Response to Course Material(ish)

Well I've learned a considerable bit over the past couple months. In class, we've had some pretty profound moments and some less than profound moments. We read Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and we started Ceremony. The biggest things I feel like I've learned from these works and our team discussions are: authors can use characters to fit myriad literary techniques; culture affects how we read and understand literature; and  that there isn't one set way to look at a literary work. There are several lenses to look through. I think I'm even catching on to this whole blog thing... lol

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Summary and Analysis

Setting:

 Ambiguous countryside; Elsinore, capitol of Denmark

Characters:

Ros - embodiment of human discovery, Dionysian figure
Guil - embodiment of human intellect, Apollonian figure
Player - voice of reason/wisdom, Horatio-like, metaphysical character
Tragedians - support Player's role
Hamlet - troubled Prince of Denmark, friend of Ros and Guil
Claudius - King of Denmark, uncle/ father of Hamlet
Gertrude - Queen of Denmark, mother of Hamlet

Plot:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two underdeveloped, static characters in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Tom Stoppar decided their was more to their story, so he wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a play that stars Ros (Rosencrantz) and Guil (Guildenstern) and depicts their journey from the point when they were called to the court in Elsinore to their deaths in England.They encounter a group of tragedians, who follow them throughout the play, hinting at the meaning of the play.

Quotes:

 - Guil: Wheels have been set in motion, and they have their own pace, to which we are condemned.

The characters of the play are trapped in and endless cycle, only existing while the play occurs; while the book is open. Once the characters die and the pages close, the characters are gone until the cycle is repeated. The characters are, in a way, cursed with immortality: living and dying over and over. Stoppard has even made the main characters self aware.


 - Player: We grow rusty and you catch us at the very point of decadence - by this time tomorrow we might have forgotten everything we knew.

This is me... Yesterday.

Theme Statement:

Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guilenstern are Dead comments on the role that characters play in stories: whether they come to life of their own accord or are brought to life by the author. He calls to attention the two sides of the arts: "For some of us it is performance, for others, patronage. They are two sides of the same coin, or, let us say, being as there are so many of us, the same side of two coins."

Hamlet Summary and Analysis

Setting:

Elsinore, capitol of Denmark

Characters:

Hamlet
Horatio
Claudius
Gertrude
Polonius
Ophelia
Laertes
Ghost
Rosencrantz
Guildenstern
Players
Fortinbras

Plot:

Hamlet follows the plot of a Seneca revenge tragedy:

"There is a secret murder, usually of a good ruler by a bad one/ The murdered man's ghost visits a younger kinsman, generally a son/ The murderer and avenger plot against each other. Often, disguise is involved, and there are several casualties/ The play ends in a bloodbath, often including the death of the avenger"

"There is a secret murder, of [old Hamlet] by [Claudius]/ [old Hamlet]'s ghost visits [young Hamlet]/ [Claudius] and [young Hamlet] plot against each other. There are several casualties/ The play ends in a bloodbath, including the death of [young Hamlet]"

Quotes:

 - Claudius: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without thoughts never to heaven go.

Through Claudius, Shakespeare is conveying the message that prayers offered without real intent aren't able to reach divine ears. In other words: God doesn't listen to fakers.


 - Hamlet: Denmark's a prison.

This statement is an externalization of Hamlet's internal makeup. His prison is made up of his attitude about life. As the rightful heir to the throne, Hamlet uses synechdoche to refer to himself as Denmark. So wherever he goes, whether it be Elsinore, Denmark, or elsewhere, he will always feel imprisoned due to his tortured mind.

Theme Statement:

Shakespeare's Hamlet cautions that self-doubt paired with moral corruption can lead to the subversion of providence.

Open Prompts: Part 2 - III

2004, Form B. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.



In Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the deaths of Ros and Guil at the end of the play help illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Throughout the play, Guil is aggravated by the Player's mockery of death: "No one gets up after death," he says; Guil has a strange obsession with death that only makes sense after reading the entire play. The characters of the play are trapped in and endless cycle, only existing while the play occurs; while the book is open. Once the characters die and the pages close, the characters are gone until the cycle is repeated. The characters are, in a way, cursed with immortality: living and dying over and over. Stoppard has even made the main characters self aware. What Stoppard is pointing out is that he, as the author, controls his characters; as opposed to the characters coming to life themselves. If he chooses to give them consciousness, then he will - as part of his story.

Open Prompt: Part 2 - I

1982. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary.



In Edward Albee's American Dream, Mommy and Daddy call Mrs. Barker over because they are dissatisfied with their adoption of a "bumble." During their conversation, Daddy leaves to the kitchen to get Mrs. Barker something, but he gets lost and Mommy has to go find him. In the lull, Grandma, who lives with Mommy and Daddy, tells Mrs. Barker a story about a situation not unlike the one concerning Mommy and Daddy; she tells Mrs. Barker how the "bumble" wasn't acting the way Mommy and Daddy wanted, so they chopped off the parts that weren't acting right; they ended up with this unrecognizable, monstrous chunk of flesh that they couldn't stand, so they got rid of it. And now they are dissatisfied with Mrs. Barker's service (giving them a "bumble"- a flop, a dud, a bad baby). 

This violence is symbolic of the societal values that the people of America embrace; they take a set of values, ethics, or morals, and they chop off the parts they don't want. Eventually, what is left is this monstrous blob that no one wants, so they throw it away and look for something better, which ends up being what they were given in the first place, ironically.

Albee's play confronts the selfish, materialistic, consumerist societal views that we have accepted. Mommy and Daddy look for satisfaction, but when they find it, they are immediately dissatisfied. This instance of violence where the "bumble" is mutilated contributes to the whole meaning of American Dream, because it shows the consuming dissatisfaction that comes from materialism.

Open Prompts: Part 2 - II

1979. Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character’s actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, seeks revenge on his uncle-now-father, Claudius, for the murder of his actual father. This course leads him to murder Polonius, send his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to their deaths; he also kills Laertes, the son of Polonius before finally achieving his goal of killing Claudius. Hamlet then dies himself. From Hamlet's actions alone, a reader can take him to be an immoral character, however, Prince Hamlet is the protagonist of Shakespeare's play. As the protagonist, Hamlet gains the opportunity to obtain forgiveness and sympathy from the audience, because they follow him through the course of events and see how and why Hamlet took the actions that he did. In context of the play, Hamlet can be viewed as a tragic hero: his fall and madness account for the immoral acts he commits, and his death seals him in the mind of the audience as a martyr.

Hamlet does a lot of stuff that wouldn't exactly be considered "good." His bent on destroying Claudius affects everyone around him, his first real ill deed is the way he treats Ophelia after seeing the ghost of his father; he then causes the deaths of several individuals, starting with his murdering of Polonius. The madness in Hamlet, whether pretended or real, is agreeably out of hand and needs dealing with. However, Prince Hamlet is the play's protagonist, so he obviously must have good reason for what he does.

In the position of protagonist, Hamlet is granted a sort of clemency by the audience. They see his perspective, they understand what is troubling him: his father's ghost and its demand for revenge, as well as his mother's relationship with his uncle, mixed with his uncle's relationship with Hamlet. The audience sees the stress that is put on Hamlet, they see him snap and fall into the downward spiral of the Seneca revenge plot that Shakespeare has written him into. When Hamlet kills Polonius, thinking him to be Claudius, the audience isn't surprised or outraged - yes it is a high-tension moment, but it is somewhat expected - they just understand. They feel sympathy for Hamlet because his situation is falling out of his hands, and so as Hamlet sinks deeper and deeper into his pit, the audience feels sorry and regards him as a tragic hero.

A person reading Hamlet can easily finish the play with the perspective that Hamlet is a tragic hero. He started as the Prince of Denmark, his father is murdered by his uncle, his uncle marries his mother and takes his throne, he sees his father's ghost and goes mad, and makes a series of ill-informed choices from there, which ultimately lead to his death. Hamlet's crimes are attributed to his madness and he dies a martyr: the mad prince who died avenging his father. The immoral acts Hamlet committed are softened by the context in which they are placed within the play.

Hamlet's actions, alone, would be considered evil or immoral, but by his presentation and characterization throughout the play, the audience is able to sympathize with him. Hamlet is the protagonist of Shakespeare's play, so a reader is more prone to that sympathy because they are able to see how and why he is led to make the choices he does. Where Hamlet could be an antihero or villain because of his actions, he becomes a tragic hero and a martyr because the audience understands him.