Hamlet Act 1

I feel as though nothing significant happened in the first time two scenes. The first two scenes were to set the ground for the rest of the play. It introduced the background so that the readers were informed about what happened and how it happened. I really enjoyed how Shakespeare presented Old Hamlet's Ghost. It was necessary for Old Hamlet ghost to appear in the first scene of the play because that is what the entirety of the play was based on. If he were introduced any later in the play then the play would be lengthier. I noticed that in many of Shakespeare play's he portrays ghost as characters. These ghost are fundamental to the storyline of the plays. If Shakespeare did not include Old Hamlet's ghost I think the story would have taken a totally different toll. Also, the setting of the play seems very somber and suspenseful. " Thou are a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. Looks it not like the King? Mark it, Horatio. Most like. It harrows me with the fear and wonder." Line 42-44 Scene 1. When I first read this excerpt I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. The conversation got extremely interesting and encouraged me to keep reading the first scene. Upon reading scenes 1 and 2, I notice that there were no stage directions. Shakespeare did that because he wanted to give the stage directors some creative input. Not including stage directions was essential because many people have different ways to see things and view things. With that being said, many stage directors still present the play Hamlet in many of the same ways. The only thing they really change is the little thing, but they chose not to change anything major because it would make certain ideas ineffective. For example, they cannot change the way someone dies; however, they can chose a certain way that a character enters the stage or chose a different position in which they may die in. All in all, the first two scenes had nothing significant happen in them. It was just the setting stone for the rest of the play.

Response to Lantern Theatre Performance

I attended the production of Hamlet in Philadelphia with Geoff Sobelle and it was nothing like I expected. To begin with, I have never seen a stage like the one that they performed on. The stage setting was intimate it felt like I was a part of the play. I remembered at the end of the play when they had the sword fight it was fantastic. The choreography of the two was great. It felt so real. They were just swinging the swords back in forth about a foot away from me. Geoff Sobelle did a great job at portraying Hamlet. At the beginning of Act 1 he gave the audience a great idea of what kind of character Hamlet was. Another thing that I enjoyed is how the characters interacted with the audience. During the first half of the play when hamlet was delivering one of his monologue he begin to like poke my teacher. It showed the audience the intensity of the emotion he was trying to portray. Last but not least, I enjoyed how the stage director included Geoff Sobelle prior experience with acrobatics. That really surprised me when they tied that into the play. All in all, I really enjoyed seeing this play. I am really looking forward to seeing another play at the Lantern. Also, I am looking forward to seeing another play with Geoff Sobelle in it.

Coleridge and Shelley

The purpose of most literature written during the Romantic period is to enact social or political change. Kubla Khan was written to enact social change. Coleridge wrote this poem to caution readers against the indulgence of the imagination. This poem was written after the author's trip on opium. He clearly was not in the right state of mind. There are an array of thoughts in the poem. For example, "with walls and towers were girdled round", " by woman wailing for her demon lover", and " a sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice". These are just a few lines from the poem. As you can see, he goes from one topic to another. In addition, his imagery is extremely vivid which may be a problem. You should not be imaging things like this when you wake up from a nap. The author mind was in total chaos and was not focused on one thing. This is relevant to readers today because it is informing us about the dangers of indulgencing in the imagination. It is great to have imagination but you have to know where to draw the line between imagination and reality. The author overindulged in imagination so much that it took him out of reality.

2. There are three voices being heard. The three voices being heard in the poem are the narrator, the traveler, and the king, Ozymandias. The three voices give the listeners three different perspectives on a situation. The narrator voice is just telling us a story that the traveler told him. He never actually experienced the broken statue in the desert. The traveler voice in is just to pass the story on to the narrator. The king voice informs listeners about his character. For example, Line 10-11 " My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!". This shows listeners how arrogant and obnoxious he was. At the end of the poem it talks about how the statue fell. The statue crumbling is symbolism for the downfall of the empire. The empire downfall was due to the King being hubris. Now he is left with nothing. I learned from this poem that you should not let your pride get the best of you. If you do, in the end that is all you is going to have.