Response
Journal for Act 1, scene 1 to Act 1, scene 5.
1. How does the play make you feel at this point? Record
your emotional response(s) in a few sentences and then explore them for a few
minutes, trying to figure out why you feel as you do.
- At this point, I'm getting more and more excited about what
is going to happen next in the play. I am looking forward to how Prince Hamlet
is going to avenge his uncle, Kind Claudius, for his father's death. At first,
I thought that it's quite boring since I didn't really understand much about
the story. However, after watching and reading more about it, I got more
interested in the play as I understood more about it.
2. In what situations have your felt similar to the
characters? What persons, places, or ideas from your own experiences came to
your mind while you were reading this portion of the play? Try to list at least
three associations, but don't worry about trying to figure out why they came to
mind. Just accept that they occur.
a. In Act 1, scene 2, I felt exactly the same with what
Hamlet did. I think that it's too bad for him to see his mother's wedding just
only 2 months after his father passed away. If I were Hamlet, I would really
have no idea of what I should do. Should I feel angry because the Queen doesn't
really seem to care much about her husband's death or should I feel sad due to
the King's death? I really think that King Claudius is such a bad uncle. He
should, at least, arrange the marriage some time later if he really wants to
marry Queen Gertrude. But however, I think it's not appropriate for the old
King's brother to marry his wife.
b. In Act 1, scene 3, I agreed with what Polonius told Ophelia.
Since Polonius was her father, he would surely cared for her. I agreed that
Hamlet might break his vow any time he wanted. Hamlet was a price, however,
Ophelia didn't have that high rank that was good enough to marry him. So ,although,
Hamlet would really love Ophelia, it would be hard or even nearly impossible
that Hamlet could marry her. As we knew, the prince would only marry people of
the same rank, like princess from other countries.
c. In Act 1, scene 5, I had similar feeling to Hamlet when
he knew the real reason for his father's death. I didn't expect Kind Claudius
to be such a bad miscreant. At first, I only thought that he only took
advantage of Kind Hamlet's death to marry his own sister-in-law. However, I was
surprised to know that he was actually the one who murdered King Hamlet for Crown
and for Queen. If I were Hamlet, I would also want to avenge him for ruining my
life.
3. What portions of Shakespeare's language attracts your
attention? These might be individual words, phrases, lines, scenes, or images.
Make note of whatever features draw your attentions. Speculate for a few minutes
about what you think they might mean.
- I could imagine what is happening in the play in an image by
Shakespeare's language. Although his language was quite tough, it was very
interesting. The last scene of Act 1 really captured my attention. I liked how
he expressed the King Hamlet's feeling toward his own death by his own
brother's hand. The phrase that he explained about the reasons and how he was
murdered really showed that he was angry. The feeling that he needed revenge
showed out through his words. I think the line that best express his feeling is
the line that says " O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!" The repeated
words shows that it was really "horrible".
4. Make note of any portion of the play, its language, or
events that cause you problems. Note any questions that you might ask.
- Its language has caused me the biggest problem. Although its
language is one of the keys that makes this story interesting, it's quite
difficult to me since most of the conversations involve old English words. However,
if this play would be written in nowadays English, I think it would be less
interesting.
20/20
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