Hamlet. Everything is Hamlet. We've read Hamlet, watched Hamlet, listened to stories about Hamlet... The list goes on. I like Hamlet but I think I'm ready to be done for a while.There's still some Hamlet left to do, however -- thanks to our ice day we never came up with a theme. I'm hoping we'll get some time to discuss it in class when we get back, because I am still pretty lost as to the meaning of this play.
For the most part, I liked all of the Hamlet forums that we responded to, but I think my favorite was the NPR story. I'm definitely a radio person, and listening to that reminded me of why. There's something about the format of radio that I connect with. Listening to the story of the prisoners and hearing their thoughts was really moving to me in a way that I don't think it would have been had I simply read a transcript or watched a video. I liked the poem as well, but it wasn't my favorite because, as usual, I felt like I was missing something the whole time. Despite all the practice we've done in class, I still have a hard time with poetry. My least favorite was definitely Shakespeare in the Bush. I really couldn't agree with the speaker's opinions a lot of the time (Only one correct interpretation? Come on.) and I thought she seemed pretty condescending sometimes. I did like the idea behind the story, though, which I took to be something along the lines of "you don't need to speak the same language to appreciate and find meaning in a story."
We also watched quite a few versions of Hamlet. I missed two days, so I can't really comment on the two that the class watched on those days (I think it was Jacobi and Hawke). I definitely liked the Tennant version, and not just because of my preexisting love of the main actor. I thought that version was really good for multiple reasons. One thing I found really interesting was something we discussed in class, about how Sir Patrick Stewart was both the Ghost and Claudius, and what the director was trying to say with that. I especially liked how that came into play when Hamlet was trying to force Gertrude to see the difference between the two in the closet scene. I'm really not sure what to say about the Branagh version -- some parts, such as the "to be or not to be" speech, I really enjoyed, but others I found silly and overdramatic, like the final scene.
I am very glad to be done annotating. I think my annotations are getting better (I used color coding and everything this time), but I still feel like they aren't as meaningful as they could be. With Hamlet even more so than usual, I felt like I was doing a lot of "translating" and not as much commenting on some of the deeper aspects of the play. Ms. Holmes seemed to think they were better this time around, though, so hopefully they'll continue this upwards trend.
Hamlet is life. HAMLET IS GOD. My brain is a bit fried on all this Hamlet stuff, too. Going off of what you said, I also found the woman from Shakespeare In The Bush quite condescending, which amazed me as she was an ANTHROPOLOGIST. I also found the radio story was my favorite, even though I'm not a "radio person". I can't disagree and say the Branagh version didn't have a bit of a goofy ending, but god did I love it! Like you, I had the problem of my annotations being a lot of modern English and less of actually analyzing the play, but hey! That's the way it goes sometimes. Overall, you did a great job of mentioning all of the things we talked about it class and relating to them. Yay!
ReplyDeleteHello Emma,
ReplyDeleteThis response to course materials was well written and entertaining to read.
While I agree that our class did a lot of Hamlet, I still do not feel as if it is enough. Even though we made our theme statement yesterday, I feel like there is still more to the Shakespearian play.
I think the numerous movies of Hamlet were helpful for us to get more insight and interpretations. It is tragic that you missed some, but I hope that the class discussions compensated for that.
The NPR story was brilliant. I really liked listening to ex-criminals giving insight on the play and Hamlet’s murderous feelings. I do not normally listen to the radio, but I was emotionally connected to this story for some reason.
Last, but not least, I am glad that you are ameliorating your annotations. I am also improving, and the ones for Hamlet were apparently flawless since Mrs. Holmes did not comment on anything.
Overall, this was a thorough response to our course materials.
Hello Emma
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out the forum assignments; I really wish I didn't forget to leave them out of my own blog. I also liked the NPR story about the prisoners, especially since it really connected on an emotional level that I didn't really expect, despite being a regular listener of NPR. Furthermore, I felt that it really challenged lots of assumptions of what is necessary to truly appreciate art, and what being human really means.
I am glad that I am not the only one who liked the Branagh's "to be or not to be" speech. Though I admit that the ending was quite over-the-top, I really felt that the "to be or not to be" scene in this version has been overlooked quite a bit.