Well being that everyone basically took all the good points .. I suppose I could scavenge through my brain SOMETHING to argue that wasn’t already said. I could argue that Shakespeare’s poems about love and women sort of coincides with the view he was trying to present in Hamlet. How woman have soo much potential and are so beautiful but they let other influences such as men and the world corrupt their beauty and potential. Like in Sonnets 1 and 29, the themes were don’t corrupt your beauty by insecurities and outside influences and social rejection can causes self loathing. Well women in the play were socially rejected and Shakespeare wanted to show what happens to women when they let people place them in this position. Women were dominated by men, and although they were beautiful they didn’t even know how much power they really had behind all that beauty. And as a result, they all died. So once again, Shakespeare is trying to empower women through his poems and that’s also what he was trying to do in Hamlet; to inspire women to be independent beings and thinkers… or else!!
Was Queen Gertrude just lonely after her first husband’s death or an accomplice in his murder?
March 26, 2014Shakespeare leaves the audience hanging on a lot of things at the end of the play. Things such as was the ghost of King Hamlet even real? Did Prince Hamlet really go crazy? And why was it so easy for Queen Gertrude to get over King Hamlet? Hmmm… sounds a bit fishy to me. I think Shakespeare created all this ambiguity inside of this play to show how there are always many point of views, and we as humans don’t always know every point of view. We do not know Gertrude’s true emotions behind the death of her husband because her point of view is not emphasized much in the play. As far we know, Gertrude could have truly just been really lonely after the death of her husband or she might have married Claudius in order to keep the kingdom of Denmark from collapsing being that it needed a new king. Who knows? This is exactly the question and the only way this question is really answered is through assumptions and interpretations. Even now as we the audience read Shakespeare’s work, we don’t know what Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote Hamlet and the meaning behind the actions of his characters. Our point of view is limited being that we do not know his, and we cannot truly know other people’s, which is why he left many things in the play open to interpretation. Which is actually really clever if you ask me. I personally think Gertrude may have been an accomplice in King Hamlet’s murder. Just based on the content in the play and creating my own assumption and interpretation, Gertrude just seemed a little too eager to remarry. And also a bit too eager to choose Claudius over her own son. So as far as I see it, I think she had something to do with it … that sneaky little slut. But of course, that’s just my interpretation. Isn’t it amazing how Shakespeare gives us readers the gift of interpretation? I mean, we are literately free to conclude or assume anything we want from his writing. I think that’s pretty generous. Thanks Shakespeare, thanks a lot man.
William Blake was born in 1757 in London, Great Britain. He was a painter, poet, and a print maker. He has been characteristic as being part of the Romantic Movement, although he received little to no recognition during his time on Earth. William Blake was not very popular during his time. His paintings and poems received negative attention in the late 1700’s for Blake’s apparent declaration that he had psychic abilities and could see visions. The Bible had a huge influence on his life, however he was not very fond of the Catholic Church. This is why he is very mocking of religion in some of the poems we read in class. Although he was not associated with any political party, his poems consistently portrays an attitude against abuse of class power, for an example the poor against the rich. William Blake claimed to have visions where he was would see God, angles, and ghosts of dead people. This possibly could be an explanation of why he ponders the origins of the creation of life and the creation of the creator. William Blake is now considered one of the most influential British poets to have ever lived.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
After watching a live performance today in class of the play Waiting For Godot I can definitely say it went against my expectations. While I was reading the book, I imagined a setting where Estragon and Vladamir were just casually standing my a tree waiting for Godot and making conversation. To me it seemed like a very normal day, nothing really out of the ordinary of the two people besides them having a poor memory and repeating things a lot. However, in the live performance I was officially creeped out. The setting looked very depressing and gloomy. The background was basically very foggy and gray and of course there stood the tree. I didn’t expect the tree to look so dead and gloomy. I pictured the tree to be like an oak tree or something with leaves in the middle of a grassy field. However, the tree in the play was pale, skinny, and it looked dead which weirded me out even more. And then Vladamir and Estragon spoke to each other strangely… they would go off topic of what the other was saying, or they wouldn’t answer each other’s questions directly. They also interacted with one another like they dependent on each other. Estragon would not walk unless Vladamir walked or vice versa. Very strange, Very strange. I guess this added to the theme of the play, that in life people generally don’t really know what they’re purpose is and are constantly trying to define it. But by trying to find it, they sometimes just go in circles and ultimately never really achieve anything.
Have you ever felt like the more you put effort into something, the less it works out for you? Have you ever spent five hours studying for a math test just to make sure you’ve got the material down, only to fail it the next day? The most frustrating and also the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life was when hard work didn’t actually pay off … for anything. How can this even be true? This goes against our “American Dream” philosophy where if you set your mind to something, you can achieve anything. Most kids have been taught all their lives that hard work never goes unrewarded. Well … what happens when the reward for all your time, all your effort, all your sweat and tears … never comes. What is plan B after that? I’m not saying you should receive incentives for doing good things or anything … that’s definitely not what I’m saying. I just can’t understand how genuine effort put into something can possibly end with blank results. I had a friend who was very smart. She was on her way to college when she told me and I quote “Sometimes hard work and effort only pays off minimally because sometimes you just can’t predict. But that NEVER means don’t try.” I’ve tried to keep these words of wisdom close to my conscious and my heart, but I think I’m slowly losing faith in them. What’s the point of trying and trying and trying at something, when all you do is fail? Sounds pretty hopeless to me … maybe I’m just hopeless. Regardless of that, this is something I could never wrap my brain around. Is plan B to quit trying so hard? I’d hate to believe this if it were true. I have a headache now just thinking about all the things I’ve put so much effort into, all the things I’ve tried so hard at, and just nothing comes out of it. I guess this relates to Waiting For Godot because all Estragon and Vladamir do is spend all their time waiting for someone who never even shows. Constantly waiting and waiting … for WHAT I SAY? What are they waiting for? What are we waiting for? … What am I waiting for? …. And why don’t we all just quit?
Samuel Beckett was considered the first and lost post-modernists of his time. He’s written many books in english and french. His novels include lots of black humor. He wrote Waiting For Godot during WWII. Many of his works fall under the category: “Theater of the Absurd”. Absurdists include repetition and nonsense language in their dialogue which explains why Waiting For Godot includes so much repetition … and nonsense. Theater of the Absurd included themes of how human life was purposeless and had existentialist values about life. He just has a negative on life … its pretty hopeless.
Ryan and I chose to do a live performance because we thought that was easier and it as better for people to see our interpretation up close and personal. We had a lot of fun doing which is why I think our performance went well. I learned that acting in front of people is a really stressful thing, but it becomes better when you see that people are enjoying what they see and are laughing. I also got an insight into Yunior’s mind on how he would treat different girls and how these girls would respond to his treatment. I think I deserve an A.
My partner’s lil Ryan and were doing how to date a blackgirl, brown girl, whitegirl, and halfie. Our medium is a live performance. Get ready to blow your tops!
Like many cheap and boot-legged movies of this new age, Winter’s Bone is at the top of the charts. The main role, played my Jennifer Lawrence, is a girl named Ree who is set out on a self-appointed mission to find her missing father. Although Lawrence portrays the character with a outstanding performance, the movie lacked suspense and plot as presented in the book. On top of that, the movie left out critical scenes that contributed to the plot and understanding of the characters. This really took away from the overall meaning of the story because the viewers were unable to comprehend why certain characters were the way they were (i.e. Ree’s mom, Gail and Ree’s relationship). The movie was cheap, rushed, and not as pampered as it should have been which is quite rude to Mr. Woodrell, the author of the original novel. I rate this movie a 2 out of 5 stars and not even a half a star more.
1. The World of Common Day: Ree is outside chopping wood for her family. We realize that her father has been gone for some time now, her mom’s ill, and she has too maintain the household and take care of her brothers. (pg. 1-5)
2. The Call to Adventure: Officer Baskin comes to tell her that her father put the house up for his bond and if he doesn’t show up to court, they will take the house away. (pg. 13-15)
3. Refusal of the Call: She never refuses the call. She swears that she will find him. However, when she goes to see Teardrop, he warns her to mind her own business and to not pursue her “mission”. (pg. 23-26)
4. Meeting with the mentor: Ree goes to Gail to tell her about everything that’s been going on. Gail is her best friend, so she listens to Ree and doesn’t object her going to find her Dad unlike Teardrop. (pg. 34-37)
5. Crossing the first Threshold: Ree goes to Megan’s house. Then Megan takes her to Little Arthur’s, the man who raped her, but he claims he doesn’t know where Jessup is. (pg. 52-56)
6. Tests, Allies and Enemies: Ree goes back home after being turned away by the wife of Thump Milton. Clearly they are the enemies. Then Blond Milton goes to her house and takes her to the last place her father supposedly was seen: a blown up crank house. But Ree sees that the house had been destroyed for some time, so she doesn’t fall for the trick. (pg. 61-63 .. 74-77)
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave: Ree sees her father’s car and goes into pursuit of it, but loses its trail after a while. Also Ree decides to go back to Thump Milton’s house, after being warned not to go back. So this as very dangerous for her. (pg. 95-97 … 128-129)
8. The Supreme Ordeal: Ree goes back to Thump Milton’s and gets beat up by the wife and two other women. She gets hurt really bad and Teardrop comes to save her. (pg. 131-138)
9. Reward- Seizing the Prize: Ree goes back home and recovers from her wounds. The Thump Miltons decide not to kill her and Teardrop and Gail try to support their family until Ree gets better. (pg. 144-158)
10. The Road Back: The three women who beat Ree up decide to help her find her father’s body. She cuts off her father’s hands in order to give them to Officer Baskin so that they can keep their house. (pg. 179-186)
11. Threshold Crossing- Resurrection: Re is able to give her father’s hands as proof that he is dead to Officer Baskin. She has a feeling of relief knowing that her father is actually DEAD and now they won’t have to lose their house. (pg. 187-191)
12. Return with Elixir- “Freedom to Live”: Ree receives a bag of money which will help cover her family for a while. She plans to buy a car so that she can take her family away from the small and crime-consumed community they live in. She wants a new life for herself and her brothers, and there is still hope for them yet. (pg. 191-193)
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