Hamlet the madman?

As the play begins it seems as though Hamlet is very sane and just in mourning while others are going crazy because of their reactions to the death of Hamlet Sr. Hamlet and the guards seem crazier than anyone else because they can see the ghost of Hamlet while the majority of the royal class cannot see him. As the play goes on, it seems more and more evident that Hamlet is crazy in a genius way. After his talk with the ghost, Hamlet seems less upset about his father's death and more angry towards the matter.

Anger and resentment grow inside of Hamlet as Claudius keeps a close eye on him instead of allowing Hamlet to live his own life. Further into the play Claudius realizes why Hamlet is so angry at him, not just because he is being so deceiving towards Hamlet. Hamlet knows that he wants to kill Claudius but also knows that no one will understand why unless Claudius tells the truth about killing Hamlet's father. On his quest to kill Claudius is when more people begin to think Hamlet is insane because he actually wants people to believe that which is why he is so ingenious. Without his father being murdered, Hamlet probably wouldn't have gone crazy, but it is also because of how his father died and the actions of the people around him. Hamlet is able to act crazy while around Polonius, Claudius and Ophelia but when he speaks to his mother, his emotions get the best of him and he nearly reveals his scheme to her because he is so torn between wanting to love his mother as a son should and hating her for being the traitor that she is.

Once the ghost makes a presence in Hamlet's life, everything changes. The ghost changed Hamlet's perspective on Claudius and Gertrude and many of his loyal friends'. There is a lot of truth to this because with just one conversation with the ghost, Hamlet sees that Claudius isn't the great uncle that he claims to be, Gertrude is the loyal, loving mother and wife that everyone thinks she is and Polonius is with whoever can give him a better life along with many of Hamlet's so called friends. This leads to fear and anger in Hamlet and brings nothing but negative thoughts to his head. The ghost is the main reason for Hamlet being crazy or insane.

Poem Comparison

There are so many ways to view or perceive a poem and depending on what a person has been through during their life they can see a poem as dark or gloomy while someone else sees it as happy and inspiring. Whatever anyone has gone through, there is always at least one person who knows how they feel or has gone through something similar. The two poems, "Working Together" by David Whyte and "Everything is Going to be Alright" by Derek Mahon both describe life as difficult but something that is always manageable and something that can be overcome. They highlight the idea that whenever someone feels alone they are never truly alone and they can always find someone to help them through their situation because people working together is so much more strong than one person trying to do it alone. In high school, many students see the world as being against them and there is so much holding them back and very little to look forward to, however these poems insinuate that there is something wonderful to look forward to after high school. "Working Together" starts off saying that we shape ourselves to fit the world but I think what that really means is that everyone wants to fit in with some sort of group socially and they will shape themselves to fit it. This social group is usually the world to them and by them joining the group they have a chance to shape their world as they see it. The poem ends with the author saying that when we figure ourselves out we will see that we are shaped by the things we cannot see about ourselves and our lives

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The phrase " There will be time," is repeated many times throughout the poem. In the context of the poem we can assume that time allows put things off. "There will be time, to say, "Do I Dare, Do I dare." Prufrock just keeps telling himself he will do it someday, and that way he can hold on to his ideals that he loves. Obviously Prufrock has some serious Performative Utterance gong on. And like in Hamlet he puts things off, and precedes to beat himself up over it. But when he says that, he's not Hamlet he means that he has never taken action at all. " to swell a progress, to start a scene or two." He's articulating the diference between himself and Hamlet. Although Hamlet took a while to kill Claudius, he did take some steps to put himself in the position too. So Prufrock is putting himself below that, saying I havent done any of that. " I grow old, I grow old." Prufrock is reminded that he is growing old, however, which contradicts his, "There will be time," statement. There are a few clues that support this." They will say: How his hair is growing thin." Gives us the connotation that Prufrock is grwoing old and balding. All of this gives the sense that Prufrock will live his life as a man of dreams, but never a man of action. "Till human voices wake us and we drown." What is he waking up from? His "etherization" of inaction? and when he drowns, is that when he realizes it was too late and wallows in guilt and regret? I think so.

Working Together Remix- Mellany

Poem remix

So we couldn't figure out how to post the PowerPoint onto the blog but here are pictures of the slides