Hamlet 6a

At this moment in the play, Hamlet and Claudius act as foils in that Hamlet is tethered down by logic, while Claudius appears to be much more emotionally charged.  Emotionally, Hamlet has many good reasons to kill Claudius: Claudius has essentially given away the fact that he has murdered the late King Hamlet, and Hamlet  is now alone with Claudius, a sword, and his anger.  Now would be a perfect time to kill Claudius, but Hamlet talks himself out of it with logic: "I, [King Hamlet's] sole son, do this same villain send / To heaven. / Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge" (III.iii.82-84).  While the audience may reason that now is an optimal time to kill him, Hamlet convinces himself otherwise in spite of his emotions towards Claudius.  In contrast, Claudius seems to be stressed and worried about the murder he has committed and the possible consequences.  His soliloquy is loaded with questions; almost every sentence in lines 47-56 ends in a question mark.  This fast-paced introspection creates a tone of desperation and fear of facing justice for his evil actions, and it gives the impression that his either his guilt or his fear is sincere.  The paranoia that leads Claudius into prayer contrasts with the cold logic that leads Hamlet out of his desire to kill his stepfather.

Hamlet 6

In Act III Scene iv, Hamlet wittily lashes out at his mother for her inappropriate behavior. When she says to Hamlet that he has "[his] father much offended," Hamlet turns the statement back on her using the exact same words, changing only the necessary pronouns, but Hamlet refers to his original father rather than to Claudius (12-13). By repeating his mother's phrasing, he voices his frustration with her while simultaneously pointing out her hypocrisy. He does the some with her next accusation that his tongue is "idle," changing the idiomatic "Come, come" to the literal "Go, go" and changing "idle" to "wicked" (14-15). Hamlet once again makes clear to Gertrude that he is frustrated with her behavior in a manner that is dismissive and defensive. Hamlet's strategy of turning his mother's statements against her enhances his sense of alienation from her because it clearly points out her wrongdoings in a way that is likely to expose his emotions and to hurt her feelings.

A Stoic Shoulder to Cry on

Sarabi cried
After what happened to Mufasa.
The love of her life trampled
By nature, arbitrarily turning against him,
Why wouldn't she react how Simba did?

Suppose she was there with Simba when it happened.
Of course she wants to cry,
Wants to scream to the sky,
To ask God why.
But something stops her.

She can't figure it out. Her logic is telling her to cry, but
Not her heart. She looks to Simba.
He's crying just fine.
And that's why.

Where will be look for strength, his only source now cut down?
He needs a role model to guide him,
To be strong for him,
To let him know it will be okay.

It's Harder than It Sounds

Zounds, difficulty abounds.
Pounds and mounds of thought, which confounds.

Finding the right word,
The least absurd, the most preferred,
Both read and heard.

Simply choosing a theme,
It's like a dream or impossible scheme,
Or so it would seem.

So start with the first thought
That comes to you.  You ought
To have artful line breaks as well, but don't get caught
Getting carried away with them.

I wish that I could write a poem
About something other than writing a poem.
But in the meantime, I'll conclude this poem
With some advice never to rhyme "poem" with "poem."

Hamlet 5

In his famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy Hamlet weighs the pros and cons of suicide.  First, he compares a life of "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" to "tak[ing] arms against a sea of troubles / And, by opposing, end them" (III.i.66-68).  The metaphorical choices Hamlet makes here are important clues to which way the scale is tipping.  Slings and arrows are relatively small, crude weapons and may not be as accurate or as powerful as more modern weapons such as pistols and other firearms.  In contrast, the sea is an image that writers often use to demonstrate endlessness and inevitability.  By juxtaposing these two images, Shakespeare hints that he would rather bear life than end it abruptly.  He would rather soldier his way through life, standing up to a shower of small projectiles that may not even hit him, than take on his inevitable and mysterious death before his time comes.  However, he seems to reconsider the weight of each option later in his soliloquy when he notes how easy it would be to end the suffering of his life.  At line 78, he begins the rhetorical question, "who would bear..."  He finishes the clause with five lines describing the torments that man undergoes throughout life.  Hamlet than compares all these tortures to a description of suicide that lasts a brief line and a half.  His elaborate negative description and relatively painless description of death suggest that, at this point in the soliloquy, he is considering suicide more strongly than when he begins.

Hamlet 4

In Act II, Scene ii, Polonius speaks of the “pregnant” nature of Hamlet’s remarks (227).  By “pregnant,” Polonius means to say that Hamlet’s responses are loaded with meaning, particularly meaning that is poised to come into the world at any time.  Hamlet tells Polonius to be wary of his daughter conceiving a child (201-203).  While the line is humorous because of the irony, it may also be an indicator of Hamlet’s low self-esteem.  His wish to prevent conception may stem from his suicidal thoughts and his current perception of life as futile.   Hamlet’s suggestion to walk “Into [his] grave” has a similar meaning, all though in this line it is more overt (225).  As Polonius sarcastically acknowledges, his grave would technically be "out of the air" as Polonius has suggested (224).  However, Hamlet takes Polonius's well-intended suggestion to clear his head to another level by suggesting that he clear his head by simply ending his life.

Committed

Cancer.

Just one single simple word

Can rock your world completely--turning it

Upside down, spiraling on and on, with no sign of stopping.

Where did my dad go wrong?  Something he ate?  did?  didn't do?

He's doing better , but there have been some rough days, even months

When he can't even move, a prisoner to a bed and to a cell within his mind.

We visit daily when that happens.  I just need to be with him, know that he'll be

Okay in the end.  He tells me there's hope.  His clinical trials are the best around.

But Dana-Farber has some tricks up their sleeves. 37-million-dollar-a-year tricks.

192 miles, 5000 cyclists.                  Committed.                  My dad is one of them.

After months in the hospital, he will get on his bike and cross the state, soaring

Freely across miles and miles of open air, fighting for a cure with his wheels.

I stand at the starting line, 5:30AM, with tears in my eyes.  They're riding

For him, riding to cure my dad, cure all the loved ones that we think of

With the collective heart and the soul of this beautiful community.

"Thank you," my giant sign reads.  Thank you for everything,

For cycling toward Bourne, and Provincetown, and

A cancer-free world.  Cycling in order to

Cure cancer forever.

http://www.pmc.org/

The Universal College Dilemma

Drive carefully!
     Ok.
Good luck on your test today!
     Thanks.
Don't forget to talk to guidance!
     Ok.

Does he even hear me?
He's so dependent on my advice;
What if he needs me?

Does he not even hear me?
He's so independent of my advice;
What if he doesn't need me?

Hamlet 2

Laertes takes after his father in the way he looks after his sister Ophelia. When the audience first meets Ophelia, Laertes is lecturing her about being wary of Hamlet's advances. He warns her to "keep ... in the rear of her affection" and not allow her emotions to overcome her (I.iii.38). He also warns that "his will is not his own" because of his duty to the state, and he therefore cannot be trusted in an intimate relationship (I.iii.20). He acts very patronizing of his sister, while it is clear that his intention is to keep her happy and protected. Their father is the same way. When he enters and gives Laertes his blessing, Polonius lists a myriad of tips that he wants Laertes to remember for his trip, such as "be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar" and "Thou canst not then be false to any man" (I.iii.66, 86). He is very specific in his orders to his grown son, just as Laertes is clear about his instructions to his sister who probably has proficient judgement skills herself. Just like his son, Polonius simply wants to ensure that his loved ones stay safe.

Interestingly, many themes of this dialogue parallel Hamlet's core values. Hamlet holds in high regard the virtue of staying true to oneself, as Polonius advises Laertes as his most important advice. In addition, Laertes warns Ophelia not to allow her emotions to overshadow her logic. Hamlet, another character who is extremely intelligent but in an unstable emotional state, undergoes an analogous internal struggle on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum due to the death of his father.