Hamlet Summary Analysis post

HAMLET

Hamlet is a play set in Denmark in the middle ages (old enough that England was under the control of Denmark). Hamlet is a revenge tragedy in which a Danish prince (Hamlet) is trying to avenge his father (also called Hamlet) by killing his uncle (Claudius) who murdered the first Hamlet. Hamlet finds this all out through a ghost of his father, which sets the scene for Hamlet to kill Claudius, but it takes the entire length of the play for him to do it.

Other important plot lines of Hamlet:
Claudius and Gertrude: their "incestuous" marriage that closely followed Hamlet's death, the motives for the marriage

Ophelia and Hamlet's romance: Ophelia, Polonius' daughter and Laertes' sister, had a relationship with Hamlet and it is implied that they had sex, but Polonius (Claudius' adviser and a man with much power) orders her not to talk to Hamlet, which she actually does. Hamlet pretends to be insane after he decides to kill Claudius to throw everyone off, and it is misunderstood as him having gone mad due to his love for Ophelia. Hamlet eventually drives Ophelia mad and she kills herself towards the end of the play.

Fortinbras' and Hamlets' war/feud: Norway and Denmark have been intermittently fighting for an indefinite amount of time (at least 30 years, since Hamlet killed the old king Fortinbras) and Denmark controls some land that Norway used to control. They are constantly on alert for an attack from the other, and Fortinbras is said to be a foil to Hamlet (uncle who is king, father murdered while king, young prince who is rightful heir to kingdom) although he isn't present until late in the last scene of the play. Fortinbras takes control of Denmark during the chaos at the end of the play after passing through the kingdom on the pretense of attacking Poland.

Hamlet's relationship with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: His childhood friends are summoned by the Queen and King to spy on him and see if he is actually mad. Hamlet realizes this quickly and severs his ties to them, eventually sending them to their deaths after he evaded his own, making a forged letter to the English royalty. 

Hamlet and Horatio: Hamlet's friend from college, Horatio, is extremely loyal to him and Hamlet trusts him with any and all information. Horatio is also trusted by pretty much everyone else that he meets and doesn't break anyone's trust. It was suggested that Hamlet and Horatio could be having a relationship or are romantically interested in each other, although Hamlet doesn't really seem to be treating Horatio very well if that is the case as their friendship is very one-sided.

• They briefly describe the narrative voice and offer some commentary on the author’s style, including at a minimum a discussion of point of view, tone, imagery, and symbolism, (you are not limited to these topics—you may include anything else that you believe is a significant component of narrative voice or authorial style)

Shakespeare is obviously very skilled at dialogue, but also often uses soliloquies to expand upon important ideas, as he does many times with Hamlet in this play.

Quotes:

"Not a whit, we defy augury: there's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all."

This quote shows that Hamlet has accepted that he is unable to determine his fate and that he accepts whatever it will be. 

"There's something rotten in the state of Denmark."

This is a quote that can be interpreted to refer to many of the different themes in Hamlet. Refers to Claudius' murder of Hamlet.

"My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth."

This quote can be used in discussing that Hamlet's dilemma of action/inaction was a central part of the play, and at this point he commits himself to action.

• They contain a labeled, clear, one-sentence statement of theme and, distinctly separated from this claim about theme, offer a brief discussion of how elements such as setting, plot, the work’s title, narrative voice, the author’s style, tone, imagery, and symbolism support this theme.

Edited Open Prompt-November 11

2005, Form B. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

_______________________________
Bernard Marx, a character of Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, is ultimately driven to destruction by his desire for power. Through his use of foils and symbols, Huxley sends the message that power is at odds with the ability to know the "truth."
In the vastly different society of Brave New World, based in the twenty-sixth century, Bernard struggles to fit into the social structure that is engineered by the government to create a "happier" society. He doesn't fit into the caste he was decanted (artificially born) into, and is a social outcast for much of his life in a world where solitude is dreaded and even regarded as immoral.
Huxley uses Helmholtz, another high-caste and intelligent man, as a foil to Bernard. Helmholtz is a very popular man who fits in extremely well but he grows discontented with all of the low pleasures that others in society value. He enjoys conversing with Bernard, or rather speaking to him without much response, and is everything that Bernard wishes he could be.
After going through the misery of not being accepted by the world and developing a relationship with Helmholtz, Bernard takes a trip into the Savage Reservation and finds a very peculiar young man who was born of a "civilized" mother, a character referred to as "the Savage" by almost all of the characters but someone who is well versed in Shakespeare. Upon returning to London society, Bernard gains status and power through the desire of everyone else to meet "the Savage," or John as Helmholtz properly calls him. Bernard uses this power to sleep with many women and to gain influential contacts and he lords his new-found power over Helmholtz's head, although Helmholtz seems entirely disinterested. This contrast is accentuated in the conclusion, in which both Helmholtz and Bernard are exiled to far away islands to live with others who have dissented from the utopia-like vision that the World Controllers implement in their society. When all of his dreams come crashing down, Bernard turns to drugs to try to regain happiness, while Helmholtz is delighted and accepts his exile excitedly. It is made clear that true happiness is only found through the pursuit of truth, while Bernard finds only despair in the pursuit of power.

Symbols are everywhere in Brave New World, from the obvious in the replacement of "Lord" with "Ford" in all instances to the soma (drugs) that people consider to be essential to psychological well-being. The symbol which seems to me to best represent Bernard’s desire for power is the sex that he obsesses over. After gaining an elevated social position through his enforced possession of John, Bernard uses this to get with many women like he had seen Helmholtz and others of his caste doing previously. He not only lusts after the women but also the feeling of power over them that he gets when he knows he “could have any woman he wants.” He is invited to high-class dinners and other events and begins behaving like one of the normal members of society’s elite, but it all crashes down when John refuses to be paraded around in front of all Bernard’s friends after a while of putting up with it. He swiftly goes from one of the most well-known members of London’s elite to a nobody and is threatened with being sent to Iceland, where people are exiled to if they disobey the laws of the new world. At this point, Bernard turns to soma to try to become happy, but is unable to find happiness in Huxley’s version of the opiate of the masses as he has just lost all of the power he lusts after.

Another symbol that features in the story is Shakespeare’s works. John has a copy of Shakespeare from the reservation that was passed down over the years and enters a state of rapture whenever he reads it. His reaction to Shakespeare, which represents the high culture that has been destroyed in the new world, juxtaposes Bernard’s despair as his life falls apart and his drug addiction that follows.

In Brave New World, Huxley provides a critique of the power-hungry and mourns the value of happiness over knowledge. He sends these messages through the use of foils and satire involving the central characters of Bernard and John.

Course Response #5

Over the past few weeks of class, we have been spending almost all of our time on Hamlet. After we finished up the reading before break, we watched scenes from a few different movies and discussed how the directors interpreted the play. I liked the last Hamlet (new BBC) the best so for, although we haven't seen much of it yet, with the much more modern depiction and the video cameras that can't see Hamlet's ghost. The first one (old BBC) seemed to be the most faithful to the original play, but it didn't really captivate my attention at all. I found it especially difficult to concentrate on the movie (and stay awake) after going to morning practice, as everyone in our class noticed (including Ms. Holmes).... I think that the movies have helped me to synthesize my thoughts about the play as I can see everything quickly and the first scenes are still fresh in my mind when I reach the last ones.

The exercises which we did with Hamlet were also pretty helpful, the one about his relationship with words in particular. I hadn't really thought much about that concept beforehand but it really got me thinking and when I was annotating I developed my thoughts much more. I think that it could be an interesting idea to explore that Hamlet's reluctance to act and reliance on words (and love for theater) could be Shakespeare trying to reveal his own reluctance to act and how he speaks through his plays rather than acting, among the numerous other themes/motifs that we have discussed in Hamlet.

The essay which we got back from chapter 4 (I think?) was also something that stood out to me. I didn't do as well as I had hoped, and I hope to improve before the AP exam because I know that essay writing is probably my weakest area for the exam. Hopefully the blog posts will help me to develop my skills, but as we near the exam I'll probably focus more on that in the time I spend studying for it.