Hamlet Close Analysis

Merrik Saunders

One of the things that makes good writhing is the use of every line in the story. In Shakespeare’s plays he shows that even the smallest part is important to the play and viewer. The example that shows this is Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This scene is right before Hamlet goes to see the ghost. Horatio, one of the guards with Hamlet, is trying to talk him out of going with the ghost. Horatio isn’t close to one of the important characters of this story but what he has to say in this moment is very important.

In this scene Horatio is trying to get Hamlet to stay and not go with the ghost. “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff, That beetles o'er his base into the sea,”(lines 77-79). This is the start of Horatio showing his concern towards Hamlet and how the ghost might hurt Hamlet. Horatio is saying that the ghost might drown him or send him off the cliffs. These are generic things that might happen in tragedies and dramas. These lines are used as a masking for the lines that are coming up next. Horatio isn’t a main character and him saying these lines first will make the viewer feel like he is only worried for Hamlet. The lines after these are the lines that are the most important.

Horatio’s small speech is a foreshadow for the whole play. In the next lines he continues to name things that could happen to Hamlet but what Horatio says applies to the rest of the play. “And there assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness? Think of it.”(lines 80-82). This section of Horatio’s small speech is saying that the ghost will take Hamlet’s mind and Hamlet will go insane. This is what the rest of the play is about. Hamlet is trying to find out if the ghost is real and if he is going insane. This small part at the beginning of the play has mapped out the entire play. Everyone around Hamlet thinks that he is insane and his actions are irrational. This is what Horatio warned, that Hamlet could go insane from seeing his dead father or just experiencing a paranormal incident. Also Hamlet is carrying the pain and grief of his recent fathers death, mom marrying his uncle with great hast, and Polonius trying to get him away from Ophelia. Seeing his fathers ghost could be the thing that pushed him over the edge. From the beginning of this play Horatio has given an overview of what was to come.

The last part of Horatio’s speech is saying how fear can be stricken into the best and strongest of us. “The very place puts toys of desperation, Without more motive, into every brain That looks so many fathoms to the sea, And hears it roar beneath.” This whole section is saying that even the strongest of people can look over a cliff into the sea and they will be filled with despair. The despair would come from talking with the ghost. Into the play Hamlet starts to question himself and questions if what he is doing is wright. When it comes down to it Hamlet goes through with his plan to kill his uncle but in the process he is filled with fear of himself.

This small section shows that every line and character is important to the story. From the very beginning there was this foreshadowing from Horatio. Horatio tried to stop Hamlet from seeing the ghost. Maybe Horatio was right and Hamlet would have been better off not seeing the ghost. The rest of the play tells that.

M Saunders English/History Portfolio 2012

            There has been a lot done this year.  Everyday my mind has been expanding in different ways and learning new things.  There are some interesting ideas that I have for the end of the year.  These are the general statements I have learned throughout the year.

            We have look at a lot of different books and points in time.  Something stands out to me is that when someone is in power they tend to lose the power or lose their minds.  Most times power leads to insanity.  One of the books we have read is Lord Of the Flies.  This is about a group of kids that get into a plane crash and end up on an island.  Some of the kids start to lose their minds while going through being on the island. “In Lord of the Flies it shows that insanity is like gravity all you need is a little push” This is a statement I used to describe the book.  It was the right place and the right situations to easily make a person go crazy.  One of the boys ended up being a leader of the group. At first he mad all the right decisions on how to get of the island but soon after he started to lose his mind.  This shows how easily you can lose your mind.

            Also another thing we looked at was the French Revolution.  What we did was we chose people to research and we had to act like that person.  The person that I chose was Maximilien Robespierre.  He was one of the main people in the revolution.  Through out the revolution he started to get worse and worse in what he does.  At first he really helped the people. Right after the king died he took control.  It wasn’t that bad then but latter on is when it started going down hill.  A major part of the revolution was when Robespierre passed a law that said if he thought that some one was against him then he could just kill them with no trial.  From Robespierre paranoia he ended up killing a lot of people.  Soon after Robespierre was overthrown and killed.

            Another role playing activity we did was the Cortez trial.  This was about when Cortez and his men when to see the Aztecs but ended up taking over there land.  There were different roles that we had to act as.  It was Cortez, Cortez men, System, King, and Aztec people.  What we had to do in this activity was prove that a certain group was guiltier in the takeover of the Aztecs.  It was run like an actual courtroom with opening statements and cross-examinations.  At the end of the trial each group would give there closing statements and we had to assign points of guilt to the most guilty person we thought was.  Something that I thought was interesting was that in the research done Cortez didn’t listen to orders and did what he wanted.  He was the leader of the men who were just supposed to explore this land but instead he took it over.  The king sent notes and people to go after Cortez. Cortez just ended up killing them.  Having the power to just control a group of people to do what you want is too much for people.  Cortez got greedy and tried to take all of the Aztecs gold and land. Maybe if another person were in charge then the Aztec wouldn’t have been taken over.

            Throughout the year we have done a lot of interesting and creative things.  For most of these you really had to think about how to use your skills in different ways to make your project that much better.  Creative thinking can make a project better.

            One of the things that we did was called Art In the Open.  The main thing we did was we had to find a space around our school and create a piece that used different movements and used the space in different ways.  At first I wasn’t used to just moving around the way that we did in this project.  There were people that came to the school that showed us some techniques to help us create these pieces.  This was really getting out of most peoples comfort zones.  If you wanted this to go well you had to really come out of your comfort zone and be really creative with the way your body would move in this new way.  If no ideas were coming out or people weren’t really trying then it would just be a bland piece but with each groups creativity added to the project. That is what made these pieces interesting and enjoyable to watch.  With out the creativity this wouldn’t have worked.

M Saunders English/History Portfolio 2012

            There has been a lot done this year.  Everyday my mind has been expanding in different ways and learning new things.  There are some interesting ideas that I have for the end of the year.  These are the general statements I have learned throughout the year.

            We have look at a lot of different books and points in time.  Something stands out to me is that when someone is in power they tend to lose the power or lose their minds.  Most times power leads to insanity.  One of the books we have read is Lord Of the Flies.  This is about a group of kids that get into a plane crash and end up on an island.  Some of the kids start to lose their minds while going through being on the island. “In Lord of the Flies it shows that insanity is like gravity all you need is a little push” This is a statement I used to describe the book.  It was the right place and the right situations to easily make a person go crazy.  One of the boys ended up being a leader of the group. At first he mad all the right decisions on how to get of the island but soon after he started to lose his mind.  This shows how easily you can lose your mind.

            Also another thing we looked at was the French Revolution.  What we did was we chose people to research and we had to act like that person.  The person that I chose was Maximilien Robespierre.  He was one of the main people in the revolution.  Through out the revolution he started to get worse and worse in what he does.  At first he really helped the people. Right after the king died he took control.  It wasn’t that bad then but latter on is when it started going down hill.  A major part of the revolution was when Robespierre passed a law that said if he thought that some one was against him then he could just kill them with no trial.  From Robespierre paranoia he ended up killing a lot of people.  Soon after Robespierre was overthrown and killed.

            Another role playing activity we did was the Cortez trial.  This was about when Cortez and his men when to see the Aztecs but ended up taking over there land.  There were different roles that we had to act as.  It was Cortez, Cortez men, System, King, and Aztec people.  What we had to do in this activity was prove that a certain group was guiltier in the takeover of the Aztecs.  It was run like an actual courtroom with opening statements and cross-examinations.  At the end of the trial each group would give there closing statements and we had to assign points of guilt to the most guilty person we thought was.  Something that I thought was interesting was that in the research done Cortez didn’t listen to orders and did what he wanted.  He was the leader of the men who were just supposed to explore this land but instead he took it over.  The king sent notes and people to go after Cortez.  Cortez just ended up killing them.  Having the power to just control a group of people to do what you want is too much for people.  Cortez got greedy and tried to take all of the Aztecs gold and land.  Maybe if another person were in charge then the Aztec wouldn’t have been taken over.

            Throughout the year we have done a lot of interesting and creative things.  For most of these you really had to think about how to use your skills in different ways to make your project that much better.  Creative thinking can make a project better.

            One of the things that we did was called Art In the Open.  The main thing we did was we had to find a space around our school and create a piece that used different movements and used the space in different ways.  At first I wasn’t used to just moving around the way that we did in this project.  There were people that came to the school that showed us some techniques to help us create these pieces.  This was really getting out of most peoples comfort zones.  If you wanted this to go well you had to really come out of your comfort zone and be really creative with the way your body would move in this new way.  If no ideas were coming out or people weren’t really trying then it would just be a bland piece but with each groups creativity added to the project. That is what made these pieces interesting and enjoyable to watch.  With out the creativity this wouldn’t have worked.

The assignment was to make a guide to get around in Philadelphia.  We did a web site so that people could see it easier.  I learned that it was harder to explain the place you lived all your life to some one else that may not know it as well.  I think that the projects turned out all right.  The Spanish could be better but for the project it wasn’t that bad.  If I were to do this again I would try and explain the places better so that some one could better understand the place.

Introduction:

Language Autobiography:

Monologues

Merrik Saunders

Just a week after the surgery Dave is sitting in a wheel chair alone in the hospital.  He is imagining the times before the accident.  He believes he can walk again but soon after falls to the ground.  Tim starts to relive the accident.

Just alone at the hospital I start to imagine the days before I was stuck in a wheel chair.  I begin to lift my self-up, hoping that I could walk again.  The same thing happens every time.  I start to remember the accident.  What people perceive as pain doesn’t even come close to this.  I start to fall.  I hold my self up with the bar in front of me.  The things attached at my hips no longer work.  The shiny white tiles turn into the tan dirt.  I am scared out of my mind realizing what was going to happen.  My hands drenched with sweat slip off the bar and I fall into the ditch below.  I gave the signal to go before I slipped.  My other people couldn’t see me from the massive crane and pipe it was holding.  In ten seconds the metal is on top of me crushing my legs.  Snapping all of the bones.  I let out a scream.  One of those screams that show true pain and suffering.  The rest of my men take what seems like an eternity to get the pipe off of me.  Why the hell was is so damn hard to get a pipe out of a ditch?  The searing pain turns into a numb feeling.  I start to see blackness.  Then just like that I am strapped down to what I think is a table of some sort.  The sharp knives start to tear open my legs exposing the damage that has been done.  Men and woman are rushing around me in blue masks and robes.  I start to convulse in pain.  Two seconds later the darkness is back to drag me down again.  The nurse is running towards me in great haste.  Am I back in the hospital now?  The white tiles are back and my legs are healed but not working.  They wheel me back to my room to lie down.  Damn it happened again. 

Just Doing My Job

Greg is at the White House keeping guard.  He sees the protesters starting to swarm in.  He gets a call to rally up his men and take care of them.

Stupid tree huggers, they are always getting in the way.  No mater what this pipe is going to happen so they should just suck it up.  Do they realize the good that will come from all of this?  It will make it way easier to get oil to the states.  The oil prices will go significantly down.  I thought these people wanted the oil price down.

Get call to get rid of the protesters

  “Yes Sir. I’ll get right on it” I should probably get down there.  My men and I started down the stairs of the Whit House to confront the protesters.  They are instructed to leave the premises but of course they gave us a hard time.  Then there was this one guy who wouldn’t move.  No mater what we said he wasn’t budging.  We start to move towards the one person.  Then out of know were the guy pulls out a knife and starts to run towards me screaming.  “You will pay for killing the earth,” he said.  Then I reach into my suit jacket and pull out my gun.  “Freeze”, I said but he was still running.  I hesitate for a second.  I put the gun up to aim and look down the barrel.  Then just like that I pull the trigger.  Bang!  The bullet hit him and the guy falls to the ground tumbling towards us.  I feel my hand drop to look at the scene.  We start to walk over to him.  I shot the man in the leg.  The man is screaming and holding his leg.  The blood is staining the green grass.  I look at him thinking to my self did it really have to go down like this.  Then they start to take him away.  They really must feel strongly about this pipeline.  He knew the consequences for his action still he did it.  Maybe this pipeline really is bad.  I turn and start to walk away.  It can’t possibly be that bad, or can it? 

Playing With Fire 

After an explosion while working on a pipeline Dan decides to protest against the pipeline and thinks that working on it is a bad decision. 

I get home and I am just amazed at the things that could happen with this pipeline.  ”Hey kids come hear” I said, “Daddy is back.  Were is mommy?”  She is just getting ready for work as usual.  “Hey I have something to tell you all.  Remember daddy’s work, and what happened?  I just got a bunch of information from it.  Things like how the pipeline might pollute the water.  That’s not good for people to drink or for the fishes ether.  They look up at me in astonishment.  A lot the places that the pipe is going through disturbs places that animals and people lived.”  They are just kids but I think that they should at least know about it especially what happened with me.  They ask me why would anyone want to hurt people and plants? I tell them it’s to make a lot of money.  They will do it even if they hurt the word.  Then they ask why would I work to help that?  I say it’s to provide for the house.  With out the job they couldn’t have the things that they like.  I tell them that to not worry, good people are trying to stop it from happening and daddy is looking for a new job.  They go off and play for a bit.  My wife sees that I have told them and happy about it.  About a half a hour the kids come back to me with a drawing.  They say it’s for me.  It’s a picture of me breaking a pipe in half and stopping the construction.  “Daddy likes it a lot,” I said.  I really wish I could do that but for now I will just try to do what I can to stop this pipe from happening.

One of my goals for this 2nd quarter is to try harder.  This is a big switch so now that I am used to it I now can do better.  An example would be to never get a grade under a B.  Another goal is to try not to be forgetful.  Sometimes I forget to do somethings.I forget it then I will remember at the last minute and rush to do it.  

For my slide first I changed the size of my name.  It is all about me so I wanted me to be bigger.  Next I made my title one line to just under line my name.  The three pictures I made bigger and made the to on the end bleed off the end.  I also made them bigger so you can see them better.  For the swords I made them a little smaller and in the corners to be a crest.

Merrik Saunders

1. For this I am doing Tú vs. Usted.  For Tú it is informal and used for people of equal or a lower age than you.  Ud is used for people that are older than you and for people you respect.  It is formal. An example for it would be for asking some one “How are you?”  ?Como estas? Is the informal and used for a friend and ¿Como esta? is formal and used for an adult.  The different letter is the s at the end.  For other phrases are different for Tú and Ud like:

What’s your name? is ¿Cómo te lamas (tú)? or ¿Cómo se llama (ud).

Where are you from? is ¿De dónde eres (tú)? or ¿De dónde es(ud)?

How old are you? is ¿Cuántos años tienes (tú)? or ¿Cuántos años tiene (ud)?

An Adult talking to there kid:

A: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?

K: Bien, gracias. ¿Y Usted?

A: Más o menos.

2. This is the alphabet in español

A: ah [in English this would be an a.  You must remember to use ah and make its sound.]

B: beh [in español to say B it would be a softer sound than English]

C: seh [same as the s sound for English] 

CH: cheh [same for English]

D: deh [similar to English]

E: eh [in español to say E it is softer than English E]

F: efeh [its similar to the English way]

G: heh [very different more like a H sound]  

H: ah-cheh [close to the English ha choo for sneezing but always silent in words]

I: eee [sounds like a long E]

J: ho-ta [very different than the English way]

K: ka [just like the englesh way but instead of just K sound you use an A sound with it]

L: eleh [it is close to the English way and some small differentness]

LL: elleh [close to single L]

M: emeh [close to English but adds E at beginning]

N: eneh [same as M but changed wit the N]

Ñ: enyeh [like N buy a Y sound in the middle of it]

O: oh [sounds like a long O]

P: peh [sounds like pee but instead of the end E there is a H]

Q: cooooo [sound of a long O with a C on the front]
R: ereh [sounds like M and N but with a R]

S: eseh [same as R, M, and N]

T: teh [close to the English way]

U: ooo [a long O sound]
V: veh [sounds like B but more of a V sound]

W: dobleh veh [dobleh sounds like the English double]

X: eh-quis [nothing like the English way]

Y: eee gree -eh-gah [combo of long E GR sound with long E, short E, and blah but replace BL with G]
Z: zetah [it is close to Zelda]

How to spell your name.

    M         E      R         R           I           K

Emeh    eh   ereh   ereh     eee        ka

3.Hear are the days of the week:

To ask what day it today? is ¿Qué día es hoy?

A response is Hoy es and the day it is.

To ask what day is it tomorrow? is ¿Qué día es mañana?

A response is Hoy es and the next day of the week.

The days of the week are not capitalized like in English.