Reflecting Back

My favorite activity that we did in English this year was acting the Hamlet scenes. It helped me understand the text better and helped me with my film essay as well because it allowed me to visualize the context and atmosphere that Shakespeare was trying to convey.

Performance choices

Even though I wasn't there for the performance, I planned to play the King in Act 1 Scene 2. My group and I were going to mimic Olivier's version, where Claudius makes no eye contact with Hamlet (or Gertrude) at all. In order to receive attention, I did not join Hamlet and Gertrude's conversation and was singled out of their 'connection.' I was planning on pacing the 'stage' while saying my lines to portray Claudius' loudness while announces his lines. 

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Eliot uses imagery to express his depressing view on life. He uses 'big' imagery of simplistic ideas to make up his look on how life has, essentially, no purpose. Line 51, "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" demonstrates how Eliot questions life and how little trivial things are the reason for his existence. By exemplifying coffee spoons to measure his life, suggests that his life amounts to nearly nothing.

5 phrases

1.      “To be, or not to be” In this soliloquy Hamlet is thinking about suicide or overcoming the death of his father. In this soliloquy there is a lot of repetition and pauses which express Hamlet’s slow thinking process and decision-making, he then starts to over-think about this circumstance later in the soliloquy
2.      “Graveyard” The graveyard provokes the gloomy setting because at this point in the play, a lot of characters are unexpectedly dying. At the graveyard, Hamlet speaks to the skull of Ophelia, which illuminates the death theme in the play as well.
3.      “Fishmonger” When Hamlet taunts Polonius; Hamlet belittles Polonius when he calls him a fishmonger; since a fishmonger is an underclassman or “procurer.”
4.      “Do it, England” This is when Claudius is alone on stage and he expressed his hatred for Hamlet. He states that Hamlet is like a disease to his well-being and that Hamlet must die in England. “England” is personified as the solution to Claudius’ revenge.
5.      “The play’s the thing” Hamlet cleverly establishes the play The Murder of Gonzago to ‘trap’ Claudius. The play ‘is the thing’ to reveal Claudius as the murder of Hamlet’s father and, when established, Hamlet can take then avenge his father.

Imagery and Figurative

Figurative language metaphorically connotes an idea or theme in both literature and poetry. The language illuminates a deeper meaning to the context of the literature and is often used as an exaggeration to create an image for the audience. Shakespeare utilizes figurative language to connote imagery to develop imagery for the audience while reading the play. When Hamlet picks up the Ophelia’s skull, not only does the imagery reflect how immediate death may be, but also reflects Hamlet’s mentality of death. This imagery adds to the theme of Hamlet’s realization of how unpredictable and troubling life is—how it could end so quickly. Shakespeare also uses hyperbole to demonstrate love. When Hamlet exaggerates how his love for Ophelia isn’t comparable to “forty thousand brothers” is hyperbolic and creates imagery to demonstrate his passion.

Manipulating Laertes

King Claudius manipulates Laertes to fulfill his desire to kill Hamlet by using rhetorical questions and clever language. Claudius instills questions in Laertes’ mind which provoke Laertes to prove his devotion to his father. Since father/son love is a common theme in the play, Claudius employs that Laertes must prove his love for his father by fulfilling the revengeful task of killing Hamlet. Claudius accuses: “Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like the painting of sorrow, a face without a heart.” Claudius infers that instead of Laertes grieving about the death of Polonius, the time should be spent for killing Hamlet to prove his love for his father. Claudius, thus, manipulates an innocent Laertes to fulfill his revengeful tactic to kill Hamlet

Hamlet belittles his mother

After Hamlet’s father’s death, Hamlet belittles his mother by aggressively and skillfully attacking his mother with clever word games. Hamlet manipulates his words to target his mother’s wrongness with being with Claudius. Moreover, Hamlet tortures his mother with his cleverness and resorts to the thought of killing Claudius even if Claudius and his mother are together in the same bed. Hamlet makes sly comments about their relationship, pointing out his issue with the situation: “your husband’s brother’s wife;” Signifying the wrongness in their relationship/situation. Also, Hamlet criticizes his mother’s age and judges his mother’s relationship based on this element: “You cannot call it love; for your age.” He says that his mother’s love shouldn’t be lust. Furthermore, the Queen then becomes apprehensive about Hamlet’s word games and resorts to the idea that he might hurt her rather than Claudius: “What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?”

Sounds

Sounds in poetry or fiction allow the reader to create a certain rhythm or cadence that adds to the atmosphere and meaning of the literature. Different sounds, exemplified by word choice, creates a rise and fall of the reader's voice which creates various moods for each type of literature. An example of sounds used in poetry is in the poem "Out, Out--" by Robert Frost: "And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled." The repeitition of both the 's' and the words themselves create the intense and sinister tone Frost portrays. The sinister tone also provokes the reader to create a sinister image through the sounds pronounced which forshadows the ending of the poem when the child is killed. Also, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shakespeare demonstrates Hamlet as a depressed character through his soliloquies and uses sounds to show that Hamlet thinks of himself as a villian: "Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!" Hamlet has outbursts of emotion and this example shows that he questions himself of him being the actual villian. Shakespeare uses 'explosive' sounds to exemplify the outbursting emotoins and harshness.

2nd par

Shakespeare reveals Hamlet’s inner emotions privately but his jumbled inner-state provokes indifference to his thought process. Since Hamlet reserves his speech until he is alone, his confusion about his father’s murder grows internally. He rarely ever confesses his emotions to anybody; however, he trusts and talks to the Ghost of his father the most. The Ghost inflicts his opinion that Hamlet must strive to kill the murder of his father, and Hamlet obeys with the utmost respect. Hamlet is so emotional; however, that he cannot form clear sentences: “O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart; and you, my sinews, grow not instant old, but bear me stiffly up” (743). Hamlet is so passionate about finding the murderer of his father that he cannot think clearly; thus, he is similar but also different to Claudius’s thoughts and clarity. Claudius has the gusto to speak publicly, poorly, while Hamlet speaks privately with too much built-up emotion. Moreover, Shakespeare uses soliloquies to isolate Hamlet and his emotions and allow the audience to react to how his emotions control his speech. When he is alone on stage, all the hidden emotion is released outward and causes Hamlet to disregard any other thought or memory. “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 coped there;” (744). Hamlet’s built-up sentiment provokes his mentality to discount any other thought besides his inner emotions. His brain is, thus, incapable to allow any other source of information inside of his mind to store or be liberated.  Also, Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal his cleverness and smart tactics to uncover who murderer his father (Claudius). Hamlet’s idea of the play within the play is established during one of his soliloquies where is he thinking about loud, essentially. “For murder, though it have no tongue will speak with most miraculous organ” (765). Hamlet does not have to ‘prove’ his sophistication publicly, but rather discloses the idea privately in order to launch the idea fully; Claudius, however, cares more about his outward sophistication rather than thinking his ideas through before saying that out loud. However, as clever as Hamlet provokes the audience to believe is ingenious entrapment of the murderer, Hamlet still deals with depressed emotions because he hides them from the public. At some points in the play he becomes suicidal and reveals this, too, in his soliloquies. “You cannot sire, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal: except my life, except my life, except my life” (756. Hamlet does not reveal his suicidal thoughts which disadvantage his private speeches because his inner emotions cause mental distress and allow him to, basically, lie to the public. Claudius, on the other hand, has the theory to just forget the past and live in the present. Claudius’s mental state isn’t compassionate at all; thus, Claudius doesn’t understand why anybody with be emotionally depressed over a death. Claudius’s theory: “We pray you throw to earth this unprevailing woe and think of us as of a father” (729). Claudius doesn’t understand private emotion, which allows Hamlet to be perceived as more sophisticated mentally. Hamlet has the capacity to feel depressed (privately), while Claudius doesn’t accept this emotional distress publicly nor privately.

Symbols

Symbols are a devices used to employ a meaning other than the literal definition; thus, creating complexity within their literature. Symbols could be objects, places, events or even characters in either fiction or drama. An example of a poem containing symbols is the poem by Yeats, A Second Coming. The second line, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer" is a symbol that represents the 'falcon' as the people in society and the 'falconer' as religion (or God). So, the theme portrayed is that people are losing faith in God or religion. Also, a common symbol used in the poem is 'desert' which represents the theme of isolation or loneliness. Another type of literature that contains symbols is Shakespeare's Hamlet. One of the most prominent symbols in the play is the play within the play: The Murder of Gonzago. The play symbolizes Hamlet's clever idea to discover the murderer of his father, Claudius, by expressing the 'fatherly figure' as the snake while observing Claudius's smirks to reveal the concept of Hamlet's intentional idea. Another symbol in the play is during the speech between the Ghost and Hamlet; the Ghost describes light and dark images which usually connotes life and death.

outline and paragraphs

Title: Public Sophistication versus Hidden Emotion: Claudius’s and Hamlet’s Different Speech Patterns

Outline:

-          Intro

-          Thesis: Moreover, not only does Shakespeare’s diction and word choice express Hamlet’s and Claudius’s insightful knowledge, but also Shakespeare incorporates soliloquies to express character’s inner thoughts and emotions. Claudius may publicly dictate his emotions while Hamlet fails to do so, but his speech technique fails to represent his thoughts accurately.

-          1^st body: Public word choice

o   Claudius is wordy

o   Claudius sounds sophisticated

o   Hamlet short responses

-          2^nd body: Private word choice

o   Soliloquy

o   Emotions

o   Hamlet is more concise with words

    

  In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare demonstrates that in order to convey different personality types, language is a key element to persuade the audience’s perspective. Since the play consists of different speeches from different characters, Shakespeare applies language and diction to characterize the character’s attitudes and sophistication. Two characters that illuminate variation in speech are Hamlet and Claudius. Their dialogue with each other allows the audience to see the contrasting personalities the two characters possess as well as their unexpected similarities. Moreover, not only does Shakespeare’s diction and word choice express Hamlet’s and Claudius’s insightful knowledge, but also Shakespeare incorporates soliloquies to express character’s inner thoughts and emotions. Claudius may publicly dictate his emotions while Hamlet fails to do so, but his speech technique fails to represent his thoughts accurately. 

       Claudius and Hamlet both represent themselves through their public speech patterns; Claudius chooses to publicly announce his emotions, while Hamlet doesn’t reveal as much to the public. Thus, Shakespeare illuminates empty mindedness through excessive diction in Claudius’s speech, and employs that Claudius does not know how to control his wordiness. Claudius distracts from his main point in his speeches by using extra words to sound sophisticated and presents himself as knowledgeable; however, too many words result in the opposite. “To give these mourning duties to your father: but, you must know, your father lost a father; that father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound in filial obligation for some term to do obsequious sorrow:” (729). Claudius tries to explain his advice to Hamlet, but instead elaborates on the same points over and over in different long words like “obsequious.” His wordiness isn’t needed to fulfill his meaning and it also isn’t necessary to tell Hamlet the obvious facts. Although Claudius over uses language to enforce his meaning of his argument in his speech, a disadvantage, he explains his inner emotional circumstance openly. Hamlet, on the other hand, responds to Claudius’s lengthy and wordy sentences with shorter replies publically. He sometimes ignores Claudius altogether and just listens to the Queen and responds to her words: “I shall in all my best obey you, madam” (729). Hamlet resorts to listening to the Queen’s short replies instead of Claudius’s lengthy sounding conversation, even though Hamlet has equally extensive speeches. Hamlet doesn’t reveal a lot of emotion publically which causes built-up insanity and frustration from the passing of his father. Hamlet’s short responses contrast the most with Claudius’s wordiness because even though their speeches compare in length, their meanings are altered because of their choice of words. Hamlet’s simplistic diction iterates his point more effectively than Claudius’s, but Hamlet accomplishes the task by hiding the inner emotions within his mind.