Confronting His Mother

It has become evident to me that the Queen is “seeming”, for many obvious reasons.  I began to pick her deceptive signs up in Act 3 Scene 4. Hamlet begins to throw around obvious hints about how the new King has killed his father, and right away she says “As kill a king?” She plays her role as an “innocent mother” very well,  but in fact she is disguising Hamlet in every single way. But is the Uncle worth more to her than her own son? She says “To whom do you speak this?” As if she does not see the ghost, but I think she is only saying that to make Hamlet seem crazy. But in fact he is not crazy because he says “bring me to the test and I the matter re-word, which madness would gambol from”. And a mad and crazy person would never be able to re-word him/herself in such a way. This shows that Hamlet still has a stable state of mind and in fact does know what is going on. Moreover, when Hamlet threatens her to not say anything, she does manage to breathe out “I have no life to breathe what thou last said to me”. This seems a bit suspicious as she tells hamlet that she will not say a word to the King of what has happened tonight or what Hamlet has said.

Now once we get to act 4, the Queen right away tells the King of what has happened. Is that not deception, lying and betrayal towards her son? She insists to the king that Hamlet is “mad as the seas, and wind, when both content which is the mightier: in his lawless fit behind the arras, hearing something stir, he whips out his rapier, and cries a rat, a rat and in this brainish apprehension kills the unseen good old man”. What a betraying woman! She has been “seeming” all this time. Who else knows something or doesn’t and pretends to know other things? Has she gone mad, because her husband has died and now she does not know what to do? Why would she betray Hamlet, her own son? I do not understand. Is the new King really that much to her? This leads me to wonder on what is to happen in the rest of the play. Will Hamlet kill his mother because she has done what he threatened her not to do? He did say, “to try conclusions in the basket, creep and break your own neck down”. Will Hamlet be the one do “break” his mother’s neck? And what will happen after that?

"To Be or Not to Be"

To be or not to be? Perhaps one of the most famous lines from the Skakespearean times. Hamlet gives his soliloquy, as it appears to me, in a depressed suicidal mood. He mentions things such as “mind to suffer” and “to die to sleep” is in a way mentioning that he does not see the point in suffering in this world anymore. “That flesh is heir to?” He questions himself and later mentions “for who would bear the whips and scorns of time”. The scorns could represent the bad sins that occurred in Hamlets life. By whips he might mean that he will take revenge on his uncle and get him back for killing his dear father.

As soon as Ophelia comes in, she acts cold and returns the “remembrances” to Hamlet. He then switches his mood around and tells her that he never loved her, in attempt to make her mad. She tries to pretend that she does not care, because her father is watching her, but deep down she is heartbroken. At this point the audience is not sure whether Hamlet knows that he was being watched or if he doesn’t. He does ask “where is your father?”, but maybe he only does it to be sarcastic, or perhaps he really is curious. According to my group’s version, he is not aware at all and therefore does ask with a mere concern. Later, Ophelia sort of has a soliloquy in a way as she expresses her own thoughts in a sad depressed manner. Perhaps Ophelia is so depressed because she has been used by almost everybody. Hamlet might use her to make her look bad in front of her own father so that her father would get mad. Her father might use her to “do her duty”, but in reality he is only trying to make Hamlet suffer. What will become of Ophelia? Will she commit suicide herself or was her speech just a cover up in front of her father to make him feel sorry for her, because Hamlet insulted her so that way her father would get even madder at Hamlet and perhaps kill him. Now what will become of Hamlet? Will he eventually take revenge or will he just end up killing himself? Is his “to be or not to be” speech a sign of revenge or a sign of suicide? He could act or not act, as in take revenge or not take revenge. Will we not find out until the very last scene because this is honestly killing me!?

Possible Tendencies of Suicide?

I sense some suicidal tendencies arising upon Hamlet. So in Act 1, Hamlet ends the act by being completely confident in his sudden urge to revenge back upon the uncle. That act is filled with haste and anger. However, at the end of Act 2, Hamlet is not so sure of himself anymore and his intentions. He seems cautious at the end as he wonders if his soul is possessed by the Devil and if he should let the uncle’s conscience come out by making him watch the play, which would resemble his father’s death.

Moreover, Hamlet many times throughout the play has made references to death. Not just the death of his father, but also his own death. Just as he replies sarcastically to Polonius questioning him if he shall go “into (his) own grave”. Or when she mentions that humanity is nothing more than dust to him and he has lost all purpose and hope. To him the beautiful things in life seem to appear black and white and he mentions them looing nothing more than a pestilent filled air. Therefore, the motif of death seems to appear often times around Hamlet’s speeches and in the play as a whole.

This leads me to conclude that Hamlet might possibly commit suicide by the end of the play. He seems to be losing his state of mind by the end of Act 2. His once confident soul seems to lately be degrading as he begins to question his own identity and his own purpose. The fact that Hamlet questions on if the Devil is really inside of him making him do these things and think in such ways, shows that he is becoming less and less confident in his own identity. So this leads me to question if he will take revenge on his uncle and then kill himself because his conscience will slowly be killing him? Or will he just commit suicide before killing his uncle, because his soul would not be able to handle the scene of the murder and his own mind will not be able to handle it? How will his mother feel if her own son commits suicide just because her new lover came around and killed Hamlet’s father? Will that cause her to commit suicide herself because then she will not be able to handle all the stress that has occurred in her family? Many questions are left yet unanswered.

The Murder of the King

Today in class we found out that Hamlet’s uncle is responsible for the murder of the father. Unbelievable.  Is it not preposterous that a brother would kill his own brother? What has this world come down to? I’d really like to find out why the uncle would do such a thing. Was it because he truly was in love with the Queen? Or did he do it for the title of being the new King? I think it is a bit extreme and sorrowful that the King would expect Hamlet to let go of his father’s death and completely accept his new father. What will Hamlet do now that he has found out about this tragedy? Will he seek revenge and go after his uncle and kill him? Or will he also do something to his mother if he finds out that she had something to do with this murder? The fact that his guards came by and witnessed Hamlet’s absurd behavior once he told them about talking to the ghost, foreshadows that maybe they will too be involved in this tragic revengeful story. I look forward to finding out on what Hamlet will do in revenge. He might be secretive until he comes up with a master idea of how to really make his uncle suffer. Will the rest of the society consider Hamlet a tragic hero or an evil revengeful man? I think he should be considered a hero if he gets his uncle back, because all bad deeds must be punished and even Hamlet believes that “nothing good will come out of this”.

When we saw the scene of the funeral, the “look” that his mother gives to the uncle is a bit questionable. We could either interpret that as her gazing at him furiously with the fact that she knows that he is the one who killed her beloved husband. Or we could view that “look” as her way of disguising herself by crying, meanwhile she actually is happy to be with the new King. Is there some sort of a scheme going on here? Which leads me to question the idea that perhaps the Queen and the uncle had some affair going on before the uncle had killed the King. If that is what was going on, then I am guessing the King was killed because the reputation might have been in stake of the royal family, which is a terrible thing which society despises. Was he killed because he knew and didn’t do anything? And the only way for the uncle’s happiness to thrive on would be to end the life of his dear brother?

Oh Hamlet

Hamlet is a very confusing novel to me. At first I had no idea what was going on or what the characters were saying. I am actually not a fan of what type of old English, just because it is so frustrating to really understand what is being said. However, throughout class reading time and activities we have been doing, I can somewhat now understand parts of it more clearly. Based on the activity we did in class on Friday I can now clearly understand what Hamlet is saying about his mother. He feels as if he wants to disappear and dissolve into mist. He is questioning God, which is a very unique and absurd thing to do back in those times, because everyone was so caught up in the existence of God. But due to the fact that Hamlet’s mother has done such a dramatic thing, Hamlet is forced to question God’s presence. Hamlet feels as if his whole world has turned upside down. His father has only been dead for two months and his mother has already married his uncle. However to look at it from the mother’s perspective, perhaps she felt so weak and she really needed a sense of security. Perhaps the uncle is the closest resemblance to the father and therefore, the mother picked to marry him. Perhaps she misses her dead husband so much that the only option for her was to grab his brother. Maybe he reminds her of her dead husband. And that is not a bad thing…? But two months is a short time. Did she not think of how Hamlet would feel? Is she that selfish? How did she think Hamlet would feel having his own uncle as his step-father? Strange. Kind of disturbing. And as of Hamlet, all he can do is keep his mouth shut. He knows it’s not his place to say anything. But maybe later on in the novel he will stand up for what he believes is right? Will he kill his uncle? Or will he run away from home and never speak to his mother again? All of these questions I have that need to be answered. Hamlet feels angry, hurt, and mournful. Is that the opposite of his mother? Or did she marry the uncle just to cover all of these feelings up? Is she using the uncle as a replacement for her lost loved one? I can’t wait to read more of this confusing novel and hopefully figure out what is happening is at happens!

The Simple Beauty of Poetry

Poetry to me means something that I can go to in order escape the present and become engulfed into a fantasy. A fantasy of either the past, present or future. It doesn’t necessarily have to be dramatic, but as long as it has meaning to ME, then I consider it a good poem. I enjoy poems consisting of love, life struggles, or inspiration. Because those topics are something I can relate to and I can actually feel the authors meaning. I like to become involved within the poem and experience the emotions that the author was trying to make the reader feel. Sometimes, I read poems and think the complete opposite thing of what the author might have been suggesting. That is the pure beauty of literature and writing. You can go on and on without many boundaries, besides the edge of the white paper on which you are writing on. Even if I do find unintentional meanings within the poem, I still wonder on what the author was really trying to get across. Perhaps the writer was merely writing just for the fun of it? Perhaps that is a way of expressing their own true feelings and thoughts?

I love the way poetry lets me get involved within the simple and small portion of the page. I can connect words with other ones in the poem and try to derive some type of a meaning. One connection leads to another and this lets me be free and write down any thought that I might be feeling. I love that simple act of reading that lets me feel a whole lot of emotions, based on what I am reading. That’s the beauty. I can read a poem each day to go along with my mood. Or sometimes I can read a poem in hopes of changing my mood from one to another. Once the poem changes me, I feel different. But with irony, I do not change the poem. The poem always stays the same and does not change. It’s funny how just a bunch of words on a page can provide so much feeling and completely change a person. Meanwhile the page is never affected, unless you burn it. But I’m sure these days there’s always a copy somewhere online or in another million books.

I am enjoying this unit of AP Lit. There’s really no wrong or right answer when you analyze a poem, as long as you have your evidence to support what you’re saying.

"The School Children"

"The School Children" written by Louise Gluck is a poem about the difficulties a mother has to face during the time of her child’s departure from home. A possible thesis for this poem could be: In the poem, “The School Children”, Louise Gluck explores the difficulties mothers face and reveals the sadness and lonesome they feel once their children leave home, through imagery, contrast and tone shift.

Right from the start the author explores the idea of “children go(ing) forward” as their mothers labor at home and do shores that are “unknown” to them. Possibly meaning that the only thing that mothers know how to do best is to take care of the children. To them the chores seem to be “of another language” as their kids go to school. The second stanza, suggests the fact that the kids are the “great offerings” which are received “on the other shore”, being teachers, schools etc. The mothers are left behind with all their efforts put into the children and the children just leave, leaving no credit behind. The mothers give apples to the children, as in they teach their kids the right from wrong. But all that the children do is, leave the home and take their knowledge elsewhere. Moreover, as the teachers “instruct them in silence” the children are spoiled by the teachers’ rotten traps and all of their innocence goes away. The mothers try to “scour…for a way out” as they feel trapped inside by their duty to stay at home. They show little ammunition, because they are tired of labor and they miss their children.

This poem is very true in most cases. The author did a great job emphasizing the importance of mothers upon the children. The real pain can be felt throughout the poem as the author displays imagery in various parts throughout the poem. Just as poetry does, this poem also interrupts the “stream of life” in order to let humans process it. This poem is concerned with a moment in life where the hardest part of being a mother is to watch your children leave the home. All your efforts and caring go out the door, without an idea of whether they will come back or not. The poem works by making the readers feel how mothers feel exactly and the pain that they go through. And this way the author does a great job capturing what really is going on at that moment of time in a mother’s life.