Shakespeare’s sonnets are focused on love while Hamlet had many other main themes and motifs. Hamlet focuses on the ideas of corruption, uncertainty, and the dichotomy of good and evil. The poems simply could be used as proof that Shakespeare is not a misogynist because of the admiration he shows for a women in his sonnets. This idea opens up the arguement that in Shakespeare was simply trying to show that women were treated poorly in early times and had no mind of their own. Shakespeare is saying that men made decisions for women and women just went with the flow. There is proof in Sonnet 18 in lines 1-3 and how he compares her beauty to a summer’s day. Some more proof comes from Sonnet 1 where Shakespeare questions why the woman is insecure and doesn’t show the true beauty within her that he notices.
Going Out On A Limb Here (Number 3)
So to start off I’d like to state that I believe Hamlet is not insane, he is quite normal. I don’t think seeing a ghost is evidence of being insane either. I think that the ghost can exist and Hamlet still not be crazy. I would even go on to say that I believe Shakespeare includes the women characters to show what true insanity is like (maybe he is a misogynist). I think Hamlet simply shifts from serving justice to getting revenge which is a normal shift not one that has anything to do with insanity. I don’t think he is crazy because I think it is normal for people to seek revenge it is one of infinite issues with humanity, it is innate actually, for example it is the same as getting even with a friend/sibling. Back in the day when we were younger don’t you guys remember like hitting your little brother or a friend and then them hitting you back to get even? I take Hamlet for his word and believe him when he says things like, “I essentially am not in madness” and “when he puts on his antic disposition to mislead Claudius”. Maybe Hamlet realizes that a crazy person would be forgiven and that’s the form in which he is able to commit the murder. I also believe that Hamlet is guilty and is not justified which is supported by the thought that he fakes being insane which to me means that he doesn’t truly believe what he is doing to be wrong which is why I see him in a more negative way than a character like “Ras” from Crime and Punishment whom I feel is clearly insane. So Hamlet basically uses something that would be justified to cover up his true intentions which are revealed at the end of the play when he wants Claudius to suffer. Another point that I bring into my argument is that back in the time of Hamlet I don’t think seeing ghosts was an indication of insanity as a matter of fact for some reason I feel that it was quite normal with all the religion and creepiness of the Medieval Times. Lastly I’d like to bring up the way Ophelia describes Hamlet as pale and loose out of hell (Act 2, scene 1), isn’t it ghost-like/demon-like???? This makes me think that the ghost thing or whatever it is in fact Hamlet and Ophelia’s description almost foreshadows Hamlet’s demise, it is as if Hamlet/Shakespeare even tricks the reader like he does all the other characters of Hamlet’s REAL plan. In conclusion Hamlet is going through an identity crisis which is totally normal but then conforms to the corruption of royalty.
Waiting for God?…Oh!
Today in class we watched a visual of the play Waiting for Godot in order to compare it to the written play we read by Samuel Beckett. The video adaptation we watched was directed by Samuel Beckett the author of the written version which is interesting because that means everything has a purpose and is intentional. When reading the play I found it difficult to catch myself laughing out loud because I am a pretty visual person with a pretty bad imagination when it comes to reading. At first I thought Beckett was just really bad at describing the setting and I always pictured more colors but in the video Beckett made it clear through the gray, gloomy, and dream-like stage which are all things that tie into the play’s existentialist themes and ideas. The most emphasized difference from reading the play and watching it is the voices of the characters while watching the play I was laughing and caught my self in some kind of daze and smiling at the screen in class today because of the characters dialogue. Watching the play really seemed to show more of the comedy in the play than the book did and also helped me finally pick out some of the plays themes that was unsure of and it strengthened my idea that Godot could be God if not I am certain that he isn’t a person. In conclusion the play is crazy because its like this depressing or should I say tragic setting but a hysterical or comical dialogue and acting creating the tragicomedy it is known as today.
Pompeii- Bastille
So today in class I made it sound as if this would be difficult but now I have realized that it is actually pretty simple and happens quite often. I did find it difficult to remember something that I was still unsure about, I guess it’s because I always try to figure it out so I’m going to go with the song Pompeii by Bastille (which I shared as my song for class intro). I think that the same day I shared this with the class I mentioned that David and I actually really liked the song(especially for the chanting in the background) and one day we started discussing it and trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle and make meaning out of the song. Although we might have had different interpretations we still managed to make meaning out of a song that was was said “not to have any deeper meaning than the retelling of what happened in Pompeii” even by Bastille the masterminds of the song itself. Anyways if I remember correctly I somehow saw a connection to the song and love especially through the lyrics “we were caught up in lust and all of our vices” and the chorus “if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all and if you close your eyes does it almost feel like you’ve been here before” these lyrics made me think of love or a relationship that is like on and off and that was my justification when I first heard the song. Now I can am able to see the allusions and metaphors and maybe how it could be about humanity and pride. In conclusion I learned that to a degree one can make something out of nothing, I say to a degree because in TOK we learned that if society were to do this with everything then it would lose value which reminds me of a quote from The Incredibles:
(this is the scene after Dash goes to the principal’s office for putting a thumbtack on his teacher’s chair using his super speed and he is in the car with his mother talking to her about their super powers and letting him try out for sports)
Dash:You always say do your best, but you don’t really mean it, why can’t I do the best that I can do?
Mom: Right now honey, the world just wants us to fit in and to fit in we just gotta be like everybody else
Dash: But Dad always says our powers are nothing to be ashamed of, our powers make us special.
Mom: Everyone is special, Dash
Dash: Which is another way of saying no one is.
Another reason I say to a degree is because our interpretations are allowed to change after you look into something enough and even from different perspectives that come from moments/events/times that you are going through in your life.
Winter’s Bone Critique
The film Winter’s Bone directed by Debra Granik takes place in the poverty ridden area known as the Osarks of Missouri. Winter’s Bone is the story of Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) an adolescent that sets out on a journey to find her missing father in order to maintain the little family she has left, her two little siblings and a mentally ill mother. This low budget movie has proved itself noteworthy because it truly focuses on the morals and ethics of the topic and low budgeting only helped make this possible by emphasizing the poverty and proximity of the town. The actors were not the best, but who needs the fancy actors to play a role as poor meth cooks? If Leonardo DiCaprio played this role then it would have distracted the audience from the familial morals it portrays. The actors such as John Hawkes and Lauren Sweetser did what was needed and expected of them which helped the movie emphasize its ideas. On the other hand the low budget of this film kicked in negatively when it comes to the physical quality of the film which made the plot very boring, although there were good intentions the plot still felt rushed and almost like a list of events on paper rather than an experience with emotional attachment between the protagonist and the audience. Considering all of the above the movie scores a 6 out of 10 and is recommended for the less meticulous people that care more for the message behind the movie and its characters instead of the “for-show” type of things that only earn films bragging rights.
Drum Roll Please……………….Another Hero on Another Journey!!! (Surprise! ;) )
1. The World of Common Day: Ree’s “common day” is described in detail in the first couple of chapters when Ree is described as the mother figure she plays by nurturing her two younger brothers and her mother who is mentally ill. Ree cooks for the boys, sends them to school, and chops wood.
2. The Call to Adventure: Ree’s call to adventure was the scene when Baskins informs Ree of her father’s trial day and the fact that he placed their home up for bond and the house will be taken from Ree and the rest of the family if he is not present in court on the date of his trial.
3. Refusal of the Call: Ree doesn’t officially refuse to search for her father she is just constantly given the chance to quit or refuse the call. When Ree first meets her uncle in the novel he informs her of how he believes she should handle the situation which is by leaving it alone and Ree decides to look for her father anyways.
4. The Meeting With the Mentor: Ree meets her mentor when she goes to Teardrop. At first Ree’s thoughts give off the feeling that she doesn’t believe he necessarily a mentor, I think it is because she had her father which was her true mentor. Teardrop proves to be more than just her uncle (or less of her uncle according to Mr. B) when he gives Ree money and advice.
5. Crossing the First Threshold: Ree crosses her first threshold when she finally decides to physically search for her Father and goes to Hawkfall which Teardrop advised her not to go to.
6. Tests, Allies and Enemies: Ree faces friends such as Gale after facing the enemies like the Milton’s like Little Arthur, Blond Milton, and Thump Milton. All her enemies try to convince her to stop her search which are in a sense tests of her will and inner strength. Some more obvious examples of tests could be the night she spends in the cave and when she sees her father’s car.
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave: Ree approaches her inmost cave when she decides to defy everyone else’s advice to stop her search. Specifically when she realizes even more that her father could actually be dead but continues her search for closure. The scene that I envision in my head is when Blond Milton takes her to the blown up meth lab.
8. The Supreme Ordeal: The scene when Ree gets jumped basically by all the women of the Milton clan. She begins to doubt herself and fight with the urge to let Blond Milton take care of Sonny and plead uncle Teardrop to care for Harold.
9. Reward- Seizing the Prize: When Ree finally completely realizes that Jessup is dead at the site of his grave and she seeks closure and proof that he is dead so she can fulfill her moral obligation to take care of her family which starts to feel less like an obligation and more like a desire/satisfaction/necessity. Towards the end she is also given money from Satterfield to do what she wishes which can be considered as a reward after she has success in keeping the house.
10. The Road Back: The scene in which the Milton’s take her to the lake that her dad was in to retrieve evidence that he is dead and has to realize that it is all for the betterment of her and her father’s family. Later Baskins passed by to take the severed hands of Jessup to court so that Ree can keep her family stable.
11. Threshold Crossing- “Resurrection”- Ree shows many acts of selflessness throughout the novel which gives of the whole idea/motif of faith. Ree gives up being in the army to fend for her family. I also think she is resurrected when she accepts the mistakes of her father and their situation and decides not to make the same mistakes and get involved with crank and when she realizes that helping her family makes her feel good and she feels less forced to be the maternal figure in order to keep it in tact when she tells the boys that she would get lost without the weight of them on her back of the family .
12. Return with the Elixir- “Freedon to Live”: I think it can be argued that Ree’s father’s hands or the bag of money Satterfield gives Ree can be the actual “elixir” but she doesn’t act on her new freedom to live the way she wants until she receives the money and decides that she will leave the area and live a life without drugs and negative environments while attempting to escape poverty.
Family
Evidence to my madness. This is where I will crash tonight…that’s what happens when family is over. I dont need to think twice about it though! The things I do for family 😀
The Laramie Project Finale (So Much For One Week)
Today we finally wrapped things up with The Laramie Project (that was one loooooong week Mr. B haha jkjk). Although I keep touching on the fact that The Laramie Project took so long I do believe that all the discussions in class and ideas behind the play were extremely important yet difficult to handle. I think that The Laramie Project even initiated some unity among classmates and teacher by fishing through the WHOLE classes minds for deeper beliefs, ideas, morals, and values. It is also difficult because it has to deal with ethics which we also began discussing in TOK. As a class we agree that ethics is the most difficult area of knowledge to dissect and discuss. Mrs. Pham says it’s because there isn’t a consensus. I do agree that it is the most difficult area of knowledge to attempt to study but I’m not yet sure as to why it is so difficult (I just know that I don’t necessarily agree with Pham). Even though ethics/morals are so difficult to converse over I think they are one of my favorite things to discuss. The different ideas of right and wrong are incredible and as I said once before I am passionate about discussing morals and when I do discuss them they make me like tremble/shake (I think its like adrenaline or like passion juices or something crazy). One thing that still troubles me is the decision between justice or family. I can’t think of a good example but I wish there was a completely right way to handle it like in order to serve justice but not harm your family.
I enjoyed all the projects that were presented. I also learned a lot about Tucker through these projects. For the most part the projects represented the diversity of the Tucker community which I was already aware of. Some projects that were interesting were Natalie and Alyssa, Anna and Laura, Ryan and Brianna, and Jeffrey and Andrew. I learned that for the stereotype that foreign kids perform better academically than Americans was true but I believed this to be true before the project but now it is proven to an extent at least in Tucker (I still think this is everywhere). I found the honesty in Anna and Laura’s project pretty shocking and didn’t ever think that people would be against interracial dating. Another part of Anna and Laura’s project that grabbed my attention was the response given by Mr. Venkatesh because I never realized not accepting interracial dating could be a method to preserve culture which doesn’t seem as bad as not accepting interracial dating for being racist.
I personally did not like voting for the best project today in class because I only wrote down who I wrote down because I felt like they deserved the best grade because it was obvious that they put more time into their project and I don’t believe this is a good indicator for the BEST PROJECT AWARD 😛 . Then again I don’t know how else to judge the projects. I don’t think one project should be better than an other I don’t know why I think this but I just feel like the fact that some were better than others is influenced to much by grades and effort…I don’t even know if I’m still making sense. haha. I believe that I am thinking this way because of the controversial topics that all groups had. I guess I think they were all equally good and important.
Here is something to think about:
Mom:”Nunca digas que de esta agua no bebere porque de esa aqua tendras que beber.”
Translation: Never say that you won’t drink from this water because from this water you will have to drink.
I don’t know but I think this is a pretty sweet saying. 😉
OOOOO KILL 'EM 