Pg. 829, Words Blog 29

Choosing to focus on the end of the page, the choice of words stands out because it displays the amazement that an outsider would have walking into the room where hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, and the queen have all died. “O proud death, what feast is toward in thine eternal evil”(5.2.329-330). Obviously the seen is gruesome; however, proud implies that death can take the life of anyone, it does not segregate whether one is a king or a peasant death will always come. Furthermore, the use of feast shows how truly gruesome it is and how death has taken everyone’s life not just specific people. Later, Horatio explains how it is important to “give orders that these bodies high on a stage be placed to the view”(5.2.342-343). The fact that Horatio wants the bodies to be shown in “view” of the people exemplifies how Horatio wants people to know that even the “high” can still succumb to greed and murder. The most interesting word choice on the page however is when Horatio is summarizing the events in hamlet and says that they are “unnatural” this mimics the word choice that the ghost uses to explain how the queens betrayed Hamlet Sr. but the word unnatural may also reflect on hamlets Oedipus complex and how strange and unnatural Hamlets relationship is with his mother.

Master Manipulator Blog 28

From the moment that Laertes break into the throne room and the people are cheering for a revolt, Claudius uses Laertes as his puppet. Claudius begins his manipulation by using circular reasoning to confuse Laertes and then informs him that Claudius knows the real killer. After that, Laertes becomes Claudius pawn and Claudius uses him to enact his final plan to try and kill hamlet without any actual blood being spilled from his hands. Furthermore Ophelia’s untimely death actually helps Claudius because it enrages Laertes even more against Hamlet because his sister died because of Hamlets love. Worst of all, the king manipulates Laertes into thinking that he is Laertes friend when in reality he is only using Laertes to serve his diabolical scheme.

Mommy Issues Blog 27

Hamlets attack on his mother stems from something that seems like a deep Oedipus complex. Hamlet believes his mother has wronged him but seems to focus greatly on the fact that his mother is sleeping with his uncle; however, it seems that hamlet would be upset over anyone sleeping with his mother. Hamlets rant to his mother is the first time that hamlet is in the same room with his mother alone and he tells her his whole plan and tries to give her a mirror so she can see the wrong she has committed. While his intensions are not flawed, his obsession with his mother’s sex life is very awkward to say the least and his insulting her intimacy is strange. Hamlet also uses extremely harsh language to try and force his mother to see the wrong she has committed but overall while hamlet is very stern and angry with his mother, it is more of an awkward argument because of hamlets inner desires.

Sound blog 26

Sound in any piece of literature is important because it allows insight into the mind of the character being portrayed or it gives the literature a deeper feel into the piece of work itself. In Shakespeare’s hamlet, Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter which helps to set the mood for the play and allows for a more entertaining and not droning play; furthermore, Shakespeare is able to break iambic pentameter when he is trying to show how in this case hamlet has gone insane because he speech patterns reflect those of a normal conversation and not one in iambic pentameter. In “Out Out” the sounds in the poem are used to personify the buzz saw and actually make the reader feel the power of the saw as they are reading the play due to words like “snarl” and “rattle” the reader really feels the rumble in their voice, which reflects the sounds of the saw itself.

Hamlet Paragraph 3 Blog 25

While both Claudius and the ghost can be differentiated simply by their vocal patterns, the best way to see the difference between the two kings is through the other characters interaction with each of the kings. To Claudius, the people in his court simply do his bidding because he is king and see through his façade of a nice king who asks of his subject but does not demand. In their interaction with the ghost, Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo show how Hamlet Sr. was respected during his lifetime: “we do it wrong, being so majestically, to offer it the show of violence; for it is, as the air, invulnerable, and our vain blows malicious mockery” (1.1.142-145). On the surface it seems that the three men are afraid they have offended the ghost; however, they also realize that the ghost looks like their old king and by using words like offended and majestical, they show a respect for the deceased king that does not exist in Claudius court. Further more, Marcellus is offended by the disrespect of drawing his weapon at the ghost, which exemplifies the respect for the ghost. In Claudius court however, none of the subjects of the court seem to respect Claudius words and if they do they seem to be mere pawns in his game: “both your majesties might, by the sovereign power you have of us, put your dread pleasures more into command than in entreaty” (2.2.27-30).  While this may not seem to be a big deal, in reality, Rosencrantz’s is insulting the king by asking why is being humble when everyone knows him to be false and manipulative. Rosencrantz’s is essentially telling the king that he should save his words and instead simply command them because Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have no other choice then to obey the king; however, it seems as though Rosencrantz is trying to insult the king but hide it from the king himself which is opposite of how the other characters in the play interact with Hamlet Sr.

Symbolism Blog 24

Symbols are extremely important in all literature. They give the reader a depth in the writing whether it is through poetry or a novel symbolism can make or break a written text. In “Second Coming” Yeats uses symbolism in his title as a away to allude to the new testaments Book of Revelations. Further more Yeats uses symbolism to reflect some of the more complicated points in his poem like the how in the end of days only anarchy and chaos will be left and there will be no order and piece. What’s more interesting is Yeats’ decision to make Jesus not into the perfect human he is normally portrayed as but instead as a deformed and hideous creature that symbolizes how the end of days will not be beautiful event in which the good float to heaven and the rest parish in hell but instead will be a gruesome and sick journey where the world morphs and collapses into what people would describe as hell.