Coon,
I finally figured out what I am going to write about. Here it goes:
Cat's Eye is a novel about identity. Elaine, through her retrospective art show and visit to her childhood city of Toronto, embarks on a journey of self-realization. In a sense it is a twisted, circular bildungsroman. Risley does not develop and understand herself in a linear sense. Instead she has to dig through her past and uncover hidden treasures and burried memories in order to piece back the different aspects of herself. She has a complicated past that leaves her troubled and traumatized till the present. During this mid-life crisis, Elaine has to figure out her past while she wanders the streets and galleries of Toronto. What is interesting is that Elaine has no one to confide these dark memories in; she is all alone on her path to self-discovery. In the opening paragraph Atwood describes time as a set of liquid transparencies, in which different things float to the top or vanish behind the layers. Elaine's memories keep resurfacing and she must deal with each one.
I found a term that describes the archetype of this plot: künstlerroman. It is a specific sub-genre of bildungsroman, chronicaling the growth to maturity of an artist. According to Wiki, "such novels often depict the struggles of a sensitive youth against the values of a bourgeois society of his or her time." This struggle is exactly what the young Elaine faces. I have a good JSTOR source called "Constructing the Self through Memory: "Cat's Eye" as a Novel of Female Development." I will be using this as my primary source; however I'm have a lot of trouble finding more sources related to both this topic and to Cat's Eye.
Elaine's overpowering feelings of shame, confinement, paranoia, and fear hold her back from feeling the freedom that a small child should feel. She inflicts self harm and spends years of her life under constant scrutiny of her "friends" and especially under the piercing glare of Cordelia. The only place Elaine finds refuge is hiding at home or when the family goes on vacation; only then is she finally free.
If you have any advice on finding some more articles, that would be extremely helpful, Mr. Coon.
(362)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Looking Into the Cat's Eye: Email No. 2
Continuing to read Cat's Eye, I have delved deeper into the psyche and haunting memories of Risley. Sifting through her childhood memories, she is tormented by her "girl friends" and these dreadful events are the inspiration for her artwork. Each chapter is titled after one of her paintings; just as her artwork, each memory is very chilling. Although Risley is fifty years old, memories from her childhood are still vivid and disturbing. She has not yet broken free from her past.
I'm in awe at Atwood's ability to describe the power struggles between young, seemingly innocent girls. Female society has rules of its own, and it's fascinating to see a feminist writer's depiction of sinister little girls. I am still trying to understand the complex effect Cordelia has on Risley. I have never read a novel where a character is so consumed and disturbed by the mere memory of another person. As the novel progresses, Risley's digust and repulsion towards Cordelia increases. However, although she pretends to move on from her traumatic experiences with her best friend, Risley never forgets these powerful memories. Cordelia's ability to influence the other girls to psychologically and emotionally hurt Risley is fascinating in itself. The power she holds over all her friends is a tad bit scary.
I am having a hard time deciding what to focus on for my paper. The major themes that I am interested in are Risley's psyche and how it is expressed through her art (and how it is the inspiration for her works), the complex realm of female relationships, and the concept of "memories", or Atwood's take on the the definition of "evil".
Sources:
1. Constructing the Self through Memory: "Cat's Eye" as a Novel of Female Development
Carol Osborne
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1994), pp. 95-112
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
2. Science for Feminists: Margaret Atwood's Body of Knowledge
June Deery
Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Winter, 1997), pp. 470-486
Published by: Hofstra University
3. Virgin Mary Motif in Cat's Eye: http://www.answers.com/topic/cat-s-eye-novel-8
I'm in awe at Atwood's ability to describe the power struggles between young, seemingly innocent girls. Female society has rules of its own, and it's fascinating to see a feminist writer's depiction of sinister little girls. I am still trying to understand the complex effect Cordelia has on Risley. I have never read a novel where a character is so consumed and disturbed by the mere memory of another person. As the novel progresses, Risley's digust and repulsion towards Cordelia increases. However, although she pretends to move on from her traumatic experiences with her best friend, Risley never forgets these powerful memories. Cordelia's ability to influence the other girls to psychologically and emotionally hurt Risley is fascinating in itself. The power she holds over all her friends is a tad bit scary.
I am having a hard time deciding what to focus on for my paper. The major themes that I am interested in are Risley's psyche and how it is expressed through her art (and how it is the inspiration for her works), the complex realm of female relationships, and the concept of "memories", or Atwood's take on the the definition of "evil".
Sources:
1. Constructing the Self through Memory: "Cat's Eye" as a Novel of Female Development
Carol Osborne
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1994), pp. 95-112
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
2. Science for Feminists: Margaret Atwood's Body of Knowledge
June Deery
Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Winter, 1997), pp. 470-486
Published by: Hofstra University
3. Virgin Mary Motif in Cat's Eye: http://www.answers.com/topic/cat-s-eye-novel-8
Friday, April 11, 2008
Looking Into the Cat's Eye: Email No. 1
Cat's Eye Nebula
Raccoon,I am in section three of Cat's Eye and here is what I have gathered about the story and characters so far.
Elaine Risley is a woman who is troubled by her past. The novel is told through a first person narrator with many flashbacks, so the reader is able to re witness some crucial and some not-so crucial memories. Elaine's mind is constantly bombarded with moments from the past, especially of her family and her best friend/greatest enemy Cordelia. At first, it appears that Cordelia and Elaine had a nice, childhood friendship. However, once Elaine enters Toronto she has mixed feelings about encountering Cordelia. She wants to talk to her, ignore her, she even pictures her in an iron lung, unconscious. It is apparent in the first chapter that Cordelia has had a lasting and profound effect on Elaine and, from what I've gathered, Elaine's artwork.
The flashbacks so far are about Elaine's childhood. They especially focus on her family life and how nomadic they were. She traveled a lot and never really had any close girl friends. It was always Elaine and her brother playing games that young boys would play. In a paragraph, she reveals how much she desired to have a girl friend and how she wanted to be normal. She gets that wish. Finally, her forest-entomologist father finds a stationary job, and the family settles down in Toronto. However, Elaine reveals, "In my dreams of this city I am always lost." Entering Toronto has dusted off the album of her past and her mind is flooded with memories, both good and bad.
What I love most about this novel is Atwood's use of language and how accurately and beautifully she describes things that I would have a hard time putting into words. One of my favorite lines is, " It's evening, one of those gray watercolor washes, like liquid dust, the city comes up with in fall." Not to mention, I love all of the art terminology! Atwood's style is detailed, flowing, tangential, and entertaining. I enjoy reading this story. However, I feel as if I haven't reached the meat of the plot just yet. I realize that Atwood is foreshadowing Elaine's relationships through her flashbacks. But for now, I don't know what's going to happen.
In my research prior to getting this novel, I found that the story revolves around female relationships, the forming of one's self-identity, and the concept of time and the past. Elaine in the opening chapter says, "But I began to think of time as having a shape, something you could see, like a series of liquid transparencies, one laid on top of another. You don't look back along time but down through it, like water. Sometimes this comes to the surface, something that, something nothing. Nothing goes away." From reading the first 50-60 pages, I see this idea illustrated through Atwood's language. She is exploring multiple layers of Elaine's life. Certain memories and emotions remain on the surface, while others sink but are not quite lost to the abyss. This is a complicated novel, and I am only beginning to explore it.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Finding Freedom
She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when a sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.
So often, structure denotes function. This handy saying is especially relevant when analyzing Robert Frost’s poem “A Silken Tent.” This one-sentence Shakespearean sonnet appears quite relaxed, but is really strict in nature. Frost explores the emotional ties a woman has to her relationships and the effect they have on her. At the same time, Frost exercises his artist license by toying with the sonnet and elevating it to new heights. The structure of this poem enhances the poem’s function and meaning.
Frost begins the poem with a simile that morphs into an extended metaphor. Frost departs from convention by comparing a woman to a silken tent, not merely to a silk cloth. Silk is beautiful but deceptively strong, like the woman he is describing. She is supported by a central cedar pole, which is connected to the earth by multiple silken ties. Cedar is a fragrant wood that is known for its durability. Cedar also has spiritual and religious undertones since it is famous for being used in the construction of King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, Frost describes it as pointing heavenward. This sturdy, heavenly-bound pole represents the strength of the woman’s soul. Although the cedar pole stretches towards heaven, the tent is grounded by a circumference of silken ties of love and thought that gently keep it stationary. These ties are delicate and the woman seems almost detached and free from their pull. In the ending couplet, Frost changes his tone. He describes the silken ties of love and thought as bondage. We, the readers, are thrown off course. Were not the ties of love and thought a good thing? Bondage is a much stronger force than a gentle tug of the fabric. Now the silk seems more like spider silk, as strong as steel. And when it tugs at her soul, it forcefully pulls her. Remarkably, the woman in this poem still seems free of any bondage whatsoever. She, the tent, softly sways in an Arcadian summer breeze.
This extended metaphor describes the nature of women and their relationships and responsibilities. The sureness of her soul is supplied by a deep investment in the world around her. She is “loosely bound / By countless silken ties of love and thought / To everything on earth the compass round.” This particular woman sees her relationships as uplifting yet grounding, but never binding or restrictive. The silken ties keep her (the tent) in place when the wind tries to sway her. The woman’s “sureness of the soul” is a product of her ties of love and thought. And yet, the ties seem like emotional bondage when circumstances cause them to tug on her. She lives happily, comfortably, and freely within these barely noticeable boundaries. Frost too seems to defy limitations in this poem.
Frost flaunts his technical mastery of language and form. The sonnet form is the backbone of the poem, like the cedar pole is the center of strength for the woman. From this point, both the woman the poem exert their freedom, while never losing sight of what supports them. He transforms a strict, Shakespearean sonnet into a loose, conversational description of a woman. Frost conceals the rhyme scheme by using a technique called enjambment. He does not place most of the natural pauses at the end of a line, thereby diminishing the effect of the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme. However, once read with alert ears, the rhyme is clearly noticeable. By de-emphasizing the rhyme, this piece seems less formal and more personal. This conversational undertone is further enhanced by the fact that the entire sonnet is a single sentence and is in iambic pentameter, the natural meter of speech. For writing one of the strictest and most difficult poem forms, Frost achieves a great deal of freedom within the confines of a traditional sonnet.
The structure of this poem echoes the condition of the woman it describes: it exercises a great deal of freedom within strict boundaries. The tent is bound to the earth by countless silken ties but still seems free. We all exercise our freedom within the confines of life. As Robert Frost himself said, “You have freedom when you're easy in your harness."
(707)
1. Do you believe the woman in this poem is free?
2. What do you think Frost means by "bondage"? What is holding the woman down?
3. Why does Frost turn the tone of the poem in the last line?
4. What is the implied meaning of this poem?
At midday when a sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.
So often, structure denotes function. This handy saying is especially relevant when analyzing Robert Frost’s poem “A Silken Tent.” This one-sentence Shakespearean sonnet appears quite relaxed, but is really strict in nature. Frost explores the emotional ties a woman has to her relationships and the effect they have on her. At the same time, Frost exercises his artist license by toying with the sonnet and elevating it to new heights. The structure of this poem enhances the poem’s function and meaning.
Frost begins the poem with a simile that morphs into an extended metaphor. Frost departs from convention by comparing a woman to a silken tent, not merely to a silk cloth. Silk is beautiful but deceptively strong, like the woman he is describing. She is supported by a central cedar pole, which is connected to the earth by multiple silken ties. Cedar is a fragrant wood that is known for its durability. Cedar also has spiritual and religious undertones since it is famous for being used in the construction of King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, Frost describes it as pointing heavenward. This sturdy, heavenly-bound pole represents the strength of the woman’s soul. Although the cedar pole stretches towards heaven, the tent is grounded by a circumference of silken ties of love and thought that gently keep it stationary. These ties are delicate and the woman seems almost detached and free from their pull. In the ending couplet, Frost changes his tone. He describes the silken ties of love and thought as bondage. We, the readers, are thrown off course. Were not the ties of love and thought a good thing? Bondage is a much stronger force than a gentle tug of the fabric. Now the silk seems more like spider silk, as strong as steel. And when it tugs at her soul, it forcefully pulls her. Remarkably, the woman in this poem still seems free of any bondage whatsoever. She, the tent, softly sways in an Arcadian summer breeze.
This extended metaphor describes the nature of women and their relationships and responsibilities. The sureness of her soul is supplied by a deep investment in the world around her. She is “loosely bound / By countless silken ties of love and thought / To everything on earth the compass round.” This particular woman sees her relationships as uplifting yet grounding, but never binding or restrictive. The silken ties keep her (the tent) in place when the wind tries to sway her. The woman’s “sureness of the soul” is a product of her ties of love and thought. And yet, the ties seem like emotional bondage when circumstances cause them to tug on her. She lives happily, comfortably, and freely within these barely noticeable boundaries. Frost too seems to defy limitations in this poem.
Frost flaunts his technical mastery of language and form. The sonnet form is the backbone of the poem, like the cedar pole is the center of strength for the woman. From this point, both the woman the poem exert their freedom, while never losing sight of what supports them. He transforms a strict, Shakespearean sonnet into a loose, conversational description of a woman. Frost conceals the rhyme scheme by using a technique called enjambment. He does not place most of the natural pauses at the end of a line, thereby diminishing the effect of the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme. However, once read with alert ears, the rhyme is clearly noticeable. By de-emphasizing the rhyme, this piece seems less formal and more personal. This conversational undertone is further enhanced by the fact that the entire sonnet is a single sentence and is in iambic pentameter, the natural meter of speech. For writing one of the strictest and most difficult poem forms, Frost achieves a great deal of freedom within the confines of a traditional sonnet.
The structure of this poem echoes the condition of the woman it describes: it exercises a great deal of freedom within strict boundaries. The tent is bound to the earth by countless silken ties but still seems free. We all exercise our freedom within the confines of life. As Robert Frost himself said, “You have freedom when you're easy in your harness."
(707)
1. Do you believe the woman in this poem is free?
2. What do you think Frost means by "bondage"? What is holding the woman down?
3. Why does Frost turn the tone of the poem in the last line?
4. What is the implied meaning of this poem?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Behind the Mask
A Doll’s House is a play of mistaken identities. Not only are the characters within the play deceived by appearances, but so are the readers. Nora in particular is a victim of prejudice from the players and the viewers.
In our first encounter with Nora, we see a silly, weak, marionette-like woman who is controlled by her fear of disappointing her husband. However, as the play ensues, circumstances reveal different layers of Nora’s persona. Each character and memory teaches us something new about the Nora beneath the façade.
Although Torvald has been married to Nora for eight year, he knows nothing about her. He squeezes her into his mold for a wife: obedient, innocent, spend thrifty, etc. He treats her like his pet, his doll so to speak. However, Nora soon has an epiphany in which she realizes that Torvald is selfish, careless, and shallow. He does not care for Nora’s needs. She hopes that a miracle will come true and he will be a changed man. But when the opportunity for him to prove himself as a good husband arises, he fails to take charge. At this point, Nora gathered the courage to do what was socially unacceptable: she leaves Torvald. (Interesting thought, she always says, “Torvald loves me,” never “I love Torvald”)
Mrs. Linde is a vital character in the play because she shows Nora that a woman can survive on her own. Mrs. Linde is a widow and has been forced to fend for herself. Seeing this, Nora talks to her maid and we hear her first ponderings of leaving. She asks if her children will be well taken care of if she leaves the house, and the maid reassures her that they will.
By the end of A Doll’s House, we see that Nora is a passionate, motivated, and confident woman who is not a puppet, but rather the puppeteer of her own show. She cuts the strings that connect her to her home and takes control of her life. In Victorian England, the ending of a play was at best taboo. Women, especially married women, could never walk out on their husbands or family because it was considered socially and morally wrong. However, Ibsen was ahead of his time and he shows us that the conviction of a person is stronger than the norms of a society.
In our first encounter with Nora, we see a silly, weak, marionette-like woman who is controlled by her fear of disappointing her husband. However, as the play ensues, circumstances reveal different layers of Nora’s persona. Each character and memory teaches us something new about the Nora beneath the façade.
Although Torvald has been married to Nora for eight year, he knows nothing about her. He squeezes her into his mold for a wife: obedient, innocent, spend thrifty, etc. He treats her like his pet, his doll so to speak. However, Nora soon has an epiphany in which she realizes that Torvald is selfish, careless, and shallow. He does not care for Nora’s needs. She hopes that a miracle will come true and he will be a changed man. But when the opportunity for him to prove himself as a good husband arises, he fails to take charge. At this point, Nora gathered the courage to do what was socially unacceptable: she leaves Torvald. (Interesting thought, she always says, “Torvald loves me,” never “I love Torvald”)
Mrs. Linde is a vital character in the play because she shows Nora that a woman can survive on her own. Mrs. Linde is a widow and has been forced to fend for herself. Seeing this, Nora talks to her maid and we hear her first ponderings of leaving. She asks if her children will be well taken care of if she leaves the house, and the maid reassures her that they will.
By the end of A Doll’s House, we see that Nora is a passionate, motivated, and confident woman who is not a puppet, but rather the puppeteer of her own show. She cuts the strings that connect her to her home and takes control of her life. In Victorian England, the ending of a play was at best taboo. Women, especially married women, could never walk out on their husbands or family because it was considered socially and morally wrong. However, Ibsen was ahead of his time and he shows us that the conviction of a person is stronger than the norms of a society.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A little more than text, and less than obvious: Subtext
SCENE IV. The Queen's closet.
Enter QUEEN MARGARET and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,And that your grace hath screen'd and stood betweenMuch heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.Pray you, be round with him.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
[Gertrude frantically gesticulates to the arras, commanding Polonius in harsh whisper]
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. [Gertrude speaks her lines before the murder in a concerned tone. She is troubled and confused by the recent lunacy of her only son, Prince Hamlet]
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended. [Hamlet retorts in a jokingly snide manner]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. [With every line, Hamlet takes a step closer to Gertrude--increasing the tension between them while decreasing the distance between them. Also, he speaks faster and faster until Gertrude screams for help]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;You go not till I set you up a glassWhere you may see the inmost part of you. [By now, Hamlet has encroached uncomfortably close to his mother, frightening her. He stares deep into her eyes, dominating her with his gaze]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?Help, help, ho!
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! [Hamlet, in a moment of blind rage and shock murders Polonius, unaware of who he is actually killing]
Makes a pass through the arras
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain! [Polonius, in severe pain, utters his last and unfortunately PGIO-ish words]
Falls and dies
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:Is it the king? [Hamlet is terrified that he may have killed Cladius; however, he secretly wishes he had]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,As kill a king, and marry with his brother. [Hamlet has found the perfect moment to reveal the truth about King Hamlet’s murder. He takes his time to say these lines powerfully]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king! [Gertrude: Paralyzed by truth]
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,If it be made of penetrable stuff,If damned custom have not brass'd it soThat it is proof and bulwark against sense. [Hamlet, enraged and disgusted by Polonius, insults the corpse]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongueIn noise so rude against me? [quivers in fear, but holds onto her strength, because now she has no one to protect her if Hamlet does try to kill her]
HAMLET
Such an actThat blurs the grace and blush of modesty,Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the roseFrom the fair forehead of an innocent loveAnd sets a blister there, makes marriage-vowsAs false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deedAs from the body of contraction plucksThe very soul, and sweet religion makesA rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:Yea, this solidity and compound mass,With tristful visage, as against the doom,Is thought-sick at the act. [Here, Hamlet disregards her question and stabs his mother with a philosophical rant about how she has, in essence, “sinned” against the act of marriage. Hamlet, “speak[s] daggers to her but use[s] none.”]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.See, what a grace was seated on this brow;Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;A station like the herald MercuryNew-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;A combination and a form indeed,Where every god did seem to set his seal,To give the world assurance of a man:This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?You cannot call it love; for at your ageThe hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,And waits upon the judgment: and what judgmentWould step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,Else could you not have motion; but sure, that senseIs apoplex'd; for madness would not err,Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'dBut it reserved some quantity of choice,To serve in such a difference. What devil was'tThat thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,Or but a sickly part of one true senseCould not so mope.O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shameWhen the compulsive ardour gives the charge,Since frost itself as actively doth burnAnd reason panders will.
[Hamlet is stern, but confronts his mother in a pleading way. He wants her realize her wrongs]
[Hamlet doesn’t need any paintings of his father and Cladius to demonstrate his point in this monologue. He paints the Queen a majestic image of his father, as if to remind her what an incredible man he was. He accuses her of being blind.]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;And there I see such black and grained spotsAs will not leave their tinct. [His speech has struck a chord with the queen. She turns and says these lines, because she needs to explore this revelation by herself, if only psychologically alone]
HAMLET
Nay, but to liveIn the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making loveOver the nasty sty,-- [says in a disgusted tone]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;No more, sweet Hamlet! [tears welling in her eyes]
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;A slave that is not twentieth part the titheOf your precedent lord; a vice of kings;A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,And put it in his pocket!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure? [reaches to the Ghost, as if to an angel]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go byThe important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Ghost
Do not forget: this visitationIs but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:O, step between her and her fighting soul:Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:Speak to her, Hamlet. [a firm reminder than Hamlet must no stray from his mission (and that he can't go overboard)]
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady? [comforts mother]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,That you do bend your eye on vacancyAnd with the incorporal air do hold discourse?Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,Upon the heat and flame of thy distemperSprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;Lest with this piteous action you convertMy stern effects: then what I have to doWill want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this? [bewildered]
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear? [momentarily questions his sanity]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!My father, in his habit as he lived!Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal! [points, tries to show mom]
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:This bodiless creation ecstasyIs very cunning in. [thinks Hamlet's gone off the deep end]
HAMLET
Ecstasy!My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,And makes as healthful music: it is not madnessThat I have utter'd: bring me to the test,And I the matter will re-word; which madnessWould gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;And do not spread the compost on the weeds,To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;For in the fatness of these pursy timesVirtue itself of vice must pardon beg,Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good. [wanting to prove his sanity, Hamlet makes a case for himself. He turns the conversation onto Gertrude's mistakes, telling her to repent.]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. [Gertrude releases this line like a sigh. (translation: Hamlet, You have broken my heart in two) She is emotionally torn between her son's madness and her recent revelation about her former husband's murder. The queen is burdened with truth and confusion.]
HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,And live the purer with the other half.Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;Assume a virtue, if you have it not.That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,That to the use of actions fair and goodHe likewise gives a frock or livery,That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,And that shall lend a kind of easinessTo the next abstinence: the next more easy;For use almost can change the stamp of nature,And either [ ] the devil, or throw him outWith wondrous potency. Once more, good night:And when you are desirous to be bless'd,I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,To punish me with this and this with me,That I must be their scourge and minister.I will bestow him, and will answer wellThe death I gave him. So, again, good night.I must be cruel, only to be kind:Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.One word more, good lady. [Hamlet assumes the role of a godsend, whose duty was to kill Polonius and expose the truth. He says these lines proudly and heroically]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,Make you to ravel all this matter out,That I essentially am not in madness,But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?No, in despite of sense and secrecy,Unpeg the basket on the house's top.Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,To try conclusions, in the basket creep,And break your own neck down. [domineeringly commands her not to tell anyone of his false madness. ]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,And breath of life, I have no life to breatheWhat thou hast said to me. [fraily assures Hamlet, that she has no life or will to speak ill of him or reveal his 'secret']
Enter QUEEN MARGARET and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,And that your grace hath screen'd and stood betweenMuch heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.Pray you, be round with him.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
[Gertrude frantically gesticulates to the arras, commanding Polonius in harsh whisper]
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. [Gertrude speaks her lines before the murder in a concerned tone. She is troubled and confused by the recent lunacy of her only son, Prince Hamlet]
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended. [Hamlet retorts in a jokingly snide manner]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. [With every line, Hamlet takes a step closer to Gertrude--increasing the tension between them while decreasing the distance between them. Also, he speaks faster and faster until Gertrude screams for help]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;You go not till I set you up a glassWhere you may see the inmost part of you. [By now, Hamlet has encroached uncomfortably close to his mother, frightening her. He stares deep into her eyes, dominating her with his gaze]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?Help, help, ho!
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! [Hamlet, in a moment of blind rage and shock murders Polonius, unaware of who he is actually killing]
Makes a pass through the arras
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain! [Polonius, in severe pain, utters his last and unfortunately PGIO-ish words]
Falls and dies
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:Is it the king? [Hamlet is terrified that he may have killed Cladius; however, he secretly wishes he had]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,As kill a king, and marry with his brother. [Hamlet has found the perfect moment to reveal the truth about King Hamlet’s murder. He takes his time to say these lines powerfully]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king! [Gertrude: Paralyzed by truth]
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,If it be made of penetrable stuff,If damned custom have not brass'd it soThat it is proof and bulwark against sense. [Hamlet, enraged and disgusted by Polonius, insults the corpse]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongueIn noise so rude against me? [quivers in fear, but holds onto her strength, because now she has no one to protect her if Hamlet does try to kill her]
HAMLET
Such an actThat blurs the grace and blush of modesty,Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the roseFrom the fair forehead of an innocent loveAnd sets a blister there, makes marriage-vowsAs false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deedAs from the body of contraction plucksThe very soul, and sweet religion makesA rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:Yea, this solidity and compound mass,With tristful visage, as against the doom,Is thought-sick at the act. [Here, Hamlet disregards her question and stabs his mother with a philosophical rant about how she has, in essence, “sinned” against the act of marriage. Hamlet, “speak[s] daggers to her but use[s] none.”]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.See, what a grace was seated on this brow;Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;A station like the herald MercuryNew-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;A combination and a form indeed,Where every god did seem to set his seal,To give the world assurance of a man:This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?You cannot call it love; for at your ageThe hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,And waits upon the judgment: and what judgmentWould step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,Else could you not have motion; but sure, that senseIs apoplex'd; for madness would not err,Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'dBut it reserved some quantity of choice,To serve in such a difference. What devil was'tThat thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,Or but a sickly part of one true senseCould not so mope.O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shameWhen the compulsive ardour gives the charge,Since frost itself as actively doth burnAnd reason panders will.
[Hamlet is stern, but confronts his mother in a pleading way. He wants her realize her wrongs]
[Hamlet doesn’t need any paintings of his father and Cladius to demonstrate his point in this monologue. He paints the Queen a majestic image of his father, as if to remind her what an incredible man he was. He accuses her of being blind.]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;And there I see such black and grained spotsAs will not leave their tinct. [His speech has struck a chord with the queen. She turns and says these lines, because she needs to explore this revelation by herself, if only psychologically alone]
HAMLET
Nay, but to liveIn the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making loveOver the nasty sty,-- [says in a disgusted tone]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;No more, sweet Hamlet! [tears welling in her eyes]
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;A slave that is not twentieth part the titheOf your precedent lord; a vice of kings;A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,And put it in his pocket!
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure? [reaches to the Ghost, as if to an angel]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go byThe important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Ghost
Do not forget: this visitationIs but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:O, step between her and her fighting soul:Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:Speak to her, Hamlet. [a firm reminder than Hamlet must no stray from his mission (and that he can't go overboard)]
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady? [comforts mother]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,That you do bend your eye on vacancyAnd with the incorporal air do hold discourse?Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,Upon the heat and flame of thy distemperSprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?
HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;Lest with this piteous action you convertMy stern effects: then what I have to doWill want true colour; tears perchance for blood.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this? [bewildered]
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear? [momentarily questions his sanity]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!My father, in his habit as he lived!Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal! [points, tries to show mom]
Exit Ghost
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:This bodiless creation ecstasyIs very cunning in. [thinks Hamlet's gone off the deep end]
HAMLET
Ecstasy!My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,And makes as healthful music: it is not madnessThat I have utter'd: bring me to the test,And I the matter will re-word; which madnessWould gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;And do not spread the compost on the weeds,To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;For in the fatness of these pursy timesVirtue itself of vice must pardon beg,Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good. [wanting to prove his sanity, Hamlet makes a case for himself. He turns the conversation onto Gertrude's mistakes, telling her to repent.]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. [Gertrude releases this line like a sigh. (translation: Hamlet, You have broken my heart in two) She is emotionally torn between her son's madness and her recent revelation about her former husband's murder. The queen is burdened with truth and confusion.]
HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,And live the purer with the other half.Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;Assume a virtue, if you have it not.That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,That to the use of actions fair and goodHe likewise gives a frock or livery,That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,And that shall lend a kind of easinessTo the next abstinence: the next more easy;For use almost can change the stamp of nature,And either [ ] the devil, or throw him outWith wondrous potency. Once more, good night:And when you are desirous to be bless'd,I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,To punish me with this and this with me,That I must be their scourge and minister.I will bestow him, and will answer wellThe death I gave him. So, again, good night.I must be cruel, only to be kind:Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.One word more, good lady. [Hamlet assumes the role of a godsend, whose duty was to kill Polonius and expose the truth. He says these lines proudly and heroically]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,Make you to ravel all this matter out,That I essentially am not in madness,But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?No, in despite of sense and secrecy,Unpeg the basket on the house's top.Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,To try conclusions, in the basket creep,And break your own neck down. [domineeringly commands her not to tell anyone of his false madness. ]
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,And breath of life, I have no life to breatheWhat thou hast said to me. [fraily assures Hamlet, that she has no life or will to speak ill of him or reveal his 'secret']
Monday, February 18, 2008
Hamlet Websites
Mr. Coon,
I've been doing some research for some good websites on Hamlet. Here's what I've found so far:
1)Shakespeare-Online
2)To paint or not to paint? That is the question. Art of Hamlet
3)Critical Appreciation of Hamlet
4)An essay on how Disney's The Lion King was loosely based on Hamlet!
Hamlet and the Grave Digger
Pascal A.J. Dagnan-Bouveret
I've been doing some research for some good websites on Hamlet. Here's what I've found so far:
1)Shakespeare-Online
2)To paint or not to paint? That is the question. Art of Hamlet
3)Critical Appreciation of Hamlet
4)An essay on how Disney's The Lion King was loosely based on Hamlet!
Hamlet and the Grave Digger
Pascal A.J. Dagnan-Bouveret
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