Dealing with death so far in AP Lit

There are many similarities between Hamlet and other pieces we have read this year in AP Lit. When one looks at similar themes throughout all the novels, short stories, and plays we have read, the most prevalent is dealing with death. In The Things They Carried, this theme is a constant struggle for the author and many other characters as they readjust to civilian life after the war in Vietnam.  Some of the characters have trouble coping with the destruction they saw during the war and kill themselves as a means to put an end to the memories. In Mrs. Dalloway, Septimius Smith suffers from a sever case of PTSD after he returns home after World War One. He too decides to kill himself, however, he does it as a way to avoid the mental therapy he was set to receive. In The Dead, Gabriel must deal with what appears to be the death of his marriage once he learns his wife still has feeling for a boy from her childhood and realizes his marriage has turned cold and desolate. Although death is never directly discussed in The Wasteland, there are indirect references to it and the First World War. If one examines the scene where the author writes about the quietness and abandonment of the Thames River, the reader can interpret this as being due to the death of a country's liveliness because of the costs of the war.  In Hamlet, Hamlet struggles to deal with the death of his father. Hamlet learns the death was a murder and is conflicted with how to go about righting this injustice; this quest eventually leads to Hamlet losing his sanity and much more. The theme of dealing with death is present in all of the pieces we have read this year, in one way or another.

Ophelia- the odd woman out

In Hamlet, the character Ophelia seems very strange and seems to serve a particular purpose. So far, the reader has seen Ophelia as a loving daughter, a caring sister, a timid lover, and a mad woman. These are a lot of roles for one character to fill; even with Hamlet, the reader only sees him as a vengeful son and an insane prince. Because of these many roles she plays, she is different. She acts as an element that holds the storyline together and move it along when it is necessary. For example, at the end of act four, Ophelia's actions serve as an impetus to the play's story line while also adding an additional layer of complexity. Not to ruin act four for anyone who has not read it yet, but Ophelia falls into a creek and drowns.  This throws Laertes back into a crazed rage Claudius just calmed him down from. Ophelia also embodies many of the play's themes, such as madness and tragedy. Once she loses her father, she seems to fall off the proverbial deep end. Later, her madness leads to her tragic death when she decides to sing to herself instead of trying to get to shore. Ophelia is an odd character who ties many aspects of Hamlet together.  

Hamlet post 2

So far in Hamlet, many of the key themes have been very apparent . The largest theme, tragedy, has been seen since the first scene of the first act, with the appearance of the ghost of old Hamlet. Although this is unknown to the reader until later in the act, this is where the evidence of Old Hamlet's murder first appears.  This occurs in the fifth scene; the smaller theme of remorse is also seen in this scene. When Older Hamlet first tells Young Hamlet about his murder, Older Hamlet seems to be hold remorse for some of his actions during his life because he talks about he was was murdered before he could make up for some of his sins. Another large theme that has been seen by the end of the second act is Hamlet's insanity. This was seen when Young Hamlet goes to Ophelia and acts in an odd manner. This could have in part been due to seeing his father's ghost, but this also causes the reader to question  whether or not he saw a ghost. The two themes of tragedy and insanity have been two of the largest theme so far in Hamlet

Hamlet post 1

Shakespeare's Hamlet drastically differs from any other piece of his I have read in the past. While I have only read two other pieces of Shakespeare before hand (Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night), it is easy to see they are different in many ways. Of the two, the most different from Hamlet is Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night follows a cross dressing woman through her part in a mysterious love triangle. It is a comedy. This kind of play is completely different form the sort of play Hamlet is. Romeo and Juliet is more similar, though still very different. While it does focus on the final tragedy between the love struck rebels, Romeo and Juliet distracts from this with its romantic aspect. Hamlet does not seem to any other large theme associated with it to distract from this. It is also important to note that the types of tragedies from both pieces is different. In Romeo and Juliet, the story is considered a tragedy because the two young lovers kill themselves out of grief of losing the other while at the prime of their lives. This heart wrenching type of tragedy is very different from the type seen in Hamlet. As we discussed in class the other day, Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, where the avenger becomes consumed by the hatred of  the villain and eventually takes on an identical person because of it. Hamlet is a unique piece of literature, even when compared to other works of Shakespeare.