Hamlet

This past week in Mrs. Clinch’s, we were assigned to write a rough draft of the play Hamlet. I chose to write about the word phrase “to be.” One aspect I spoke about was a version of the word ‘to be,’ to seem.
To seem – to appear to be, feel, or do. This word is used many times within the play as well, but only in specific areas. For example, Horatio uses the word ‘seem’ when he sees the ghost. The ghost “seemed” to look like the king. Shakespeare very cleverly did not use ‘be,’ because the definition of ‘to be’ is to live and exist. Since the ghost is dead, he cannot ‘be.’ Furthermore, ‘seem’ is a very passive, unconfident word. It very much like the word ‘may.’ “May I leave?” instead of “I will leave.” Similarly, the word ‘seem’ is used during questions or moments that are unsure or times that do not relate to life. “To be” is story of Hamlet.
Returning to the “To be or not to be” speech, Hamlet's dilemma is that although he is dissatisfied with life and lists its many torments, he is unsure what death may bring. He can't be sure what death has in store; it may be sleep but in perchance to dream he is speculating that it is perhaps an experience worse than life. Death is called the undiscovered country from which no traveler returns. In saying that Hamlet is acknowledging that, not only does each living person discover death for themselves, as no one can return from it to describe it, but also that suicide as a one-way ticket. If you get the judgment call wrong, there's no way back.
The whole speech is tinged with the Christian prohibition of suicide, although it isn't mentioned explicitly. The dread of something after death would have been well understood by a Tudor audience to mean the fires of Hell. The speech is a subtle and profound examining of what is more crudely expressed in the phrase ‘out of the frying pan into the fire.’
If you follow Hamlet's speech carefully, you'll notice that his notions of "being" and "not being" are pretty complex. He doesn't simply ask whether life or death is preferable; it's hard to clearly distinguish the two—"being" comes to look a lot like "not being," and vice versa. To be, in Hamlet's eyes, is a passive state, to "suffer" outrageous fortune's blows, while not being is the action of opposing those blows. Living is, in effect, a kind of slow death, a submission to fortune's power. On the other hand, death is initiated by a life of action, rushing armed against a sea of troubles.

Invisible Man

My first thoughts on Ellison's Invisible Man are strangely straight forward; boring and dramatic. Unfortunately, after only reading a few pages, I gave up reading Invisible Man for a few weeks. As a result, I ended up forgetting what occurred within the novel, so I had to read it again. This is most likely why I was bored with this novel. The novel starts with a narrator who has no name, and for some reason, introduces himself as a man who no one notices.. Thus, the novel is called Invisible Man. He recalls multiple events such as his speech, boxing match, and graduation. When he provides part of the entertainment, a naked and very sexual dancer with a USA flag tattoo is shown where all of the classmates are forced to watch. Here I noticed a problem with the current society. This scene destroys the typical view of America and the objects that it finds most important, which would be the American Dream. However, the tattoo on the woman's stomach shows that the values have transformed into sex and money. Another strange thing I noticed was that during the narrator's speech, it did not seem truthful. It seems as though his own experiences taught him that the American Dream is a myth for blacks.
As the novel continues on, the narrator is continuing his goal of having an identity.

Hamlet

Today in AP Lit we watched each different interpretation for Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech. In BBC, Hamlet was set in a gloomy setting. He was in isolation, and you could only see people in the backgrounds, shadows on the screen. However, Hamlet’s tone turns angry later as she begins to shake Ophelia. This is slightly different to Mel Gibson’s Hamlet interpretation, because Hamlet is able to see everything. Nothing is hidden, whereas we see the shadows of multiple characters in the BBC version. Lastly, the KB version is different to both also. When Hamlet is speaking, it seems as if his speech is directed at Claudius, because Hamlet speaks into a mirror, where Claudius is on the other side. Additionally, Hamlet is very happy upon seeing Ophelia; however, as the conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet continue, Hamlet becomes angry telling her that she should not have loved him. Even then, Hamlet hears noise where the mirrors are, which gives him the idea that this all was a trap. With each interpretation, I was able to configure my own interpretation. I did not quite see it like Mel Gibson and KB did, but I do see why they interpreted this scene like that.
My favorite interpretation was with KB, because they thought outside the box. I would have never thought of Hamlet speaker to a mirror, where Claudius is hiding behind. This adds to the suspense and the excitement of the play, and brings new life to Hamlet.