Shakespeakerean/Modern "Slut" Shaming

In this blog, I chose to connect Ophelia to many young girls now. Ophelia faces the female stereotype that makes young women a commodity, worthless for being with men before marriage. Polonius says, "From this time be something scanter of your maiden presence. Set your entreatments at a higher rate..." Here, he is reducing Ophelia to her mere virginity, telling her that she must remain a virgin until marriage or be a disgraced woman that is not to be married.
This relates to what women have to deal with--hundreds of years after Hamlet was written! As young women, we have to deal with being called "pops" or "thots" even if we are seen around too many guys, never mind kissing them, and God forbid, actually having sex with them. Like Polonius said, we must look after our sexuality if we ever want to find a life partner that will value us as women of character, and not our "body count." The reputations and negative rumors spread about us only make us less desirable to the young men around us, also relating back to Polonius's statement. Women must preserve their bodies for the man they will be with for the rest of their lives. They must fit into the role of a quiet woman--complacent, obedient, pure, shy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30976576@N07/7302480342/in/photolist-c8i7Zu-eJLnUr-eRqosz-dQhwup-jpXf7v-dBFDTr-eepgaA-aLc4Gz-e4txGA-83zxqq-cZCJSu-aKEijK-81JAH3-aLzwoH-8KLG35-9QxzJs-9XfZyZ-8xPMpM-jCDHRA-m6AhLv-81EsMc-9NEtYQ-8367w1-fcA4se-fcQo3C-81FtLe-e9Jewf-9NEwpU-aLc1Di-dAuDqv-9RTMmi-9PtxzB-bkdJ1z-gmYDTg-e4QTGi-81JCL1-f9q1VY-fDFwJL-9Kprw8-aBE9AJ-9XsJMM-bDMB9A-b2bQt6-fLCGPu-8UKcbp-dt5Kjs-9d5WGV-a6BM2e-hzkCJR-hLarzm-fDs7Y6

This also even relates to a book I read recently, and even discussed on an Independent Reading Day, Fear of Flying. Isadora, a woman in the 1960s, deals with the conflict of being in an unhappy marriage vs. her sexual desires with various men. Women becoming divorced, let alone being adulterous, is stigmatized in her time period and she must always conform to the ideals of her family and society.
Now, I am in no way advocating multiple sexual partners but we do need to be fair when it comes to labelling genders according to their behaviors, especially with something as overrated and private as sex and virginity.

I Just Want To Be Loved

This week in class we read Paradise Lost by John Milton, which is based off of the Adam & Eve story from Genesis. However, this is an epic and in Paradise Lost Milton gives Adam, Eve and Satan a thought process for the reasons why they do certain things. In Genesis, it is just understood that Satan is evil, but it never explains why. In Paradise Lost before the text begins, it is said that Satan has just been kicked out of Heaven and is now about to seek revenge on God. Satan is evil, granted, and I think this may have made him completely evil. He is kicked out Heaven and is now about to throw a tantrum and for attention. This happens all the time. A child and his parents have issues, so the child turns into a problem child. They do things for attention, similar to Don Jon the Bastard from Much Ado About Nothing. Don Jon frames an innocent girl and almost ruins her reputation to hurt his brother and get attention. He wants someone to treat him as something more than a bastard, a human being. Satan does the same. Satan goes after God's precious creation to hurt God because he knows that is what would hurt Him the most. He wants a reaction out of God to see God hurt and possibly feel the same hurt he does when he was thrown out of Heaven. Satan is thrown out of Heaven because he wants to be God's equal, which cannot happen. God is the ultimate supreme and Satan cannot take that. So he is dismissed and now is throwing a tantrum. He and Don Jon are acting like children who just want to be loved by their loved ones. Maybe Satan just wants to be loved and forgiven and Don Jon too.

Just a thought: What if Satan tries to be God's equal because he wants to be like the Father. Think about it.  It would support the idea of him acting like a child. But, then again, he might have just wanted to take God's place. Something to ponder.

Hamlet and The Great Gatsby

Most of us have read the book or seen the movie “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald. Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are very similar in their desire to reach their goals. Although these characters have different personalities, they show similarities in their flaws and actions that lead to their downfall. Both Hamlet and Jay Gatsby chose to take on false identities in order to carry out certain goals. Hamlet in order to revenge his father's death chooses to take on an antic-disposition. Hamlet chooses to do this in order to keep attention away from himself, so that he can carry out his plan to seek revenge on Claudius. Jay Gatsby wants himself to be known as a rich man who constantly throws luxurious parties. His reason for this false identity is to attract the attention of Daisy, in hopes that she will one day come to one of his parties. Another similarity is that both character have a deep love and attachment to other people in the book which lead them to take action. Hamlet loves his father and values him, therefore when the ghost of his father tells him to avenge his death Hamlet promises to do it. Gatsby’s love for Daisy lead him to work to achieve riches in the hopes of attracting her and getting her back. Lastly both characters flaws lead to their downfall. Hamlet's inability to make decisions on time and actually take revenge leads to his death and the death of others. Hamlet and Laertes are both stabbed battling each other. Laertes wants to kill Hamlet for killing his father, Polonius. Gertrude drinks some poisoned wine that was meant for Hamlet, so Gertrude dies too and after being poisoned by Laertes blade, Hamlet manages to kill Claudius. Jay Gatsby's unattainable dream to get Daisy leads to his death because he is killed by George, the husband of Myrtle Wilson, the woman Daisy accidentally ran over. George kills Gatsby because he believed Gatsby was to blame for Myrtle's death. So in both books the main characters were killed because of other characters want for revenge on them. As you can see these two stories are very similar and both these characters share similar flaws that in the end lead to their downfalls.

https://flic.kr/p/bPpuZB https://flic.kr/p/2aoYYv

Abusive much?

        This week in class we were continuing to analyze Much Ado About Nothing. We watched the wedding scene where one of the characters, Claudio, falsely accuses Hero of cheating and calls her a "rotten orange." When we watched the movie, Claudio makes a whole dramatic scene by throwing Hero back at her father aggressively and continuously tarnishing her name in front of everyone like a madman. Claudio never once bothers to ask Hero her side of the story. He is so quick to turn on the woman he claimed he loved. Hero's own father Leonato doesn't believe in his only daughter, and he'd rather Hero be left to die. Leonato punches Hero and drags her across the floor telling her to die. Both when I read and watched this scene, I just could not believe how much he trusts Claudio and the Prince over his own flesh and blood. Leonato, instead of being concerned with how Claudio just disgraced his daughter in public, is more concerned with their reputation being tarnished.

       I know comedies are supposed to end with everyone being happy except the villain, but I just cannot understand why Leonato would even want Hero back with Claudio. Why would you want your daughter with someone who was so willing to humiliate her publicly, flip chairs and throw her around? That sounds like an abusive relationship to me, I would not want my daughter to be with a man who would lose his temper like that. Claudio doesn't deserve Hero. Through this whole play she has done nothing wrong. Hero is like the perfect Elizabethan women.

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To Be or Not to Be a Great Student

  Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, so our tragic hero must have a flaw. In Hamlet's case, his inaction proves to be his Achilles heel. Throughout the week in class, we discussed our frustration with Hamlet's botched chances at killing Claudius, his excuses, and his overall lack of chutzpah. However, we recognize that it is a human life we are asking Hamlet to take, a tainted corrupt life, but life nonetheless. His moral conflict as we often say, needs to be resolved in order for him to carry out his revenge. Hamlet is sometimes impulsive, for example when he killed Polonius believing it was Claudius. Yet other times he is chastising himself for his dormancy on his quest for revenge. I could not help but think about a student. At times we are refreshed and determined to ace all our classes. Two weeks later we wish we were doing better and hoping our grades come through. Consistency is really essential to success, in both Hamlet's case and a student's academics. I honestly struggle with consistency in my grades. Then I see a Fortinbras in our class and I am determined again, as Hamlet was. Can we really be upset with mediocre grades, when we did nothing to improve them? Hamlet cannot really complain when Claudius is not dead yet, because what has he done to make that happen? When we as students complain about a class or stress, but do nothing to fix it what kind of grades should we expect? Every day we make decisions that impact our future, so as senioritis rears its ugly head, remember that.

http://memecrunch.com/meme/2I2K/senioritis

Modern Day Hamlet

    I am a TV junkie. One of my favorite shows, is the most violent and dramatic show on television Sons of Anarchy. It is also loosely modeled after Hamlet. The connections between the show and play are really amazing, and Sons of Anarchy is the modern take, on this revenge tragedy. Jax Teller is the Vice President of the SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original), and he is our Hamlet. His step-father Clay is the President, who took over after Jax's father died. Sound familiar? Clay is Claudius, and his wife and Jax's mom, Gemma is Gertrude. We even have our ghost, except its in the form of letters and manuscripts left by Jax's father about what he wants for the motorcycle club. Tara is Jax's high school sweetheart, or Ophelia and Opie is Jax's childhood friend modeled after Horatio. Jax does not know how his father died, but he does know that the motorcycle club is not going where his father would have liked. The club is involved in drugs, weapons trafficking, and prostitution. It's basically like the rotten corrupt activities going on in Denmark. Throughout the show, Jax struggles with fulfilling his father's dream of a motorcycle club that defends the people of their town, Charming. He has to deal with his overbearing step father Clay, (who killed his father) and his mother Gemma, who has a drinking problem. Jax also has to face is own demons, an ex wife and mother to his child who is a heroin addict, and the love of his life Tara who wants nothing to do with the motorcycle club. Sons of Anarchy has many of the qualities that Hamlet has - treachery, moral corruption, and revenge. The thing that I love about it, is that it is an extension for me of the characters in Hamlet. I picture Gertrude as being spiteful, strong, and relentless, and Gemma plays that out for me on screen. I want to believe that Ophelia is smart, brave, and cunning and Tara embodies that. I wish I could see deeper into Hamlet's mind, his interactions with other characters, and what kind of leader he would be, Jax is just as complex. One of the characters I feel we do not see deeply enough into is Claudius. Believe me, you will hate Clay because you see the twisted lengths he will go to for power. SOA is VERY VIOLENT but the character development is amazing, and if you want to see more of the dysfunctional characters in Hamlet SOA is the way. Also Charlie Hunnam (Hamlet) is beautiful, you're welcome. 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3744/12224059235_5bbc3dcda0_o.jpg

A Modern Day Benedick

In my English class, 12N, we are currently reading and analyzing the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. In the play, one of the characters that was fascinating and also one of my favorites was Benedick. Benedick, with his buddy Claudio, just came home from winning a victorious war. Benedick is a bachelor who "believes" that he will never fall in love ever in his life. Claudio, his friend as well as his foil in the in the play, falls in love hard with Hero who at this time is considered to be the "perfect woman." While Claudio is in love, Benedick on the other hand believes he is perfectly fine being  bachelor  for the rest of his life. In a passage from the book Benedick has a conversation with Claudio, the prince, and others  in Act I.i lines 125-130 saying "I faith and thou wilt needs thrust they neck into yoke, wear the print of it." Basically, Benedick in this line is saying that he could never be tied down to only one woman and be married but would rather be a bachelor and sleep around.

I think many boys in this day in age are modern day Benedick's in a sense.  I say this because If any teenage male (not all)  are in a committed relationship about 85-95% of the time  ***Note from Ms. Whitley: These may not be real statistics, but we get the point.  :) they cheat while in the relationship that they are in by talking to other females on the side or saying they are single on social networks when in reality they really aren't. They don't actually want to work towards a good relationship and be faithful and honest. I mean you can't really expect much from the teenage male species at this age. They are just modern day Benedick's that will one day find their Beatrice that will change there view about things.

*This Blog was not intended to offend anyone just simply my thoughts.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Real Friends or 'nah'?

       So earlier in the week, we had to do to an assignment with a partner discussing "Feigning Friendship" in Hamlet. As we all know, Hamlet is acting "crazy" and it has the attention of Claudius and Gertrude. Long story short, Claudius brings his good ol' childhood buddies Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in to try and see what's the problem, a.k.a be his spy. Now, my question to you ladies is, do you think they are good friends or backstabbers to Hamlet? 

        For me, I think they aren't good friends and are just looking for brownie points from Claudius. Ms. Whitley pointed out a section in class where one of the two said that if hamlet does not tell them why he is acting crazy, they will leave. That being said goes to show they don't really care about Hamlet. If they really cared, they would of went about finding out why he's acting that way in a friendlier way and wouldn't press the subject, giving him time to open up to them. If Claudius would of never called them, they probably would of never came to check on Hamlet. They seem to have taken the opportunity from Claudius to have some sort of vacation and to have the title of being the "kings little helpers". (They seem more like royal booty kissers to me.) 

       These events stood out to me the most because Guildenstern and Rosencrantz aren't showing loyalty to Hamlet at all. If you really cared about your friend, you wouldn't scheme behind their back with their stepparent, which these despise. They represent the opposite of what friends should do, especially when that friend is dealing with the death of a loved one. 

          Also, I think they are there for us as the audience to further sympathize with Hamlet. The more people hurt him, the less annoyed we are with him. We stop being annoyed about his slowness in killing Claudius and instead sympathize with his misfortune. 

These are text messages from Guildenstern and Rosencrantz (they share a phone because iPhones are expensive) to hamlet and Claudius. See where their loyalty lies? Shame, shame SHAMEEE!!! 

(Btw the top pictures say "let's just all stab ____) 

Does Gertrude Have Blood(guilt) On Her Hands? Hamlet

 

(left to right) Afia Obeng and Amanda Scott in Macbeth





                                                       poisonashes.deviantart.com

While doing the responses for Hamlet, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between the plays Hamlet and Macbeth. In Act III.iv of Hamlet, Hamlet says to his mother "confess yourself to heaven" assuming that since Gertrude married Claudius that she must have some part in the murder of King Hamlet. But did she really know Claudius killed King Hamlet? I don't think she does, mainly because in this scene Gertrude is unable to see the ghost of her late husband, and this is where I connected Gertrude to Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth, as we know, is responsible for killing the King and later on she turns mad with the whole “blood on hands” scene; this happened because she was filled with guilt. Later on in this play, Banquo’s ghost comes to haunt Macbeth but Lady Macbeth is unable to see the ghost, and I think this is because she is not connected to his murder. Banquo’s murder is all Macbeth’s doing. So since Gertrude cannot see the ghost of her late husband, she has no part of his murder. This made me think, Gertrude did not actually commit a sin for she is simply unaware of what’s going on around her. Gertrude does not know that Claudius killed her husband and that is why she does not feel guilty and in a figurative sense, her hand is clean of blood. I do not think it is humanly possible for someone to be connected to a murder and not go a little insane, because even Lady Macbeth who we all thought was a "thug" went on a major guilt trip.
Do you think Gertrude still played a part in King Hamlet's death?

Reflection 12N What is good and What is bad in society

Reflection 

       So far in the play Much Ado About Nothing we have picked up how the characters, Beatrice and Benedick, are foils (character that act the total opposite from other characters such as the protagonist/main character(s))  of Hero and Claudio.  People would have noticed how Beatrice and Hero are foils by the definition of a good women in society from their time period.  "A good women does not speak, she is silent." Hero fits perfectly in the category of a good women because(I.i) she has only said ONE line during the whole conversation with the messenger.  After the class read the whole scene, Mrs.Whitley asked us who were the people in scene one, we named Leonato, the prince, Benedick, Claudio, and Beatrice. All of 12N forgot all about Hero being in the scene.  In the play later on, Claudio was one of the many people to notice her "in" the conversation, but Hero through her silence(I.i). Claudio has even said"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy." (I.i), proving my point of a "good women" in their time.  At first Claudio is COMPLETELY certain he had found his wife, but once Don John started putting stuff in Claudio's head making Hero seem promiscuous and unfaithful he says "Friendship is constant in all other things save in the office and affairs of love. Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues. Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent, for beauty is a witch. . .(II.i)" I thought about what he had said and it seems as though he would choose his friendship over someone he "loves". Claudio uses the "Bro code" which is "Bros before ___". Also, "beauty is a witch" I took that as "Beauty is the Beast".  Beatrice would represent Hero's foil quite well for mainly speaking without "permission". In Elizabethan/ Shakespearean time what society viewed as a "bad women" was someone who spoke without permission and they were considered monsters."By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue."- Leonato (II.i), her own uncle even tells her that she won't be suitable to get a husband because she is so talkative and her words are harsh.

        Now with Claudio and Benedick what makes them a foil will have to be their views/opinions on marriage.  Benedick doesn't want to get married because he doesn't trust women at all.Men are shamed by their women being promiscuous. Once a women cheats on her man, then he would "become" a cuckold due to her committing adultery/ being unfaithful.  It's funny how to reason's for two people to become a couple is related to tricking each of them. Don john tricks Claudio in to thinking Hero is sleeping around when she is not. The prince and Balthazar just to stick it to Benedick's pride by saying that he couldn't compare with Beatrice.  In the process of he FINALLY realizes he actually loves her.