Right before the death of many of the characters, Hamlet is thinking more clearly andrationally than ever before in the play. This can most notably be illustrated in his asking for forgiveness to Laertes. He realizes why Laertes is acting the way he is, and even sees himself in Laertes’ actions. He understands that it is human nature to act this way, and he should think about why Laertes is so hostile. Hamlet’s actions show that he is realizing that he should not be one to add to all of the chaos that is going on at this point. I believe that this derives from Hamlet’s actions at the graveyard. In his initial conversation with the gravedigger, Hamlet remarks that even people like Alexander the great died, and how he hopes that all men die. Shakespeare is saying that human behaviour warrantsdeath, and that the way people act is inexcusable, and Hamlet begins to realize this in the final Act. Another one of Hamlet’s actions that illustrate his more rational thinking is his scene proclaiming his love for Ophilia. Hamlet begins to start thinking rationally when he realizes that it is Ohphilia who has died. After seeing that the funeral is for one who has taken their own life, Hamlet begins to feel the guilt for what he has done to her and Laertes and Polonius. His proclamation of love and what he would do for her shows Hamlet’s true feelings. This is a step away from the raging path of destruction Hamlet was on throughout the play, killing people without thinking. This is just a taste of the guilt that Hamlet should feel for all of the horrors that he has caused. When Hamlet realizes that he must prepare for death, he seems to be calm about it. Again, he seems to know, that after all of the actions that of taken place, he (and others) deserve death. I found the actual death scene to be ironic, because it was Laertes’ own sword that killed him, and the king died because of the poison that he put in the cup and the sword. This exemplifies that the actions that they did, warrants their death. On one last final note, I believe the ending leaves some ambiguity, because the audience does not know how Denmark ends up under Fortinbras. Fortinbras’s former actions (all of the plans to attack) lead me to believe that while things may get better, that they will not be perfect by any means, and that the same human actions will continue to occur.
Throughout the first few scenes of act IV, I have seen a lot of development in a lot of the characters, the first being Gertrude. After Hamlet tells her that he is not insane and yells at her about sleeping with Claudius, Gertrude still is not on Hamlet’s side at all. She still finds it necessary to turn Hamlet into the king, where the king devises a plan to kill Hamlet and still maintain a good self-image with his people. The king’s actions show how devious he really is, and it makes me show absolutely no sympathy for Claudius, also exemplified by sending Rosencrantz and Gildenstern to spy on Hamlet and the letters sent to England. However, Gertrude’s actions put her at about the same level as the king, doing nothing to help Hamlet, and going along and agreeing with the king about what he plans to do. Her actions truly show that her allegiance lies only with the king and not with her son, no matter what she says to Hamlet.
Hamlet’s character is also brought into light during act IV. This is especially noted in scenes II and IV. When Hamlet is amazed that there can be such a bloody battle over such a small piece of land, he is actually stating something ironic and applicable to most all men. Hamlet himself has strain from only attempting to kill Claudius, and killed Polonius in Act III. He does not show any grief, and if the a similar situation came up again, I’m positive Hamlet would do the same thing, no matter what the consequence. This shows that Hamlet is now doing whatever is necessary to accomplish one goal, even if it means unnecessary bloodshed. That is exactly what Fortinbras thinks about his attack on Poland. Additionally, when Hamlet states “my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” Shakespeare is saying that often times things get out of hand, and too many people suffer when a person is trying to accomplish something, and indeed warns us of the feelings that can occur when trying to achieve a goal. This is not only seen in Hamlet, but in the king’s actions, when he calls a large meeting to discuss what to do with Hamlet, showing he goes to any length to get rid of Hamlet and save himself. These feelings have caused everyone to become insane, and yet the people who are causing all the insanity seem to be the most calm. The king is very calm when speaking to Laertes, and Hamlet always seems to have some sort of plan laid out, and never freaks out, even after he kills Polonius. Yet Ophilia is mad to the point of death, whether accidental or not, the insanity definitely played a role. Even when plans are being made to kill Hamlet, the king is not only calm, but excited. Shakespeare shows that these feelings spread (to Laertes in this case) and can be the cause of exuberant destruction and turmoil, and the ignorant people who cause it will only continue and never cease.
the answer to the question I proposed above is one of great difficulty. With the amount of problems going on in his life, from contemplating when to kill his uncle, to the contemplation of his own suicide, to the eruption on Ophelia, it is evident that Hamlet does not have the easiest problems in his life. However, Hamlet is going about these issues, in some aspects, the right way. The first thing that Hamlet is doing right, is his lack of communication about the topic. Especially with such a serious issue, such as the death of a father, it is important not to inform too many people. It is by far a too sensitive issue, though I do believe in expressing one’s feelings to another, which he did in Act II (see quote from earlier post). However, to the idea that Hamlet needs to seek advise from others in order to find out more information, and possibly not act so insane, and possibly resolve his problems, I respond that this issue is not the issue you go to other people with. Additionally, Shakespeare shows the true reality of these feelings that Hamlet experiences (especially loss) in a more accurate light, expressing the real thoughts of Hamlet, and not having others help him through this. If people were helping him get better (for example, helping him out with the play more and seriously directing him away from obviously harmful acts (the sexual references to Ophelia, and the foul remarks made to his mother) the overall sense of what Hamlet is feeling would be watered down, because he would just be following the advise of people who don’t have the same problems that he has. Also, I applaud Hamlet for his dedication to such a serious problem, and for his being able to take on a task so seriously. I like that Hamlet will stop at nothing to bring his father (who is a fantastic king in his eye, possibly representing how adults perceive an ideal father) what he deserves, being honor, and vengeance. I think the act of killing Claudius illustrates the idea giving it all (even if it means sanity, or life) for the people that are closest. This also shows the strength of one man, and what he is able to do to achieve this goal (these feelings drove Hamlet to make this crazy play, and scheme his way for a long long time, in order to accomplish his ultimate goal).
Page 60, line 305. “I will tell you why, so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt no feather. I have of late – but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory…” through line 320.
This quote is someone ironic to me, since for my poetry project I studied John Berryman, and I noticed a similarity between the two (Hamlet, the speaker of this quote and Berryman). They both severely struggled from the death of their fathers and it impacted them both greatly, and throughout all of Berryman’s works, he references his fathers death, and throughout the play Hamlet references his father’s death, and Hamlet avenging his father’s death seems to be one vital element to the plot. Another thing I found interesting about this quote was how Hamlet builds up the elements of the earth and man, and says that after his fathers death, and lately, he has been regarded these basic human loves as “vapors” and ”dust.” It adds depth to what Hamlet is feeling, and exemplifies the idea that one event, or death, can change a person’s life, adding to Shakespeare’s motif of death. Additionally, this quote illustrates the sadness that Hamlet is experiencing. These powerful, unusual feelings that Hamlet feels serves as an explanation for his madness in actuality. Also, when I first read this quote, I immediately noticed some of the techniques used by Patrick Henry in his Virginia Convention Speech we studied in first semester (most notably rhetorical questions, and the powerful words). This also adds to the intensity that Hamlet feels in this portion of the play, which I predict will come out in his actions later on trying to accomplish avenging his father’s death. I also predict, that also these feelings are very real, and I don’t believe Shakespeare is telling his audience that these feelings are wrong. However, I predict Shakespeare will warn us of the power of these feelings, which will be exemplified by Hamlet’s death (which is quite possible, since this is a tragedy), and improper actions. The audience will be able to remember this quote for that message.
Page 53 Lines 130-149 (Polonius talking about Hamlet being in Love with Ophilia).
I think this short speech also shows the intensity of the feelings that Hamlet is feeling, which I feel again, Shakespeare will show can be dangerous. Hamlet’s insanity that follows shows this idea, and is the first time the audience truly sees Hamlet’s actual insanity, and this speech gives some insight into why Hamlet is acting in this insane manner.
Scene I: Denmark is the setting for the opening of the play, at a castle. Fransisco is the watchmen outside the castle when he starts questioning the person he sees. After Bernardo presents himself as the person who will then take over the post, he allows Fransisco to go home and get some sleep, becuase Fransisco is cold, and tired. Then, Marcellus (the other watchmen, and a scholar) and Horatio come into the play. The main reason that Horatio is there is because Marcellus and Bernardo (who hasn’t seen anything yet that night) want to prove to him that they have seen a ghost. Horatio does not believe them (“tush, tush, ’twill not appear.”) but sits down to hear them talk about this ghost that they have seen. After they discuss the spirit they have seen for the past two nights, the ghost appears. The ghost looks a lot like the dead king, and even Horatio admits that it haunts him. After Horatio “charges it to speak,” it vanishes. Horatio admits that it was definitely the dead king, and it even wore the armor he had on when he was fighting against Norway. He continues to explain (after Marcellus asks him) about how Prince Fortinbras wants to reclaim the land of Norway that the dead King took. Then the ghost reapears and Horatio attempts to speak to it once again. He asks it four questions (the four reasons a ghost might appear, to tell a secret, a warning, concealed treasure, or how he/she died). The ghost does not respond and vanishes again before dawn, and Marcellus even asks if he should strike at it with a spear. The men want to tell Prince Hamlet about what they have just seen.
Scene II: The Scene opens with the King giving a speech after his marriage to his former sister-in-law, Queen Gertruede (Prince Hamlet’s Uncle, and the dead King’s former wife). He says that this marriage should bring joy to the people of Denmark, in a time of a lot of mourning over the dead king. He then says that Prince Fortinbras wrote to him “importing the surrender of those lands lost by his father.” Claudius then gives his men a letter to Fortibras’s uncle, the King of Norway. Next, in a conversation with Laertes and his father Polonius. In the conversation Laertes gets permission to return to France, where he was before he arrived here, by Polonius and Laertes. The Next conversation is between Claudius and Prince Hamlet, who is dressed in all black, still mourning over his father’s death. However, Claudius believes that what Hamlet is doing is innapropriate, and that he should not still be dressed in all black to show his inner feelings. He says “your father lost a father; that father lost, lost his” meaning that everyone dies. He thinks that Hamlet should mourn, but not for so long, because it is unmanly. Additionally, Claudius does not want Hamlet to go back to Wittenberg, and Hamlet’s mother wants him to stay close to her, so Hamlet agrees. Claudius is very happy about this, and says that they will celebrate. Alone, Hamlet wishes to kill himself (if it wasn’t a sin) and says that he loves his parents a lot. He does not like it that Claudius has married his mother, only two months after his father died. Then the two watchmen and Horatio approach Hamlet, to eventually tell him what they have seen. Horatio knows Hamlet through school. He says he has come to Denmark for the funeral, and Hamlet tells him about the wedding. They then tell Hamlet about the ghost that is most likely the dead King. Hamlet then wants to watch guard with them that night in order to see the ghost of his dead father.
Scene III: At Laertes/Polonius’s house, Laertes is going back to France and tells his sister Ophilia not to fall in love with Hamlet. Laertes thinks that he is much too old, and that it wouldn’t happen because of Hamlet’s position in getting the crown. Ophilia agrees, and Laertes says that he will do the same, at Ophilia’s request. Polonius then gives Laertes a ton of advise about how to act while he is in france. He gives him advise about his actions, how he treats others, friends, and how to be basically an ideal man while he is in France. Then Polonius gives Ophilia the same advise about Hamlet that Laertes does, and says that Hamlet only pretends to love her, and that she needs to forget about him.
Scene IV: This scene starts off with Hamlet on watch with Horatio and Marcellus around midnight. Hamlet says that Claudius is parading around the city, and that’s why they hear all of the noises. Hamlet does not like this tradition at all, and thinks that it only makes the Denmark people look like fools. Then the ghost appears. Hamet starts talking to it, asking it why he has come, and the ghost motions Hamlet to go with him. Horatio does not want this to happen at all, and begs Hamlet not to follow him, because he might get hurt. Hamlet says that he probably won’t get hurt, and his should is immortal, so he really has nothing to loose. Even still, Hamlet is somewhat unsure of what’s going to happen to him, but he ends up following the ghost anyways. Marcellus thinks that this means something bad will happen to Denmark and that they should follow them. Horatio says that “Heaven will direct it,” but they follow them anyways.
Scene V: The ghost is speaking to Hamlet. The ghost says that he wants to tell Hamlet about his death, and tells him that he was murdered, and that he wants Hamlet to revenge him. The ghost says that he was poisoned by Claudius. He wants Hamlet to avenge his death, because Claudius is a disgrace to Denmark, and took away Gertrude’s true love of her first marriage. The Ghost then vanishes once again around dawn, and Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s death and set things right. The two watchmen run up to see what happened, and Hamlet tells them nothing, but makes them promise on his sword not to tell anyone about what happened, or what they saw. The ghost’s voice echoes “swear” and the two watchmen swear on the sword. Hamlet tells the watchmen that he will pretend to be crazy, but that they can’t tell anyone why or that he is actually not crazy. They leave, and it is now Hamlet’s mission to avenge his father.
Well, since I was not in this class first semester, I honestly cannot compare this project to the fall research paper. The fact that it was spaced out, on a week-by-week schedule helped me a lot. I think I probably learned more from this blog project than I would from a research paper, because the time I would have spent making my paper very formal, and all my words being “polished, and perfect,” I spent that time researching, and therefore now probably have a wider depth of knowledge on my poet. I also like the fact that I was able to see what other people were doing with their blogs, and even learned quite a bit about poets that were not my own, and was even able to use some of that in my posts. However, I found the research to be somewhat difficult, and was surprised at how little amount of blogs there actually were on my poet (of substance that is, I found a number of blogs simply giving a weak overview of Berryman’s life, and blogs that simply had one of his poems on it, with no comments or analysis whatsoever). I was surprised at how little valuable scholarly sources there were as well.
Side Note: These blogs were first written a long time ago, and my comment will not appear until the writer of this blog “confirms” my comment. So far, the author of the blog has not, so i don’t believe that my comments will appear. I copied and pasted them in a word document (you can find this below).
Although John Berryman did not have much influence from earlier poets, Berryman is often recognized as one of the founders of a whole new style of poetry, the Confessional style, which has been seen through poets such as Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and Allen Ginsberg. Throughout Berryman’s years, he was always a teacher, which shows that Berryman is an influencer rather than a person who is influenced. The most notable class that Berryman ever taught was the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa where he taught and mentored many famous poets, including Phil Levine.
“Phil Levine punched Berryman in the eye one night, breaking a pair of glasses and establishing a life-long friendship.”
It was this intensity that Berryman thrived off of, which is why most of the people who took his class, ended up dropping out. Berryman went to no ends to serve his students, although at times it seemed he was taking things too far, but it paid off. Robert Dana also noted that “but we were crazy too, crazy enough to hang in there with Berryman’s crankiness, brilliance, and cruelty.” The success of influencing his poets, such as Levine, is illustrated in Levine’s poem “On 52nd Street.”
“Down sat Bud, raised his hands,
The Dueces silenced, the lights
lowered, and breath gathered,
for the coming storm.”
“Late August of ’50,
NYC, the long summer of abundance,
and our new War.”
This poem (and Levine’s poetry in general) speaks about the hard times, labor, and grief in the working class in Detroit, which is where Levine was born and raised, representing a Confessional style of poetry (talking about the grueling times in one’s own life). This poem and its ideas can easily be seen in Berryman’s work in “Dream Song 5,” when he discusses a man also sitting at a bar, and the craziness of life, and all of the troubles it brings (referencing death), also showing that the troubles of the world will always be there, portrayed through a Confessional style (Berryman also experienced death).
“Mr Heartbreak, the New Man,
come to farm a crazy land;
an image of the dead on the fingernail
of a newborn child.”
Robert Dana, another award winning American poet, once noted that “it was a question of whether he influenced his students more than they influenced him.” Because Berryman was able to be around the only the best and the brightest of young poets throughout his entire life, Berryman was able to work with an innumerate amounts of talented poetry. Berryman has been quoted to say “As for the graduate students, some of their work they do is damned interesting,” and “Sometimes your kids prove awfully good, Snodgrass is well known now, and Billy Merwin.” Even outside the classroom, Berryman was known for being around other poets, and had a fairly strong relationship with T.S. Elliot, and Dylan Thomas. Inferring from this information, it was being around all of these well known poets, and all of their knowledge that allowed Berryman to truly develop his own style. Even Allen Ginsberg, who is said to be another classic Confessional poet (and a prominent member of the “Beat Poets”) knew Berryman. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Ginsberg had some influence on Berryman’s work, exemplified by the poem “Howl,” which definitely has many references to Ginsberg’s life ( biographical-references-and-allusions ).
Even though Berryman’s poetry was not influenced by Dylan Thomas, Berryman remarks that “it’s surprising, very surprising, because we used to knock around in Cambridge and London. Occasionally he’d show me a poem, or i’d show him a poem. He was very fond of making suggestions.” It is evident that Berryman had a lot of respect for Thomas stating “oh, he was far ahead of me” (in poetry) and used whatever knowledge he gained about Thomas’ style of poetry to further his own, unique writing style.
Berryman And Robert Lowell during a reading, thought to be the first public reading of the “Dream Songs.”
From reading only a brief, basic summary of John Berryman’s life, it is easy to see that he was not like the rest, and had a difficult time dealing with the many struggles the came forth early in his childhood. When diving into Berryman’s poetry I could tell early on, that this was unlike any other poetry I have ever read. It’s sporadic and unorganized, yet at the same time it felt as if every line had been carefully selected for a particular purpose, furthering the overall theme of explaining the many dark emotions of the world. Berryman is considered one of the founders of Confessional poetry, and although Berryman has fallen in love with many other poets, it is very rare that any specific influence has appeared in Berryman’s poetry. Because of Berryman’s confessional style of poetry, he tends to write about personal things, and the emotions and effects that have come from it. This leads to a lot of his poetry to stem from his thoughts, and written in his style, not the style of other poets before him.
When discussing T.S. Elliot in an interview, Berryman said “I only began to appreciate Elliot’s work much later, after I became comfortable in my own style.” Berryman did not want to write poetry that had already been written, because that poetry was already out there. Berryman wanted to write his own poetry, which can be illustrated by his teaching of various English topics throughout his life, which shows that rather than learn about other people’s poetry, Berryman wanted to present his ideas and teach others his thoughts on poetry and English. Even Shakespeare, who Berryman did tremendous amounts of research on, was not that large of an influence on Berryman’s poetry, and Shakespeare’s style of writing rarely appeared. Berryman noted that “Schwartz once asked me why it was that all my Shakespearean research had never showed up in any of my poetry, and I could not answer the question.” This quote shows that Berryman learned to love poetry, writing and English from many different sources, but when it came to writing his own poetry, Berryman strictly wrote in a way that was unique to him, one of the main ideas of confessional poetry. He used his own emotions, thoughts and ideas to write his own poetry, from the style of the poem, to the thematic ideas (For example, As a Kid, I believed in Democracy).
Berryman’s style of poetry is unique to almost any other early poet. The first thing that makes him unique is his language. His constant misspelling of words, even the most simplest of words are used often to create the mood of the poem. At the same time, Berryman chooses many words not found in everyday speech (unlike Robert Frost), and often uses a lot of ambiguous phrases (for example “woolen lover” and “they are shooting me full of sings”. An example of these different uses of speech is when Berryman notes in Dream Song 5 “Henry sats in de bar & was odd.” However, in Dream Song 127 Berryman writes “All souls converge upon a hopeless mote.” These two very different conflicting styles of language exemplify the idea that Berryman’s style of writing does not come from a particular source, but rather the language comes from whatever Berryman sees fit in order to further his theme. The language comes out of Berryman depending on the situation on the poem, further grounding his poetry in a confessional style.
Another unique aspect of Berryman’s poetry is the structure and tone that Berryman presents his poems. Michelle Luo’s statement that Berryman is “very non traditional in his form, and takes liberties with syntax and style” is absolutely correct. Completely unlike Emily Dickinson, Berryman has no structure, rhyme, or meter to his poetry. Berryman’s poetry, for the most part, serve to tell a story (another aspect of confessional poetry) whether it’s the tale of Henry’s life throughout over 300 poems, or the story of winter, a traveler, or a boy who lost his ball, Berryman uses a combination of imagery and more classic poetry to tell the story and the thoughts of the characters (as well as the thoughts of others).
“Again, his friend’s death made the man sit still
and freeze inside – his daughter won first prize -
his wife scowled over at him-
It seemed to be Hallowe’en.
His friend’s death had been adjudged suicide,
which dangles a trail.” (Dream Song 127).
This segment of the poem shows the powerful image of a man sitting frozen after the death of a friend, and yet also steers away from the poetry of Ezra Pound, or William Carlos Williams. It does this by steering away from the image and using lines like “his daughter won first prize” which obviously has nothing to do with the topic, and can be interpreted many different ways. It distorts the overall image, and adds a lot of ambiguity to the poem. In Pounds Poem A River Merchants Wife: A Letter he writes
“At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours,
forever, and forever, and forever,
Why should I climb the look-out?”
This poem paints a clear image, and the entire poem is based around putting the image as the main aspect. With Berryman’s sporadic lines, and lines placed away from the main story to help build the theme, there is little intertextuality between many of the imagists and Berryman.
The final thing that separates Berryman from the other poets is the topics that he chooses to cover in his poetry. It is obvious that most previous poets have written about deep topics that effect many people on a daily basis. However, none of the poets do it like Berryman. Berryman takes things one step further, and discusses things such as contemplating killing his father, suicide, hopelessness, the horrors of the world (Dream Song 1), and even metaphors of “operations of great delicacy on my self” (Dream Song 67). The darkness of these poems are unlike any other poet before him. The subject matter in Berryman’s poems are on a much more personal level than any of the earlier poets, giving the reader a dark sense of the horrors that people face in their everyday life, providing them with many different lessons coming out of reading Berryman’s poetry. Robert Lowell, another poet, states “At first the brain aches and freezes at so much darkness, disorder, and oddness. After a while, the repeated situations and their racy jabber become more and more enjoyable.”
From the themes to the structure of the poetry it is clear that Berryman invented “a style of writing that is clearly recognizable as his own and no one else’s.”
Berryman And Robert Lowell during a reading, thought to be the first public reading of the “Dream Songs.”