“The World is Too Much With Us” is a Petrarchan/Italian Sonnet condemning our modern society for its obsession with materialism and its lack of appreciation for the nature. William Wordsworth incorporates a plethora of allusions to the Greek Mythology in order to juxtapose our sad state of society with the love of nature that the Greeks displayed. Wordsworth is clearly disconcerted with the materialistic culture of the 19th century and shows his passionate feelings for the natural world in this poem.
The poem begins with the speaker condemning the current society’s habits of “getting and spending” on material items. The speaker believes that material items have become too important in people’s lives. The title of the poem, “The World is Too Much With Us," refers to human beings too concerned with material items, allowing them become an overly significant part of the world. The speaker also displays his belief that our obsession with material things forces us to “waste our powers.” By being concerned with material items, people throw away their potential to do great things that actually have significance in the world. Furthermore, the speaker points out that our materialism blinds us to the beauty and importance of nature. Because people are overly concerned with material items, they fail to see the benefits that nature has to offer. The speaker is angry at society for ignoring the beauty of nature in favor of living for material items. The people of society have given their hearts to materialism instead of nature. The material world has set a blockade between humans and nature.
The speaker next goes on to personify the sea in order to display the beauty that nature has to offer. I believe the speaker is standing in front of a moonlit body of water as he is speaking the exquisite words of this poem. In describing the “Sea that bares her bosom to the moon”, the speaker means the sea is reflecting the moon. “Bosom” is the key word in this line because it connotates the image of mother nature sustaining the world. In this sense, the sea is mother nature and is nurturing the natural world, including the moon. This image brings the connotation that nature has a healing and nurturing power like a mother that humans are missing out upon. Also in this scene, the winds have stopped and are now “like sleeping flowers.” This image of a peaceful, calm sea with the healing powers of a mother is what humans are missing out on due to our obsession with the material world. Because of this, we are like a trumpet that is “out of tune.”
The speaker is so fed up with the lack of appreciation for nature that current society feels, he explains that he would rather be nurtured by Paganism because a Pagan would see aliveness and power at the sea scene he is at. The Pagan religion has a plethora of gods and mythology stories related to nature. The speaker believes that having gods related to nature shows that the Pagans had a true appreciation for the natural world. Being a Pagan, therefore, would make the speaker have a deeper relationship with nature because of the gods associated with it. He would feel less lost in this materialistic world if he has the comfort of the nature gods of the Pagans. For those of you who need a brushing up of your Greek mythology, Proteus was an early sea god and son of Poseidon who is able to change form when need be. Triton is another Greek god and son of Poseidon. Like Derek Zoolander, Triton is sometimes represented as a merman. The “wreathed horn” refers to the conch shell which Triton use to make musical noise from. The speaker wishes experience these Pagan ideas because he believes they represent the deep relationship that Pagans have with nature. This deep relationship with nature is what the speaker truly longs for. The speaker would rather be a Pagan than be a member of modern society who is too concerned with material items to have a true relationship with nature.
By means of extensive allusions to Greek mythology, Wordsworth effectively contrasts the Pagan connection to nature with modern society’s distance from the natural world. The materialistic outburst of the 19th century may have cast a dark shadow on society as a whole, but it did inspire the beautiful poetry of “The World is Too Much With Us.” (743)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Kerouac's Carefully Constructed Characters
Jack Kerouac continues to amaze me with the intriguing and unique characters that never stop appearing throughout On the Road. I am about midway through the novel and I am in awe at how many distinctive characters Mr. Kerouac constructs. All of the characters in On the Road seem to have their own distinctive qualities that make them interesting, and they become sorts of people that I would like to encounter in real life. Although some of the characters are similar to one another, I find that they all have their own unique qualities that set them apart from each other and make them all have distinctive personalities that keep me on my heels as a reader, eagerly awaiting the next encounter that Sal will have.
One of these such characters is friendly Ed Dunkel. Ed seemed to me like an affable fellow. He appeared to be somebody whom it would be nice to take a road trip with, like Sal does. I liked Ed’s indifference and passiveness toward some of life’s minor and major twists and turns. Ed seemed only to care a small bit about his ill-fated marriage, although this incident seems like it would be much more significant for the typical young adult. Ed took the approach of crossing the bridge when he got to it when it came to the marriage. I liked how he decided to continue the trip with Dean, Sal, and Marylou, and to work out things with his wife when they met in New Orleans. Ed seems to be one of those guys who is just along for the ride, a character trait that I admire.
Another new character who grabbed my attention was Old Bull Lee. Bull Lee seemed to be somewhat cynical character who was both easily excited and easily disturbed. It was interesting how Bull Lee often expressed hostility toward Dean, a character for whom Sal had the utmost admiration for. Bull Lee seems that he would be an interesting fellow to meet due to his many hobbies and talents, from writing, to traveling, to knife throwing. The incident where he and Sal go the horse races was one of the more humorous aspects of novel. It was comical how Bull Lee totally ignored Sal’s suggestion on which horse to pick, then completely changed his stance towards Sal’s inclination after Sal’s selection ended up winning the race. It is also intriguing that Bull Lee is a drug abuser. I am curious to guess what substance he was addicted to because Kerouac never mentioned an specifics, but always said Bull would go to the bathroom to get his “fix.”
The most hysterical incident in the thus far in the novel in my opinion came a bit earlier when Sal is in San Francisco staying with Remi Boncouer. I found myself laughing out loud when Remi got Sal excited to go on an adventure to the see “The Banana King.” I was as shocked as Sal to find that the hyped-up “Banana King” was merely an old man by the side of the road selling bananas. I found it humorous that Remi was so astounded by this old man and seemed to immortalize in his own mind.
Kerouac’s characters constantly have controlled my cranium thus far in my reading experience and I look forward to meeting new ones as a progress further in the novel. (565 words).
·
o "Jazz America": Jazz and African American Culture in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" "Jazz America": Jazz and African American Culture in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"
The Delicate Dynamics of Friendship: A Reconsideration of Kerouac's On The Road
The Logic of Spontaneity: A Reconsideration of Kerouac's "Spontaneous Prose Method"
·
o The American Tramp: A Version of the Picaresque The American Tramp: A Version of the Picaresque
These are four sources I plan to use in my paper.
One of these such characters is friendly Ed Dunkel. Ed seemed to me like an affable fellow. He appeared to be somebody whom it would be nice to take a road trip with, like Sal does. I liked Ed’s indifference and passiveness toward some of life’s minor and major twists and turns. Ed seemed only to care a small bit about his ill-fated marriage, although this incident seems like it would be much more significant for the typical young adult. Ed took the approach of crossing the bridge when he got to it when it came to the marriage. I liked how he decided to continue the trip with Dean, Sal, and Marylou, and to work out things with his wife when they met in New Orleans. Ed seems to be one of those guys who is just along for the ride, a character trait that I admire.
Another new character who grabbed my attention was Old Bull Lee. Bull Lee seemed to be somewhat cynical character who was both easily excited and easily disturbed. It was interesting how Bull Lee often expressed hostility toward Dean, a character for whom Sal had the utmost admiration for. Bull Lee seems that he would be an interesting fellow to meet due to his many hobbies and talents, from writing, to traveling, to knife throwing. The incident where he and Sal go the horse races was one of the more humorous aspects of novel. It was comical how Bull Lee totally ignored Sal’s suggestion on which horse to pick, then completely changed his stance towards Sal’s inclination after Sal’s selection ended up winning the race. It is also intriguing that Bull Lee is a drug abuser. I am curious to guess what substance he was addicted to because Kerouac never mentioned an specifics, but always said Bull would go to the bathroom to get his “fix.”
The most hysterical incident in the thus far in the novel in my opinion came a bit earlier when Sal is in San Francisco staying with Remi Boncouer. I found myself laughing out loud when Remi got Sal excited to go on an adventure to the see “The Banana King.” I was as shocked as Sal to find that the hyped-up “Banana King” was merely an old man by the side of the road selling bananas. I found it humorous that Remi was so astounded by this old man and seemed to immortalize in his own mind.
Kerouac’s characters constantly have controlled my cranium thus far in my reading experience and I look forward to meeting new ones as a progress further in the novel. (565 words).
·
o "Jazz America": Jazz and African American Culture in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" "Jazz America": Jazz and African American Culture in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"
The Delicate Dynamics of Friendship: A Reconsideration of Kerouac's On The Road
The Logic of Spontaneity: A Reconsideration of Kerouac's "Spontaneous Prose Method"
·
o The American Tramp: A Version of the Picaresque The American Tramp: A Version of the Picaresque
These are four sources I plan to use in my paper.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
My First Impressions of On the Road
My recent decision to switch novels and embark on a journey On the Road appears to be a beneficial choice thus far in my reading expericence. I have enjoyed the first fifty or so pages of this novel because of the connection I feel towards the characters and because of Jack Kerouac’s unique and intriguing writing style.
My favorite part about Keruoac’s writing thus far is his seemingly random observations that are kind of like side notes to the story going on in the novel. The narrarating character, Sal Paradise, always notices little details that he discusses out of the context of the main story. His little observances, such as “the nights in the Denver are cool. I slept like a log,” make the novel interesting for me because I, like Sal, enjoy paying attention to the unimportant details going on around me. I like how Sal tells the reader the about the little things he notices, even if it has no significance to anything going on. Sal also notifies the reader about minor details regarding his observances about other characters. This allows the reader to get a good impression about the personalities of the other characters.
This brings me to the next reason I have enjoyed reading On the Road thus far: the characters. The main focus of this novel does not appear to be the plot. It appears that Kerouac’s main focus was creating an interesting and insightful group of characters. And he did this very well. As I am reading On the Road, I am itching to know more and more about the intriguing characters that Kerouac depicts. I find myself feeling a connection to Sal, a character who is bored with the everday scenery of his hometown and wants to venture somewhere far away to experience the unkown. I, like Sal, would enjoy living life in constant motion in order to experience something new, at least for a short period of life. Dean, is also a curious character. I admire his wide-eyed and liberated approach to life. I like how Dean is passionate about his life goals. I am interested to learn more about Dean’s troubled childhood and why he went to jail. However, it is a little alarming that Dean, the most admirable charavter so far, appears to be somewhat of a womanizer. I am interested to learn more about this problem.
My favorite part of On of Road thus far is the scene when Sal describes Dean and Carlo’s ritual of sitting down and telling each other exactly what they are thinking with blatant honesty. I find this exercise really awesome and I am surpirsed that it is not more common. Throughout a significant part of every day, we as humans restrain what we are really thinking and are not honest with each other. We say and do things that we think will appeal to other people for their approval. Sitting and talking with somebody with complete honesty would bring out a certain type of freedom of thought that I think can teach us a lot, and it would be beneficial for us to get out our honest thoughts. Dean and Carlo’s ritual of speaking to each other with total honesty for an entire night is a really cool and innovative idea that Keruouac has tied into his novel.
I am excited to continue reading On the Road to learn more about the interesting characters and to see how they develop with one another. 580 words
My favorite part about Keruoac’s writing thus far is his seemingly random observations that are kind of like side notes to the story going on in the novel. The narrarating character, Sal Paradise, always notices little details that he discusses out of the context of the main story. His little observances, such as “the nights in the Denver are cool. I slept like a log,” make the novel interesting for me because I, like Sal, enjoy paying attention to the unimportant details going on around me. I like how Sal tells the reader the about the little things he notices, even if it has no significance to anything going on. Sal also notifies the reader about minor details regarding his observances about other characters. This allows the reader to get a good impression about the personalities of the other characters.
This brings me to the next reason I have enjoyed reading On the Road thus far: the characters. The main focus of this novel does not appear to be the plot. It appears that Kerouac’s main focus was creating an interesting and insightful group of characters. And he did this very well. As I am reading On the Road, I am itching to know more and more about the intriguing characters that Kerouac depicts. I find myself feeling a connection to Sal, a character who is bored with the everday scenery of his hometown and wants to venture somewhere far away to experience the unkown. I, like Sal, would enjoy living life in constant motion in order to experience something new, at least for a short period of life. Dean, is also a curious character. I admire his wide-eyed and liberated approach to life. I like how Dean is passionate about his life goals. I am interested to learn more about Dean’s troubled childhood and why he went to jail. However, it is a little alarming that Dean, the most admirable charavter so far, appears to be somewhat of a womanizer. I am interested to learn more about this problem.
My favorite part of On of Road thus far is the scene when Sal describes Dean and Carlo’s ritual of sitting down and telling each other exactly what they are thinking with blatant honesty. I find this exercise really awesome and I am surpirsed that it is not more common. Throughout a significant part of every day, we as humans restrain what we are really thinking and are not honest with each other. We say and do things that we think will appeal to other people for their approval. Sitting and talking with somebody with complete honesty would bring out a certain type of freedom of thought that I think can teach us a lot, and it would be beneficial for us to get out our honest thoughts. Dean and Carlo’s ritual of speaking to each other with total honesty for an entire night is a really cool and innovative idea that Keruouac has tied into his novel.
I am excited to continue reading On the Road to learn more about the interesting characters and to see how they develop with one another. 580 words
Monday, March 3, 2008
The Spectacle Life
A debate in English class today sparked my blogging interest. I was so appalled at the view of many of my classmates that I needed to immediately park myself in front of a computer and blog about the shallow ideas that contaminated the intelligent-thinking of Varsity English. I am writing this blog just a couple minutes after leaving the heated discussion that dominated English class today. I am lucky that I had a free today after English because I could not have waited any longer.
The heated debate today brewed from a simple discussion of Kristine’s purpose in A Doll’s House. To my utter shock, many of my classmates had negative view of Kristine. They accused Kristine of ruining Nora’s life by ending her marriage to Torvald. In an increasing number of my classmate’s views, if Kristine had allowed Krogstad to take back the note, Nora could have continued her marriage and life where it began in Act I: in a doll’s house. My classmates believed that Nora would have been better off living her fake, self-allusion of a life. These confused students accused Kristine of being an evil character for forcing Nora change her plastic life.
My classmates are wrong. Kristine is Nora’s hero. Had Kristine allowed Krogstad to take back the letter, Nora would have continued to live a fake existence with her idealistic but unfulfilling marriage to Torvald. Nora is lucky that Kristine came long at exactly the right time to save her from this plastic world. For Nora’s entire life before she leaves Torvald, she is tricking herself into thinking she is fulfilled living a “normal” married life with a husband and children. She attempts to convince herself she is happy with this life of conformity. However, in the back of Nora’s mind, there a voice screaming at her to leave the miserable relationship with a man she never loved. Until Kristine comes along, Nora constantly attempts to block off this voice and continue to rationalize that she should be happy with what she has. Nora is not being true to herself but attempting to conform to the idealistic feminine roles she thinks are necessary for happiness.
Nora is lucky that Kristine comes along and sheds light onto Nora’s fakeness and self-allusions. Kristine makes Nora more aware of the voice in Nora’s head that is screaming at her to abandon her plastic life of conformity. Unlike many of my misinformed classmates, I believe Nora is better off living a real life of self-awareness than she is living the secure life she had with Torvald. Although at the end of the play Nora is not financially secure, this is a minor issue compared to the freedom and basic realness she gains back. When Nora leaves Torvald’s home, she leaves behind the plastic life of self-allusion that had tormented her soul. At the end of the play, Nora is free to discover herself and her true identity without having to try to conform to a “normal” secure life. She is better off living for herself in this way than she was living for her idealistic image, as she had before, no matter the potential impact of shallow factors like security and money.
Instead of living to be spectacle for others to envy, Nora is now free to live for her own self-fulfillment and happiness. Kristine should be crowned as a hero for her role in freeing Nora from her plastic life of security. To quench my newfound addiction to ridiculous but worthy metaphors, Kristine provides the key to unlock the chains of conformity that are tying down Nora onto a life of unhappiness. I hope my teammates on the Varsity English team will rethink their shallow views on Kristine. Whatever the case, I am glad to have finally expressed my passionate feelings about the spectacle-type lives that some people live. (643 words)
The heated debate today brewed from a simple discussion of Kristine’s purpose in A Doll’s House. To my utter shock, many of my classmates had negative view of Kristine. They accused Kristine of ruining Nora’s life by ending her marriage to Torvald. In an increasing number of my classmate’s views, if Kristine had allowed Krogstad to take back the note, Nora could have continued her marriage and life where it began in Act I: in a doll’s house. My classmates believed that Nora would have been better off living her fake, self-allusion of a life. These confused students accused Kristine of being an evil character for forcing Nora change her plastic life.
My classmates are wrong. Kristine is Nora’s hero. Had Kristine allowed Krogstad to take back the letter, Nora would have continued to live a fake existence with her idealistic but unfulfilling marriage to Torvald. Nora is lucky that Kristine came long at exactly the right time to save her from this plastic world. For Nora’s entire life before she leaves Torvald, she is tricking herself into thinking she is fulfilled living a “normal” married life with a husband and children. She attempts to convince herself she is happy with this life of conformity. However, in the back of Nora’s mind, there a voice screaming at her to leave the miserable relationship with a man she never loved. Until Kristine comes along, Nora constantly attempts to block off this voice and continue to rationalize that she should be happy with what she has. Nora is not being true to herself but attempting to conform to the idealistic feminine roles she thinks are necessary for happiness.
Nora is lucky that Kristine comes along and sheds light onto Nora’s fakeness and self-allusions. Kristine makes Nora more aware of the voice in Nora’s head that is screaming at her to abandon her plastic life of conformity. Unlike many of my misinformed classmates, I believe Nora is better off living a real life of self-awareness than she is living the secure life she had with Torvald. Although at the end of the play Nora is not financially secure, this is a minor issue compared to the freedom and basic realness she gains back. When Nora leaves Torvald’s home, she leaves behind the plastic life of self-allusion that had tormented her soul. At the end of the play, Nora is free to discover herself and her true identity without having to try to conform to a “normal” secure life. She is better off living for herself in this way than she was living for her idealistic image, as she had before, no matter the potential impact of shallow factors like security and money.
Instead of living to be spectacle for others to envy, Nora is now free to live for her own self-fulfillment and happiness. Kristine should be crowned as a hero for her role in freeing Nora from her plastic life of security. To quench my newfound addiction to ridiculous but worthy metaphors, Kristine provides the key to unlock the chains of conformity that are tying down Nora onto a life of unhappiness. I hope my teammates on the Varsity English team will rethink their shallow views on Kristine. Whatever the case, I am glad to have finally expressed my passionate feelings about the spectacle-type lives that some people live. (643 words)
Saturday, February 23, 2008
"Missed the Boat"
A Song by Modest Mouse
While we're on the subject
Could we change the subject now?
I was knocking on your ear's door but you were always out
Looking towards the future
We were begging for the past
Well we knew we had the good things
But those never seemed to last
Oh please just last
Everyone's unhappy
Everyone's ashamed
Well we all just got caught looking
At somebody else's page
Well nothing ever went
Quite exactly as we planned
Our ideas held no water
But we used them like a damn
Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell
Saying yes, this is a fine promotion
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell
Of course everyone goes crazy
Over such and such and such
We made ourselves a tiller
We just used it as a crutch
We were certainly uncertain
At least I'm pretty sure I am
Well we didn't need the water
But we just built that whole god damn
Oh, and I know this of myself
I assume as much for other people
Oh, and I know this of myself
We've listened more to life's end gong
Than the sound of life's sweet bliss
Was it ever worth it?
Was there all that much to gain?
Well we knew we missed the boat
And we'd already missed the plane
We didn't read the invite
We just dance at our wake
All our favorites were playing
So we could shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
Tiny curtains open and we heard the tiny clap of little hands
A tiny man would tell a little joke and get a tiny laugh from all the folks
Sitting drifting around in bubbles and thinking it was us that carried them
When we finally got it figured out that we had truly missed the boat
Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and we owned all the tools ourselves
But not the skills to make a shelf with
Oh, what useless tools ourselves
While we're on the subject
Could we change the subject now?
I was knocking on your ear's door but you were always out
Looking towards the future
We were begging for the past
Well we knew we had the good things
But those never seemed to last
Oh please just last
Everyone's unhappy
Everyone's ashamed
Well we all just got caught looking
At somebody else's page
Well nothing ever went
Quite exactly as we planned
Our ideas held no water
But we used them like a damn
Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell
Saying yes, this is a fine promotion
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell
Of course everyone goes crazy
Over such and such and such
We made ourselves a tiller
We just used it as a crutch
We were certainly uncertain
At least I'm pretty sure I am
Well we didn't need the water
But we just built that whole god damn
Oh, and I know this of myself
I assume as much for other people
Oh, and I know this of myself
We've listened more to life's end gong
Than the sound of life's sweet bliss
Was it ever worth it?
Was there all that much to gain?
Well we knew we missed the boat
And we'd already missed the plane
We didn't read the invite
We just dance at our wake
All our favorites were playing
So we could shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
Tiny curtains open and we heard the tiny clap of little hands
A tiny man would tell a little joke and get a tiny laugh from all the folks
Sitting drifting around in bubbles and thinking it was us that carried them
When we finally got it figured out that we had truly missed the boat
Oh, and we carried it all so well
As if we got a new position
Oh, and we owned all the tools ourselves
But not the skills to make a shelf with
Oh, what useless tools ourselves
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Subtext and Stage Direction By Renowned Screenwriter Gary Gold
SCENE IV. The Queen's closet.
Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
Lord Polonius is extremely eager to find out if Hamlet is indeed mad with love over Ophelia. He is directing Queen Gertrude in a specific manner with regard to what she should say and how she should act so that they may get the most information possible out of Hamlet. I imagine Lord Polonius speaking extremely quickly and nervously so he may say everything he wants Queen Gertrude to do before Hamlet enters. Lord Polonius is nervous to engage in this secretive spying but also eager and excited to hopefully find out the truth about Hamlet’s feelings for his daughter. He wishes Queen Gertrude to be harsh with Hamlet and question his obscure behavior because Polonius wants Hamlet to break down and confess that he is acting strange because he is mad with love for Ophelia.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
As Hamlet is on his way, he is appears disheveled and overwhelmed because he is just returning from almost murdering King Claudius. He is also annoyed at being summoned by his mother because he had much pondering to do and things to plan because he knows he must kill the king.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
Queen Gertrude notices Polonius is nervous about the upcoming spying situation so she calmly attempts to reassure him that she will do everything he had planned.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet is still noticeably disheveled because he has recently almost murdered the king. He is eager to leave and plan the actually killing of Claudius. He speaks in a trite, stern tone.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Queen Gertrude attempts to emphasize the fact that King Claudius is now in fact Hamlet’s father because King Hamlet is dead. In a disappointed tone, she reprimands Hamlet for acting so strangely and embarrassing King Claudius. She is easing her way into finding out why Hamlet is acting weird by saying King Claudius is noticing Hamlet’s strange behavior.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Hamlet attempts to let his mother know the great sin she committed by marrying the brother of her dead husband. He speaks in an intense and angry tone with violent words because he is extremely disappointed in his mother for the sin she committed and he wants her to know of his disappointment.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Deep in her heart, Queen Gertrude knows the evil sin she committed. She notices Hamlet is alluding to it. She therefore attempts to change the subject back to Hamlet’s odd behavior. She has a worried and hurried tone, knowing Hamlet is about to attack her morals by speaking of her evil deed in marrying King Claudius.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Hamlet relaxes and says this line with a slightly sarcastic tone. He asserts once again that the Queen as committed an evil dead, but he pretends to not care about it anymore and let her question him. Hamlet really wants to question Queen Gertrude’s morals and knows he can do so because she will question him for calling her evil.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
Queen Gertrude is clearly distressed now, knowing full-well how Hamlet feels about the sin she committed in marrying King Claudius. She becomes fearful and concerned that Hamlet will push the matter further. Queen Gertrude is also starting to realize the wickedness of the sin she committed. Her fear and realization build in this exclamation.
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
Hamlet says this line with slight sarcasm, knowing Queen Gertrude is beginning to realize the immorality of marrying your husband’s brother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
Queen Gertrude says this is a stern and repramding tone, attempting to regain her honor is her sons’s eyes by reiterating she is Hamlet’s mother. She looks him directly in the eyes with a repramanding stare.
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
Hamlet goes back to his angry and serious tone when he expresses his unhappiness that Queen Gertrude is his mother. He looks Queen Gertrude in the eyes with a tenacious face to show he is unhappy with her immoral behavior toward the former King Hamlet. He also puts emphasis on the fact that she is her husband’s brother’s wife to reiterate how ridiculous that relationship is.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
In a condescending tone, Queen Gertrude provides this empty threat to speak to others more sane than Hamlet.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
In this quotation, Hamlet’s anger builds to its maximum intensity. He violently yells at Queen Gertrude, asking her to do some self reflection on her soul. He gets right in her face to show his intense anger.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Queen Gertrude now fears for her life because Hamlets tone is so violently angry in the previous quotation.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
Lord Polonius notices that the situation may be going terribly wrong and he also fears for Queen Gertrude’s life, noticing Hamlet’s intense anger and possible violence.
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras
Hamlet believes that King Claudius is the one hiding behind the tapestry. He thinks this the perfect opportunity to kill King Claudius because the King is in the immoral act of spying on Hamlet. He yells in a strong tone expressing his appreciation of the revenge he believes he is getting in killing King Claudius.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
In painful distress.
Falls and dies
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
Queen Gertrude notices the spying plan has gone terribly wrong and she feel deep remorse that Lord Polonius is dead. She is also scared that Hamlet might kill her next so she says this in a tone of great fear.
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Hamlet is beginning to notice that his impulsive decision to stab through the curtains may have been irrational and that he may have killed somebody else instead of the king. He is now also distressed and questioning himself.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
In a fearful tone. She is also reprimanding Hamlet for his irrational deed to stab somebody through the curtains.
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Hamlet takes back to role of the attacker of the conversation. He turns Queen Gertrude’s reprimanding around in order to bring up the topic of King Claudius killing King Hamlet. He says this as if he is making a discovery about the entire situation within the kingdom. Back to his violently angry tone.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
Queen Gertrude has no idea what Hamlet was referring to in his last statement. She says this line in the form of a question with a look of confusion on her face.
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
In a confident tone.
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Hamlet is a bit shocked to discover he Lord Polonius was the one he killed, but he is relieved nonetheless. He says these lines in a condescendingly angry tone, as if he had been waiting all of his life to speak these words to Lord Polonius and speak to him in this insulting way. There is a gleam of revenge in Hamlet’s eye.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
Hamlet speaks to Queen Gertrude as if he is a father reprimanding a young child. He braces himself to make Queen Gertrude self reflect on her sins once again. He attacks her with these words to humiliate her and make her feel terrible for marrying King Claudius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
In an attempt to take back the role of attacker of the conversation, Queen Gertrude goes to a motherly of reprimanding. She stands up to get close to Hamlet’s face and stares him down in attempt to make him feel sorry for speaking to his mother so rudely.
HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
In this quotation, Hamlet takes the tone of a church preacher speaking to a congregation about the dangers of sinning. He shows full enthusiasm is screaming these words to emphasize the evil Queen Gertrude committed. He raises his hands and flails his body around in this passionate display of disgust of for the Queen.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Queen Gertrude clearly knows the evil she committed but plays dumb and pretends she has no idea what Hamlet is talking about. She says this in an innocent tone.
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
These lines Hamlet displays his deep admiration for his true father. He speaks in a tone that show he is visualizing and remembering the greatness that was King Hamlet. Hamlet shows how much he missed his father and how great a man he was in an attempt to get Gertrude to feel sorry for leaving disrespecting King Hamlet so horribly in marrying King Claudius. He also points to the picture of King Hamlet with King Claudius.
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
Hamlet goes into a mode of wholeheartedly humiliating and reprimanding his mother. Through his display of intense expression of admiration for King Hamlet and total disgust for King Claudius, Hamlet attempts to make his mother to notice of the stupidity and irrationality of marrying King Claudius. Hamlet looks into the painting when speaking these words and shows a face of admiration when he speaks about King Hamlet. When he speaks about King Claudius, Hamlet looks in the painting with a face of anger and disgust. He is passionate about speaking of King Hamlet and King Claudius for two different reasons.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
The realization about how unclean her soul is had just hit Queen Gertrude. She realizes how terrible an act it was to marry King Claudius. She speaks with a tone of fear and disgust with herself. Queen Gertrude is also horrified that Hamlet notices the darkness of her soul. She feels terrible that her son is so disgusted with her.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--
Hamlet goes to the tone of anger of disgust for his mother. He is unrelenting in his pursuit to make her feel horrible about the sin she committed. He provides the imagery of Queen Gertrude making unclean love to King Claudius to show how unclean their relationship is. Hamlet looks away from the painting as he says these line and looks Queen Gertrude straight in the eye as he provides this imagery.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
The imagery that Hamlet has provided regarding Queen Gertrude’s and King Claudius’s filthy relationship is too much for Queen Gertrude to handle. She yells at a high volume as if Hamlet’s words are physically hurting her.
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
Continuing where he left off last time, Hamlet goes right back to speaking of how terrible King Claudius is in the same angry and passionate tone, as if he were never interrupted. Hamlet knows his words are getting to Queen Gertrude so he continues in order make sure the Queen knows full-well how terrible a man King Claudius is. He gets right next to Queen Gertrude and whispers the final line in her ear.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
Queen Gertrude can no longer handle Hamlet’s trashing of King Claudius and her own realization that her son has been watching her sin against her former husband. Hamlet’s words once again physically hurt Queen Gertrude.
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Hamlet braces himself for another speech against King Claudius but stops with a look of surprise on his face when he notices the Ghost.
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Hamlet sees the Ghost of his father and looks to it with deep admiration. He acts and speaks like a loyal slave ready to do anything for the one he admires most.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
Queen Gertrude speaks in an extremely fearful tone because she cannot see the ghost Hamlet sees and therefore she thinks he is crazily talking to nobody.
HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Hamlet fears that his father’s ghost is mad at him for not having killed King Claudius yet. He is scared that he disappointed the ghost and therefore speaks apologetically.
Ghost
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.
The ghost realizes that Queen Gertrude is overwhelmed by Hamlet’s deep imagery and feels somewhat sorry for his former wife. He calmly attempts to calm Hamlet down and get to lay off a bit from totally chastising his mother.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Hamlet strictly obeys the ghost by speaking to his mother is a more humane manner. He now speaks in a more sympathetic tone, trying to calm down Queen Gertrude.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Queen Gertrude is still fearful that Hamlet has gone completely mad so she attempts to convince Hamlet of his own madness so that he may realize how irrational his actions are perhaps calm down. She is still fearful that Hamlet may kill her is in his state of insanity.
HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;
Hamlet calmly tries to get his mother to notice the ghost but he realizes that Queen Gertrude cannot and will not be able to see the ghost. He points to the ghost but in Queen Gertrude’s vision it appears he is pointing to nothing.
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
As the ghost is giving Hamlet a look of admiration from father to son, Hamlet gets caught in the moment and for a second stops speaking in admiration of King Hamlet. After this brief pause in speech, Hamlet looks away quickly and begins speaking again to end the heartfelt father-son moment.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
In a confused but still fearful tone.
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
He knows the answer to this question.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
Queen Gertrude says this line as if she is speaking to a crazy person, emphasizing that there are no supernatural beings in the room.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
He knows the answers to this question and is still looking at the ghost when he says this.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
Staring at her son as if he has gone totally mad.
HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Hamlet is intensely staring at his father as if he were speaking to King Hamlet instead of Queen Gertrude. He is getting a final glimpse of his father, the one he admires most. A tear falls from Hamlet’s face.
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Queen Gertrude still wants to convince Hamlet that he has gone mad, but she knows it is a lost cause and that Hamlet will not come to this realization.
HAMLET
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
Hamlet now speaks in a calm and almost too rational tone. He desperately wishes for his mother to see that he has not gone crazy, but that his thoughts regarding the evilness of King Claudius are coming from a sane mind. He looks her in the eye and takes her hand in has as he gently and somewhat desperately attempts to convince Queen Gertrude that he in normal and speaking from his true heart.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Again Queen Gertrude is speaking in a distresses and disappointed tone. She is upset in realizing her own sin, and she is upset that Hamlet has gone insane. She is near tears.
HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Hamlet is still attempting to speak in the most calm and sane possible tone so that his mother believes him that he has not gone mad. He is also speaking in pleading tone, urging her to do as he says and not sleep with King Claudius anymore. He gets on one knee as he softly pleads with Queen Gertrude to do as he says.
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
Hamlet looks at Polonius as he speaks these lines. He maintains his calm tone but also speaks with a hint of innocence as he looks at the body, trying to show that he is not an evil murderer. Hamlet does not feel sorry for killing Polonius, but he feels that the old fool has it coming by being so nosy and spying on Hamlet while not letting him be with Ophelia. Hamlet feels remorse for killing a man, but he does not feel sorry for Polonius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
Remorseful.
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
Hamlet again becomes angry and resentful while speaking of King Claudius. He loses his calm tone and the viewer can Hamlet’s deep hatred by the look in his face. He emphasizes the insulting words such “bloat king.” Hamlet looks Queen Gertrude in the eye in this final attempt to convince her to leave King Claudius. Hamlet shows that he truly cares for his mother in this passionate attempt to save her from the sin and disgust he feels she commits by sleeping with King Claudius. Hamlet also does not want Queen Gertrude to let the secret out that Hamlet is not actually insane.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
Queen Gertrude shows that she believes Hamlets when he tells her he is sane. She attempts to regain Hamlet’s trust in her and make him believe in her to do everything he has asked her to do. She speaks in a tone of reassurance, almost pleading with Hamlet to trust her.
Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.
Lord Polonius is extremely eager to find out if Hamlet is indeed mad with love over Ophelia. He is directing Queen Gertrude in a specific manner with regard to what she should say and how she should act so that they may get the most information possible out of Hamlet. I imagine Lord Polonius speaking extremely quickly and nervously so he may say everything he wants Queen Gertrude to do before Hamlet enters. Lord Polonius is nervous to engage in this secretive spying but also eager and excited to hopefully find out the truth about Hamlet’s feelings for his daughter. He wishes Queen Gertrude to be harsh with Hamlet and question his obscure behavior because Polonius wants Hamlet to break down and confess that he is acting strange because he is mad with love for Ophelia.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
As Hamlet is on his way, he is appears disheveled and overwhelmed because he is just returning from almost murdering King Claudius. He is also annoyed at being summoned by his mother because he had much pondering to do and things to plan because he knows he must kill the king.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
Queen Gertrude notices Polonius is nervous about the upcoming spying situation so she calmly attempts to reassure him that she will do everything he had planned.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet is still noticeably disheveled because he has recently almost murdered the king. He is eager to leave and plan the actually killing of Claudius. He speaks in a trite, stern tone.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Queen Gertrude attempts to emphasize the fact that King Claudius is now in fact Hamlet’s father because King Hamlet is dead. In a disappointed tone, she reprimands Hamlet for acting so strangely and embarrassing King Claudius. She is easing her way into finding out why Hamlet is acting weird by saying King Claudius is noticing Hamlet’s strange behavior.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Hamlet attempts to let his mother know the great sin she committed by marrying the brother of her dead husband. He speaks in an intense and angry tone with violent words because he is extremely disappointed in his mother for the sin she committed and he wants her to know of his disappointment.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Deep in her heart, Queen Gertrude knows the evil sin she committed. She notices Hamlet is alluding to it. She therefore attempts to change the subject back to Hamlet’s odd behavior. She has a worried and hurried tone, knowing Hamlet is about to attack her morals by speaking of her evil deed in marrying King Claudius.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Hamlet relaxes and says this line with a slightly sarcastic tone. He asserts once again that the Queen as committed an evil dead, but he pretends to not care about it anymore and let her question him. Hamlet really wants to question Queen Gertrude’s morals and knows he can do so because she will question him for calling her evil.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
Queen Gertrude is clearly distressed now, knowing full-well how Hamlet feels about the sin she committed in marrying King Claudius. She becomes fearful and concerned that Hamlet will push the matter further. Queen Gertrude is also starting to realize the wickedness of the sin she committed. Her fear and realization build in this exclamation.
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
Hamlet says this line with slight sarcasm, knowing Queen Gertrude is beginning to realize the immorality of marrying your husband’s brother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
Queen Gertrude says this is a stern and repramding tone, attempting to regain her honor is her sons’s eyes by reiterating she is Hamlet’s mother. She looks him directly in the eyes with a repramanding stare.
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
Hamlet goes back to his angry and serious tone when he expresses his unhappiness that Queen Gertrude is his mother. He looks Queen Gertrude in the eyes with a tenacious face to show he is unhappy with her immoral behavior toward the former King Hamlet. He also puts emphasis on the fact that she is her husband’s brother’s wife to reiterate how ridiculous that relationship is.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
In a condescending tone, Queen Gertrude provides this empty threat to speak to others more sane than Hamlet.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
In this quotation, Hamlet’s anger builds to its maximum intensity. He violently yells at Queen Gertrude, asking her to do some self reflection on her soul. He gets right in her face to show his intense anger.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Queen Gertrude now fears for her life because Hamlets tone is so violently angry in the previous quotation.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
Lord Polonius notices that the situation may be going terribly wrong and he also fears for Queen Gertrude’s life, noticing Hamlet’s intense anger and possible violence.
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras
Hamlet believes that King Claudius is the one hiding behind the tapestry. He thinks this the perfect opportunity to kill King Claudius because the King is in the immoral act of spying on Hamlet. He yells in a strong tone expressing his appreciation of the revenge he believes he is getting in killing King Claudius.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
In painful distress.
Falls and dies
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
Queen Gertrude notices the spying plan has gone terribly wrong and she feel deep remorse that Lord Polonius is dead. She is also scared that Hamlet might kill her next so she says this in a tone of great fear.
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Hamlet is beginning to notice that his impulsive decision to stab through the curtains may have been irrational and that he may have killed somebody else instead of the king. He is now also distressed and questioning himself.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
In a fearful tone. She is also reprimanding Hamlet for his irrational deed to stab somebody through the curtains.
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Hamlet takes back to role of the attacker of the conversation. He turns Queen Gertrude’s reprimanding around in order to bring up the topic of King Claudius killing King Hamlet. He says this as if he is making a discovery about the entire situation within the kingdom. Back to his violently angry tone.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
Queen Gertrude has no idea what Hamlet was referring to in his last statement. She says this line in the form of a question with a look of confusion on her face.
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
In a confident tone.
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Hamlet is a bit shocked to discover he Lord Polonius was the one he killed, but he is relieved nonetheless. He says these lines in a condescendingly angry tone, as if he had been waiting all of his life to speak these words to Lord Polonius and speak to him in this insulting way. There is a gleam of revenge in Hamlet’s eye.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
Hamlet speaks to Queen Gertrude as if he is a father reprimanding a young child. He braces himself to make Queen Gertrude self reflect on her sins once again. He attacks her with these words to humiliate her and make her feel terrible for marrying King Claudius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
In an attempt to take back the role of attacker of the conversation, Queen Gertrude goes to a motherly of reprimanding. She stands up to get close to Hamlet’s face and stares him down in attempt to make him feel sorry for speaking to his mother so rudely.
HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
In this quotation, Hamlet takes the tone of a church preacher speaking to a congregation about the dangers of sinning. He shows full enthusiasm is screaming these words to emphasize the evil Queen Gertrude committed. He raises his hands and flails his body around in this passionate display of disgust of for the Queen.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Queen Gertrude clearly knows the evil she committed but plays dumb and pretends she has no idea what Hamlet is talking about. She says this in an innocent tone.
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
These lines Hamlet displays his deep admiration for his true father. He speaks in a tone that show he is visualizing and remembering the greatness that was King Hamlet. Hamlet shows how much he missed his father and how great a man he was in an attempt to get Gertrude to feel sorry for leaving disrespecting King Hamlet so horribly in marrying King Claudius. He also points to the picture of King Hamlet with King Claudius.
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.
Hamlet goes into a mode of wholeheartedly humiliating and reprimanding his mother. Through his display of intense expression of admiration for King Hamlet and total disgust for King Claudius, Hamlet attempts to make his mother to notice of the stupidity and irrationality of marrying King Claudius. Hamlet looks into the painting when speaking these words and shows a face of admiration when he speaks about King Hamlet. When he speaks about King Claudius, Hamlet looks in the painting with a face of anger and disgust. He is passionate about speaking of King Hamlet and King Claudius for two different reasons.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
The realization about how unclean her soul is had just hit Queen Gertrude. She realizes how terrible an act it was to marry King Claudius. She speaks with a tone of fear and disgust with herself. Queen Gertrude is also horrified that Hamlet notices the darkness of her soul. She feels terrible that her son is so disgusted with her.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--
Hamlet goes to the tone of anger of disgust for his mother. He is unrelenting in his pursuit to make her feel horrible about the sin she committed. He provides the imagery of Queen Gertrude making unclean love to King Claudius to show how unclean their relationship is. Hamlet looks away from the painting as he says these line and looks Queen Gertrude straight in the eye as he provides this imagery.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
The imagery that Hamlet has provided regarding Queen Gertrude’s and King Claudius’s filthy relationship is too much for Queen Gertrude to handle. She yells at a high volume as if Hamlet’s words are physically hurting her.
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
Continuing where he left off last time, Hamlet goes right back to speaking of how terrible King Claudius is in the same angry and passionate tone, as if he were never interrupted. Hamlet knows his words are getting to Queen Gertrude so he continues in order make sure the Queen knows full-well how terrible a man King Claudius is. He gets right next to Queen Gertrude and whispers the final line in her ear.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
Queen Gertrude can no longer handle Hamlet’s trashing of King Claudius and her own realization that her son has been watching her sin against her former husband. Hamlet’s words once again physically hurt Queen Gertrude.
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Hamlet braces himself for another speech against King Claudius but stops with a look of surprise on his face when he notices the Ghost.
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Hamlet sees the Ghost of his father and looks to it with deep admiration. He acts and speaks like a loyal slave ready to do anything for the one he admires most.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
Queen Gertrude speaks in an extremely fearful tone because she cannot see the ghost Hamlet sees and therefore she thinks he is crazily talking to nobody.
HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Hamlet fears that his father’s ghost is mad at him for not having killed King Claudius yet. He is scared that he disappointed the ghost and therefore speaks apologetically.
Ghost
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.
The ghost realizes that Queen Gertrude is overwhelmed by Hamlet’s deep imagery and feels somewhat sorry for his former wife. He calmly attempts to calm Hamlet down and get to lay off a bit from totally chastising his mother.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Hamlet strictly obeys the ghost by speaking to his mother is a more humane manner. He now speaks in a more sympathetic tone, trying to calm down Queen Gertrude.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
Queen Gertrude is still fearful that Hamlet has gone completely mad so she attempts to convince Hamlet of his own madness so that he may realize how irrational his actions are perhaps calm down. She is still fearful that Hamlet may kill her is in his state of insanity.
HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;
Hamlet calmly tries to get his mother to notice the ghost but he realizes that Queen Gertrude cannot and will not be able to see the ghost. He points to the ghost but in Queen Gertrude’s vision it appears he is pointing to nothing.
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
As the ghost is giving Hamlet a look of admiration from father to son, Hamlet gets caught in the moment and for a second stops speaking in admiration of King Hamlet. After this brief pause in speech, Hamlet looks away quickly and begins speaking again to end the heartfelt father-son moment.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
In a confused but still fearful tone.
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
He knows the answer to this question.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
Queen Gertrude says this line as if she is speaking to a crazy person, emphasizing that there are no supernatural beings in the room.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
He knows the answers to this question and is still looking at the ghost when he says this.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
Staring at her son as if he has gone totally mad.
HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Hamlet is intensely staring at his father as if he were speaking to King Hamlet instead of Queen Gertrude. He is getting a final glimpse of his father, the one he admires most. A tear falls from Hamlet’s face.
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Queen Gertrude still wants to convince Hamlet that he has gone mad, but she knows it is a lost cause and that Hamlet will not come to this realization.
HAMLET
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
Hamlet now speaks in a calm and almost too rational tone. He desperately wishes for his mother to see that he has not gone crazy, but that his thoughts regarding the evilness of King Claudius are coming from a sane mind. He looks her in the eye and takes her hand in has as he gently and somewhat desperately attempts to convince Queen Gertrude that he in normal and speaking from his true heart.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Again Queen Gertrude is speaking in a distresses and disappointed tone. She is upset in realizing her own sin, and she is upset that Hamlet has gone insane. She is near tears.
HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Hamlet is still attempting to speak in the most calm and sane possible tone so that his mother believes him that he has not gone mad. He is also speaking in pleading tone, urging her to do as he says and not sleep with King Claudius anymore. He gets on one knee as he softly pleads with Queen Gertrude to do as he says.
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.
Hamlet looks at Polonius as he speaks these lines. He maintains his calm tone but also speaks with a hint of innocence as he looks at the body, trying to show that he is not an evil murderer. Hamlet does not feel sorry for killing Polonius, but he feels that the old fool has it coming by being so nosy and spying on Hamlet while not letting him be with Ophelia. Hamlet feels remorse for killing a man, but he does not feel sorry for Polonius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
Remorseful.
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
Hamlet again becomes angry and resentful while speaking of King Claudius. He loses his calm tone and the viewer can Hamlet’s deep hatred by the look in his face. He emphasizes the insulting words such “bloat king.” Hamlet looks Queen Gertrude in the eye in this final attempt to convince her to leave King Claudius. Hamlet shows that he truly cares for his mother in this passionate attempt to save her from the sin and disgust he feels she commits by sleeping with King Claudius. Hamlet also does not want Queen Gertrude to let the secret out that Hamlet is not actually insane.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.
Queen Gertrude shows that she believes Hamlets when he tells her he is sane. She attempts to regain Hamlet’s trust in her and make him believe in her to do everything he has asked her to do. She speaks in a tone of reassurance, almost pleading with Hamlet to trust her.
Friday, February 1, 2008
If the Brakeman Turns My Way
A song by Bright Eyes
When panic grips your body and your heart is a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
All this automatic writing I have tried to understand
From a psychedelic angel who was tugging on my hand
It's an infinite coincidence but it doesn't form a plan
So I'm headed for New England or the Paris of the South
Gonna find myself somewhere to level out
Are your brothels full, Oh Babylon, with merry Middlemen?
Never peer out of their periscopes from those deep opium dens
All this death must need a counterweight always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out
I tried to pass for nothing
But my dreams gave me away
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
People snuffed out in the brutal rain
I could live to any age
If the Brakeman turns my way
It is an old world it's hard to remember
Like a dime store mystery
I'm a repeat first time offender
Who has rewritten history
Mixed up tea leaves
Phantom Pain
Fuzzy logic in the crazy rain
Getting better every day
If the Brakeman turns my way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the blinding rain
He'll be smiling as he seals my fate
When the Brakeman turns my way
When panic grips your body and your heart is a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
All this automatic writing I have tried to understand
From a psychedelic angel who was tugging on my hand
It's an infinite coincidence but it doesn't form a plan
So I'm headed for New England or the Paris of the South
Gonna find myself somewhere to level out
Are your brothels full, Oh Babylon, with merry Middlemen?
Never peer out of their periscopes from those deep opium dens
All this death must need a counterweight always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out
I tried to pass for nothing
But my dreams gave me away
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
People snuffed out in the brutal rain
I could live to any age
If the Brakeman turns my way
It is an old world it's hard to remember
Like a dime store mystery
I'm a repeat first time offender
Who has rewritten history
Mixed up tea leaves
Phantom Pain
Fuzzy logic in the crazy rain
Getting better every day
If the Brakeman turns my way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the blinding rain
He'll be smiling as he seals my fate
When the Brakeman turns my way
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