He Waited Until the Last Second. (Act V)

One thing that I noticed throughout Hamlet was that it felt like something was missing the whole time. When I reached the end of Act V, I realized exactly what that missing bit was - death. William Shakespeare is notorious for killing off many of his characters throughout his tragedies, and Hamlet - one of his most acclaimed works - is no exception. However, what I couldn't understand was why exactly he waited until the very end of the play to kill off several characters. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I didn't like it, but to me the rapid killing of four main characters in the last 1/7 of Act V was a bit much. Perhaps the reason why this was strange and new for me - causing me to go back and re-read it in order to figure out what had happened - was because I was not used to it. From the past few plays which I have read by Shakespeare, he often will "spread out" the deaths a bit - providing a more consistent stream of morbid entertainment for the audience. A prime example of this is another acclaimed work of Shakespeare's - Romeo and Juliet. This tragedy has a similar number of character deaths, however they occur periodically within the play: Mercutio and Tybalt die in an exciting duel in the middle of the play, Paris dies in the middle of Act V, Romeo and Juliet die near the end, and then Lady Montague dies at the very end. However, despite the fact that it may seem as if I am attacking the way that Shakespeare mapped out the deaths in Hamlet, that is most definitely not the case - in fact, I believe that he had good reasons for doing so. The first of these reasons is the idea of a "Grand Finale" of sorts. Just like in a good fireworks show, Shakespeare saved the best part for last - he put in a huge show at the end to send out the play with a "bang." Similarly, it is likely that a large portion of Shakespeare's audience had/has seen some of his work at some point in there life, and therefore were waiting for something exciting to happen (the death of Polonius was not nearly enough for the insatiable thirst for blood that the audience so often has), so they would remain focused on the play as not to miss the "best part." Finally, it makes sense that Shakespeare would want to change up the layout of his play - if all of his work was essentially the same storyline with a different setting and characters, then the public would have lost interest in his work and he would not be nearly as famous as he is today.

Final Word Count (Not Including this Footer): 468 Words.

Apparently Madness is Contagious... (Act IV)

In Act IV of Hamlet, one thing that the audience can't help but notice is that Ophelia has snapped and very quickly slid down the slope of sanity into madness. Madness, lunacy, "ecstasy" and insanity in all forms seems to be a consistent theme throughout this play - and this Act is where it is first witnessed in Ophelia. Despite the fact that Hamlet claims to be sane and simply "pretending" to be mad in order to divert attention, I also believe he is quite obviously "off his rocker" as well. The first topic regarding madness in the play is how Shakespeare portrays it in his chosen subjects. The audience sees it in Ophelia in the form of incessant singing, somewhat incoherent speech and a strange fixation with flowers and death, while in Hamlet it is portrayed as showing some suicidal thoughts (To be, or not to be...), as well as potential signs of near-schizophrenia - including hallucinations (the Ghost), delusions (info provided by Ghost), and paranoia (not trusting many other people). It is obvious that Shakespeare was looking to mix it up a bit when it came to his crazy characters, as these two forms of madness are almost completely different. However, what I personally found interesting is that it appears as if Shakespeare - either intentionally or by accident - displayed this madness as a contagious illness. It seems as if, like the flu, Ophelia simply "caught" the madness-bug from Hamlet because of their relationship and how much she was hanging around him and being in physical contact with him. Just like the flu, she caught it and rapidly deteriorated into severe symptoms - except in this case it was lunacy instead of a cough. In my mind, I found this very interesting that it seemed that Hamlet "went mad," and subsequently Ophelia digressed as well - suggesting that maybe, just maybe, madness is contagious - and that was what Shakespeare was trying to tell us all along.

Final Word Count (Not including this footer): 330 Words.

The most inopportune moments: Irony and Act III

As we reach the climax that is Act III, Shakespeare makes use of one of the basic literary elements that can add tremendous depth and suspense to the plot of the story - the element of Irony. Irony comes in many forms: dramatic, Socratic, situational, and many more; however in Act III of Hamlet, the audience mainly catches a glimpse of dramatic irony in several of the actions of young Prince Hamlet - the protagonist. The first instance of irony that can be found in this section of the play is immediately following his fabled "to be or not to be" soliloquy, when King Claudius decides to send Hamlet off to England for a while "whereon his brains still beating puts him thus from fashion of himself." The irony to be found here is that in the previous Act as well as the preceding monologue Hamlet was essentially deciding that he would kill Claudius, and realtively soon. He will not be able to do that in England - as, of course, this play takes place in Denmark. Another occurrence of irony within Act III is when Hamlet walks in on Claudius and has a golden opportunity to kill him with ease. However, the ironic twist to be found here is that Hamlet surveyed the scene and concluded that Claudius may have been repenting his sins, as Hamlet had just presented him a reenactment of how he had killed his brother. This is ironic because he was not repenting, but simply praying - negating Hamlet's hesitation due to the fact that killing him then had potential of sending him to heaven as opposed to where he, in Hamlet's mind, belonged. Later in the play, we realize that this irony is increased due to the fact that it likely would have saved many lives in the long run. A final instance of ironic tension within this middle/climax point of the play occurs when Hamlet is visiting his mother. Not only does he kill some stranger hiding behind a curtain and proceed to give his mother a speech about how terrible she is for being with Claudius (whom he believes he just killed), and talk to the Ghost who reappears to chastise Hamlet for being mean, but it turns out that it wasn't Claudius but Polonius who he killed, as well as the awkward situation where he sees and converses with a ghost that his mother can't see. Unfortunately for Hamlet, all of this arouses Gertrude's suspicions of his madness even more and potentially leads her on to what exactly he's up to. All of this irony - of people being in the wrong place, at the wrong time and misinterpreting the situation - adds a tremendous amount of suspense, audience engagement, and overall depth to the play Hamlet.

(Total word count, not including this footnote: 461 words)

Monologue Analysis: "Now I am Alone..." (Act II)

At the end of Act II, following the initial meeting of all of the actors for the play that Hamlet is planning on setting up, the prince has a rather extensive monologue. In this closing segment, Prince Hamlet relates not only his disappointment regarding how well the first player did in his audition of sorts, but also his general plan of action as to how he plans to scope out whether or not Claudius actually killed his father. His plan is thus - he will essentially have the players reenact his father's murder and gauge from the King's reaction whether or not he actually killed King Hamlet. What makes this monologue interesting is its use of diction and the many words requiring footnotes for explanation. Lines such as 582-583, saying "A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause..." The apparent colloquialism used adds an almost poetic depth to the speech pattern when read aloud. Hamlet then proceeds to go on to become angry once again over the murder of his father and the terms villain and vengeance become a mainstay in his vocabulary choice. As well, Hamlet continually questions his bravery and relates himself to a whore and a slut, mostly because he "must unpack my heart with words" (Line 602), which apparently is what they do. Following this self-deprecation, Hamlet lays out his plan for how he will catch Claudius red-handed based on his reaction to the play. A final interesting quality of this monologue is that near the end Shakespeare has Hamlet question where the Ghost came from. Though he is certain that it was his father, he mentions that "May be the devil; and the Devil hath power t' assume a pleasing shape..." (Line 616-617). This skepticism shows a definite change in his attitude since he conversed with the Ghost, as immediately following their exchange he seemed dead-set on exacting his revenge on the new king.

Word Count (Not Including This Footer): 323

Themes Galore - (Act I)

The first act of this play is chock-full of the many "big themes" that are constantly recurring in the work. Three of these major themes include death, revenge and family relationships - all of which are introduced in the expository first act. The most prominent theme is that of death, first introduced in the beginning when the new King talks about the late King Hamlet's death and then later brought forth in further detail when the Ghost describes exactly how it all went down. Throughout the first act leading up to the revelation of the murder, it was evident that Hamlet was struggling often with the recent death of his father. Another theme, introduced later in the Act, which goes hand-in-hand with that of death is the notion of revenge. The Ghost of the late King Hamlet convinces the young Hamlet - the protagonist - that he must avenge his slain father and take his revenge on his Uncle Claudius for doing the deed. This spurs on Hamlet's charade of madness in order to disguise his plotting to kill the new King. A third theme that was introduced in the first act of Hamlet was that of "Family Relationships." It is obvious in scenes II and III that there is much tension in both Hamlet's family and Polonius's family. Polonius is quite obviously a very nosy and controlling person, and both he and his son Laertes did their best to tell Ophelia (Polonius's daughter) to stay well away from Prince Hamlet. There is an obedient relationship coming from the submissive Ophelia, and a very controlling vibe coming from Polonius. Within the royal family, there are many spots of visible tension as well. Hamlet is obviously kindly inclined to his mother and respects her greatly. He uses the "formal pronouns" including "you" and "yours" when addressing her, as opposed to the harsh tone and informal manner of speaking that he directs at the King. Hamlet makes his dislike for his Step-Father/Uncle very clear, and there is not a very good relationship there. As well, after encountering the Ghost, Hamlet's attitude towards his family only becomes worse - his hatred for Claudius grows and he loses some respect for his somewhat incestuous mother. These three themes, death, revenge and family relationships, were all introduced in the first Act of the play, setting the stage for what looks to be a very interesting work of Shakespeare.



Final Word Count (Not Including this Footnote): 400 Words.

First Post - A Skill I Wish I Had

I always thought It'd be cool or funny to play the didgeridoo, just so that I could say that I can. I think that this video is a good one of an expert didgeridoo player. Yep. So that's my random/weird skill that I think would be cool to have.