Hamlets vs Bennetts

While the Bennetts are a dysfunctional family as the parents fight consistently over the future of their numerous daughters, the daughters believe this familial behavior is normal. Being raised in this kind of environment is unhealthy and detrimental to a kids mentality. However, it is clear that the Hamlet family is much more dysfunctional in every sense of the way compared to the Bennet's family. Although the Bennett family is unhealthy, the parents mainly search for their kids happiness. However, in Hamlet, betrayal is a common factor and the parents only search for their own individual happiness. Having your mom marrying your uncle after your father dies, a kid would be very disturbed and raised in an uncomfortable environment.

Act 3 directing

After listening to Polonius, Claudius has an epiphany as he realizes that he did evil and covers up that evil by sugar coating it on the outside. In hamlets speech, he questions whether it is worth it to live and debates if he should kill himself.

We would direct this by putting much emphasis on "Than is my deed to my most painted word." This quote is important as it portrays his epiphany and his change in thoughts as he realizes the kind of person he is. By isolating that line and showing that character emphatically reevaluating his behavior, it really portrays the point well.

Hamlet analysis

Reading hamlets speech, I realized that his repetition of you expresses his accusing of Ophelia. Even though he is not being condescending, he uses you a lot to show his emotions, even though it might be difficult to realize and understand. And even though his words are important to understand, the   way he is talking is much more significant.

Dear Dr. Forman

Dear Dr. Forman,
When I first saw the assignment, I thought it would be hard to compare/contrast the essay. However, as I started writing, I realized it was easy to write if I went into more analysis. I also started narrowing down my essay as I stopped summarizing as much and put more concrete analysis. I also changed my whole intro as I realized later through the essay that I wanted to take a different approach. The difficulties I faced were repetition because I realized I needed to narrow down my essay as I talked about the same points over again but what helped me was further analyzing.

1st body paragraph (Claudius and Hamlet's relationship)

In both videos, Olivier and Branagh interpret Claudius and Hamlet's relationship differently. Olivier envisions Claudius as very condescending towards Hamlet as Claudius never gives eye contact and keeps walking around the room as if this situation is of very little importance. Claudius belittles Hamlet's hardships and makes it seem that Hamlet's father's death isn't a big deal. Olivier also portrays Gertrude in contrast to Claudius as she is very loving and understanding towards Hamlet's situation and tries to help Hamlet out in any way she can. However in Branagh's version, Claudius is much more interested and has constant eye contact with Hamlet. He also seems very reasonable and sentimental towards Hamlet's situation. And even though we know Claudius killed Hamlet's father, Branagh shows that Claudius is two-faced as he pretends that he actually cares about Hamlet. Both of these videos emphasize different views of the same scene, even though they dictate the same words.

Hamlet Essay Intro

In Lawrence Olivier's and Kenneth Branagh's portrayal of Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2, they both show how this scene can be expressed in many different viewpoints. While Olivier expresses Claudius as very hostile and condescending, Branagh shows Claudius as more considerate and respectful to Hamlet. While the videos portray the scene vividly in their own way, they each emphasize different points. In Olivier's version, Olivier expresses Claudius and his wife teaming up against Hamlet as even though Gertrude is understanding of Hamlet's feelings, Claudius belittles Hamlet's situation and Hamlet's father's death; while in Branagh's description, Claudius is more loving and heartfelt to Hamlet's hardships and tries to help Hamlet get through it.

Hamlet videos

I really like the way how these videos perceive this one scene in many different ways. Some videos show Claudius as nice and respectful which portrays a twist in the story because we all know he killed his brother. However, other videos show Claudius as mean which makes him mean throughout.  Hamlet is also expressed in different ways as in David tenants video, hamlet was very angry and distraught while in the other videos, hamlet is usually confused or anxious as to everything going on. It's interesting however that Gertrude is always flirty with hamlet and always portrays that Oedipus complex.

Videos of Claudius' speech

Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh both perceive this part of the play very differently. Olivier portrays Claudius as condescending as he doesn't show any eye contact, walks around the rooms, and belittles Hamlets' situation and his fathers death. However, Branagh conveys Claudius as very reasonable and sentimental as he tries to be loving and respectful to Hamlet. Also in Olivier, Gertrude is more of hamlets mother than Claudius' wife and also kisses hamlet very passionately. In Branagh, the family meeting is very personal as Claudius and Gertrude try to be very loving and heartfelt while in reality, Claudius is 2-faced.

Polonius

Polonius can be perceived as a very confusing character. As he can be somewhat humorous at times, he also makes very questionable decisions. When he sent his servant Reynaldo to spy on his son, even though his intentions may be good, he is basically ruining his son's reputation by giving Reynaldo permission to ask other people if Laertes drinks, swears, drabs and etc. I believe Polonius is a very malevolent character and isn't a very trustful father. He doesn't trust his daughter Ophelia or his son Laertes.

http://www.helium.com/items/526067-literary-analysis-polonius-by-william-shakespeare

iPad Questions

1. The glitches on the iPad can get somewhat irksome as some apps randomly turn off when using them. Also trying to flip a couple pages can be difficult when reading a book on kno because it lags a lot. Typing also is hard to get used to as I type really slow.

2. There are also a lot of benefits as you have many apps with a lot of features. You can try a lot of new things on the iPad.

I believe todays discussion was very productive and innovative as I learned from my classmates what parts of a relationship are most important to them. Finding out that mostly everybody didn't really think marrying someone of the same culture is that essential was definitely interesting as my classmates also made me rethink some of my thoughts about marriage and relationships. I thought it was a cool environment to talk in discussion groups rather sitting down for lectures.

Conclusion

During this time, social inequality corrupted people's views of socializing with different classes and views of marriage. Like with Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins, people belittled marriage and thought it was based off benefits rather than true love. Austen effectively portrays throughout the book how Darcy and Collin's high class values deprave their views as they look down on people who are lower than them. Darcy and Collins showed how wealthy people thought in those days and portrayed how the views of this 1800 society were very corrupted as women were treated with disrespect and people were isolated based off classes.

1st body paragraph

In Pride and Prejudice, Austen effectively exploits Mr. Collins to portray how men of higher classes belittle women and anybody of lesser rank. When Collins proposes to Elizabeth, she says no but he incessantly asks and won't take no for an answer. However, the reason for his persistence is not due to his stubbornness but rather his hubris and belittlement for true love and marriage. He believes that any girl would love to marry him because of his great economic conditions and the benefits a woman would get after marrying him. However, he unknowingly conveys how women have no say in a marriage and anybody of lesser rank is viewed disrespectfully. These beliefs are why Elizabeth's rejection is frowned upon because women usually don't get asked a second time and if a man of higher rank asks for her hand in marriage, she would, without question, say yes. Back in this time, marriage was not based off love but rather what was beneficial to one's self. But unlike most women, Elizabeth bravely said no because her values of marriage were more sincere as she believed in true love. And even though Elizabeth was right in saying no to Mr. Collins, his proposal was considered genuine to other people, for reasons which doesn't make sense in this age, where marriage is now based off love, not benefits.

Intro Paragraph

In the 1800s, social power and gender corrupted peoples' outlook on marriage and class. Wealthy people would isolate themselves from lower class people to keep classes separated from each other, which further widened the gap between classes. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen employs Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins to express the ways how wealthy people take advantage of their social rank. Both of their hubristic nature corrupt the way they think. While Mr. Darcy doesn't like socializing with lower class people, he is embarrassed for liking Elizabeth; however, Mr. Collins is so presumptuous that he believes any girl would be head-over-heels for him. Jane Austen effectively utilizes Darcy and Mr. Collins to portray how views of marriage and class separation are affected by the inequalities of social power and gender.

Essay Outline

Intro: First talk about the 1800's and how people's values were much different than they are today. People of higher classes were more arrogant and isolated themselves from people of lower classes. The values of wealthy people were very corrupted as they believed they were far superior to other people. I would then talk more about Jane Austen and about social power/gender/classes.

1st Paragraph: I would talk about Mr. Collins' view of marriage and the proposal. The reason why he was so incessant with trying to make Elizabeth say yes was that he believed he was far superior because of his gender and social status so why would anyone say no to him? People like Mr. Collins believe that men have absolute authority over girls and can't be denied. He believed that there was no reason for Elizabeth to say no to him so he persistently kept asking, which portrays his arrogance and feelings of superiority.

2nd Paragraph: I would talk about Darcy and how he believes that because of his social rank, everyone is inferior to him. He doesn't associate himself with people of lower classes and doesn't dance because he is of 'high social status.' Darcy's hubristic nature and feelings of superiority get in the way of him meeting other people. He isolates himself and looks down on girls because he believes he is the ultimate human being.

Conclusion: Summarize everything and further talk about Mr. Collins and Darcy's social superiority and hubristic nature

Essay

Why do men in higher classes belittle marriage based off social power and gender?
Characters: Darcy, Mr. Collins, Elizabeth
Main Ideas:
-Men in higher classes believe they have absolute power over women
-Because they have authority to propose, women become dependent on them
-Collins has no doubt that Elizabeth would say yes because it is financially benefical for him
-Darcy's hubris isolates him from people in lower classes because he believes he is superior to them

DW Harding Questions

1. Agree
2. Disagree
3. Disagree
4. Disagree
5. Agree

Ipads

I think ipads are great pieces of technology and have so many features that we should take advantage of. However, I feel like there are ways where we can be more effective in using them. For example, we should use all of the features it has and not just stick to certain apps. We should use everything that is advantageous or relevant to that class. Also, even though the ipad has many features, it also can be very distractful so students should be able to stay away from those distractions and keep focused to the class. Also we should have everybody be able to be comfortable enough with everything on the ipad so they arent struggling in class to find stuff.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the protagonist, is a naive 16 year old who has such great expectations for her love life and marriage, which are brought down greatly through her three relationships. In the beginning, her outlook on marriage is far from reality which she learns as she goes through relationships with Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake. With every relationship she encountered, her expectations were quite off as she always envisioned her love life blossoming like a pear tree. While some relationships were better than others, she learned a lot throughout and became a completely different person from her naive 16 year old self