Thursday, February 14, 2008

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5 Soliloquy

5 comments:

Jameel T2 said...

Video Critique

The video I choose was hamlet soliloquy Act one, scene five which is hamlet after talking to his father’s ghost about how he is cursed to burn in fire during the day and walk the earth during the night. He also tells him about how he has seen things that hamlet wouldn’t be able to handle, and then goes on by telling him how he was murdered by his own brother and how he wants hamlet to avenge him for his brothers betrayal and taking his wife’s hand in marriage. The video that I have chosen gets into hamlets reaction to all of what his father’s ghost told him.

We first start off the video with hamlet in the woods, and it seems to be dark outside, like ten of eleven o’clock at night from the looks of it, and he starts off by saying “O all you host of heaven!” then he drops to the ground in despair and says “O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?” which basically means all you up there in heaven what should I do now? Then he asks hell the same question. Hamlet then crouches on the ground saying “O fie! Hold, hold, my heart, And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up” which basically means damn it! Don’t stop living now; even though my father is dead, I have a duty to uphold. While hamlet says this he is on his knees, weeping and grieving from what his father’s ghost had just told him.

Next he says “Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat in this distracted globe.” This basically means that hamlet will remember him and feeling the heavy grief from the loss of his father and the words he had said to him, he says that he will remember him, even though his mind is cluttered and forgetful, he will always remember him and what he meant to him as a King, a Husband and as a father. The scenery in the background kind of matches what hamlet is feeling, lost and empty, which goes along good with the strand I have picked, which was dark, and hamlet is in darkness, and being in darkness is like being blinded from the truth, which is what had happened with his uncle killing his father and covering it up by saying he was poisoned by a snake.

After he says “Remember thee! Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past that youth and observation copied there, and thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, Unmixed with baser matter.” This basically sums up to him saying that he will remember his father and wipe his mind clean of all trivial facts and memories and replace them with the happiness and honor his father brought everyone when he was still alive. Hamlet starts to speed up as he says this, as if he was getting to a point and building up anger for what he was saying. From all of this it seems that hamlet had a good relationship with his father and loved him dearly, and was proud to be his son, and just the thought of his father being gone makes hamlet go mad, so when his father actually is gone, hamlet becomes insane and threw out the play his insanity most likely intensifies to the point where he gets himself in a situation that he doesn’t want to be in, thus becoming the tragic hero the title of the play implies.

Afterward, Hamlet stands to his feet while saying “Yes, by heaven!” in an angered tone of voice which he basically means by god (like he is swearing to god) and goes on to say
“O most pernicious woman!” which he refers to his mother being an evil person for the little grief shown for the loss of his father and her husband, and then getting married so fast as if she had gotten over him already and then ends up with hamlets uncle, his fathers brother and her brother-in-law. This angers hamlet, and when he combines it with the facts give to him by his father’s ghost, he becomes enraged. Next he says “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables!-Meet it is I set it down that one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” which now he refers to his uncle, King Claudius and calls him a smiling villain and then he gets idea to write it down and looks for his notebook. As he says this in the video, we get closer and closer to his face and it looks like he has come to a realization from the looks from it anyways and goes on to say “At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark.” This means that he knows it’s possible to smile and be a villain in Denmark. When he says smiling and being a villain, he means that appearances can be deceiving, how he can act like a good king, a good husband and a good father/uncle, it doesn’t mean that is what he really is, from what we have heard from the ghost, it seems that King Claudius just wanted his brothers thrown, and would do anything to get to it, even killing his own blood and marrying his own bloods wife. Hamlet then goes on to write “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word. It is “Adieu, adieu. Remember me. I have sworn 't.” finally he says “Uncle now is time to deal with the vow I have made to my father. He said remember me and I swore I would.” I see this whole scene as the beginning of the end for hamlet, because he is going to avenge his fathers death and he is also very upset by it and even more upset that is was his uncle that had done this, and by avenging his father, he probably means by killing him, so it will shape his tragic hero roll in many different ways.

Anh C2 said...

Anh Cai
Period 1
3-10-08
Hamlet 1:5 Soliloquy

Act one scene five is Hamlet’s soliloquy after meeting and talking to the ghost who appears as his dead father, King Hamlet. The conversation between Hamlet and the ghost is the ghost telling Hamlet how it dies and to take revenge on the uncle who’s deed has done. In the soliloquy, Hamlet talks about three characters, the ghost, the queen, and Claudius. It also talks about what he holds as importance in his memories and him killing his uncle.

The first four lines in the book are about physical being the heaven, the earth, and the hell. In the play, while he is in the woods at night at the beginning, Hamlet says “Heaven” and he acts out by looking up into the sky. Moving on to “earth,” he kneels down onto the ground or the earth and he then performs while saying “hell,” he stays there showing that it is deep within the earth. Lines 101 and 102 further describe the physical body of a person. Shakespeare is a mater at using puns and that is exactly what he does with “sinews.” In it is sin a theme of the play, while he mentions himself, he mentions sins. The one thing that can be done better is at the point where he speaks “bear me stiffly up,” the character in the play should stand up for the rest of his lines.

In the next eight lines of the book, Hamlet speaks of memories, of the ghost and of what he will only think about until it is done. Lines 103-104, Shakespeare again uses word play to tell where the audiences are. “Memory holds a seat in this distracted globe.” Shakespeare also shifts from physical to mental. The memories are people and they are sitting in the globe, the Globe Theater. In the play, while speaking these lines, the character has his head shaking as if it is distract by many thoughts. In these lines, at every moment before the character says book, there is a pause and the pause does not happen anywhere in between. The character or Shakespeare may be trying to emphasize that it is only one book, a play.

“Yes, by Heaven.” As if a relief from being on the ground for so long, as the beginning of the play, he stands up to the word as he speaks the word. Acting on words, when he says smile, if one was to only notice the mouth or around the area, one would see that he forms a smile. The smile is with showing teeth as though a grin. The Grin that the character shows is not of the happy sort but it is drawing back the lips to show the teeth, as a snarling dog or a person in pain. The grin shows how much pain he is going through. Having heard the new his father died because of his uncle’s plot. The grinning does not stop until he finishes up with line 116, “Denmark.” While speaking and grin, the “villains” and “Denmark” are included in this pain.

The book, as a stage direction says for Hamlet to write. In the play however, Hamlet picks up his swords. The director is now playing with words. In the word sword, is the word, word. Questioning what does Shakespeare wants the character to write, whatever it is, it will end up as words. In the play, the sword is held up to his face but he does not look at it. The director is trying to make a point. The sword, a straight and has a point. Referencing to a road, it is a straight road leading to where the goal lies. The character on the other hand does not look at this sword. He looks in the opposite direction, which means he is going at the revenge idea the wrong way and will not reach to where he wants to be.

The soliloquy is a short one with very little to act out but with everything that is of physical, the character acts those out to show that it is physical or seen.

Kelly Cheang said...

The video that I chose is Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 5, after he met his father’s ghost. Hamlet feels sad and angry after the ghost told him the truth, then he started his soliloquy after the ghost exited with his last sentence “Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me.”

The video started off with Hamlet standing among the woods which seemed to be a forest. The background is dark which shows that it is at night, and since it is after the time when the ghosts appears it should be mid night. There is not too much light used to show the time of the video, and there is soft sad music flowing at the back, enough to make the audience hear what Hamlet says.

Hamlet delivers his speech in a sad tone, his first sentence is “O all you host of heaven!” and he starts sobbing then fall onto the ground. Then he said “O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?” which he is confused with his situation and doesn’t know which way to go. “Oh, fie! Hold, hold, my heart, And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up.” In this sentence he is telling himself to be strong enough to accept this terrible truth the he has just known. Then he kept his sad tone and shows his sympathy for the ghost. He promises the ghost that he would even clear out all his memories in his mind to keep the ghost’s command in. The camera zooms in after he falls down to show his action changes then let the audience concentrates on the actor’s facial expressions. He makes the promise to the ghost with a resolute tone. His words “And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain” uses book and volume to strengthen his will to preserve the ghost’s commandments in.
The Hamlet stands up again and speaks with a agitated tone, and he swear to God that he will do his promises and started cursing the “pernicious woman” and “villain” which seems to be pointing to Queen Gertrude and King Claudius. He is almost like shouting, and his facial expression also changes from sad to full of anger, furious to the truth that he has known. But when he speaks about “My tables!-Meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile and be a villain.” He did not show any sign of writing as what the book had stated the action “(writes)”. At this point the camera starts zooming in slowly to Hamlet’s face. But I think it would be better if the actor really writes down something to show that he takes it as an important matter, rather than stand with his eyes wide open. And as he is delivering the speech in these sentences his tone become resolute again. He picks up his sword as he says “Now to my word” to show that his decision of taking revenge is firm. He kisses the sword as he said “I’ve sworn’t”, I really love this part because I think sword represents faith because it is what knights and lords uses to protect their country, which makes me think that he is also swearing to his faithfulness to his beloved father.
The actor delivers the speech with the tones changes right in time, but the actor seems to be older than I thought Hamlet would be. I think Hamlet should be young as around 20, then all his acts of showing that he is hot-blooded and not being able to accept shocking truth makes more sense.

aliciar2 said...

The scene I chose to write about is Hamlets soliloque in Act 1 Scene 5. This is the scene after Hamlet speaks to his fathers ghost about how he is cursed to burn in fire during the day and walk the earth during the night. The ghost also tells Hamlet that Claudis was the one who murdered him and that Hamlet must get revenge for his fathers death. The video that I chose to write about is the reaction to hearing what his father has just told him.
The video begins with Hamlet standing in what seems like the woods.Its very dark outside and extremely misty.Fog is covering the entire ground making it very hard to see. The trees surrounding Hamlet appear to be bare. Almost as if they are dying.He's wearing a black shapeless outfit. Black often symbolizes mourning or sadness which is how his soliloque starts off. He is also in complete solitude with just the air whistling in his ear.

The scene starts off with Hamlet delivering his speech in a sad tone. He begins by saying "O all you host of heaven!" while staring up into the dark blue sky. Then as he says "O earth!What else?And shall I couple hell?” he falls to the ground in despair as if he has lost all hope. Its like he's begging for answers that he cannot find.Then he goes on to say "O, fie!—Hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up." In these lines Hamlet is asking for a source of strength to help him deal with as well as accept the things he was just told by his fathers ghost.

Still on the ground the camera focuses on Hamlets facial expressions as he continues to talk in a low as well as sad tone. Hamlet continues his speech with the words "Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe. Remember thee!Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live. Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix'd with baser matter: " This means that he wants to clear every single thing in his mind including his childhood memories just to focus on his fathers commandment.

While all this is happeneing the music playing is that of a violin. It's low and has a gloomy tone. The music seems to be mimicking his emotions because when he says "Yes, by heaven!— O most pernicious woman!" the volume seems to increase in a more triumphed tone. This is also the point in which Hamlet stands up. Now his voice has changed to a more angry tone. Especially when he speaks about his mother.The actor doesnt use much hand gestures but you can tell by the way he speaks his lines that he is speaking with a substantial amount of emotion. The way that he delivers the lines when speaking about his mother you can tell that he dissaproves of her actions and that he has no compassion for her as well as the decisions that she has made since his fathers death.

The next few lines say "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables,—meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; At least, I am sure".These lines pretain to Claudius. Hamlet is saying that Claudius is a villian and that his appearance is decieving. You can tell by the look on the actors face that he is upset when talking about his uncle. But then his expression changes when he says "it may be so in Denmark" as if he just realized something. Then Hamlet picks up his sword and says "So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me." The actor is looking away from the camera and the camera also focuses on his face because after he said that he paused for a quick second then kisses his sword and says "I have sworn't." Then you hear a mans voice in the background and Hamlet begins to turn away just as the video is ending.

Overall the actor did a very good job portraying Hamlets soliloque in Act 1 Scene 5. He spoke with alot of emotion. When it was time to play the role of being sad the actor hit it right on the head, and that applys to when him acting out angry as well. The camera is focused on Hamlet the entire time and the scene fits jst perfect for what is going on in this part of the play.

ilensj7 said...

The video clip that I choose was from Act 1 scene 5. Hamlet’s soliloquy right after he had an encounter with his father’s ghost. Hamlet is a white male with blond hair and looks kind of slim. He is wearing all black head to toe. Hamlet’s face is red like a cherry as if he was in the cold. The setting is very foggy and dull, which gives it a dead atmosphere. There are flowers that look pink and leaves on the ground so the season must be fall because there are no leaves on the trees. So the season must be fall because there are no leaves on the trees. It’s dark outside and it looks like he is in the middle of the woods, which gives it an dead atmosphere, like someone died, like being in a funeral. Hamlet starts the scene off on his knees and on the floor, putting his hands up into the sky while stating the lines “O all you host of heaven!” Hamlet is calling to the heavens. Hamlet throws himself on the ground when talking to the earth. Hamlet says “O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell?” Hamlet is talking to the Heavens and Hell, questioning them, asking the heavens what should he do now, asking Hell what next? Hamlet’s tone is very scratchy and he is talking slowly. Pain is what seems to come out when he speaks. Hamlet is sad and looks like he is crying. At the beginning of the scene he is moaning and struggling to control his voice. Then all of sudden Hamlet gets angry and starts yelling. Hamlet could also be talking to nature. Mother Earth. The music is a nice slow painful melody. The instrument sounds like a violin. It’s almost like you can hear the cries of the violin going parallel with the cries of Hamlets.
Hamlet asks the heavens to help him stay strong. While Hamlet has any memory he will remember his father King Hamlet. When Hamlet says, “I’ll wipe away all trivial, fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, that youth and observation copied there…” He says that he will erase all his foolish and unimportant memories and will focus on getting revenge. Hamlet is disgusted with his mother’s marriage so he calls her “O most pernicious woman!” Hamlet’s uncle marrying his mother is incest and wrong. Hamlet is also angry with the fact that his uncle smiles as if nothing happened. Hamlet will always remember that an evil person can smile-at least in Denmark. Hamlet remembers what his father wants him to do and says “I have sworn ‘t.”.