Be A Man

In Chinua Achebe's book "Things Fall Apart", Okonkwo has a strong and clear philosophy of what being man really means. This definition involves being everything that his father was not, and he is constantly in fear that he will become like his father.

Okonkwo takes in Ikemefuna, a young boy who has been taken from his village in family due to his father’s actions. Okonkwo begins to care for the boy and admires many of his qualities. He grows fond of him for the three years that he lives with his family, but things begin to crumble when he is faced with a decision on whether to be loyal or to be what he thinks defines him as a man. He is given a choice. He has the option to go into the woods and be a part of the death of Ikemefuna, or he can stay home because the others understand it may be difficult to destroy someone who has helped and positively affected your family. Okonkwo knows that the progress in the manhood of his son, Nwoye is because the influence that Ikemefuna has over him. “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son’s development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna” (Achebe 52). Okonkwo turns his back on the child who loved him like a father and who deserved more than he was given.

            Another way that Okonkwo “controls” his manhood is by holding full power and influence over his wife and children. It is apparent that he loves his children, some more than others, but he very rarely  admits to them that he loves him. He thinks that that affection and emotion makes him vulnerable, weak, and less than a man than he hopes to be. He wants to be a man, and so he thinks that the way to achieve this is by putting a guard up and never truly letting people in. “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like her mother, who was once the village beauty. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions” (Achebe 44). 

            There is no doubt that Okonkwo has total control over his wives. He has all of the power in the relationship with each of his wives. He tells them to do something, and they do it. End of story. If they fail to meet his standards and expectations, then they can expect a punishment, and an extremely angry Okonkwo.

            There are many ways to describe a man. It is very upsetting that Okonkwo’s definition of being a man leads him to be a part of the murder of a child who loved him and whom he loves, but never admitted. The wall Okonkwo put up guards him and prevents him from ever having true emotions and feelings for any of his wives or kids.

Key to Happiness

Most people have the same goal in life: to be happy. When I was a little girl, my dad used to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said that I wanted to be happy. We all have different definitions of what happiness is and how it can be achieved. For some, it means having a family, and for others, it means being successful in their career. Even though there are different ways to achieve happiness, it is what most of us strive for throughout our lives.

In this TED talk, David Steindl-Rast explains his belief that there is a direct connection between happiness and gratefulness. He believes that people are happy when they are grateful, and in every given moment, we have an opportunity to be grateful. There are some people who have everything they want, but have still not achieved the happiness that they hope for. Others have lives filled with hardships and challenges, but somehow find a way to create their own happiness.

Many people believe that happiness makes us grateful, but Steindl-Rast’s opinion contradicts this statement. He believes that gratefulness leads to happiness, and every given moment is a gift. We cannot be grateful for every moment in life because most of us will encounter some form of tragedy, but we can be grateful for the opportunity given in the moment. We always have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and respond to the opportunity given.

I agree with his ideas and concepts. We may not always be able to avoid the difficulties in life, but in every given moment, we have the opportunity to be grateful. Being grateful is the only way that we can achieve that happiness that we dream of. We may not be able to get everything that we want in life, but as long as we are grateful for what we have, we have the capacity to create happiness for ourselves, in a way that ungrateful people cannot.

Hamlet: Gossip Girl Style

            I think that it would be very fun to imagine what the play Hamlet would be like if it took place in a Gossip Girl setting. There are many similar themes, characters, and ideas that relate Hamlet to Gossip Girl which would be fun to explore. I think that they could relate because in the play Hamlet, he and his family have a very high social status because they are royal which is much like some of the characters in Gossip Girl. Denmark is like the equivalent of the New York in Gossip Girl. The people with a high status are the ones living in the Upper East Side. Hamlet would be a part of the Upper East Side and live an extremely privileged life. He and his family would have a very high status, which relates to their royal status in the play. Hamlet would be Chuck Bass and King Hamlet would be like a better version of Bart Bass. They are in general a very successful family with an extremely high status.  After Bart’s death, Jack Bass (Bart’s brother) wants to take over Bass Industries and goes to many extreme measures to get what he wants. King Claudius would be similar to a character like Jack Bass.

            If I were to stage Act 3, Scene 2 of Hamlet in a Gossip Girl and modern New York setting, I would have Hamlet be a privileged kid living a rich and fortunate life. He would be focusing on his education, and his father would be in control of a large company, which is why their family is so wealthy. Suddenly his father dies, and he is left to take over the company, but his uncle wants to take over the company as well. His uncle goes to many extremes to try to take over the company and sees Hamlet as a threat. Hamlet finds out that his uncle killed his father with the intentions of taking over the company and tries to get revenge on his uncle. 

            In the actual scene, Hamlet comes up with a plan to put on a play to try to get Claudius to feel so guilty about what he has done that he has to confess. I would keep the intentions of Hamlet’s plan, but change it to something more modern. I would make this more like sabotage and more of a take down by having Hamlet anonymously spread and leek (onto the internet) what his uncle has done to try to cause controversy and make sure that his uncle cannot take over the company.

           

"To Be or Not To Be"

These are two different versions of Hamlet's "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy: 

Hamlet portrayed by Ethan Hawke:

Hamlet portrayed by Kenneth Branagh:

            In the first video, Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet. I think that this is a decent portrayal of Hamlet because it is very different than what is expected. This version was interesting because the soliloquy started off in his head, and during the middle, he began to actually speak. I think this was a unique choice because sometimes when we are talking to ourselves, the thoughts are in are heads. Other times, we talk to ourselves out loud. Even though I thought that it was very interesting to watch, I disagree with some of the choices that the director made. I think that it was strange for Hamlet to just be casually walking around and talking in a video store because the content in his soliloquy is a very serious topic. It seemed to me as if he doesn’t care as much as he should. “To be or not to be” is referring to whether or not he should kill himself, and in my opinion, it did not seem like he was taking the topic seriously.

            I preferred the second portrayal of Hamlet, and I think that Branagh did the soliloquy justice, especially in comparison to Hawke. I really liked how it was filmed with Hamlet in the mirror, and I thought that he did a better job in trying to show the severity of the situation and how Hamlet feels. Hamlet is going back and forth trying to decide whether to kill himself or not. Branagh does a great job showing how serious Hamlet is about the situation and how his thoughts about killing himself are an actual possibility. I thought that the ending of the soliloquy was great because he pulls out a dagger. I read this as a sign of how close he is to killing himself. He pulls out the dagger to show us how close to suicide he really is and how he does not want to deal with the pain and suffering that he is currently experiencing.

            I liked the second video more because I thought that Branagh did a better job emphasizing the point and key topic of the soliloquy. It was a more realistic and believable portrayal of Hamlet’s soliloquy than Hawke’s. 

Revised "Miniver Cheevy" Introduction

Original:

      Edwin Arlington Robinson uses the character Miniver Cheevy to show that people are always going to have challenges in their life, but the best way of handling these situations is to accept them, so we can receive positive results. He uses characterization to prove that issues in life should be embraced, and people should live in the present instead of dreaming about the past. Certain things cannot be controlled, and we should not try to change them. In the poem “Miniver Cheevy”, Edwin Arlington Robinson depicts Miniver Cheevy as a child reminiscing about life in a different time period, to send his readers a message about living in the present and adjusting to situations we have no control over.

Revised:

Edwin Arlington Robinson uses the character Miniver Cheevy to show that people always have challenges, but we should try to create our own happiness. Robinson depicts Miniver as child who wishes he were never born, then talks how Miniver wants to live in another time. To close the poem, Robinson portrays Miniver as someone who will continue to pity and make himself miserable. In the poem “Miniver Cheevy”, Robinson depicts Miniver Cheevy as a child who reminisces about another life, to show us that we should live in the present and adjust to the situations we have no control over.

Portrayals of Ophelia in Hamlet

While reading Act 1, Scene 3 of “Hamlet”, I made my first impression of Ophelia. My first impression of Ophelia is that she respects her brother, father, and their opinions, but at the same time, she has opinions of her own. Many people view Ophelia as a very mild character, who has no say and listens to the people above her. In my opinion, I think that Ophelia actually has some strong opinions, and despite how her father and brother are warning her about Hamlet, she respects their thoughts but keeps what she wants in mind. She is still listening to what they say, but she does not live her life and make all of her personal decisions solely based on what they think.  Portrayals of Ophelia in Hamlet

After watching the portrayal of Ophelia by Mariah Gale in the movie Hamlet, I was pleased, but also disappointed by the performance. I think that she did a great job showing that Ophelia is actually opinionated, especially when she discusses how Laertes is being somewhat hypocritical because he is being selfish and leaving to go to France. When she says “Do not, as some ungracious pastors do/Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven/Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine/Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads/And recks not his own rede (1.3.51-55), I think it was a little too over the top. Ophelia has her opinions about what to do, but based on my observations and impression of Ophelia, she would still listen and respect what her family is saying. Instead, the actress, from the very beginning of the scene, made it obvious that she did not care about what her family is saying, and she used a sarcastic tone throughout the whole scene.

I think that in Hamlet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Helena Bonham Carter did a great job of portraying Ophelia. Ophelia is a very hard character to portray because there is really no way to perfectly portray her; there is no right or wrong way. We do not have an exact understanding of her character, and everyone is going to have different opinions about how she should be played. I think that Carter did a great job of portraying Ophelia because she had a good balance of caring about what her family thinks and keeping in mind her own opinions. I could tell that she was still respecting their opinions about Hamlet, but at the same time, she also maintains her own thoughts about Hamlet.