Questions from Act 3

Fact Questions:
- What happen to Romeo after he kills Tybalt?
- What is Juliet reaction after she hears the news about Romeo?

Thinking Questions:
- Frair Lawrence is not a peacemaker. Find the proofs from the Act III for this argument.
- What are Juliet's parents reactions after Juliet refuses the marriage with Paris? Why would they react differently?
- How does the nurse act differently from the previous acts? Why would she do so?

Quiz #6.

      If I am the director, I would put these two characters still at on one stage after they exchange their love and devotion at the balcony, and let them perform their dairies in a monologue form. So, Romeo would be at the left side of the stage, and Juliet stands at the right side. They would be saying their diaries one by one, and filled with their feelings. Thus, the audience can more effectively know their minds and make a contrast.

Romeo:
Dear Diary,
      I am still buried in such unexpected happiness so deep. I meet an angelic girl today. I would not say that I know what is love till this might. Her name is Juliet. She is just extremely loving. I must have been drunk, and enchanted by her snowy skin, her charming eyes, her cute nose, her soft lips. I have never saw true beauty till I met her. No matter how many difficulties preventing us from being together, I am willing to devote everything to her. I can get rid of my stupid name and my Montague's identity. There is nothing can stop our true love. Oh, my Juliet, my love Juliet, you won't know how willingly would I spend my whole life with you! Good night, my girl.

Juliet:
Dear Diary,
      I still cannot believe what happened today. I meet a brilliant boy at the ball, and I just unbelievably fall in love with him. His name is Romeo. He has youthful sparkling eyes, aquiline nose, prominent cheekbones and angular face. I have never met a man with such charming looks. We held hands and kissed. His touch was that gentle, warm and sooth like nothing. Even though he is named Romeo, the son of Montague, the great enemy of my family, our love would not be blocked by such vanity. Oh, Romeo, Romeo, my love Romeo, I just cannot wait to marry you.
     

Blog #3

    The balcony scene (Act 2 Scene 2) is one of the most classic scenes in the Romeo and Juliet. It takes place at Capulet’s orchard. After Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other with their first sights at the ball, Romeo returns to Juliet’s house, and hopes to see her again. He stands beneath the window. Juliet appears on the balcony, and confesses her love to Romeo. And then, Romeo reveals himself from the shadows. They exchange their love and devotion. I have watched five difference versions of this balcony scenes. Among these different adaptations, the 1968 version and 1996 version impress me deeply. In the following paragraphs, I would like to compare the differences from distinct perspectives.

    Firstly, the most difference would be the actors and actresses. In the play, Romeo is about 16 years old, and Juliet is only 13. The actors play in the 1968 version are much more closed to the original text, compared with the 1976 version, in which the actors both look like around 25 years old. Besides, the stage setting also is quite distinct in the both adaptations. In the 1968 version, Romeo is hiding behind some bushes beneath Juliet’s balcony, staring at her, and Juliet is sitting on the balcony with a long hallway, saying to herself. All the “props” including the architectures and plants, are very real. Not only from the vines enlacing the building, the very style of the old architecture, and the leaves swaying with the movement of Romeo. All these specific details effectively restore the play. However, in the 1976 version, although Romeo is also hiding among the bushes, and Juliet is leaning with her elbows on the window sill. The whole stage literally looks too fake: while Juliet is saying, you can hear the sounds like birds chirping (during the night); while Romeo stepping on the ground, there is some echo; the echo becomes more obvious, when they are talking. This stage must be built up within a big black box. Moreover, whenever the camera cuts to Juliet, it just stays at that frame with Juliet sitting without movement. But, in the 1968 version, Juliet keeps moving: turning different angles toward the sky or walking around the hallway. Moreover, the lighting on the stage also is also very essential. Within the 1968 version, the light is just right. It not only perfectly depicts the darkness that “night cloak” supposed to be look like, but also clearly highlights actors’ faces. Nonetheless, in the 1976 version, the light is just too bright to show that it is during the nighttime. Besides, the light would somehow distract the audience’s attention. 

    All in all, the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet more vividly restore the balcony scene than the 1976 version, not only because of the appearance of actors, but also the authenticity of stage setting and the lighting.

In-class writing

3 concept understood from the reading:
- Characters always fit the patterns. Any psychological or physical actions that a character has would be reasonable based on the condition it exists at that given moment.
- All the changes that happen in the play are essential to the characters. The changes include not only the general change (plot, setting), but also can be traced to the very specific action made by the character.
- We should watch a play from both a large and small perspective, not too large to ignore the details, not too small to ignore the whole.

3 things I am confused about
- What is the relationship between the play and me?
- What is the theatrical mirror in a play? Could it be a person?
- Why would the author make an analogy between the performance and the sphere?

Blog #2

Claudius is the King of Denmark. He builds up a shrewd, conniving and wicked image compared with the other characters in the play Hamlet. In contrast with other men especially Hamlet who holds the ideas of justice and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his throne. He absolutely does not deserve the throne, since the only ability he has is to manipulate others through his conspiracy. 

Before the death of the old king, his larger overarching objective is to obtain the throne in order to satisfy his desire of powers. Thus, he brutally kills Hamlet’s father by pouring the poison into this ear. After he successfully inherits the throne, and becomes the King of Denmark, he wants to maintain his power, preventing from being threatened. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, and Hamlet would be the biggest threats. Therefore, he marries Gertrude as another strategic move, to help him keep the throne away from Hamlet. However, as the play progressed, after the accident death of Polonius, Hamlet’s insanity gradually makes him feel threatened. Thus, he takes another step to get rid of Hamlet by manipulating the death of Polonius in the Act IV, scene iii. 

In the Act IV, scene iii, the main objective that Claudius wants to achieve is to address his last threat by using Polonius’ death in order to reach his larger goal — maintaining his own power. At the beginning of this scene, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appears with Hamlet, who was under guard. Claudius asks Hamlet the location of Polonius’s body, and Hamlet pointedly answers that Polonius is in heaven; he can send a messenger to find him in heaven, or seek him in hell himself. Finally, Hamlet tells that Polonius’s body is near the lobby, and the king sends his attendants to seek Polonius there. And then, Claudius eventually throws out his objective — send Hamlet into exile in England. Also, he lets his courtiers to follow him to make sure that Hamlet boards the ship. More importantly, he sends a letter to England to call for Prince Hamlet to be put to death. 

Within this scene, Claudius’s vicious image is perfectly performed. Before this, Claudius has not feel any threats from Hamlet to his throne. But now, he finally perceives the depth of the “insane” Hamlet, and takes actions, building up a near-perfect plan to root out the last biggest threat, Hamlet. This is the third plot that he brews for the acquisition of his goal, after he poisons the old king, and marries the queen. Although the following things are not going his way: Hamlet returns, Claudius exhibits somehow more heroism than Hamlet. He never feels lost or hesitated like what Hamlet does throughout most of the play; he knows what he wants. He has been trying to control his fortune, and in the pursuit of satisfying his desires of powers. Despite of his persistence, he is still a villain who murdered and lied. He never admits his guilt, and refuses to ask for his forgiveness. 

Hamlet scene analysis

    Act 3 Scene 1 appears to be the most interesting scene for me in the play. This scene is mainly showing how king, queen and Polonius attempt to find out the reasons of Hamlet's depressed behaviors by using Ophelia. Throughout the whole scene, Hamlet's solo monologue is the highlight for me as a reader. His memorable and moving soliloquy makes me be introduced to him, and feel empathize with him. When everyone assumes that Hamlet behaves somehow insane, his soliloquy shows how awakening he is inside his hearts instead. That is a quite intriguing part out of this scene. There is a comparison of how others think about Hamlet and what he thinks deeply inside. At the beginning of Hamlet's soliloquy, it may build up a false information which makes the audience believe that he wants to suicide. However, as he keeps saying, we will gradually realize that Hamlet is talking about death from a general perspective, instead of using the word "me" and "I". He is exploring the way how do those people think about suicide while they are facing the harsh reality. At that very moment, I think Hamlet is pretty "rational" like what Branagh acts out in the 1996 version of Hamlet. However, he pretends to be insane in front of others. And it is even more ridiculous that Polonius thinks Hamlet is trapped in love, and uses his daughter to test him. The ironic and ridiculous things presented here add colors to this scene.

Blog #1

    Soliloquy is a speech in which an actor or actress speaks to himself or herself in a play. It is essential to the presentation of a story because it provides an opportunity for the audience to get more closed to look at a character and empathize with them through the specific information which cannot be shown in the normal conversation. Each soliloquy could somehow promote the plot, and reveal the inner thoughts of a specific character. 

    Shakespeare often creates many soliloquies for his characters to speak in the plays. In his play Hamlet, "to be, or not to be"  soliloquy is unquestionably one the most famous one throughout the history of the theatre. This soliloquy is saying by Hamlet while he is somehow insane after the conspiracy of how his uncle kills his father, inherits the throne and marries his mother is revealed to him. At the beginning of this soliloquy, Hamlet throws out a question "to be, or not to be" to question the worthiness of life. Should he "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" or to "take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them?" Should he just accept the harsh reality or revenge his father? Keeping them alive would be at the mercy of the outrageous fortune. Oppositely, the only way of opposing them would be killing, taking arms, defeating the fortune. As well as for himself, if he chooses "to die, to sleep, to perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub", "what dreams may come?" This is a quite common question people may think about: when life becomes so unbearable, death could be a way to get rid of all forms of clinging. But there is a "rub", which would be the fear of the ignorance about the life after death. Thus, Hamlet is quite struggling at that very moment: he wanted to escape from the truth, but he was also afraid of what will happen after if he run off  into death's "undiscovered country". 

    At the beginning of his soliloquy, it might sound like a suicide thing. But as his thoughts get deeper, instead of showing to the audience how he is genuinely bothered by a series things which somehow convinced him that the world is basically evil, and using the word "I" and "me", he starts to seeking the reasons how people in general consider suicide. He is talking more generally about life itself; not only questioning himself, but to the all of us, "to be, or not to be?"

     This soliloquy is very essential throughout the whole play because it demonstrates Hamlet's inner complicated thoughts. Through other characters' points of view, it will create a false appearance of an "insane" Hamlet. But from his own monologue, we can see a sense of melancholy haunting around him; we would know how awakening he is inside his heart.