Hamlet #7 and #14

Hamlet tells his companions about his "antic disposition" both out of deliberate strategy and natural reaction. The strategy is to try to prove that Claudius is the one who killed his father but at this time he does not know how. The natural reaction comes from the fact that Hamlet feels as though he must avenge his father in some way rather than standing by doing nothing.

 He is saying that the human conscience makes one believe something is either good or bad and if one does something good or bad it may way heavily on the conscience. I do agree with Hamlet's theory because it is only natural for someone to think that every decision they have made is a good one or bad one. 

Hamlet is telling his friends that he is only slightly mad, but not mad enough not to know the difference between a hawk and a handsaw. It is difficult to distinguish whether he is mad or acting, but most of the time we can assume it is just a mixture of both.

Advising Ophelia

Both Laertes and Polonius offer their two cents about Hamlet, but none of the advise given is seen as useful to Ophelia. Laertes  believes that Hamlet is young and ignorant, not knowing the meaning of love yet professing it to Ophelia and he also suspects that all Hamlet really wants is to make love, not be in it. Ophelia respects the insight given to her by her brother, but also states that he should not be one to talk because he too has done some of the things mentioned possibly. I can honestly say I don't know in what way Polonius attempts to advise Ophelia because everything she says to him he rebuts and continues a very long wordy response that seems to go nowhere but basically he is saying, he doesn't believe Hamlet is in love with her and I think he assumes that this is just a phase for Hamlet, as any young man would have for a woman.

Claudius: King of Contradiction

Throughout Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Claudius, "King of Denmark", is constantly trying to legitimize his heir as king, knowing Hamlet is the rightful heir after the death of his father, who was killed by Claudius himself. In many of his long announcements to the clergy, he consistently contradicts himself trying to make light of the killing of the king. His speech is the obvious signal that in his subconscious he knows he is not fit as the true king, and his long passages give it away.

Prufrock analysis

"I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker"

The first thing we notice about this quote is the "Footman" is capitalized in the middle of the sentence. Obviously, Prufrock is making this particular word stand out because it is a reference to a demon of some sort demonic creature. The next thing we notice is the demon snickers at the narrator when he confronts him. The laugh can be perceived in two different ways. Either the demon is snickering because he enjoys the fear he is instilling. The second possibility is he is snickering because he finds his job of instilling fear as a joke almost, finding it very easy to "kill" people.

Catch up when you can, Chris.

Chris, I know you've been out sick. Catch up with your blog posts when you can.