Daily Reflection for October 20, 2013
Period 1: Manuel's group...Rebecca Seg, Emeli Castillo, Casey Cortez, Kobe Martinez

We were assigned the "Mouse trap" scene(III.ii). When we realized we would have to perform this scene most of us thought it would be a simple read out loud and act exercise. We were wrong. We quickly realized that in order to act the scene out we had to understand the situation and thoughts that went on in the characters' minds. Hamlet was a handful. This scene is filled with sexual innuendos towards Ophelia, remarks against his mother and uncle, and mixed objectives. In order to understand the significance of Hamlet's innuendos we had to pay close attention to the way he acted towards Ophelia, upon doing so we realized that the innuendos' true purpose was to insult and possibly arouse Ophelia. The remarks Hamlet made towards his mother were simply a way of him trying to make her realize her actions and wrong doings. Hamlet's attitude towards Claudius starts as a sarcastically joyful tone, however, Hamlet uses this tone to give Claudius comfort so that when Mouse Trap goes on his reaction will be all the more shocking. Hamlet's objective in this scene seems to be to capture Claudius' conscience through guilt, however, his references towards Ophelia and words towards his mother make his objective turn into objective(s). Hamlet makes an attempt at seizing this opportunity to pin the top three people who have wronged him the most: Ophelia, Gertrude, and of course, Claudius. So, in a way this Mouse Trap is more like a... MICE TRAP!!!

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Act V Scene i - Diana

 Our group: Rosalind, Jasmin, Emily, Christopher, Hernan and myself, are assigned to Act V scene I or the gravediggers scene. Interestingly enough the gravediggers do play significant roles as providing an age for our beloved Hamlet and such. At first reading of the scene we encountered the problem of different translations referring to the gravediggers as clowns. We quickly knew clowns and gravediggers were complete opposites in that "gravediggers" has a more negative connotation and seems to fit the mood of a funeral rather than clowns. But as we read, what these clowns/gravediggers were saying was pretty humorous and caused some good laughs between our group.

"Here lies the water - good.  Here stands the man - good. If the man go to this water and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes. Mark you that. But if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself. Argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life."

This remark seems to make no sense but the gravedigger/clown has a point on the occasion.

In this scene, Hamlet has returned with Horatio and sees this gravedigger/clown singing as he digs a hole for a corpse and throws out skulls.

Hamlet then breaks out into noble speeches of what these skulls were before "this rude nave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel".

While working on the scene we noted that Hamlet speaks and receives short answers from Horatio, as our group discussed he was just there to stand pretty and nod, likely being an indifferent Horatio. But as Ms. Barrios noted it makes no sense for Horatio to not care when in the end he is willing to die alongside Hamlet. Perspective.

Another important topic was Hamlet's supposed madness deceiving love. In Act III Scene I, specifically the "get thee to a nunnery" scene, Hamlet puts off this I never loved you, Ophelia stunt which arose questions of: Did Hamlet really love Ophelia or not? Hmmm. When Hamlet discovers it is Ophelia's body who is to be buried and Laertes leaps into the grave, Hamlet and Laertes quarrel about whose grief is bigger.

"I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not, with all their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum." -Hamlet

 We learned he did love Ophelia, question answered.

As a group, we reviewed different adaptations of our scene to get a feel of it and discussed it so we all had a sense of what we were saying, even Horatio although it did not seem Horatio knew what he himself was talking about.

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Joseph's Group Reflection

Joseph Mora

Leslie Romero

Eric Ayala

Jose Perdomo

Hernan Lorenzo

Friday: 

Our discussion and analysis of king Claudius'  

Speech was very insightful and helpful because I didn't understand how important it was on my own. I think the speech gave us a look at the cunning and deceitful character of Claudius. His rhetorical devices emphasized his complex purposes. He tries to steer away suspicion of having killed hamlet's father by maybe creating a friendly and witty persona. He flatters them but also deceives them. I wouldn't have known the clever characteristics of Claudius if we had not gone over this speech. 

 Monday:

 We also had a discussion about Act IVScene V, the mad scene which was about how the queen, the gentlemen and Horatio believe that Ophelia has gone mad after her fathers death. Then we noticed that the shifts in this scene were usually once Ophelia would start singing from a mournful tone to a sexual or non-lady like tone which was driving the queen crazy and clarified that Ophelia has gone mad. We also noticed that another shift in this act could be when the king or queen is speaking to Ophelia, e.g. , one is talking to her as if she completely lost it and the other speaks to her as in a more serious or informed tone about her madness.

-We still question why does Ophelia sing these songs? Are the songs just considered allusions?

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Emily C. - Reflections on Ophelia

I had never really looked much into Ophelia's madness. I remember merely considering Ophelia as a girl driven mad by the death of her father. However, after rereading the play, I have come to find her character and situation far more complex than what I first thought. Certainly her father's death would push her over the edge, but what brought her to the edge in the first place? Throught the play Ophelia is merely a tool. To her father (rightfully called a Jephthah by Hamlet) Ophelia is a means to gain favor with the king. To Claudius, she is a tool to work upon Hamlet's mentality. And to Hamlet, she is an outlet to unleash his anger. But instead of "what is Ophelia?" one should ask "who is Ophelia?" In her madness she sings of sxuality and the frustration of relationships, especially with women. Aside from being a tool, Ophelia is a girl, a darn repressed girl. Her father forbids her relationship with Hamlet and her brother emphasizes the necessity of keeping her chastity. These pressures are exhausting, and she, unfortunately, is pulled every which way trying to please everyone except herself. It's no wonder she goes crazy. Interestingly, in her madness, she finds a voice, and perhaps even a sense of liberation.

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Leila - HamLab Reflections

HamLab has been one of my favorite moments in my academic career.  Hamlet is one of my favorite plays ever since the first time I read it in high school.  The reason this collaboration was so much fun, while also very educational, is because it brought my education around full circle.  During my senior year of high school we read Hamlet and one of our assignments was to memorize and perform a soliloquy from the play.  I chose Hamlet’s “Oh vengeance!” speech in Act II, scene ii—to this day I still have it memorized four years later and I truly do not think I will ever forget Shakespeare’s compelling lines.   

Helping Ms. Barrios' class was both sentimental and interesting, reminding me of my days in high school and thinking how frighteningly fast time goes by.  Deconstructing every word and line of our assigned soliloquy with the high school students gave me personally a better understanding of the meaning of the play.  It was very helpful to look at the text as a performance piece—read aloud and to an audience.  Obviously, it is clear that Hamlet is a play, but sometimes when reading alone to myself, I forget that Shakespeare’s words were meant to be performed to and perceived by an audience.  I absolutely loved watching Ms. Barrios’ students perform parts of their soliloquy in front of the class.  That takes a lot of bravery and courage and I was more than impressed.  I would never have been able to do that on the spot as a senior in high school, probably not even as a senior in college!  Saying the words out loud and focusing on the punctuation and different beats helped extract more meaning for me and I hope for the students I helped as well!  

 In our particular soliloquy in Act IV, scene iv, we focused on the alliterations as well as the bloody and violent language used.  By focusing on these particulars we were able to delve into the subconscious of Hamlet and see him battling with his inner thoughts and whether or not to finally take action.  By splitting the soliloquy up into different beats and units we were also able to focus on how his mind works, constantly fighting internally against his different emotions—whether to act or not to act…that is the question!  Thank you so much Professor Werlin and Ms. Barrios for designing HamLab. It was so much fun and I think everyone gained more knowledge of the art of performing Shakespeare as well as understanding his language more clearly.  I am so sad HamLab only lasted a week and I wish I got to know my students better and for a longer period of time!!  Eric, Joseph, Leslie, and Jose were all amazing!!  

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Joseph Mora First Hamlab Reflection

Joseph Mora
Hernan Lorenzo
Eric Ayala
Jose Perdomo
Leslie Romero

   The college Mentors really helped us understand the soliloquy. In the beginning   we didn't understand what it was about but they went through every line and analyzed it, until we got to understand what hamlet was saying. The "urge to kill" graph we drew also helped me to visually see how the soliloquy affected his actions and described his decision towards whether to kill or not. This Graph Also showed how Hamlet began to realize why he should kill and well towards the end of the graph he goes bizarre and finds out his urge to kill. We divided the Soliloquy into parts that our Mentors and our group thought were Hamlet began to think then lead to realizing why he should kill and finally he thoughts brake lose about the “Urge to Kill”.
During the Soliloquy on “All Occasions”, we learned how emphasis the words more loudly instead of sounding boring. Our mentor and our group were looking for repetitions and other significant words that stood out the play. For example, my group and I found “Be but to sleep and feed”, “earth exhort” and “godlike reason”. After we were done with our breathing exercises, my mentor wanted us to read parts of the soliloquy with emotion. With the help of my mentor and M.S Barrios, I was able to stress the words “kill’d”, “stain’d” and O. Finally I wanted to thank my mentor and everyone who was involved in Ham lab, I would wish if they would come back every Thursday for the end of our senior year.
  Having the USC students there to go through Hamlet with us has been especially helpful. I feel that our group learned a lot from our two assigned students. It was interesting to see their interpretation of the text and it opened my eyes to different perspectives. During the short time we spent together I really forced myself to try find different interpretations of the soliloquies in order to find which way I was most comfortable when acting it out. I was shocked that so much thought and meaning could go into performing a soliloquy and it was fun to see students from our class perform them.

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Joseph Mora's Period 2 Group Reflection

Leslie Romero
Joseph Mora
Jose Perdomo
Eric Ayala
Hernan Lorenzo

1.1-Bernardo says "Who's there?". From the start of the play, you can see that Bernardo was anticipating the ghost and felt a sense of insecurity when he opens the door to Francesco This quote leads to important quote like, "Most Like. It harrows me with fear and wonder". Obviously they are scared when they have to meet the ghost, yet it sets the mood for the entire scene because they are also anxious on what the ghost have to say.

On Monday for Hamlab we began to read the very first page of Hamlet as a class. They play starts out with two simple words "Who's there?"
From the start of the play we can see how much suspense is already being built. We know that Francisco is keeping watch and it's almost midnight. So with this we can already see that people are antsy about their surrounding. We see that the perspective is already being questioned by Bernardo asking "who's there" After that the scene continues by Francisco being relieved of his duties so that Bernardo can keep watch with Horatio and Marcellus. Soon after all three friends gather and talk about a ghost that try have seen. Horatio is very skeptical of this ghost and doesn't believe that what Bernardo and Marcellus are say is true.
We stopped reading where the ghost enter but from just that small part of the scene we already see questioning of reality because both Bernardo and Marcellus swear that they saw ghost while Horatio is skeptical and doesn't believe them. We can also assume that there was a possibility that Francisco saw they ghost.
Our group discussed that because the play starts off with "who's there?" We can assume that Francisco was scarred being alone because he's not sure what's there in the forest. We also continue to ask that if that is the case that maybe the meaning of the play is about who’  s actually there and who's not? Which comes back to the idea of what is reality and what is fiction and who am I and who are you?

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Kevin Martinez - Reflection

Kevin Martinez 

Period 1

Group #2

3-2-1 Reflection

What we learned:

For a fact we enjoyed this interesting seminar on "O,what a rogue and peasant am I". Me and my group learned many different examples of what Hamlet tries to create. At first the significant part of what makes Hamlet a coward is from what he tries to create but can't do because of his lack of confidence in the play. He can think, but he can't do. This is the reason why he attacks himself in this soliloquy. 

Most importantly of how Hamlet lets out his emotions, me and my group were discussing about that Hamlet can be really sentimental at times. As we said before, Hamlet doesn't take action, he argues with himself. He runs away from those troubles.that is why we see him run away from those troubles the fact that someone killed his father makes the plot even more interesting. We see a whole complexity of his thoughts and state of conscience.


Lastly he sets of his judgments and hypocrisy through the play as a whole. 


Questions: Why does Hamlet sometimes says: Am I a coward? Is it because it's ironic?
Also, " Who calls me villain"? exactly mean? how?

Goal/ objective:
Me and my group would like to know the essence of how Hamlet thinks in a rational way through the play as a whole and most importantly how he thinks too

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Bryan Garcia - Reflection

Bryan Garcia
Period 1
3-2-1 Reflection

Things I learned:

“To be or not to be” – Despite being the most famous soliloquy in all English, it doesn't make much sense, according to the professor. It has different meanings and interpretations. To me, it asks the simple question, “Why live?” At the end, it answers that death might be even worse.

King Hamlet’s ghost may not be real after all. It could be all in Prince Hamlet’s mind, caused by a loss of sense. Hamlet goes mad and imagines the ghost, explaining why Gertrude and the audience can’t see him. However, this theory does not explain why Horatio and the watchmen were able to see the ghost in the beginning of the play.

Freud explains that the individual is controlled or influenced by his superego. In the play, the ghost represents Hamlet’s external superego. Freud also interprets the characters in Hamlet as a representation of the renaissance in relation to their individualism and life style at the time.

Questions I have:

Why does Hamlet have an obsession with his mother? Is it because of the lack of respect she seems to have for his dead father or his attachment caused by his desire for a mother that never leaves?

One goal I have:

I will continue to read more on Freud and how his analytic criticism relates to Hamlet and any other piece of literature.

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Deisy Blanco Reflection

Group #3 Period 2

The seminar the seniors attended on October 4th was a great experience! Being present in a college environment definitely expanded the scope of critical thinking we were used to. It was exciting to see the connections we came up with by using Freud's argument/theory on the ego and super ego. 

Attending this seminar made everyone realize that everything has a different meaning and that it has an important significance. For example, on Monday, we all learned the importance of punctuation. My group now sees punctuation differently. We also discussed the importance of the length of sentences. We came to the conclusion that the sentences that were longer seemed to build up, and kind of pile upon each others (kind of like a form of ranting?). This creates a sense of release. In contrast, the shorter lines were a sign of restriction, which, we made a connection between the restriction of the argument that Freud made about the restrictions civilization imposes on the community. 

Questions we still have:

Is the marriage between Gertrude and Claudius simply a political marriage or is there love involved? 

Does Hamlet feel confused about his true identity and standing in society? 
(His confusion might be caused by the fact that after his father was murdered, he wasn't king, but instead his uncle became King. And also because throughout the book, there are moments where he's treated simply like a commoner, and this might add up to his confusion on what his true identity and stand in society really is.)

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Reflection - Manuel Valdez

Manuel Valdez
Period 2
Reflection on Monday's class/ Soliloquy Analysis w/ college student 10/07/13
Group: Myself, Rebecca Segovia, Casey Cortez, Emeli Castillo

The class on monday was very refreshing, I found it interesting to see how a college student who is also studying Hamlet breaks down the "O' what a rogue" soliloquy. I believe I speak for everyone in my group that the discussion we had with our mentor was enlgihtening in the sense that she offered a completely different approach to the soliloquy. I found it interesting how she pointed out that Hamlet switches between talking to himself(I) and what seems to be the audience(He). At certain points he speaks as thoguh he is directing his words towards the audience. For example, when Hamlet asks, "Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?" it seems that he is directing these questions to someone else. My interpretation of this is that Shakespeare's goal was probably to make Hamlet seem mad and delusional. The entire soliloquy is Hamlet going back and forth cursing himself for not being brave; the pattern stops when he realizes that he must use the only good thing he has, his intellect. This moment is followed by what seems to be an external/internal discussion he has with himself which further adds to the thought that he is mad. 

One question we still had was:
Why didn't Hamlet go straight to the royal court when he had evidence of his death order or use his position as prince to rightfully take the crown and avoid this mess?

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Reflection: First day with mentors - Sindy Ayala

On Monday we experienced our first day with our mentors. We learned a lot from Naham and it was quite fun.

The way we divided our soliloquy "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I" was by seeing where exactly the shifts began.

-We ended up with a total of 8 shifts or units
-We noticed that throughout his soliloquy Hamlet kept on questioning himself and accepting his cowardness.
-At the beginning he questions how the actors are able to portray such emotions that aren't there where he is unable to act or express anything
-He then reflects on himself; then realizes he really is a coward
-He hatches a plan to use the play as a form to see the conscience of the King
-That will be his proof of how the murder the king committed

Words that describe Hamlet
-Questioning
-Reflection on self
-Realization


Questions:
Why does Hamlet choose to use the play as evidence?

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Post Hamlet Seminar Reflection

(Sigmund Freud)

Here's to the launch of the HamLab collaborative!

In this post please share anything new you learned, questions you still have (but didn't have the courage to ask, perhaps?), how you felt a college class compares and contrasts with a high school class, or anything else to reflect on today's seminar.

For reference, a quick summary on today's topics:

• The ego - its development, its boundaries that are blurred in cases of love or pathology.
• The superego - its role of punishing and keeping the ego in check; its roots that stem from not wanting to disappoint the mother (and by extension: parents, authority, etc.) or lose acceptance/love.
• Hamlet and repression - Freud's explanation that Hamlet does not take action against Claudius because he (Hamlet) secretly wants to be in Claudius' position - with his mother.
• The ghost - what it is: a literal ghost, or a figment of Hamlet's addled mind?
• The role of remembering and memory
• To be or not to be - its question of existence; metaphor of dreams and sleep.
• The unanswerable question: What should Hamlet do?

To contribute to this post, just add a comment below in the following format.

Name:
Period:
Reflection/Question/Etc.:

Please keep any other discussions civil and on topic.

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