Fear

I'm going out on a whim here, but this is how I interpreted The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

It's about the gossips, the unoriginal, the box, the drab, the same ole same ole. He sees this society where we worry about day to day things that don't matter. He sees the uniformity. The lack of adventure.

He wants to break free.

He wants to speak out.


But he's afraid.


Slowly, a random line sticks out. More and more: it becomes more frequent. It loses structure. He experiments.


He's afraid.


He returns to structure. He pokes at breaking it here and there. He goes back.


He's afraid.


A journey through life, afraid. He grows old. He follows the structure.



He dies.


It's the end.



~Scribbles

Identity Crisis

First off, Ophelia is mad. Anything she says could just be insane ravings. That said, I'm not quite sure what she means. It's kind of like Hamlet's "I loved you once; I loved you not" thing. It's just a contradiction of a madman (madwoman).

Then again, she could be saying a sort of "We know we are human, but we know not what human is" kind of thing. It could be a jab at immorality, lies, murder, etc.

Or she could just be mad.

I'm biased, I know =P

~Scribbles

Screen or Paper?

I personally perfer the book, but that's only because my attention span for the movie is severely limited. The movie, however, puts an image to the book, so it helps in understanding the book better. Yet, I can't stand it when movies deviate from the book they are based off of, and the movie is starting to do that. That aside, the movie does a pretty good job at displaying emotion, but I'm wondering if it's only the way the director sees it. If that is the case, it might not be the way Shakespeare intended it. So overall, I generally perfer the book over the movie because then while I am reading I am fully aware the way I interpret it could be completely wrong.

As far as comparing how the movie captures the characters to how I see them, the movie is pretty different. But then both views could be VERY different from how Shakespeare wanted it to be. So I guess the only way to know which way is right is to go back in time and see the play for myself. Now THAT would be cool.

If only we could. Oh well.

~Scribbles

Facade

Art is a form of expression. It comes from your response to the things around you, whether it from be ideas, nature, people, etc. So what better way to describe art as a mirror you hold up to society? When you look in a mirror, you see things the way you want to see them - you see yourself based off of your preconceived ideas about who you are, not as others view you. It's the same with art. When a person creates art, he/she are expressing the way they see the world. Holding a mirror to society is the perfect analogy for it. If a person sees something wrong with society, he/she will focus on it, either to simply expose it for what it is, or perhaps to show how the world would be a "better place" without the problem. It goes hand in hand with the artist's worldview. No person can be completely subjective: bias always weasels its in way and manifests itself in any art form, be it paintings, plays, movies, newspaper articles, writing in general, everything.

So yes, I agree with Hamlet.

~Scribbles

Conspiracy Theory?

As far as Claudius is concerned, Hamlet is catching onto something. He's a little too antsy about Hamlet's madness and doesn't accept an answer so simple a Gertrude's "It's just his father's death and our over hasty marriage." If I was a usurper hiding a murder I committed, I would be very very paranoid about anyone catching any sort of remote idea that I killed someone. Therefore, If I saw the son of that person going mad I would naturally be just a little concerned. Claudius is acting just like a kid who knows he's done something wrong and tries to hide it, but is so bouncy and obvious about it's easy to see they are hiding something. The fact that he's so occupied with Hamlet's madness shows he's worried about it, and I don't think it's because he's genuinely concerned for his nephew. So yes, Claudius is starting to think Hamlet is figuring it out.

~Scribbles

Is It All Just an Act?

I believe that if Hamlet did love Ophelia, he doesn't anymore. He's manipulating Polonius (possibly just for fun out of his madness) by taunting him with showing affection for Ophelia, but doesn't really care for her. He thinks she is frail, as all women are, and basically calls her a whore ("Get thee to a nunnery."). He calls Polonius a "fishmonger", alluding to him as a "pimp" selling away his daughter. He then tells Polonius that if he lets his daughter out of his sight she will conceive. At first I saw this as Hamlet hinting that would be the one to make her conceive (whether or not that is what we intended, I don't really know). I don't believe this would be out of love, but just as a taunt to Polonius. I think Hamlet knows that Polonius believes Hamlet is mad out of love for Ophelia, and so Hamlet is toying with Polonius. Again, this could be just for fun, not actually part of his revenge plan. So at this point, I do not think Hamlet loves Ophelia.

~Scribbles