#8 Tone and Mood

The tone of ones voice generally sets the mood of the novel as well as reflects upon the mood of the individual speaking. Hamlet speaks with a worry indecisive tone that wavers between life and death. This then sets a mood of despair and suspense throughout the entire novel as the reader watches hamlet evaluate his own existence. Tone and mood are inherently connected, one cannot exist without the other. This is most apparent in emotions of characters, where there mood reflects upon their tone. Sad words to unhappy feelings and vice versa. When hamlet Speaks to ophelia at the play, he sounds crazy, speaking unlike himself, and thus the mood of the environment around him is also chaotic.

Imagery

      Imagery in poetry is essential to creating an environment the reader can place them self in. In William  Stafford's "Traveling through the Dark," imagery is used to represent an underlying theme of being able to let go. Though describing the death of a pregnant dear, its passing on can be related to the loss of a loved one. "She had stiffened already, almost cold." Stafford begins describing the deer with the term "cold," reflecting on its lifeless body, moreover, the more spiritual aspect that the deers soul has left her body; however, when describing her belly: "her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting," he portrays the incapability of letting go to the dead deer. Though she is literally dead, fugitively part of her remains alive. His "hot and cold" imagery sets the tone of a limbo, where the speaker is in fact questioning the reality of the dead deer. He ends with pushing her off to the side, but the buildup to that action is key to the meaning of life and death.

SOUND: of woodchucks being gasses

Maxine Kumin's Woodchucks is a peculiar poem in that it plays on the act of killing with al light hearted approach. Its ABCACB rhyme scheme keeps the poem flowing, almost like a melody. This contrasts the underlying meaning of the poem and its allusion in the end of Nazi Germany and the gassing of the jews. This in part ease in sound and flow reflects upon the ease of the nazis to perform a genocide with out questioning the authority how commanded it. Quick, quiet, easy, and had to be done. Luckily for the wood chucks, the whole gassing situation "didn't turn out right."

BLog #4

In pride and prejudice, Symbols are not found in objects, but rather in the Characters. Mr. Darcy is a symbol for upper class society, reflected in his estate and manner. Elizabeth reflects the next step down; however, her only dividing factor is money. Thus, money tends to symbolize social status and class, and is reflected in the characters in manner and presence.

#3 setting

Both Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice both share extravagance in the architecture in which the stories take place, but differ in the tone and mood created. Hamlet takes place mostly in a castle and the surrounding city, a dense labyrinth setting a tone and mood for deception. There are always corners to hide around, places to spy on other people, a common theme throughout the plays entirety. The dark castle, a common theme in shakespeare, also reflects hamlets mind, clouded, twisted, and easily lost in. On the other hand, The same extravagance in Pride and Prejudice reflects more on the social status on the individuals. Pemberly's size and amount of rooms highlights the class difference between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. There is also a liveliness in Pemberly that The castle lacks, giving of a happier comedic tone. The setting in both works mean everything, and are significantly utilized to reflect upon the characters ambitions.

Character

For the sake of consistency lets take the male protagonist of both Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet and Mr. Darcy. Both are generally different in mind body and motive, but the do share one common aspect of indecisiveness. Hamlet incapable of making a clear decision on whether to kill king Claudius till the 5th act at the very end of the play. Mr. Darcy takes an entire novel to realize his own hubris, and finally see that Elizabeth who he truly loves. They both share completely different backgrounds and time periods, but both characters appear to link a common factor seen in their stories. It is the indecisiveness in character that also allows for them to be explored in more depth. With each failure of action allows the character to self reflect and question themselves further. The reader gathers more insight into their struggle, and with the advent of their resolutions, the reader feels the same as the character emotionally. Thus, Darcy and Hamlet, could be considered the same person thrown into two different situations.

Plot

Both fiction and drama share the form of rising and falling actions, but their approach in how they convey this structure differs in plot and dialogue. In Hamlet, this structure is elongated, where the rising action is in the very beginning of the play, but reflecting on indecisiveness, the build to a climax and falling action occurs five acts later. In Pride and Prejudice, conflict seems to occur throughout the novel, but there is an underlying story line that is shadowed by side characters and dialogue. Unlike Hamlet, the story line in Pride and Prejudice also tends to flow more fluidly; there is always some action going on that builds up to something greater. Action in Hamlet tends to be polarized, either on or off, but still retains the same structure in plot.

Hamlet Essay response

When I discussed Hamlet's mind, I was trying to look at more of the origin of his speech patters rather than the patterns themselves, thats why it might have appeared otherwise. As for the (s) I should have caught those, but its hard for me sometimes to catch the little things, and is something I need to improve. I think its because I'm looking more at structure rather than grammar.

Poetry Essay

Time is of the essence. That seems to be a issue of utter importance to Robert Herrick in "To the Virgins, Make much of time" and Andrew Marvell in "To His Coy Mistress," but to what means? It would only be love, or perhaps a carnal desire, that would have a force strong enough to fight the perpetuity of time. The poems carry out the same message, Carpe Diem, that time is to short to waste and that what is left must be ceased now. Though this message seems clear to be purely carnal, it is deeply shadowed in metaphor to make it appear otherwise. No matter how much they attempt to hide the fact, both Herrick and Marvell set out to establish a sense of urgency, a need to cease the day and convince those who they desire that the time they have together is quickly withering away.

poetry comparison

Ozymandias depicts the perpetuity of time and how it is capable of deteriorating even the king of kings. His syntax also becomes more fragmented ad the poem progresses, reflecting on its metaphoric meaning. On the other hand, Cummings poem depicts the same perpetuity of time, but has a goal, to convince a girl to bed with him. Both poems share a common theme that time is always chasing behind them and that it is a powerful destructive force, but Ozymandias is more literal, where cummings is more manipulative.

#3

Hamlet's first soliloquy reveals how distressed he feels about the marriage of his mother to his uncle. After his father had died, it was not but 2 months after the funeral that the kingdom celebrated the wedding. Claudius suggests Hamlet get over his mourning, but there just hasn't been enough time, His fathers death along with his mothers marriage just piles grief upon grief to the point of anger where he appears to have gone mad. His mind then becomes obsessed with his fathers death, and becomes consumed in his own thought.

#9

As I discussed in my essay, Hamlet's to be or not to be speech is a direct view of his internal conscious. He is so overwhelmed with emotion that he is now debating his own existence, whether to give up avenging his father or follow through with his plan of exposing the king. Hamlets "madness" is only internal, hence why his speech was written as a soliloquy, but his action is distinct. He finally resolves in his conflict and beckons Ophelia to remember his sins for he will follow through with the play he had set up for the king.

#7

I believe that Hamlet's "antic disposition" is both of surprise and self interest. Of course Hamlet is astounded at the sight of his fathers ghost, but he does see the use of the ghost to his advantage. By appearing to have gone crazy, he has won a specific perspective from his friends upon himself and can use that to construct his next move. In other words, if he knows the king is thinking one way, that he is indeed mad, then he can shape his approach to his murder, play etc. the way he chooses without fear of being discovered.

#4

Both feel that Ophelia and Hamlet could never marry simply because they are incompatible socially. Hamlet could be married off to any princess for diplomatic reasons at any time having to give up Ophelia. Laertes has a more loving approach with Ophelia showing more care then Polonius, who doesn't seem to connect with ophelia at all, and tends to think she is very childish. Polonius tends to be one of those characters that does his own thing the entire play and never really connects.

Stuck Between Synapses: Hamlet's Unfiltered Mind

Our minds are unbelievably complex in their capability to process information and then render it into a purposeful action. As human beings we are not fully capable of understanding what ideas go on in ones mind; yet, what we can derive from ones actions offers some analysis to the motives of others, but not enough to create a detailed perspective of ones thought process. Shakespeare's Hamlet is perceived to be complex, but it is too often that Hamlet's mind and actions are misinterpreted as the same thing. Shakespeare has done us the impossible; he has given us a front row seat into a beautifully troubled mind, allowing Hamlet to be explored to depths like no other. The tragedy is that Shakespeare's gift is so utterly abused, allowing Hamlet to be considered as the most complex characters ever created, when the result of his cognition is that of one distinct action. His unfiltered thought process is mistakenly interpreted as the structure of his character, disregarding the fact that this is how our minds work. Thus Shakespeare's greatest creation is not the intricate character that he is esteemed to be, rather we the audience are privileged with viewing the raw processing power of Hamlet's mind and the construction of an idea into an action.

"Before the taking of a toast and tea."

I feel that this line is crucial to the understanding of the Human ego. The contrast in the triviality of this statement to the gravity of the entire poem represents how we tend to over-think even the most simplest of tasks. This line also represents the ego of Hamlet, who despite having a clear opinion of his fathers murder, is plagued with indecisiveness and over analysis.

Carlin Stiehl's Blog

Coy Mistress

The most obvious effect of this poem is the sense of urgency established by the author. He structures his poem much like an argument with "had," "but," and "now" trying to convince his mistress that she and him must seize the day. What stands out most is the last two lines "though we can not make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run." This captures the essence of his message, stating that they can not stop time, thus they must run together form it.

Brian Danesh

I agree with brian that Austen really tried to emphasize her character to the point of making them utterly ridiculous. This is her technique that she uses to convey her perspective on society, and though the reader may easily laugh, he or she also can easily understand Austen's point.

Inception: Mr. Collins' horrifying reality implanted in our minds through laughter

To say that Mr. Collins is either a nightmare or funny defeats the purpose of Austen's ability and structure as a writer; he is rather a mixture of both, a tactic Austen utilizes to present satire to her audience and ultimately a perspective she shares. Of course we can laugh at Mr. Collins, he is absurd in his actions and thought. In fact, his actions are so absurd and obvious that the reader can do nothing but laugh; however, the fact that his actions can be laughed at does not hide that Austen is ultimately trying to present the nightmare of an 18th century girl. Behind the curtain of satire is the horrifying reality that women did not, more or less, have any say in their marriage as well as their future. Austen seeks to present a point what society has accepted as a standard, that of a woman's place. The brilliance in her writing is that she can actually reach her audience through laughter. Though this comedic value does appear to be all jokes at first, what there is only left to realize is that this laughter is derived from the tragedy that is the female social status. (Greece: comedy = tragedy) As we laugh more and more, we begin to question why we are laughing. What makes this man so ridiculous? He is the epitome of the patriarchal ego. (inception has just occurred) Thus the audience has now realized what Mr. Collins truly is though laughter, a nightmare, as well as Austen successfully presenting her point in an acceptable standard that is understandable to all her readers.

Essay

I need to work on clarity in my thesis and my argument. Also, I need to focus on structuring my essays better so that they are more fluid. A lot of my paragraphs are too long and can be shortened and more specific.

E for Euthanize

Eunice starts off her introduction very nicely speaking in a tone that the reader can relate to, but the 2nd have of her intro begins to weaken. Once again and again, the thesis just states the writers tactic of representing characters and how it affects our perspective, but does not reveal a motive or something more specific to justify this method. This is most noticeable in the conclusion where the reader expects maybe some clarity, but is fed the same vague analysis again.

H for Hell-ga

This essay starts off like it was going somewhere, but when I arrived to the thesis, it did not follow the previous introduction at all. The essay continues on evaluating once again the obvious fact that Austen tries to get the readers to think and make their own opinions, but to no lead. This essay needs a more solid topic.

A-Z Sample Essay Analysis: ALFI and his Plight to State the Obvious

Well, I decided to write about the first essay because in somewhat of a way, it does tend to relate to mine in topic; however, I feel its a good example of what not to do in writing. If there is one thing that stands out to me in this essay, it is that of how vague it is. I can see where the writer is trying to head in ho Austen influences the reader through the gossip of her dialogue to formulate opinions on the novel, but it never actually goes into depth of what purpose does she use this for other then that of "formulating opinions." This week introduction and thesis thus sets up a weak essay. As we get into the main bulk of the essay, there is this continuous sense of vagueness to the point where it seems the writer was unsure of what he or she wanted to actually write about. The topic seems so obvious and apparent that the thesis its self could be supported with any quote form the novel. It is this style that tends to make reading this essay a bore, not only from its lack of in depth analysis, but the idea going through the readers head of. " well ya, she obviously did write the book so the reader would have an opinion." The only way this essay can be improved is for the writer to find something deeper than the concept of ideas forming opinions. Only then will the essay carry its true meaning of arguing a valid point.