JOURNAL TOPIC: ["Indecision" by Eagle Eye Cherry; "King Without a Crown" by Matisyahu]
Hamlet wrestles with difficult decisions and problems by talking them
through. Based on what you've read so far, how do you think Hamlet will
be influenced by such elements as his family, where he lives, emotion,
and the differences between Hamlet's inner world of thoughts/feelings
and the outer world that surrounds him? Feel free to apply your own
experiences on these topics.
AGENDA:
1. Turn in character study
2. Vocabulary quiz
3. Intro to Hamlet
4. Journal
HW:
1. Research Hamlet online and answer the following questions
(with citations for any website you consult and/or quote) in comments to
this post: 1)What is the play about? 2)Why is interpreting the play
such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
2. Find a minimum of three other learning communities that are studying Hamlet (either in an AP class, a college/university course, or independently on FB or elsewhere). Introduce yourself and use the principles of "The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online" to do exactly that! Report the experience(s) on your blog.
1. Hamlet is about a young man who has to kill his uncle/stepfather to avenge his father's (the king) death at he will of his father's ghost. He goes mad over thinking about his avengence and the court tries to figure out what is causing his madness. It it suspected that he loves Ophelia but that turns out to be false. Hamlet comes up with an idea to prove his uncle's guilt by performing a okay similar to his father's death to get a reaction from him. It worked perfectly and Hamlet follows his Nicole to kill him. Hamlet finds him in prayer and decides that killing him during prayer would send him to heaven and be too good for him, so he waits for the kill. He then goes to his mother and mistakenly kills Polonius, thinking it is his uncle and is banished to England with a warrant out for his death. Ophelia commits suicide from grief of her father's death and her brother Laertes blames Hamlet for his sister's and father's death. Claudius plots to arrange a fencing match to have Lates kill Hamlet for him in "innocent sport" and sends a messenger to declare the match. At the match, the queen drinks poison wine and dies, then Hamlet is wounded with a poisoned sword but does not die until Laertes tells him that Claudius is responsible for the poisonings on his deathbed and Hamlet stabs Claudius with his poison sword and forces him to drink the poisoned wine.
ReplyDelete(sparknotes)
I think the play is so hard to interpret because Shakespeare uses language that hasn't been used in the last half-millennium. Because he has to speak in iambic pentameter, some sentences can mean different things when translated into correct grammar due to the complexity of his sentences. I think people translate it differently and see meaning in different areas of the plot and dialogue that others don't catch.
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDelete--Hamlet's about a prince who's father was murdered by Claudious, Hamlet's uncle, in return for power. Hamlet's father's ghost appears, thus Hamlet wanting to avenge his father's death. Entering into a deep melancholy, Hamlet deals with overwhelming situations. His actions cause the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia and later the death of his own mother (who was poisoned at the match between Laertes and Hamlet). Hamlet's wounded in the match, but finds out that Claudious did kill his father.
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
--Shakespeare's diction is not the same as today's. Some people aren't used to seeing a play as a puzzle. With Shakespeare, the reader must translate the grammar correctly or else the meaning of his writing is ruined. Everyone doesn't agree on what it means because no two minds think alike. Also, if someone isn't interested in reading Shakespeare they won't have a visual to go along with it because they won't try.
1. "It's about a prince called Hamlet who's father was poisioned! He thinks his uncle (Claudious!) murded his dad to gain the throne. His uncle then becomes king after marrying Hamlets mother (Gurtrude).
ReplyDeleteHamlet's fathers ghost appears and tells Hamlet that Claudious poisioned him! Hamlet goes mad and has wierd behavior problems. Ophelia falls in love with the prince but his behavior drives her insane. Ophelia then drowns.
Later on there is a duel (a sort of fight). And :Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet all die in the end!" (yahoo answers)
2. Interpreting the play means to understand it right? So why is it so hard? well obviously the language is very different from our modern colloquialism, but what happens in the play is hard to relate to, for me anyways. Hamlets father gets killed, he is a prince, and all that dramatic revenge doesn't happen to most of us. Shakespeare's themes can all be interpreted in different ways, so there are a lot people who would think differently of the meaning.
I also found something interesting while looking for information. someone on yahoo compared Hamlet to Disney's Lion King, except in Hamlet, everyone dies in the end. Dr. Preston, do you think this holds true? Because I haven't read all of Hamlet yet so I can't make this comparison.
1. Hamlet is about a young man who has to kill his uncle/stepfather to avenge his father's (the king) death at he will of his father's ghost. He goes mad over thinking about his avengence and the court tries to figure out what is causing his madness. It it suspected that he loves Ophelia but that turns out to be false. Hamlet comes up with an idea to prove his uncle's guilt by performing a okay similar to his father's death to get a reaction from him. It worked perfectly and Hamlet follows his Nicole to kill him. Hamlet finds him in prayer and decides that killing him during prayer would send him to heaven and be too good for him, so he waits for the kill. He then goes to his mother and mistakenly kills Polonius, thinking it is his uncle and is banished to England with a warrant out for his death. Ophelia commits suicide from grief of her father's death and her brother Laertes blames Hamlet for his sister's and father's death. Claudius plots to arrange a fencing match to have Lates kill Hamlet for him in "innocent sport" and sends a messenger to declare the match. At the match, the queen drinks poison wine and dies, then Hamlet is wounded with a poisoned sword but does not die until Laertes tells him that Claudius is responsible for the poisonings on his deathbed and Hamlet stabs Claudius with his poison sword and forces him to drink the poisoned wine.
ReplyDelete(sparknotes)(Kathryn Greenup)
2.When it comes to Shakespeare's diction we must realize that he wanted to put puns on his words so different classes of people would pick up on certian things. Every single word he wrote had meaning and people interpret these words in seperate ways. Also it is hard for me to connect his words to his time because I wasn't there and I'm not the biggest history person so I don't know the events.
1) Hamlet is a Shakespearean play that revolves around the revenge. Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is trying to avenge the death of his father who appears as a ghost in the play. The deceased king tells of how his own brother poisoned him. Shortly after the king's death, his brother marries Hamlet's mother and becomes king. He finds himself threatened by Hamlet for he knows the truth about what happened to his father. The new king plans the death of Hamlet but ends up killing himself and a few others along the way. (answers.yahoo.com)
ReplyDelete2) I think the interpretation of the play itself can be found to be difficult for some due to the "language" it is written in. Although the play is in English, it is a different kind of English. It is an old form of English and the phrases may not be as simple to understand. I also think some of the scenes will be open to different interpretations. Some of the things that happen throughout the play may prove to be a bit more ambiguous than others. What one audience member may see as having one meaning may have a completely different meaning to another.
1) I thought a multimedia summary of Hamlet might me more interesting... here is the link: http://teachinghamlet.blogspot.com/2009/04/diy-hamlet-for-kids.html (P.S. Its for kids, but still very informative)
ReplyDelete2) I believe it is difficult to interpret Hamlet due to the fact that the syntax often throws the reader off from the normal pace that he or she expects. We as educated students have read and understood enough text that we can often "predict" what the next word or set of words will be. However, Shakespeare did not write in our modern era (thankfully!), therefore his pattern is quiet different from our own. When we read Hamlet on Friday, I noticed the students who were reading the play often created words that were not in the text because there brains had already developed a normal pattern. This caused them to stop and reconsider what exactly they were reading.
When it comes to literature, there will always be multiple meanings in the minds of all human beings. Because each of us experience different things, we react to the world around us in many different ways.
1. Prince Hamlet’s student friend, Horatio, goes to the battlements of Denmark’s Elsinore castle late at night to meet the guards. They tell him about a ghost they have seen that resembles the late king, Hamlet. It reappears and they decide to tell the prince. Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, having become king, has now married Hamlet’s widowed mother, Gertrude.
ReplyDeleteIn the court, after envoys are sent to Norway, the prince is dissuaded from returning to university. Hamlet still mourns his father’s death and hearing of the ghost from Horatio he determines to see it for himself. Laertes, son of the courtier, Polonius, departs for France, warning his sister, Ophelia, against thinking too much of Hamlet’s attentions.
The ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius. The prince swears vengeance and his friends are sworn to secrecy as Hamlet decides to feign madness while he tests the truth of the ghost’s allegations. He rejects Ophelia, as Claudius and Polonius spy on him seeking to find a reason for his sudden strange behaviour. Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, former student friends of Hamlet, are summoned by Claudius and their arrival coincides with that of a group of travelling actors. The prince knows these players well and they rehearse together before arranging to present Hamlet’s choice of play before the king and queen, which will include scenes close to the circumstances of the old king’s death. At the performance Hamlet watches closely as Claudius is provoked into interrupting the play and storming out, resolving to send the prince away to England. Hamlet is summoned by his distressed mother and, on the way he spares Claudius whom he sees kneeling, attempting to pray. To kill him while he is praying would send his soul to heaven rather than to the hell he deserves.
Polonius hides in Gertrude’s room to listen to the conversation, but Hamlet detects movement as he upbraids his mother. He stabs the concealing tapestry and so kills the old man. The ghost reappears, warning his son not to delay revenge, nor to upset his mother.
As the army of Norway’s King Fortinbras crosses Denmark to attack Poland, Hamlet is sent to England, ostensibly as an ambassador, but he discovers Claudius’s plan to have him killed. Outwitting this plot Hamlet returns alone, sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in his stead. During Hamlet’s absence Ophelia goes mad as a result of her father’s death and she is drowned.
Hamlet returns and meets Horatio in the graveyard. With the arrival of Ophelia’s funeral Hamlet confronts Laertes who, after attempting a revolt against Claudius, has taken his father’s place at the court. A duel is arranged between Hamlet and Laertes at which Claudius has plotted for Hamlet to die either on a poisoned rapier, or from poisoned wine. The plans go wrong and both Laertes and Hamlet are wounded, while Gertrude unwittingly drinks from the poisoned cup. Hamlet, in his death throes, kills Claudius, and Horatio is left to explain the truth to the new king, Fortinbras, who returns, victorious, from the Polish wars.
(http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/play-summary/hamlet/)
2. I think it is difficult to understand Shakespeare because of his language which is not well known to our culture nowadays. It is very difficult to pick up on subliminal messages in the play because most people don't understand what is going on in the play to pick up on them. I think not everyone is going to agree on what it means because everyone has their own perspective on the play and that is normal for any book as well.
1) A legendary Shakespearean (what of Shakespeare's isn't) play, Hamlet chronicles the "revenge quest" of the eponymous young prince (of Denmark) Hamlet as he endeavors to avenge the death of his father, suspecting illicit, malicious means, suspecting that his dear father had not died of natural cause, but had murdered. And thus the yarn of vengeance is spun. (Wouldn't want to spoil anything more :)RESOURCES: http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/; http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html
ReplyDelete2)Due to dated, "Shakespearean" language, iambic pentameter structure etc. the most sizable of obstacles hindering interpretation of the classic Hamlet is indeed it "antiquated" vernacular and syntax. (Such as use of now uncommon diction, dated colloquialisms and tropes as well as the iambic structure preventing cursory comprehension of when one sentence/sections ends and another begins.)Subsequently with frequent use of layers of symbolism and connotation (Shakespeare wrote to deliberately entertain a litany of differing levels of thought, educated, economic, etc.), Shakespearean works such as Hamlet suffer from debates of interpretations as one scholar would interpret say the ghost as an actual physical entity for example, while another could/would adamantly declare the ghost as only a vehicle of exposition to inform the reader.
1. Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet.
ReplyDelete(http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm)
2. I believe the interpretation of the play is difficult because of his diction. Shakespeare has a natural rhythm going thus you have to know when and when not to pause. Nowadays English is simple and we all understand it, however in Hamlet Old English was used which makes it more complex for our modern day language. Not everyone may interpret Hamlet the same which makes it difficult because the play is what you make of it.
1. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is visited by a mysterious ghost resembling his recently deceased father, the King of Denmark. The ghost tells Hamlet that his father was murdered by Claudius, the King’s brother, who then took the throne and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The ghost encourages Hamlet to avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius.
ReplyDeleteThe task before Hamlet weighs heavily upon him. Hamlet’s uncertainty is what makes the character so believable – he is arguably one of literature’s most psychologically complex characters. He is slow to take action, but when he does it is rash and violent. We can see this in the famous “curtain scene” when Hamlet kills Polonius.
Polonius’ daughter, Ophelia, is in love with Hamlet, but their relationship has broken down since Hamlet learned of his father’s death. Ophelia is instructed by Polonius and Laertes to spurn Hamlet’s advances. Ultimately, Ophelia commits suicide as a result of Hamlet’s confusing behavior towards her.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Hamlet organizes for players to re-enact his father’s murder at the hands of Claudius in order to gauge Claudius’ reaction. He confronts his mother about his father’s murder and hears someone behind the arras – believing it to be Claudius, Hamlet stabs the man with his sword. It transpires that he has actually killed Polonius.
Claudius realizes that Hamlet is out to get him and professes that Hamlet is mad. Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be shipped to England with his former friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who have been informing the king about Hamlet’s state of mind.
Claudius has secretly sent orders for Hamlet to be killed on arrival in England, but Hamlet escapes from the ship and swaps his death order for a letter ordering the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Hamlet arrives back in Denmark just as Ophelia is being buried which prompts him to contemplate life, death and the frailty of the human condition.
Laertes returns from France to avenge the death of Polonius, his father. Claudius plots with him to make Hamlet’s death appear accidental and encourages him to anoint his sword with poison – putting a cup of poison aside in case the sword is unsuccessful.
In the action, the swords are swapped and Laertes is mortally wounded with the poisoned sword. He forgives Hamlet before he dies.
Gertrude dies by accidentally drinking the cup of poison. Hamlet stabs Claudius but is himself fatally wounded. Hamlet's revenge is finally complete. In his dying moments, he bequeaths the throne to Fortinbras.
2.I think a good reason interpreting Shakespeare is so difficult for us is that, as evidenced by his usage of puns, Shakespeare loves using vague words and/or phrases that have many meanings. As such, it is up to the reader to interpret the meaning, meaning there will be conflicts. Couple that with the fact that Shakespeare wrote in a language that is borderline foreign to us, along with a rhyming scheme that is very unfamiliar, and interpreting the play becomes a tall order for most of us. Reading Shakespeare for most teenagers is like asking a student who has never studied Spanish to read the entire of "Don Quixote" (non-translated) with correct diction, syntax and pronunciation.
http://shakespeare.about.com/od/hamlet/a/hamlet_story.htm
Delete1.) Hamlet is a play based on revenge. It all starts withe the appearance of king hamlets ghost. King hamlets ghost speaks about him being poisoned by claudius and this causes young hamlet go crazy wanting revenge. His behavior and placement in tough situations cause the deaths of many people.
ReplyDelete(Online-literature.com)
2.) I think Shakespeare made his writing so challenging on purpose. He used many puns so that different people could understand different things. His diction also makes it difficult because old english is much more complex than our present day english. Syntax is another literary element Shakespeare used that makes his works difficult to understand
1) What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteHamlet is the Princess of Denmark, the old King Hamlet died when he went to against Norway. Old King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius becomes King and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The ghost of Old King Hamlet appears and tells Hamlet that Claudius had poisoned him which causes his death; and encouraged him to listen to him to revenge for his death.
Hamlet acts as a madman; the new King Claudius and Queen Gertrude thought that Hamlet’s love toward Polonius’ daughter Ophelia is the reason why Hamlet is madly. But, Hamlet treated Ophelia crudely also. He discovered Claudius guiltiness when they were watch the play with similar plots of what had happened between his Old King Hamlet and Claudius. Hamlet accidentally killed Polonius in Gertrude’s room because he was spying, he thought that was Claudius. Claudius fears that Hamlet will kill him and sent him to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In other hand, he tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to kill Hamlet once arrived. But, Hamlet changed order that Claudius gives to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Later, he is kidnapped by pirates; and the pirates release him the next day.
When Hamlet returns, he finds out that Ophelia become crazy become of her father’s death and drowns accidently. Laertes, Ophelia’s brother wants to battle with Hamlet. Claudius plays a trick during the battle; he gives Laertes a sword that is poisoned. Also, he offers a poisoned drink to Hamlet. He failed; Gertrude is the one who drinks it. Laertes lost the battle and died, Hamlet died because he was cuts by Laertes’s sword and it poisons him. But, Hamlet kills Claudius before he died. Hamlet deters Horatio from commit suicide, and tells him the whole story. Fortinbras, the princess of Norway becomes King of Denmark.
(http://www.shakespeare-literature.com)
(http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/summary.html)
2) Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
I think it is difficult to interpret Hamlet because the audiences got to know the story through the performance in theater; instead from Shakespeare’s writing. When the play is been performed, the actors has added their understanding to the play or somehow exaggerated or truncated some details. It is not as original as if the story tells directly from Shakespeare. In addition, that everyone’s understand to the performance can be different. So, no one can agree on what it means. Also, the diction and syntax make Shakespeare’s plays are such challenge to interpret.
1.) Hamlet revolves around the idea of revenge and how it affects the main character in the decisions he makes. The play is in the genre of tragedy and is set in the kingdom of Denmark. Hamlet is trying to get revenge on his uncle Claudius for poisoning and killing his father, the king of Denmark. The play reveals madness,treachery, and moral corruption all brought about because of revenge.
ReplyDelete2.) I think deciphering Shakespeare is very challenging especially for the students of our generation who are accustomed to reading only modern day translations and not having to do any real work while reading. I think that no one can agree on what it means because there are so many different meanings in his plays that to pick just one and have unanimous agreement on it is for the most part impossible.
1. This play revolves around Prince Hanlet and the drastic changes in his life. He is finding it hard to live with the recent death of his father along with the remarriage of his mother Queen Gertrude to Claudius. In this play, revenge becomes an ultimate goal of Hamlet's as he discovers that Claudius has poisoned his father. After re-arranging an old play similar to Claudius', it's evident that Hamlet has become mad. Hamlet murders Polonius, the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Ophelia died by drowning while Laertes was in search of revenge over the death of his father, just like Hamlet. All and all, I feel that this play is about revenge, and how people handle revenge in tragic situations.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm
2. Interpretting Hamlet is such a challenge due to the syntax and diction. Our generation doesn't speak this way and isn't familiar with this type of dialect. The children of my generation don't normally read or listen to people speaking this way, so when we do it's absolutely foreign to us. No one agrees on what this play means because no two people think the same. Different people interpret the same informaation in different ways. One reader may see the play as half empty while another may see it as half full. The meaning is in the mind of the reader.
1)In some respects, Hamlet is like a typical weekend; basically, within the span of a five-act play, Hamlet has a ton of things to do, but just can’t figure out how to make himself do them. Think about your To Do list – it’s hard enough to accomplish the kinds of everyday tasks you probably have lined up (let’s just start with one word: laundry). Then, imagine Hamlet’s To Do list…in comparison, it’s epic. For starters, there are the obvious things: hang out with Dad’s ghost, feign madness, dump girlfriend, accuse Mom of treachery, plot the convoluted details of your elaborate revenge. Then, of course, there’s the looming task at hand: kill Uncle/Stepdad/King. Wow. And Hamlet really takes his sweet time in avenging his father's murder. The question of why Hamlet delays taking revenge has puzzled critics for centuries. (http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/)
ReplyDelete2)Which is really what Hamlet is, when you think about it: the talking to the camera bit. When there's no real action, in life or in reality TV, we turn to people to narrate their feelings and it entertains us. If you think about the actual action of Hamlet, well, that doesn't come until Act V when everyone dies. The rest of the play is soliloquies, asides, conversations, and mullings over which, far from being boring, are the real meat of the play. They're also the real meat of people, as those of you living and breathing well know. Hamlet's amazing because it's the first play to really do that. So even though Hamlet talks the talk without bringing the vengeance, at least for 30 pages or so, it's the talk that we're interested in anyway. (http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/)
It was one of the first plays to do that writing style and we aren't used to reading like that. In fact, students today aren't used to reading at all. That's what makes it such a challenge.
3)Not everybody agrees on what Hamlet means because there are so many meanings, it is hard to pick just one. In addition, different people have different perspectives of the play.
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDeletePrince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. The themes discussed in the plot include indecision, seeking revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate.
(http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm)
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge?
I think Shakespeare is rea;;y hard to interpret in general. His writing is very old fashion and makes many references to things my generation has never heard about. I think that Hamlet is a hard read because the writing is old and something that as text is hard to keep focused on.
1)Hamlet is a play written by Shakespeare. It's about Hamlet wanting revenge against his uncle. Hamlet's father came to Hamlet as a ghost and tells him that his own brother poisoned him. The brother of the king ends up marrying Hamlet's mother becoming the king. Hamlet is angry and tells the brother that he knows what has happened. The brother plans to kill Hamlet, but ends up killing himself and several others.(yahoo answers)
ReplyDelete2)The syntax and diction are much different than that of today's. Therefore this can lead to different interpretations by many people.
1) Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. The themes discussed in the plot include indecision, seeking revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate.
ReplyDelete[http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm]
2) Interpreting any of Shakespeare's works are difficult to understand by most people because he wrote them in a different time. The English language has evolved a lot since his time and what he knew then we don't know now. So because of this we sometimes make our own conclusions about situations, which then lead to different outcomes. It's like the movie Inception where his token was spinning at the end, but it started to wobble. Some would say that it was spinning so it was a dream, but others may say if the movie was longer it would have fallen because it started to wobble so it was actually reality. Our thoughts can always vary from what other people think, it all depends on how we see things.
1.Hamlet is a Shakespearean play that revolves around the revenge. Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is trying to avenge the death of his father who appears as a ghost in the play. The deceased king tells of how his own brother poisoned him. Shortly after the king's death, his brother marries Hamlet's mother and becomes king. He finds himself threatened by Hamlet for he knows the truth about what happened to his father. The new king plans the death of Hamlet but ends up killing himself and a few others along the way. (answers.yahoo.com)
ReplyDelete2.Many people that read the play have difficulty interpreting it because the language and diction that Shakespeare uses.I have also heard that he makes a lot allusions in his play, so maybe some people don't know what he is refering to.
1.What is the play about?
ReplyDeletePrince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. The themes discussed in the plot include indecision, seeking revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate.
(http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm)
2.Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
Every book of Shakespeare r just too hard to unerstand. Same with Hamlet, it is very challenging to understand because his writing style, such as his diction syntax, is very different from our generation. And often, plays are very difficult to understand without seeing the actual performing play. Since many plays have deeper meaning than how it is written, it is natural to be difficut with plays.
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteSo Hamlet senoir beat Fortinbras senoir in a duel, thereby claiming all of his possesions. Hamlet senoir is dead and Fortinbras junior wants to reclaim his father's possesions. Meanwhile back at home. Queen Gertrude marries her brother in law. Hamlet is very angry
that her mother wasted no time in jumping the boat and marrying the brother so that she could reclaim the thrown.Hamlet is outraged. He goes to Phelia for comfort. They have this connection but they are not supposed to act on it because her father thinks Hamlet is "mad"(crazy). Hamlet is sent away but eventually returns. By the time he returns, Ophelia has commited suicide. Laertes and Hamlet get into a battle over Ophelia and they both end up stabbing each other. Hamlet survives long enough to kill Claudius. When Claudius is killed Fortinbras junior arrives onto the shore and reclaims the thrown.
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge?
The fact that it was written hundres of years ago is an indication that english has evolved. In the past ten years, America has developed many slang words and even acronyms such as TTYL and LOL.
The play also references people and places that are known by society of that time but not by our current society. He also uses puns that can have many meanings. He has two audiences, the poor and the rich. He has the job of entertaining both so he utilizes puns to please both audiences.
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteIt's about a prince, Hamlet, and the death of his father the king. His mother, the Queen, marries the deceased KIng's brother. Hamlet receives revelation from his dead father, that the king's brother killed him to take his wife and throne. So Hamlet is bent on revenge, there is a duel at the end. Hamlet wins, but the other person poisoned his blade and cut Hamlet, Basically everyone dies after the duel.
(yahoo answers)
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
Interpreting hamlet could be hard for some people because they can't quite interpret the old language Shakespeare uses.. And the many hidden meanings and allusions some people might not catch on to easily.
1. According to Learnoutloud.com, Hamlet is about a prince whose father has recently died. He is upset that his uncle has already swooped the throne and his mom (Queen Gertrude). The conflict is that the ghost of the king tells Hamlet to avenge his death but we find the trouble of understanding whether Hamlet is seeing a ghost or simply insane.
ReplyDelete2. Interpreting the play: acting it out or understanding it. It's hard enough to memorize lines and deliver them onstage because of all the butterflies in your stomach but Shakespearean plays carry the additional burden of a rhythm. I suppose this would make it easier to memorize, however, if you mess up the word order or substituted a synonym, your flow would be killed. I guess that makes Shakespeare's plays like epic rap songs. People probably don't agree with each other because of what they take into account while making their decision. Like the fourth comment says here, the fact that he has suffered so much loss by the time we, the audience, arrive on the scene makes it difficult to say without a doubt whether he was sane or not.
1. Hamlet is a story of a young man who's uncle killed his father to take the throne, he also married hamlet's mother. Hamlet and Ophelia are in love, hamlet gets sent away, Ophelia dies, Hamlet kills her father, Hamlet has a duel, Gertrudis drinks poison, hamlet and dueling partner kill each other, hamlet kills Claudius Fortinbraus' son reclaims the throne :D (Video Games)
ReplyDelete2. Interpreting the play is pretty hard because 1-Shakespeare speaks in old English, 2-He made up his own words, 3-He speaks in old English :)
1. Hamlet is a Shakespearean play about Hamlet, the prince of Denmark seeking to avenge his father's murder. His father appears as a ghost to Hamlet, although most people consider Hamlet mad. His father tells him that it was his uncle who had poisoned him, and he had also taken the queen as his own wife after the king's death. (Wikipedia)It is an "exciting multi-faceted story, multi-genre, narrative, thing it is. It's a ghost story, revenge drama, a love story, detective story, comedy, psychological study, and sports drama"(http://thehamletweblog.blogspot.com, I enjoyed the way he described it)
ReplyDelete2. Interpreting this play, or any of Shakespeare's plays, is hard because of the style of writing. It's written in Old English, with puns that people today wouldn't ordinarily pick up on and phrases that don't register well with people (especially with me).And since no one today really speaks this way, anything that Shakespeare is free to interpretation, since there is no solid explanation for anything he said. Anyone can read his play and think of it in any way they please, for there is no single universally accepted answer for his writing.
1. Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark who was devastated by his father's death. Meanwhile, he has a relationship with a girl named Ophelia, but they can never marry because she is not of royal blood. Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, who tells him that his uncle, Claudius poisoned him and that is how he died. Hamlet is enraged and seeks revenge on Claudius, who married hamlets mother in order to get at the crown, which rightfully belonged to Hamlet. One night, Hamlet is talking with his mother when he realizes someone is spying on them and stabs the person through a hanging tapestry. He is unsettled when he finds it to be Ophelia's father, who worked for the king. Ophelia goes mad when she finds that her true love killed her father. She drowns in a river. Hamlet, meanwhile plots revenge against Claudius. One day, he engages in a dual with Ophelia's brother Laertes. However, Hamlet does not know that Laertes and the king have secretly plotted revenge against Hamlet for killing Laertes' and Ophelia's father. The king poisoned a glass of wine and Laertes poisoned his sword, one of which would surely kill the Prince. However, things go amiss when the Queen drinks the poisoned wine and falls dead. Laertes slices Hamlet's arm with his poisoned sword, leaving Hamlet with just enough time left of his life to fulfill his goal. He slays king Claudius, and also Laertes when he discovers the sword had poisoned him. They all die in the end. (Yahoo Answers)
ReplyDelete2. Interpreting the play is a challenge because Shakespeare not only wrote in iambic pentameter but the diction he used was old English/ Shakespearian so understanding that alone is hard to comprehend. Its hard for everyone to agree on what is exactly happening in every part of the story because people interpret the old English differently with it not being used in the last 100 years(at least)
1.) The play is about Prince Hamlet exacting revenge on his uncle Claudius for murdering his father. His uncle, then marries his brother's wife which further incites rage in Hamlet.In this play, Hamlet chronically sees his father's ghosts to tell him of events that occurred before his death. Through this ghost, he discovers many information that eventually leads to Hamlet's increasing madness.
ReplyDelete2.) It is very difficult to interpret due to a difference in Shakespeare's original purpose and his audience, and to the contemporary audience and the scrutinous analaysis given to the play by modern critics. Originally, Shakespeare's works were always meant to entertain. It was their purpose and it was the only reason why he was even popular in the first place. However, modern analysis of the text provided contemporary critics with a perspective different from what Shakespeare originally had intended for his audience. For example, when deep analysis is exemplified, Hamlet's inherent flaw is due to his indecision. However, Shakespeare's audience never had the opportunity (nor would some of them have liked to in the beginning for that matter) to scan the work of Shakespeare from a critical analysis perspective. From Shakespeare's audience point of view, Hamlet was as much of a comedian as much as he was a deeply flawed character.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet (please don't kill me, I verified the information with other sources)
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lady/lit/shakespeare/Hamlet1.html
https://www.msu.edu/~kunzfran/e121.htm
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteRevenge, but also family. Revenge is obvious, DP said it himself, and it's a BIG one, but to talk about something else: This particular "royal" family is a mess. When we get there you'll see what I mean. Hamlet can't even stand his uncle both his father's ghost calls bloody murder. It puts me in odd sorts as well, marrying your husband's brother when your son should've been the next in line for the thrown? Great Gatsby, woman pull yourself together! Near the end she finally does, but Hamlet's opinion of her is already badly damaged and everyone ends up dying in the end, except for Horatio. "Draw thy breath in pain to tell my story." Oh AND how the uncle becomes king and tries to reassure Hamlet that he is not trying to take his place as king and that he's only... putting it on hold fer a bit. Fa! Sure mate, sure. Then he wants Hamlet and himself to become good buddies. The whole thing is just twisted, but then again, next to love stories, that's what Shakespeare does best. Oh wait you waaanted summary?
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
English is the language of fluctuation. Flaimugo. Do you know what that means, children? Obviously not because THAT is a word people will use in the future, some day. We use the words today because they are part of our culture and we a part of them. Shakespeare used ordinary words, well ordinary for his day. Even the peasants knew what he was talking about when he said stuff like, "Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full of the milk of human kindness…" when Lady Macbeth was trying to man up her man so he could go do some murderin'. Everyone's opinions on Mr. Shakespeare's meaning is different either because they don't understand it or they exercise different depths of thought meaning the way they have lived has shaped their thinking on what a certain phrase means.
Erm... I didn't consult any websites. I just used my brain tentacles.
1. What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteHamlet comes home to his fathers funeral at Denmark. As he arrives home he finds out that his mother to remarried to his uncle Claudius. His father appears and tells him that he got murdered. And now his Claudius has taken the throne.Hamlet suspects that something isnt right.Hamlet's dad cant rest in piece because he got poison and wants to be revenge,but doesnt want anything bad to happen to Gertrude. Hamlet starts to think a lot and doubts the ghost and performs a play where he finds out that Claudius is the one that killed his father. Now he knows who is the villain and has to kill....
2.Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
Since Shakespeare writing is so difficult to understand, people and especially students have a hard time to undertand it. The diction he uses is very different to the one we're use to read and write. For example is like someone that doesnt know Spanish reading Spanish. And someone that doesnt know English reading English. People can't agree on one exact thing because everything has a different meaning to everyone. If i like one thing i cant make others like it. They might like something very different to what i like, so we cant agree on one thing.
cliffnotes.com
Delete1. Hamlet's about a prince who's father was murdered by his uncle, just to get power. Hamlet wants to revenge for his father's death. Hamlet's actions cause the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia and later the death of his own mother (who was poisoned at). Hamlet's wounded in the match, but finds out that his own uncle had kill his father only to gain power.( Yahoo answer)
ReplyDelete2. William Shakespeare's diction is not in every day language. People aren't used to reading difficult literature like this one. You have to be able to translate or interpret it in order for you to understand, which loses the purpose of the play. It is hard to fully understand especial since everyone has different opinions on it. a way to help you understand it could be trying to visualize it in your head or even to have a study group on it.
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ReplyDelete1. Hamlet is a prince who mourns his father's death. His mother is named Queen Gertrude, who has remarried Claudius. (Hamlet does not lilke this) Hamlet's father, a ghost appears and tells Hamlet that Claudius is the one who killed him by poisoning him. "Hamlet swears for revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius." People believe Hamlet is becoming mad, especially by his behaviour. "He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain." By doing this, the Polonius's son, Laertes returns to Denmark to achieve revenge for what Hamlet has done. "Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness." Ophelia drowns and dies. A duel takes occurs and ends with the death of many. (Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet.) Overall, this story is about revenge, fate, ambition, and such.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm
2. I believe interperating a play is very challenging, because every individual has their own opinons and different views on what they read. Especially, Hamlet because Shakespeare is to be told as "hard to comprehend", which is true. Everyone has a different mind set and point of view. Also, it is very hard to get every single person to agree on one theme, especially on a play that contains a variety of messages. It's hard enough to agree on a choice of pizza, so imagine agreeing on a theme on a play that is difficult to comprehend.
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ReplyDelete1) What is the play about?
I found this website and had a good explanation of the play. It provides a lot of information and is able to break down the play for us.
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/play-summary/hamlet/
2) Why is interpreting the play such a challenge?
It can be a challenge to understand the play because it was written in Old English writing, therefore we find it hard to interpret it. And to understand where Shakespeare was going with a message you would have to read in between the lines.
3) Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
Every mind is its own world. With this we are bound to get many interpretations of the play. What one person can see from a certain passage can be very different compared to another person. Thus resulting in several interpretations of the play. And it is hard trying to just have ONE specific answer.
2- I have found a video or movie o should say of Hamlet that is on PBS.org I personally love PBS.org because it hold so much information about ANYTHING
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/hamlet/watch-the-film/980/
-Another source that I found is not exactly directed to Hamlet but can still come in handy with the course in general. It holds information or little reminders of what to look forward too on the AP Exam
https://benchprep.com/blog/category/high-school/ap-literature-composition/
-But this blog in fact is coming L.A. and is an AP English teacher is teaching Hamlet. I went ahead and emailed her to try and stay in contact in hopes that we can all collaborate ideas.
http://apbridges.blogspot.com/
1. Hamlet is the son of King Hamlet who was poisoned by Claudius. Claudius becomes the new ruler of Denmark and marries Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet learns of his father’s betrayal after he is visited by his father’s ghost, King Hamlet. The main conflict in the movie is Hamlet’s pursuit of revenge towards Claudius. Other important events taking place is the rebel army lead by Young Fortinbras from Norway towards Denmark who seek to take back the treasure that was won from them in a battle between Kind Hamlet (before he was murdered) and his father (who died). Ophelia is in love with Hamlet but is driven into madness by Hamlets abusive actions and the eventual death of her father (Polonius) by Hamlet’s hand. She commits suicide in a lake.
ReplyDelete2. Language barriers are a big factor in interpretation. English has changed over the years and Shakespeare’s English is not the same as our modern English. So from the start there are already some mechanical problems. I don’t know any laws that were held during his time but I assume copy-write hadn’t been officially invented yet. So his work was edited, copied, and published by other producers than himself. This means some of his work wasn’t always accurately published. Last but not least I don’t think it’s possible for everyone to ever agree on anything. It’s just human nature and some people will receive this kind of emotion from the play and others will interpret the ideas of the play in a different way.
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm
Deletehttp://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamletscenes.html
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/hamlet/hamlet.htm
1)Hamlet is a play about Hamlet, the price of Denmark, getting revenge for his father's death. His search for revenge just simply causes more anguish for everyone. In attempting to kill his father's murderer, he kills his previous love interests father, causing his previous love interest to kill herself, which causes his previous love interest's brother to seek revenge on Hamlet for causing his sister's death. His father's murderer sets up Hamlet and his previous love interest's brother to a fight, and his previous love interest's brother, his father's murderer, the queen of Denmark, and Hamlet all die in the ensuing fight. (Information incorporated from many different comments on this post.)
ReplyDelete2)Interpreting this play is hard mainly because of the writing style. Not only because it was written in iambic pentameter and Old English, but because of the long soliloquies and speeches. Also the character of Hamlet also makes this play hard to interpret. Hamlet's flaws, interests, and sanity are all in question making him a very difficult to interpret character.
1) The play is about Prince Hamlet exacting revenge on his uncle Claudius for murdering his father.Hamlet wants to revenge for his father's death. Hamlet's actions cause the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia and later the death of his own mother (who was poisoned at). Hamlet chronically sees his father's ghosts to tell him of events that occurred before his death. Through this ghost, he discovers many information that eventually leads to Hamlet's increasing madness.
ReplyDelete2)The fact that it was written hundreds of years ago is an indication that English has evolved. I also think the interpretation of the play itself can be found to be difficult for some due to the "language" it is written in.
1. This website provides a great summary and has several other studying tools for the play that I think everyone could really use.
ReplyDelete2. Interpreting the play is such a challenge because people just aren't used to reading plays written in this form anymore. It's almost like with an AP Exam, when a student comes across their first AP Practice Exam most of the time the results aren't too great because they aren't used to the structure of the exam and the wording of the questions, but once a student builds a rapport with and AP structure it soon becomes second nature.
3. For the sake of not being too repetitive, the answer to number three can be found on my blog since I inadvertently answered it in my "How much do I really know about Shakespeare and 'Hamlet'?" post.
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteHamlet is about a young man who has to kill his uncle/stepfather to avenge his father's (the king) death at he will of his father's ghost. He goes mad over thinking about his avengence and the court tries to figure out what is causing his madness. It it suspected that he loves Ophelia but that turns out to be false. Hamlet comes up with an idea to prove his uncle's guilt by performing a okay similar to his father's death to get a reaction from him. It worked perfectly and Hamlet follows his Nicole to kill him. Hamlet finds him in prayer and decides that killing him during prayer would send him to heaven and be too good for him, so he waits for the kill. He then goes to his mother and mistakenly kills Polonius, thinking it is his uncle and is banished to England with a warrant out for his death. Ophelia commits suicide from grief of her father's death and her brother Laertes blames Hamlet for his sister's and father's death. Claudius plots to arrange a fencing match to have Lates kill Hamlet for him in "innocent sport" and sends a messenger to declare the match. At the match, the queen drinks poison wine and dies, then Hamlet is wounded with a poisoned sword but does not die until Laertes tells him that Claudius is responsible for the poisonings on his deathbed and Hamlet stabs Claudius with his poison sword and forces him to drink the poisoned wine.
(sparknotes)
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
It’s hard to interpret the play because it is written in old English and iambic pentameter which, to many people, is almost like a completely different language. Because we don’t really understand what the play is saying we kind of just assume the meanings of certain words and phrases which can completely change what the entire story is actually saying. The ambiguity and controversy over meaning comes from our different interpretations we draw from the play.
1. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark and his father is the king. His father is killed by his uncle who marries the king's wife and becomes king. Hamlet is told by his dead father that his brother killed him. This becomes a story of revenge from then on. Everyone dies in the end.
ReplyDelete2. Hamlet is hard to understand due to its writing style. It is a play written in iambic pentameter and is written in Old English that is unfamiliar to many of us today. It is almost like deciphering a code.
3. Everyone agrees on what it means because the plot is well understood.
1)Hamlet is trying to get revenge on his father's death. His father is a ghost and comes to tell his son who killed him. Claudis is Hamlet's uncle, it is he who has murdered his father. For the cause of this, Hamlet made some decisions that brought the deaths of Ophelia, Polonius and his mother who was poisoned. Claudis only killed Hamlet's father to get more power.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/summary.html
2)Shakespeare has a different diction from nowadays. I think it's jarder to comprehend because he uses Old English. Not everyone agrees with the actual meaning of this play because every single person has a different perspective. With all these different opinions, the audience gets confused because that specific meaning of the play is not there.
1) At the core of Hamlet is a story of revenge. After the death of Hamlet's father (King Hamlet), Queen Gertrude marries King Claudius, to Hamlet's dismay. Hamlet is later informed by the ghost of his father that his father was poisoned by King Claudius. Hamlet swears he will get revenge. What follows is a messy affair of love and murder. In typically Shakespearean fashion, plans go awry and spiral fatally out of control. By the end of the story, the characters have massacred each other.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/hamlet/summary/hamlet_summary.htm
2) The changes the English language has undergone since Shakespeare's time cause difficulties when trying to interpret the meaning. This is made even more difficult by Shakespeare's frequent use of innuendo and double entendres. The language differences and subtle writing style form multiple layers of understanding. After all that comes interpretations of the play's theme. Because there are so many things that need to be deciphered, it is easy for people to come to different conclusions about its meaning.
1. The play is about Hamlet, a Prince from Denmark who's father died. Hamlet finds from his fathers ghost that his uncle killed his father and Hamlet seeks revenge. The problem gets very messy and disorder takes over, leaving the royal family dead.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gradesaver.com/hamlet/study-guide/short-summary/
2. Some people prefer to see one thing and others another. Literature in general can be interpreted very differently because there is no right answer and in Shakespeare's case,because of his creative and complex writing, there is many different interpretations.
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ReplyDelete1. Hamlet is about a prince who kills his uncle in revenge for killing his father, and taking his mother queen gertrude as his wife. Hamlet shows the true natrues of he humans emotions and the faults in life. The moral of the story is revenge from hamlet for his family and life itself.
ReplyDelete2.The reason why this poem is so hard to decipher and understand is because there can be more than one interpretation to it.Everyone is different, and everyones mind works in a slighty different way. No one thinks the exact same way and no one reads the same way either. The interpretations of the poem can come in many different forms because of how different people are, and also how hard it is to understand the text in which Shakespeare writes.
1) "Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. The themes discussed in the plot include indecision, seeking revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate." (http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm)
ReplyDelete2) Interpreting the play is such a challenge because there are so many unknown facts about the characters, that we have to kind of piece together stories that make sense to us. Also, Hamlet vows to take revenge on his uncle as soon as he can once he learns that his uncle poisoned his dad, but then it takes him a really long time to do anything about it. Everyone doesn't agree on what the play means because we have all had different experiences in life that make jump to conclusions in different ways.
Question #2 cited from: http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/hamlet.htm
ReplyDelete.
1. The play is about a prince named Hamlet whose father was murdered. Hamlet discovers that it was his own uncle who killed his father and as a result kills his uncle in an act of revenge.
ReplyDelete2. There are many interpretations of Hamlet and this is because there are all sorts or themes and different messages you personally can get from it, depending on whether you read it in a literal sense, a figurative sense, or somewhere in between. Not everyone is going to derive the same message because no one person see's things through the same two eyes.
1. Hamlet is about a young man who extracts revenge upon his own uncle for killing his father.
ReplyDelete2. Hamlet can be interpreted in many different ways, possibly due to how the reader relates with Hamlet. If the reader sympathizes with Hamlet of is disgusted with Hamlet or something else can effect how they view the play.
http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/summary.html
ReplyDeleteMy expericences with the literature in class.
1. In the Shakespearean play Hamlet, the story follows that the uncle killed his brother and is now trying to get away with murder! Young Hamlet finds out about the treacherous acts of his uncle and being the righteous hero of the story he kills his evil uncle. However being that this is a Shakespearean play... everyone dies.
2. As we saw in class today, there can be many different point about the different motives and emotions displayed by a character in a soliloquy or monologue. I was focusing today on the in the moment judgments and characterization of young Hamlet, however Amanda also mentioned that I should not also characterize Queen Gertrude at that time because she personally really had no ability to stand up for herself. The more we look at the play as the whole, we can work on understanding the characters like Queen Gertrude and understand more about her position at a woman in a patriarchal society.
1) The play is about a son (Hamlet) who tries to avenge his father's (Hamlet) death. King Hamlet comes to his son as a ghost and tells him that his own brother (Hamlet's uncle) had killed him. Not only did he commit a murder crime, he also married the King's wife and Hamlets mother in order to gain the crown.
ReplyDelete2) Since the play is in Shakesperean English (duh) it is hard for most people to interpret Shakespeare's meaning in most of his writes. For me personally, I barely understand half of what is going on, I need someone to explain what is going on. This misunderstanding can cause people to misinterpret what is happening in the story.
1)What is the play about?
ReplyDeleteHamlet is simply about young Hamlet finding out through his close friend Horatio that his dad is walking around as a ghost. Once this is found out Hamlet goes to confront this ghost that is being identified as his father. The ghost introduces himself as The King. Then he tries to convince young Hamlet that Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle) poisoned him which was the cause of his death and that it is young Hamlet’s duty to revenge him. This would explain why Cladius gets married to Queen Gertrude. Being married to Queen Gertrude would can Cladius the new king. All this meaning that Cladius had a plan in killing The King. The whole play then goes on being a journey for young Hamlet into going to kill his uncle to revenge his father, The King. I would go into some more details but I don’t want to spoil it for myself by reading on what else happens.
Sources: http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/summary.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet
2)Why is interpreting the play such a challenge? Why doesn't everyone agree on what it means?
Keeping up with all of the relationships of the characters can get very confusing since all the characters are family connected in some way. Also, the wording of the play does not use the most modern day language that we are used to hearing. You will not see Horatio say, “What is up my buddy Hamlet?” Although it would be fantastic for it to be this simple, it is not. Some of the words used have more then one meaning and that is also what makes it challenging. Not everyone agrees on what the plays means because it can be interpreted in different ways. There are parts in the play that seem like they are just open ended because they can mean one or more thing but it is not for sure which idea or thought it actually is. It is like a personal question where there is not really I right or wrong answer. They are just many different answers.
1) Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. The themes discussed in the plot include indecision, seeking revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm
2) Interpreting the play is difficult for many because of the language that it is written in and used. The play is written in old English and iambic pentameter which are both very complex in their portrayal. Most people cannot agree on what the play means because like any other piece of literature, there are multiple meaning and themes throughout. Preston told us as a class that it happens quite often that authors write a novel without even realizing what themes they are incorporating. They do it subconsciously. I believe that for this reason the plays meaning is not often agreed upon.
Meanings*
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