DRJ #4

Initial Reaction: This act 4 reminds me of the people with love. The luck of humans life. Like my grandpa, he wanted to stay and tell my uncle that his son wife cheated on him all his life, but he couldn’t. He pass away. The opposite of my auntie, she wanted to die because her husband and the second wife makes her live miserable. But every way she try to kill herself for some reason she couldn’t die. And Ophelia reminds me of the world who turn crazy after the love of her relatives or family is gone.

Character Analysis: Here I wanted to analysis the woman here, Ophelia and Gertrude. Both of these two woman are related to the protagonist; Hamlet, that also leads to fatal flaw. Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother the queen of Demark who marry Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. Gertrude and Ophelia are weak because as for Gertrude she follows whatever Claudius says and Ophelia follows her father and Laertes. And in this act Ophelia is crazy after her father death. I think Gertrude is crazy also after the play and Hamlet talks to her about his father; she starts to felt the guilt in her.

Theme Analysis: Shakespeare intentionally use tone to show madness that drives the world insane. After the talk of Gertrude and Hamlet, she told Claudius that Hamlet was, “Mad as the sea and wind…” and accidentally “Whips out his rapier,” (4.1.7 & 10) and kill Polonius. This shows the tone of Hamlet going insane. He uses the line in act 3 “Dead for a ducat, dead!” (3.4.23), as I feel like Hamlet thought it was Claudius behind that arras because Hamlet was already mad and he just take that shot (kill it, kill it). There is madness toward Ophelia because after her father’s death she gone insane. She sing her madness out. Here seems like she was poisoned with words and that kills her. How we know her madness because she continues and she won’t let anyone interrupt her. She wants everyone to listen to her madness.   

    

DRJ #3

Initial Reaction: In act 3, the character reminds me of the world; reality. Men and woman anticipate wrongly about themselves. Not showing their affection out and hiding it inside of what they really feel. One woman that does it all makes all woman one of them. Like how Hamlet says about woman “whore”. People taking revenge, my father had told me; there is no need to take revenge. Let God take care of it. Proving of their guilt is not necessary so let them suffer themselves. Even if we do not see it on our own eyes, the world have a big eye.   

Character Analysis: Polonius is making himself a idiotic character in this act. He is also getting a lot of lame recommendation to the rest of the characters that is completely hilarious of himself. Especially when the play starts, he makes a fool out of himself. Polonius a man who always uses long speech which in the play, play his part that he talks a lot and he interfere the play just to say that that whoever that actor is playing is not that kind of person and so on.

Theme Analysis: Shakespeare uses expresses deception toward all the characters, especially toward Hamlet. In this act the deception starts off Claudius. A problem of still searching why Hamlet is feeling sad and then Claudius went on expressing his guilt over his wrong doing on a side “O heavy burden!” (3.1.55). His guilt of killing Hamlet’s father. At first Hamlet reveals his deceit to Horatio about taking revenge when he saw the ghost. Again in act 3 he did it again reveals his deceit to Horatio their “judgments join/In censure of his seeming” (3.2.79-80). Here they are watching over Claudius during the play to see if he is over reacting. In scene 3 Polonius deceive to Hamlet, “Behind the arras I‘ll convey myself/ To hear the process.” (3.3.), so he is secretly spying on them to know their business. This for Polonius foolish himself, he misleading himself to death here. Therefore a foreshadowing of Polonius’s death.
  

DRJ #2

Initial Reaction: Throughout Act 2 is about trusting friends because everyone trying to get close to Hamlet hoping he’ll speak his words out but he won’t. So, Polonius remind me of friends that act like they wanted to be your best friend for now just to know about your life or what you’re thinking right now. I can feel Hamlet; there is only one true friend that we can only trust.  

Character Analysis: Polonius a person who is always wrong with his conclusions. He is not a protagonist or the main character in this act but he is a close friend to the protagonist uncle. In this act we not know much about him. But Shakespeare intention was to cause danger to himself because since he is a message to the king which is Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, and Hamlet. He think he knows the reason why Hamlet is the way he is because Hamlet and his daughter Ophelia are in love.

Theme Analysis: In Act 2 the author demonstrate omniscient to show loyalty in the character of Polonius. In Claudius line he says to Polonius that he “As a man faithful and honorable.” (2.2.131), here Claudius show that he trust Polonius. Polonius assume that he knows it all of how Hamlet feel and what cause him to be like that. In this case the King is depending on Polonius. He hopes Polonius knows what it is and found the situation and tell him everything.      

DRJ #1 

Initial Reaction: This drama story is perfect for my Cousin Sandy’s life even if she’s a girl in this case. Sandy connects to Hamlet the protagonist. Hamlet real father reminds me of my aunt, Sandy’s mother who is no longer here with us. Claudius and Gertrude, both remind me of my aunt’s niece and her husband. My aunt dies of sickness. The one who cause her sickness was her husband and her own blood niece.

Character Analysis: Claudius, a man who steal his own brother wife because he wanted to rule the kingdom and a man who is the murder of the protagonist father. Shakespeare intentionally use Claudius as in evil who cause war with his own nephew the main character, Hamlet who is searching for whom was the one who murder his real father. A supporting character for Claudius is Polonius who was use as foil to oppose and help stalk Claudius’s nephew, who is now his son to see what he is up to.

Theme Analysis: In this Act 1 I found two themes. Shakespeare uses imagery to synthesize both suicide and evil/good or hell/heaven in this act. Hamlet say “…too sullied flesh would melt/ Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew/ or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (1.2.129-132). Hamlet is using kinetic of motion about his father who recently pass away a month ago. I think Hamlet is talking about death here because he talks about his skin how he wanted it to fly away in the air or wondering why isn’t God doing anything about it (suicide). The other quote I found for the theme for evil/good or hell/heaven was “Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned/ Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell/ Be thy intents wicked or chartable/ Thou comest in such a questionable shape” (1.4.43-46). Here Hamlet is using character study to describe the ghost and structure of where he was from, how come he is there. Did he come here for good or bad? So is basically Hamlet is asking question among himself but actually to the ghost.     

THESIS #2:
Chopin intentionally showed the difficulty representative parts that not all “men and women” in this life lived in “joy”. The elements that Chopin shows indeed step by step of Louis situation from “love” to “dead” to “ill” which she assume “joy”.

SSJR #2 - Colette

Initial Personal Reaction:
“The Hand” makes me feel like I need to be aware even if I know my husband for a year and six months. Elements that caught my attention to the story was “kidnapping, nail with pink varnish” and “monstrous hand” something horrible for me as a young girl. Right now, I’m trying not to think about the negative, but at the same time beware of my husband “hand”. even if he loves me, I never know in the future he might lean his hand on me. Scary.

Literally Element/Thematic Analysis:
The author intent of using foil between a specific hand holds a significance of a person life. Just a specific hand, but that specific hand create meaning include nature. The uses of irony a hand that is evil and a hand making loud sound which shows a person personalities. Even when looking at a person by judgment (they look nice, cute and etc…); but really they are different from the inside. What the narrative point out behind the story describing the husband upper body (face that is nice) and the middle body (“the hand”) changes the way she sees.

Questions/Comments:
When I read this short story I was not into it. And its weird because he wear pink polish on his nail. What do you think about the story, did you like it or not?

SSRJ #1
Initial Personal Reaction:  Out of the four short stories I had read so far, the one that hit me the most was Soldier’s Home by Hemingway because I fall in the same process but in a different situation toward my family. The element that stood out as particularly interest me was “… here at home it was all too complicated…” (Hemingway 189) and how nobody care about him that makes him feel so mad. I mean I would too because its like you’re invisible. It hurts to be alone. Now that I am far away from home, I miss home even though there‘s nothing to do. As for me, I can’t ever go out and I did for my first time. I went to eat at a restaurant with my aunt, because of that I got kick out of the house. Four days pass, I came back the whole family ignored me and say I change so much every since I came back. I lied that I didn’t, but which I did because I felt weird. I feel like they don’t even care about me, I‘m invisible. But, oh will.

Literary Element/Thematic Analysis:  It’s understandable how Hemingway puts together a short story of the Soldier’s people welcoming home. So Hemingway in showing the literary element by starting of how Kerbs having difficulty of the town ignoring him. The outside of his mother still cooking and how him and his father doesn’t have a good relationship with one another, how the girls are all grown up; which that is all what he can think of coming back home. So he started on his new routine by trying to not make him feel complicated: sleeping late, walking to the library to pick up some books to read, go back home and eat lunch, sitting down on the front porch and go back out to play pool that was fun for him and other than that, that’s his routine for the every day.

Questions/Comments:  I don’t understand why Kerbs mother pray for him when he tries to tell his story to her and she always out bored it? I wonder what is her pray for Kerbs?

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