College Applications

I gave myself a pat on the back after the CSU/UC application mess because I've finally done it. I was a high school senior that lost sight of the future, simply going through the motions that have been ingrained in my head. Submitting those applications just made me everything so tangible. So kudos to everyone for making it this far.   

 Financial aid applications and the Common App got us all going like that girl on that gif above.

Because everyone feels a little lost in life sometimes

Why Lupe Pliego Deserves more than 10 points

Hearing about the new "game" platform that Jayce and Omar (kudos to you guys) created for our course, I just had to go check it out to see who was in the lead. You know what they say, "curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back." So I checked it over and was immensely gratified at the amount of work they put in it.

My competitive drive led me on a pursuit of looking up the scores and was immensely dissatisfied with one score in particular. Mine. Totally kidding, my score was satisfying enough more me. What struck me as odd wasn't my score, but of someone else in particular. When I saw Lupe's meager 10 points (weak) I almost choked on the piece of heavenly garlic bread I was munching on. WHAT THE MOTHER BOARD?? 10 points??? My eyes widened in disbelief. So, I'm here to make it right.

  
First of all, her blog is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eyes (work that font), but is legible and coordinated in a way that allows the reader to easily access certain topics (via usage of tabs). Also, brownie points for the awesome quotes on her blog.

Secondly, she has done all of the required work plus more. She has made her blog her own, has owned up to it, putting herself beyond most of the students.

Her work proves to be of utmost care and attentiveness. She has a keen eye of analyzing and annotating texts.


Thirdly, she is a great resource for everyone. Open and friendly, she'll gladly help you understand the work if needed. She's an open-ended book, available to everyone and amazingly attentive.

Hamlet (The Madman?)

Hamlet by William Shakespeare has been critically assessed and analyzed further than most, if not all, his work. The interest derives from the protagonist, prince Hamlet of Denmark, who has been thought of as an indecisive character believed to be “mad.” Critics had deemed him a dog, “all bark and no bite.” In reality, Hamlet is heedful and alert, knowing full well when to change masks, from a diplomatic prince to a private investigator. Throughout the first III Acts, Hamlet has been precise in action and diction, using his ability of acting to manipulate those around him like puppets. Hamlet was never deranged to the point of madness, but rather had been in control of the whole situation, allowing him to knead the dough the way it pleased him.

It is appropriate to say that “though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” In content, Polonius has been deceived by Hamlet (similar to how everyone got caught in his act). He believes that Hamlet has fallen into madness as a result of his love for Ophelia. However, the actual context of the play allows the audience to understand the motive. Hamlet’s willingness to playact like a madman is a tactical ploy in his part. So really, Hamlet isn’t the emotionally unstable and distraught man critics use as an illustration of him. From the moment Hamlet first speaks to the Ghost and realize his hunches were correct, Hamlet swears on making right what was wrong in Denmark. By doing so, Hamlet has used his intellect to assure a full-proof plan: act mad, thus assuring King Claudius that he is of no threat to him. He acts rationally and carefully plans his next move, something a truly mad man wouldn't be able to do.

Hamlet: Act III, Scene III

• Claudius: “I like him not, nor stands it safe with us to let his madness range”
• Claudius doesn’t like Hamlet → more importantly, doesn’t like how the events are unfolding before his very eyes
• he tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that it is their duty to take Hamlet to England because Hamlet is getting out of hand (and is becoming more dangerous)
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern agree that the King (and his people) must be protected from Hamlet’s madness
• Polonius tells Claudius that he’s going to go hide behind the curtains in order to spy on Hamlet’s and Gertrude’s conversation
• [Claudius Soliloquy]  Claudius tells of his brothers murder
• his conscience pangs with guilt, which confuses him
• "And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin"
• he prays for forgiveness which he feels is no use after a while
• "That cannot be; since I am still possess'd"
• Hamlet overhears Claudius's prayer; believing it to be the right moment, he takes out his sword BUT actually doesn't go with it
• Plans on doing the deed when "he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed"

Hamlet: Act III, Scene II

• Hamlet gives advice to the players → presumably to make the play seem more realistic; he tells them to act naturally, but not-overbearingly so as to create a natural flow, show realism
• “...let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action;”
• don’t over exaggerate your words and your hand-gestures
• Hamlet tells Polonius to get the actors ready as the King and Queen settle unto their positions → tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to help Polonius on getting the actors ready
• he tells Horatio that he is a man that he trusts wholeheartedly, calls him a good man → Hamlet is proclaiming his friendship and trust to Horatio (sees Horatio as the only person that hasn’t required/needed something out of Hamlet)
• “Observe my uncle”  → Hamlet asks Horatio to watch Claudius closely
• Claudius asks Hamlet how he is doing which earns him a nonsensical reply (Hamlet is reaffirming his status to Claudius as that of a man who has grieved to the point of madness)
• Hamlet makes witty comments, particularly sexual remarks to Ophelia; he also remarks on his father’s death → primarily on how fast his mother has moved on
• Players enter in order to enact the plays
• they reenact the death of the old King as a different story (dumb show)
• the actual play is of the King and Queen → King tells the Queen of his nearing death and tells her to marry someone else
• Hamlet becomes impatient when Lucianus (apparent nephew to the King in the play) takes too long on coming to the actual point → tells everyone the plot (Lucianus pours poison on the Kings ear, thus killing him)
• Claudius is seen with guilt; tells them to stop the play
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that Claudius is upset (and angry) and tell him that his mother wants to talk to him → Hamlet misinterprets it and gets angry at the two

“Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play'd on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.”  

- Hamlet

Hamlet: Act III, Scene I

• King Claudius sees Hamlet as a threat
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern call his madness forth
• crafty; Hamlet hasn’t given any information away apart from the idea that he is a little off
• King Claudius → confesses to murdering King Hamlet
• Hamlet to Ophelia:
• It’s easier to bend beauty than honesty
• don’t have my kids because I am a sinner
• you’ll never have kids because that’s your best bet at innocence
• you literally paint yourself with makeup that make yourself look like someone else
• different identity
• foreshadow: someone’s going to die
• Ophelia tells Claudius and Polonius that Hamlet’s gone mad
• Claudius opposes, says Hamlet’s not crazy (only that there’s something bothering him) → he’s up to something, a threat to my throne and should therefore be imprisoned  

The Performative Utterance in Hamlet Notes

• Not a play about a man who couldn’t make up his mind, but rather about a man that couldn’t find the things in his mind to be real
• mental/emotional distress is turned into a tangible, physical act
• Hamlet is trapped from the transition of understanding his duty to the actual use of that understanding as a form of action
• Hamlet throughout the play is described as “all bark with no bite” → as he is seen throughout the play as able, but unwilling
• A division between what is done and what is said → certain languages don’t just describe action, but also acts that are being spoken
• performative action → acts that enable change in the world
• locutionary force: ability of language to deliver a message (mutual intelligibility)
• illocutionary force: what’s done in being said
• perlocutionary force: what is being achieved by being changed
• Bloom asserts that through self-overhearing, characters achieve self-reliance
• act of self-revelation or self-creation?
• a man that doesn’t realize the power of his agency, but is capable of using the spoken word could learn that his speech has actual powers to cause change in the world
• language both describes and does
• Performative utterances in Hamlet:
• meeting between Hamlet and ghost of his father → two oaths contained through Hamlet, and then Horatio & Marcellus
• there’s a problem in that Hamlet doesn’t take oath to actually take revenge, but only takes oath to remember the ghost → cognitive act that warrants no outside verification
• Consistent motifs: drama and playacting
• dramatic motif → presents opportunities of false performatives (to pretend to do)
• playacting motif → contains that of locutionary force, intelligibility of utterance
• Emotional reality a valid step when considering utterances such as “I mourn”
• establishes connection between use of language and one’s emotional well being
• Misrepresented intentions through act of mimesis
• subtle playacting that demands attention
• Hamlet’s ploy in acting “mad” in order to hide his attempts of revenge
• cover his investigation and clear him of his sins
• Pretending = not actually doing that thing you’re trying to pretend to do
• BUT in a performative utterance: in play-acting, one must distinguish pretend-saying and actual-saying → they’re identical

To be or Not to be Notes

“To be, or not to be: that is the question”

what is it that I’m being; is it truthful to be who I am

to act or not to act → to avenge my father’s death and change as a person as a result or to keep still and stay with the flow

“...slings and arrows…”

unbearable things he [Hamlet] has to deal with, or stand up and say to

“...to die, to sleep…”

not face it

“...’tis a consummation...”

ending; consider it attractive for a moment

“...ay, there’s the rub…”

dilemma, problem; envision good life

“yes. it’s attractive, but I don’t really know….”

“...the oppressor’s wrong...”

Claudius

“...the proud man’s contumely...”

Polonius; contumely → rude speech

“...pangs of despised love...”

love offered that’s despised

“...insolence of office…”

arrogance with a side of not so nice words

“...patient merit of the unworthy takes…”

dealing with these people requires lots of insults

“...bodkin…” → dagger

“I just want to kill myself” [in a joking matter; think modern, angsty teenager on the verge of a meltdown as he/she goes through the college application process]

“...to grunt and sweat under a weary life...the undiscovered country….”

should I shift gear or should I stay with the thorn stuck on my side?

“...thus conscience thus make cowards of us all…”

murder is justified BUT it’s still murder and our conscience reminds us of that → GUILT

(which is a good way to control people)

“...currents turn awry…”

juxtaposition on that end couplet → makes it more realistic, different when being observed