1984 essay

Third Hour

Fifth Hour

Have fun.

Independent Novel Project

Lit Terms Vocab — 15 per week. The first set is due 1/9, the second 1/13.

While I’m not prepared to say Ophelia was pregnant, I think a reasonable case can be made that she was. The first objection I had to the claim was that Hamlet asks her if she is honest in act 3, scene 1. We are told in our notes that “honest” means chaste, but as a pun, it’s possible that she takes the question to mean to mean truthful. Hamlet later tells her to go to a nunnery, slang for a brothel.

One of the songs Ophelia sings in act 4, scene 5 is about Valentine’s day and a maid becoming a maid no more. The other songs all refer to her father’s death, an actual event. Perhaps this song refers to an actual event as well. Moreover, she hands out flowers and herbs to different people in the scene. The flowers themselves are symbolic. She gives rue to Gertrude and keeps some for herself. Rue, according to our text, is a symbol of sorrow. It also an herb that was used to cause abortions, giving it the symbolic meaning of adultery. One could make the argument that Gertrude gets it to accuse her of adultery, and Ophelia keeps it to deal with her pregnancy.

Is her death a suicide in response to pregnancy and the loss of love of the baby’s father (which is what Polonius warned Ophelia of)? If so, we should look at Hamlet’s misogyny as Hamlet’s misogyny.

So, no clear cut answers on this question (of course).

The other astute observation that was made today, by Carissa, was that Hamlet’s demeanor with his mother in act 3 scene 4 is much like an abuser. While he may rightfully feel betrayed by the speed with which his mother remarried (possible reasons for which are above), his desire to control whom she should have relationships with and his desire to control her sex life are reminiscent of the abusive controller. Is this evidence of Hamlet’s ability to be a powerful and violent king like his father? Is his misogyny born out of something other than a feeling of betrayal?

So, again, there are rarely clear answers in the study of literature. That’s why it is so much more interesting than some other subjects (fwiw, if you stick with the study of math, it will eventually get just as subjective. See non-euclidean and finite geometry.)

Have Act 4 read for Monday. We may not get to it until Tuesday, but in case we do, I want you to be ready.

As we continue to explore Act 3, it strikes me that the element we are missing is performance. Hamlet was meant to be seen, not read (which is not the case with all plays, like Faust, which has only been performed in its entirety a couple of times). I am posting a few renditions of the “To be or not to be” soliloquy here:

Kenneth Branagh’s version:

Mel Gibson’s version:

Sir Laurence Olivier’s classic version:

And, a new version in which Ethan Hawke is contemplating his mortality in a Blockbuster:

Just as tone is created in text through diction, directors and actors create meaning through visual imagery, and tone, speed, and intensity of voice. Think about what each video adds or changes to the meaning that you had in your head.