To be honest, I really enjoy the tragedy of Hamlet. I think it's such a thrilling and exciting piece of literature. It's a story one can really sink their teeth into. I feel like the story never slows down and that's one is constantly finding new information out throughout that keeps adding to the drama till it all comes to a head in the last act. There are just so many twists and turns to the actual play that it keeps you on your toes till the very end. The whole plot is just gripping and the characters are so enthralling and upsetting at the same time. It's one of those stories where, throughout it, you keep picking characters you want to see end up dying or characters you want to applaud and see conquer at the end. Of course, those opinions can also swap throughout the story which I also find is something that makes the story so enthralling. The characters really do make this story worth reading or checking out. Each one has their own story-lines and their own faults that add just the right amounts of drama throughout the whole of the play. They never seem to calm down. You can tell by reading the play that these characters are all passionate about everything they do. Every character serves a purpose, at least in my opinion.
Now, for how we went about learning the play in class, I thought worked out well. I like reading plays in class in conjunction with watching it's movie. It gives us a visualization which I think is needed. Shakespeare's writing is a trouble spot for many students, myself included at times, so actually seeing what Shakespeare is saying brings a lot more understanding to the literature in my opinion. I think it's a must for any of Shakespeare's plays purely because the language content can create such a barrier for students. Plus, some students actually end up getting drawn to the play because the movie enthralls them and they want to know what will happen next. I think when that happens, a greater effort is put into trying to decipher the language. For example, I, despite many of my classmates opinions, enjoyed Kenneth Branaugh's interpretation of Hamlet. While we were reading through the play and watching it on the screen, I kept thinking to myself that some of his interpretations were spot on. They were just how I imagined them in my own head. I felt that he portrayed Hamlet perfectly. His mannerisms and whole body language just fit the character so well. I loved when he was going "crazy" and every that he said those lines. His facial expressions were amazingly accurate to me.
For my favourite character, Ophelia, I also thought the Kate Winslet played a wonderful Ophelia. I just wish we could have done more with her character because I love her tragedy so much more than Hamlet's tragedy. Her character is what captures me every time. I loved how she was portrayed though and how she was shown to be a woman on a mission in the video (when she had the key hidden in her mouth even that's not in the original play). She actually does something about her grief: She drowns herself and she sings while she's dragged down beneath the blue of the brook. Hamlet whines and makes everything all about him until the very end of the play. Ophelia's death is mentioned in passing. We don't get a major scene devoted to her death and her sorrow. We only get a scene meant to hi-light her madness and presumably compare it to Hamlet's "madness." Ophelia's melancholy and sorrow actually drove her to action. The amount of inactivenss of Hamlet throughout the play is almost breaching excessiveness by the end. The lack of insight into Ophelia is my only problem with both the play and the movie.
Now that I have finished my rant, let's go onto what I thought about what we did and are doing for Hamlet in class. I liked the Twitter mini-project we did for the play. I thought that was really interesting and made us get more interested in reading through the play so we could make our "tweets." I also, truly, love the blogging. I think it's a great way for us to relay our thoughts and questions about the play to our classmates and you (Mrs.Wats!). I thought all the deadlines for the blogs were also comfortable and give us enough time to get them done. I've never blogged for another class so I thought this blogging has been really interesting and a lot better than having to write essays every week in class about these topics you've given us for the blogs. And the playbills? I love this project! I love anything where we can implement our own "arts n' craftiness" into the lesson. I think this project really lets us get our say about the play and gets us thinking really about the characters.
Overall, I felt like we really did learn and understand many different aspects of Hamlet through all of the different facets we did in class. I really like the projects we have done in order to learn about the play too (especially when I compare these projects to other ones I've done in prior English classes...these were much more painless to accomplish). I had a lot of fun reading through this play in conjunction with watching the movie. I felt like I understood and grasped the play much better and faster than I have understood plays I've done in other classes. Hamlet made sense earlier on leaving me with more time to delve into the characters and the plot of the play.
*P.S: sorry for posting late!
