Character Overview : Ophelia

Ophelia Key Words: mental distress, depression, low self-esteem, lack of dignity, self identification, self perception, self deprecation. 1. What new information did you learn about your character in Act 4 that would help an actor or actress understand him or her better?             The songs that she sings help express the reasons for her madness.                        ...

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Ham's Labyrinth

This is my artist statement for anyone who viewed my piece of artwork and took it into any further consideration.      My individual artwork was named Ham's Labyrinth. The basic design of it is a labyrinth within the outline of a brain. To go further into description, the Labyrinth itself is color coded into three basic areas, which each lead to a basic outcome. These three outcomes are Life, Death, and Vengeance. The labyrinth itself...

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Joseph'sgroup Daily Refecltion Period 2

Joseph Mora Leslie Romero  Eric Ayala  Hernan Lorenzo Jose Perdomo Reflection            It was great to see everybody perform their scene for today's class. It really helped me understand the scenes more deeply, especially act II scene II. I loved seeing Hamlet's character develop in this scene and how his conversation with Polonius said a lot about him. He is quick-witted and Polonius is slow in understanding what Hamlet is trying to tell him. This scene really depicts how Hamlet is always...

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Daily Reflection for Monday, October 28, 2013 Period 2: Manuel's group, Rebecca Segovia, Emeli Castillo, Casey Cortez, Kobe Martinez On this day we viewed scenes Act II.ii and the Nunnery Scene. It was interesting to see how the people who played the same character as someone else took a different approach to the way they interpreted said character. For example, in the Nunnery scene the character of Hamlet had two actors. Both actors did a very good job at displaying Hamlet's emotions. One actor(Deisy) came off as nice and calm, while the other...

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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...

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Punctuation!

So--in reading the sullied flesh monologue again with Period 3,  my Jeff Dolven edition totally stands apart from students' editions, especially with regards to punctuation.  I wanted to ask how people feel about the dash versus the comma--and why you might want to use one vs. another. For example: It is not nor it cannot come to good-- But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. (Dolven) It is not nor it cannot come to good, But...

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Hamlet's Invasion Of Ophelia's Mind

They say that through the eyes we are able to find a person's soul or Is it that ones soul is reflected in a persons eyes? No, no, no that's not it. The eyes are the doors to a persons soul. Ahh! About my brain, what my drawing portrays is the meaning of inner textual depth. That is why my portraits focal point is directed in the eyes. These eyes tell you what you want them too. As the artist I believe that you choose to see...

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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"...

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HamLab: The Play's The Thing!

The play's the thing!Don't miss out on the opportunity to experience some of the best of Hamlet as it was meant to be experienced - on the stage! RSVP right away with your name and the number of guests. ...

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Quote-Thoughts

"Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Act I, Scene II) Hamlet is referring to his mother when he says woman, he believes that her quick marriage to his uncle is a sign of her weakness. Hamlet felt she was weak, or not strong enough to mourn his father longer. Hamlet goes on further to say that not even an animal or beast, who has no reasoning skills, would have abandoned the mourning so quickly. In all of this he shows how angry and confused Hamlet is by his mother's remarriage. He actually indicates that nothing good can come from this action. This...

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Individual Piece for Art Gallery (Jose Perdomo)

This individual piece I have been working on, inspire me to do the theme of death; which mostly everyone is doing it, but what caught my attention was the death of Claudius and Gertrude. As M.s Barrios showed us around 20 pictures about skulls, what caught my interest was a king card that is used to play poker or any card game, representing Hamlet with a face of a skull. I wanted to elaborate on it, since the skull...

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Mousetrap (Act 3 Scene 2)

HAMLET The Mousetrap. Marry, how? Tropically. This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna. Gonzago is the duke’s name, his wife Baptista. You shall see anon. 'Tis a knavish piece of work, but what o' that? Your majesty and we that have free souls, it touches us not. Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung. Questions I have: ??? Why is there a play within a play? And why this play? How does the mouse fall in the trap? Too...

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"The many faces of death"

For my independent art piece/work I made papel picado in the form of many skulls. Papel picado is a decorative craft made out tissue paper and scissors or a small chisel. Common themes includes birds, floral designs, and skeletons. They are commonly displayed for both secular and religious occasions, such as Easter, Christmas, Dia De Los Muertos as well as during weddings, Quinceanneras and baptisms. My arts and crafts class...

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Quote-Thoughts

"I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of excises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that his goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory . . .The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals – and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me."(II.ii.280-291)    Hamlet delivers this speech with a very gloomy emphasis. This quote in my oppinion...

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Quote-Thoughts

Act 1 Scene 4 "Something is rotten in the State of Denmark" -Marcellus              I believe Bernardo states this because there are many different things going on in Denmark. Starting with the Death of King Claudius. Marcellus states this because he senses that something very bad is going around in the state of Denmark. This quote makes me assume that the next seen in the play will include runaway people, because of the fact that bad things are going to happen. Having Marcellus say this quote you can assume...

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Collaborative Art Piece (Erika and Leslie)

Leslie and I have been working on the collaborative skull and our particular theme or inspiration is death, and while this is a very vague thing to choose we were personally inspired by the scene where Ophelia's burial is being questioned because she killed herself which is a sin as well as the most obvious, the death of Hamlet's father. While death is something all humans share every experience of witnessing death and coping with it always differs....

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Individual Piece for Art Gallery (Erika & Leslie)

Very rough draft of the art piece we're working on for the gallery. We plan on doing a busy background, but the main focus is still going to be the phrase. The reason we chose this particular phrase is because it's in the soliloquy where we first get a sort of explanation for all of Hamlet's feelings towards his mother. He expresses his suicidal thoughts and blames his mother for being weak and going to another man when his father hasn't even been...

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Act 2 Scene 2 ( Nemesis Salguero, Cindy Alvarez, Maria Diaz, Keidy Varela, Jahmal Taylor, and Sindy Ayala)

Our group will perform part of Act I scene ii and as we were reading the scene, we found a particular line intriguing and significant. Hamlet states, " A dream itself is but a shadow". When we first read this line, we wondered why a dream would be compared to shadow. We asked ourselves why wasn't nightmare compared to a shadow. Usually, if not always, nightmares are closer to a shadow than a dream, well that's how we saw it. We described  nightmares as unconscious thoughts concerning or dealing with anything bad, horrific, or catastrophic;...

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Rosalind Piedrasanta - Art from Journal - Period 1

Art from Rosalind's Hamlet Journal. Ghost Father and Hamlet Hamlet, Yorick, and Ophelia Hamlet and Ophelia Hamlet's father and mother  Ophelia in the water Ophelia...

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ART Gallery Skull Piece

The Whole Skull Before After  This is my ART piece of the skull(the lower nose/upper mid teeth) and Im still working on the adding vividness and connections to Gertrude. I will let Javier write a quote based on Gertrude somewhere in the nose but besides that I added the cracks on the teeth to signify Gertrude in some sort of way....

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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...

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Karla Torres - Thoughts on Art and Horatio

Name: Karla Torres I actually want to share out some few thoughts or a reflection about my part for the art gallery. I am doing the collaborative one and I am doing part if the center piece of the skull and the designs that I am going to be using are based on "Dia de Los muertos" and the characteristics of Horatio. Some parts will be flowery and colorful and others will be dark because I personally think Horatio has two sides, one is dark and the other one isn't. Even his name gives me a sense of ambigui...

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Abdo - Is Hamlet a Villain?

I want to bring attention to the idea that Hamlet's insanity parallels his transition from good to evil. The whole play is written to sympathize with Hamlet, in that most Hamlet's soliloquies exploit his motivations, contemplations and opinion-- only projecting one perspective of the story. I think that Hamlet challenges the audience, in that he forces us to question whether or not he is the hero or the villain. The audience is persuaded to point the finger at King Claudius and claim that he is the villain only because the perspective we...

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Spencer - Reflections on Horatio

One aspect of Hamlet (something that extends to many of Shakespeare's other tragedies) is the significance of seemingly unimportant background characters in the larger context of the story. Horatio in Hamlet speaks with almost every character in the play, and we view the events of the opening scene from his perspective. Horatio accompanies Hamlet throughout the play, and has almost as many lines as the titular character. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have a similar lack of agency but still carry tremendous influence over the plot. Most significant...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Soliloquys Rhetorical Diagrams!

Day 1 with Mentors from Professor Werlin's class consisted of working on close reading of four soliloquys which I copy below.  Students examined the context and content of the works, and plotted the rhetorical arc of the text in diagrams. Some strategies for soliloquy study in performance: *paraphrasing *noting antitheses, repetitions, alliteration, assonance, operative words *Actioning the Text (unit, objectives and actions) *Physicalizing...

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