SAM’S BLOGS!

Next years class of Mrs. Duke! BEEEEEWWAARRREE!!!….. of information overload. There is A LOT to expect out of this class.

-Be Active In Class: DON’T just slack off. If you participate in whats going on i GUARANTEE.. GUAAAARRANTEEE you will enjoy it and get an even better grade.

• Don’t Feel Embarrassed:If you have an opinion, VOICE IT! It is a class not a courtroom. Anything you say will not be held against you. There are other people’s opinions but they have no say over your thoughts. Along with that, when acting. ACT! Who are you to judge if you are a good actor or not. Just don’t be yourself and say something creative.. your acting. You shouldn’t hold back because you think people are going to think your a freak, because you look next to you at the poor sop going next who is going to act a fool as much as you my friend.

-Do The Homework: It will help you. Don’t you dare think you can just b.s. the homework because she will know, and you will look like a FOOL.

-Annotate: I have never written so much in a book before. I thought you weren’t allowed to vandalize these works of literature, but I’ve learned that it is all for the best. I would get so annoyed and blame my unfinished reading on how it took so long to read because we were ‘forced’ to take notes while reading. Well my whining was stupid, because not only did writing in the book force to to actually read, but if i didn’t remember something, instead of rereading a whole page, i just read two sentences of notes and i got it!

-Blog Your Heart Out: Listen hear chullran. You need NEED to blog. You can get TON of points just for writing your thoughts down. Its pretty legit. Also while your blogging …your like.. studying. Crazy huh? A lot of the blogs have to do with things we do in class, so your going over them by writing about them.

• Comment: If you don’t comment. You are losing the easiest points ever. All you have to do is read someones blog, then type maybe 5 sentences on how awesome it was! Instead of texting your bud and saying “yeah man, that blog was wicked cool! I totes agree!” just walk to the computer and comment on their blog!

-Use A Pen: Mrs. Duke no want no dang pencil up in her grill! Buy yourself like twenty pens and put then in a bag that says English, then put in your book sac!

-Start The Homework When Assigned: Do you want an aneurysm? Because that is whats going to happen if you are assigned something a week or so in advance and you wait till the last minute!!! It is stressful and annoying, and makes you want to hit the computer. Even if its just a little every night, its cool. You will be much less stressed and calmer.

• Check The Web: Dude.. she is not always going to tell you when you have an assignment. I know, its kind of a bummer. If she says.. ‘check the web’ CHECK IT!!! CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT! Don’t wait till the next day, just do it. Then you can see what is coming. “blah blah, my computers not working..” We have a billion at school, take 2 minutes out of your lunch and look!!

-Actually Study For Vocab: There are some dang hard words. Some pretty easy. But small vocab quizzes can lower your grade, and it sucks. So take time every day before the quiz and use a word. It helps a lot to used them out loud. Be obnoxious and put them in your everyday talk.

-Turn Work In On Time: It is easier on yourself and Mrs. Duke. She allows some late work, but is it really worth it missing points for something you’ve technically had over 14 hours to do?????

-Be Respectful: Mrs. Dukes a hard working lovely women who comes to class for YOU! She wants to watch you succeed. So suck up the drama and throw your sassy attitude down the stairs, because life will be much better without it.

& last but not least…

-Do The Best You Can: and you shall succeed future and fellow Dukians!

I never thought I would enjoy listening to people talk from an audio track, but this was awesome. I could hear the emotion in the tone of voice. You were such a good voice for Hamlet. I was amazed of how great it was. It was very dramatic and intense. I was so into it. I couldn’t just read the play on my own. I had to have your voice guiding me through Hamlet’s despair and heartache. This was your own interpretation of it, so it was kind of hard for me to think about the scenes in my own way. When i would read over Hamlet i would put your voice in my head, and follow the same pattern of tone as you had been doing.

A few parts i thought you were a bit too dramatic. I liked it though, because i didn’t think it would sound very good, but you made it work. I’m glad you made the sound effects too; instead of just leaving a mute pause where blocking is going on. The sword fight was very intense just because we could hear what was going on without words. I just think your voice was perfect for the part. You put this sinister tone to it that showed how mad you were inside, and possibly crazy. It was creepy! Then i loved the sarcasm also, it wasn’t too hidden, it was obvious to pick out, and very humorous. I also thought your dying was pretty good. When i would read it to myself it just seemed like Hamlet was waiting there for Horatio to talk, and i though it would drag out. You made it quicker and more realistic though.

Awesome job,

Samantha

I thought your rendition of Hamlet was very good. I enjoyed it a lot and i could get into it very well. Sadly my class only watched the first scene of it, but it helped me get a feel for the entire play. I could put a bit of the emotion in the movie into my thoughts while reading it to myself. Originally we had read the opening conversation between Bernardo and Fransisco, then were assigned our own themes to read it aloud. After that i had a pretty specific thought on how the scene really went, or in my opinion. Then when we watched the movie part you created it was different. But it was very good. I could still get the same effect out of the scene even though it was different than i expected.

The feelings of each character were brought out well. They have to be in a movie though or it would be very dull. One thing i thought was a little different than what i expected was the age of Hamlet. You did an awesome job, but i assumed he was much younger than he is portrayed in the movie. I really liked how you made him look different from everyone. The way you dressed him was very interesting. It helped give Hamlet that main character image.

The intensity was good though, very good. There was well bounded acting overall. I was very excited to the see the way you developed the soliloquies, because like the very first seen, i had my own interpretation of each scene and i loved watching a different view.  You seemed to put a little modern twist on the movie. It was good though, because it helps the viewers understand whats going on better. I think that you knew what you were doing while creating this film. Good job.

Excited to see whats next,

Samantha

excuse me??!?!?! So are they dead or aren’t they??? well, i think that is the question. To be, or not to be.. that is actually the question. I enjoyed the reading.. a bit. It was annoying and confusing as always, but it was not as difficult to read. I understood a bit more i guess. SO MANY QUESTIONS!! This entire reading was foreshadowing for me. It was mainly because of reading Hamlet, we know that Ros and Guil are supposed to die, so anything reverting to death is like a big exclamation point! “Ah! There’s life in me yet!” “Dead” “Dead?”

Okay to go a bit off topic, i have noticed them referring to the North a lot. Both in Ros and Guil as well as Hamlet. I tried pointing it out in my directors journal. I will figure out my reasoning eventually, but I’m just pointing it out if anyone notices the wind and north, and craziness and such.

They make the trip on the boat much longer, than in Hamlet. I couldn’t even tell the times he was on the boat then. Something that is weird i think they do throughout the play is acting out what their depictions of different things. They did it at the beginning of how they think Hamlet will act, and they do it about the letter, and what it says. I think it is a very odd thing to do. Then when you figure it out eventually its interesting to see the differences.

“I wish i was dead”

A conversation i thought was funny was when they begin wondering about the letter and realize it is supposed to send Hamlet to death. “We’re his friends” “Death comes to us all…he would have died anyway, sooner or later.” ….”it would be presumptuous  of us to interfere with the designs of fate or even of kings.”

“He’s done nothing to us.” Again foreshadowing because we know he is going to change the letter to kill them off.

It is almost annoying the amount of foreshadowing… when they start hearing music, “A thing like that, it could change the course of events.”

The players show up. In Hamlet we don’t see anymore of the players, so its cool to see whats happened to them after their ruined show. They are pretty mad about getting interrupted and not paid. We see even more of the players, they are pretty cocky and rude! Then we even experience more of the pirate attack. I didn’t even realize there was a pirate attack in Hamlet but it is actually described here. Then how Hamlet disappears.

“We were dead lucky there.”

My favorite though is, “England! That’s a dead end.” Its perfect

Then…. they read the letter. And they are questioning what they should do. AND WE NEVER GET AN ANSWER!!!!!!!!! But its pretty awesome the suspense we are left with.

1. Exigence — What needs doing at this point? In other words, what is compelling Hamlet to speak at this moment in the play?

He is extremely stressed out. He doesn’t know what he is supposed to do. He has kept quiet through his father’s death, his mother’s marriage to his uncle and his uncles taking over as king. He has finally broke. His father has spoken to him as a ghost, telling him what is really going on. He is trying to keep Ophelia out of the way as he tries to seek revenge on his uncle. He needs to express everything that going on, but subtly.

2. Audience – The audience is comprised of people who can in some way act on this exigence. Who is Hamlet’s primary audience and how does that influence his choices? Who is Hamlet’s secondary audience and how does that influence his choices? [Hint: they are not on the stage]

Obviously Hamlet’s primary audience would be himself because he is talking to himself at this point. He is the only one that completely understands what he is going through. No one else can see or feel what hes feeling. From himself being the main audience he could be influenced by anything. He can do whatever he feels like and say whatever he feels like because only he understand specifically.

I think that the secondary audience is the reader/actual audience. He is not talking to anyone but himself, which means no one else can hear him.. except for the people watching or reading the play. He is expressing his feelings and apart from himself the readers or viewers are the only people that have been there the entire time. I think maybe this could enhance his choices by not helping them at all. The readers and viewers cannot help him at all. So it ends up he is just to the only one who can help himself turning himself crazy.

3. purpose What is the purpose of Hamlet’s speech?

The purpose is to reassure himself of what is going on. He needs to assess his thoughts in his own mind. In the speech he is asking himself questions and going over things that have happened. I think he is trying to think about what he should do, and wondering is his ideas of revenge or possible murder is the right thing to do. I am still wondering is he is focusing more on trying to kill Claudius or the possibility of killing himself. And if so, then he is thinking about those two.

4. Appeals: Which appeal(s) does Hamlet use to convince and/or motivate his audience? Reference specific lines.

Ethos: Appeal to the character of the speaker

He is talking to himself, so everything is based on his feelings, but he specifically is talking about himself at some points, deciding what he should do with himself.

“To be or not to be…whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer…to die, to sleep…and by a sleep to say we end a heartache…Ay, there’s the rub, for in that sleep of  death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled of this mortal coil, must give us pause.”

He says we in terms of himself.

Pathos: Appeal to the emotions or interest of the audience

He is expressing this to himself, but some things can be taken in from anybody. To readers and viewers know his feelings and can understand what he is talking about.

“Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, the insolence of defense, and the spurns that patient merit of th’ unworthy takes, when he himself might quietus makes with a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death.”

Logos: Appeal to logic

Most of the things he says do not make logical sense at all. He does say a few specifics that make sense to anything and anyone.

“But that dread of something after death , the undiscovered country from who’s bourn no travelers returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does not make cowards of us all.”

He says how people would rather run away from their problems than have to face it, so we are all cowards.

5. Figures of speech, imagery, diction, syntax: What literary devices does Hamlet employ? Where do you see him making comparisons? Which tropes–similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, etc. does he use? How do these comparisons relate to his rhetorical purpose? What particularly vivid images stand out? What effect do these images have on Hamlet’s rhetorical purpose?

Soliloquy: The entire speech is one

Alliteration: “With a bare bodkin?”

Conflict: “Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, the insolence of defense, and the spurns that patient merit of th’ unworthy takes.” He is having an internal conflict looking back at unfair things.

Figurative Language: “…the native hue of resolution is (sicklied) o’er with the pale cast of thought.” Describing his feelings as a color being covered up.

Metaphors: “Native hue of resolution.” “Enterprises of great pitch and moment.” “The slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.” “Sea of troubles” “That sleep of death.”

He compares expressed many ideas describing them in different ways. He describes his thoughts as covering up the color and how they are great problems. He describes his problems as arrows shooting and a sea of troubles.

Personification: “Sea of troubles.”

“The undiscovered country, from who’s bourn no travelers returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?” I think this stands out the most because it shows he would rather go away from his problem. It describes his feelings as undiscovered country that no one wants to return to because its terrible.

6. How do you respond to Hamlet’s soliloquy? In other words, what do you think of him right now?

I didn’t think much of it at first. I didn’t quite understand it though. I thought he was just complaining to himself, which he is, but not as deeply as i thought at first. I consider him a bit loony. He cant pretty much have a fight with himself and not be a tad crazy. The fact he ends with saying something about Ophelia puts the idea in my mind that he really loves her. Even though he is trying to get her out of the way, he obviously cant get over her so quickly. From the entire storyline he had complained and been overly dramatic. So this little internal complaint is not very unusual for him. I think he understands what hes doing, and understands what he is saying if the readers don’t completely.

okay, it just never gets old for me.. this confusion. This time i had a LONG thought process dealing with the players. I was very confused about what was happening. Even when i reread it still doesnt quite make sense. At some point i thought that the players were acting out the play, but then all of a sudden it starts talking about the murder of Polonius. Was that in the play? So i figure that it must just be talking about what really happened. But then as i read on it was out of order! And i was freaking out! And I am still confused. So along with all this confusion i just kept reading and getting more frustrated and more confused.

Just a little information different from Hamletwas the way that the players actually talked a lot. I thought it was interesting that this play is a small characters point of view, so it has other minimal characters as greater parts. I liked the way Ros and Guil keep trying to figure out if Hamlet is crazy. They keep making little comments that would deal with him being crazy, and they don’t understand why hes not acting psycho. I am getting really annoyed of them…… Oh another thing that really stood out for me was the talking with Ophelia before the play. It seemed like they were having a different conversation. I mean the same, but some different words. This intertextuality is confusing me sometimes.. but other times it helps a lot!

Okay, so Hamlet begins talking to someone from England? I’m a bit troubled? Does he know about the letter? If so… HOW?

AGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! IM SO ANNOYED OF THESE GUYS!!!! Never mind the whole “i think the more i read the better it will get” because that’s a no! This reading was so confusing and annoying. I just wanted it to be over. This took me a very long time to read. I could only read a bit then i would have to go a few hours without it. I got so confused after reading a bit i got someone to read it allowed to me using emotions to see if it made more sense to me. All it did was make them confused and ask me questions constantly when they were supposed to be helping me!

To start at the beginning of the reading, i just want to point out some intertextuality i found when in the staging directions it is describing how Hamlet is finishing a speech and it actually says to look in Hamlet to read what he was saying. The beginning is happening in Hamlet as well. The players are on their way over. I thought a really funny part is the way Hamlet begins making fun of Polonius. Then again there are just an abundance of questions. If they are going to ask this many questions.. please give us some answers!!

Ros (simply): “He Murdered us.” What is this??? hmmm. Ros and Guil are getting upset with Hamlet, and I, and i am pretty sure even they don’t understand why they are angry with him. “Half of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn’t mean anything at all.” Ros takes the time to say this to Guil when nothing that comes our of either of their mouths makes sense!! It seems like they are trying to help out Hamlet though, even though they have no clue why they are even helping him. They tend to try and figure out what would be good for Hamlet to do. Then all of a sudden they are trying to figure out where the wind if going. But after careful thinking I think I have figured out what that means. Hamlet says on page 55, “I am mad north north-west; when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.” Even though this doesn’t make much sense to me, i believe it has something to do with his madness, so Ros and Guil are trying to figure out if he is mad at this moment or not.

After this odd topic they completely drop it and go on to something else. I might have a short attention span, but it is not fast enough to even catch up to what goes on in this play! Again with the coin. I am getting sick of this. Obviously there is some reason we keep seeing this probability symbolism. Finally it catches up again with Hamlet. It is much easier to understand because we have read it before and understand what is going one while Ros and Guil have their annoying, confusing, fancy language back and forth. It is a bit funny when they begin to talk to the players though, because we see that one of the players gets a bit annoyed of them himself.

“Hamlet is not himself, outside or in.” For someone so stupid as Ros, he seems to know what is going on. I like the small examples of metafiction that pop in the play. They are just thrown in at random times, it is actually really funny. Then again with he death deal. They are going to die. We have figured this out. But from how? And why? I am very curious. I think that is the only motive for me to finish reading this play.

Okay, i have discovered in this latest reading that Rosencrantz is stupid as dirt!!!! His stupidity was incredibly amusing, yet confusing, as I have noted throughout the entire text. It opens with Claudius welcoming the two to the kingdom. He is trying to cheer Hamlet up. I totally understood what was going on at this time because it is catching up with Hamlet. The entire beginning of the reading was straight out of Hamlet! When Claudius sends the men to go find Hamlet Rosencrantz is actually very skeptical about being there. He doesn’t want to stay. Again they play this back and forth confusing game. This time i started to understand it though. It was quite funny. I actually laughed out loud a few times.

At first they try to act out how Hamlet feels to try and figure out what if going on with him. This act sadly fails because Rosencrantz is SOO stupid. After their game Hamlet walks in, but doesn’t notice then, it’s weird to think about in the play Hamlet how he just walks in a sees them, but now there’s a little longer of a time till they actually go to talk to him. Then again the stories catch up with each other when Hamlet enters talking to Polonius and acting mad. Then when Hamlet sees the two men he says the same things he did in Hamlet. It is just such a cool thing to see how they are the exact same stories, just from different views. I am really excited to read more of this one, i really like it now. It’s actually much easier reading it with Hamlet because i kind of already know what is going on.

Okay, this play so far is very confusing… First off they are talking about coins? Why are they fipping a coin? I’m confused? Then it is totally impossible they can flip it that many times and get heads. At first i was sworn on the fact it was a two headed coin, but then Guil kept taking out his own coins and I dont know, it was weird.

They ask way too many question in this play. I dont understand why they ask so many questions and then they tend to answer in questions. It is this on going question battle and its annoying. There is a lot of times when they talk about forgetting things. It is again very confusing, but I don’t really understand why they can’t remember simple things, and then talk about how they are not going to remember other things.

They seem so stupid. I just dont know. And also I cannot make very many similarities with Hamlet. Maybe i will be able to later in the play. Something i enjoy about this play is the language. It is way more modern than Hamlet, and so much easier to read, even though it is very confusing at first.

Guil talks about having mystical encounters with things where you don’t believe you’ve really just seen this. Then when you get a second perspective it’s more extreme. Then as more people see it gets closer to reality. This is similar to the ghost in Hamlet. When just the two gaurds had seen the ghost it wasn’t as believable, but then Horatio sees him, then Hamlet.

..and the whole backgrounds of them. Dreams are so weird when you think about them. Like last night i had a dream that something keot scaring the other person in my dream and i kept telling them how it wasnt scary at all. Then they would freak about and i was just like “dude shutup, its fine your stupid.” Then all of a sudden i heard a scream and looked at the face of the scary thing and it was TERRIBLE! I woke up at that moment to my ring tone “dazed and confused” as my alarm. That was the scream i was hearing. This is definitely not the first time something outside of my dreams have gotten inside and had to do with the dream; such as sounds. My alarm goes into my dreams all the time! Then the television does the same thing. I can hear a song playing or someones voice and it will go into my dream, i just think that is so weird.

Then there are those dreams you keep having over and over again. There was a dream i had once a year and it would get longer each year. I thought i was crazy until other people have told me they’ve had that too. Then the other day i was talking to gabby, and we had very VERY similar dreams.

There are also those things like if you have a dream about losing your teeth you are stressed, or if you have a dream your significant other is cheating on you, they arent. Things like that are so weird. I want to learn more about the mind during dreams, it seems very interesting.