Hamlet Reading #4

“Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love” (II. ii. 124-127).

            Hamlet includes this quotation in a letter that he writes to Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet is focused on how people represent themselves and what type of person they actually are. He is unable to fake who he is and he does not understand how a person can pretend to be something they are not. He now is instilling his values in Ophelia because he wants her to doubt everything around her that seems obvious except for Hamlet’s love for her. Hamlet is also giving a kind of warning to Ophelia to make sure that she knows that everything is not what it seems. Hamlet possibly wants to make sure that even when everyone believes he is crazy, he wants Ophelia to know that he is acting rationally, and that his motives are just unclear to other people.

           Hamlet in scene II, begins to change his characterization as well, because when he sees the actors he acknowledges their intensity when they are acting. He believes that he is not expressing the same urgency with his plan to get revenge on Claudius for King Hamlet’s death. Hamlet then begins to express more emotion about his plan, but that goes against his typical values, because he is now acting. Hamlet is beginning to hold exceptions to his own morals for himself.

Sound and Sense Chapter 14: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

     

            In the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas talks about death and proposes that we should fight against death and to not go quietly when death comes. Throughout the poem, the speaker brings up different ways men deal with death in the second stanza he writes, “Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night” (4-6).  The speaker believes that because these men are wise they fight against death because it is their last chance to make their words count for something, and they feel that they have not yet accomplished everything they need to before they die.  The speaker also refers to death as “That Good Night”, instead of just saying death. The casual diction fits well with the rest of the poem, because even though the topic is death the tone is not melancholy because of the flow of the rhyme scheme. The speaker adds a personal touch at the poem because he mentions his father: “And you, my father, there on the sad height” (16). In the end the speaker does not want his father to leave him, and the speaker is not ready to let his father go. The speaker wants his father to fight back in order for the speaker to have more time with his father.

Hamlet #3 College Poem

College Goodbyes

She hustles and bustles around the small space,

Labeling storage containers, and loading the fridge

Chattering all the way with other moms

With the space complete she checks everything again.

She carefully wastes some time,

Insisting that there is more room for hangers in the closet,

Or possibly some space under the bed.

With no more things to fix,

She looks around and looks up giving her weird mother smile

Realizing that it is time for her to go,

She begins her speech--

Make sure to take it all in,

Get involved,

And always make your bed before you leave your dorm,

It will actually help you sleep if you know your bed has been freshly made.

Don’t leave clothes on the ground, and DO NOT,

Wash your reds with your whites.

As she ends with a more tips,

She begins again with her not so stern voice,

And you have to call me…tonight!

Hamlet Reading #2

               During the first part of Act I, we are introduced to Hamlet’s family. Immediately it becomes clear that Hamlet’s family is a little odd, because of the rapidness of Claudius and Gertrude’s marriage after King Hamlet’s death. Everyone in the family should be in mourning, but the only character that is expressing grief is Hamlet, and Claudius and Gertrude think he is weird for doing so. In scene II we are introduced to Laertes family, which includes his sister Ophelia and his father, Polonius. It is revealed that Ophelia and Hamlet have a relationship, and in this scene Laertes is giving advice to Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet. Laertes’ advice for Ophelia is to stop seeing Hamlet because it is impossible for the Prince of Denmark to love a girl like Ophelia. Ophelia responds, “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, While, (like) a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads And recks not his own rede” (I. iii. 49-55). Ophelia is acknowledging the advice that Laertes gave her, but she seems to believe that Laertes is acting hypocritically because she tells Laertes to take his own advice. The contrast to Hamlet’s relationship with his family to Laertes’ relationship with his family is dramatic. It is clear that Laertes is the typical overprotective brother, who does not want his little sister to get hurt. While Ophelia plays the innocent sister who respects her brother, but she still might not take his advice all the time.