Technology and Hamlet

Hamlet has been performed in many different time periods but one time that I haven't seen it performed in is 2013. I think it would be very interesting just because of the pure fact of what kind of technology we have in the world today. With all this technology and the capability of phones the play would have been much shorter and less intense. One of the most interesting parts of the reenactments of Hamlet is watching the actor or actress's emotions, and I think that would be lost a bit with everyone being on their phones all the time.

The scene that I chose to put into a modern setting is Hamlets "To be or not to be" soliloquy. The way I imagine this scene is Hamlet sitting in his bed on his phone typing away. You can here his voice in the background saying what he's typing to Twitter and Facebook. This way would show how in today's world people are even sometimes disconnected with themselves and having to share everything with everyone. Hamlet could also use CAPS at some points to show that he is becoming more aggressive. I think this would be a funny take on Hamlet.

To be or not To be

1. David Tennant's interpretation of to be or not to be

2. Mel Gibson's  interpretation of to be or not to be

          In David Tennant's deliverance of Hamlet's to be or not to be soliloquy, he is much more passive about it. Throughout the soliloquy he seems to be confused and betrayed. He also stays in one place through the whole thing which also gives his version a much more passive feel. While Mel Gibson's interpretation of the soliloquy is almost the opposite. Mel Gibson is much more active in his scene, he moves all over the place. Mel also speaks in a much louder and harsher tone than what Tennant did. Gibson seemed to be angry and revengeful rather than sad and confused.

          I personally think that Mel Gibson did a better job while portraying this scene. The reason why I like it better, is because where the soliloquy is in the book. At the moment Hamlet seems to have left the confused and sad state of the mourning process, and now is starting to purely focus on revenge. Since Mel Gibson's version was much more active I believe that it illustrates Hamlets moods in the play at this time.

Paragraph revision

          Although the Barbie doll is a symbol of what we think beauty is, Piercy also shows how the symbol has a negative effect. After the girl hits puberty, one of her classmates said, “You have a great big nose and fat legs.”(6) Because the idea of what beauty is, is so strong in today’s world, it allows girls to tear each other apart just by making fun of the way they look. Later in the poem Piercy writes, “She went to and fro apologizing.”(10) Because everyone had told her that she was not this perfect Barbie doll pretty, she became so self-conscious that she felt bad to be in people’s presence. At first glance the Barbie doll might seem like a harmless child’s toy, but really it has come to have more serious effects than just making girls self-conscious about their bodies.


          Although the Barbie doll portrays a symbol of what we think symbolizes beauty, Piercy also illustrates the negative effect of the symbol. After the girl hits puberty, one of her classmates says, “You have a great big nose and fat legs.”(6) Because the idea of what beauty is, is so strong in today’s world, it allows girls to tear each other apart just by making fun of the way they look. Later in the poem Piercy writes, “She went to and fro apologizing.”(10) Because many people including the girl from school had told her that she was not this perfect Barbie doll pretty, she became so self-conscious that she felt ashamed to be in other people’s presence. This simple comment also influences the girlchild's choices throughout the rest of the poem. At first glance the Barbie doll might seem like a harmless child’s toy, but really it has come to have more serious effects than just making girls self-conscious about their bodies.

Crazy Eyes

          The first thing that struck me in Branagh's approach to act 1 scene 5 was the eyes of Hamlets father ghosts. I don't think this was an accident to portray the ghost with such piercing eyes. This seems to have a sort of paralyzing effect on the character that is playing Hamlet. In the video where Kenneth Branagh is ex-planing how he acted out the scene, he talks about how he tried to do as little as possible and just kinda let it happen, and I think the ghosts eyes really help this happen.
         

          Another thing that stuck out to me was King Hamlets death. When the movie cuts back to King Hamlets ear bleeding while he's talking to Hamlet and then repeatedly cutting back to it, it shows how unnatural his death was. Another thing that was portrayed very well was the betrayal of Claudius to King hamlet. This is shown when King Hamlet looks up in his last moment of existence and see's his brother. They don't say anything to each other and the whole scene is portrayed very well

Hamlet

My first impression of Hamlet is that he is still depressed about his father, and all he wants to do is go to school. Hamlet also seems to be mad at his mother because she married her husbands brother two months after his death. Hamlet is wearing black clothing which indicates that he is still mourning his fathers death. When Claudius sees this he is not happy because he wants Hamlet to get over it and be ready to be the heir to the throne. When Hamlet hears this all he wants to do is go to school and study.

Symbolisim of the Title in Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll"

Although Marge Piercy does not mention the symbol of a Barbie doll in her poem from the title, she shows that the symbol of a doll is a Barbie doll. In Piercy's "Barbie Doll" she uses symbolism throughout her poem.. As a symbol, the Barbie doll is used mainly in the beginning but the idea is used heavily in the beginning and the end. Marge Piercy's use of the Barbie doll is very effective because it takes a child hood toy that we all know of, and relates, and compares it to many issues girls struggle with in today's world.  

In Piercy's poem the symbol of a Barbie doll is used to show ideal beauty in today’s world. In the beginning of the story Piercy writes, “This girlchild was born as usual / and presented dolls that did pee-pee.”(Piercy 1-2). Even as a toddler most girls including the girlchild are “presented dolls” that will shape the way they think the ideal beauty is . At the end of the poem Piercy writes “In the casket displayed on satin she lay / with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on.”(19-20) Even in death the thing that people were most concerned about was the way the girlchild looked, using “cosmetics painted on” to make sure she looked presentable. Since the girlchild was presented a doll at such a young age she never looked at herself in a positive way.

Although the Barbie doll is a symbol of what we think beauty is, Piercy also shows how the symbol has a negative effect. After the girl hits puberty, one of her classmates said, “You have a great big nose and fat legs.”(6) Because the idea of what beauty is , is so strong in today’s world, it allows girls to tear each other apart just by making fun of the way they look. Later in the poem Piercy writes, “She went to and fro apologizing.”(10) Because everyone had told her that she was not this perfect Barbie doll pretty, she became so self-conscious that she felt bad to be in people’s presence. At first glance the Barbie doll might seem like a harmless childes toy, but really it has come to have more serious effects than just making girls self-conscious about their bodies.

By the end of the poem, Piercy gets to the point where she shows the consequences of what the symbol of the Barbie doll has. After a while of a life of apologizing and playing coy the girlchild “cut of her arms and legs / and offered them up.”(17-18) People told her that she was ugly so often and she believed it so much that she saw the only way was to cut off her arms and legs. At the very end when the girlchild was in her casket with the cosmetics on and everyone was saying how pretty she looked Piercy writes, “Consummation at last. / To every women a happy ending.”(24-25) What Piercy is saying is no matter what the only thing that women want is to be seen as pretty, even if the sacrifice is death. The girlchild was pushed to a point that she found suicide the only way to deal with her situation.

Since 1959 10 million Barbie dolls have been sold, 300,000 were sold in the first year. The use of the Barbie doll as a symbol in this poem is very effective because it deals with the issues girls have in today’s world using a child’s toy. Piercy shows us how a simple toy has come to represent what we think beauty is.  Since this idea of beauty is so strong, we have become blinded from what true beauty used to be. Because of this, many girls like the girlchild commit suicide every year just because they see it as the only solution to stop the ridicule. When the Barbie doll was first made, the intensions might have been good but throughout it’s time the Barbie has become a symbol of what beauty, which is impossible to live up to.

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Blog post 5: Revised Intro and Outline

        Since 1959 10 million barbie dolls have been sold, 300,000 were sold in the first year. In Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" she uses symbolism throughout her poem. Apparent from the title, the main symbol Piercy uses in this poem is a barbie doll. As a symbol, the barbie doll is used mainly in the beginning but the idea of it is used heavily in the beginning and the end. Marge Piercy's use of the barbie doll is very effective because it takes a child hood toy that we all know of, and relates, and compares it to many issues girls struggle with in today's world.    

  

I.               In Marge Piercy's poem the symbol of a Barbie doll is used to the ideal beauty in today's world.

a.     “The girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee”

b.     “In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on”

II.             Although the Barbie doll is a symbol of what we think beauty is, Piercy also shows how the symbol has a negative effect.

a.     “You have a great big nose and fat legs”

b.     “She went to and fro apologizing”

      

III.           By the end of the poem Piercy gets to the point of the consequences of what the symbol of the Barbie doll has on our society.

a.     “So she cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.”

b.     “Consummation at last. To every women a happy ending.”

Blog post 4: Intro paragraph

          Since 1959 10 million barbie dolls have been sold, 300,000 were sold in the first year. In Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" she uses symbolism throughout her poem. Apparent from the title, the main symbol Piercy uses in this poem is a barbie doll. As a symbol, the barbie doll is used mainly in the beginning but the idea of it is used heavily in the beginning and the end. Marge Piercy's use of the barbie doll is very effective because it takes a child hood toy that we all know of, and relates, and compares it to many issues girls struggle with in today's world.    

I.          In "Barbie Doll" 

Past or Present

To other people this story might seem completely unreasonable and stupid that someone feels like they should have been born in a different time. For me i don't find it so difficult to see. I often think about what it would have been like to be alive in the 1950s. There are many reasons why I think being alive in the 50s would be interesting but one of them is because of the music. There were many great artists in the 50s but one of my favorite musicians was Johnny Cash, and I think it would be amazing to have seen him in person. Another reason why i would liked to have lived in the 50s is because my dream car is a 1952 Ford pickup. Most everything about the 50s is interesting to me.

While I can sit and think about what it would be like I never wish i wasn't born because of it. And that's where I have trouble understanding Miniver Cheevy's desire to live in the past. Although Miniver is unhappy about his current situation he doesn't ever do anything about it. But what I think Robinson is trying to say is that if you always settle for something that you don't like the way things are going and you don't do anything about it than you're going to be unhappy and depressed for the rest of your life.

Barbie Doll

In Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll" she talks about an issue that is very real today, and that is the pressure  for girls to look a curtain way. Piercy does this by using irony throughout the poem. One place where Piercy uses irony is "Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: You have a great big nose and fat legs."(Piercy line 5-6) This is ironic because the sentence starts of with "magic" which is normally used in fairy tales to make every thing seem happy. But when one of her classmates said "You have a great big nose and fat legs," the word "magic" is flipped upside down. Another place where Piercy uses irony is when the girlchild had cut off her legs and nose and was laying in her casket and Piercy writes "Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending."(24-25) This is very ironic because this quote is saying that for every woman in the world the most important thing is to be seen as pretty. I think that irony is useful in this poem because it allows Piercy to put a negative underlying tone on the poem even though there are no specific negative words are sections.

Harrison Bergeron

Hi My name is Toby. Over the summer I read many texts but one that stood out to me the most was a story called "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. I like this story because Vonnegut is subtly making fun of what society has become. He does this by using an extreme example in which everyone is equal in every way shape or form. One moment that made me stop and think about was right after George and Hazel's kid Harrison was killed on live television and because Hazel was so simple minded, when George came back from the kitchen and asked what happened Hazel said "I forget...Something real sad on television." Because they made everyone exactly equal a mother couldn't remember her own sons death, and a father who wouldn't know. Although this story is very extreme there are aspects of today that are similar.