In English we've been reading Hamlet, but we've also been analyzing scenes from different critical approaches. It's eye-opening. We see that certain lines can mean different things, or certain characters can serve entirely different purposes depending on what perspective you take when reading Hamlet. In a previous post, I wondered what makes Hamlet such an influential piece, and I think this is it. This play can be taken a thousand ways.
Rather than just assume you'll believe me saying "You can look at Hamlet from so many perspectives" over and over again, I'm gonna prove it to you. Here's the case of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, from just a few approaches:
1. The Feminist Approach: Gertrude's okay! Feminists could argue that Gertrude is innocent because there is no concrete text that proves Gertrude knew that Claudius was her husband's killer. She may have married Claudius only as a way to keep herself close to power and able to continue to serve her kingdom.
2. The Mythical Approach: Gertrude is a bad mother. She betrayed her son, Hamlet, by marrying Claudius. She also represents an archetype of an evil woman: sensuous, eager to stay close to power, incestuous, and unfaithful.
3. The Psychoanalytic Approach: Ever heard of an Oedipus complex? Hamlet could have tamed his animosity toward his father for having Gertrude, but when his father dies and Claudius takes her hand, Hamlet gets all worked up again. His hatred for Claudius is fed by the fact that someone besides Hamlet Junior or Senior (in the prince's mind, the only two people he could accept being with Gertrude), married Gertrude.
Believe me now? Hamlet's mother could be an unfaithful and selfish mother, an innocent and responsible woman, or a character to show off Hamlet's psychological problems, all depending on what approach you take when reading Hamlet. What other approaches could you take when reading this play, and how would Gertrude's role in the story change?
SONG RECOMMENDATION: Hey There, Ophelia by MC Lars. Who needs SparkNotes when you can just listen to a 4-minute rap summary? (I wouldn't call it the finest piece of audial artwork, but it is entertaining.) Enjoy :)
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!
I got home an hour ago, and I'm still in Valentine overdrive. Things that have made me smile today:
1. Poems. Not just anyone can crank out a Shakespeare-caliber sonnet, but my friends in AP Statistics can really show their love in sweet couplets:
Snowflakes are white, but slush is just grey.
I hope that you'll be my Valentine today!
Roses are red. Violets are blue.
This class is so hard. I don't have a clue.
Sudafed, Claritin, Crack, Tylenol...
Your love is the drug that I need most of all.
Roses are red. Violets are purple.
Not blue...
Needless to say, this was a productive class today.
2. Food. Baking food. I bake ALL the time. I just made these for a party tomorrow. However, I'm quite partial to blondies, maybe because I'm, well, blonde, but also because they are so easy to make, and so easy that I can make any variations (banana blondies>banana bread). And yesterday I was baking for a while, too (but I can't say WHAT I was baking because that would spoil a surprise for someone who might read this post.)
3. Songs. In honor of it being Valentine's Day, here are some of my favorite LOVE songs:
•Make You Feel My Love. Yes, I know it was originally Bob Dylan's, but Adele sings it soOoOo beautifully
•Whistle for the Choir. It just makes me smile.
•This is what my choir does for Singing Valentines. I was serenaded with it my freshman year, and today I led my group around the school singing to other people :).
•I know the French Edith Piaf version is the classic, but you canNOT tell me this rendition isn't good.
4. My AP Psychology homework. I have to write something nice about each person in my class. Tomorrow everyone gives their compliments (typed on pieces of paper) anonymously.
5. Reading for fun. I'm in Group Interpretation again! This year we're doing Coraline, so I'm reading the book again, even though I know the story, even though I've seen the movie and received the script, because I want to!
6. Recommendations. PLEASE. Give me some poems, songs, recipes, or book titles that have made you smile. Happy Valentine's Day!
1. Poems. Not just anyone can crank out a Shakespeare-caliber sonnet, but my friends in AP Statistics can really show their love in sweet couplets:
Snowflakes are white, but slush is just grey.
I hope that you'll be my Valentine today!
Roses are red. Violets are blue.
This class is so hard. I don't have a clue.
Sudafed, Claritin, Crack, Tylenol...
Your love is the drug that I need most of all.
Roses are red. Violets are purple.
Not blue...
Needless to say, this was a productive class today.
2. Food. Baking food. I bake ALL the time. I just made these for a party tomorrow. However, I'm quite partial to blondies, maybe because I'm, well, blonde, but also because they are so easy to make, and so easy that I can make any variations (banana blondies>banana bread). And yesterday I was baking for a while, too (but I can't say WHAT I was baking because that would spoil a surprise for someone who might read this post.)
3. Songs. In honor of it being Valentine's Day, here are some of my favorite LOVE songs:
•Make You Feel My Love. Yes, I know it was originally Bob Dylan's, but Adele sings it soOoOo beautifully
•Whistle for the Choir. It just makes me smile.
•This is what my choir does for Singing Valentines. I was serenaded with it my freshman year, and today I led my group around the school singing to other people :).
•I know the French Edith Piaf version is the classic, but you canNOT tell me this rendition isn't good.
4. My AP Psychology homework. I have to write something nice about each person in my class. Tomorrow everyone gives their compliments (typed on pieces of paper) anonymously.
5. Reading for fun. I'm in Group Interpretation again! This year we're doing Coraline, so I'm reading the book again, even though I know the story, even though I've seen the movie and received the script, because I want to!
6. Recommendations. PLEASE. Give me some poems, songs, recipes, or book titles that have made you smile. Happy Valentine's Day!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Hamlet in Disguise
I really like writing these list-format posts... Anyway, I'm reading Shakespeare's Hamlet for English right now. On Day 1 of this unit, my teacher informed the class of a few instances where this plot has inspired other works of art, so instead of talk about a play you might not have read, I thought it would be fun (yeah, this is what I consider "fun") to find popular movies, songs, or just anything you've probably encountered that are actually based on the famous tragedy.
1. Tchaikovsky wrote an Overture in F minor, called (drumroll, please) Hamlet Fantasy Overture. If you're not a classical music buff, you may have still heard this song if you've ever seen A Christmas Story.
2. More in the vein of classical music... Hamlet is an opera!!! Actually, Wikipedia told me there are seven operas based on Hamlet. In Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, all of Act 4 is Ophelia's "Mad Scene," and Maria Callas, the queen of opera, sings it incredibly.
3. If you're a Disney fan, or have experienced any sort of childhood at all, you've probably seen The Lion King. Guess what. It's Hamlet! Simba is Hamlet, sans insanity. Scar is Claudius, the evil uncle who kills his brother to take the throne, and then grossly abuses his power and tries to take the queen's hand. Timon and Pumba? They could be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, encouraging a responsibility-free lifestyle.
4. Then there's Sons of Anarchy, yes, a whole television series based on Hamlet. Clay is Claudius, Gemma is Gertrude, and Jax, who communicates with his dead father, is (you guessed it) Hamlet. This is not speculation... The show's creator, Kurt Sutter, has admitted that there is Shakespearean inspiration at work, and the storyline will probably follow Hamlet until the end of the series. (Oh, spoiler alert... oops...)
5. The Second City explores the possibility that Ophelia's suicide could have been avoided in this short scene.
6. Now for (not even close to) everything that's not based on Hamlet, but just couldn't keep its hands off the play:
• Calvin of the Calvin and Hobbes recites the "to Be or not to Be" soliloquy to a bowl of green mush. Then the mush starts singing and Calvin eats it...
• Legally Blonde the Musical quotes "This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man" in its finale (1:30).
• Find the Hamlet quote or reference in these 2 T.S. Eliot poems! "Wasteland" "The Lovesong of Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock"
• An episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is called "Hamlet."
• Okay I'm getting kinda sick of looking for all these... Last one! Lines from the play are quoted in movies: (500) Days of Summer, Clueless, and Shakespeare in Love, to name a few.
So, what does this mean? Hamlet is everywhere now, even though it's 400 years old. So far I've only read Act I, but this piece is just so influential. I want to do a good job reading it. Have you read Hamlet? Do you have any tips for me that could help me get the most out of reading? Finally, have you found any Hamlets in disguise that I haven't mentioned?
1. Tchaikovsky wrote an Overture in F minor, called (drumroll, please) Hamlet Fantasy Overture. If you're not a classical music buff, you may have still heard this song if you've ever seen A Christmas Story.
2. More in the vein of classical music... Hamlet is an opera!!! Actually, Wikipedia told me there are seven operas based on Hamlet. In Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, all of Act 4 is Ophelia's "Mad Scene," and Maria Callas, the queen of opera, sings it incredibly.
3. If you're a Disney fan, or have experienced any sort of childhood at all, you've probably seen The Lion King. Guess what. It's Hamlet! Simba is Hamlet, sans insanity. Scar is Claudius, the evil uncle who kills his brother to take the throne, and then grossly abuses his power and tries to take the queen's hand. Timon and Pumba? They could be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, encouraging a responsibility-free lifestyle.
4. Then there's Sons of Anarchy, yes, a whole television series based on Hamlet. Clay is Claudius, Gemma is Gertrude, and Jax, who communicates with his dead father, is (you guessed it) Hamlet. This is not speculation... The show's creator, Kurt Sutter, has admitted that there is Shakespearean inspiration at work, and the storyline will probably follow Hamlet until the end of the series. (Oh, spoiler alert... oops...)
5. The Second City explores the possibility that Ophelia's suicide could have been avoided in this short scene.
6. Now for (not even close to) everything that's not based on Hamlet, but just couldn't keep its hands off the play:
• Calvin of the Calvin and Hobbes recites the "to Be or not to Be" soliloquy to a bowl of green mush. Then the mush starts singing and Calvin eats it...
• Legally Blonde the Musical quotes "This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man" in its finale (1:30).
• Find the Hamlet quote or reference in these 2 T.S. Eliot poems! "Wasteland" "The Lovesong of Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock"
• An episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is called "Hamlet."
• Okay I'm getting kinda sick of looking for all these... Last one! Lines from the play are quoted in movies: (500) Days of Summer, Clueless, and Shakespeare in Love, to name a few.
So, what does this mean? Hamlet is everywhere now, even though it's 400 years old. So far I've only read Act I, but this piece is just so influential. I want to do a good job reading it. Have you read Hamlet? Do you have any tips for me that could help me get the most out of reading? Finally, have you found any Hamlets in disguise that I haven't mentioned?
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