Hamlet

During class, I’ve found myself liking Hamlet more and more as the play has progressed. In the beginning, I was eerily spooked by the role of the ghost, the “incestuous acts” between Hamlet’s uncle and his mother, as well as the mask of “seeming” that many of the characters shield themselves by. I love how everything on the surface is artificial, how Hamlet’s words always seem to have at least two or more connotations behind it. I’ve currently been obsessing over the famous line in Hamlet’s aside when he speaks “Frailty—thy name is woman.” This line speaks to me in several different tongues. For one, also the most obvious, Hamlet is saying that his mother is weak, which he compounds by saying that “Ay madam, it is indeed common.” The word common further emphasizes the downsizing view of his towards his mother in that he’s calling her a slut, perhaps so far even a prostitute when he says “Why, she (would) hang on him/ As if increase of appetite had grown/ By what it fed on.” This line therefore implicates Gertrude in that Hamlet is essentially saying that she is satisfying her craving for sex. By using terms that are associated with food such as a sudden increase of appetite, implies a greater desire that had not been present prior to the death of Hamlet’s father. Moreover, by saying that Gertrude “would hang on him” further sends a connotation of being desperate. Is Gertrude worried that if she doesn’t marry Claudius that she’ll lose her authority as queen? Yet, marrying into the blood line goes against all societal obligations. Hamlet goes on even further to criticize his mother when he alludes to several mythological persons including Niobe and the satyr. First off though Hamlet praises his father by alluding to both Hercules and the Hyperion, both of which are powerful beings in Greek mythology yet Hamlet symbolically portrays his uncle as a satyr—a lustful animal that is half-human, half-beast, while chastising his mother in nearly the same tone, calling her “a beast that wants discourse of reason” which is referring to Niobe, “would have mourned longer!” at the passing of the king. Ironically, Hamlet is calling both characters—his uncle and mother—beasts by seemingly alluding to them through mythological associations. Hamlet further condemns his mother as he speaks that “Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/ Had left the flushing in her galled eyes. “ Biblically speaking, Hamlet is alluding to the symbolism of salt as “truth” in Christianity. Hence, salt is essentially a metaphor for truth, the light, and the alike. Hence Hamlet is saying that all truthfulness and all purity has now been purged from his mother because they have been flushed from her eyes. Likewise the connotation of the word “gall” is negative with a definition that is to make someone feel annoyed, hence suggesting that Hamlet is feeling infuriated by the actions of his mother’s acts, by marrying so quickly, moving so quickly to such “incestuous sheets.”

If by Rudyard Kipling

If by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! “If” by Rudard Kipling is a poem that mainly lists advice passed down from a father to his son in order to teach the child how to face life which is full of challenges, fortune, but also horrors. This can be modeled by the first stanza in which the speaker advises his son to be brave enough and have confidence in himself and listen to others' criticism even if it is untrue. He advises him to follow a loving, moderate way of life. During the second stanza, the speaker goes onwards in saying that life imposes different circumstances of success and failure which contradicts one's demands and hopes. His advice is always to try again. By the third stanza, the poet tells his son that if he fails to reach his goal and loses everything he has given his life to, to start over and be brave enough and summon up courage by his strong will and determination. Then during the fourth stanza, the speaker advises his son to be equally modest with common people as well as with people of rank. He also tells him to forgive his enemies before his friends and yet not to get too involved with them. He tells him to compensate every minute of hard feelings towards his enemies. He tells him that if he follows his advice, he will be a man of good morals and qualities and strength of character he will also own the whole Earth. I personally felt that this poem had a tone of impaction and was extremely relevant as a high school senior who now spends a lot more time with her family, knowing that it is the last year she’ll be living at home with her parents and seeing her friends in Georgia. This poem really got me to reflect on my mom’s advice and where I would be without her. Moreover, this poem also reminded me of all the times that my mom and I stroll on the Green Way together, a long walking trail that is surrounded by trees and small creeks. We walk there often, usually a couple weekends over the year, but it’s funny how although every time we continuously use the same path our conversations always shift, so many times when we walk my mom gives me advice, and there’s just the perfect touch of calmness and serenity that surrounds you. This poem therefore caused me to weigh the value of my parent’s words more and to be more sensitive to their teachings.

Invisible Man Prologue-Ch. 3

My first thought in class when I heard that we would be reading Invisible Man was something along the lines of, “How cool is that? We get to read about someone who can’t be seen. I wonder if he can get away with stealing all the time.” Soon, however, I discovered that my presumptions were completely wrong as I began to read the Prologue. The entire time while I was reading I had the predisposed expectation that the main character was completely lifeless…something akin to Harry Potter with his invisibility cloak on, except this protagonist wouldn’t need exactly clothes but was merely born or somehow biologically became inaccessible to the eyes of others. The thought never crossed my mind, however, that this book would be shrouded with historical allusions that depict the main character’s struggle as a black man. This invisible man wasn’t invisible by choice instead he was invisible by nature, specifically because of the color of his skin that damned him like a prison sentence, eternal invisibility caused by blackness, shackles that would always press into his skin so that eventually and quite literally they’d be unmovable. Reading forward, I was shocked by the unexpectedness of the setting, the characters chosen. Everything that I had predicted about the novel from the title was completely obstructed. The plot line was also filled with twist and turns that led me into unexpected bends and grey areas. I was also extremely shocked by Ellison’s choice of characters, the meeting of a black sharecropper who gave birth to a woman and a young girl disturbed me, but also I didn’t understand why he was there and what was his essential purpose. Even more so, I was confused by the reason he was given a hundred dollars. What was the motivation behind giving this moron, who had raped a girl, a hundred dollars? I didn’t understand Ellison’s point, nor did I understand any of the logic that was carrying the story on. To me, I didn’t understand why this jerk was getting rewarded for committing a crime. Even more so, I didn’t understand the purpose behind the boxing match or the copper coins that conducted electricity, but if there’s one thing that I think I can make sense of it’s the purpose behind his grandfather’s speech. Hopefully, this time my prediction will be spot-on (unlike other times). Ellison uses the grandfather’s last words in order to foreshadow how later on the son realizes his invisibility by even suggesting that the son is similar in temperament to his grandfather. Although both men are described as “mild’ in terms of personality, the grandfather when on his deathbed ultimately seems very bold and outspoken. During the beginning chapters of the novel, therefore, one realizes that the son, always very soft-spoken and courteous to white folk, who never challenges there opinion of him, and takes back the word “equality” after the white men at the bar yell at him, seems to be the very epitome of even-temperedness, always reluctant to challenge there authority. However, I believe that in the very end one of two things will happen 1) He becomes so mild that he fades into his state of invisibility or 2) he becomes brash like his Grandfather. We’ll see.