My Last Blog Post

This week in AP Literature we are debriefing from takin the AP exam. In my opinion I felt very prepared for this exam, the open question was a breeze. I had so many options to choose from and I am glad that we read all the books we read. Compared to other people I have talked to I felt with more books to choose from I had more of an opportunity to write on something different than everyone else. Doing all our outlines and practicing open questions really helped me feel confident. I felt extremely prepared for the multiple choice portion of the test, I laughed at the first passage (you know those sonnets, so easy). I am so glad that I got analyze and practice on real exams. Going though the right answers and analyzing what makes them right and what makes the other answers wrong. The most beneficial activities that we did in the class would be the dozens of times writings that we did in class. I am glad that we got that practice, once again it made me feel extremely confident about the three essays. The books that we read this year also gave me a lot of options to write about and gave me a lot of practice at close reading. After all of the stress and all of the sleepless nights, I really enjoyed the class. So suggestions for next years class would be to keep it the same, maybe add some more time to teach Earnst a little deeper. I am so glad I took this class, I feel extreme prepped for college after this year.

Earnest Blog #2

This past week in AP Literature we have been reading and analyzing Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest. One of the most prominent themes that we were supposed to highlight, was Oscar Wilde making the serious aspects of life trivial and the trivial aspects of life serious. Oscar Wilde especially makes this known within the characters that hold upper class statuses. Wilde makes a clear distinction between the upper lower classes, by showing that the upper classes have the flexibility to act irresponsibly when the lower class takes responsibility for the upper classes immature actions. The classes play a very important role within the play, the social structure present certain barriers that each of the social class have to abide by. Another important theme within the play is also the lack of knowledge and lies, actually lies create this sense of lack of knowledge, and without the truth how can one know anything.

                The most important line in the play is “We live,” “in an age of surfaces.” Lady Bracknell says this line, it is ironic that she says this because her motives are driven precisely on material and “surfaces.” Lady Bracknell is the power center throughout the whole play, she is filled with masculine qualities that over power many of the men within the play. She sets an example for the other women in the play, such as Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn is merely the product of her mother’s influence as well as the effects of the upper class society in the city. Whereas Cecily creates her power, she hasn’t been influenced by anyone other than her governess, who she despises; Cecily creates her own influential stature, her creativity and naivety give her power over the lower class within the country society. The men in the play lack power, but they have the influence to dictate what happens in terms  of who gets hurt and how their action affect other people. The difference between men and women within the novel is that the women how knowledge and are well informed and conscious about how their actions affect other people. On the other hand, men in the play don’t know how their actions are going to influence other people, in this the women have much of the power in this topsy-turvy world that Wilde is trying to hold up to the Victorian society.

                The setting within the play also plays a huge role within differentiating the relationship between the characters. The two main setting are the city (aka London) and the Country. Obviously London is suppose to represent the wealthy scene where morality is loosely affected, in London people can get into “scrapes” and repent there scenes. The country represents the truth, everything is revealed in the country, and the impureness of the city is taken seriously at one point in the country, but then it is taken trivally when it is revealed that the country is really where the money is located. After it is revealed the Cecily is the richest out of all the characters she is respected and considered desirable. 

maybe it is important to be Earnest

This past week in AP literature we have been reading and analyzing Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest. This play is absolutely hilarious, Oscar Wilde’s puns and word play is phenomenal. The play begins in Algernon’s English flat; Algernon anticipates the arrival of his friend Ernest. Once Ernest arrives, it is revealed that Ernest is attracted to Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolyn and intends to propose when her and her mother, Lady Bracknell come to Algernon’s place to ask Algernon if he would like to join them for dinner. Algernon mocks Ernest’s beliefs about marriage, Algernon believes that marriage is death of all freedom and that true love doesn’t really exist. After some more banter about marriage, Ernest asks about a cigarette case that he had left at an earlier visit, Algernon recalls the case but then notices that Ernest’s name is not on the case, the case has a message saying “to my favorite uncle jack,” so Algernon pushes the matter and it is revealed that Ernest has been living a double life. In the city Ernest is known as Ernest, in the city he can live a reckless life, where as in the country he is known as Jack who has be a responsible guardian for his niece, Cecily. Algy takes interest in this double life and claims that he too lives a double life, whenever he doesn’t want to  dine with Lady Bracknell he merely tells her the is friend “Bunburry” is ill and he has to go take care of him. Eventually Lady Bracknell and Gwendolyn arrive and Algernon separates him and his aunt from Gwendolyn and Ernest, in order for Ernest to propose, this is where Gwendolyn states that she is in love with his name and that she always knew that she would marry someone named Ernest. Lady Bracknell enter the room in a rage to see the proposal and separates Gwendolyn from Ernest and sits down to have a talk about Ernest’s past and to determine whether or not Ernest is a suitable match for her daughter.

In this play Oscar Wilde make two blatant criticisms about the Victorian era, one being the criticism of marriage and the other is gender roles within society. Obviously Algernon is Oscar’s voice when it comes to the negative ideas about marriage, he believes that marriage is merely a constricting force. Algernon believes that all of the fun in life is taken away when one embark in marriage. Wilde also flips the gender roles, with the characterization of Lady Bracknell Wilde makes the female character strong and influential. Gwendolyn asserts herself with the proposal, she tells Ernest that he is going to propose an she is going to say yes, Ernest had almost ask permission before he asked her. Lady Bracknell just purely represents power, she has a voice and controls all of the men around her, and example being her husband she actually takes away her husbands voice, when at this time it was the other way around.  

Timed Writing Debrief

This week in AP literature we were all about Emma, we had a two day seminar were we split into different groups and each group hosted a twenty minute session of where the other students discussed different perspectives of how to read this book. Some of the topics we discussed were: looking at Mr. Woodhouse as the antagonist of the book, the gender roles throughout the novel, Emma’s relationships, and the controversy of the ending. I actually used the stuff that we talked about with Emma’s relationships in my timed writing today, I discussed how her relationships keep her from developing as a strong character, but once she realizes that her relationship with Mr. Knightly is what will lead her to grow into a women, because he knows what is best for Emma were as with the other relationships Emma is vulnerable to conform into something that is destructive to her growth as a person.  So mainly my blog today is a debriefing of our Emma open question timed writing.

                Our timed writing today consisted of three choices, so I decided to write about the option which discusses how awakens within the novel lead the development of the novel and defines the author’s main purpose or idea of this novel. So to tackle this question the most logical thing that I could come up with to support Emma’s growth throughout the novel would be her relationships. The major realization of that Emma has is when she realizes that she needs Mr. Knightly as a companion, which leads her to give up her want to be socially involved into her becoming more engaged with growing herself as a person rather than a social dictator. Throughout the whole novel Emma rebels against Mr. Knightly’s advice and mentoring, by engaging in these inappropriate relationships with Harriet and Mr. Churchill, this is where her downfall starts when she meets Harriet. Emma begins the novel as a naïve young girl who is a blank slate, she is untouched to the outside world, but she is somewhat molded by the influence of her father. Emma has her first interaction with the lower classes when she takes on reforming Harriet, she begins become obsessed with finding some project or relationship to keep her busy, but they are very wrong for her because she is developing other characters  when she needs to grow herself.

                Over all this timed writing I feel like went okay, I feel like because I didn’t have to stay specific to certain quotes I had more freedom to elaborate more on the analysis. This timed writing I wrote more than I have ever written in any of my time writings. After this I feel like the open question timed writings are my strong suit because I have more freedom to discuss a whole lot more of analysis and development of certain pieces of literature. I felt this way after the practice exam as well, one the practice exam I wrote about Grendel and felt I could defend my beliefs with the text.

Emma Post

Unfortunately last week we didn’t have to blog, but now I am very ready to catch up on blogs about Emma. For the past few weeks it has been all about Emma and her silliness. Our focus for the past two weeks has been volume the third, so we are wrapping things up. Volume the third is primarily the conclusion and final events that happen to Emma and her collogues. Some very important events occur, such as the ball and Harriet’s experience with the gypsies, but the most important interaction that highlights Jane Austen’s ideas about society would be the relationship between Mrs. Elton and Emma. This volume is when the reader truly begins to see Mrs. Elton as Emma’s foil instead of Jane. An example would be at the ball; Mrs. Elton is a more mature(ish) Emma who knows how to use her wealth to get what she wants. I am not saying that Emma doesn’t do that, but Mrs. Elton is more out in open about it, where as Emma does it discretely, but Emma also knows how to control herself in a manner that is polite and she seems genuinely nicer and caring towards her friends of a lower class. This is where the book is completely pulled together.

In preparation of our seminar on Emma, I would like to talk about how Jane Austen completely flip flops the gender roles within the novel. Throughout the entire novel the men other than Mr. Knightly (obviously) are very feminine, Mr. Elton to be an example; he engages in some of the most womanly actions, even his personality screams out girly. Elton is very involved with finding status through marriage, as seen when he proposes to Emma, he also engages in some of the most deceitful/disrespectful acts that women would do, such as gossip and he even rejects a dance with Harriet which is extremely rude. Enough about Elton, Austen also uses women as the more masculine and dominant figures throughout the novel as well, all of the women have some sort of influence, especially Emma and Mrs. Elton. By creating these strong female characters, Austen is trying to comment on the way that society works within that time period, both of those characters are activist of their time, and completely contradict with the roles expected of that time. Although with some of the other characters are used to confirm the stereotypical woman, such as Harriet and Jane, they are the weak characters who lives get taken over by the socialites of Highbury. This is how Austen makes commentary on the social structure and the feminine versus the masculine roles of the men and women throughout the novel.

This part of my blog I would like to discuss our Tea party, because I didn’t get to finish writing my response in class. The tea part was definitely a unique experience, I was lady Deburgh and I had quite a high title which gave some freedom to do what I wanted to do. It was really fun to experience what it would have been like in that time period. It was definitely very different from today, but I felt very constricted and limited in my actions.   

Analyzing Emma Again

This week in AP lit class we are analyzing Emma, once again. For this reading we were assigned to read volume two of Jane Austen’s Emma A lot of stuff happens within this volume, we meet Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill, and they both bring in a lot of drama to Highbury. Jane Fairfax is Emma’s foil, Jane brings out the worst in Jane and Jane brings out the worst Emma. Jane is Emma’s “friendemy” Emma acts friendly toward Jane but behind her back she exploits all of Jane’s flaws. Especially when everybody takes a liking to Jane, Emma gets jealous of the attention that Jane gets. Then on the other hand Jane brings out the un lady likeness in Emma. Behind Jane’s back Emma is deceitful. Especially when she is with Mr. Churchill, Emma reveals her beliefs about Jane and Mr. Dixon, which makes her looks very unlady like.  With Mr. Churchill Emma is deceived by his charming looks and his gracious manners, she takes a very fund liking to him and even sees herself having an affair with him, but he is only interested in Jane.

            This volume is all about the social structure, every issue the Emma runs into in this volume is created by her inability to respect the rules of the social structure and her enforcing the rules to much. First is Emma’s jealousy of Jane, she really doesn’t have any competition with Jane, but her insecurity leads to her down grading herself and making a fool out herself in front of Mr. Churchill. The other social contradiction is Mr. Churchill’s affection for Jane. In chapter seven he says that he is going to London “for a haircut” but he is really going to buy Jane a new Piano. He tells Emma this lie so that no one will suspect that he is “crushing” on someone that is in a lower class then him. Mrs. Elton is the major social rule breaker, she thinks a little too highly of herself. Mrs. Elton chooses to make Jane her new project, she wants to bring Jane out into society and it is also a way to get under Emma’s skin. Mrs. Elton comes in a stirs up the mix in Highbury, she is very disrespectful toward her companions in the higher classes. It is a huge deal when she calls Mr. Knightly, Knightly, she is too familiar with her upperclassmen.

            My favorite part of the whole volume was the rumor that was started about Mr. Knightly having affections for Jane. I love that Emma has little burst of jealousy about this rumor. She clearly has some sort feelings toward Mr. Knightly, or else she wouldn’t have defended the truth so thoroughly. Emma is also looking at the social suicide that Mr. Knightly would be committing if he did make a proposal to Jane. Emma is all for protecting the social structure, ironically she doesn’t really follow her own rules, she is the one that is choosing to against the social norm to marry.

Emma Blog #2

For the past week we have been analyzing Jane Austen’s Emma, and the regency era. Personally Jane Austen is my favorite author and I absolutely love the time period that she is trying to present through her writings. I love reading about the elegant parties and the romantic life that the people lived (of course only the people of wealth lived this way). There are many aspects about Emma’s life that intrigues me. She is very different from many of the women at this time; one of the debates that we had in class during our seminar was about whether or not Emma was an activist ahead of her time or if she chooses to act the way she does just for personal gain. Emma is also very open about her wealth, meaning that she isn’t afraid to flaunt it and she doesn’t have any fear of losing it. She differs in what she wants out of life as well, most ladies in this time were looking for a husband so they could fulfill their societal needs and hopefully makes some money for their families when they married, but Emma she doesn’t want anything to do with finding a partner for herself. She doesn’t really have any goals for herself as well, she only plays matchmaker because she is either bored, or she doesn’t have any inclination of what she wants to do with her life.

One take on Emma is that she is an activist way ahead of her time, the way she acts makes her seems like an independent woman who is interested in herself in the present rather than the uncertainty of what her future brings. Emma seems a lot like a feminist, she is all about herself being free willing and self empowering, but in order to do this she makes other people, especially her lady friends, feel powerless and encourages them to take the easy way out by marrying and taking the social expectations. Emma obviously doesn’t want to settle with married life, she wants to amused with her childish games and hopes of becoming a widower. Emma I think just wants to stay a child forever and doesn’t want to live in a world where she will have to give up her freedom, her voice, her immaturity, and her innocence. This is a power struggle between Emma and the social expectations on that time, because she wants to be one thing, but her society wants her to fulfill the gender roles of what is expected of her. Emma though is very different in respects to Harriet and the other women who she is involved with, because she has money, not her family has money, and she is going to be guaranteed $30000 dollars when her father dies. So Emma is trying to decide whether she feels obliged to meet the social expectations because her friends tell her she should or should she flaunt her right to be free and not conform to the social standard.

Hamlet Debreif

Since we are now ending our Hamlet unit for this blog I think I just want to debrief on all my ideas and theories that used to analyze the “To be or not to be” soliloquy for our timed writing today.  In my opinion “To be or not to be” are the most important words said in the book, because they unravel so many more themes. The whole “umbrella theme” that I believe that these words could be alluding to would be Hamlet’s internal conflict of having to decide on whether to take action or be passive and let life trample all over him. This is where “To be or not to be” expands into a huge web of connections because action versus inaction can mean almost anything in the book. For this particular scene I think Hamlet is making a judgment on whether or not his fate is worth changing, because morally every option that he has ends up with him being damned after he dies. Pretty much through this soliloquy Hamlet is questioning life, which is infinite, and this is why I believe there are so many connecting themes that this soliloquy addresses. Most simply seen in this soliloquy is that Hamlet is questioning whether or not it is better to live and suffer through life or die which will free him from a life of responsibility and hardship. If Hamlet chooses to live he has two options; he can kill Claudius, avenge his father’s death and maintain his dignity, but he is committing a sin which morally is disappointing. The other options are for Hamlet to wimp and suffer through the pain created by his shame for not avenging his father’s death. If he chooses to commit suicide he is tempting with the power of God and he won’t die a Christian death. Hamlet compares death to sleep and thinks to end the suffering and pain is to end it completely. At the end of the soliloquy Hamlet decides that the uncertainty of death is to frightening than the worst the life can throw at him. “’Tis nobler in the mind to suffer” in life than deal with the uncertainty that death brings.

In addition to its crucial thematic content, this speech is also important for what it reveals about Hamlet’s mental health. He is totally not in a state of madness because everything he says is still accurate and makes sense. His deeply passionate nature is paired with his keen logical judgment, to come up with a way to satisfy his life. He has turned to religion and found it inadequate to help him either kill himself or solution to kill Claudius. Here, he turns to a logical philosophical dilemma and finds it equally frustrating. Hamlet takes his morality a little far when he begins to judge everyone else on their sins, because he is in no state to be judging other people morally. This soliloquy is the moral key to the entire play and meaning of the play.

Emma blog #1

This week for our blog we were assigned to discuss and analyze Jane Austen’s Emma. So far I have read the first seven chapters and Emma is in my mind a very interesting character. She has grown up without a mother, her father is spoils her and gives into her every whim, and when she was very young she was given the prestigious title of mistress of the estate. So in many ways she hasn’t really gotten to experience childhood, but in other ways she still lacks maturity and responsibility. Her lack of maturity and responsibility may stem from the lack of a motherly figure in her life; she grew up with a governess that was more of a friend then an authoritative figure to her. I have also noticed that status is very important in this book. Each of the characters introduced in each of the chapters were describe with some aspect of their social status within the community. Also another themeish idea that I also noticed was the difference between what is outside of Emma’s estate and what is inside. It said that her father Mr. Woodhouse rarely ventured out to go see his friends; he is much fonder of them coming to visit him. Inside at the moment is looking like a way for the Mr. Woodhouse to show off his possessions and to show off Emma, in other words another way for him to promote his social status.

Emma is really starting to get on my nerves right now, she seems like a selfish, meddling, snob. She is very one sided, especially when the reader is first introduced to Harriet Smith, “she is not only the friend Emma had wanted,-- but exactly something that her home required.” Everything right now is about the social aspect of her life, Emma right now really doesn’t have any goals for herself she is driven merely by the thought of getting ahead in society, which I  guess was the life of a woman back then. Emma in my opinion is also a little to full of herself, especially with the time period that this book is based in I think her huge ego is going to get her into some sort of trouble, and maybe even double trouble  when you combine her naivety and willing to meddle into anything with her self confidence.  

Harriet is also an interesting character, she doesn’t really have the qualities in a socially satisfying friendship that the reader would expect Emma to be drawn to. I think Harriet is more of a project for Emma, she sees Harriet as something that she can work her meddling skills with to pass the time. I know that Emma has good intentions for Harriet, but is she really making the right call dismissing her from Mr. Martin? It is hard to judge Emma’s reasoning’s because they are all driven by social expectations, but what are Emma’s needs and why does she require so much attention and so much meddling activity?

The Blind Assassin Blog 1

For this week’s AP lit blog assignment I wanted to look at the complex themes and structure of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Blind Assassin. The novel is basically an autobiography of Iris Chase, it follows her dysfunctional childhood and goes through the hardship and trauma that Iris and her sister, Laura, had through after their mother passed away. While trailing into Iris’s strange past, a novel within a novel is intertwined within the plot, The Blind Assassin is a novel that Iris had published but gave her sister credit for writing it, it is about two unnamed lovers who meet in secret and come up with a science fiction tale that describes the life and events on a distant planet where the people engage unusual acts. As the novel progresses there is a growth within Iris as she finishes up her life story, she starts writing about her life with unanswered questions and as she comes to her death many of those answers are answered, but one thing that stuck in my mind was what made Iris different from all the other characters?  I was also curious to if Iris is such a strong character why is she consumed into everybody else’s problems and why does she let herself be sucked into so much corruption?

Following in the archetypal themes of the past few weeks Iris is most characterized as the cow boy archetype.  She is only interested in her duty: but there are sooo many duties that she takes into account when she looks back on her life. She is forced for fulfill gender duties, social duties, and marital duties but never really acknowledges her own individual duties that she owes to herself. The cause she is fighting for is to keep her sister safe; after her mother dies Iris becomes the mother figure for Laura. Many of the social and cultural aspects of this time lead Iris to astray from her real duty to her sister. As a stronger character in the novel I think the Iris shows strength when fulfilling each duty but each of the strengths that she shows leads to her ultimate weakness which causes her to lose most of what she wants. This also supports that she is the cow boy archetype.

I also wanted to take a look at Laura who is also a very strong character in the novel, but unfortunately I think she ends up being a product of her time period. Laura never truly evolves from being a child, a lot like Iris she is searching for explanations to her questions, but she never really gets them. One of Laura’s most memorial events in my mind is when she throws herself into the frozen river, and once Iris rescues her she tells Iris that she was sacrificing herself to bring back her mother and Iris tells her that life doesn’t work like that. This event alludes to Laura’s death being a suicide, but it also shows kind of a devotion to make her family happy. She knows that she is burden on Iris but what is her main goal in the novel?

Hamlet Act II

This past week in AP Lit class we analyzed the second Act of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Act II begins with Polonius telling his man Reynaldo to go spy on Laertes in Paris, but he Polonius tells Reynaldo not to the typical spy thing, he says to go around and make statements about Laertes and see if the statements are true. Scene I in Act II is the first time the themes of spying and seeming join together as a basis of characterization. At the end of scene I Ophelia comes running onto set frightened and confused because, Hamlet has just come to her into a state of madness. She claims that he came to her and held her tightly and then resistibly left her. To Polonius this poses and opportunity to use Ophelia to get money. Scene ii begins with the king and queen acting royal in their court, they hire two of Hamlet’s “good” friends to come and spy on him and find out why he has been acting “peculiar.” Afterwards Polonius comes into the palace to tell Claudius and Gertrude that the reason that Hamlet has been acting “mad” is because he is madly in love Ophelia and has been upset that she hasn’t been returning her affections to him after her talk with her father. So Polonius and the royal family plan to use Ophelia as bate to see what is truly wrong with Hamlet, so in other words they are using Ophelia to spy on Hamlet. Hamlet walks into the room and then Polonius bombards Hamlet with questions and tries to make conversation, but Hamlet completely outsmarts him and makes witty remarks. Afterward Guildenstern and Rosencrantz come back onto set and Hamlet makes it known that he knows that his parents are spying.

This Act is all about deception and spying. Polonius is the major instigator that starts the whole spying fad in the play. Polonius has no limits he is ultimately willing to engage in anything to find the truth. As seen in scene I Polonius is willing to spread false rumors about his family in order to find out the truth. One of the key lines in this Act is “With windlasses and with assays of bias” this also brings about the fact the Polonius plays games to manipulate the situation to what fits himself best. In Shakespeare’s mind Polonius is a representative of people they are self-interested and some of them aren’t very bright to realize that other people are also self-interested.  It seems that Shakespeare is blurring the lines between theatricality and reality. He insists that we see his play as occurring at the same time in the fantasy of Hamlet’s kingdom and the actual world. There is a distinct difference in each characters vision of the world even though Hamlet is “crazy” he as more touch with what is happening outside in the world than any of the other characters. He sees the difference between reality and fantasy we can see this in how Shakespeare changes his dialogue from prose to verse and the way he talks with his friends.

Hamlet Blog #2

This week in AP Lit we completed Act I in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and analyzed some of the major themes that were consistent throughout the scenes. In Act I we are introduced to the ghost in the very first scene, which already sets the play in uncertainty and negativity. Along with the ghost representing a bad omen in Denmark, it is also revealed that Denmark is under political turmoil; Norway is threating to invade Denmark and the king of Denmark, King Hamlet, has just died and in the beginning of Scene two we are introduced to his successor, his brother Claudius, not his son Hamlet. In scene II it is revealed that Claudius has married his late brother’s wife Gertrude, which back in Elizabethan age is a huge no no.  In Scene II we finally meet the main character of the story, Hamlet and he is not happy about his mother’s marriage and the fact that she hasn’t mourned her husband’s death as long as she should have. In Scene III we meet Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius and we find out that Hamlet has a romantic interest in Ophelia, but Polonius warns Ophelia not to get involved with Hamlet because the relationship won’t lead to marriage. In Scene 4 Horatio takes Hamlet to see the ghost of King Hamlet, but when the ghost appears Hamlet runs after it, ignoring the warning that Horatio gives him about losing his mind. When Hamlet talks to the Ghost, it is revealed that Claudius murdered King Hamlet. Scene 5 is about Hamlet making the decision to avenge his father’s death by murdering Claudius.
Throughout Act I one of the consistent themes is seem vs. is. Many of the characters introduced in Act 1 have two sides to them, there is a reoccurring question are they who they seem they are? Letts take the queen, is she really in love with Claudius and has she really gotten over her husband’s death? There are different views that there can be on Gertrude, one being that she and Claudius had an affair before her husband died or another being that Claudius forced her into his bed after her husband died. There are many elements that dictate the answer to this question, one of them being is we don’t have information to really know who Gertrude is. The openness of the characters, allows a director to portray them as he/she wants which should help answer some questions.
Act I we also need to take longer look into what the ghost represents. Obviously he is supposed to be Hamlet’s father, but is he really there to avenge his death. When we take a closer look into Hamlet’s first soliloquy, Hamlet obviously had a great admiration toward him, he even compares him to the sun god. If he is this great guy then why has he not gone to heaven? One of the biggest questions is what kind of ghost is he? Is he a ghost that is sent to help Hamlet take his righteous thrown or is he there to send Hamlet over the crazy cliff and force him into temptation?

Hamlet Blog #1

So for the past week in AP Lit we have been digging deeper and deeper into Hamlet. We have gotten through scenes one and two; there is a distress in the kingdom because the late King Hamlet’s ghost is walking around and Norway is threatening to invade Denmark for the revenge of Young Thortenbroth’s father, so everybody is on edge. In the second scene Hamlet is first introduced along with his mother and his uncle, who have just gotten married (incest) and Hamlet is not happy about it. The primary focus for the past two days in class has been Hamlet’s first soliloquy in scene two. This soliloquy puts Hamlet’s true feelings in perspective: first of all he is still grieving for the loss of his father (whom he admired greatly) and everyone has moved on and mocks him for his unmanly stature to the situation, and secondly he is disappointed at his mother’s behavior and believes that if she had loved his father truly she would have mourned longer instead of going off and gallivanting with her husband’s brother. My question is; is Hamlet in the right to still be feeling great disappoint to the unfortunate occurrences that has happen to him and how will come of the depressed state that he is in currently?

So one of the factors that contribute to Hamlet’s depressed state is the death of his father. His father’s death has been a catalyst to what Hamlet believes is the fall of the kingdom. Once his father died Denmark is now in danger, Hamlet is now questioning his mother’s love toward his father, Hamlet’s uncle is taking over the kingdom, and Hamlet isn’t socially able to communicate his feelings with anyone because his people mock him for being a sissy and crying over his father’s death. One of the key elements to Hamlet at this part of the book is that he takes in all of his problems and deflects all of his problems into harming himself. A key line in the soliloquy is when he wishes that God hadn’t made suicide a sin; and contemplates killing himself just to get away from his defiled family issues and his father’s crumbling kingdom. Another thing that contributes to Hamlet’s grief is that he is completely alone in his mourning process. He is socially ostracized by his mother and uncle because they think he is acting unmanly because he still is upset about his father’s death. This put Hamlet in a state of confusion and challenges his mother’s true love for his father. He claims that if she really loved him she would have mourned longer and wouldn’t have married his uncle. Hamlet

After giving the question in the first paragraph some thought, I believe that Hamlet’s behavior is completely acceptable in a time like this. Everyone else is in the wrong. There are multiple theories to why Hamlet’s actions are acceptable. The characterization of Hamlet is very important in the first soliloquy because we now know his emotion stand point and how he relates socially with his people.

Lets "Carpe Diem"

This week I’m having a hard time coming up with a really good topic for my AP lit blog, on account of that this week we focused on finding poems for our poetry notebooks and looking at the interworking of Shakespeare’s language. So, this week I think I am going to practice analyzing some poetry, just for funJ. Just fit the theme of this past week I am going combine my poetry skills and my Shakespeare skills, and analyze a poem written by Shakespeare. I am going to look at “Carpe Diem,” which is little ironic because in Latin the title means Seize the Day, and I am seizing the practice at analyzing poetry.

One of the most important parts of this poem is the title. “Carpe Diem” is a phrase from a Latin poem, “Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero” which means seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the next day. The whole phrase means that the future is unforeseen. The entire poem is about the urgency of life and how one should live life now and enjoy the present before the journey over. Shakespeare’s cynical and pessimistic tone toward to the uncertainty of life reveals that love and youth can be taken away rapidly so one must act upon them urgently.  In The first stanza focuses on the lover’s quest to find each other but once they find their love the journey is over. In the first stanza the speaker is professing his love and asking his lover to respond to him now and not later. (Wink Wink this philosophy and naivety can be seen in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet; when Romeo and Juliet chose to get married after being with each other for a day, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream.) One of the key lines in this poem is “present mirth hath present laughter” meaning if you think something is funny now laugh now not later. This applies to the whole philosophy of “Carpe Diem” Shakespeare puts it right when his speaker asks “What is love? ‘tis not hereafter. As time passes love can be lost and forgotten but the present is where one can have the most feeling toward love. Shakespeare is saying because the future is unpredictable why chance the love and youth they have right now by waiting to see what happens in the future. It is the ultimate definition of “living in the present.”

So the ultimate question that a scholarly poet analyzer must find out is what is the moment in time the Shakespeare is trying to capture? The answer to that question is quite complex; it is not just one moment that he is trying to capture it the entire present time that is trying to get the reader to be aware of. This poem is trying to show the reader the importance of living in the moment and focusing on “the now” because by waiting for the future the present is missed and the chance at youth and love is missed.

 

 

Carpe Diem

O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear! your true-love's coming
That can sing both high and low;
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journey's end in lovers' meeting--
Every wise man's son doth know.

What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty,--
Then come kiss me, Sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

William Shakespeare

Poetry! Yay!

For the first week back to AP Lit our class’s main focus has been Poetry! Yay! Poetry out of all the subjects in literature is by far my favorite, there are so many theories and ideas that each poet displays in their poems, and I love diversity and the unpredictability that poems present. With so many ideas and concepts that must be followed when reading poetry often mislead students into having negative feelings toward the poetry unit, but when you think of each poem as puzzle I believe it makes it a bit easier to piece together the poet’s feelings and image that he/she wants to portray. Through the industrialization of the world, the is need for an outlet of emotion and beauty and throughout time poetry has allowed writers to thrive and create beauty that almost everyone can relate to, this is what attracts me to poetry. Throughout my life music has been very important and reading poetry to me is like reading out song lyrics, when reading a poem I try to find a the best instrumental music that correctly portrays the poets tone, mood, and overall emotion toward the moment in time he/she is writing about.

The whole focus of my blog this week is making it known that students can learn to like poetry. I promise its bark is far worse than its bite, coming from a high school senior I have had my fair share of moaning and groaning about poetry, but when you get into your fourth year of learning about poetry it kind of grows on you. Now I am so intrigued at that fact that our class is going to spending so much time on poetry. Compared to some the units first semester, I’m glad we have finally started poetry. Our teacher has given our class really good tips when it comes to analyzing poetry, which was also a major help when writing our first timed writing. What I also noticed with these tips was that they don’t only really apply to poetry they can help when reading other literary material.

So tip number one to analyzing poetry look for the obvious: find the easys- punctuation goes along way when analyzing poetry, it is one of the most over looked things, punctuation can completely change the way a poem can be read. It can also give indication that the poet meant to use the structure of the poem to portray the tone and mood of the poem. Tip number two: make sure you always come up with strong questions about the poem before jumping into analyzing it, this really help when identifying the moment in time that the poet is writing about. Tip number three: Look for repetition and reoccurring images, this can help the reader determine the poet’s main opinion and tone toward his or her topic. Finally tip number four: look for the life moment the poet wants to focus on and make sure you know his or her tone toward the moment, this makes finding a “so what” so much easier.