1. The difficulty in understanding Hamlet as a character comes from the fact that all the actors playing him are far too old—when interpreted as much younger, he makes far more sense.
a. In this respect, the Folio is wrong (since it more or less explicitly states that he is 30 in the Yorick scene) and the Quarto is right (it is much looser in its woriiding, placing Hamlet at at about 20).
2. The difficulty in understanding Hamlet as a character comes from the fact that he incorporates elements of both young and old—he is ageless, or rather a union of ages, one character representing the lament of all.
3. The themes in Hamlet are timeless—the play means just as much to audiences today as it did to audiences in the 1600s at the Globe.
4. Descent into madness (along with its extent) is a key element of interpreting Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s character—some sort of qualitative analysis and assertion follows.
Dear Doctor A. & David,
I’m going to respond to the ageless, timeless idea that you both present. Everything else you bring up, David, I think I’ve already addressed in one or the other of my previous comments. I will say, though, that you have an acute case of “the-fact-that”-itis, which I hope is not incurable. Neither of your facts is in fact a fact! But it’s a fact that writers who employ that phrase are almost never dealing with facts.
Gosh, that was fun. And my mind is so tired from all this thinking about Hamlet. I’m leaving the play to you guys after this.
Youth is very much a part of Hamlet. He sees corruption all around him, particularly in the machinations of the older ones who hold the reins of power. He is bitterly disappointed in his mother and his friends. He gives up his love for Ophelia and everything else to dedicate himself to revenge, as he swears (I, v):
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix’d with baser matter…
I think Ophelia’s tale of Hamlet’s wordless visit, and the high emotion of his later speech to her, are testimony to the degree of sacrifice. After all, Shakespeare often dedicated plays (including at least one tragedy) to love. And this is young love.
The difficulty with understanding Hamlet is not so much that he is somehow spiritually “old” as well as young—it’s that he is brilliant and complex, as brilliant and complex, perhaps, as his creator, and Shakespeare does not bother to explain everything about Hamlet. He leaves it to us, his audience, to interpret, to probe and to infer.
Hamlet is seen as a character who embodies universal qualities. Each generation finds something to respond to, and each one tends to interpret Hamlet according to its prevailing values. The important thing is that Hamlet remains modern, because he perceives and expresses the human condition as well as any character in literature has. We share his problems with him, and listen as he thinks himself through them and beyond them to matters far more weighty than a sordid tale of murder, betrayal and revenge should be able to convey.
The problem with all this is that it is rather abstract. The universal Hamlet is a subject for a book-length essay. It’s also tempting to carry on as I just have for several paragraphs without quoting the text referring to any concrete event. You must root your essay in specifics and keep your scope at a setting for four to six, not 40 to 60, pages. If he speaks for all humankind, make a list of his most important statements. Document the falseness he perceives and combats and explain their relevance to a contemporary audience. Look for those moments of epiphany, of recognition and the resulting wisdom.
I’m just played out at this point. I’m going to sign off.
JD
Other than Michelle Dingsun's and Sam Engle's (I looked at theirs and talked with both students way back when we had school), all thesis statements from those who submitted them are listed below with my responses, many of which are far more substantial than I had at first intended. I was going to e-mail these separately -- then I got the inspiration to post everything so that the thinking of these students and my thinking would be available to everyone.
My hope is that there is some sort of answer or guidance to be found below for all of you. Many of the issues that we've considered or that lend themselves to essay analysis are raised and so I've found that I have written a sort of patchwork essay of my own on Hamlet. I've also been careful to cite the text wherever necessary as an example of what you can and should do.
As I write now, the snow has risen above a foot in my neighborhood. It makes last week's weather, which was enough to suspend school, look pitiful. Well, I hope you enjoyed the added vacation and I hope you are rollicking in the snow while it lasts.
To quote that noted thinker and philosopher, Santa Claus,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
best wishes,
JD
THE THESIS PROPOSALS:
Aditya Arun wrote:
Hamlet's view on women is based upon his sole judgment on his mother Gertrude and the woman he once loved, Ophelia. His dismal view on women is founded upon his ill experiences with these two women and helps to solidify the hatred shown by Hamlet towards women illuminating the sort of society women lived in during that time period.
Aditya,
I don’t like your thesis proposal very much. It’ll get you into trouble. For one, Ophelia is the primary victim of Hamlet’s poisoned view of women, and so hardly responsible for his skewed opinion of womankind. Her situation is complicated, moreover, because she has a father who is fond of espionage, as Hamlet undoubtedly knows. Polonius does in fact set Ophelia out as bait for the prince, and any suspicion Hamlet has that she is acting on someone else’s behalf makes things worse for her.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to attempt to draw conclusions about the women of “that time period.” You don’t know enough about Shakespeare’s time and society, and anyway that’s exactly the sort of phrase you should quit using in your essays.
If you want to examine this aspect of Hamlet, I think you must concentrate upon Gertrude as the source of his misogyny, and perhaps as the catalyst for his disillusionment with people in general. He finds wherever he turns that people are not as they seem, starting with his own mother. When first we meet him, he is depressed to the point of suicide and disgusted with the world in general: “…‘tis an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely…” His disillusionment is an important factor in his subsequent behavior—from behind his “antic” mask he pokes fun at the pretenses of people like Polonius and Claudius, whom he sees as cynical manipulators, and Ophelia, whom he decides is too easily manipulated and thus false to her true feelings.
See what you can develop in that direction.
JD
Scott McIntire wrote:
Thesis: Hamlet's madness is a cleverly disguised persona that he puts on to carry out his rage and ultimately avenge his father's death.
My essay will be all about Hamlet's madness, and how he isn't as mad as he seems, but actually just more full of rage. I'll also maybe compare it to ophelias madness, which I think is true madness, and show how the two differ.
Scott,
I think you must think more specifically. Hamlet himself tells Horatio that Hamlet’s friends should not be surprised no matter “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, / As I perchance hereafter shall think meet / To put an antic disposition on…,” nor should they breathe a word to anyone that his madness is anything but genuine.
Comparing Ophelia’s genuine madness with Hamlet’s “antic disposition” could be more fruitful, provided you have a clear purpose. If you can argue for Hamlet’s strategy in finding the truth under an assumed madness, and perhaps show that, once he adopts that mask and is drawn into the quest for revenge he really does snap the night of the play, when he unmasks Claudius but kills Polonius. His wild action provokes Ophelia’s madness (Hamlet, the one she loves, not only treats her harshly and cynically, but is responsible for her father’s death), you might have something. After all, he uses madness as an excuse in his final apology to Ophelia’s brother Laertes—and we can almost believe that Hamlet is momentarily overcome by passion when he leaps into Ophelia’s grave to fight with her brother over who loved her the most. His credentials for being the most aggrieved, at that point, are suspect to say the least.
Consider these things, then, as you build a stronger thesis.
JD
Brianna Tilleman wrote:
Ophelia is only a pawn in the struggle between the men of the court, manipulated by them all to achieve their own ends.
Brianna,
I think you can write a good essay that focuses upon Ophelia, but you’ll need a more definitive thesis than you presently have. Re-read her first scene, in which first Laertes, then Polonius, lectures her on Hamlet and his true intentions. Then look at the first scene of Act II, in which Polonius sets Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris. He makes it clear that he expects some misbehavior, of much the same sort that Laertes promises his sister he won’t do. In his advice to his sister, Laertes is nearly as pompous, and certainly as judgmental, as his father Polonius—just more loving and less harsh. The double standard is impossible to miss, though.
We see later that Polonius is willing to use Ophelia as bait with which to probe Hamlet, and that Hamlet uses her quite roughly (but that is a separate issue that you must clearly deal with as such).
A young woman of marriageable age was not to be anywhere public without an escort, and so Polonius provides his daughter with a book—not much of a substitute for her father, for example. We can see that Ophelia, once she severs her ties with Hamlet, has no confidante
You might find a point of connection with Marlow’s recommendation that women be kept in blissful oblivion when it comes to the ugly matters of men and their arena of action. He lies to “the Intended” to keep her in that state.
See what you can do,
JD
Shea Meisner wrote:
Mr. Duncan,
Here are some (rough) thesis idea’s for my Hamlet paper:
• It is in Hamlet’s soliloquies that his true character is most easily seen.
• If not for his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle, Hamlet would likely not view all women with such distaste.
• Gertrude plays a much more important role than she is given credit for.
• It is quite possible that Shakespeare based Hamlet off of the Garden of Eden and what took place there.
Thank you,
Shea Meisner (ap lit, per 1)
Dear Shea,
Your ideas are interesting. I’m not sure they belong all in one thesis, but they are not incompatible. You can sort the soliloquies by their theme:
#1 “O that this too too sullied flesh…”Hamlet, clearly depressed, expresses his disgust with the world and particularly his mother’s weakness, as well as his consideration of suicide, which continues in #3. Yes, here he says, “Frailty, thy name is woman” and much of his subsequent treatment of Ophelia is clearly warped by the trauma of what he perceives as his mother’s betrayal.
#2 “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I…” After witnessing the passionate impromptu performance of the player, who brings himself to tears, mingled disappointment and anger directed toward Hamlet himself for his own weaknesses as a “swift avenger.” Then inspiration: his resolve to use his doctored play “to catch the conscience of the king.” Thus this is a more positive reflection that results in the sort of action at which Hamlet excels.
#3 “To be or not to be…” I see this Hamlet turning away from action to reflect on the world in which he dwells (and all of us dwell), and I think it is in some way related to his imprecation at the end of Act I: “The time is out of joint: o cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right!” He is an introvert, and perhaps not ideally suited to revenge, as say Fortinbras might be. He ranges over nearly all the frustrations of human existence and considers the afterlife. This is sort of the calm eye of the storm, in which Hamlet questions the point of existence.
#4 “How all occasions do inform against me…” This one is related to #2, as Hamlet sees Fortinbras coming across Denmark on his way to make war in Poland “to gain a little patch of ground / That hath in it no profit but the name.” Now he considers what honor is worth—everything, he decides. Hamlet now seems to believe that he should be more like Fortinbras: make his thoughts “bloody or else nothing worth.”
I think you should also look at his final statement to Horatio, in which his mood, though fatalistic, is serene. He no longer chastises himself or seeks a way out, and he even paraphrases the Bible: “there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” Maybe his tussle with Laertes in Ophelia’s grave and his cathartic confrontation with Gertrude have together purged him of his inner rage and conflict? That idea, if you develop it, might tie your analysis of Hamlet’s development seen through his soliloquies to your Gertrude/womankind idea.
As far as the “Garden of Eden” theme goes, that’s probably material for a separate essay, and a rather technical one that seeks to find parallels and allusions. Very tricky—I’d avoid it (and by the way: the expression is not “based off of” but “based on” or “based upon”).
I hope this is helpful.
JD
Meiying Piao wrote:
I have a pretty uh interesting thesis statement that many people might disagree with.
Should I scape it all together and start a new thesis with a brand new essay?
My thesis statement: Hamlet cannot handle the truth regarding his father's murder. His grief and sense of betrayal possess him and he becomes a man with a blurred sense of justice. Hamlet's wretched state is more caused by Gertrude's betrayal, than his father's murder.
Dear Meiying,
I think your idea could work, provided you structure your thesis properly. Right now you have the idea only. Think about some of these things: Hamlet’s sense of his mother’s betrayal he clearly expresses in his “O that this too too sullied flesh…” soliloquy. We learn that he is disenchanted not only with his mother, but with the world in general: “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world! / Fie on’t! ah fie! ‘tis an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely…”
Remember his standards are very high—he is an idealist who sees cynical behavior (Claudius, Polonius, etc.) all around him and can’t abide it. Hamlet sees Claudius and all who resemble him as the enemy, and now Hamlet’s mother has joined them! I don’t really think his sense of justice becomes blurred (if anything it is so highly developed that any injustice offends him to the core) —but his view of womankind is certainly distorted, and this clearly arises from his feelings about Gertrude.
The way his mood and resolve lift when Horatio tells him of the ghost that resembles Hamlet, Sr. (no more thoughts of suicide for a while at least) supports your idea. The Ghost gives him concrete action—revenge—to take, and tells Hamlet that Claudius is a murderer who committed the sin of Cain. It’s just that, as soon as he has time to pause and reflect, he realizes what a terrible responsibility he now carries: see my note to Shea about Soliloquy #3. The world appears an even worse place than before, with treachery everywhere and no solution but to kill, to be killed, or to kill onself—and then there may still be no escape from the agony of existence (“…what dreams may come, / when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / must give us pause…). There is thus no end to calamity, he decides, and the responsibility is all ours. He’s quite an existential prince.
On the whole, his mother’s defection appears to be the catalyst that turns a young man I assume (from his banter with Horatio and later with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, and his love for Ophelia) to have been an utterly witty, charming and brilliant Renaissance prince into a man whose humor is expressed through bitter irony and who must hide his inmost feelings from everyone.
Well, I hope there’s something in all this you can make use of.
JD
Hari Raghavan wrote:
Sorry for the delay but I was foolishly under the assumption for most of this weekend that I could put away my thesis statement since you'd looked at it once already. I didn't realize until only just now that I needed to revise it, so I've printed my revised version here now, for posterity:
Women occupy an important role in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, as their presence in the story reveals aspects of the title character that could not otherwise be glimpsed. After all, it is only in the company of his mother Gertrude that Hamlet makes evident his absolute, god-like reverence for his father and reveals his distorted notions of spousal loyalty; it is also only in the company of his adored Ophelia that he exposes his warped perception of women, of their position in society and the duties he feels they ought to serve. It is among the play's female characters that Hamlet is most emotional, that he is most vulnerable, and it is through his interaction with them that Hamlet offers a window through which can be observed his slow, tragic undoing.
Please reply back with thoughts/further edits if possible! And please let me know if I got credit for showing you my original thesis statement! Thanks! Enjoy the snow!
Hari.
Dear Hari,
You might also note that Hamlet admits faults of his own to Ophelia in that bitter confrontation. Yes, those two scenes are, next to the soliloquies, perhaps the most revealing of Hamlet’s complex nature and outlook than any others. I don’t like your expression “distorted notions of spousal loyalty,” though. That sounds like an unsubstantiated value judgment. In that first court scene, when Claudius introduces Gertrude formally to the court as “our sometime sister, now our queen,” Hamlet, Sr. has been dead less than two months, as Hamlet, Jr. tells us:
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she follow’d my poor father’s body,
Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she—
O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn’d longer—married with my uncle,
My father’s brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules…
And to Hamlet, Claudius stands for everything he despises, so Gertrude has, as I observe to Meiying, betrayed more than her love for her son and her former husband. I don’t think many of us, in similar circumstances, would feel less than does Hamlet, though we would express our feelings less elegantly.
Your basic idea is promising, as long as you are specific about what you believe constitutes Hamlet’s “slow, tragic undoing.” Maybe keep in mind the Aristotelian notion that tragedy encompasses the fall of a great man and the grief and destruction that is a part of it.” Hamlet seems to know, in his last speech to Horatio, that he is heading that way, has always been heading that way since the news of his father’s death, and “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.”
JD
Krista Young wrote:
I’ve been trying to form my thesis for my Hamlet essay but so far I have been unable to get a good concise idea to work off of. I was contemplating writing about gertrude; i don’t think she was truly in love with Hamlet senior and I think that she married Claudious out of duty, i was going to defend this position by discrediting Hamlets observations of her by the fact that a mother especially a queen must keep a certain attitude of everything being alright to their children and if she was having marital issues she wouldnt have told him, especially since Hamlet idolizes his father. I was also going to use gertrude’s optimism toward ophelia and Hamlet to show that she wanted them to have true love because as a mother she would want for her son what she was never able to have or what she was robbed of because of her position. I was also looking at writing about the nature of revenge and why it doesnt work and the consquences of Hamlet seaking revenge. I was thinking about discussing why Hamlet felt the need to seek revenge despite the fact that he is obviously not a murderer and didnt want to be one. He was trying to fill the role society hat set before him and act how he believed princes were supposed to act— similiarly to how pip acted how he thought a gentleman should act. Im not sure of either of these ideas could bear to fruit in an essay and I was wondering if you thought there was potential or if I should look for something else. Also I feel most of my ideas are coming from the essays we’ve read on Hamlet, and since you said you had some others we could read I was wondering if you get send me the titles and authors so I can look them up online. Thanks so much, I would have just asked you this at school but I didnt want to delay my essay since it looks like more bad weather for the next few days
Dear Krista,
I think there is a lot of evidence tucked away between the lines of Hamlet that Gertrude was an unhappy queen and that Claudius is, ironically, a better husband to her than the elder Hamlet was. If they lived near Tanasbourne circa 2008, a quick divorce and remarriage might have been in the cards, with young Hamlet disgruntled and maybe even depressed but hardly required to revenge papa, and full permission to return to his studies in Palo Alto. Claudius strikes me as a king who likes to stay around the castle and enjoy life, while employing his political savvy through delegates to keep everything in tip-top order around Denmark. The problem is: Claudius murdered Hamlet, Sr., and gained the throne and his queen in criminal fashion. Regicide and fraticide all in one! Shakespeare was highly concerned with the natural order of humankind, under which the king served on earth as God’s designated representative. It is because of Claudius’s heinous act that “there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Gertrude doesn’t know that, of course. Even Hamlet accepts her stunned reaction as clear evidence of her innocence on that score.
Still, we have Hamlet’s view of his father as the incarnation of Hyperion, and his hateful attitude toward mom’s new husband that was poisonous even before Claudius poisoned Hamlet the elder. Note his fearful, even guilty response to the Ghost when it appears only to him in Gertrude’s chamber, Act III:
“Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!”
He sounds a bit like a son who has failed to please his father, or to measure up to his father’s expectations (there’s even a hint that this apparition of the Ghost could be a figment of Hamlet’s imagination).
Hamlet the elder appears to have been a fairly grim sort, who was comfortable in a suit of armor waging war on his neighbors, as when he “smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.” There is much description of him and his legacy among the men on the parapet in the first scene of Act I. Take a look. Hamlet’s own words regarding his father also are important. Hamlet seems not to value his own attainments when he considers his father’s greatness. For example, he almost classes himself with the despised Claudius when he says his uncle is no more comparable to Hamlet’s father “than I to Hercules.” I say that because I believe Hamlet would compare his father favorably to Hercules (definitely smarter, but so is most everyone). If you take Carolyn Heilbrun's favorable assessment of Gertrude’s way with words as valid (I do), I think you could by extension argue that Hamlet, the brilliant and incisive wit of Elsinore, is more an intellectual and spiritual product of his mother than of his father. Thus, when Hamlet compares himself unfavorably to Fortinbras (IV, iv), he implies that Fortinbras is more the sort of princely offspring one would imagine as the heir to Hamlet the elder—and, of course, that is how our drama turns out!
Don’t be afraid to use the ideas of others (Heilbrun, for example) in support of yours. As far as essays on Hamlet go, you’ll have a tough time getting any relatively recent ones online. I could suggest a few of the essays in the Norton Critical edition of Hamlet if you like. But think of Hamlet as perhaps the Renaissance philosopher and artist prince (note his easy relations with the players) and his father as more of a Medieval warrior king. And trust your instincts, too.
JD
Camden Hardy wrote:
i'm really struggling with my thesis ( as always) , you're thoughts would be very much appreciated. I apologize for my tardiness, my diligence in checking the blog has been lacking. Shame on me. But if you could give me some help, that'd be great.
I was considering focusing on death as a theme throughout he story, specifically suicide. I was hoping to discuss it with you in class on Monday, but that's clearly impossible. U, would it be possible, do you think, to focus on suicide with regard to the different approaches to it? Namely Hamlet's and Ophelia's opposite opinions and how that accentuates their characters individually? I'm not sure there's enough material in this...
Perhaps something like this.
Suicide, as a central theme of HAMLET, is used by Shakespeare to accentuate the individual attitudes and personal struggles of his main characters as well as draw attention to the intensity of their suffering.
Your assistance would be much appreciated!
Thanks, Camden
Dear Camden,
If you wish to write about Hamlet and suicide, I don’t think you’re going to find any of Ophelia’s opinions on the matter. Her genuine madness is understandable: Hamlet, the one she loves, not only rejects her harshly and cynically, but is carelessly murders her father. She goes mad and drowns, without getting her thoughts down on paper.
Hamlet, on the other hand, has much to say on the matter. His assumed madness is at least in part a response to the “seeming world” around him; through the madness he can meet the “seemers” on his own terms. But he also takes up the idea of suicide at least twice in his soliloquies, when he examines the deepest recesses of his conscience. His mother’s lack of fidelity has triggered a disgust for the world in general. He tries to express some of this disgust to his old school chums Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in his Act II speech—“ I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory…” That speech could be examined in conjunction with the two soliloquies ‘O that this too too sullied flesh…” and “To be or not to be…” To him suicide could be a release from all the burdens, disappointments and humiliations of living (To be or not to be is his major statement) but he rejects suicide at least in part because he fears the dreams that may come to his still living conscience: “the dread of something after death,” and because “the Everlasting” has “fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!”
The irony, then, is that Ophelia does (in a maddened state, however) take the route that Hamlet has considered and rejected. And he perceives that she is receiving the diminished rites of a suicide when he witnesses the funeral party, and must feel his part in her death. The more I look at that funeral scene, the more I think Hamlet’s irrational outburst towards Laertes is a key moment. After all, Laertes has not only a father’s death to avenge, but a sister’s, and Hamlet is responsible for both! He must look across the grave at Laertes as his mind clears and see himself to some extent.
Well, that’s all I intend to say. Hope it gives you something to go on.
JD
Lisa Chau wrote:
1. Concerning #10: As Hamlet considers suicide – a method that would surely ease life – he understands, somewhere within himself, that he can not kill himself; to kill himself would be too easy, too cowardly; life should be lived under God and human nature obstinately.
2. Concerning #6: Feigned madness and real madness are exhibited by Hamlet; he fakes his antic disposition to mask his intentions from the King’s spies, yet is also severely grieved by his father’s death to the point where he considers suicide and killing others.
3. Concerning #1: To be rational, or not to be, that is the internal conflict Hamlet faces; his long speeches provide a way for Hamlet to present multiple opinions about a subject and a way to rationalize his actions.
I think I might have to read the play again, or watch it, or download an audio book version before my thesis and subject is made definite.
Dear Lisa,
With regard to suicide, see my note to Camden above. With regard to madness, see my note to Scott. With regard to Hamlet’s speeches as vehicles whereby he comes to terms with his world and it events, see my very long note to Shea. From reading the three thoughts you include, I get the impression that your first contains the idea that most intrigues you. You could read Hamlet, for all its catastrophe, as a rejection of suicide. The act is in Hamlet’s mind when we first see him, and then he speaks of it as something he must regretfully put aside because God forbids it. Later, in the “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet does not invoke God, but examines suicide almost as a philosopher would. He is just about completely alone, with no one but Horatio to rely upon, and no one including Horatio to confide in completely. He classes himself with the rest of humankind as desirous of escape from the hateful aspects of life, but fearful of what lies beyond. His glimpse of his father’s spirit (if that’s truly what it is) could hardly be reassuring on that score.
Still, he moves away from suicide and takes the most positive route he can follow to find the truth, until he loses his composure and runs his sword through the fateful arras—the 137th that Polonius has hidden behind in his career as chief minister to the kind, I’ll bet (and doesn’t count the spying within his family).
As I said to Shea, look also at Hamlet’s acceptance of whatever fate may await him, in that short Act V speech to Horatio.
Grace Chang wrote:
Gertrude’s personal mistakes are not solely driven by lust or a simple desire to see those around her happy and whole but by a compulsion to find intimate understanding and relationship with the characters around her.
Dear Grace,
I think an essay centering on Gertrude could be good, but you must make your thesis more compelling. How about examining Hamlet's dilemma based upon an analysis of his relations with both his parents. There are many hints about the character of the elder Hamlet, and most of them indicate a personality very different from the prince's. Hamlet clearly idealized his parents's relationship and held his father in near awe. Why did his mother fall? How much of his plight derives from her failure as a wife and mother and how much from the role of revenger that Hamlet must play?
I'm not asking you to psychoanalyze Hamlet, but to view the tragedy that comes of his mission of revenge from a unique angle--that of a son whose nature is more like his mother's than his father's.
What do you think?
JD
I’m going to take Alexander and David Kim together, as they have something similar in mind:”
Abert Johnberry, Phd. (aka Alexander Fine) wrote:
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the readers are given a prolonged glimpse of Hamlet’s most personal sentiments. His sharp expression of his disillusionment engages, and speaks for, mankind in ways we couldn’t articulate but still feel. Many have, from Hamlet’s behavior, attempted infer his presumed age. Yet, to define his age is to limit his message. Part of his effectiveness as a character lies in the ageless state in which he exists. Hamlet, in his most speculative moments, speaks for all man, and achieves a state of equilibrium, of both old and new. His existence, like the electron’s wave particle duality, is best interpreted if it is treated at once as two entities—in this case, old and young.
David Kim wrote:
Four Hamlet theses
1. The difficulty in understanding Hamlet as a character comes from the fact that all the actors playing him are far too old—when interpreted as much younger, he makes far more sense.
a. In this respect, the Folio is wrong (since it more or less explicitly states that he is 30 in the Yorick scene) and the Quarto is right (it is much looser in its woriiding, placing Hamlet at at about 20).
2. The difficulty in understanding Hamlet as a character comes from the fact that he incorporates elements of both young and old—he is ageless, or rather a union of ages, one character representing the lament of all.
3. The themes in Hamlet are timeless—the play means just as much to audiences today as it did to audiences in the 1600s at the Globe.
4. Descent into madness (along with its extent) is a key element of interpreting Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s character—some sort of qualitative analysis and assertion follows.
Dear Doctor A. & David,
I’m going to respond to the ageless, timeless idea that you both present. Everything else you bring up, David, I think I’ve already addressed in one or the other of my previous comments. I will say, though, that you have an acute case of “the-fact-that”-itis, which I hope is not incurable. Neither of your facts is in fact a fact! But it’s a fact that writers who employ that phrase are almost never dealing with facts.
Gosh, that was fun. And my mind is so tired from all this thinking about Hamlet. I’m leaving the play to you guys after this.
Youth is very much a part of Hamlet. He sees corruption all around him, particularly in the machinations of the older ones who hold the reins of power. He is bitterly disappointed in his mother and his friends. He gives up his love for Ophelia and everything else to dedicate himself to revenge, as he swears (I, v):
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix’d with baser matter…
I think Ophelia’s tale of Hamlet’s wordless visit, and the high emotion of his later speech to her, are testimony to the degree of sacrifice. After all, Shakespeare often dedicated plays (including at least one tragedy) to love. And this is young love.
The difficulty with understanding Hamlet is not so much that he is somehow spiritually “old” as well as young—it’s that he is brilliant and complex, as brilliant and complex, perhaps, as his creator, and Shakespeare does not bother to explain everything about Hamlet. He leaves it to us, his audience, to interpret, to probe and to infer.
Hamlet is seen as a character who embodies universal qualities. Each generation finds something to respond to, and each one tends to interpret Hamlet according to its prevailing values. The important thing is that Hamlet remains modern, because he perceives and expresses the human condition as well as any character in literature has. We share his problems with him, and listen as he thinks himself through them and beyond them to matters far more weighty than a sordid tale of murder, betrayal and revenge should be able to convey.
The problem with all this is that it is rather abstract. The universal Hamlet is a subject for a book-length essay. It’s also tempting to carry on as I just have for several paragraphs without quoting the text referring to any concrete event. You must root your essay in specifics and keep your scope at a setting for four to six, not 40 to 60, pages. If he speaks for all humankind, make a list of his most important statements. Document the falseness he perceives and combats and explain their relevance to a contemporary audience. Look for those moments of epiphany, of recognition and the resulting wisdom.
I’m just played out at this point. I’m going to sign off.
JD
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Roll Over Beethoven!
With all the hullabaloo about birthdays in A.P. Lit class, I almost let December 16, 2008 slip by without a nod to my old buddy and comrade-in-arms L.V. Beethoven, who lived just up the street from me on Terrace Drive in good old Medford, Oregon.
There are so many stories I could tell about Ludwig that I hardly know where to begin. Those days improvising minuets while waiting for sodas at the Hornet’s Nest down the street from Hedrick Junior High. Or the hilarious practical jokes he would play on poor old Mr. Schlosselmeier in A.P. Symphonic Music class at Medford High, as, for example, the time he balanced a No. 2 pencil straight up on the lovable professor’s oaken chair. Schlosselmeier nailed a high C none of us till then had thought humanly possible.
But I guess my favorite experience with L.V. came one night when we were on our way to the Armory for a Smiths concert. He was dressed to the nines – knee breeches, frock coat and buckle shoes. But no powdered wig – he hated those with a passion that I would call Romantic, with a capital “R”!
Whistling a tune that could have been by Wolfgang Von Morrissey (but I don’t think it was), Ludwig amused himself by tossing a penny high into the air with one hand, then catching it behind his back with the other. He was a genius at that!
We were so absorbed that when a street corner came up a bit suddenly, Ludwig stepped off the edge abruptly and lost his sense of rhythm. Appalled, he watched his penny roll parallel to the curb around the corner, where it dropped neatly into a sewer grating.
There are so many stories I could tell about Ludwig that I hardly know where to begin. Those days improvising minuets while waiting for sodas at the Hornet’s Nest down the street from Hedrick Junior High. Or the hilarious practical jokes he would play on poor old Mr. Schlosselmeier in A.P. Symphonic Music class at Medford High, as, for example, the time he balanced a No. 2 pencil straight up on the lovable professor’s oaken chair. Schlosselmeier nailed a high C none of us till then had thought humanly possible.
But I guess my favorite experience with L.V. came one night when we were on our way to the Armory for a Smiths concert. He was dressed to the nines – knee breeches, frock coat and buckle shoes. But no powdered wig – he hated those with a passion that I would call Romantic, with a capital “R”!
Whistling a tune that could have been by Wolfgang Von Morrissey (but I don’t think it was), Ludwig amused himself by tossing a penny high into the air with one hand, then catching it behind his back with the other. He was a genius at that!
We were so absorbed that when a street corner came up a bit suddenly, Ludwig stepped off the edge abruptly and lost his sense of rhythm. Appalled, he watched his penny roll parallel to the curb around the corner, where it dropped neatly into a sewer grating.
"Gott in Himmel!" cried Beethoven. "Dott vas mein lucky pfennig!"
You never saw such a fit as that German exchange student threw at the corner of Main and Riverside. It was all I could do to calm him down before he ripped our Smiths tickets up and sent the shreds the way of the penny.
“Calm down, Beethoven,” I implored the headstrong Teuton. But he was deaf to my pleas, so I took him by both shoulders and shook him until his fury passed, then gave him a little pep talk.
“Look, Ludwig. Do what you always do when fate seems to turn against you. Convert the experience to art as only you know how. Remember when Scott Spiegelberg got a swelled head after he was named all-state quarterback for the Black Tornados? You were going to give up on that symphony you wrote for him until I told you could just name it for any old hero. And that’s what you did – you called it the Eroica. And it was the best darned symphony you ever wrote!"
“Dott’s whright,” he muttered, wiping a tear of rage from his ruddy cheek.
Later, after a great concert, we returned to his apartment overlooking Bear Creek and had a nightcap before I headed home. Ludwig sat down at the piano and, quick as tossing a coin, he’d composed a slick new tune. It sounded vaguely like what he’d been whistling, but way more rockin’, if you know what I mean.
“Wow, man, that’s great!” I said (secretly delighted that my scheme seemed to have worked). “What do you call it?”
“I vill call it, Za Whrage uber ein lost Pfennig,” he said with a slight smile, and he ran his hand through his unruly brown hair as if to say: "The whrage isn't just uber, it's over. Alles ist gut."
“Calm down, Beethoven,” I implored the headstrong Teuton. But he was deaf to my pleas, so I took him by both shoulders and shook him until his fury passed, then gave him a little pep talk.
“Look, Ludwig. Do what you always do when fate seems to turn against you. Convert the experience to art as only you know how. Remember when Scott Spiegelberg got a swelled head after he was named all-state quarterback for the Black Tornados? You were going to give up on that symphony you wrote for him until I told you could just name it for any old hero. And that’s what you did – you called it the Eroica. And it was the best darned symphony you ever wrote!"
“Dott’s whright,” he muttered, wiping a tear of rage from his ruddy cheek.
Later, after a great concert, we returned to his apartment overlooking Bear Creek and had a nightcap before I headed home. Ludwig sat down at the piano and, quick as tossing a coin, he’d composed a slick new tune. It sounded vaguely like what he’d been whistling, but way more rockin’, if you know what I mean.
“Wow, man, that’s great!” I said (secretly delighted that my scheme seemed to have worked). “What do you call it?”
“I vill call it, Za Whrage uber ein lost Pfennig,” he said with a slight smile, and he ran his hand through his unruly brown hair as if to say: "The whrage isn't just uber, it's over. Alles ist gut."
"Nice going, L.V.," I said admiringly.
And you know what? You can hear that fantastic little ditty right to this very day.
Happy Birthday, Ludwig Van, wherever du bist.
And you know what? You can hear that fantastic little ditty right to this very day.
Happy Birthday, Ludwig Van, wherever du bist.
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Return of Mr. Nice Guy
Okay…(I'm still going to call you)…Slackers,
We are receiving a mildly impressive response to our most recent bulletin. Consequently we have decided, in the spirit of Christmas, to credit all of you who get your comments in before tomorrow, Tuesday the 15th, which apparently is to be a B day (catch the Hamlet cadence there?). We make no promises with regard to your thesis proposals, but still advise you to mail them to the aforementioned address.
Ho, ho, ho!
(A "Christmas Story" allusion. Get it?)
Signed,
The Management
We are receiving a mildly impressive response to our most recent bulletin. Consequently we have decided, in the spirit of Christmas, to credit all of you who get your comments in before tomorrow, Tuesday the 15th, which apparently is to be a B day (catch the Hamlet cadence there?). We make no promises with regard to your thesis proposals, but still advise you to mail them to the aforementioned address.
Ho, ho, ho!
(A "Christmas Story" allusion. Get it?)
Signed,
The Management
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Attention slackers!
Dear beloved but exasperating and dilatory AP Lit students,
As of 8:30 tonight, the last Hamlet blog has drawn two probing comments from Matt Putnam, a brief but interesting one from Alexander, a typically thoughtful one from Michelle, and…one from me -- that's it. The snow is nice and I'm glad like the rest of you that we won't have school tomorrow, but please don't delay until the last minute. Just once I would like to come into class having had the chance to read all of your comments carefully beforehand. I am genuinely interested in them and I love to see the give and take between you guys, and even take part in it myself. But I think many of you are going to wait another 24 hours before you give it another thought. So…
If you want any part of the 10 point credit for posting a worthy comment, do so before 3 pm tomorrow. Any later stuff I'll read, but it will have no market value.
At the same time I have but a handful of thesis statements despite the posted assignment for Thursday and my immediate follow-up post requesting you send in yours by e-mail. For this 10 point assignment, then, I am crediting those whose statements I have seen.
I know this is rather a mercenary and rigid approach to what should be a free and open exchange of ideas. If you don't like it and think it's a shame, remember that I feel the same way, too. But these things make up an important part of our class.
As of 8:30 tonight, the last Hamlet blog has drawn two probing comments from Matt Putnam, a brief but interesting one from Alexander, a typically thoughtful one from Michelle, and…one from me -- that's it. The snow is nice and I'm glad like the rest of you that we won't have school tomorrow, but please don't delay until the last minute. Just once I would like to come into class having had the chance to read all of your comments carefully beforehand. I am genuinely interested in them and I love to see the give and take between you guys, and even take part in it myself. But I think many of you are going to wait another 24 hours before you give it another thought. So…
If you want any part of the 10 point credit for posting a worthy comment, do so before 3 pm tomorrow. Any later stuff I'll read, but it will have no market value.
At the same time I have but a handful of thesis statements despite the posted assignment for Thursday and my immediate follow-up post requesting you send in yours by e-mail. For this 10 point assignment, then, I am crediting those whose statements I have seen.
I know this is rather a mercenary and rigid approach to what should be a free and open exchange of ideas. If you don't like it and think it's a shame, remember that I feel the same way, too. But these things make up an important part of our class.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SCOTT
Please Note: Before beginning the process of reading this post and giggling to yourself, please read and respond to the real blog; the one about Hamlet. Thanks!
Scott McIntire…In it’s time, that name has inspired both pure exultation and utter terror. However, what I will always associate with Scott is the humble #2 pencil. It’s true that Scott has no great love of pencils. In fact, he’s not fond of them at all…Now that I think about it, he hates pencils with a burning passion. I should have realized it the first time he asked to borrow one of my pencils.
Scott comes up to me, and asks polite as can be, “Dearest Matthew, might I borrow that exquisite pencil perchance,” pointing to my favorite writing stick. “I seem to have misplaced mine own, and am at a loss as to what I shall ever do without it.”
Though his manner was the picture of perfect manners, it was also extremely creepy, and I found myself quite eager to decline his offer and get myself fast away. “Scotto-san, totemo hen desu yo…Oh, sorry, I blurt out Japanese when I’m startled and worried for the sanity of he who has addressed me such as you have done. Anyways, I think the cookies in my EZ-Bake Oven are finished. I’ve really got to go take care of that, so, I’m just going to go,” I said, excusing myself.
Unfortunately, as I turned to depart he rushed in front of me, crying out, “No, please, go not that way my liege, ‘tis a fool’s path you tread if you set foot into the forest!”
Now incredibly confused, I gave him my most puzzled of stares, and said, “You, sir, are insane. I’m not anyone’s “liege,” nor is there any forests around here at all! We’re in school.” Pointing behind him I continued, “Those doors lead to Mrs. Cleavenger’s room, and beyond that is the hallway. I am going to go now, because, you are just acting crazy right now.”
Upon hearing this, Scott dropped to his knees, on the verge of tears, and pleaded, “No, please Matt, please! All I ask is to borrow your pencil, that’s all! Look, I’m done talking in that stupid accent, just let me see your pencil! Please!”
Of course, I had to relent. That was just too much. Also, he did say please. As I handed him the pencil, my most cherished and favorite pencil which had seen me through so many games of tic-tac-toe, something passed across his face; a fleeting expression I could not put my finger on, but sent a chill down my spine. However, I, in the ignorant innocence of my youth, ignored it, and let the pencil fall from my hand.
As soon as it slipped into his fingers, the mood changed as quick and sudden as if someone had flipped some switch. The moisture in Scott’s eye’s vanished, and the down-turned corners of his mouth had morphed into a malicious grin. That sparkle in his eye was no longer that of a tear, but one of cruel mischief. The true Scott had emerged from his shell. With a shout of glee, he lifted my prized pencil above his head, and mustering all the force, animosity, and abhorrence one might possibly have against a pencil, brought it down on the edge of the table, snapping it in twain.
At the earsplitting crackle and crunch of pulverized wood, my vision blurred and, letting a gurgling, throaty wail spill out from my gaping mouth, I began to weep…
Anyway, happy birthday Todd!! I mean Scott. Have a good one!
(Sorry about the excessive length of this post)
Scott McIntire…In it’s time, that name has inspired both pure exultation and utter terror. However, what I will always associate with Scott is the humble #2 pencil. It’s true that Scott has no great love of pencils. In fact, he’s not fond of them at all…Now that I think about it, he hates pencils with a burning passion. I should have realized it the first time he asked to borrow one of my pencils.
Scott comes up to me, and asks polite as can be, “Dearest Matthew, might I borrow that exquisite pencil perchance,” pointing to my favorite writing stick. “I seem to have misplaced mine own, and am at a loss as to what I shall ever do without it.”
Though his manner was the picture of perfect manners, it was also extremely creepy, and I found myself quite eager to decline his offer and get myself fast away. “Scotto-san, totemo hen desu yo…Oh, sorry, I blurt out Japanese when I’m startled and worried for the sanity of he who has addressed me such as you have done. Anyways, I think the cookies in my EZ-Bake Oven are finished. I’ve really got to go take care of that, so, I’m just going to go,” I said, excusing myself.
Unfortunately, as I turned to depart he rushed in front of me, crying out, “No, please, go not that way my liege, ‘tis a fool’s path you tread if you set foot into the forest!”
Now incredibly confused, I gave him my most puzzled of stares, and said, “You, sir, are insane. I’m not anyone’s “liege,” nor is there any forests around here at all! We’re in school.” Pointing behind him I continued, “Those doors lead to Mrs. Cleavenger’s room, and beyond that is the hallway. I am going to go now, because, you are just acting crazy right now.”
Upon hearing this, Scott dropped to his knees, on the verge of tears, and pleaded, “No, please Matt, please! All I ask is to borrow your pencil, that’s all! Look, I’m done talking in that stupid accent, just let me see your pencil! Please!”
Of course, I had to relent. That was just too much. Also, he did say please. As I handed him the pencil, my most cherished and favorite pencil which had seen me through so many games of tic-tac-toe, something passed across his face; a fleeting expression I could not put my finger on, but sent a chill down my spine. However, I, in the ignorant innocence of my youth, ignored it, and let the pencil fall from my hand.
As soon as it slipped into his fingers, the mood changed as quick and sudden as if someone had flipped some switch. The moisture in Scott’s eye’s vanished, and the down-turned corners of his mouth had morphed into a malicious grin. That sparkle in his eye was no longer that of a tear, but one of cruel mischief. The true Scott had emerged from his shell. With a shout of glee, he lifted my prized pencil above his head, and mustering all the force, animosity, and abhorrence one might possibly have against a pencil, brought it down on the edge of the table, snapping it in twain.
At the earsplitting crackle and crunch of pulverized wood, my vision blurred and, letting a gurgling, throaty wail spill out from my gaping mouth, I began to weep…
Anyway, happy birthday Todd!! I mean Scott. Have a good one!
(Sorry about the excessive length of this post)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Last Hamlet post: the seeming vs. the real
In Act I, Scene 2, Lines 76-86, Shakespeare introduces a primary motif in Hamlet, what "seems" vs. what is real. Hamlet tells Gertrude that he has "that within which passeth show…" Although the mission he receives is one of revenge (pretty thoroughly botched, we must admit, though Claudius does finally pay the price), think instead of Hamlet on a quest for truth. Where may he look to find it? Or, perhaps more to the point, where does he find "seeming truth" that is belied by its lack of that something within that "passeth show"?
Choose an example of one or the other and quote that passage in your comment.
This line of thinking ought to help many of you in composing your essays.
Choose an example of one or the other and quote that passage in your comment.
This line of thinking ought to help many of you in composing your essays.
Send in those thesis statements -- Our operators are standing by!
Time ran out this morning before I thought to ask for your thesis statements, but a few people came forward with them. I want to see yours this weekend so that I can help you avoid any obvious problems. Send them to me at:
james_duncan@beavton.k12.or.us
As far as your soliloquies go, I have three volunteers to start after Monday's Hamlet "objective" test: Grace, David, and Albert (aka Alexander). Remember to write up a brief but complete analysis of your chosen speech to turn in. What is your subject saying? How does he word and phrase it to make it powerful and memorable? If you give it some thought, you will speak your speech as Shakespeare meant it to be, "trippingly on the tongue", not merely mouthed as so many players do.
One more note for you: if you wish to have a copy of a good and penetrating essay on the play, Roopa will be making copies during 4th period and leaving them in the top tray of the double-decker wooden hopper on my desk in lower north. Michael, you have the essay (by a man named Kettle) in your edition of Hamlet. All others -- get 'em while they're hot!
james_duncan@beavton.k12.or.us
As far as your soliloquies go, I have three volunteers to start after Monday's Hamlet "objective" test: Grace, David, and Albert (aka Alexander). Remember to write up a brief but complete analysis of your chosen speech to turn in. What is your subject saying? How does he word and phrase it to make it powerful and memorable? If you give it some thought, you will speak your speech as Shakespeare meant it to be, "trippingly on the tongue", not merely mouthed as so many players do.
One more note for you: if you wish to have a copy of a good and penetrating essay on the play, Roopa will be making copies during 4th period and leaving them in the top tray of the double-decker wooden hopper on my desk in lower north. Michael, you have the essay (by a man named Kettle) in your edition of Hamlet. All others -- get 'em while they're hot!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Upcoming assignments -- Dec. 11th and 15th
2. Be prepared to perform your memorized soliloquy Thursday or the following Monday. The brave shall be rewarded.
3. Be prepared for an objective test on Hamlet Monday.
4. Write your essay. Caveat: it is technically due the day before the holiday begins. You may, however, turn it in the first day of class after the holiday if you simply cannot complete a polished, articulate essay before then, and I will not zing your grade for doing so.
The leperous distilment, whose effect…
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood.
In Shakespeare's Othello (written a year or two later) the evil Iago plots, in a soliloquy, to "pour pestilence into his [Othello's] ear" to infect Othello’s relationship with his young bride Desdemona. In this case, the poison is in the form of words.
Look back over Hamlet and consider all the times that one character pours poison into the ears of another. How do these infected words poison as lethally as Claudius's real poison?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Happy Birthday to Whitney and any other Sagittarians or Capricorns.
This is a little salute to Whitney Reynolds. Her birthday was this week, and I think we ought to take notice! What do you think, Thanh?
PS: Are there any others out there under the sign of the Archer (or the Goat)? Well, here's to you!
Signed,
your mean-spirited, joy-killing teacher JD
PS: Are there any others out there under the sign of the Archer (or the Goat)? Well, here's to you!
Signed,
your mean-spirited, joy-killing teacher JD
About Gertrude
After reading Carolyn Heilbrun's essay on Gertrude and considering the points she makes, as well as the opinions of other critics she references, do some thinking and studying of your own about Gertrude. Is she intelligent and verbally gifted, although with a penchant for exchanging kings? Is she shallow and weak? To what extent does the action of the play pivot around her? Engage in a lively discussion with one another, but whenever possible reference particular passages from the play to support your ideas.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
College applications
Here's a reminder to all seniors from the Counseling Department:
Senior Teachers,
Could you please remind your seniors of the following deadlines for college letters of recommendation. If they have any questions, feel free to have them stop by our offices. This is just to remind students to stay on top of the deadlines for both their colleges/universities and letters of recommendation from teachers/counselors.
Letter of Recommendation Timeline
College App. Deadline
Dec.1 - College Supplement forms only (too late for full length letters)
Dec. 15- All letter of rec packets due to counselors by Nov. 24th
Jan. 1- All letter of rec packets due to counselors by Dec. 1 (reminder, counselor/teachers do not write letters over the break)
Jan. 15- All letter of rec packets due to counselor by Dec. 8
Reminder: Oregon University System Schools do not need Teacher/Counselor Letters of Rec.
Thanks,
Beth and Kacey 12th Counselors
1st period AP PS: I've looked at few college application essays for our class and don't mind doing more. Just let me know if I can help.
JD
Senior Teachers,
Could you please remind your seniors of the following deadlines for college letters of recommendation. If they have any questions, feel free to have them stop by our offices. This is just to remind students to stay on top of the deadlines for both their colleges/universities and letters of recommendation from teachers/counselors.
Letter of Recommendation Timeline
College App. Deadline
Dec.1 - College Supplement forms only (too late for full length letters)
Dec. 15- All letter of rec packets due to counselors by Nov. 24th
Jan. 1- All letter of rec packets due to counselors by Dec. 1 (reminder, counselor/teachers do not write letters over the break)
Jan. 15- All letter of rec packets due to counselor by Dec. 8
Reminder: Oregon University System Schools do not need Teacher/Counselor Letters of Rec.
Thanks,
Beth and Kacey 12th Counselors
1st period AP PS: I've looked at few college application essays for our class and don't mind doing more. Just let me know if I can help.
JD
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Happy Birthday to the Smiths? Heaven knows I'm miserable now!
Dear class,
Not to be a Grinch, but let's not clog up the airwaves with birthday greetings to all and sundry. The Smiths?--well, I can get behind a tribute to Morrissey and good old Johnny Marr (though I don't remember anyone called Hayden, and certainly not Addison or, god forbid, Lisa. That's strictly Simpsons territory).
Anyway, this ain't Facebook, so now that we've paid our birthday tributes, let's get back to literature.
Yours truly,
JD
p.s.: no comments required
Not to be a Grinch, but let's not clog up the airwaves with birthday greetings to all and sundry. The Smiths?--well, I can get behind a tribute to Morrissey and good old Johnny Marr (though I don't remember anyone called Hayden, and certainly not Addison or, god forbid, Lisa. That's strictly Simpsons territory).
Anyway, this ain't Facebook, so now that we've paid our birthday tributes, let's get back to literature.
Yours truly,
JD
p.s.: no comments required
Antic, in love, or just plain crazy? (Or all three?)
Sonnet XXIII
As an unperfect actor on the stage
Who with his fear is put besides his part
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love’s rite,
And in mine own love’s strength seem to decay,
O’ercharged with burthen of mine own love’s might:
O let my looks be then the eloquence,
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more expressed.
O learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love’s fine wit.
What do you make of Hamlet's mysterious, wordless visit to Ophelia while she is sewing in her "closet"? Is he putting on his "antic disposition" for her? His behavior sounds just a tad nutty -- how do you think it reflects his state of mind, or his plans for revenge?
Perhaps Shakespeare's Sonnet 23 sheds some light on what is on the prince's mind, or in his heart. Don't pass it by because some of the language is a little obscure to you. Work it, and view Hamlet through this prism.
As an unperfect actor on the stage
Who with his fear is put besides his part
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love’s rite,
And in mine own love’s strength seem to decay,
O’ercharged with burthen of mine own love’s might:
O let my looks be then the eloquence,
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more expressed.
O learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love’s fine wit.
What do you make of Hamlet's mysterious, wordless visit to Ophelia while she is sewing in her "closet"? Is he putting on his "antic disposition" for her? His behavior sounds just a tad nutty -- how do you think it reflects his state of mind, or his plans for revenge?
Perhaps Shakespeare's Sonnet 23 sheds some light on what is on the prince's mind, or in his heart. Don't pass it by because some of the language is a little obscure to you. Work it, and view Hamlet through this prism.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LISA
Today is Lisa's birthday!! A day to make you feel a bit older than usual. 18 is a fun number ain't it, where you get the stuff that you don't really want or need, and now you can't get the free things that you had before when you were still a minor. Being 18 is a swell time, now you can call yourself in when you're not sick and get away with it. Not only that, credit carditeers will start to come and ask "do you want to join Capital One? We have an account all ready for you." It makes you feel kind of special in a sense.
Lisa is a fun person to hang out with, because she can speak her mind and not really care what the other person is thinking. She has a keen sense of style and she's really good with words making her a hilarious person to talk to. Having a colloquial conversation, and Lisa can come in with some extravagant word that makes you stop and think. I don't really memorize her words that were out there, but they were three syllable words. Maybe four.. Can't really remember. But that's alright.
In health careers, we had to do this teeth brushing thingermabob where we are to brush each other's teeth. Lisa was my partner, and it was really great how when someone is laughing, they bite down on the toothbrush which makes it impossible to brush the individual's teeth. Or maybe it was embarrassment that made Lisa clamp down on the toothbrush.. but either way, it was pretty intense. And you might not notice this, but when we brush out teeth and we spit out the water, there is a lot of those spit stringy things. The same day, we had to feed each other too. Devin was in our group (I hope I spelled his name right) and he was feeding Lisa the applesauce. Once the spoon was in her mouth, he did this twist thing as if to pour the applesauce into her mouth. Think about it, spoon in mouth, mouth is closed, and spoon twists. That must've been a fun experience :]
Dear old Lisa has been a real great pal and I'm glad to call her my friend. I hope Mr. Duncan is not bothered by me posting up birthday congratulations on the Westview AP Literature Mr. Duncan blog, because these people are the ones that really know how to make a kid's day, and I want to recognize them. Happy birthday Lisa, and I hope your day goes better than you have planned.
Lisa is a fun person to hang out with, because she can speak her mind and not really care what the other person is thinking. She has a keen sense of style and she's really good with words making her a hilarious person to talk to. Having a colloquial conversation, and Lisa can come in with some extravagant word that makes you stop and think. I don't really memorize her words that were out there, but they were three syllable words. Maybe four.. Can't really remember. But that's alright.
In health careers, we had to do this teeth brushing thingermabob where we are to brush each other's teeth. Lisa was my partner, and it was really great how when someone is laughing, they bite down on the toothbrush which makes it impossible to brush the individual's teeth. Or maybe it was embarrassment that made Lisa clamp down on the toothbrush.. but either way, it was pretty intense. And you might not notice this, but when we brush out teeth and we spit out the water, there is a lot of those spit stringy things. The same day, we had to feed each other too. Devin was in our group (I hope I spelled his name right) and he was feeding Lisa the applesauce. Once the spoon was in her mouth, he did this twist thing as if to pour the applesauce into her mouth. Think about it, spoon in mouth, mouth is closed, and spoon twists. That must've been a fun experience :]
Dear old Lisa has been a real great pal and I'm glad to call her my friend. I hope Mr. Duncan is not bothered by me posting up birthday congratulations on the Westview AP Literature Mr. Duncan blog, because these people are the ones that really know how to make a kid's day, and I want to recognize them. Happy birthday Lisa, and I hope your day goes better than you have planned.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE SMITHS
Well, today is Thanksgiving and what more can we be thankful for than having Hayden and Addison here to entertain us and be the great palios that they are. Let's all go back to memory lane and see all the things that Hayden and Addison has done for us...
I didn't know either one personally until seventh grade jazz band. Bus ride to Mt Hood Community College to play at a competition, I'm laughing my brains out for reasons unknown and then Emily Harris is like "hey maybe there's a word that will always make Thanh laugh" and booger was born. Emily, Addison, Hayden, and Ryan would always say that to me whenever they felt like it, and I would always laugh. It's the greatest word in the world. Addison would be soo mean and say booger when I was trying to play a solo and make me mess up. Unbelievable. Basically, only those four can really say booger right and make me laugh. Something about remembering the day again. That was an awesome day...
And then lets see. O okay, so another band moment. What was this, sophomore year? yea, I sat next to Addison in band and he knew I was really ticklish. Like, "haha, let's see Thanh jump out of her seat by a minor poke" Weeell, Addison doesn't just to the poke, but he does the egg drop on the knee, and holy cow that takes the cake. One time he did that, I dropped my trumpet and broke it. I'm just giving him a hard time, but it was alright. He's still a swell kid.
Here's a calc moment with Hayden. Recently we had this field trip to watch this lecture about something. And then right in the middle, I guess Hayden was trying to hold in a sneeze? hahaha gee whiz, it was more of an explosion than anything else. Right in the middle of the lecture. O, but there were two times when hahaha omg, when Hayden was talking and then all of a sudden he would drool excessively. Like a huge glob of spit would just fall out of his mouth. hahaha aww good times good times...
Well, there are so many more memories I have with them two. I had pictures to put up but I can't really do it right now. Today is just a day to embarrass the Hayddisons. So if you have any embarrassing moments that you have of them, go ahead and post it up! Happy 18th you guys, and like Mr. Warner would say "now you guys are eligible to go to jail."
Hayden, I'll see you in forty years so stay fresh ;]
I didn't know either one personally until seventh grade jazz band. Bus ride to Mt Hood Community College to play at a competition, I'm laughing my brains out for reasons unknown and then Emily Harris is like "hey maybe there's a word that will always make Thanh laugh" and booger was born. Emily, Addison, Hayden, and Ryan would always say that to me whenever they felt like it, and I would always laugh. It's the greatest word in the world. Addison would be soo mean and say booger when I was trying to play a solo and make me mess up. Unbelievable. Basically, only those four can really say booger right and make me laugh. Something about remembering the day again. That was an awesome day...
And then lets see. O okay, so another band moment. What was this, sophomore year? yea, I sat next to Addison in band and he knew I was really ticklish. Like, "haha, let's see Thanh jump out of her seat by a minor poke" Weeell, Addison doesn't just to the poke, but he does the egg drop on the knee, and holy cow that takes the cake. One time he did that, I dropped my trumpet and broke it. I'm just giving him a hard time, but it was alright. He's still a swell kid.
Here's a calc moment with Hayden. Recently we had this field trip to watch this lecture about something. And then right in the middle, I guess Hayden was trying to hold in a sneeze? hahaha gee whiz, it was more of an explosion than anything else. Right in the middle of the lecture. O, but there were two times when hahaha omg, when Hayden was talking and then all of a sudden he would drool excessively. Like a huge glob of spit would just fall out of his mouth. hahaha aww good times good times...
Well, there are so many more memories I have with them two. I had pictures to put up but I can't really do it right now. Today is just a day to embarrass the Hayddisons. So if you have any embarrassing moments that you have of them, go ahead and post it up! Happy 18th you guys, and like Mr. Warner would say "now you guys are eligible to go to jail."
Hayden, I'll see you in forty years so stay fresh ;]
Friday, November 21, 2008
Claudius, the consummate politician
"Scan" Claudius’s first speech (Act I, Scene 2, lines 1-39)—in other words: break it down into its component parts. What aspects of his character, intellect and governance does it reveal?
Note also his gentle-seeming (great word: "seeming") reprimand to Hamlet, which also moves from message to message. It should add to your picture--how?
Note also his gentle-seeming (great word: "seeming") reprimand to Hamlet, which also moves from message to message. It should add to your picture--how?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
For this posting, I'm seeking a genuine & personal response to Robert MacNeil's genuine & personal account of his early experience with Shakespeare. It's better you write something in advance and post it rather than use someone else's response as a springboard--though you're always welcome to comment on what you read here.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
The Double & the Precipice
This posting is in two parts, and will require a similar response.
First: re-read paragraphs 24-29 in Part III, beginning with “I think I would have raised an outcry…” to “And yet I had only supported him, his bony arm clasped round my neck—and he was not much heavier than a child.”
Remember what Marlow tells his listeners earlier in his tale?—”It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream—making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams…” If this episode, in which Marlow pursues Kurtz and confronts him in the brush at night, were a dream sequence, what sort of dream would it be and where would it be set? Would it be too much to say this dream is a nightmare and the setting is an earthly representation of hell?
Second: re-read paragraph 48, beginning “However, as you see, I did not go to join Kurtz there and then.” In this passage, which is in part an impressionistic account of Marlow's near-fatal illness on his return trip, he speaks of Kurtz in terms of “loyalty” and “destiny,” and comments that the best “you can from from it is some knowledge of yourself…”
He “affirm[s] that Kurtz was a remarkable man” and says that although he, Marlow, “peeped over the edge” of what we might call a spiritual abyss and seems to have lived through Kurtz's “extremity” rather than his own, “he [Kurtz] had stepped over the edge while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot.”
This is some heavy stuff. Why does Marlow say he has “remained loyal to Kurtz to the last, and even beyond…” and why is he so impressed by Kurtz's final cry—”The horror!”—that he calls the cry “an affirmation, a moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats…”?
First: re-read paragraphs 24-29 in Part III, beginning with “I think I would have raised an outcry…” to “And yet I had only supported him, his bony arm clasped round my neck—and he was not much heavier than a child.”
Remember what Marlow tells his listeners earlier in his tale?—”It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream—making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams…” If this episode, in which Marlow pursues Kurtz and confronts him in the brush at night, were a dream sequence, what sort of dream would it be and where would it be set? Would it be too much to say this dream is a nightmare and the setting is an earthly representation of hell?
Second: re-read paragraph 48, beginning “However, as you see, I did not go to join Kurtz there and then.” In this passage, which is in part an impressionistic account of Marlow's near-fatal illness on his return trip, he speaks of Kurtz in terms of “loyalty” and “destiny,” and comments that the best “you can from from it is some knowledge of yourself…”
He “affirm[s] that Kurtz was a remarkable man” and says that although he, Marlow, “peeped over the edge” of what we might call a spiritual abyss and seems to have lived through Kurtz's “extremity” rather than his own, “he [Kurtz] had stepped over the edge while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot.”
This is some heavy stuff. Why does Marlow say he has “remained loyal to Kurtz to the last, and even beyond…” and why is he so impressed by Kurtz's final cry—”The horror!”—that he calls the cry “an affirmation, a moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats…”?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Lying & dying
Part 1 ¶ 62:
I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie. You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world—what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do.
What lie does Marlow tell for Kurtz, and why does he tell it? How does Marlow become entangled in a lie--bite into something rotten--when he signs on as a steamboat captain in the Congo?
I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie. You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world—what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do.
What lie does Marlow tell for Kurtz, and why does he tell it? How does Marlow become entangled in a lie--bite into something rotten--when he signs on as a steamboat captain in the Congo?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Fine tune your antennae
From Part 1, ¶ 9:
The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
From Part 1, ¶ 14:
We looked on, waiting patiently—there was nothing else to do till the end of the flood; but it was only after a long silence, when he said, in a hesitating voice, “I suppose you fellows remember I did once turn fresh-water sailor for a bit,” that we knew we were fated, before the ebb began to run, to hear about one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences.
In his indirect way, the narrator (& maybe the author) is warning his readers about the tale Marlow will relate. What do his warnings tell us to expect? What do they tell us of Marlow’s character?
The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
From Part 1, ¶ 14:
We looked on, waiting patiently—there was nothing else to do till the end of the flood; but it was only after a long silence, when he said, in a hesitating voice, “I suppose you fellows remember I did once turn fresh-water sailor for a bit,” that we knew we were fated, before the ebb began to run, to hear about one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences.
In his indirect way, the narrator (& maybe the author) is warning his readers about the tale Marlow will relate. What do his warnings tell us to expect? What do they tell us of Marlow’s character?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Oedipal dialogues to prepare for timed writing, plus Fidelio
For this posting, choose something significant you gleaned from your reading of any of the three analytical essays you've read and annotated over the past few days. Discuss it or question it and see what perceptions and observations your classmates have made. If you're not sure what to say, check out the class comments from Mrs. Minor's blog, at http://wviewaplitminor.blogspot.com.
PS: I've made reservations for these people for Fidelio: Roopa, David, Aditya, Brianna, Camden, Jill, Miranda, Alexander and one of the "maybes". I can handle a loss of $12, but anything beyond that will hurt, so please bring a check or cash if you haven't paid yet.
PS: I've made reservations for these people for Fidelio: Roopa, David, Aditya, Brianna, Camden, Jill, Miranda, Alexander and one of the "maybes". I can handle a loss of $12, but anything beyond that will hurt, so please bring a check or cash if you haven't paid yet.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Get down with Ludwig Van and get some culture!
Hey, Kids!--
I meant to tell you on Wednesday about the AP Lit opera tradition. Every year you have a chance--for a mere $12--to soak up some big-time Western culture by attending a Portland Opera dress rehearsal. It's fun to dress up and do the performing arts patron thing with your classmates & teachers. This fall's offering is "Fidelio," the only opera Beethoven wrote, and it's a great one that reflects the man's passion for liberty and the human spirit. Remember, this is the guy who wrote the Eroica Symphony with Napoleon in mind; then when he realized the Corsican was just another rapacious world conqueror, scratched out Napoleon's name so furiously that he left a hole in the first page of the symphony.
I'll tell you more on Monday after the Lit terms 2 quiz. And Matt, take heart. I wouldn't have anyone else pass out those smokin' exams. The darkest hour, as they say, is always just before the dawn. For us, dawn will be 7:45 on the nose.
See you then!
--JD
I meant to tell you on Wednesday about the AP Lit opera tradition. Every year you have a chance--for a mere $12--to soak up some big-time Western culture by attending a Portland Opera dress rehearsal. It's fun to dress up and do the performing arts patron thing with your classmates & teachers. This fall's offering is "Fidelio," the only opera Beethoven wrote, and it's a great one that reflects the man's passion for liberty and the human spirit. Remember, this is the guy who wrote the Eroica Symphony with Napoleon in mind; then when he realized the Corsican was just another rapacious world conqueror, scratched out Napoleon's name so furiously that he left a hole in the first page of the symphony.
I'll tell you more on Monday after the Lit terms 2 quiz. And Matt, take heart. I wouldn't have anyone else pass out those smokin' exams. The darkest hour, as they say, is always just before the dawn. For us, dawn will be 7:45 on the nose.
See you then!
--JD
Monday, October 6, 2008
Lit terms quiz Wednesday
Come to class with your lit terms down. The section in question is Drama. Everyone should ace this one!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Idea Forum
Use this space to post ideas, questions thesis proposals, and whatever else your creative brains have to offer. Read what others have to say--borrow ideas that help--express your insights & inspirations. Visit more than once with follow-up thoughts. Your essays will benefit from this free exchange of ideas.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Post 4: Magwitch materializes
Look over chapter 39 once more, with special attention to the atmospheric way Dickens sets the scene for the dramatic re-entry of the convict and the revelation of the source of Pip's expectations. Like a theatrical director he orchestrates sights, sounds and lighting to create the utmost tension and foreboding in the reader as well as his protagonist.
For this blog, consider Dickens the writer as much as you do his story. This is the last chapter of part one, and most certainly comprised an installment of the serialized novel. The stakes were high, therefore, and he rose to the occasion. Don't indulge in an orgy of flattery, but comment on what most strikes you about the opening 30 paragraphs or so of the chapter leading up to Pip's realization: diction, tone, pacing, etc.
For this blog, consider Dickens the writer as much as you do his story. This is the last chapter of part one, and most certainly comprised an installment of the serialized novel. The stakes were high, therefore, and he rose to the occasion. Don't indulge in an orgy of flattery, but comment on what most strikes you about the opening 30 paragraphs or so of the chapter leading up to Pip's realization: diction, tone, pacing, etc.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
September 18 post: The two Christmas dinners
Re-read the passage in Chapter III that describes Magwitch eating his dinner (from the paragraph that begins “I was soon at the battery. . . “ through the paragraph that begins “I had often watched a large dog of ours eating his food . . .”). Contrast this picture of the convict's repast to the Chapter IV account of the Gargery family's Christmas dinner with Uncle Pumblechook, Mr. Wopsle, and the Hubbles (from the lst page paragraph that begins “We were to have a superb dinner. . .” to the end of the chapter and the prospect of yet more food in the form of Pumblechook's pork pie. What ironies can you find--among other things.
G.E. test Monday!
Be prepared for a "did you read it" test on Great Expectations first thing Monday morning (wouldn't the world be a better place if we didn't have to do such things? I think so). After we finish, we'll move right into our first day of discussion. To get our minds all pointing in the right direction, I'm putting up a new post for the weekend.
Monday, September 8, 2008
September 8 post
Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north- east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east…
Interpret this final paragraph of the book--not just as John Savage's end, but also in light of the simile that Huxley uses. What was John seeking, and how did he fare in his quest? Does he represent anyone besides himself?
Interpret this final paragraph of the book--not just as John Savage's end, but also in light of the simile that Huxley uses. What was John seeking, and how did he fare in his quest? Does he represent anyone besides himself?
In this paragraph, the rock represents the human mind without any external influences set in place. It represents the mind not yet afflicted by hypnopaedia and the conventions of the World State.
In the society established by Huxley, the entire world population is under the control of the directors of the hatcheries and the world controllers. As soon as the children are born, they are conditioned into instinctively accepting the values of the society. "...drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere, incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob." The drops of wax represent the myriad of actions taken in order to conceal the true values inherent in each individual. however, despite the omnipresent pressure to stick to conformity, there are some exceptions in which the rock nearly breaks through the wax.
Helmholtz Watson is a perfect example of an "Alpha plus" of the society. However, his quality that causes him to "break through the wax" is that he is too smart. From our introduction to Helmholtz until the end of the book, he is depicted as a very deep thinker and a romantic. He frequently complains about how he has an unexplainable feeling of which he is not satisfied by his role in society and that through his rhymes, he wants to somehow write something meaningful. As a result of his constant search for his true emotions, at the end of the book, Helmholtz writes a rhyme on loneliness, which signifies that he has finally broken through the wax and revealed his "rock."
Similarly, Helmholtz's friend, Bernard Marx, is another character portrayed who breaks through the wax or has a thin wax layer. Throughout Brave New World, Bernard is always noted for his incongruous nature, both physically and psychologically. It is his small size that causes him to think differently from the conditioned majority. Examples of Bernard's inconstancy can be seen in the scenes with Lenina Crowne in which he talks about the values of true love and monogamy. In these portions, his "rock" is exposed to the readers, but we are still lead to believe that a wax layer continues to exist over his "rock." For example, when he becomes the guardian of John Savage, he goes back to enjoying the conventions of the society and turns his back on his previous beliefs. So, though Bernard has a wax layer, it is thin enough so that the rock beneath can be perceived and expressed.
In the society established by Huxley, the entire world population is under the control of the directors of the hatcheries and the world controllers. As soon as the children are born, they are conditioned into instinctively accepting the values of the society. "...drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere, incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob." The drops of wax represent the myriad of actions taken in order to conceal the true values inherent in each individual. however, despite the omnipresent pressure to stick to conformity, there are some exceptions in which the rock nearly breaks through the wax.
Helmholtz Watson is a perfect example of an "Alpha plus" of the society. However, his quality that causes him to "break through the wax" is that he is too smart. From our introduction to Helmholtz until the end of the book, he is depicted as a very deep thinker and a romantic. He frequently complains about how he has an unexplainable feeling of which he is not satisfied by his role in society and that through his rhymes, he wants to somehow write something meaningful. As a result of his constant search for his true emotions, at the end of the book, Helmholtz writes a rhyme on loneliness, which signifies that he has finally broken through the wax and revealed his "rock."
Similarly, Helmholtz's friend, Bernard Marx, is another character portrayed who breaks through the wax or has a thin wax layer. Throughout Brave New World, Bernard is always noted for his incongruous nature, both physically and psychologically. It is his small size that causes him to think differently from the conditioned majority. Examples of Bernard's inconstancy can be seen in the scenes with Lenina Crowne in which he talks about the values of true love and monogamy. In these portions, his "rock" is exposed to the readers, but we are still lead to believe that a wax layer continues to exist over his "rock." For example, when he becomes the guardian of John Savage, he goes back to enjoying the conventions of the society and turns his back on his previous beliefs. So, though Bernard has a wax layer, it is thin enough so that the rock beneath can be perceived and expressed.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Prompt for Sept. 4
Near the end of Chapter 2, you will find this short paragraph:
Not so much like drops of water, though water, it is true, can wear holes in the hardest granite; rather, drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere, incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob.
Explore this simile and decide what it signifies.
Then find examples in the Brave New World in which the rock nearly breaks through the wax, or where the wax layer is so thin that the rock can be perceived, even if only for a moment.
PS: for Monday's class, be sure to re-read the last three chapters of the book! We will continue our discussion based on your reading and new insights.
Not so much like drops of water, though water, it is true, can wear holes in the hardest granite; rather, drops of liquid sealing-wax, drops that adhere, incrust, incorporate themselves with what they fall on, till finally the rock is all one scarlet blob.
Explore this simile and decide what it signifies.
Then find examples in the Brave New World in which the rock nearly breaks through the wax, or where the wax layer is so thin that the rock can be perceived, even if only for a moment.
PS: for Monday's class, be sure to re-read the last three chapters of the book! We will continue our discussion based on your reading and new insights.
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