Blog #20 Eatonville Spoken Dish Project

Blog #19 Reflection on The Rainbow

Part I

In D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow, Lawrence characterizes the woman as an ambitious woman who seeks to leave the simplicity of farm life and enter into a world that to her, is magical in that in this world, one’s ambition is fulfilled. In order to establish this situation, Lawrence contrasts the woman’s view of the men of the simple world and men of the magical world by employing polysyndeton to slow the pacing and add emphasis to descriptive words, parallel structure to establish the contrast between the two types of men, and rhetorical question to show the woman’s ultimate decision of the dominance of the vicar’s magical world.

Lawrence utilizes polysyndeton to slow the pacing of the passage and add emphasis to the descriptive words in order to establish contrasting descriptions of the two types of men. The simplistic men are characterized by the “warmth and generating and pain and death” that they knew from ‘their blood, earth and sky, and beast, and green plants” (7-9). By using polysyndeton, Lawrence emphasizes the negative diction associated with the simplistic men, such as “pain” and “death”. In contrast, Lawrence describes the vicar, an example of a man who exists in the magical world, as a man who is “dark and dry and small beside [the woman’s] husband [but he] had yet a quickness and a range of being that made Brangwen… seem dull and local” (48-50). Lawrence employs polysyndeton to emphasize the diction that creates the contrast between the two men. The woman acknowledges that even though the magical man was “dark and dry and small”, he is still better than her husband. This shows that the woman is deeply unsatisfied with her current situation, and is ambitious in that she emphasizes the magical life over reality. She strives for a place where her ambitions can be fulfilled, where the weak can hold the authority.

Lawrence also uses parallelism to create contrast between the two types of men, in the opinion of the woman. For instance, the woman observes that “as Brangwen had power over the cattle so the vicar had power over her husband” (52-54). Lawrence uses parallel structure to show that the vicar, or the magical man, is dominant over her husband, the simplistic man, by using parallelism to compare the power held by each man. Whereas the husband has power over animals, the vicar has power over other men. This serves to show that the woman perceives the life of the vicar to be superior to that of her husband, and through him, superior to hers. Thus, the woman, who is inherently ambitious, strives to attain the magic of the vicar’s world.

Lawrence also uses rhetorical questions to show the woman’s ultimate decision that the magical vicar was dominant to that of her husband’s. She asked why the vicar’s “soul was master of [her husband’s]” (64-65), and that “she decided it was a question of knowledge” (165). By using a rhetorical question, Lawrence shows that the woman is set in her decision that the way of life of the vicar is dominant over her husband’s and through him, her way of life. It also shows that because the woman is questioning why the vicar is better, that she envies him, and wishes for a life similar to his and the fact that she identified the reason for his dominance shows that she has found the path that she must travel to achieve her ambition, which is “knowledge”. Therefore, she strives to elevate her life from that of a life like the simplistic farmer to a life like that of the magical vicar.

Part II

My peer grader, Sam, gave me an initial essay score of 7. She scored my essay this way because it demonstrated a “reasonable analysis” of the text, lacking the persuasion and perceptiveness necessary for it to be scored as an 8 or 9 essay. On the other hand, I did well in that my essay included “attention to a variety of literary devices” such as polysyndeton, parallelism, and rhetorical questions, which allowed for a more “competent” essay. In addition, I was able to “present [my] ideas with clarity and control” as well as “refer to the text for support”. I definitely agree with this score. I believe that my essay was competent, but not as insightful as what is necessary to achieve an 8 or a 9. I neither mentioned nor fully discussed the deeper complexity of the passage, which inhibited my essay’s analysis. I agree that I did well supporting my ideas with literary devices and textual support, but I also agree these ideas never formed an insightful, coherently persuasive essay. In my opinion, my essay was far from perfect, but will provide an excellent foundation to begin improving my abilities to analyze prose passages.

The best way to improve my essay, in my opinion, would be to better address the complexities found in the passage. For instance, complexity is developed in the text due to the fact that the passage does not completely correlate with Lawrence’s belief of “blood knowledge”. In his concept of “blood knowledge”, Lawrence shunned intellect and morality in favor of the flesh, in which what “our blood feels and believes and says, is always true”. Therefore, the fact that the woman believes that the difference between the simplistic life of the farmer and the elevated life of the vicar lies in the pursuit of knowledge, an action that the theory of blood-knowledge would have rejected. At the same time, the woman is inherently ambitious: always looking off into a distant world where life would be better, and she would be envious of it, in that it fueled her “deepest desire”. Thus, her struggle to achieve knowledge would be instinctual because a deeply held desire is not determined by reason or thought; rather, it is determined by beliefs of the flesh. Thus, the complexity lies in the paradox that develops because of her use of the flesh as a medium of achieving knowledge, which does not correspond with Lawrence’s theory of “blood knowledge”. So, in retrospect, even though I was not aware of Lawrence’s theory while writing this essay, there is still a distinct contrast between the flesh and knowledge in the passage. I think it was time mismanagement and lack of organization that prevented me from determining the complexity in my initial essay. I was still trying to figure it out while writing my essay, where I should have determined the complexity beforehand.

Another way to improve my essay would be to follow the advice of 5 Steps to a 5, which recommended that we “isolate two quotations that strike you” to help establish an opening and conclusion. I began my essay with my thesis and I didn’t even include a conclusion. Having a lacking opening and conclusion is especially detrimental because it inhibits a connection with the essay’s reader. The opening is the grader’s first impression of you essay, and the conclusion is the grader’s last impression to the essay. Therefore, it is important to craft and opening and conclusion that enhances the essay. In addition, the opening is essential to establishing the “tone and direction” of the essay, and the conclusion will reinforce this idea. Having a central tone and direction will create a more clear analysis and a more effective organization. In the future, it would be a good idea to follow 5 Steps to a 5’s advice and try to isolate two important quotes to create an opening and a conclusion. I believe that this would enhance both the coherency and the persuasion of my essay.

In addition, I could improve my essay by adding transitions between paragraphs, which is advice offered by 5 Steps to a 5. The first sentence of every body paragraph in my initial essay is a sentence that restates the idea I presented concerning an individual literary device from my thesis. This is very generic way to start a new paragraph, and it can prevent both “persuasive analysis” and “writing that is clear and effectively organized”. Effective transitions provide a sense of coherency and organization that provides a structure for the analysis. In order to improve the transitions to my initial essay, I would follow the advice of 5 Steps to a 5, and either “use the repetition of key idea from the opening paragraph” or use “echo words” to craft an intro that isn’t just a restatement of the thesis, but rather one that fosters the persuasive nature of the prose essay.

Blog #18 Final Portfolio Reflection

One of the assignments that I am most proud of is my Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf American Drama project. One of the reasons that I am so proud of this assignment is the experience that I had with Edward Albee’s play. When I read this play, throughout the entire play I was convinced that it was the strangest, most absurd work of literature that has ever existed. After I finished reading it, however, and really delved in Martha’s character and actually understood why she is what she is, I realized that Edward Albee is in fact a genius. And I think that this is why it was so important for us to act out scenes from our play, because if I hadn’t, I would have had an entirely different, much less enjoyable experience with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.  Now, I would consider it the best play I have ever read (sorry Shakespeare… Hamlet just doesn’t do it for me).

The American Drama project is one of my favorite pieces on my blog not only because of the play itself but also because of the commitment and involvement that was necessary to achieve the final project. In my opinion, the most important component of success is the effort that is invested into achieving that success. And the effort that my group invested into this project is definitely a strength of this assignment. To me, when I think about how our thesis started and how it finished, the change was monumental. Or even the contrast between what our video was like after the first edit and how it was after the last edit is extraordinary. A weakness that I encountered during this assignment was definitely time management and knowing when to let go. For instance, when I was editing the video, I had to cut the scenes to reduce the length of the video, and I got so attached to every scene. I spent such a long time watching and rewatching the video trying to determine what to cut. I’ve definitely learned from this experience that in group projects, it’s important to care about the project and the effort going into it, but at the same time it’s also important to remain objective and be able to let go and cut my losses. 

The other assignment that I am very proud of is my creative project. Over the summer, reading Midnight’s Children was very difficult. It is such an intricate and detailed text, especially considering the fact that I had a hard time understanding the political and religious aspects of the text, that this novel required a lot of focus. At the same time, however, it was so beautifully written that this fact often made up for the missed plot points. I definitely like the project that I was able to come up with using the political implications of the text. To me, a strength of my project would definitely be the depth to which I was able to grasp the political message of the novel and be able to translate that into not only a thesis but also a video. Going off of this idea, I think that a weakness of this assignment would be the fact that I know I could have gone further. There is still so much meaning that has yet to be discovered for me in that novel that I wish I had gone deeper into the significance of the text. From this assignment, I learned about the political meaning that a text could have. When I read the Foster chapter “It’s All Political”, Foster said that almost all texts have a political meaning, and through this project I have learned how to find the political meaning of a text. Obviously not all texts will present it in the same way that Rushdie did, but, I think that having this experience will make it a lot easier for me to know what devices to look for, such as allusions and symbolism, that can illuminate a political meaning.

I have always considered myself to be a very introspective, contemplative person. I have seen, however, a change in this during my trimester in AP English. While I still like to think, I have become much better at being able to articulate my ideas because of the focus that is put on being able to enunciate your ideas in this class. It all really started with the group poetry PowerPoints. My group and I would have vigorous chat discussions about one word in the thesis (should we say the poem shows, expresses, or demonstrates the meaning?) and I would have to defend the decisions that I made in the PowerPoint to my group as well as to the class during a presentation. I can come up with as many ideas as I want, but if I can’t defend them, then they’re useless. I think the experiences had with my original poetry group translated into my group for the American Drama project. For that project, I believe that being able to articulate and defend my ideas led me to not only be able to write a better thesis, but I also took a more prominent role in planning everything and making sure everything got done. In addition, this has affected my individual writing. For instance, for the Angela’s Ashes compare and contrast essay, I wrote seven pages of analysis of both the text and the film, which I never would have been able to do before. I was able to not only come up with ideas concerning the novel and the film but also explain it to the point that my essay ended up being seven pages long.

Other results of the initial group PowerPoints have stuck with me during this trimester. I remember, when we were writing our PowerPoints, I would ask in the chat “Is it okay if I change slide 6” or something along these lines because I was nervous about changing someone else’s slide. The next message in the chat was another one of my group members saying, “I trust you, and you don’t need to ask permission to change something.” And this has definitely stuck with me, in that the environment in this class is definitely different than classes that I’ve been in before. In this class, I feel so much freer to share my ideas. I think a lot of this comes from all of us in AP English being so close to one another and the trust that we develop towards each other. Because of this, participating in groups and in class is so much more natural because of the environment that exists.

After I took the exam at the very beginning of the trimester, I was very nervous about being able to improve my ability to analyze literature, especially poetry. At that point, I had not had much experience with poetry. So, I set a goal for myself to read a poem once a week. This is a goal that I have definitely followed up upon since I made this goal twelve weeks ago. I have been reading poems by some of the authors that we have read in class, especially Anne Sexton. I think her poems are so profound and emotional and I like to read them. Something else that I’ve been doing that is based off of this goal, though not specifically mentioned in this goal, is that I listen to a lot of slam poetry on youtube. My favorite slam poem is called Shrinking Women and I have listened to it so many times that I have some of the stanzas memorized. Even though I’m not reading poetry technically, I have found that it has really helped me. When I read other poems now, I’m more aware of how poems would be read aloud and this helps me to understand the poem. In my opinion, reading a poem aloud gives an entirely new level of understanding, and since I cannot read any of the poems on an exam aloud, having the voice in my head be able to replicate what a poem would be like read aloud is very helpful to me. So far, having this goal in place has been very helpful, and that it is definitely something that I should continue. In the future, however, I am going to refine this goal by making sure that at least every few weeks, I read a poem that is not from the modern or postmodern era. As much as I like the poems from these literary periods, there will be poems from all of the other literary periods also on exams in the future. So, I need to make sure I am exposed to other types of poems as well as the poems that I am already reading.

In my exam reflection, I also made a goal to close read every text that we do for class, and this is something that I have also followed up on. I have improved my close reading with poetry especially, and I’ve found that stopping to close read helps me to understand a poem because by looking more extensively at sections of a poem it can help illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. For instance, when we read a Sylvia Plath poem a few weeks, the first time that I read it, I had no idea what the poem meant. But then after going back and looking at smaller portions of the text and being able to close read and annotate and really determine what the meaning of each portion of the text helped me understand the meaning as a whole. For instance, the first time I read it, I didn’t get the phoenix allusion at the end, but by going back and close reading, I was able to realize what Plath was talking about in that section, as well as how the phoenix contributed to the overall theme. This goal has been harder for me to follow in terms of prose passages, especially for longer works like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, where I get so caught up in the story and what is happening that I often forget to mark literary devices, etc., so I think that I should refine this goal a bit. When I read prose passages, at the end of every few pages, I will stop reading and think to myself whether or not I annotated, and if I did not, whether or not there was anything that needed to be annotated (such as a passage I didn’t fully understand the meaning of). Overall, I think that I have done well sticking to my goals so far, but that I should continue each of these goals because I am far from perfect on either point. I am definitely looking forward to continuing my progress next trimester.

Blog #17 Hamlet Final Esay

Hamlet Blog Assignment #5

"Falling in Love with Love" from the musical The Boys From Syracuse

Lyrics:
I weave with brightly colored strings
To keep my mind off other things
So, ladies, let your fingers dance
And keep you hands out of romance

Lovely witches
Let the stitches
Keep your fingers under control
Cut the thread, but leave
The whole heart whole

Merry maids can sew and sleep
Wives can only sew and weep
Falling in love with love
Is falling for make-believe
Falling in love with love
is playing the fool

Caring too much is such a juvenile fancy
Learning to trust is just
For children in school
I fell in love with love one night
When the moon was full
I was unwise with eyes
Unable to see

I fell in love with love
With love everlasting
But love fell out with me

I know that my death is imminent; I have not delved so deep into madness, however, that I cannot choose a song to play at my funeral. I would love to have the song “Falling in Love with Love” from the musical The Boys From Syracuse chosen to play at my funeral. I feel that this song encapsulates my life here at Elsinore recently, as well as what I have learned from it.

 The lyrics of this song represent Hamlet’s and my devastating love story as well as its result: my cynicism concerning love. Just as the speaker in this song “fell in love with love one night when the moon was full,” I feel in love with love so easily. Hamlet had “of late made many tenders/ Of his affection to me” (1.3.99-100). I was in love not only with Hamlet, but also with love itself.

But just as the song’s speaker “was unwise with eyes unable to see,” so was I. I told my father that Hamlet “hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,/ With almost holy vows of heaven” (1.3.113-114). I was blinded by love and Hamlet’s sweet words to me. My father, however, didn’t see my relationship in the same way that I did; in fact, he said that “when the blood burns, how prodigal the soul/ Lends the tongue vows” (1.3.116-117). He was insinuating that Hamlet’s vows to me meant nothing. I was quite skeptical of him at the time, but I would later find out that my rose-tinted hope for Hamlet’s and my future was fading by the minute.

The speaker of the song believes that “learning to trust is just for children in school,” which I wholeheartedly agree with. I trusted Hamlet’s vows and his devotion to me. In fact, Hamlet said to me, in the his letter, to “Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love” (2.2.113). And I didn’t doubt his love; I trusted him to love me forever. Later, however, he gave up on his love for me. He told that I “should not have believed [him], for virtue cannot inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not” (3.1.113). He even told me that if I “wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them” (3.1.136). I trusted him to love me forever, and I shouldn’t have. I trusted him to uphold his vows to me, and I shouldn’t have.

It’s just like what happened in my song about Saint Valentine’s Day, where the lady went to see her true love and was “let in the maid that out a maid/ Never departed more… Quoth she, ‘Before you tumbled me,/ You promised me to wed.’/ He answers,/ ‘So would I ha’ done, by yonder sun,/ And thou hadst not come to my bed.’” (4.5.39-40). Just as in the song, learning to trust a person is pointless. He or she will always let you down eventually.

The speaker of the song also makes the point that “caring too much is such a juvenile fancy,” which is definitely applicable to my relationship with Hamlet. After his harsh words to me, I realized that “I, of ladies most deject and wretched,/ That sucked the honey of his music vows,/ Now see that noble and most sovereign reason/ Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;/ That unmatched form and feature of blown youth/ Blasted with ecstasy. Oh, woe is me,/ T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (3.1.156-162). I knew what Hamlet was like before he changed so much in his affections to me, and I cared so much about him. So, I am so miserable now to bear witness to such a change in him, and it is so painful considering how much I care. The song is right, caring too much about someone just leads to pain.

The speakers of the song says that “falling in love with love is playing the fool,” which I can certainly understand since love has forced me into a state of madness. In fact, the gentleman watching over me said that I “[spurn] enviously at straws, [speak] things in doubt,/ that carry but half sense. [My] speech is nothing,/ yet the unshaped use of it doth move/ the hearers to collection” (4.5.7-10). Look where love has gotten me: I’m completely mad. I’ve turned into a fool whose “mood will needs be pitied” (4.5.2). They feel sorry for my madness, but it’s Hamlet who should feel sorry. He and his love are what did this to me.

My brother Laertes said to me “Hadst though thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,/ It could not move thus” (4.5.142-143). Even though he was referring to avenging my father’s death, I feel that this line is equally applicable to my abuse at the hands of love. My descent into madness is even more persuasive to me than if I was sane and protesting about the negative aspects of love. I fear it is time for me to take revenge on love the only way I know how: by going down to the river.

Blog #16 Hamlet Blog Assignment #4

I was walking through the halls of Elsinore yesterday, and noticed a book lying off to the side, on the windowsill. I was curious, of course, and walked over to see what it was. As I got closer, I could tell that it was a diary: it belongs to a Peter J. Seng, whom I have never before met. It was a bit difficult to turn the pages while restrained, just as it is to write this, but I managed. Anyway, what I found inside those pages was of great interest to me.

 It seems that Peter J. Seng has been observing me for quite some time: it seems that he has been recording his observations of my behavior in his book, including my recent descent into madness. According to him, I am “mentally deranged” (Seng 217) and a “crazed girl” (Seng 217). He’s very candid, isn’t he? Anyway, I think that his reasoning for my madness is very interesting. I’ve never thought of it this way before. He claims that the reason for my madness lies in the fact that to me, “Denmark has become a prison, and [I am] all alone at Elsinore” (Seng 218). He’s right. I am all alone: Hamlet is in England, Laertes is in France, my father is dead, and the queen avoids me.

I feel so unloved right now. I wish Hamlet hadn’t left me. Like Peter J. Seng said in his diary, my song “explains to [me] the mystery of his disappearance” and “illuminates in [my] deranged mind the few paltry facts [I possess]” (Seng 219).

“How should I your true love know/ From another one?/ By his cockle hat and staff,/ And his sandal shoon” (4.5.22). Hamlet has gone off on his pilgrimage to England, for “he has reason enough to do penance” (Seng 219) and I am left here. My true love has left me, physically and emotionally, and that is why I have descended into madness. I cannot stand rejection, and that is what Seng is saying.

My songs illuminate this, as Seng stated: Hamlet “is dead and gone” (4.5.25) and is not coming back to love me again. On Valentines day, “up he rose, and donned his clothes,/ And dupped the chamber door./ Let in the maid that out a maid/ Never departed more.” (4.5.38). His love has changed me: I’m not the girl I was before. What’s changed? Love has abandoned me. I gave into love and it forgot to give back to me.

But as Seng said, I cannot blame it all on Hamlet. My “father and brother have had their share in the spoliation of [my] mind’s purity” (Seng 220). I remember that just a few days ago, I received a letter from Hamlet in which he told me to “never doubt I love” (2.2.113), and my father read it aloud to the king and queen and used his words of love for me to plot against us by planning to “loose my daughter to him” (2.2.154). I always thought that my father just wanted what was best for me, but he just wants what is best for himself.

In short, Peter J. Seng’s diary has enlightened me to this prison in which I live. The freedom with which I once loved has become a reality in which I am now restrained (literally). I have become lost inside the labyrinth of my mind, in which love has hunted down and killed my sanity.

Blog #15 Hamlet Blog Assignment #3

Analysis

In Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates the nature and purposes of death; He contrasts between the reasons for both life and death in an attempt to find a justification for either maintaining life or committing suicide.

Hamlet uses imagery that refers to the uncertainty of death in order to justify the prolonging of life, i.e. why all people do not choose to commit suicide to put themselves out of the misery of life. He says “But that the dread of something after death,/ the undiscovered country from whose bourn/ No traveler returns” (3.1.79-81). Hamlet is thus using imagery to show that death is uncertain, because ever person who enters it never returns to life in order to dispose of the uncertainty of death. Because one’s fate in death is completely unknown, along with people inherent avoidance of the unknown, Hamlet is saying that people are deterred from prematurely entering death.

Hamlet also uses imagery that refers to the negative experiences in life in order to pose the question as to why people would choose to put up with such negative experiences in life, rather than to alleviate them by entering death. He asks “who would bear the whips and scorns of time,/ Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,/ The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay” (3.1.71-73) in order to show the pain that people will tolerate throughout their lives, if only in an attempt to waylay what they fear will come with death.

Hamlet uses logos to convince his audience. This is evident in the fact that he is trying to rationalize his way through arguments for death and for life. He rationalizes death by saying that by “[taking] arms against a sea of troubles,/ And, by opposing, end them?” (3.1.60-61), meaning that through death, one can put an end to their struggles in life once and for all. He also rationalizes life when he says “in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,/ Must give us pause” (3.1.67-69), which means that we as humans are unaware what lies ahead in death, and that this is something we worry about. Thus, Hamlet uses logos to provide logical reasons to take either path: life or death.

In the soliloquy, the line “Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/ And, by opposing, end them?” (3.1.60-61) is a paradox because he is equating fighting back and standing up to his troubles to dying and giving up on life. This is significant in that Hamlet is saying that fighting back against our troubles will cause our destruction, and he says that as he struggles with the troubles in his life (i.e. Claudius, and Hamlet’ s desire to kill him).

Hamlet uses parallelism to emphasize his internal contemplation, and therefore confusion, concerning life and death. He says “To die, to sleep--/ No more” (3.1.61-62) and “To die, to sleep./ To sleep, perchance to dream” (3.1.65-66) which contrasts his use of the metaphor of sleep to describe both death and life.

Hamlet uses the infinitive, such as “to be or not to be” (3.1.57) to show that by not assigning a subject to either verb that he is torn between being one or the other.

Hamlet uses synecdoche by using “death” to refer to suicide, particularly his possible suicide. The synecdoche is significant in that it makes his contemplation of life and death much more universally applicable.

The tone of Hamlet’s soliloquy is one of despair, in that he is contemplating suicide and is genuinely lost as to whether he should continue his life or give in to death. This is significant in that it adds sincerity to his speech, as if he actually is undergoing a struggle to decide whether to live or die.

Diction in Hamlet’s soliloquy is used to contrast life and death. For instance, he uses words associated with peacefulness and relaxation, such as “dream” to describe death, whereas he uses harsher words to describe life, such as “suffer” and “oppressor” which shows that he views life as painful and death as soothing.

Hamlet also uses metaphor to characterize death. In fact, the two main metaphors that he uses in this soliloquy compares death to sleep and dreams as well as death to a country from which a traveler cannot return. This shows the uncertainty that Hamlet characterizes death with.

Hamlet uses the following comparisons: He compares life on earth to “a sea of troubles” (3.1.60), the afterlife to an “undiscovered country from whose bourn/ No traveler returns” (3.1.79-81), death to “sleep” (3.1.61), humans to “cowards” (3.1.79), and thinking to “And enterprises of great pith and moment/ With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action” (3.1.87-89).

Hamlet also presents oppositions throughout the arguments in his soliloquy. For instance, even though dying would be like having a dream, there is too much uncertainty in that for people to be willing to prematurely enter it. Also, Hamlet says that even though it is easier to just die and to avoid one’s troubles, most people just keep suffering through life to avoid the uncertainty of death. In addition, Hamlet says that because of our fear of uncertainty, our thoughts towards death become prolonged, in therefore stay only thoughts rather than become actions.

The eternal philosophical question that Hamlet ponders is whether it is nobler to live or to die. He contemplates whether the peace that comes with death would be preferable to the struggles of life, or whether the certainty of life would be preferable to the uncertainty of death.

Hamlet was debating whether or not to kill himself, and in the end, he concluded that the fear of death is a deterrent to all, and that this causes people, including Hamlet, to think rather to act upon death.

Mise En Scene

In the Kenneth Branagh version, Hamlet gives his soliloquy facing a full-length wall mirror, and delivers the lines to a reflection of himself. This is significant in that Hamlet is contemplating either continuing or ending his life, so his reflection is representative of his life and by delivering his lines to his reflection it is as if he is contemplating his life from a more subjective perspective. He is fully lit up, which shows that all of the focus is on him. In terms of camera angles, the camera zooms in to a close-up of the reflection of Hamlet’s face. This shows that as he goes further through his soliloquy, he is getting more personal. In terms of sound, at the beginning but about halfway through, non-diegetic music is added to make the scene more dramatic and suspenseful. For costumes and make-up, he is dressed in all black, which represents the death that he is contemplating, and his make-up makes him look tired as if he has been up at night trying to figure out all of his troubles. He uses a knife as a prop, which he rests first against his face, and then the mirror, which represents his decision to either end his life or his attempt at suicide.

In the Laurence Olivier, Hamlet delivers his soliloquy on the roof of Elsinore, staring out into the sea. The setting is particularly important since Hamlet is facing a “sea of troubles” in his life. In addition, he is located on the edge of the roof, on the precipice between simply walking off the cliff into the sea, a quick death, and venturing back into the fog from which he came, representing the troubles in his life. The scene opens with the camera rushing up the stairs, which represents the fact that Hamlet’s thoughts are spiraling back and forth between life and suicide at this point, all while adding a suspenseful element to the scene. The very intense, quick background music at the beginning of the scene also adds to the madness of the beginning. The scene is in black and white, which represents the distinct contrast between life and death. The camera angle begins in a close up shot, then a medium shot, finishing with a long shot of Hamlet, which shows Hamlet backing further away from the madness at the beginning and getting more logical. Halfway through the scene, Hamlet closes his eyes, stops speaking his lines and it becomes voiceover narration instead, and begins to hold the knife closer to him, which shows that he is very seriously considering killing himself at that moment, but when he drops his arm and the camera zooms out he begins speaking again to show that he is considering a different argument. His costume is pretty typical of the medieval period, which adds authenticity to this version. It is also both black and white, which adds contrast between life and death.

In the Mel Gibson version, Hamlet is delivers his soliloquy in a tomb. He walks down a set of stairs to this tomb, which represents his contemplation of descending into death. Because he is royalty, if he died, he would probably end up here in the tomb at Elsinore, so if he did choose to die, this would be the location where he would finally have peace. In terms lf lighting, it is very dark, with the only light coming from up the stairs and the hole in ceiling, which would represent life and the fact that one must descend from life into death. He is dressed in all black, which represents the death that he is contemplating as well as his serious attitude. The camera angle is mostly close-ups with a few long shots, especially at the end. This puts the main focus on Hamlet, and the fact that even though he is in the tomb, he is not yet dead. In terms of props, he uses a tomb lean against, which shows that he is contemplating using death as a catalyst to peace, to lean on it to alleviate his struggles, but the fact that he gets up shows that he hasn’t decided to commit suicide. The sounds in the scene consist only of Hamlet’s voice.

In the Ethan Hawke version, Hamlet is at a modern day video rental store when he delivers his soliloquy. The setting is important in that he walks down the action movie aisle a couple of times, meaning that just as it seems he is attempting to decide on which action movie to rent, he is actually deciding which action to take: life or death. The scene opens with background narration, which transitions into Hamlet speaking his lines, which occurs when he sees the explosion on the tv and turns to walk down another aisle, which shows a transition in his arguments which is highlighted by him beginning to speak. There is music in the background to add drama and suspense. In terms of props, there is a tv used with explosions which shows the volatility of Hamlet’s thoughts. Hamlet here is dressed all in black, which represents the death that he is thinking about as well as his serious nature. He is also wearing a strange hat, which represents the abstract thoughts occurring in his head.

Laurence Olivier’s soliloquy was the most effective by far. I actually thought he was going to kill himself for a moment up on that cliff. I was so worried. I don’t know what I would do if he had died. I thought that the conviction in his voice was very passionate, and I can truly understand the suffering that he feels. I wish I could help him somehow. I also liked how there was a transition from the madness of the spiraling stairs to the portrayal of Hamlet’s logic. I knew in my heart that Hamlet wasn’t mad. He is as sane as any of us. I also thought that the fact that he stood at the precipice between life and death, between the sea and the fog was very effective. There is a quick and easy path to death right in front of him, put he must pass through the uncertainty of the fog to get there. He is standing on this precipice, making a decision that would affect all of us. I have to admit, I am very happy he chose not to kill himself up on the roof of Elsinore.

There are a few changes that I would make to the other versions. First of all, in Kenneth Branaugh’s version I would get rid of the background music that begins in the middle of the scene. I thought that it was distracting and pulled focus away from Hamlet’s words. In the Mel Gibson version, I would have spiced it up a little bit. I thought that it was a bit underdone and dull compared to the others. I probably would have changed the camera angles to add more variety. In the Ethan Hawke version, I would have gotten rid of his hat. I thought it was distracting and it would have been more effective with only his black suit on.