Hamlet in.....THE FUTURE

Hello people of Earth. I come to you speaking from the planet Mars.
The year is 7098;
Space travel has now become as easy as driving to the supermarket, flying cars are a thing of the past, and
time travel has finally been invented by none other than Albert Einstein himself.
Earth has a slight resemblance to the scenery of "Meet the Robinsons".

Anyways......

For this blog post, we were assigned to recreate Hamlet in another setting. As you have probably guessed already, I chose (dun, dun, duuunnn) THE FUTURE.  

My new (maybe improved, however which way you see it) cast list would be the about the same, but they would have updated, more relevant attire. I was thinking:

---------or---------

Also, instead of Denmark being the thing that Claudius rules it will be the planet of Mars(it will be called Mars INC. and it will control all items pertaining to Mars).
Baby Fortinbras would be the ruler of Neptune and would would wage war with large blocks of space junk as ammo.
Horatio and Marcellus would be the trusty soldiers of Mars. They would look like the people from the movie "Tron" and even ride around on those cool motorcycles.
Instead of Hamlet going to college in Germany, he will now be going to college on Earth.

On Mars, I would imagine that the buildings would resemble those of the futuristic ones one Earth in the movie "Meet the Robinsons".  It would be even more updated, though:

If you want my opinion, I think that this version of Hamlet  is way more exciting. Here's a sample scene from the new play.

Act 2 Scene 2: when Hamlet is confronted by Polonius --
 In this part of the scene, Hamlet appears to be just looking straight ahead, but don't be fooled, Hamlet is reading through his invisible glasses. At this point I need to mention that everybody has a pair of iGlass (the newest thing made by Apple). They are basically a hearty combination of Google Glass and an iPhone. Here is a picture:

So, Hamlet is walking(more like jumping) through the anti-gravity hallway reading a book through his iGlass.
Meanwhile, Polonious, Claudius and Gertrude are huddled around a monitor waiting for Hamlet to be on-line for IM-ing. Of course he is everyday for four hours. Polonius IMs Hamlet and they have their conversation, like normal however, they use slang relevant to the era.
I also might add that to respond back to a message, you talk out loud and the iGlass will pick it up and type it back to the recipient. Onlookers might perceive this as crazy, just like Claudius did when Hamlet first showed him how to use it. Also, this is how Hamlet says his soliloquies. They are messages to himself....

I hope you enjoyed this futuristic interpretation of Hamlet. I am signing off, back to Mars I go!

"To be or not to be" Soliloquy

For this blog post, I found two videos from YouTube that portray Hamlet's soliloquy from Act 3 Scene 1 and compare/contrast them.
Yes, this is where Shakespeare writes, "To be or not to be - that is the question"(3.1.64).
Here are the videos that I found.

and...

Please watch both of these clips, they are not as boring as you would think. I enjoyed both!

I would like to notice that both of these videos have Hamlet talking in a soft voice. It was neat that they both had that element because it made the soliloquy about death quite eerie. Also, that was most likely a choice of both directors of the scenes (and quite possibly Shakespeare and Hamlet) so it is not as obvious that Hamlet is talking to himself, but more of 'thinking aloud'.

In the second video, I like how the actor quivers his lips as if he is having a hard time saying his lines because the topic of the soliloquy is not really happy and an easy thing to say especially when being a devout Christian like Hamlet.
I also like how dramatic and up-close the camera angles are. It seems as if you are really are inside Hamlet's thoughts.

In the first video, I really like how there is a mirror. It makes the scene seem even more dark and depressing, as if he is judging himself, if he is like a weak girl or not. And, spoiler alert(not if you did what I said and watched the videos), Hamlet pulls out a sword as if he is going to kill himself right there and then! This really adds to the dramatic-ness(sorry that is not a word) of the scene and the soliloquy.

Overall, I would have to say I liked the first video the most. The props and setting of the scene make it more dramatic and real to the viewer. I also enjoy how the camera slowly zooms in on Hamlet, it just makes it a lot more interesting to watch, instead of up-close-and-personal zoomed in all the way like the first video.

Oh and for your entertainment here is the "to be or not to be" soliloquy song!

Good-bye for now!

Revision of a Paragraph in our "Short Works Essay"

For this blog post, we are asked to revise a paragraph from our "Short Works Essay". My whole essay is posted on my blog a few posts down.

My original paragraph(directly from the essay):
                  As the story progresses, the symbols come to symbolize progress, specifically how progress is halted when all people care about is absolute equality that is created by the handicaps. While the couple is watching TV “George [is] toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped” (Vonnegut 1).   However, as soon as he tried to make progress, or evolve, his thoughts the mental handicap sounded. Consequently, the notion “[doesn't] get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts” (Vonnegut 1).  George’s mental handicap limits his ability to form advanced thoughts that could and most likely will lead to progress, and his ear radio will always ruin and diffuse his potentially intelligent comment. Most people are masked by these handicaps, making them unaware of the side effects, especially no progress, which leaves them bewildered and perplexed when the handicaps disrupt relationships. Yet, some people will also recognize those side effects and take action to break free of these handicaps, in the form of relationships to mock the fact that handicaps, the sound in George’s ear and the ballerina’s weights, can break down relationships. Before people could understand what will happen when there is no progress, it starts to disrupt relationships.

My Revised Paragraph:                  
                 As the story progresses, the symbols come to represent the halting of progress, particularly when all people care about is absolute equality that is created by the handicaps. While the couple is watching TV “George [is] toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped” (Vonnegut 1).   However, as soon as he tries to make progress, or evolve, his thoughts the mental handicap sounded. Consequently, the notion “[doesn't] get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts” (Vonnegut 1). Most people are masked by these handicaps, making them unaware of the side effects. The most obvious side effect of the handicaps is progress halting.  Yet, some people will also recognize those side effects and take action to break free of these handicaps. Vonnegut makes Harrison one of the people who notice the burden of equality and how it can halt progress. To Vonnegut, the only way to break free of equality is to ultimately break down relationships. 

The Many Portrayals of Ophelia in Act 1 Scene 3

I was assigned to watch this video and notice how the actor portrays Ophelia and if I agree with her portrayal. Then compare the first acting to another actor portraying Ophelia in the same scene. (Act 1 Scene 3)
First video:  

The second video: 

In the first video, Ophelia is portrayed as a bubbly, loving sister. Well, at least around her brother. She is willing to take her brothers advice, but by her smile while Laertes tells her the dangers of loving Hamlet, we know that she will definitely go with her gut. This actor also plays Ophelia as a playful soul, especially when she pulls out some of Laertes' stuff. I think that this actor portrayed Ophelia quite well. I imagine Ophelia as a smart girl who will has her own opinions and will stick by them. When Polonius warns Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet, she says, "I will obey my lord" sarcastically, but submissively. However, we all know that she just wanted her dad to go away and know that she obviously has her own plans of continuing to see Hamlet.

The second video portrays Ophelia as a less prominent character, however, if she is in a Shakespeare play, she is definitely important. I am confident to make the statement that Shakespeare has a reason for every little thing in his plays.  That is what makes reading Shakespeare so much fun, even better than going to Disneyland! *sarcasm*  I feel like in the second portrayal she is able to get bossed around by her brother quite easily, but slyly knows her own boundaries and can retort if she wants to. I see this especially in 0:48 seconds of the scene where she smirks a little bit only to herself. 

The two scenes have portrayed Ophelia differently. In the first scene she is shown to have more power and control over her opinions, while in the second she can be influenced easily.  I think the first portrayal captures Shakespeare's vision of Ophelia, more, since she is shown to be more of a sisterly figure by being playful, happy, and caring. However, no one can be too sure of what exactly Shakespeare wanted in his plays. Again the excitement!
My challenge to you, reader, is to portray Ophelia in your own way, possibly different than the two scenes above or maybe the same....

First Impression of Hamlet

As I start to read Hamlet by none other than Shakespeare himself, I read about the depressing character, Hamlet.

Hamlet seems as if he hates the world. When Hamlet first appears in Act 1 Scene 2, he is wearing the "nighted color" (1.2.70) and is told by his mother to "let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark"(1.2.71). The nighted color referred is black and his mother wants Hamlet to be friendly to the King. 

He is described by Shakespeare wearing all black, to emphasize his depression over the fact that he is still stuck over mourning his father's death. Hamlet's father has been dead about two months and Hamlet is still terribly mourning over the loss that it has consumed him to wear all black. I guess you can say Hamlet is childish because he can't move on from the death of a loved one, while adult or mature figures can move on with their lives. Of course, grieving and mourning is part of the recovery process when someone dies, but that part of the process typically lasts two weeks, definitely not two months.  I am not at all saying that you should remember the loved one for only two weeks and then forget them all together and completely move on. No, you should always keep them in your thoughts but it should not consume you like it does to Hamlet.

Shakespeare also portrays Hamlet as a scornful prince. He does not want to admit that his mother married the current King, Hamlet's dad's brother. Hamlet idolizes his father and hates that his mother moved on so quickly. Hamlet remarks that "She married. O'with wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (1.2. 161-162) He calls the marriage "incestuous", but in fact it is totally legal. Calling a legitimate marriage incest is probably one of the worst charges you could make about a marriage, especially about your own MOTHER! To even emphasize the "wicked speed" of her turn around and marrying the brother of her former husband, Shakespeare writes that "the funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables" (1.2.186-187). In other words, the funeral leftovers were still good for the wedding. Woah, Shakespeare is rubbing the death in! Shakespeare is definitely contributing to the depression factor of Hamlet.  

At this point in the play, Hamlet is a downer, and wants nothing to do with his mother or especially the King. By analyzing other Shakepeare plays, most of his characters change, so I am expecting Hamlet to change. I do not know whether it will be a very dramatic positive change or a subtle even more negative change. I guess, I have to read on. 

The Whole Essay!

Refer to the last blog posts for the prompt/outline.
Well, here it is the whole shebang!

Handicaps as Symbols in “Harrison Bergeron”

The symbols, George’s sound in his ear, and the ballerina’s weights, are used by Vonnegut in his short story, “Harrison Bergeron” to create absolute, forced equality in his futuristic community. At the beginning, the symbols show the burden of complete, forced equality and then how progress is halted when all people care about is utter equality. Later, the symbols show how the handicaps, now representing the affliction of absolute equality and the rarity of progress, create problems with relationships.Vonnegut is able to the use symbols, the sound in George’s ear and the ballerina’s weights, to show how complete equality has a negative effect on the progress of thoughts, relationships, can prohibit excellence.

At the start of the story, the physical handicaps, weights on the ballerinas, and the mental handicaps, the sounds in George’s ear,represent the burden of absolute, enforced equality. George and Hazel are watching ballerinas dance beautifully on TV at the beginning of the story. To keep all of the ballerina’s dancing equal they “were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot” (Vonnegut 1).  Not only do they have to bear those weights while they are dancing, it is a burden because of the enforced equality. The physical handicaps that were imposed on the dancers, show the onus the enforced equality.

Moreover, the mental handicap in George’s ear is placed there so “people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (Vonnegut 1).   Vonnegut describes George as having above-average intelligence. However, in this futuristic utopia, above-average is not okay, unless everyone is. Consequently George’s intelligence made him have “a little mental handicap radio in his ear,” (Vonnegut 1) and “would send out some sharp noise” (Vonnegut 1) to prevent un-equality in intelligence and eventually the progression of thoughts. Since the above average intelligence is unable to think about things in depth, only the surface of the topic is brushed and is unable to make connections to create progress. The handicaps enable equality, but disable the ability to form complex comments that will eventually lead to the development of even more elaborate comments, all because of forced, later unwanted, equality.   

As the story progresses, the symbols come to symbolize progress, specifically how progress is halted  when all people care about is absolute equality that is created by the handicaps. While the couple is watching TV when the ballerinas were on “George [is] toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped” (Vonnegut 1).   However, as soon as he tried to make progress, or evolve,  his thoughts the mental handicap sounded. Consequently, the notion “didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts” (Vonnegut 1).  George’s mental handicap limits his ability to form advanced thoughts that could and most likely will  lead to progress, and his ear radio will always ruin and diffuse his potentially intelligent comment. Most people are masked by these handicaps, making them unaware of the side effects, especially no progress, which leaves them bewildered and perplexed when the handicaps disrupt relationships . Yet, some people will also recognize those side effects and take action to break free of these handicaps, in the form of relationships to mock the fact that handicaps, the sound in George’s ear and the ballerina’s weights, can break down relationships.

When the end of the story arrives, the symbols finally illustrate the harm to relationships and the rebellion of the handicaps through the creation of other relations. In attempt to rally the rebellion, Harrison picked a ballerina from the crowd and “plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy” (Vonnegut 5). He removed all of the ballerina’s handicaps and declared her his Empress to rebel against the government and show that absolute equality is useless. By Harrison taking off the ballerina’s weights, he creates a relationship as “Harrison and his Empress” and enables rebellion. 

In another instance after the couple watched the horror of Harrison on TV, a relationship was destroyed; the connection was lost between Harrison and his parents. George goes to get a drink and comes back to Hazel crying and says to “‘forget sad things,’ said George. ‘I always do,’ said Hazel’” (Vonnegut 6) and then promptly heard, “the sound of a riveting gun in his head” (Vonnegut 6). In the first part of the quote, George was telling Hazel to forget Harrison dying on TV. At this point the  relationship and connection between Harrison and his parents is destroyed. When George hears the sound of a gun, it emphasizes the fact that the mental handicap ruins any hope of reconnecting with his son, and even the mourning over the death of Harrison. 

Vonnegut uses this story mock absolute equality. He is trying to tell us that when everybody is equal, it will be horrible,not worth it and that people should focus their energy somewhere else, such as trying to create progress and increase the complexity of their thoughts. Through the symbols, he shows the reader that equality is harmful and that there should be people who are better than the average and even people who are below average. By not limiting what people can accomplish, like removing the handicaps in the story, it will eventually demonstrate to us how excellence can better the prosperity.

---

Revised Intro and outline to Short Works Essay

Here is a revised introduction and outline to the Short Works essay mentioned in the last post.

The symbols, George’s sound in his ear, and the ballerina’s weights, are used by Vonnegut in his short story, “Harrison Bergeron” to create absolute, forced equality in his futuristic community. The symbols show the burden of the involuntary, complete parity, and how progress is seized when there is utter equality. Later, the symbols show how the handicaps, now representing the affliction of absolute equality and the rarity of progress, create problems with relationships. Vonnegut is able to use symbols, the sound in George’s ear and the ballerina’s weights, to show how outright impartiality has a negative effect on the progress of thoughts, relationships,  and can prohibit excellence.

Outline:

I.                   At the start of the story, the physical handicaps, weights on the ballerinas, and the mental handicaps, the sounds in George’s ear, represent the burden of absolute, enforced equality.

a.       “They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot.”

b.      “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear”

c.       “the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains”

II.                As the story progresses, the symbols come to symbolize progress, specifically how no progress is made with absolute equality created by the handicaps.

a.       “But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.”

b.      “George was toying with the notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped.”

III.             When the end of the story arrived, the symbols finally illustrate the harm to relationships and the rebellion of the handicaps through the creation of other relationships.

a.       “George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying" he said to Hazel… "Forget sad things," said George. "I always do," said Hazel. "That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a rivetting gun in his head.”

b.      “Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy.”

Introduction to the Short Works Essay

In my English class we were given an essay that we will write overtime with an elaborate process. The prompt is to chose one author's text that we read for summer reading and explain how this writer utilizes one of the following literary tools-- characterization, symbolism, irony, tone-- to make a comment or pose a question about the challenges we face when trying to live as individuals in the world.

I chose to write about the symbolism in "Harrison Bergeron" By Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

For this blog post we are required to post our introduction of the essay.

My introduction:

Vonnegut in his short story, “Harrison Bergeron” is creating a community where everyone is absolutely equal; nobody is more exceptional or better looking than another. If person has special brain power, they get a sharp noise sent to them at random times in the day so they will not use their brain to an advantage. In this futuristic culture, equality was prized and handicaps, like the sharp noises sent to exceptional brains, were placed on people that the higher authorities thought would be better than anyone else, to keep complete parity. Vonnegut satirizes the fact that everyone should be equal and uses the symbol of handicaps to portray his stance on the topic. The symbol, handicaps, is used by Vonnegut to contribute to the absolute equality in a large group of people, so that Vonnegut can satirize how equality can hurt us, which consequently creates people who resist the handicaps, and with these handicaps it hinders the ability of other individuals to recollect the memory of those rebels who are skeptical of the norm and strive for a change in the system.   

Miniver Cheevy and the concept of YOLO

What is the phrase people have been saying? YOJO? YOGO? 

No, I've got it, YOLO! 

It means: You Only Live Once.

People use it to describe life and how to seize every moment. 

Nemo is going to touch the boat because "you only live once".

Miniver Cheevy, would rather say You Only Live at the Wrong Time.

Yes, that is a bit wordy but this character in the poem, "Miniveer Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson, wants only to live in Medieval Times. He currently lives in the 1900s, about 3000 years from the end of the Renaissance. Sucks for him right? Well he thinks so too.  

Miniver longs to be in a place where “swords were bright and steeds were prancing” (Edwinson, 778). He convinces himself that he was born in the wrong millennia and wishes “that he was never born” (Edwinson, 778) . At the end of poem, he decides that being born out of time was only fate and kept on drinking alcohol to numb the pain of being a misfit in the 20^th century.

Robinson was the early developer of the concept YOLO and is trying to show us how to live like we only have one life.

He makes Miniver have a drinking problem to exemplify the fact that if you are not excited about where and when you are living, accept that fact, move on, and then accept the fact that you are unique and You Only Live Once.

My advice to you, Reader, and Miniver: YOLO.

Iron-y it Out

For a story titled, "Once Upon a Time" you wouldn't expect it to be gruesome, or even contain a death at the end?

Well, if you said yes, brush up on your literary terms, especially "irony".

Irony in the simplest terms is the contradiction or opposite situation of what is expected to happen to a person, circumstance, or statement. 

This shows irony because it is expected that the improved literacy department can spell, however, apparently not.

There are three types of irony verbal, dramatic, and situational. You can laugh about the three types of irony here.  In Gordimer's work mainly situational irony is used, and a couple of instances of verbal irony too. 

The verbal irony, saying one thing but in truth meaning another, in Gordimer's work is when she says that the characters "were living happily ever after". The author is really telling the readers that the family is not actually living in harmony but rather in the wretched state of never being satisfied.

The situational irony, the exact opposite of what is expected happens, occurs many times in the story. It usually comes in the format of the couple buying a piece of safety equipment to keep them safe but it hurts and hinders them in the result.

One situation is when the whole community buys alarm systems to keep out the burglars. The alarms keep going off because of the wandering cats(oh, you darn cats!) and becomes a sound that the whole community is used to. Gordimer tells the reader that, "under cover of the electronic harpies’ discourse intruders....broke into homes". The expected result of having alarms is that the home would not have been broken into, but using irony, Gordimer plays with our expectations and makes the alarms harm the families.

Another situation is when the ***spoiler alert*** boy dies from the installation of barbed wire on their fence to, ironically, keep the boy safe.

Irony is a fantastic way to produce a sarcastic tone in a literary work. Instead of just telling the reader that people need to know when to stop and be satisfied about safety and that there needs to be a balance between the two extremes and sometimes being unsafe is okay, the author sarcastically describes a horrendous child's story through ironic situations.

In many ways, it is easier and more entertaining to describe things ironically. That is probably why Gordimer decided to write "Once Upon a Time" through irony. 

Favorite Summer Reading

Hi bloggers! My name is Rachael and you have arrived at my blog. This is a blog about literature and my position and view on works of writing. Hope you enjoy & rachael-ize (realize) something new or interesting!

This summer I read a large amount of short stories and poems for the upcoming English 2 year, and I guarantee that I read all of them, don't worry. While I read them, I was struck by a plethora of emotions, they were all quality pieces of literature, I assure you. But of all the texts, I really connected with the short story, "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. because of the satirical nature of the story. For some reason, I enjoy making make believe situations that make fun of the current or past scenes, sort of like what happens in "Harrison Bergeron". Maybe I'm a reincarnation of Vonnegut, but I probably don't want to be, well that's a whole other can of worms(maybe a topic for a later post......).

But I digress.
This story in set in the future where everyone is equal to the point where "nobody was better looking than anybody else" Now, that would suck, like how would you have beauty pageants?! Oh, wait, that means we could all be America's Next Top Model! Maybe this isn't so bad after all...

However, at the end of the story, because of all of the equality, the main character, Harrison, gets killed. By this the author is trying to show society how bad things can be when everyone is equal, and that there should be some people in the world that are better or worse than you. Annnnnnnd life will go on- I promise- if someone gets a better grade than you on the biggest test of the year. 

What really struck me as interesting was the fact that the government put handicaps on exceptional people so that they would not take "unfair advantage of their brains". 
(The picture below depicts the fashioning of a handicap) 

This caught my attention because in today's world its the bright minds that will exceed the unimaginable and people, especially teachers or coaches, will nurture and help those with exceptional talents to go above and beyond. Maybe someday those without 'handicaps' or have broken free of their handicaps with exceptional intelligence and talent will teach us how to find a corner of a circle--that could be all of us.

So, let's all try. Shall we?