In the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the theme of happiness from different viewpoints plays a major role. The happiness in this new world is one of scientific creation and false pretences. This happiness is psychologically and drug induced—an instant gratification that the new world promotes. The reader further understands this scientific version of totalitarianism in the new world when the savage come to the new world to show what happiness truly means. To the savage, a foil in the theme of happiness creation, happiness is his “deliberately attempt[s] to set up obstacles for [himself] which will impede the easy realization of [his] desires” (science and conscience in Huxley’s a brave new world, 315). The entrance of the savage, John, into the story brings a level of understanding to the reader because, through John, the reader can associate the society of today to the society of the new world. His opposing views of the happiness in the new society bring about a connection between his world—the world of today—and the new world—the world of totalitarianism and false happiness. In the new world, there is a seemingly human happiness that is only created by and underlying scientific brainwashing and large doses of drugs. The science of the new era becomes a substitution for happiness, family and education. These ideas that are presented in the Brave New World are not ideas that are new to literature. Huxley takes many of the main themes in the novel such as the tragedies of science, futuristic utopia, and scientific satire. Many of his ideas were taken from Shakespeare, as the savage clearly quotes, Bertrand Russell, and H. G. Wells. This novel of generational differences and blended ideas is a satirical manifestation of the importance and reality of happiness and the prevention of this joy due to scientific advancement.
As the novel declares satirically, happiness is created and pain is explicitly prevented in order to maintain a secure and content society. This self-proclaimed happiness is created, not achieved, but the people of the new world find that they know nothing better than this false happiness. This new world of technology and brainwashing is a world of simple bliss, not educated and refined happiness. The contentment found in this futuristic society is of “idealistic pretensions, it is a utopia” (ira page 44). The manifestation of this utopia is ill founded, however. In this world where all seems to be bliss and everyone proclaims that “everyone is happy now,” not a single person can justifiably claim true happiness. Only the happiness that is created by high doses of soma and by mental brainwashing is seen or felt by the people of this science-bred society. In this world happiness is created instead of won; the happiness that is shown is not based on relationships and love, odd things of the past, but rather on brainwashing science. As the test-tube people grow, they are trained, brainwashed, to believe that they are happy, yet they have nothing that makes them happy, only the belief that because they are told that they are happy, they must be so. The concepts that make a person truly happy have been eliminated for existence and made forbidden such as family and advancement in life. The “conflictless, nonsuppressive consumer society” (peter 313) of the new world shows that people are only in existence to consume; people are simply created so that their bodies can consume the products that they make. As the novel proclaims, satirically, happiness is created and pain is explicitly prevented in order to maintain a secure and content society. This self-proclaimed happiness is created, not achieved, but the people of the brave new world find that they know nothing better than this false happiness.(580)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Bravery in Sadness
It is crazy to imagine a world in which happiness is created and relationships and love are things the past, are things of forbidden nature. In the brave new world, when we see the agony and pain that the mother of the savage goes through because of her "uncleanliness" of being a mother, we, as readers are baffled. We learn a lot about society through the eyes of this savage who has learned about the culture outside of his reservation, but is educated in the ways of the days when people were free to live, to feel pain, and to love.
Through the savage’s reaction to the false happiness of the people in the “civilized” world, the reader can see how pained the people with no lives to call their own must need this false happiness of learned reactions and soma can contribute to a more stable society. The savage is uncomfortable in the fakeness of the world around him because he knows that true happiness only comes when one can experience true grief to gauge true happiness from. It is hard to believe that a society that can be so much advanced from the place, in which we live currently, can be so utterly corrupt. The savage sees this corruption without the eyes of forced belief of perfection. This knowledge of the possibility of a totalitarian government being able to control so much about a society that people do not even think their own true thoughts is entirely frightening. What would a world become if people were who they were going to be from the day they were conceived? The world would never be better than it was because no choices are available to be made. Every day would be as the last and no one would have the chance for improvement and failure. Once Bernard Marx finds this savage, a boy who was born from a woman who had been created, not born, this is his only chance for his true happiness, his lifting in life. As an alpha plus he innately understands that happiness stems from lack of grief, not from drugs. He realizes his need for ability to achieve and found this through recognition, something that a seemingly communistic society does not advocate or even understand. Once his fame and achievement goes away, he realizes that in the society in which he exists, greatness has no place and achievement is even frowned upon because people must follow the learning and engineering they have been created with.
It is a tragic ending when the savage runs away from the society because he cannot handle the fakeness of the world and the understanding that no person can truly be better than anyone else. Without learning and without ability for excellence, no one can make himself better. This is frightening for people who have been through hard times and know that happiness is only judged against the hard times you have had. When happiness in a society is characterized by how high you can get on a soma vacation, life is not worth living and the savage sees this. Life is made so that people have a potential to succeed or fail, be happy or sad, not so that the world appears perfect but is secretly distressed (548).
My Jstor articles:
"Brainwashing and Totalitarianization in Modern Society: by Edgar Schein
"Brave New World and The Tempest" by Ira Grushow
"Science and Conscience in Huxley's Brave New World" by Peter Firchow
Through the savage’s reaction to the false happiness of the people in the “civilized” world, the reader can see how pained the people with no lives to call their own must need this false happiness of learned reactions and soma can contribute to a more stable society. The savage is uncomfortable in the fakeness of the world around him because he knows that true happiness only comes when one can experience true grief to gauge true happiness from. It is hard to believe that a society that can be so much advanced from the place, in which we live currently, can be so utterly corrupt. The savage sees this corruption without the eyes of forced belief of perfection. This knowledge of the possibility of a totalitarian government being able to control so much about a society that people do not even think their own true thoughts is entirely frightening. What would a world become if people were who they were going to be from the day they were conceived? The world would never be better than it was because no choices are available to be made. Every day would be as the last and no one would have the chance for improvement and failure. Once Bernard Marx finds this savage, a boy who was born from a woman who had been created, not born, this is his only chance for his true happiness, his lifting in life. As an alpha plus he innately understands that happiness stems from lack of grief, not from drugs. He realizes his need for ability to achieve and found this through recognition, something that a seemingly communistic society does not advocate or even understand. Once his fame and achievement goes away, he realizes that in the society in which he exists, greatness has no place and achievement is even frowned upon because people must follow the learning and engineering they have been created with.
It is a tragic ending when the savage runs away from the society because he cannot handle the fakeness of the world and the understanding that no person can truly be better than anyone else. Without learning and without ability for excellence, no one can make himself better. This is frightening for people who have been through hard times and know that happiness is only judged against the hard times you have had. When happiness in a society is characterized by how high you can get on a soma vacation, life is not worth living and the savage sees this. Life is made so that people have a potential to succeed or fail, be happy or sad, not so that the world appears perfect but is secretly distressed (548).
My Jstor articles:
"Brainwashing and Totalitarianization in Modern Society: by Edgar Schein
"Brave New World and The Tempest" by Ira Grushow
"Science and Conscience in Huxley's Brave New World" by Peter Firchow
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tragic New World
The novel, "A Brave New World", presents much commentary on today's society about personal happiness, over consumption of goods, and use of pleasure over morality. At the beginning of this novel, the most prominent theme that the reader is aware of is the uncomfortably the reader has about the lack of personal morality in the futuristic society and the overabundance of use of technology.
This social commentary on the future makes the reader uncomfortable because people tend to rely on morality as a form of comfort. In this futuristic society, there is no morality because being happy is the only reason that people live, and with the forced lack of morals, people seem to be happy with not knowing that morals exist. It is confusing for people who read this novel to understand a world without morality and a world where education is not formed by experience but rather by voices that are heard during sleep. The knowledge that small children are encouraged to partake in sexual play is baffling to a society where such activity is explicitly forbidden. Even more shocking is when we see the child who does not want to participate in such play taken to the psychiatrist because this is abnormal behavior. Not only is this shocking to the reader but it is also a subject of squeamishness because in today’s society, and even more in the time in which the novel was written, such topics being discussed were and are not publicly acceptable.
Another baffling sight that readers experience in the beginning of reading this novel is that technology is used for everything. People are created by, educated by, raised by, amused by, and changed by technology. It is amazing to see a whole society without a single family or a person who is born. The threads of society seem as though they couldn’t exist without the moral and loving center of a family unit, and yet in this novel, families are explicitly acting against. Every thought that the people of this new society think is given to them by machines that teach and enforce moral lessons. The people who live in this society actually believe this teaching is for the better because “everyone is happy now.” People are happy because they are taught that they are happy and because they are given drugs if they do not feel extremely happy. This is a wild state of humanity that is almost tragic. People can never be truly happy if they do not know what the alternative to happiness is or if they do not have anything that makes them happy, as in a relationship or an accomplishment, except the thought of being happy by tricking their brains with hard drugs.
It is almost an appalling idea of a society being completely decided before you are born. Knowing that each person’s future is determined while they are being created and no one can get around their creation, means that no one can create themselves, they are simply created and told what to think and how to act. This story is a seeming tragedy of the future of the world (523).
This social commentary on the future makes the reader uncomfortable because people tend to rely on morality as a form of comfort. In this futuristic society, there is no morality because being happy is the only reason that people live, and with the forced lack of morals, people seem to be happy with not knowing that morals exist. It is confusing for people who read this novel to understand a world without morality and a world where education is not formed by experience but rather by voices that are heard during sleep. The knowledge that small children are encouraged to partake in sexual play is baffling to a society where such activity is explicitly forbidden. Even more shocking is when we see the child who does not want to participate in such play taken to the psychiatrist because this is abnormal behavior. Not only is this shocking to the reader but it is also a subject of squeamishness because in today’s society, and even more in the time in which the novel was written, such topics being discussed were and are not publicly acceptable.
Another baffling sight that readers experience in the beginning of reading this novel is that technology is used for everything. People are created by, educated by, raised by, amused by, and changed by technology. It is amazing to see a whole society without a single family or a person who is born. The threads of society seem as though they couldn’t exist without the moral and loving center of a family unit, and yet in this novel, families are explicitly acting against. Every thought that the people of this new society think is given to them by machines that teach and enforce moral lessons. The people who live in this society actually believe this teaching is for the better because “everyone is happy now.” People are happy because they are taught that they are happy and because they are given drugs if they do not feel extremely happy. This is a wild state of humanity that is almost tragic. People can never be truly happy if they do not know what the alternative to happiness is or if they do not have anything that makes them happy, as in a relationship or an accomplishment, except the thought of being happy by tricking their brains with hard drugs.
It is almost an appalling idea of a society being completely decided before you are born. Knowing that each person’s future is determined while they are being created and no one can get around their creation, means that no one can create themselves, they are simply created and told what to think and how to act. This story is a seeming tragedy of the future of the world (523).
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A Worse Fate than Death
XIX. To an Athlete Dying Young
by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:
Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.
So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.
And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.
The poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young", is a poem that can extend through all generations without any loss of meaning. Even though this poem was written many generations ago, the meaning can still be applied to all athletes in this day and age. This is an important aspect in a work of art or literature because this poem can be appreciated for many, many generations without any loss of understanding. In reading this poem, it is important to understand that the author's use of a dramatic and seemingly dreary topic is a cover for giving a critical view of growing old as something to be avoided and feared. Underneath the surface of this poem is an ironic portrayal of death used as a way to glorify yourself.
The basic theme that this poem creates, before the reader understands the underlying commentary in the poem, is one of seeing the happiness in the gloom, the lighter side of the dark, without being explicitly morbid in the process. This poem is key in explaining the feeling of tragedy of an athlete dying in the peak of his or her talent. It shows the feelings associated with the accomplishments that the athlete takes to his grave is never forgotten because the glory of his endeavors weren’t given time to diminish before the athlete passed on. This poem can be seen as an ironically critical view of continuing life even after a person’s glory years have long since faded. Housman seems to be making a social commentary that life is great and wonderful when you are young and in your prime, but later, life becomes tiresome and your glory fades as your body disintegrates. The author does not appear to truly believe that it is beneficial for athletes to parish in their prime of athleticism, but rather understands that it is hard for people with such accomplishments early in their lives to grow old and lose what they had worked so hard to gain as young people. Growing old means losing your magnificence, a hard process to undergo for highly accomplished individuals.
While the writer shows this social commentary about the pities of growing old, readers do not take this poem to mean that life is only good if you are able to die in your glory days. It is an underlying irony that the author shows life as amazing in the peak moments of life and better to be ended during these times of glory. It is a sad truth that magnificence achieved during childhood is not glory that follows you into old age, but all that remains are the memories of greatness and rusty trophies that have no meaning. The author tries to capture this loss of greatness by showing the accomplishments of an athlete who died in his prime overcoming his “name d[ying] before the man” (line 20). The reader feels the sadness of the poem but can also understand that growing old can also be a terrible depression to one of such accomplishment, and therefore death can seem to be a blessing.
While this poem doesn’t show an obvious irony or commentary on society, the underlying message is one of morbid realization. Housman wants the reader to understand that while he does not believe that early deaths are something to be celebrating, in a world where accomplishments are prized above all else, early death means an athlete will never “see the record cut” or feel the decline of his glory. It is ironic that a poem that seems so tragic in theme—with the death of a young person—really is commenting that old age takes glory from those who deserve to remember glory for their whole lives. This robbery of feelings is even more tragic, according to this poem, than the loss of life. Death is the simple irony of humanity that saves glory forever but takes life with it (651).
by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.
Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:
Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.
So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.
And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.
The poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young", is a poem that can extend through all generations without any loss of meaning. Even though this poem was written many generations ago, the meaning can still be applied to all athletes in this day and age. This is an important aspect in a work of art or literature because this poem can be appreciated for many, many generations without any loss of understanding. In reading this poem, it is important to understand that the author's use of a dramatic and seemingly dreary topic is a cover for giving a critical view of growing old as something to be avoided and feared. Underneath the surface of this poem is an ironic portrayal of death used as a way to glorify yourself.
The basic theme that this poem creates, before the reader understands the underlying commentary in the poem, is one of seeing the happiness in the gloom, the lighter side of the dark, without being explicitly morbid in the process. This poem is key in explaining the feeling of tragedy of an athlete dying in the peak of his or her talent. It shows the feelings associated with the accomplishments that the athlete takes to his grave is never forgotten because the glory of his endeavors weren’t given time to diminish before the athlete passed on. This poem can be seen as an ironically critical view of continuing life even after a person’s glory years have long since faded. Housman seems to be making a social commentary that life is great and wonderful when you are young and in your prime, but later, life becomes tiresome and your glory fades as your body disintegrates. The author does not appear to truly believe that it is beneficial for athletes to parish in their prime of athleticism, but rather understands that it is hard for people with such accomplishments early in their lives to grow old and lose what they had worked so hard to gain as young people. Growing old means losing your magnificence, a hard process to undergo for highly accomplished individuals.
While the writer shows this social commentary about the pities of growing old, readers do not take this poem to mean that life is only good if you are able to die in your glory days. It is an underlying irony that the author shows life as amazing in the peak moments of life and better to be ended during these times of glory. It is a sad truth that magnificence achieved during childhood is not glory that follows you into old age, but all that remains are the memories of greatness and rusty trophies that have no meaning. The author tries to capture this loss of greatness by showing the accomplishments of an athlete who died in his prime overcoming his “name d[ying] before the man” (line 20). The reader feels the sadness of the poem but can also understand that growing old can also be a terrible depression to one of such accomplishment, and therefore death can seem to be a blessing.
While this poem doesn’t show an obvious irony or commentary on society, the underlying message is one of morbid realization. Housman wants the reader to understand that while he does not believe that early deaths are something to be celebrating, in a world where accomplishments are prized above all else, early death means an athlete will never “see the record cut” or feel the decline of his glory. It is ironic that a poem that seems so tragic in theme—with the death of a young person—really is commenting that old age takes glory from those who deserve to remember glory for their whole lives. This robbery of feelings is even more tragic, according to this poem, than the loss of life. Death is the simple irony of humanity that saves glory forever but takes life with it (651).
Monday, March 10, 2008
Faults are Pain
The most intriguing part of the play fences, is how Rose attempts to overlook Troy's faults. This is interesting because the faults seem to be so heavy and irritating, and yet she stays with her husband throughout and even accepts those faults that most people would find horrible.
The fault of not caring for his children in a traditional sense would set most wives and mothers to despise and leave their husbands. Rose knew full well that Troy was not fatherly to his son from previously in his life: Lyons. Troy only thinks of his son as a thing that comes and takes money from him and not as a human to be loved by his father. Troy rejects his son as a burden and a parasite rather than accepting that it is his kin and taking responsibility for his son. We see how Troy feels about Lyons when he talks about the fact that Lyon’s mother raised him apart from Troy and that made them separate, not the fact that Troy did not try to be a part of his son’s life. Rose knows this fault but still tries to have a normal family with Troy, even bearing a son to him. Troy acts in the same manner towards Cory as he does with Lyons; treating him as a burden and something to be scolded. Troy does not have a proper capacity to be a father, and even with knowledge of this, Rose lives with this man and tries to create an acceptable family with him as well.
Even when Troy is caught with another woman, having cheated on Rose, she stays with him. Though their marriage is ruined and Rose is raising a baby girl that is not her own, she never leaves her faulted husband and continues to try to create a descent household with him. Though we see in the final scene of the play that their relationship was never real and happy again, they were still together and Rose was still loyal to Troy. Rose acknowledges that he husband has this fault and will never forgive him for ruining their household with his sneaking about and his promiscuity, but she stays loyal to him and his household even though their marriage is, in effect, ruined. This loyalty shows that Rose understands that man is inherently faulted and can accept her husbands faults even though they are great in number and in strength.
When the play says that Rose “recognizes Troy’s spirit as a fine and illuminating one and she either ignores or forgives his faults, only some of which she recognizes” I knew I would need to be mindful of the fact that Troy has significant faults. By the end of the play I believe that his faults are unforgettable and unforgivable but Rose is a bigger person and protects her family and her household by allowing these faults because she loves Troy. She may be greatly distraught by the greatness with which these faults affected her but she is more concerned with the visual aspect of having a family then with being content with her husband. The family was never the same after Rose finally admitted that her husband was greatly faulted (538).
The fault of not caring for his children in a traditional sense would set most wives and mothers to despise and leave their husbands. Rose knew full well that Troy was not fatherly to his son from previously in his life: Lyons. Troy only thinks of his son as a thing that comes and takes money from him and not as a human to be loved by his father. Troy rejects his son as a burden and a parasite rather than accepting that it is his kin and taking responsibility for his son. We see how Troy feels about Lyons when he talks about the fact that Lyon’s mother raised him apart from Troy and that made them separate, not the fact that Troy did not try to be a part of his son’s life. Rose knows this fault but still tries to have a normal family with Troy, even bearing a son to him. Troy acts in the same manner towards Cory as he does with Lyons; treating him as a burden and something to be scolded. Troy does not have a proper capacity to be a father, and even with knowledge of this, Rose lives with this man and tries to create an acceptable family with him as well.
Even when Troy is caught with another woman, having cheated on Rose, she stays with him. Though their marriage is ruined and Rose is raising a baby girl that is not her own, she never leaves her faulted husband and continues to try to create a descent household with him. Though we see in the final scene of the play that their relationship was never real and happy again, they were still together and Rose was still loyal to Troy. Rose acknowledges that he husband has this fault and will never forgive him for ruining their household with his sneaking about and his promiscuity, but she stays loyal to him and his household even though their marriage is, in effect, ruined. This loyalty shows that Rose understands that man is inherently faulted and can accept her husbands faults even though they are great in number and in strength.
When the play says that Rose “recognizes Troy’s spirit as a fine and illuminating one and she either ignores or forgives his faults, only some of which she recognizes” I knew I would need to be mindful of the fact that Troy has significant faults. By the end of the play I believe that his faults are unforgettable and unforgivable but Rose is a bigger person and protects her family and her household by allowing these faults because she loves Troy. She may be greatly distraught by the greatness with which these faults affected her but she is more concerned with the visual aspect of having a family then with being content with her husband. The family was never the same after Rose finally admitted that her husband was greatly faulted (538).
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Behind the Scene
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.
Speaking strongly in order to make the queen understand what she must do. He is overstepping his bounds in ordering the Queen around but she is at a loss for how to handle the situation so he is trying to assist. As he speaks, he is motioning himself to leave.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
Almost in an angry and demanding tone he is yelling for his mother who has called on him.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
Gertrude wants strength and for Polonius to trust her. She gestures for him to hide.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet is annoyed with having been called upon, knowing that with her alone he will not be able to hold his tongue any longer. He speaks in an angry and rushed tone in order to convey his feelings of annoyance at her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
She is speaking aboout his step-father and uncle, the King. This is not so much as meant as an insult as Hamlet takes it, but she is being demanding, in sense. She wants her son to understand the place that he must take in the family and she is forceful at this point.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Hamlet means his true father, the former king. He is taking offense to the comment of his mother and turning the comment onto herself. He is similarly forceful in his flipping of words, getting angry as his mother speaks. His anger has pent up against his mother and what he has wanted to say to her will not be held back much longer.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Gertrude is seemingly hurt but still attempting to retain control over her son. She is confused as to how she should approach the situation and it trying to remain in control of her son who has, in the minds of most, gone mad.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Hamlet is trying to force her to understand all that he wants to say without letting it out quite yet. He is quick in his words as he as always been but he is also acting openly disrespectful to his mother, the Queen. This shows a slight change in his reactions openly to her when he and she are alone rather than being in public. He is accusatory.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
Hurt and confused, Gertrude is becoming more angry and more concerned about her position of power.
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
Hamlet is tiring of the fake face that she and the others who know the truth have put on. He wishes to burst out in anger at his mother at this point and is still attempting to be accusatory but acts as though he does not know why she is hurt by his comments.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
Concerned for his son and for her relationship, she is hurt and searching for answers from him in hopes to cure her son and to not reveal the truth of the situation between herself and the King. She would be gesturing to herself, probably to her heart as if she had been enduring a great pain, but it is feigned.
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 is finally letting go of the guard of his tongue. He wants his mother to know what he truly thinks of her and is gaining anger every moment. He wants to cause daggers in her heart with the words he speaks so that she will feel guilty for the wrong she has committed. He is less accusatory and more comfortable with his words because he is being honest and forthwith. He is squinting at her as if despising that he could be related to such an atrocity.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
The Queen wants to get out of the situation and move onto a different conversation. She is uncomfortable and distressed. She was hoping to be in control of the conversation and realizes she has no control over her livid son.
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.
He wants his mother to know that he knows all and will not let her leave until she is aware of all he knows about her. He is tired of holding his tongue and will let her know how he feels about her. He ispushing her back into her seat and forcing her to bear what he has to tell her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
The Queen is at this moment afraid for her life and believes that she may be killed by her son. She is frantic and looking for a way out but is not in the proper mind set to know what to do. Hamlet must be coming at her in a threatening way that is frightening her greatly.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
Polonius constantly wants to save the day and be a snitch and his reaction of trying to save the Queen and misinterpreting what Hamlet is doing, he gives himself away. With this reaction we would see him stepping out from behind the tapestry frantically to try to stop Hamlet.
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras
Hamlet, expecting the person behind the curtain to be the King, reacts out of his blind anger and need for revenge and attacks Polonius with his dagger. He shoves the dagger through the tapestry into Polonius before he realizes his mistake. Hamlet is angry and spontaneous at this point and so worked up that he is not thinking entirely rationally.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies
Grabbing the spot where he has been stabbed, Polonius falls to the ground and dies.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
Terrified at the act of her son, she rushes over to the fallen man is shock. She asks Hamlet in a trembling voice, fearful of the maniacal nature of her son.
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Hamlet is hopeful that he has finally fulfilled his task. He assumed wrongly that the man behind the curtain was the King. He is terrified as well but he is almost excited to find out if he has finally finished his task of revenge. Hamlet is rushing over towards the body as well to find out who he has killed
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
Upset over the recent event, Gertrude is almost in tears with terror over the occurrence. She is by the body, looking terrified at the murderer, her son, Hamlet.
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Finally able to fully accuse his mother of her treachery, he takes this bloody moment to create a recollection of an even bloodier moment. He is glad to get this off of his chest and onto the guilt of his mother's chest. Hamlet is waving his hands during the accusation to show his full anger and knowledge of the situation. His tone of voice is angering and accusing.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
Terrified that the secret has been discovered and hoping that she has heard him wrong.
The Queen has a shocked look on her face and her voice is angry and defensive.
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
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.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace!
Hamlet turns to speak to his mother now:
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.
Shocked at who the person he killed truly was, Hamlet does not act remorseful for his rash action. He believes Polonius to have been interfering and to have been caught in the middle of a battle that was not his own. Hamlet is almost angry at the fact that he was being watched and that people are crazy enough to meddle in matters that are not of concern to them. Hamlet is growing upset that he has not fulfilled the need for revenge and begins to think about his next move. He is staring at the body and contemplating at the same time.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
Coming to the realization that Hamlet is personally accusing her of her crimes, she takes a defensive tone and begins to attack Hamlet's words. She is growing cruel in her tone and angry because she is afraid. The Queen is shaking her arms at her son in her anguish and frustration.
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.
Angry and vengeful, Hamlet tells his true feelings toward his mother. He is ashamed of her faults nad dispises her decisions and wants her to know. He is being forceful and rude toawrds his mother, coming into her mind with his word and closer to her face as he speaks. He is gesturing maniacally in his unrestrained anger.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Still confused as to her situation and the act of which Hamlet describes, Gertrude, in a begging tone, asks this of Hamlet.
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:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Hamlet is gesturing to the two pictures of both his father and his uncle. He is angrily trying to make his mother understand what a grave mistake she has made. Hamlet is cold and stabbing in his tone of voice.
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. Hamlet is disgusted by the dramtic difference between his father and his uncle and dares his mother to ignore it and forces her to see it. As Hamlet speaks, Gertrude slowly falls into a depression fueled by the shame of understanding. She is hiding her face and looking frightened.
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.
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.
Gertrude is mornful and ashamed of her actions, just as Hamlet wished. She begins greaving and putting her hands onto her face to hide her shame. Pleading with him to leave her alone, she motions for him to cease speaking on the matter.
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, still close to his mother's face, continues his rant. He is now rolling with his words, everything suppressed is coming out and he is beginning to feel that weight lifted off of his shoulders as he yells at her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
The Queen covers her ears in desperation, hoping that nothing more will leave his lips. She is in pain now because of her enormous shame that she can not rid herself of.
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!
Accusatory again, Hamlet wants to be sure of ther person she is with now, and of the pain she has caused the family in her wrong-doings. He is angry and dispising of the very words that leave his mouth because to him, the words have taken over his entire life since he learned of them. He is gesturing wildly in order to convey the words and the anger with his hands as well.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
She is pleading with her son because her weak nature can not take the pain he is currently inflicting on her.
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Startled by the apparition, Hamlet speaks to the ghost.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
Gertrude can not see the ghost and therefore only can see that Hamlet is speaking to thin air. She is confused by this moment and exclaims to the room that this is crazy in nature. She does not understand why her son is acting so strangely.
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!
Speaking still to the ghost, Hamlet realizes that he has not yet completed his task. He is looking in a direction that is away from his mother, but the ghost can not be seen.
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.
He is speaking calmly yet in a commanding tone. The ghost controls the room and the situation, though he can only be seen my one person. The ghost gestures towards Hamlets mother.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Hamlet asks her obediently, also as calmly as if they had not been fighting and as if he were not crazy.
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?
The Queen is asking her son questions tentatively because she can not figure out what he is talking to. She looks around the room and at his skeptically, not seeing any objects to which he may be speaking. She is concerned and cautious in her tone of voice, unsure about the situation in which she is a part.
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;
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
In almost a mocking tone he replys to his mother as though his answer is quite obvious. Hamlet is pointing to the spot in which he sees the ghost, despretly gesturing to this place.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
Her words and tone of voice are cautious, trying to understand.
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
Confused by the difference of seeing ths ghost this time and last time, where last time everyone could see the figure. Hamlet looks at the ghost and then at his mother hoping to understand why she can not see the figure he sees so clearly.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
Gertrude is trying to stay calm and to be honest with her son. She thinks her son to have gone mad by this moment and can not understand what has happened to him.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
Confused once again, Hamlet tests how much of the situation Gertrude can possibly grasp without seeing or hearing the ghost. He understand that he may look crazy talking to something that is not there and wants to test how Gertrude is reacting to the strange situation.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
She is highly concerned with this occurrence and does not understand fully what is happening. SHe has a worried look on her fce as she and Hamlet stare at each other and around the room.
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 pointing frantically at the ghost in hopes that his mother soon sees it. He is despret for her to see and understand what he has been going through for some time now. He is frustrated by the fact that he truly looks as though he is crazy at this point.
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Gertrude wants Hamlet to understand the madness that he possesses. She is concerened for the well being of his son. As she speaks, she walks towards him in a motherly manner trying to make him understand what he thinks he sees that she can not see.
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. He grabs his own arm as to show her the pulse that is with in him. 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 is pleaing with his mother now. He knows he loves her even while he is angry at her actions. He is done chastising her for the moment and is asking rather than demanding from her. He gets closer to his mother in order to speak to her more rationally.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
She is in pain from the guilt she retains and is even more hurt that her own son is calling the pain out from inside her to be shown. SHe grabs her chest as if to show the heavy pain she feels.
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,
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.
He is bidding her goodnight and gesturing that he must leave, but wants to be sure that his point has not only gotten across but that she understands the extent of hte pain she has caused with her decisions. He edges nearer to her in order to show his love for her while keeping enough distance to retain his angry state of mind.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
Honestly weak at heart and at mind, the Queen can not think for herself because of the burden that Hamlet has placed in her face. She is beggin him to help her.
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.
He is calm and collected and hoping that the Queen will understand and follow his wishes. He is entreating her to be a good person and to listen to him by being calmer than before and acting as if he is her son rather than a person destined to harm her.
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.
She trusts him and hopes he can trust her. Her pain has overcome her and she only wants to make the pain subside. She is near to him and touches him gently as if to physically give him her trust.
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.
Speaking strongly in order to make the queen understand what she must do. He is overstepping his bounds in ordering the Queen around but she is at a loss for how to handle the situation so he is trying to assist. As he speaks, he is motioning himself to leave.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
Almost in an angry and demanding tone he is yelling for his mother who has called on him.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
Gertrude wants strength and for Polonius to trust her. She gestures for him to hide.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet is annoyed with having been called upon, knowing that with her alone he will not be able to hold his tongue any longer. He speaks in an angry and rushed tone in order to convey his feelings of annoyance at her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
She is speaking aboout his step-father and uncle, the King. This is not so much as meant as an insult as Hamlet takes it, but she is being demanding, in sense. She wants her son to understand the place that he must take in the family and she is forceful at this point.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Hamlet means his true father, the former king. He is taking offense to the comment of his mother and turning the comment onto herself. He is similarly forceful in his flipping of words, getting angry as his mother speaks. His anger has pent up against his mother and what he has wanted to say to her will not be held back much longer.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Gertrude is seemingly hurt but still attempting to retain control over her son. She is confused as to how she should approach the situation and it trying to remain in control of her son who has, in the minds of most, gone mad.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Hamlet is trying to force her to understand all that he wants to say without letting it out quite yet. He is quick in his words as he as always been but he is also acting openly disrespectful to his mother, the Queen. This shows a slight change in his reactions openly to her when he and she are alone rather than being in public. He is accusatory.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
Hurt and confused, Gertrude is becoming more angry and more concerned about her position of power.
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
Hamlet is tiring of the fake face that she and the others who know the truth have put on. He wishes to burst out in anger at his mother at this point and is still attempting to be accusatory but acts as though he does not know why she is hurt by his comments.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
Concerned for his son and for her relationship, she is hurt and searching for answers from him in hopes to cure her son and to not reveal the truth of the situation between herself and the King. She would be gesturing to herself, probably to her heart as if she had been enduring a great pain, but it is feigned.
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 is finally letting go of the guard of his tongue. He wants his mother to know what he truly thinks of her and is gaining anger every moment. He wants to cause daggers in her heart with the words he speaks so that she will feel guilty for the wrong she has committed. He is less accusatory and more comfortable with his words because he is being honest and forthwith. He is squinting at her as if despising that he could be related to such an atrocity.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
The Queen wants to get out of the situation and move onto a different conversation. She is uncomfortable and distressed. She was hoping to be in control of the conversation and realizes she has no control over her livid son.
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.
He wants his mother to know that he knows all and will not let her leave until she is aware of all he knows about her. He is tired of holding his tongue and will let her know how he feels about her. He ispushing her back into her seat and forcing her to bear what he has to tell her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
The Queen is at this moment afraid for her life and believes that she may be killed by her son. She is frantic and looking for a way out but is not in the proper mind set to know what to do. Hamlet must be coming at her in a threatening way that is frightening her greatly.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
Polonius constantly wants to save the day and be a snitch and his reaction of trying to save the Queen and misinterpreting what Hamlet is doing, he gives himself away. With this reaction we would see him stepping out from behind the tapestry frantically to try to stop Hamlet.
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras
Hamlet, expecting the person behind the curtain to be the King, reacts out of his blind anger and need for revenge and attacks Polonius with his dagger. He shoves the dagger through the tapestry into Polonius before he realizes his mistake. Hamlet is angry and spontaneous at this point and so worked up that he is not thinking entirely rationally.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies
Grabbing the spot where he has been stabbed, Polonius falls to the ground and dies.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
Terrified at the act of her son, she rushes over to the fallen man is shock. She asks Hamlet in a trembling voice, fearful of the maniacal nature of her son.
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Hamlet is hopeful that he has finally fulfilled his task. He assumed wrongly that the man behind the curtain was the King. He is terrified as well but he is almost excited to find out if he has finally finished his task of revenge. Hamlet is rushing over towards the body as well to find out who he has killed
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
Upset over the recent event, Gertrude is almost in tears with terror over the occurrence. She is by the body, looking terrified at the murderer, her son, Hamlet.
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Finally able to fully accuse his mother of her treachery, he takes this bloody moment to create a recollection of an even bloodier moment. He is glad to get this off of his chest and onto the guilt of his mother's chest. Hamlet is waving his hands during the accusation to show his full anger and knowledge of the situation. His tone of voice is angering and accusing.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
Terrified that the secret has been discovered and hoping that she has heard him wrong.
The Queen has a shocked look on her face and her voice is angry and defensive.
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
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.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace!
Hamlet turns to speak to his mother now:
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.
Shocked at who the person he killed truly was, Hamlet does not act remorseful for his rash action. He believes Polonius to have been interfering and to have been caught in the middle of a battle that was not his own. Hamlet is almost angry at the fact that he was being watched and that people are crazy enough to meddle in matters that are not of concern to them. Hamlet is growing upset that he has not fulfilled the need for revenge and begins to think about his next move. He is staring at the body and contemplating at the same time.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
Coming to the realization that Hamlet is personally accusing her of her crimes, she takes a defensive tone and begins to attack Hamlet's words. She is growing cruel in her tone and angry because she is afraid. The Queen is shaking her arms at her son in her anguish and frustration.
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.
Angry and vengeful, Hamlet tells his true feelings toward his mother. He is ashamed of her faults nad dispises her decisions and wants her to know. He is being forceful and rude toawrds his mother, coming into her mind with his word and closer to her face as he speaks. He is gesturing maniacally in his unrestrained anger.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Still confused as to her situation and the act of which Hamlet describes, Gertrude, in a begging tone, asks this of Hamlet.
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:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Hamlet is gesturing to the two pictures of both his father and his uncle. He is angrily trying to make his mother understand what a grave mistake she has made. Hamlet is cold and stabbing in his tone of voice.
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. Hamlet is disgusted by the dramtic difference between his father and his uncle and dares his mother to ignore it and forces her to see it. As Hamlet speaks, Gertrude slowly falls into a depression fueled by the shame of understanding. She is hiding her face and looking frightened.
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.
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.
Gertrude is mornful and ashamed of her actions, just as Hamlet wished. She begins greaving and putting her hands onto her face to hide her shame. Pleading with him to leave her alone, she motions for him to cease speaking on the matter.
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, still close to his mother's face, continues his rant. He is now rolling with his words, everything suppressed is coming out and he is beginning to feel that weight lifted off of his shoulders as he yells at her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
The Queen covers her ears in desperation, hoping that nothing more will leave his lips. She is in pain now because of her enormous shame that she can not rid herself of.
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!
Accusatory again, Hamlet wants to be sure of ther person she is with now, and of the pain she has caused the family in her wrong-doings. He is angry and dispising of the very words that leave his mouth because to him, the words have taken over his entire life since he learned of them. He is gesturing wildly in order to convey the words and the anger with his hands as well.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
She is pleading with her son because her weak nature can not take the pain he is currently inflicting on her.
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Startled by the apparition, Hamlet speaks to the ghost.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
Gertrude can not see the ghost and therefore only can see that Hamlet is speaking to thin air. She is confused by this moment and exclaims to the room that this is crazy in nature. She does not understand why her son is acting so strangely.
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!
Speaking still to the ghost, Hamlet realizes that he has not yet completed his task. He is looking in a direction that is away from his mother, but the ghost can not be seen.
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.
He is speaking calmly yet in a commanding tone. The ghost controls the room and the situation, though he can only be seen my one person. The ghost gestures towards Hamlets mother.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Hamlet asks her obediently, also as calmly as if they had not been fighting and as if he were not crazy.
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?
The Queen is asking her son questions tentatively because she can not figure out what he is talking to. She looks around the room and at his skeptically, not seeing any objects to which he may be speaking. She is concerned and cautious in her tone of voice, unsure about the situation in which she is a part.
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;
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
In almost a mocking tone he replys to his mother as though his answer is quite obvious. Hamlet is pointing to the spot in which he sees the ghost, despretly gesturing to this place.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
Her words and tone of voice are cautious, trying to understand.
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
Confused by the difference of seeing ths ghost this time and last time, where last time everyone could see the figure. Hamlet looks at the ghost and then at his mother hoping to understand why she can not see the figure he sees so clearly.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
Gertrude is trying to stay calm and to be honest with her son. She thinks her son to have gone mad by this moment and can not understand what has happened to him.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
Confused once again, Hamlet tests how much of the situation Gertrude can possibly grasp without seeing or hearing the ghost. He understand that he may look crazy talking to something that is not there and wants to test how Gertrude is reacting to the strange situation.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
She is highly concerned with this occurrence and does not understand fully what is happening. SHe has a worried look on her fce as she and Hamlet stare at each other and around the room.
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 pointing frantically at the ghost in hopes that his mother soon sees it. He is despret for her to see and understand what he has been going through for some time now. He is frustrated by the fact that he truly looks as though he is crazy at this point.
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Gertrude wants Hamlet to understand the madness that he possesses. She is concerened for the well being of his son. As she speaks, she walks towards him in a motherly manner trying to make him understand what he thinks he sees that she can not see.
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. He grabs his own arm as to show her the pulse that is with in him. 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 is pleaing with his mother now. He knows he loves her even while he is angry at her actions. He is done chastising her for the moment and is asking rather than demanding from her. He gets closer to his mother in order to speak to her more rationally.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
She is in pain from the guilt she retains and is even more hurt that her own son is calling the pain out from inside her to be shown. SHe grabs her chest as if to show the heavy pain she feels.
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,
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.
He is bidding her goodnight and gesturing that he must leave, but wants to be sure that his point has not only gotten across but that she understands the extent of hte pain she has caused with her decisions. He edges nearer to her in order to show his love for her while keeping enough distance to retain his angry state of mind.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
Honestly weak at heart and at mind, the Queen can not think for herself because of the burden that Hamlet has placed in her face. She is beggin him to help her.
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.
He is calm and collected and hoping that the Queen will understand and follow his wishes. He is entreating her to be a good person and to listen to him by being calmer than before and acting as if he is her son rather than a person destined to harm her.
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.
She trusts him and hopes he can trust her. Her pain has overcome her and she only wants to make the pain subside. She is near to him and touches him gently as if to physically give him her trust.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Power corrupts, understanding rebuilds
As a leader, there is much to consider when creating a law or a standing for an entire society or country. The decision made must benefit the people beneath you and must also ensure your leadership is continual, especially in the case of a king. In the case of Creon, a decision must be made about whether the law or the moral code has a greater standing within the society that he rules.
At the beginning of the play, the reader dislikes the power role of Creon because he seems a heartless and domineering character rather than a kind and helpful king. This view point makes the reader more easily understand Antigone’s point of view and convinces the reader that moral obligation is much more important than legal obligation. If a reader were to step back and understand the trap into which he or she fell by convincing his or her self that moral defiance of a law is always in the right, the reader would begin to see that Creon is simply acting as a leader with a difficult decision. It is not until we fully view Creon’s struggle between morals and enforcement of his own laws does the reader understand the position in which the king has placed himself. It is important to the reader that there is an understanding of both sides so that the attitude change of Creon seems more human. As Creon sees the error in his law and understands that he must crush his own stubborn pride in order to do the right thing for his kingdom and for Antigone, the reader begins to pity the uncomfortable situation that the conflict between moral right and enforced law has created for Creon. At the beginning of the play we place Antigone on a pedestal as a symbol of moral obligation and rightful disregard for an unfair law, but as the play progresses, we see Creon as another inflicted character, not simply an antagonist to Antigone’s morality. The change in heart that Creon experiences between creating a law while punishing Antigone for breaking it and realizing that his law was against the god’s and human nature shows the reader that even a human with so much power and pride is simply that, a human. Human’s are fallible and mistaken much of the time, but what makes someone a good person is realizing the wrongs he or she has committed and attempting to right these wrongs. Creon does try to take back what he has done, but the deed being already committed; his punishment is the loss of his loved ones.
Throughout the beginning of the story, everyone can see Creon as the antagonist and the villain, but as the story progresses, I believe that Creon becomes a second protagonist and his own conflict between retaining power and admitting a wrong-doing becomes his antagonist. Because at the end of the play we see the world through the eyes of Creon, we begin to understand his struggles and to pity the decision he has to make, not because of the moral constraints of the situation but because the reader comes to terms with the fact that a man of his position is only human and did realize that he was wrong. His realization gives us hope that humans are inherently good and can overcome their stubborn pride to make things that were wrong turn right (567).
At the beginning of the play, the reader dislikes the power role of Creon because he seems a heartless and domineering character rather than a kind and helpful king. This view point makes the reader more easily understand Antigone’s point of view and convinces the reader that moral obligation is much more important than legal obligation. If a reader were to step back and understand the trap into which he or she fell by convincing his or her self that moral defiance of a law is always in the right, the reader would begin to see that Creon is simply acting as a leader with a difficult decision. It is not until we fully view Creon’s struggle between morals and enforcement of his own laws does the reader understand the position in which the king has placed himself. It is important to the reader that there is an understanding of both sides so that the attitude change of Creon seems more human. As Creon sees the error in his law and understands that he must crush his own stubborn pride in order to do the right thing for his kingdom and for Antigone, the reader begins to pity the uncomfortable situation that the conflict between moral right and enforced law has created for Creon. At the beginning of the play we place Antigone on a pedestal as a symbol of moral obligation and rightful disregard for an unfair law, but as the play progresses, we see Creon as another inflicted character, not simply an antagonist to Antigone’s morality. The change in heart that Creon experiences between creating a law while punishing Antigone for breaking it and realizing that his law was against the god’s and human nature shows the reader that even a human with so much power and pride is simply that, a human. Human’s are fallible and mistaken much of the time, but what makes someone a good person is realizing the wrongs he or she has committed and attempting to right these wrongs. Creon does try to take back what he has done, but the deed being already committed; his punishment is the loss of his loved ones.
Throughout the beginning of the story, everyone can see Creon as the antagonist and the villain, but as the story progresses, I believe that Creon becomes a second protagonist and his own conflict between retaining power and admitting a wrong-doing becomes his antagonist. Because at the end of the play we see the world through the eyes of Creon, we begin to understand his struggles and to pity the decision he has to make, not because of the moral constraints of the situation but because the reader comes to terms with the fact that a man of his position is only human and did realize that he was wrong. His realization gives us hope that humans are inherently good and can overcome their stubborn pride to make things that were wrong turn right (567).
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