Blog Comments

All comments on Eric Chen's blog! I didn't know if we had to make seperate post of all the comments or not, but my comments are on Eric's posts!

Blog 1:

Moe A.K.A. MohsinMarch 3, 2013 at 9:18 PM

Oh my dear Gertrude I am so happy to hear that you approve of my love for you and Hamlet when I said "Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to you father. But you must know your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow" (1.2.87-92). I am so happy that you know how much I love Hamlet as if he were my own son! However I disagree that you think that I'm trying so hard to seem happy when I said "Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen...In equal scale weighing delight and dole-Taken to wife" (1.2.8-14) I did it because I love you with all my heart! I'm doing it because I want you to love me more and more!

Blog 2: 

Moe A.K.A. MohsinMarch 4, 2013 at 1:32 AM

Oh my dear Gertrude, you misunderstood Polonius' intentions when he told Reynaldo "And let him ply his music" (2.1.72) He is just trying to keep Laertes a good honest man! He is only looking out for him. But I do agree that I am only trying to help Hamlet when I said to Polonius "We will try it" (2.2.169) I only wish for him to get out of his depression and back to the glorious light that is Denmark!
`Claudius

Blog 3:

Moe A.K.A. MohsinMarch 4, 2013 at 1:37 AM

Gertrude my dear I immensely agree when you say "Do no forever with they vailed lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust....All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity" (1.2.70-73) Its true that mourning for him forever is bad and unsightly! But my love I only say "How may we try it further" (2.2.161) for you my love, because if you lose Hamlet, I will lose you and that I cannot bear even the thought of that is ghastly and sour.

Blog 4:

Moe A.K.A. MohsinMarch 4, 2013 at 1:46 AM

My Gertrude I agree I was shaken and quivering with shock when Hamlet said "With a bare bodkin?" (3.1.21) and pulled out his dagger and looked at the mirror in which I was behind. I was in shock as to how it looked as if he knew I was right behind it! However I disagree that Branagh's version was the best in that it just didn't have that dramatic feel that Opera gives in a scene of monologue even though Hamlet said "nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," (3.1.58-59)this is supposed to be a very impactful line, but it didn't rouse any strong feelings in me.
~Claudius

Blog 5: 

Moe A.K.A. MohsinMarch 4, 2013 at 1:52 AM

I agree ,my sunshine in this dark night, that you are right about Ophelia when Seng said “divined the memories that may underlie it in Ophelia’s deranged mind" (Seng, 218)I feel the same sorrow and more for her now that Polonius is dead...He was a great man! But I do disagree that you were simply giving her room to cope with her father's death when Seng said "The distraught girl could hardly turn to King Claudius, and the ‘beauteous Majesty of Denmark,’ Gertrude, has apparently, been avoiding her" (Seng, 218) It seemed to me that you just didn't want to deal with grief from losing someone to death as you lost someone already.
~Claudius

Blog 6: 

Moe A.K.A. MohsinMarch 4, 2013 at 1:58 AM

Oh reading this lights up my day and gives me great joy! But I disagree that you fell in love with me in "two months...nay, not so much, not two" (1.2.138) You and I had always had a powerful connection and love even when you didn't know it. But I do agree that my dear brother is out of his mind when he says "Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, So lust, though to a radiant angel linked, Will sate itself in a celestial bed And prey on garbage" (1.5.54-57) How dare he imply you a whore when you're an angel just like T-Swift calls Stephen when in my opinion your my angel!

Betrayal

Die Young

 

"Die Young" By Ke$ha Lyrics   

I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums

Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone

So while you're here in my arms

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

We're gonna die young

We're gonna die young

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

Young hearts, out our minds

Running 'til we outta time

Wild child's lookin' good

Living hard just like we should

Don't care who's watching when we tearing it up (You Know)

That magic that we got nobody can touch (For sure)

Looking for some trouble tonight (yeah)

Take my hand, I'll show you the wild, side

Like it's the last night of our lives (uh huh)

We'll keep dancing 'til we die

I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums

Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone

So while you're here in my arms,

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

We're gonna die young

We're gonna die young

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

Young hunks, taking shots

Stripping down to dirty socks

Music up, gettin' hot

Kiss me, give me all you've got

It's pretty obvious that you've got a crush (you know)

That magic in your pants, it's making me blush (for sure)

Looking for some trouble tonight (yeah)

Take my hand, I'll show you the wild, side

Like it's the last night of our lives (uh huh)

We'll keep dancing 'til we die

I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums

Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone

So while you're here in my arms,

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums

Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone

So while you're here in my arms

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

We're gonna die young

We're gonna die young

Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

 

If your reading this then it means that I have perished at the hands of Hamlet. He killed me with my own poison laced wine. He force fed me the wine from anger after Gertrude drank from the cup that I put poison in when I said during the duel between Laertes and Hamlet to the court that, "The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn." (5.2.259-262) The glass itself was laced with poison. So when he force fed me the wine, I was posioned by my own wine when Laertes says "It is a poison temper'd by himself." (5.2.329) Alas I was not able to rid myself of Hamlet and his vengeful ways. Even England was tricked, they executed the wrong people, "To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:" (5.2.374-375) Hamlet tricked England when he says to Horatio that "Folded the writ up in form of the other, Subscribed it, gave't the impression, placed it safely, The changeling never known." (5.2.53-55) Hamlet was well informed of my actions, I believe someone was spying on me, but now that I am dead, I can't do anything about it.

I want this song, Die Young By Kesha to be played at my funeral. This song is perfect because it represents me. It shows how Gertrude and I got married when Kesha sings "Take my hand, I'll show you the wild, side" (Kesha) Gertrude and I getting married is shown in Hamlet's monologue, "...yet, within a month-- Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!--" (1.2.145-146) These lines are similar in that they show how Gertrude accepted me as her husband and became my wife. The line "We'll keep dancing 'til we die" (Kesha) is about how I always celebrated for a long time when, I say "in grace whereof, No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day, But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, And the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again, Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away." (1.2.124-128) I have always celebrated as if it were my last day to live, for I "die young" (Kesha) anyway. Hamlet kills me while I'm still in my prime as the younger brother of King Hamlet.

Although I am Gertrude's husband now, my brother was her husband before as stated in this line of the song: "Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone" (Ke$ha) which is the same as what Hamlet says: "So excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly." (1.2.139-142) It was a shame that she was with my brother when I love her even more than him! He didn't deserve her! I proved my love for her when I tried to stop her from drinking the posioned wine when I said "Gertrude, do not drink." (5.2.286) I have always loved her with all my heart!

I made the most of my brother's death by marrying Gertrude which relates to the line that Kesha sings: "Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young" (Kesha). In this line she is saying lets make most of what we have until we die which I did as Hamlet so clearly tells us, "...But two months dead..." (1.2.138) and in "...married with my uncle,..." (1.2.151) I mean like seriouskly, should I be like Hamlet who keeps mourning or just move on with my life and be happy which is exaclty what I did, I married Gertrude and lived happliy until Hamlet's maddness ruined things! Curse you Hamlet! You just had to ruin my life and kill me didn't you? Sigh this is my last post to you my beloved readers for now that I am dead I cannot write anymore. I would come back from the depths of death just to write more, but alas I cannot so this is good bye and good night!

~Claudius

Madness

Oh how sad it is to find out in the Speare Daily that our dead Ophelia has gone mad from grief! If only she had not seen the body of her father that day when Hamlet killed him thinking it was me behind the curtain eavesdropping on him and Gertrude. But what really agitates me is that this Seng fellow believes that Gertrude had an "...inadequate mourning for King Hamlet, and perhaps for worse offences as well." (Seng 218) He is stating that my dear Gertrude was being mocked by the mad Ophelia when Ophelia sang, “Which bewept to the ground did not go With true-love showers.” (4.5.38-39) He dares mock my Gertrude that she is a whore and didn’t mourn for my brother as she should have done?! How dare he! Does he not know that she was reluctant at first to marry me! I was with her all the time! Gertrude “…would hang on [me]…” (1.2.143)

But he is right about one thing, “Her father has been killed- by her mad lover as she believes- and hastily interred.” (Seng 218) It is true Hamlet, my son killed Polonius. Hamlet himself admits that, “Indeed this counselor Is now most still… (3.4.219) Hamlet has gone mad with paranoia! He acts as if every person who is conspiring against him when he tells Gertrude that “…my two schoolfellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,” (3.4.207-208) he thinks that even his close friends from school are conspiring against him and doesn’t even trust them even the slightest bit anymore! He is worse than Ophelia is in her madness!

But alas tis sad that young Ophelia mourns her father even more and more and young Seng over here thinks that Polonius’ death was his own doing when he says “…it is his spying, sneaking, and eavesdropping that finally brings about his own death.” (Seng 221) How can he say that innocent Polonius who I even said “As of a man faithful and honorable.” (2.2.131) brought about his own death! That’s preposterous! He was only doing what I asked of him!

Polonius was nothing more than a victim of Hamlet’s revenge towards me for murdering his father! His father deserved to die! If I had not killed him, he would have passed the kingdom unto young Hamlet and I would never have been anything but the brother who had nothing but a name! But back to dear Ophelia who sang as if she were in her right mind in the way she sounded and her voice was so beautiful. She spoke the truth, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark-me murdering King Hamlet! Also the death of her father as she sings in grief for him. She was such a sad sight that I cringed in my boots when I saw her! Oh I wish she never saw the body for then I could have told her that he’d gone on a business trip to England for me. Sigh….Hamlet must leave Denmark at once for this vile act of his!  

To be or Not to be....a Movie Director

1.     1.    The imagery that refers to the uncertainty of death is

1.    "'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, / To sleep-perchance to dream- ay, there's a rub;"(3.1.63-65).

2.    "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled in off his mortal coil..."(3.1.66-67)

2.    Identify imagery that refers to the negative experiences of life is

1.    "...a sea of troubles," (3.1.66)

2.    "...mind to suffer..." (3.1.58)

3.    "The heartache and the thousand natural shocks" (3.1.63)

3.    Appeals: Which appeal(s) does Hamlet use to convince and/or motivate his audience?

·         Pathos: Appeal to the emotions or interest of the audience

o    The following quotes help to convey how Hamlet feels about life and how he appeals to the emotions and interests of the audience. He makes us know his feeling by what he says in a dramatic way.

o    “To be, or not to be: that is the question:”(3.1.56)

o    “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” (3.1.58)

o    "To grunt and sweat under a weary life," (3.1.78)

o    “Be all my sins remember’d” (3.1.90)

·         The significance of all of these literary devices is to emphasize how strongly Hamlet feels about life and death. If these devices weren't in there, the soliloquy would be very boring and pointless to the point that the reader or audience would fall asleep. The primary metaphor Hamlet uses is "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them?" (3.1.58-61) This metaphor is very important in the impact it has on the audience how much emphasis it puts on how hard life is in the world. Hamlet is trying to get across towards the audience is that death is inevitable and will come to all. Dealing with loss is a hard thing, but we have to deal with it because life goes on and your loved ones that are gone now wouldn't want you to mourn them forever, they would want you to move on and live your life in a better way.

 Today I watched several different versions of Hamlet's soliloquy on youtube.com You all my devoted readers know how much fun it is to watch videos on YouTube. You should see all those funny super cat videos. I'm sure the King of England would thoroughly enjoy that hahaha. But alas my guilt got worse and worse as I watched each video. In Kenneth Branagh's version of the To be Or Not to be soliloquy, He is very quietly whispering as if thinking out loud as he stands in front of the mirror in which I am behind. He has some make up on his face as seen by the light rosy hue on his cheeks. As usual my son Hamlet, is wearing his dark black cloths as if still mourning. I see his face through the mirror as he quietly talks to himself, as I listen my heart is beating normally, but when he takes out the sword, my heart starts beating dramatically! I felt as if he was gonna stab me right through the mirror! I was relieved when he put down the sword!

In Laurence Olivier's version, Hamlet as Laurence Olivier there is rushing water. He is doing a monologue because I'm not there and neither is anyone else. He's by himself on top of a tower by the ocean just like a tower that Rapunzel might have lived in except that there were stairs leading to the top. And in this version, Hamlet had a small dagger instead of a sword as in Kenneth Branagh's version. Also in this version, Hamlet is wearing a prince outfit, and since the video is black and white, I cannot tell if he is wearing make-up or not but I suspect he is since most actors and actresses do to bring out their looks and facial features. There is a focus on Hamlet only, and not much of the background except for the sound of the rushing waves against the cliff. This made me feel guilty in the way Hamlet described "...a sea of troubles" (3.1.66) which hit the very core of my being all the way towards the good part in me which made me feel awful about the deed I have committed!

In Mel Gibson's version, Hamlet as Mel Gibson there is the sound of steps as Hamlet walks down the steps towards the tomb of my brother, the older Hamlet. Also there is monologue again to himself because as I said before, I'm not in the room or in the scene at all, and no one else either for that matter. There are no props used in this version unless you call the tomb stone of my brother a prop hahaha..... sigh as days go by I feel guiltier and guiltier about the murder...Uhh but let us get back to Mel Gibson's acting. Just like Kenneth Branagh's cloths of mourning, Mel Gibson was wearing similar cloths in the color and mood he gave off as gloomy and mournful. I think He had some make up on and had a nicely groomed beard. There is a focus on Hamlet's face to show the emphasis on his emotions and to get the audience to feel the same things Hamlet is feeling in his soliloquy.

In Ethan Hawke's version, Hamlet as Ethan Hawke there is some background music to keep the reader attentive on the tone of Hamlet's monologue. He is walking through the aisles of a Blockbuster video rental store. He starts out by walking through the action aisle which is ironic in that Hamlet has done nothing yet to expose me as the murderer of his father the Older Hamlet. He has on casual clothing and a hoodie on his head to imply that it is cold outside. He has no make-up on that I can see on him. There is a focus on him and the background so that the audience gets a feel of the setting as he walks and can see the irony in his words. This version in particular made me feel guilty and anxious as to when Hamlet will confront me on murdering his father...I hope never, but alas, he will do it eventually...

The Kenneth Branagh's version is the most effective because he produces a real fear in me when he points the dagger at the mirror in which I am right behind fearing for my life. I feel that inspiring fear in me is most vital to make the delivery seem so real and personal at the same time that I quiver in my shoes. He had the expression of a mad man as he does all the time now a days on his face when he gripped the dagger as if he would at any second stab me through the mirror. If he hadn't made me fearful there would have been no impact and the soliloquy would have been unmoving and pointless.

There are very few things I would have changed about Kenneth Branagh's version of the soliloquy because he did it in such a fashion that made me fearful for my life. I would have changed his facial expression to one more of a scolding and murderous intent than that of a sad mournful little boy who can't get over his father! I mean like come on, its been more than four months, get over it already! He asks like such a baby that I'm surprised he wants to kill me! Haha he's just very ridiculous! That is the only thing I would change so that the mood is more dark and eerie and more terrifying that it inspires fear in the hearts of the audience as it did in mine. 

~Claudius

Burden

As the days go by, my son, Hamlet's "change" is getting worse and worse everyday. Today he put on a play of revenge depicting my cruel act of lust for power. My fears have come to pass, he knows my cruel deed. I realized as soon as the Player Queen said the lines, "In second husband let me be accursed! None wed the second but who killed the first." (3.2.165-166) She is explicitly implying that the brother killed the king and now has married the old king's wife. Thus this is the exact same deed that I have done.

I feel like a fire is raging inside me! As soon as Hamlet told me the name of the play was, "The Mouse Trap" (3.2.252) I felt like a cauldron started bubbling itself inside me and gradually became a burning flame of anger and guilt as he causally describes the plot as, "This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna. Gonzago is the duke's name, his wife Baptista. You shall see anon. 'Tis a knavish piece of work, but what o' that? Your majesty and we that have free souls, it touches us not. Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung." (3.2.252-257) It was as if he were deliberately mocking in front of the court! I was also caught off guard how much the play resembled my cruel deed.

When the Hamlet says "...he poisons him i' th' garden for 's estate. His name Gonzago. The story is extant, and writ in choice Italian. You shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife." (3.2.244-247) I was furious and felt like he was trying me in a court of England! (No Offense to the King of England of course) I also felt a striking tang of guilt as I walked away slowly towards my chambers to rest for the night. But my guilt was so strong that I ended up going to the chapel instead. I told God "Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven. It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder. Pray can I not. Though inclination be as sharp as will..." (3.3.37-40)

The guilt of the murder I committed is weighing heavy on my conscious and can be seen  in the way I write to you, The Kings and Queens of the World. I felt even more guilty and trembled when I saw Hamlet had tried to kill me in my own Chapel. He does not know yet, that I saw him through the wooden wall. I swear I could hear his thoughts murmuring "Now might I do it pat, Now he is a-praying. And now I'll do 't. And so he goes to heaven." (3.3.74-75) I was so terrified that my hands were trembling when I wrote to you today my friends. I feel as tho I have begun my own undoing by murdering my brother. Oh how the guilt eats me away....

Exposé of Hamlet

Agent 86 is at a stake out in a restaurant in Russia and goes to the bathroom and where he sees two suspicious looking Russian thugs that are connected to KAOS. He says "You know what? I will tell you, I love your country. No more communism, no rules of any kind, really. I'm filling my suitcase with steroids and art from ancient Mesopotamia, ran over an old woman yesterday, best vacation I ever had!" to the Russians so as to remove any suspicion from himself that he's spying on them. The movie is about Maxwell Smart, analyst for the secret spy agency CONTROL, alongside the experienced Agent 99, must prevent KAOS, an enemy agency from Russia, from bringing disaster to America. There is a double agent who is helping KAOS from inside CONTROL.

What shall I do about Hamlet's "change"? He is one person in front of others, but when he's by himself, he is a totally different person. Why has this sudden change come over him? For this very question I have asked his closest friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to hang out with him and find out what bothers him because as my dear wife has said, "And sure I am two men there are not living to whom he more adheres" (2.2.20-21) Hamlet trusts those two with his life and may very well confide in them as to what has caused this sudden change in him.

Polonius tells me he has discovered the reason to why Hamlet has "changed". My dear Gertrude tells me it can only be one thing, Hamlet is distraught because of "His father's death and our o'erhasty marriage" (2.2.57) I want to change Hamlet's ill will towards me so I have made plans to get kill this ill will towards me and free my conscious of my brother's murder. Polonius tells me that Hamlet is in "...hot love on the wing..." (2.2.133) with Ophelia and that his love for Ophelia has driven him mad with love and thus caused this change in him. Polonius seeks to have him and I spy on Hamlet when "At such time I'll loose my daughter to him" (2.2.163). He wants to see for himself if Hamlet is truly in love with Ophelia and is mad because of it. I hope for Hamlet's sake that he is right otherwise I may have to hire some "company" to rid me of him, but I hope it never comes to that. If the worst comes to the worst, I shall send him off for a while to England for negotiations. I'm sure Gertrude will agree with me this time.

I suspect that he has discovered that I have killed his father. What can I say? Would no other ruler do the same thing if they saw that they could have power and supremacy? Young Fortinbras' Uncle is close to his death since he had to send messengers to him because Young Fortinbras “...levies, which to him appeared to be a preparation 'gainst Polack, but, better looked into, he truly found it was against your highness."(2.2.62-65) Young Fortinbras is already disobeying him and is very much likely to kill him and assume the throne and try to gain back the land my brother won from King Fortinbras. Young Fortinbras is very much like a double agent just like Agent 23 who worked for KAOS while undercover in CONTROL. I will bet my life on that Young Fortinbras is hiding his true intentions from his Uncle and will continue to threaten Denmark.