Blog Post #14; Hamlet Post #2

Hello internet, it's me again, King Claudius. So, I stumbled upon this movie last night when I was flipping throught the channels. I believe it was called Enchanted Ella, Ella Enchanted, something like that. There was this girl who did everything she was told, and she fell in love with this prince who had an uncle that took over the throne after his brother's death. Now, personally, I think there was too much focus on this weird obedient girl. The one who really intrigued me was the King. I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky he was that his blasted nephew didn't constantly get in the way of everything--Or at least not until many many years after he'd taken control of the throne. But the girl, oh, that girl, she gets in the way of literally everything. Such a troublemaker. They did not have to deal with the whole situation of 'uncle-father aunt-mother (2.2.325).' Aside from that, I was told that Fortinbras had given money 'so levied as before, against the Polack (2.2.74).' I feel like I should be slightly worried about his usage of my funds, but Polonius had much more important information to give me about Hamlet. After all, my well being is much greater than that of the kingdom's, right? He said to me, 'your noble son is mad: Mad I call it; for, to define true madness, whatt is't but to be nothing else but mad? (2.2.92-94)' Something had to be done about him. Or at least I needed to find some reason to take him down, send him out of the country maybe? England, perhaps? I don't know. All I can do now is hope he continues to dig himself into a hole 'of his own distemper (2.2.55).' I just keep hearing him talking about these players and some play, it seems to be his most recent source of raving. Just him in his room, repeating over and over again, "The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king, (2.2.532-533)" whatever that is supposed to mean. One can only imagine, with Hamlet. Until next time.
#EllaEnchanted #NotJustAChickFlick #Personal

Blog Post #13; Hamlet Post #1 Hamlet Act I blog post

Okay, I was holding off on saying all of this, but now that I'm on the internet, the most safest place in the world where no one will ever find any of my deepest rantings, I guess it's safe to talk about it. Well, I've done it. I've finally done it. I, Claudius, am the king. The other day I married, she is a beautiful woman, that Gertrude, 'Our sometimes sister, now our queen (1.2.8).' Of course in marrying her I also now have Hamlet, 'my cousin, and my son (1.2.117).' Though, he doesn't seem to like me much. Here I am, trying to help him out and make him more manly by telling him that mourning his father is 'unmanly grief, a fault to nature and to heaven (1.2.101-102),' so that he can look better, and quite honestly so that he can make me look better. But no, of course that can't happen. Ugh. That's just one more reason I cannot wait until the mourning period of 'our late dear brother's death (1.2.19)' has ended. Then, maybe I'll be able to make some changes. Do what should  have been done ages ago. So long as Hamlet doesn't get in the way of all of it. Then people may ask questions, and I could risk my Throne. Obviously, that is not an option. Everyone just needs to move on so that we can make some progress.  #KingClaudius4evr #NothingsRottenInTheStateOfDenmark

Blog Post #12 Character choice: King Claudius

     I chose to look deeper into the behavior of King Claudius for a few reasons. The first and most obvious, my name is Claudia, his is Claudius, they're essentially the same. But also, there's a lot of complexity to his character. His actions are slightly fishy in general; marrying his deceased brother's wife/his "sister," becoming king when logically, the throne should've gone to Hamlet. He also creates a lot of conflict for Hamlet internally, because of Hamlet's rage toward him, which the king further fuels by challenging Hamlet's manhood and morality. He's social media relevant because if this were twitter, he'd have one of those little blue badges by his name--people would follow him just because of his title, making him influential and important in an online setting.

Blog Post #11 "Who's There?"

Blog post #10 Dream Children, A Reverie, Thesis Revision

Carefully read the passage from “Dream Child; a Reverie,” paying special attention to descriptive details and sentence structure. Then, write an essay in which you analyze how Charles Lamb’s style contributes to his portrayal of his “dream children,” his grandmother, and his own childhood.

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Original Thesis:

Lamb's use of long phrases and large amounts of descriptiveness of his past and "dream" children portray how important both are to him by establishing a tone of reflection on old memories, and longing for a new generation to share in those memories.

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ARGUMENT/FOCUS   

Yes  Does my thesis statement address each part of the essay question?

No    Is the point I'm making one that would generate discussion and argument, or is it one

that would leave people asking, “So what?"

Yes   Have I focused on an interesting contradiction, tension or paradox between two things?

Example: “Although the escalation of violence in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men eventually results in two deaths, it is through violence that compassion is revealed when George, in a violent but merciful act, saves Lenny from cruel mob justice.”

A Bit  Is my thesis too vague? Too general? Should I focus on some more specific aspect of my

topic?

No    Does my thesis deal directly with the topic at hand, or is it a declaration of my personal

feelings (“I think”/ “I feel” statements)?

LANGUAGE

Yes  Does my thesis indicate the direction of my argument? Does it suggest a structure for

my paper?

Yes?  Is the language in my thesis vivid and clear? Have I structured my sentence so that the

important information is in the main clause? Have I used subordinate clauses to

house less important information? Have I used parallelism to show the relationship

between parts of my thesis? In short, is this thesis the very best sentence that it can be?

Yes   Is the thesis statement written as a complex sentence?ARGUMENT/FOCUS   

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Revised Thesis

In "Dream Child; a Reverie," Charles Lamb's use of long phrases and flowery language--for example, his description of  "the old melancholy-looking yew tree,"--regarding his past and his goals for the future portray how important both are to him by establishing a tone of reflection on old memories, but also a somberness that comes out of his longing for a new generation with whom to share in these memories. 

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Blog Post #9 Grammar Boot Camp

Blog Post #8 Roots Assignment