EXTRA CREDIT Blog Post #17A: Hamlet Blog Assignment 5

BASTILLE LYRICS

"Bad Blood"

We were young and drinking in the park
There was nowhere else to go
And you said you always had my back
Oh but how were we to know

That these are the days that bind you together, forever
And these little things define you forever, forever

All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry?
It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?

If we're only ever looking back
We will drive ourselves insane
As the friendship goes resentment grows
We will walk our different ways

But those are the days that bind us together, forever
And those little things define us forever, forever

All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry?
It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?

And I don't wanna hear about the bad blood anymore
I don't wanna hear you talk about it anymore
I don't wanna hear about the bad blood anymore
I don't wanna hear you talk about it anymore

All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry?
It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?

“Bad Blood” by Bastille is a song Hamlet would relate to. It center around death, hence the title, and about how the moral choices we make, even “[the] little things” (Bad Blood, 2010) because they “define us forever”. The plays purpose is to show Hamlet’s struggle with revenge and coping with betrayal. When Hamlet’s father is slain, the new king, and technically his new father, says “You must know, your father lost a father . . . ‘tis unmanly grief” (1.1.94), emasculating him in a venerable time, beginning Hamlet’s mistrust of those closest to him. This is what the song is saying with the line “These are the days that bind you together” meaning that the most difficult times will make or break a relationship. Ill feelings towards Claudius only escalated when Hamlet speaks with his father as a ghost, who gives him an ultimatum: “If thou didst ever thy dear father love –Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder!” (1.4.23-25) and this begins Hamlet’s search for the true definition of a man. He must find the balance between doing right by father—loyalty—and true nobility, which means acting fair and just in the law of man and god. This burden of betrayal and indecision on whether or not to act cause Hamlet to go a bit mad on the outside. This makes the king and queen send spies “To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather so much as from occasion you may glean” (2.2.14) and Ophelia to question his sanity when he acts unusually saying “Lord Hamlet…Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other” (2.2.80) which makes Hamlet even more perturbed. This connects to the song through the verse “If we're only ever looking back, we will drive ourselves insane” showing that Hamlet is basing his present decisions only on past events, making him appear a bit insane. These lines precede “As the friendship goes resentment grows, We will walk our different ways” which directly supports the events in the play, because as Hamlet acted more eccentric, those closest to him drew farther and farther away, even his most trusted companion, Horatio, seems to think that “He waxes desperate with imagination” (1.4.155) and “deprive your sovereignty of reason and draw you into madness?” (1.4.120). The setting of winter in the play also connects to the song through the lyrics “It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?” and this season is also very specific to Hamlet, because it is his last. The major theme of the song is that even though it is the little things that define us, the artist repeatedly exclaims “I don't wanna hear about the bad blood anymore, I don't wanna hear you talk about it anymore” highlighting the indecision that Hamlet also shares. At one point he feels so strongly for revenge he states “My fate cries out, and makes each petty artery in this body, as hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve” (1.4.65) but later he envies a player for his ability to fully commit, “…his whole function suiting with forms of his conceit [which forms to his thought]” (2.2.481-482) and the fact that he had “...the motive and the cue for passion” (2.2.486). Hamlet would also relate to this song through not just their shared sense of direction morally but only physically, because the opening line to the song is “There was nowhere else to go” and Hamlet also feels that Denmark has become a prison for him, with its taxing courtly rituals and gossip and his inability to leave. Hamlet feels so trapped he contemplates suicide, “…’tis nobler in the mind to suffer…Or to take arms against a sea of troubles…To die: to sleep” (3.1.61, 63-64). As to whether Hamlet will ask for this song to be played at his funeral, he probably did not have a will written up since his death was so sudden, and everyone he loved was dead anyway, but Hamlet certainly shared many of the same trials Bastille communicates through “Bad Blood”.

Blog Post #16: Hamlet Blog Assignment 4

It is just so sudden, and difficult to take, “I lov’d Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not (with all their quantity of love) make up my sum” (4.1.90). But like all deaths, especially those of late, things are unsurprising. The thought that I, among others, drove Ophelia to this point... Our love truly was mere “tenders of affection” (1.3.20). And it was not my fault she was swayed by her father and brother to distrust me, I only acted with malice in retaliation of her distant portrayal, “No not I; I never gave you aught…Ha, ha! Are you honest [chaste]?” (3.1.95, 104)! I tell you it really shows the disparity of real men and those jaded, false liars! Filling her head with such deceits as “A violet in the youth of primy nature, forward, not permanent—sweet, not lasting” (1.3.15) it could have lasted, but alas, now we will never know. All because Polonius and Laertes went too far, and ignored the signs that “the habit of mistrust, so ingrained in her father and brother, [was] something new to her” (Seng 220) in favor of scaring her into submission at the consequence of scarring. I always could see so clearly through Polonius’s ploys, and his bitter joke disgusts me, in that it caused Ophelia so much pain in the slandering of her person, “Tender yourself more dearly, Or…you’ll tender me a fool” (1.3.18). I agree with this critic though, because “indeed, she had believed [me]; and, as it turns out, though tragically and too late, her trust was not misplaced” (Seng 220-221). This proving of course that this untimely death was of no fault of mine. It was all due to Polonius who was “only too willing to sacrifice his morals to political expediency; and it is his spying, sneaking and eavesdropping that finally brings his own death” (Seng 221). My dagger may have stabbed him to death, but really he was already dead due to his own debilitating flaw. Had Polonius not hidden behind the curtain, I would not have stabbed him, and then I would never have been sent away, and Ophelia would still have a support system. Polonius is the one who ruined her, causing her madness, I had naught to do with the conspiracy.  

Blog Post #15: Hamlet Blog Assignment 3

Soliloquy Analysis:

In Hamlet’s pivotal “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, he deliberates about fate, questioning the values that suicide could offer as compared to the hardships of life. To preface this, he uses such lines as, “the oppressors wrong…the law’s delay” (3.2.71-72),“ The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks (3.2.63) and “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time” (3.2.69) to portray the negative experiences of life. Hamlet convinces his audience by repetition of the phrase “To sleep; to sleep” (3.2.60-61, 64-65) in order to nod the audience off to sleep. By using common ailments to allow the audience to a deeper connection, making them feel their past pain and empathizing with Hamlet’s current pain, “Insolence of office… the pangs of despis’d love…patient merit of th’ unworthy tasks” (3.2.71, 73, 74 ). Here he uses logos, pathos, and ethos, respectively, to appeal to his audience. One paradox that Hamlet mentions is “conscious makes cowards of us all” (3.2.83), this is ironic in the fact that normally, ones’ conscious is what separates the do-gooder from the wrong-doer, setting the hero who acted chivalrously ahead, but here he is putting that attribute down. One primary metaphor Hamlet uses is to equate sleep to death, and gives dreams the double meaning of heaven or hell. This parallelism and synecdoche helps to paint Hamlet’s struggle with as a more tangible concept. His conflicting tone, creating an opposition to more fully highlight the argument he is having with himself, contrasts life and death with more strength. Another opposition he identifies is the contemplator and “the man” or the oppressor, essentially centered on “law” (3.2.72) and “office” (3.2.73). Hamlet extends his thinker to all humans, asking himself and beseeching for help about life on earth and how it compares to the afterlife—whether it will resemble the heaven or hell he has in his mind. This is really a deep philosophical question much of humanity ponders, as it is never going to be answered scientifically, because as Hamlet states “no traveler returns” (3.2.80). Hamlet eventually decides that death is too big of an action to take when he is not sure of the consequences. This seems to be a pattern with him, as he was tentative to even plan to kill Claudius without first having concrete proof of his guilt, then again when he lets an opportunity slip by to avenge his father because Hamlet is unsure of the King’s repentance, so really Hamlet has been very stable in his rational thought throughout the play so far.  

Acting Analysis:

1996 version: The only sound is Hamlet’s voice, until soft singing without words emphasizes the ups and downs of the struggles of life. By using the over-the-shoulder camera angle, the audience is more in tune with Hamlet, but looking at him in the mirror, also farther away but slowly gets closer and clearer, creating a very unique paradox within this pivotal scene. When Hamlet pulls out the dagger, it heightens the intensity and refocuses the audience on the change in tone. Hamlets striking features and dark dress, with simplicity creates mystery.

1948 version: This one was markedly more dramatic and pronounced than the others, which can be attributed to the editing and non-diegetic music. It creates a stressful anticipation through the music and the cutting between scenes of waves breaking on a cliff and Hamlet’s eyes. This costuming is much more simplistic and to the time period, but not necessarily for a young prince. The dagger pointed at Hamlet as he is contemplating suicide is very powerful and makes the impact of the monologue even more powerful. The shifting camera angles, alternating between close-ups and shots of the cliff also emphasize the severity of the conversation being had with Hamlet’s rational versus animalistic side.

Mel Gibson version: In this rendition, it seems less of a contemplation of suicide than an attempt to convince Hamlet that death is natural and okay, but still should be feared. This is due to the setting in the catacombs, the camera following his movements, when he addresses the dead themselves, instead of himself. The echoing effect emphasizes the importance of the conversation though. There is not the use of a dagger here. But the inner struggle does seem more apparent as Hamlet literally rolls around, wrestling with himself about his conflict.

2000 version: The costuming and acting make Hamlet appear very lost. He is wearing a suit jacket and a multi-colored ski cap, just wandering around Blockbusters, looking almost dazed or distracted. At first all the sound is non-diegetic, until the camera focuses on a clip of the Terminator playing on a screen, which seems to add fuel to the monologue because that is when Hamlet begins speaking out loud, mumbling to himself in monotone. By including the setting in Blockbuster, it appeals to the audiences struggles, about not being able to make the right decision while being misinformed or without access to the right information. And then including the allusions to Terminator, it lends to a tone without hope, that all is lost and Hamlet is alone.

I feel that my performance was most truthful in the 1996 version. And that is not just because I have the best hair in that rendition either, but rather, the mirror was the stand-out. And again, not just because I could admire my great mustache, but because this monologue was about the inner struggle over suicide, life after death, giving up or rolling with the punches, and the mirror lent itself most effectively and accomplished these ends. The dagger was another prop that added to the drama in a positive way: I think that all the techniques used only supplemented further to the delivery of the message. The soft non-diegetic music, the two-way mirror, and the black clothing all made a significant impact on the audience, adding to the believability and appeal of my argument. The Mel Gibson version had a very apt setting in the catacombs, making more sense to the topic of the struggle but ended up retracting attention from the contrasting life and death and felt more like I was praying to the dead for solace. The 1948 version was heavy on editing but this effect lent itself well to the turmoil inside my mind, however, the tights were distracting and itchy. The ploy with the dagger and the chance of plummeting to my death however left very powerful effects on the audience.  And finally the 2000 version was too extrapolated, and the application to modern times just… felt weird. I was more hopeless in tone than philosophical.

What I would have changed had I been the lead actor and director, was to make all the lines more choppy—meaning more exaggerated tone shifts for emphasis and making Hamlet seem very haunted almost, but very resolute in his final outcome. This kind of acting and sound qualities would be best executed in a haunted setting, such as the catacombs, but taking on the conversation of the 1948 version where I almost stab myself with a dagger in my rage. I would definitely keep the killer mustache from the 1996 version, as well as the black costuming and keeping constant the simple make-up throughout all the versions. Camera angle I think I would want to stay mostly focused on my face, but at every pivotal line, a framing change to emphasize my words. Basically more drama, and more mustache.  

Blog Post #14: Hamlet Blog Assignment 2

“Anyone can be killed…” –Arya Stark

In The Game of Thrones (by George R.R. Martin) you either win, or you die. Playing such a deadly game, one must assume that there are no rules, people can be bought, therefor no one can be trusted, and power has been corrupted everywhere. To overthrow the old order, and "win," you must play by their rules, and their rules are that there are no rules: anything goes.

Now, today felt like a day in the life of a GoT character. You wake up dazed and confused and your vision and goals become more muddled and clouded as time goes on. Everything was a puzzle today! My dear school friends came to spy on me, sent by “the good king and queen” (2.2.260) themselves! For what reason are they spying on me? I told my “friends” it was because as of late I had “lost all my mirth” (2.2.270) but that was a lie, said to throw their puppeteers off my trail. I am amazed that this is what it has come to—lying! To friends! Over what, that I haven’t the faintest idea. Everything is so convoluted, so complex, making no sense whatsoever! And now, in my floundering with the actors, I have a ploy to get information out of my uncle, “I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle: I’ll observe his looks: I’ll tent (probe) him to the quick: if ‘a do blench (flinch), I know my course” (2.2.522-526). I cannot condone an unlawful killing—that being that there was no concrete motive, the ghost I spoke with may have seemed like my father, but “the devil hath power t’ assume a pleasing shape” (2.2.527) and I will not be damned by trickery. I must figure out the killers identity beyond the shadow of a doubt before I do any revenge, “I’ll have grounds more relative (definite) than this” (2.2.532).  This is not cowardice, but I am acting as Tyrion, thinking ahead and using my wits.

·         “Power is a curious thing: who lives, who dies” –Varys

o   “And thy commandment all alone shall live within the book ad volume of my brain, unmix’d with baser matter: yes, by heaven! O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!” (2.2.100-105)

·         “Sometimes I wonder if this is the price for what we’ve done, our sins” –Cersi

o   “Abuses me to damn me” (2.2.531).

·         “**Sansa is battered for the delinquencies of her family, ordered by King Jeoffery**”

o   “To make oppression bitter, or ere this I should have fatted all the regions kites with this slave’s offal: bloody, bawdy villain” (2.2.503-506).

·         “The debt has paid (a Lannister always pays his debts)” –Tyrion

o   “But let me conjure you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a better proposer could charge you withal, be even and direct with me, whether you were sent for, or no?” (2.2.263-266).

Blog Post #13: Hamlet Blog Assignment 1

 

My father is dead! The king is gone! And now a new king has been crowned, mine own uncle, whom I do suspect. And my mother married to him, “the funeral bak’d meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (1.1.180). How could she, so short a time of mourning, “Frailty, thy name is woman” (1.1.145). And to marry mine own uncle, her own brother-in-law, “most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets” (1.1.155). This truly is an unweeded garden, spoiled seeds left to germinate. When the noble are killed in cold blood, by their blood, then the same blood mingles in the monarchy—the natural balance of things is off. I must get to the bottom of this. I will not stand by while my father’s killer roams the streets of innocents, and me mocked publicly by my uncle-turned-stepfather, “’tis unmanly grief” (1.1.95) said in front the whole court. It is a man’s duty to mourn his father, his king! I will avenge his death…

Blog Post #12: Character Perspective: Hamlet

I have chosen to blog from Hamlet’s perspective. This will give me a better understanding of the many themes layered throughout the play, as most relate to Hamlet specifically. It will also provide multiple directions with which to respond, since Hamlet is the most dynamic character, being the focus of the play. I think the crux of a work is always in the mind of the main character, therefor being able to really get into Hamlet’s head and then craft responses from his perspective will be the most helpful in deepening my understanding of the meaning as a whole.

Blog Post #11: American Drama Project (Write-up and Storyboards)