Blog Post Number 20: "The Rainbow" Essay

Part 1:
By using anaphora, repetition, and rhetorical questions, D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rainbow” amplifies the differences between the woman and the men of the time period; this shows the audience what her character is really like.

Lawrence first shows the men’s perspective through the use of anaphora, saying that “their senses always full fed, their faces always turned to the heat of the blood.” This repetition emphasizes the thought of these men being alive and what this means to them. It is senses, the blood within our veins, that makes us living after all. By emphasizing this and then going on to say “but the woman wanted another form of life”, the author makes it quite obvious that the woman has a much different, calmer, style of life. The use of anaphora is shown later on as well, when describing the vicar; “who spoke the other, magic language, and had the other fine bearing, both of which she could perceive, but could never attain to.” The vicar, a man, had a completely different way of living, with different capabilities than her. He is the “other” to her; she is the “other” to him.

In 1915 men were most definitely seen as more powerful than women, if not simply in the physical sense. The vicar, a man, didn't have power over other men but “strip them and set them on a desert island and the vicar was the master.” Lawrence points this battle of power out but does not give an answer as to why the vicar is “the master”. He simply states that "as Brangwen had power over the cattle, so the vicar had power over her husband." He hands the question over to the Brangwen: “And why— why? She decided it was a question of knowledge.” Women, filled with knowledge and that which is familiar, simply seeking more but unable to find it. Men, filled with possibilities but lacking in the same point of view, simply too focused on the sun, blood, change, life. They are two very different viewpoints and concepts.

By using literary devices such as repetition, anaphora, and rhetorical questions, D. H. Lawrence not only characterizes the woman but amplifies the differences between her and others around her, making it clear that she is both different as well as strong in her own way. The men may be well-built and adventure-seeking, but she has found a new found strength created from her own prior knowledge and experiences as a woman.

Part 2:
I scored my essay as a 5 because though I did make a fairly clear argument, it was as clearly developed as it could have been. I identified the different literary devices but I definitely could have described how they affected the characterization more. I made an argument but it was, quite frankly, underdeveloped.
I think that if I paid closer attention to the text and pulled better text examples. If i spent more time developing my argument before I started writing, I feel that I would have done much better.

Blog Post Number 18: Hamlet Essay

Blog Post Number 19: Final Portfolio Reflection

Part 1:

The assignments I am most proud of would be my Creative Project and well as Blog Post Number Three. These were my favorite pieces because both of them had a rather strong focus on creativity as well as individual work. Though I have grown as an individual within a group setting and have become much more comfortable with discussing my opinions and thoughts and creating a final presentation with others, and am introverted at heart and will seemingly always find individual work much easier to work through.

I believe that my Creative Project was not only a success but also fun to create. As a painter, I thoroughly enjoyed painting my representation of the struggles within the novel "Bring Up the Bodies." As a poet, I tend to be deep in my thoughts and see symbolism within everything I read and see, this made it fairly easy for me to add in the proper symbolism from the novel into the painting. The main weakness of this piece was definitely my explanation of it. I feel that if I used more evidence from the novel in order to be more specific about my choices within the painting and how they connect, I feel that this would have been a greater success.

When it comes to Blog Post Number Three, I actually found this rather easy. We were asked to pick two people from mythology or folklore that we connected with. Being an avid reader of much mythology, specifically Greek and Nordic, I immediately thought of the muse of lyrical poetry, Eurterpe. As someone who has spent much of her childhood in Sunday School, Esther came to mind. I feel that I made these connections very well and explained myself but that I could have expanded my argument more as well as include the Group Skill concepts we talked about, describing what Esther and Euterpe exactly would be and comparing that to myself and my own skills.

Part 2:

As someone who is rather quiet, I do not tend to ask questions in class unless prompted to. Even so, I have avidly done my fair share of work for this class both individually and in a group setting. For example, in the Group PowerPoint assignments my group members and I equally split up the PowerPoint slides in order to each participate a decent amount. Though at times we would each step in and do a bit more than others when the other people were knowingly busy that night; this, however, evened out by the end of these assignments. We each discussed our own thoughts, Megan Drake normally initiated our discussions, and eagerly listened to each other. I feel that we worked very well as a group. The American Drama Project also shows how I work in a group setting. For this assignment, I contributed to the synopsis sheet (Primarilly with the Playwright Background), typed up all of the scenes we chose, found the AP prompt, drew out the Story Boards, contributed to the bibliography, played one of the main parts in the video, and also brought in different costumes and props to use in our scenes. I feel that I contributed greatly to this assignment.

With individual assignments, I feel that I have done fairly well. I have completed all of my individual work on time (as far as I recall) and have attempted to become more comfortable with asking questions on how to improve, such as with the Creative Project. I have stayed up to speed with the reading and I feel that I have put in a good amount of effort. This, however, definitely decreased for a short while when filling out College Applications. I am sure than you can understand that. Looking back on the trimester as a whole, I feel that I have put in a lot of time and effort and have even pushed myself within group work and presentations, things that I have definitely struggled with in the past.

Part 3:

At the beginning of the trimester I set certain goals for myself in which I have tried to obtain through the trimester. Upon taking the practice test I realized that "I [needed] to take my time" and "reread any parts that don't make sense" which I have found are extremely helpful. As someone who tends to second guess herself and get caught up in the moment, when taking a test I have a problem with slowing down. I find it hard to pace myself and tend to speed through tests, putting down a certain answer and then changing it last minute before turning it in. I have realized that most of the times in which I change my answer, I tend to be correct the first time. Not to say that I should go with "my Gut Feeling" or anything of the such, but instead realize that if an answer stands out immediately and it makes sense to me there is no sense in questioning myself unless proven otherwise.

I also decided that I would create flashcards of the different literary terms we've focused on throughout the trimester, such as "paradox and metonymy". Though I truthfully never actually wrote out these flashcards, I did, however, review the different terms. I ended up typing out a list of the different terms (each on the syllabus) and find the definition and necessary examples for each in order to understand them more. This definitely helped me, making it easier for me to look back on specific terms we have used. I used this paper multiple times throughout the trimester in order to stay on top of my class work.

Though I did not necessarily follow my future goals exactly, I feel that I have definitely become better at test-taking after this trimester. This is because I have focused on what I have struggled with in the past and forced myself to properly understand the different concepts, forgetting any doubts for a short while.

Blog Post Number 17: Hamlet Post 5 (Extra Credit)

"The Funeral" by Band of Horses

I'm coming up only to hold you under
And coming up only to show you're wrong
And to know you is hard; we wonder...
To know you all wrong; we warn.

Ooooooooh Oooooooooh
Ooooooooh Oooooooooh

Really too late to call,
So we wait for morning
To wake you is all we got
To know me as hardly golden
Is to know me all wrong, they warn.

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
At every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral
At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

I'm coming up only to show you're down for
And coming up only to show you're wrong.

To the outside, the dead leaves lay on the lawn
For they don't have trees to hang upon.

Ooooooooh Oooooooooh
Ooooooooh Oooooooooh

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
At every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral
Every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

Argument:

They have spoken as if they think me to be weak, Saying "Poor Ophelia," pitying me (IV.5.2954). They think I have suffered, they know I have struggled. Is that not obvious? Have we not all struggled? I think that to be quite obvious, quite obvious indeed.

"To the outside, the dead leaves lay on the lawn for they don't have trees to hang on" (Band of Horses). The leaves have lost their foundation, just like me. My father and brother have always told me what to believe. I have told my father "I do not know, my lord, what I should think" (I.3.594). He told me to "think [myself] a baby/That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay" (I.3.597-598). When I grew fearful, he told me what to do. As Hamlet grew angrier I spoke to my father; when asked why my love has grown to be so upset all I could say was "My lord, I do not know,/But truly I do fear it" (II.1.1045).

"He is gone, he is gone,/And we cast away moan./God 'a'mercy on his soul!/And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you" (IV.5.3064). God b' wi' me... If I were to die at this very moment, "The Funeral" by Band of Horses should be played. It would sing out my every emotion at this moment. I am truly finished. The mind tricks have been played. Without my father to guide me, without Hamlet's love, I know not what to do. Hamlet, the devil once said to me "I did love you once" (III.1.1812). But he did not! I believed him, I spoke with him that very day and said that "[he] made me believe so" (III.1.1812). Only moments later he spoke again, saying that "[I] should not have believ'd [him]; for virtue cannot so/inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it." and that "[He] loved [me] not" (III.1.1814). 

My father passing has only made me fall more so. "And will he not come again?/And will he not come again?" (IV.5.3066-3067). I sit here, whispering the lyrics of "The Funeral", reciting the lyrics: "I'm coming up only to prove you wrong" (Band of Horses). I wish I could have proved everyone wrong, my father, Hamlet... I wish I could be strong. But as I said before, I am merely a fallen leaf. I have no direction. I have no purpose; not anymore. "He is dead and gone;/At his head a grass-green turf,/At his heels a stone" (IV.5.91-93). I am dead and gone; "I am ready for the funeral" (Band of Horses).

I will not come again

Blog Post Number 16: Hamlet Post 4

I have found such an odd thing today: a diary entry about myself. "He is dead and gone, lady", that is what he said to me (4.2.73). My father is gone, killed by Hamlet, my love. It states "For Hamlet, as for Hamlet, Denmark has become a prison, and she is all alone at Elsinore" (Seng 218). This is truer than anything I've ever heard. We are lost; I am lost. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (1.4.90). I have lost my father, someone who I have always listened too. To be truthful, I am lost without him. My brother and father warned me of "[My] mind's purity and [my] childlike trust" (Seng 220). They believed me to be innocent, Hamlet did as well. I was innocent, the world has taken that away from me.

I, like others, was "concerned to salvage [my] innocence" but I have forgotten that "Hamlet has sullied it" (Seng 220). It is no longer a part of me any longer. I do not wish to simply be thought of as someone others would wish "[I] shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife" or anything of the type (4.5.90). Hamlet was filled "only with thoughts of avenging his father's death" (Seng 223). He has taught me of not only true hatred, but of distrust. He has spoken to me as if he has hardly known me, as if he has hardly known himself. I have nowhere else to turn. I wish to sleep, to forget everything amongst "flowers" just as a corpse (4.5.38). Without worry, without any thoughts of distrust, I wish to dream. "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thought" (4.5.76). Madness rings in the air and trust has left.

Blog Post Number 15: Hamlet Post 3

Soliloquy Analysis

• Locate imagery that refers to the uncertainty of death. "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" (3.1.85-86).
• Identify imagery that refers to the negative experiences of life.
• "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" ( 3.1.71).
• "The heartache and thousand natural shocks" (3.1.63).
• Appeals: Which appeal(s) does Hamlet use to convince and/or motivate his audience? Refer to specific lines.
• Hamlet uses pathos in order to convince his audience that life is sorrowful and that it may not be worth it. Though there is some logos as he seemingly states the facts of life, they are from his perspective. He speaks about taking "arms against a sea of troubles" (3.1.60)  By questioning his own life and struggles, Hamlets causes the audience to ask this as well. This leads to empathy. 
• Literary Devices: Identify the significance of the following in this speech – Paradox, parallelism, the infinitive, synecdoche, tone, diction, metaphor. What are the two primary metaphors he will use in this speech?
• Compares and personifies life as something that fights against individuals, such as a "sea of troubles" (3.1.60).
• He compares death and the possibility of an afterlife as an"undiscovered country from whose bourn/No traveler returns" (3.1.80). 
• Identify evidence of the following comparisons: life on earth, afterlife, death, humans, thinking.
• Life on Earth: enduring "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (3.1.59). 
• Afterlife: "The undiscovered country from whose bourn/No traveler returns" (3.1.80-81). 
• Death: "To die, to sleep" (3.1.61). "-and by to sleep to say we end/The heartache" (3.1.63). 
• Identify at least three oppositions present in the arguments Hamlet makes. What eternal philosophical questions does Hamlet ponder?
• "To be, or not to be?" (3.1.1).
• "Is it better to live or to die?" (3.1.5). 
• "To grunt and sweat under a weary life,/But that the dread of something after death..." (3.1.22-23)
• What conclusions does Hamlet draw?
• Hamlet is convinced that though it is better to die than to live his life he is too fearful of the unknown to do so.

Scene Analysis: 

Kenneth Branagh: This scene included rather simple camera angles and an interesting setting, in which Hamlet is facing his on reflection in a mirror. His movement is slow as he nears himself, the music increasing with volume as his voice goes from a questioning tone to sorrow to a sense of hatred and anger. His speech is soft and slow, this allows the audience to truly focus on the importance of what he is saying as well as understand that he is deep in thought as he speaks. By showing him in front of a large mirror, the director has shown Hamlet looking within his own eyes as he questions his own life, his past, present, and future. He knows the no one can give him the answers he is seeking.

Laurence Olivier: This adaption takes place with Hamlet on top of the castle on the edge of a cliff. He is dressed in mainly black, possibly mourning his father's death still, and is looking below to see the crashing waves, loud in comparison to his own voice. Slow-paced music plays in the background, increasing the intensity of the scene. As he speaks of sleep, of death, his voice trails off and then his lips are still. His thoughts are still heard, showing how loud they truly are to him. His words are empty as he speaks; looking into the distance in his solitude.

Mel Gibson: Hamlet moves down a stone staircase into a dimly lit tomb. There is no music or purposeful background noise, simply his voice. He speaks scornfully, looking to the bodies placed within there. Approximately halfway through this monologue, he sits and eventually lays down beside one of the many bodies within. Slowly, he struggles to get up once again, eventually looking up into the light leaking from outside as if to ask God what he should do. This adaption of Hamlet portrays him as rather scornful and depressed, wishing that there was hope for him but believing that there is none.

Ethan Hawke: This adaption was a more modern take on "Hamlet". It takes place in a secluded DVD store in which the famous monologue is at first shown as merely the character's inner thoughts. In the background an Action Film is played, the dialogue and sound effects fairly audible. Hamlet eventually speaks to himself as he strolls the aisles of the store, coming off as a mad man to anyone who may have glanced in. He has given up on what others think of him and lets out his inner thoughts. He has stopped caring; that is made clear as soon as the audience catches a glimpse of his hat. 

Blog Post Number 14: Hamlet Post 2

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you apart." " Oh Simba, you must understand. The pressures of ruling a kingdom--" "Are no longer yours" (Minkoff.The Lion King)

Within "The Lion King" there is a strong theme of revenge due to the death of Mufasa, the king of the kingdom and Simba's father. Simba's uncle is the one who not only murdered Mufasa but took power after his death. Simba is upset, eventually seeking his revenge. His eventual wife Nala supports him but is at times frightened by his behavior. Simba kills the uncle, Scar. I, Ophelia, can definitely understand that fear. I am like Nala. We are both in love with someone who is filled with anger and thrives from revenge. Hamlet's father has passed away and his uncle has taken to his mother. He sees this as not only absurd but as incestuous. He acted insane only moments ago. I was so fearful that I told my father, who thought him to be an average lad expressing his emotions. I am still not able to see him; I think I understand that now...

He spoke with my father and said to him "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion – Have you a daughter?" (II.2.Hamlet). He spoke to him as if he didn't know who he was. He has lost himself and has lost those around him. Simba lost himself after his father's death, he ran away, as Hamlet now has. He has become something I hardly recognize. My father even went to the king to say that Hamlet's recent behavior is because of his love for me. Simba did what he did out of love for not just his kingdom and father, but for Nala as well. Maybe this is just like that. I do hope so... Even so, I should not stray near him. He is not himself (II.2.Hamlet).

Blog Post Number 13: Hamlet Post One

Prompt: You are Ophelia and have just heard advice from your brother and father about your relationship with Hamlet. Your father has forbidden you to see Hamlet, and you, the dutiful daughter, reply, “I will obey.” Now, write as thought you had a support group of blog followers. Tell them of your dilemma, and seek their advice My dad does not want me to see Hamlet anymore. I do not think he understands how important he is to me. He is the love of my life; why can he not see that? My brother Laertes even thinks that Hamlet's not “right in the head.” I cannot believe that he sided with my father. I know that Hamlet will trust me no longer if I follow their commands but I must listen to them. He is my father, after all. He does not want me talking to or seeing him anymore. I am not even allowed to reply to his love letters anymore. I, quite frankly, think this is a bit ridiculous. They hardly even know him. I know Hamlet more than they probably ever will. Why can't the see that I trust him and wish to be with me? Why do I always have to listen to them?... Even so, I am but his daughter. I looked to my father and simply said, "I obey." I understand if you think I should stand up for myself and for what I believe I should have control over but what this really comes down to is the fact that this is my father we're talking about. Lord Polonius, a pompous old man who I'm supposed to show respect for; that is all he really asks of me. It is a daughter's duty. Even so, I wish I could see him. What am I to do? Poor Hamlet.

Blog Post Number 12: Hamlet Character Justification

I have chosen to blog from Ophelia's perspective because she is, in a way, a typical lady of the time period; however, her character goes beyond that. Her decent into madness is not a common occurrence within novels and plays. Many tend to relate her to Lady Macbeth of "Macbeth", a character in which greatly affected the plot of that play. Ophelia is the love interest of the main character, Hamlet, which leads her to be greatly affected by the events throughout the play. She is greatly influenced by her surroundings and does what is asked of her, leading her to be a character in which is affected by the events throughout the story. I have chosen her because she, like Lady Macbeth, captivates the events of this play.