Blog #14: Final Reflection

At the start of the year, I was doing fairly well with the Multiple Choice section, but truly struggling with the Poetry Benchmark and Prose Passage Benchmark essays. I mostly struggled to grasp the complexity in texts, instead conducting very superficial analyses.

Now, I've learned the importance of identifying binary opposites (especially through comparing and contrasting poetry), which has definitely helped me get to the heart of poems. I've found that while different AP prompts will ask different questions, all essentially require me to distill the meaning of the work. What is the author really trying to say? And how are they saying it? This focus on the central themes of each work has definitely strengthened my ability to write stronger three-sentence theses. Learning different poetic forms also allowed me to perform better on the multiple choice section, as well as allowed me to draw connections between a work's structure and meaning. I've also improved in my selection of literary devices to focus on. Instead of treating essays as an opportunity for me to showcase my knowledge of obscure literary devices, I've learned to refer only to what is relevant to my thesis.

Overall, I have especially improved in my interpretation of literature, but I still have much room for improvement. Next semester, I would like to improve my ability to synthesize different sources, and to better connect themes across works, as this was something I struggled with in my synthesis charts for my seminar discussions.

Blog #13: Socratic Discussion Final Materials

In Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays Hamlet as a “mad” character in order to explore the boundaries between reason and madness, questioning whether a person’s actions, even if irrational, can be justified. Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles between action and inaction, and this perpetual inability to act ultimately leads to his downfall by rendering him actually mad. Shakespeare uses soliloquies, dramatic irony and dark humor to depict the method in Hamlet’s madness.

	Hamlet	Representing Ophelia by Elaine Showalter	Contemporary Novel: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki	Poem 1: Medusa by Sylvia Plath	Poem 2: Leda and the Swan by William Butler Yeats	Poem 3: Mad Girl’s Love Song by Sylvia Plath
POINT 1 Especially in the past, women lacked a voice, which led them to feel lost or confused, subject to what society dictated they should be.	“When [these tears] are gone, The woman will be out.” (5.1.187-189) Women in Shakespeare’s time were considered weak and sentimental; hence Laertes disparages his tears as feminine. Women weren’t given much power in this time period, so they often followed what the Catholic Church and monarchs believed they should be.	“Shakespeare gives us very little information from which to magine a past for Ophelia…’We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet.’” (Showalter 283) . Essentially, Ophelia has no voice throughout the whole play, instead playing the obedient daughter (as society would dictate), until she goes mad and finally states her opinions (although they are so shrouded in madness that no one can understand her). Exasperated, Ophelia soon dies.	“Or, here’s another scary thought, what if you’re not reading this at all? What if you never even found this book, because somebody chucked it in the trash or recycled it before it got to you? Then old Jiko’s stories truly will be lost forever, and I’m just sitting here wasting time talking to the inside of a dumpster.” (Ozeki 27). Nao writes ostensibly to document the history of her great-grandmother Jiko, but she rarely does this—it seems that her real purpose is to have a safe place to vent her feelings, since no one in her real life listens to her, and she feels lost and unsure. Writing in a book is how she finds her voice.	“Cobra light/Squeezing the breath from the blood bells/Of the fuchsia.” (l.29-31) Plath refers to her father’s oppressive influence on her mother, which her mother in turn inflicts upon Plath, continuing the cycle of abuse. According to the myth of Medusa, Medusa is raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple, and as punishment, is turned into a gorgon by Athena, despite having been taken against her will. Plath pities her mother, who is like Medusa, helpless and voiceless and oppressed, simply treating her daughter as she has been treated as her husband—she knows no other way.	“A sudden blow: the great wings beating still/Above the staggering girl” (l.1-2) Zeus, in swan form, rapes Leda, who looks on helplessly—she says nothing, preferring to remain obedient and to suffer in silence, as Ancient Greek society dictated women should be passive.	“I fancied you’d return the way you said,/ But I grow old and I forget your name./(I think I made you up inside my head.” (l.13-15). This implies that the speaker has been waiting for her lover, who hasn’t returned—society often expects women to be loyal and devoted, while encouraging men to do as they please. It seems that the feels alone, with no one to talk to about her lover, hence her uncertainty about his existence.
POINT 2 Lack of a voice often discourages people from speaking out against their tormentors , leading to misrepresentation	“Oh, woe is me,/T’have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (3.2.159-160). It’s important to note that Ophelia never complains about Hamlet, despite his harsh treatment towards her; it’s the  eavesdropping King and Polonius who decide he should be banished to England. She’s much weaker than Hamlet in status—he’s the future King, she’s just a courtier’s daughter. She feels that she can’t complain.	“Deprived of thought, sexuality, language, Ophelia’s story becomes the Story of O—the zero, the empty circle or mystery of feminine difference, the cipher of female sexuality to be deciphered by feminist interpretation.” (Showalter 284) Ophelia is deprived of language (a voice); her predicaments have to be interpreted for her, because she’s powerless to complain herself.	“They posted the video on the Internet that night. On of my classmates e-mailed me the link. The image quality from the keitai phone cams was crap, grainy and shaky, and you couldn’t really see my face too clearly, which I was grateful for, but the video was awfully clear.” (Ozeki 278) Nao is bullied and videotaped by bullies from her school, but she refuses to tell anyone (even Jiko) because she’s afraid that they won’t understand will blame her or tell the kids off, which will only worsen the bullying, and she has no friends to confide in. Thus, her parents think she’s fine, blind to their daughter’s suffering.	“Who do you think you are?/ A Communion wafer? Blubbery Mary? / I shall take no bite of your body,” (l.35-36). Plath seems to argue that she will never confide in or trust her mother because she hurt Plath. Simultaneously, Plath’s mother doesn’t seem to want to speak out about her husband, who seems to have abused both Plath and his wife. Both lack a voice in the face of patriarchy and don’t want to outright confront their bullies.	“How can those terrified vague fingers push,/ The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?” (l.5-6) While we don’t know what happens after the swan leaves, the speaker strongly implies that Leda won’t say anything through her fear and helplessness, due to her lack of a voice, especially as Zeus’s power so clearly surpasses hers.	“I should have loved a thunderbird instead;/ At least when spring comes they roar back again.” (l.16-17). Interestingly, Plath blames herself for loving a fickle man, instead of blaming the man for being fickle. It seems that Plath’s lack of a voice means that she doesn’t blame her tormentor, instead choosing to blame herself and misrepresenting the fault in their relationship.

FIRST THIRD	Quotation Support -- at least 3 significant quotations.
Call to Adventure Hamlet Vows Vengeance	Ghost: “Murder most foul, as in the best it is;/But this most foul, strange and unnatural.” Hamlet: “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift/As meditation or the thoughts of love/May sweep to my revenge.” (1.5.27-31) o      Hamlet meets the Ghost (apparently his father) and is anxious to know his task. Here he’s fairly gung-ho and impulsive, promising to act swiftly. “And thy commandment all alone shall live/Within the book and volume of my brain.” (1.5.102-103) o      Hamlet swears (fatefully) that revenge will consume his brain and he will think of nothing else until Claudius is murdered. “Yet I,/ A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak/Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,/And can say nothing—no, not for a king/Upon whose property and most dear life/A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?” (2.2.487-492) o      Two months later, Hamlet still hasn’t acted. This quote comes from his soliloquy, where he compares himself to the player, wishing he were as passionate
SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS -- USE TEXT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS.  PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO TONE. Hamlet’s tone shifts from reproachful (at his mother’s wedding) to angry and determined when he meets with the ghost. His decision to put on an “antic disposition” (1.5.179) creates situational irony as the audience will know he is faking his madness (at least at first), while the others are oblivious. Hamlet is determined to be quick, “with wings as swift/As meditation” (1.5.29). After the players arrive, Hamlet’s tone shifts to guilt in his second soliloquy, as he laments how long he’s already delayed the task (it’s been 2 months since his conversation with the ghost.
SECOND THIRD	Quotation Support -- at least 3 significant quotations.
Tests/Allies/Enemies Task Corrupts Hamlet	“Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! “ (3.1.149) ●      Although Ophelia and Hamlet meet amiably at first, Hamlet soon denies that he ever loved her and curses her (apparently for no reason)—Ophelia laments his sudden change from his previous virtuousness Queen: “O Hamlet, speak no more./Thou turn’st my very eyes into my soul./And there I see such black and grained spots/As will leave there their tinct.” Hamlet: “Nay, but to live/In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,/Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love/ Over the nasty sty— Queen: “Oh, speak to me no more.”(3.4.89-3.4.95) ●      The ghost had warned Hamlet earlier to leave Gertrude alone and let heaven judge her, but Hamlet, swayed by his anger, continues berating her, despite the Queen’s repentance. King: “Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius?” Hamlet: “At supper.” King: “At supper? Where?” Hamlet: “Not where he eats, but where ‘a is eaten.” (4.3.17-20) ●      Despite earlier expressing regret at Polonius’s death to Gertrude, now Hamlet is ruthless and crude, dishonoring a dead person.
SIGNIFICANT SHIFTS -- USE TEXT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS.  PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO TONE. Hamlet’s newfound distrust of women (due to revelations that his mother is an adulteress) distances himself from Ophelia and his mother. In their conversation, their relationship showed signs of recovery, shifting the tone to hopeful, but Hamlet harasses Gertrude, barreling on even when she begs him to stop. When Hamlet talks to a ghost Gertrude doesn’t see, the tone shifts to one of despair—the audience knows Gertrude will never trust her son again. Meanwhile, Hamlet’s rejection and his murder of Polonius will plunge Ophelia into madness. Hamlet will continue to “let all asleep” (4.5.60), growing still more conflicted and troubled. The audience’s knowledge that Claudius is sending Hamlet to his death shifts the tone to fearful, but then to relief when Hamlet miraculously escapes and returns. The tone shifts to fearful once again as Laertes and Claudius conspire to murder Hamlet.
LAST THIRD & HERO’s JOURNEY	Quotation Support -- at least 3 significant quotations.
Resurrection (of the Kingdom) Deaths Restore Order	“But I do prophesy the election lights On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice…” (5.2. 329-330) ●      Hamlet relinquishes the throne to Fortinbras, whom he admired earlier for his quickness to action (unlike Hamlet) and his bravery. This marks the start of a new line of rulers of Denmark “So shall you hear/Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,/Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters,/Of deaths put on by cunning, and for no cause,/And in this upshot, purposes mistook/Fall’n on th’inventors’ heads.” (5.2.354-358) ●      Horatio is a fairly objective party as he summarizes the tragedy of Hamlet to Horatio “The rest is silence.” (5.2.332) ●      Hamlet’s last words, marking a new peace after months of tension and madness.
FINAL SHIFTS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “CLOSING” AS IT RELATES TO ALL OF THE SHIFTS WITHIN THE TEXT. USE TEXT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS.  PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO TONE. The last scene of the duel consists of many rapid tone shifts: from fear, as Hamlet accepts the duel despite “how ill all’s hereabout [his] heart.” (5.2.182), to hope, as Hamlet scores points and rejects the poisoned wine, to grief as Gertrude dies (Gertrude is a fairly pitiable character), to sadness once again as we find out that Hamlet is poisoned and dying. Once all are dead by Horatio, the tone shifts to one of calm, as all of the conflicts and resentments of the royal family have died with them, and Fortinbras enters to begin everything anew.