"The Rainbow"

Part 1: Initial Essay

     In The Rainbow, D.H. Lawrence uses paradox, personification, and parallelism to entail the women's situation as one of struggle to discover what makes one man greater then another. She wants to go beyond the surface to the dull life the Brangwen men live and receive an education so she can live a life with more purpose.

     In the last paragraph the paradox is presented; one that power is not correlated in the ways that we commonly think. Lawrence states that she wants to know, "that which makes a man strong even if he be little and fail in body..."(58-59), expressing her wonder of what gives a man power, if it is not his size and stature. She wants desperately to go beyond the simple farming life that, "was enough for the men"(1), and enter an existence where she actually had strength, and power, not in the physical sense but mentally to give herself some control.In the last line she decides that it's, "a question of knowledge"(66), what she truly needs and wants overcome her sorry expectations is an education. In the time period it is typical that, "warmth and generating and pain and death did they know in their blood"(7-9), is what gave someone strength, the highest most people wanted to achieve was this shallow level of knowingness. But the woman in this passage believes in the paradox that there was something that lifted the, "dark and dry and small"(48) vicar, "above the common men as man is raised above the beast"(55-56). She believes that thing is knowledge and that is what she wants more than anything.

     Lawrence captures this want by using parallelism and personification. He writes that, "she craved to know. She craved to achieve this higher being"(56-57). The parallel of "she craved" starting both sentences emphasizes her deep desire. Lawrence also acknowledges that this thing that she craves "was not money nor power nor position"(61), clearly stating that it was not those things typically thought to place one person above another, he puts emphasis on what it is not in order to expel one's typical ideas. In speaking of the all powerful vicar, Lawrence says, " his soul was master of the other man's"(64-65). By personifying the soul he again takes us below the surface, expressing that this idea is one that sits deep beyond the traditional values of the time. Lawrence shows that knowledge is an unaccustomed want that holds the power most could not imagine.

     The paradox continues, for as the education will provide you with the upper-hand, it is not something to be seen, not something an outsider can perceive. In speaking of the husband Lawrence writes, "What power had the vicar over Tom Brangwen-none. Yet strip them and set them on a desert island, and the vicar was the master."(62-64) As powerful as knowledge is it is also understated, but when push comes to shove, it is what truly shows the difference between two people. The woman ultimately wants to capture this soulful, true power that will take her beyond the simple, expected life that is lived by the men of her family, and push her to a meaningful existence.

Part 2:
1. My essay was given a score of seven by Emily Schwitzgabel. In the first paragraph the thesis addressed the prompt, I brought up the literary devices and expressed what I thought the characterization of the woman was. As I went on into the body of my essay I told how the literary devices characterized the woman and her situation and used textual evidence well when backing up my claims. Throughout the entire essay I used sophisticated diction, but could have been more perceptive in my arguments. I mostly agree with this score. After the discussion we had in class, I definitely agree that I could have been more perceptive in my overall analysis. There were other elements used within the text that would have been better to examine in order to show a greater understanding of the passage. Overall the depth of understanding concerning the passage needed to be deeper.

2. In order to improve my essay I would first address the repetition of the word knowledge. I addressed knowledge as her ultimate desire, but didn't look specifically at the repetition of the word throughout the whole piece. In our class discussion we brought up the fact that the word knowing, or some form of it shows up 10 times in the short passage, which must be very important. Towards the beginning Lawrence talks about the things the men, "know in their blood"(8-9), but later goes on to say that the woman "craved to know"(56) what made the vicar above the men in her life, suggesting that what she wants is a higher knowledge, one that differs from the men's that will take her to a knew level. Knowledge is ultimately what she decides is what she needs, but she also expresses is it as, "the battle she heard...on the edge of the unknown"(37-38). Even though she knows what she wants she doesn't know how to get it, in describing the desire as unknown, a paradox is presented in that she craves knowledge, but needs some knowledge in order to discover how to gain the knowledge she wants. There's the sense that even though she knows what she wants she doesn't really have anyway of getting it.

     I would also want to go into the contrast between the woman and the men more, I mentioned that the men were content with a simple understanding of life, but the woman wanted to go deeper, but didn't really look into that contrast anymore. Towards the beginning the contrast is very evident as it says "she faced outwards"(22-23), but "the Brangwen men faced inwards"(27-28). The men were happy with their simple life of farming that allowed them to get by, and didn't feel any want or need to look for anything more, while the woman wanted desperately to look beyond that simple life. There's more contrast as she was, "looking out...from the front of her house"(30-31), and, "her husband looked out to the back"(32). While the husband only cares to look at his land and that which he knows and is familiar with, the woman looks out into the unknown, the world that holds somewhere that knowledge that she craves. The men are fine with being stagnant in their life and what they do, but the woman feels a need to go beyond complacency to something greater.

     Lastly I would identify the literary device of polysyndeton in the piece. Lawrence uses polysyndeton in multiple places, first as he says, "So much warmth and generating and pain and death did they know in their blood"(7-9). Here we see him put emphasis on these simple things related to the work the men do, and how big of an impact that is on their life. It also relates to Lawrence's definition of "blood knowledge" that we had talked about in class, in that this is what they know deep inside them and that is all they need to know; for the men to live, all they need is to accept and understand these things. Polysyndeton is also present when comparing the vicar to the Brangwen men, and how the vicar is, "dark and dry and small"(48), in comparison. Again it is used for emphasis, focusing on the differences between the men and the knowledgeable vicar, enhancing the paradox of knowledge. Even though it would seem that the vicar should have no power over the men with those characteristics, he is the one who truly is above the rest.

#18: Final Portfolio Reflection

One of the pieces I am most proud of is the Hamlet Blog Post #3, addressing the analysis of the To Be or Not To Be speech and the mis en scene analysis of the different movie clips. This is one of my favorite pieces because I feel that it helped me to gain a true understanding of the speech. I believe my analysis is strong and detailed, and upon finishing I found I had a heightened level of comprehension concerning not only this particular speech, but Hamlet as a character, and the play as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the analysis of mis en scene and thought the overall analysis of those were strong. I could have, however, gone into more depth with how Ophelia felt in response to the clips and what I would've have changed about them. I thought the mis en scene analysis was strongest in regards to the setting, but could have been enhanced when analyzing the costume and make up choices that were made. With the actual speech analysis, I thought I had a good grasp on the metaphors that were presented as well as the eternal questions that were posed. I felt like the recognition of oppositions within the speech is what needed the most work in that area. Overall I am very pleased with that analysis and the level of understanding that it brought me to. 

The second piece I am most proud of is the creativity project. I felt that the game we made for this project was very interesting and the concept we went with paired well with the book. The main thing that could have been improved though was the overall analysis of the book and the lack of complexity. One of the main things that this project has helped me to learn is to always look for and identify the complexity in a work. We were to on the surface with our analysis and should have gone deeper. Looking back at it now I can see the complexity lies more in the fact that in order for Pi to finish this journey that will confirm his believes, he sometimes has to abandon those beliefs to survive. I believe our surface analysis was still correct, our thesis strong, and our overall project very well done, but this deeper level of understanding would have brought the whole project up. I am now much more aware to always look for complexity in a piece and feel very comfortable identifying and elaborating on that complexity. 

In terms of my own participation in this class I feel I have participated a fair amount. I have answered some questions in class, and participated some to discussion, but definitely could have done more. I am the type of person who prefers to sit back and listen to conversations and take time in forming my own opinions but needed to speak up more and share my initial thoughts in class more. On individual papers I aimed to write them to the best of my ability and to a very high level of writing. On the compare and contrast essay specifically I drafted it several times, got your opinion on the thesis and overall paper, and created a finalized essay that I felt I had worked very hard on and was proud of. The outcome wasn't exactly what I wanted, but the part of the paper I felt was the best was very strong and I know now how to further improve my analysis and writing in the future.

With collaborative group projects I felt I had a lot to contribute. In the earliest presentations the way we had split up the work had everyone focusing on different aspects of the presentations and bringing it back together and relating everything. I often times worked on relating the background of the author, the terminology, and the Foster chapters, back to the original piece and thesis we were creating for that. In the creative project I did a lot of work on the thesis, cards for our game, and the overall explanation of the project. Once again the work was split up between everyone and I felt I was the one who wrote the explanation and helped to tie the whole project together. For the American drama assignment I did a lot of work on drafting and finalizing the thesis, as well as editing the video and putting it all together, contributing to the summary sheet, and typing up all of the scenes we were reenacting. I believe that I take on a lot of responsibility and group projects and that I can always be relied on to come through with what I said I was going to do, and that my part will be done in a way that enhances the entire project. 

The goals I set back at the beginning of the trimester have been met and have help to make me more successful now that the trimester is over. While unfortunately, not all goals were met exactly on time, they were all met, and I believe they have a had a hand in some of my recent success in the class, specifically including the final AP multiple choice test we just took. One of my goals had been to read and analyze poems from the 5 steps to a 5 book in order to improve my quick analysis of poetry on tests. I hadn't initially felt comfortable with this, but on the latest test I felt the most comfortable I ever have when it came to the pieces of poetry. I felt like I could actually grasp the total concept of the poems, and could do so in a timely fashion. When we took the first practice AP test for a grade I had only practiced about half of the poems that I had wanted to and although I felt more comfortable with the poetry than I had initially, I still knew I needed a lot of work with it. This final test I felt most comfortable on after having practiced as much as I had wanted to, and it paid off, my grade on this last test was over ten percent higher than my last one. 

Another goal that I wanted to focus on strongly was learning new vocabulary, and being better able to identify symbols in writing faster. Identifying the symbols came along with the poetry, and I timed myself with some other pieces as well. Now as I read a passage initially, I'm already looking for, and usually able to identify, the key symbols of a piece. My overall understanding of the piece gets better, and I am much more prepared to address the questions about it immediately. My goal regarding vocabulary had been to learn 20 new vocab words, and I have done that, as well as picked up some extras along the way. I have learned several new vocabulary words in relation to poetry and new literary devices such as,           allegory, impressionism, and epigram. I was able to recognize more words on this last test we took, and feel much more prepared going into a test knowing that I'm less likely to not be able to answer a question because I don't understand all the answer choices. 

#17: Hamlet Blog 6

#16: Hamlet Blog 4

As I wandered throughout the castle today I did come across something quite strange. An entry in a book, handwritten, about myself. I became immediately interested and went on to read it in it's entirety. I must say I am appalled that someone would pretend to completely understand my life at this crucial point. Although some of the things they said remain true interpretations, there were things they got wrong as well. To begin, as I read, "The fact of the case seems to be that Polonius is only too willing to sacrifice morals to political expediency; and it is his spying, sneaking, and eavesdropping that finally brings about his own death."(Seng 221), I scoffed for what a wrong interpretation of my father. While he did participate in those activities at points his motives were still good, he wanted nothing more than to protect his children. As he had said to me prior when asking about Hamlet, "and that in the way of caution, I must tell you, / You do not understand yourself so clearly / As it behooves my daughter and your honour."(1.3.95-97), he just wanted to look out for me, keep me safe from someone who could do me harm is all. He went on to say later after Hamlet had begun to go mad after I had cut him off like he had suggested, "I am sorry that with better heed and judgement / I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle, / And meant to wrack thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!"(2.1.109-111). Even as his plan for helping me had in some ways backfired, he felt remorse and was still only wanting to protect me from the evils of this world. The entry I had come across went on to say that "the surface irony detected by most of the commentators - that the ballad relates to the death of Polonius - is not wrong; it simply does not go far enough."(Seng 217) This is not true, while in singing this song I was solely thinking of my poor father's death. I had not really thought of, "Gertrude for her inadequate mourning for King Hamlet, and perhaps for worse offences as well."(Seng 218) Now that it is brought up I do surely believe the queen had not mourned to the appropriate amount at her husbands death, but at the time I was far too overwhelmed for my own fathers death to think of anything other, as I had said, "...but I cannot choose but weep, / to think they would lay him i' the cold ground."(4.5.66-67) I know what has been said of me as the queen was told, "She is importunate, indeed distract: / Her mood will needs be pitied."(4.5.2-3) but what do they expect of me? It is my own father who has been taken from me unfairly and was not even given the proper respect after his death, and for this I sang, "Larded all with flowers; / Which bewept to the grave did not go"(4.5.38-39). How could this outside person even think I had other things on my mind, other intentions behind these songs? My mourning for my poor father has over taken me.

Ophelia

#15: Hamlet Blog 3

1. In the play Hamlet lies one of the most famous soliloquies of all time beginning with one of the most famous phrases of all time. Here is my analysis of the To Be Or Not To Be Soliloquy.

-Imagery in reference to the uncertainty of death:

"The undiscover'd country from whose bourn / No traveller returns, puzzles the will / And makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of?"(3.1.79-82)

"And thus the native hue of resolution/ Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought"(3.1.84-85)

-Imagery referring to negative life experiences:

"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"(3.1.58)

"The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to..."(3.1.62-63)

"When we have shuffled off this mortal coil"(3.1.67)

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time"(3.1.70)

"who would fardels bear, / To grunt and sweat under a weary life"(3.1.76-77)

-Appeals:

Pathos: 

"To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?"(3.1. 56-60)

"Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, / The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay"(3.1.71-72)

Ethos:

"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all"(3.1.83)

Logos:

"The undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveller returns, puzzles the will"(3.1.80)

-Literary Devices:

Paradox:

 "To grunt and sweat under a weary life, / But that the dread of something after death, / The undiscover'd  country from whose bourn / No traveller returns, puzzles the will / And makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we not know of? / Thus conscience does make cowards of us all"(3.1.77-83)

The paradox presented in this soliloquy is one between life and death. Is it better to end one's life knowing that it could be worse on the other side? The fear of the unknown is what keeps us all in our current suffering. In an attempt to put an end to our horrible lives, we could end up pushing ourselves into a darker world. There is no way to know. 

Parallelism: 

"To be, or not to be"(3.1.56) 

The essential question of the soliloquy. 

"To die: to sleep; / No more; and by a sleep to say we end / The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish'd. To die to sleep; / To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"(3.1.60-65)

Infinitive:

"To be, or not to be"(3.1.56)

"Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; / To sleep: perchance to dream..."(3.1.64-65)

The start of the soliloquy is very heavy with infinitives in comparison to the end. They help to provide Hamlet's view of life, the infinitives such as "to suffer", "to be", "to die", are ongoing and are not just specific to Hamlet, not just specific to his time, but apply to everyone, at any time. By generalizing with these infinitives it allows Hamlet to ask a monumental question about life. 

Synecdoche:

"The insolence of office and the spurns"(3.1.73)

Tone:

Throughout the soliloquy there are tones of despair and uncertainty. The main topic of death and trying to escape the cruelties of life are weighing on Hamlet and he expresses this as he says asks at the beginning with the opening line, is it better to live or to die? That essential question lends itself to the tone of despair. Towards the end we see the uncertainty, is it worth ending ones life not knowing if it could just get worse? 

Diction:

The diction enhances the tone and mood of the soliloquy as it is very dark and depressing, gothic at parts. He uses words such as "suffer", "heart-ache", "calamity", "despair'd", "sicklied", and "pale" to lend to feeling of despair brought on by the soliloquy.

Metaphor:

One of the main metaphors expressed here is the comparing the journey of life, to a journey across the sea. In the beginning he says, "...to take arms against a sea of troubles"(3.1.59) comparing a rough sea to the hardships of life. He goes on to say at the end in reference to death, "The undiscover'd country from whose bourn / No traveller returns..."(3.1.79-80) using the word "traveller" to further the metaphor, and comparing the realm of death, with a new country that one may not return from. Another metaphor is the comparison of sleep to death. He says, "To die: to sleep; / Nor more; and by a sleep to say we end / The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish'd. TO die, to sleep; / To sleep: perchance to dream: ay there's the rub"(3.1.60-65) Towards the end of this he talks about how sleep can sometimes bring about dreams, and this goes along with uncertainty of death. To dream is to escape the hazards of ones daily life, and that is ultimately what Hamlet wishes to seek in death. 

-Evidence of Comparisons:

Life on Earth:

"When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pause: there's the respect / That makes calamity of so long life"(3.1.67-69)

Afterlife:

"The undiscover'd country from whose bourn / No traveller returns, puzzles the will"(3.1.79-80)

Death: 

 "To die: to sleep; / Nor more; and by a sleep to say we end / The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; / To sleep: perchance to dream: ay there's the rub"(3.1.60-65)

Humans:

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, / Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely"(3.1.70-71)

Thinking:

"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; / And thus the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, / And enterprises of great pitch and moment"(3.1.83-86)

-Oppositions:

1. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?"(3.1. 57-60) 

2. "For who would bare the whips and scorns of time, / Th'e oppressor' wrong, the proud man's contumely, / The pangs of depis'd love, the law's delay, / The insolence of office and the spurns / That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, / When he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?"(3.1.70-76)

3. "To grunt and sweat under a weary life, / But that the dread of something after death, / The undiscover'd country from whose bourn / No traveller returns, puzzles the will"(3.1.77-80)

-Eternal Philosophical Questions

The main question Hamlet asks is, is better to suffer through life, or end the suffering by taking your own life. He goes on to elaborate on this question by wondering why anyone would chose to live through such cruel circumstances as he himself is in, if they could chose to end it at any moment. Further down, he answers that question with yet another one, is it worth it to take your life, when you are unsure of what would come as an effect, what if it were to get worse?

-Conclusions

The conclusions that Hamlet draws are not much for conclusions at all, he seems to leave himself, as well as the readers, with more questions than he has answers. The main conclusion he comes to though is that thinking, which he does quiet a lot of, is what hinders us. It is what has pushed him away from ending his life, and from killing Claudius.

2. Acting Analysis

In the first clip by Kenneth Branagh the camera angles create a great effect as we see Hamlet looking at himself in the mirror. Hamlet is struggling internally with these issues and they are in constant debate, so it is helpful to see Hamlet almost discussing the problems he faces with himself. The sound at the beginning is nothing more than his voice, until towards the middle a soft music is introduced and grows toward the end of the scene. It adds a greater sense of drama to the speech, heightening the effect of one of the props he uses, the knife. The knife serves to further enhance what Hamlet is saying in the speech and show his true conflict between life and death. The makeup used makes him look pale, allowing him to mirror the "pale cast" he mentions in his speech. The setting is fitting, him alone in a large space, as far as he knows, all alone with his thoughts. The mirrors surrounding and the one he is facing are effective in showing his internal debate. The editing allows for us to only not see Hamlet once during his soliloquy when it cuts to Claudius' reaction when the knife is pulled out, again, heightening that moment. His clothes are black, a striking contrast to the rest of the room, portraying his mood in comparison to what he believes to be everyone else's.

In the second clip by Laurence Olivier the setting is very different. Hamlet is outside on the edge of a castle overlooking the harsh waves and surrounded by fog. This gives the scene an eerie effect, adding to the overall mood of the speech. This is further enhanced by the diegetic sounds of the waves crashing and the low rumble of thunder in the background, as well as the non-diegetic sound of the faster paced, higher intensity music that is playing. We also see Hamlet pull out a knife in this scene, although here he more directly points it at himself while his voice becomes a voice over and he questions whether to live or die. The knife is eventually thrown off the side into the water, and the camera angles allow us to see it fall all the way into the water from Hamlet's perspective. The make up and costume, as well as his posture, show us that he, even though discussing a very serious topic, in a relaxed and pondering state. The editing shows us the scene completely at the beginning so we immediately experience the mood, and at the end allows us to see Hamlet fading into the fog as he walks away having reached his conclusion.

In the third clip by Mel Gibson we again see a very different setting. This time we see Hamlet in a dark and stone walled tomb, entering you can only hear his footsteps, enhancing the emptiness of it. It is an appropriate place considering the question of life vs death that Hamlet is asking. You only hear Hamlet's voice during the play as he walks around, allowing the mood to be mainly influenced by the actors tone of voice. His costume is dark and at points blends in with the darkness of the setting, enhancing the dark mood and despairing topic. The camera angles move with Hamlet so we are always watching him as he wanders about, looking at all the tombs. The editing allows for the scene to be very dark, again showcasing the mood, and at the end of scene, as Hamlet retreats back up the stairs we see him fade into black, sticking with the dark color scheme to end the dramatic moment.

In the fourth clip by Ethan Hawke the scene is dramatically different from the others. It is a modern setting, specifically a Blockbuster, and Hamlet proceeds through, first through the action aisle, as he ponders the question first, whether to live or die. As he walks you can see a sign hanging behind him that says "Go Home Happy" which is quiet ironic considering home is the place where Hamlet is the least happy. As he walks down the action aisle he comes face to face with a screen showing violence, with sparks and bodies flying. In the scene he is wearing a blazer paired with a ridiculous looking winter cap sitting on top of his head, he looks a little disheveled which is symbolic of the internal debate he is having. What we hear beyond his voice is slow and depressing music, making this scene in particular seem like the saddest. We also hear the sound effects from the television screen. The scene ends with Hamlet looking back at the screen to see and hear the fire crackling on it and a man standing behind the flames. Both times we see Hamlet looking at the screen we see it from his point of view, giving the viewer further insight into what Hamlet is feeling at this time.

The perspective that I find to be most effective is the first clip by Branagh. It is here that Hamlet's feeling are truly captured. It is so obvious that he is struggling internally and by showing him looking into his own eyes in the mirror is very effective to enhance the feelings he has and the war he is at with himself. It is there as is closes in on his face, especially when he has the knife, that we seem his madness. He starts to get lost in himself, as the music plays the drama heightens and it is obvious my dear Hamlet is struggling. His blacks clothing is so opposite of the whites and light colors of the room where he stands and it strikes me how horrible he must be feeling, how far gone he has truly become.
-Ophelia

Personally, I would've not added background music to any of them. I like that in the Mel Gibson one there was no music and that the actor held the responsibility for creating the mood with his tone of voice and his actions. When solely hearing the actors voice we are only focused on the words Hamlet is saying, and truly experience what it is that he is feeling. I would not have gone with the modern setting being a blockbuster. Not knowing the context of the entire film, it seemed like an odd place for such a pivotal speech to be shown. I sometimes like the modern approach but it has to be done right, and I don't think the setting, or the costume, were very effective. For the non modern scene that didn't employ the knife I would have added it. I think it enhances the feelings Hamlet is having about killing himself, it furthers the internal debate he is having by physically showing how close he could be to ending it all.

#14: Hamlet Blog 2

"I will kill you." These are the words uttered by Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) in the movie Taken directed by Pierre Morel. They are directed to the kidnappers of his daughter, who was abducted in Paris, and he takes it upon himself to do everything he can to get her back. As a former CIA agent he has many skills that are valuable in his seeking of revenge, and is not afraid to use them. Along the way he kills many people that stand in his way, and when he finally finds his daughter with the kidnappers he does not hesitate to kill them, avenging her kidnap and rape.

Isn't that what all fathers would do? Are they not supposed to do everything they can to protect you? I know that is what my father wanted as he told me to cut off all communication with Hamlet. Only now it does not seem to be paying off so well as Hamlet has shown me that he is mad as he came to me yesterday, "took me by the wrist and held me hard".(2.i.85) He has retreated into madness now that our communication hath been cut off, he is no longer the same, looking "as if he had been loosed out of hell".(2.i.81) My dear father is enraged by it, and I know that he feels slightly guilty, as was his original idea that drove Hamlet to this horrid place, "I am sorry that with better heed and judgement / I had not quoted him".(2.i.109-110) It is similar to the feelings of guilt felt by father in the movie, as before his daughter leaves for Paris he says, "I don't think a seventeen year old should be travelling alone." Now that he knows his original feeling had been right he must fight even harder to ensure her safety, as my father will to ensure mine. He insisted upon doing something about it immediately, "Come, we go to the king: / This must be known".(2.i.115-116) I as well find similarities between myself and the girl from the movie, she is talking with her dad when it happens, telling him what is happening, "Dad, they're coming", turning to her father at the time of her most dire need. I too went directly to my father, "O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!"(2.i.73) I knew that he would do everything in his power to seek justice for the wrongs done to me.

Ophelia  

#13: Hamlet Blog 1

Dear readers, I have come across quiet the predicament. You see, Hamlet has expressed his love to me, and I do so appreciate it, however, with advice coming from both my father and brother today I have come to a crossroads. I wish to reciprocate his love, but neither my brother nor my father is in the same place that I am. As my brother, dear Laertes, was about to leave for college he placed upon me his thoughts on my beloved, and they are not fair. He believes that Hamlet does not have the time and capacity to truly love me as "his greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;"(1.ii.17)He continued and advised me further as to be afraid of the pain and anguish that Hamlet could cause me, "Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister"(1.ii.33) After both my father and I bid him farewell, my father also gave his own advice in concern to Hamlet. He as well believes that Hamlet's love cannot be true, when I told him of Hamlet's declarations he scoffed, "Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,/Unsifted in such perilous circumstance."(1.ii.101-102)He continued on to say that I should no longer see, Hamlet, be in any communication with him. I of course told him that, "I shall obey"(1.ii.136), and had told Laertes "I shall the effect of this good lesson keep"(1.ii.45) but I am not sure I will be able to. I seek your most helpful advice in what I should do now. I feel that I must obey, it is not in my nature to go against something my father says, especially as the same message is echoed from my brother. And yet I feel the slightest urge to disobey, he is my love, and I do believe in the genuine nature of his affection. I am at a complete loss for how to precede, all suggestion is welcome.

Ophelia

#12: Hamlet Character Choice

The character who I have chosen to focus on is Ophelia. I believe it will be very interesting to look from the perspective of a woman and the two sides of her that are presented in this play. In reading the introduction to her character, the two roles discussed were very intriguing. Hamlet's skewed and negative view of all women shown through her contrasted with the innocence of women also being shown is very though provoking. The ability to look through the two different sides of her and tackle the assignments from two views will hopefully prove to be engaging to the blog readers. As one of few female characters that have a role in the play, she will definitely provide a unique perspective that can enhance understanding of the play.