Body paragraph- first draft

Kenneth Branugh displays a very elaborate and royal interpretation of Act I, scene II, and affectively sets the mood of the scene through the interactions between his characters. With everyone wearing red, white, or black, and Gertrude dressed in white wedding attire, the family stands before a huge crowd in a very bright setting as if the king were getting ready to deliver an important speech. Branugh employs a technique in which he uses both private and public conversation to illustrate the attitudes of Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius; initially, audience viewers see the three family members having a close conversation between eachother dealing with Hamlet's mourning and his possible leave for college, but then all of a sudden the camera fades out to a huge crowd observing in the stands, and Claudius address the crowd, showing his power as king. Branugh captures two different sides of Claudius in this scene. As Claudius addresses his wife and son standing at the same level as them, Branugh degrades Claudius' power and does not display him as a higher figure above all. When Claudius stands to address the entire crowd after Hamlet agrees to stay, viewers see the powerful side of Claudius that is usually more clear; Claudius stands before e crowd like a king stands before his citizens, exercising all the power over everybody with a loud, and powerful tone of voice. After Claudius speaks to the entire crowd, Branugh exaggerates the celebration and after everyone leaves the room, Hamlet stands alone. Branugh's use of an exaggerated celebration helps underline Claudius' power over the room, proving this with an e,a irate reaction to his words.

Intro Paragraph-first draft

       Act I, Scene II of the play Hamlet has been captured in many different ways with different techniques of filming. The way that the interaction between the Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius is illustrated helps set the mood of the scene and display exactly how the director interprets the situation. Both Derek Jacobi and Kenneth Branugh set the scene differently with different types of interactions between the family, and the people around them, as well as the characters' attitutes when speaking. Both directors convey a clear change in Claudius' attitute as the conversation goes from a private family matter to an entire crowd, and display the interaction between the family to set the mood of the scene.

Hamlet Essay

Right now, the main aspect I will be focusing on each film is how the interaction between Hamlet/Gertrude/Claudius captures the moods of the characters/scene. For example, how they are spaced out in the setting, how they are addressing each other, how they speak, how any other people int he room/setting affect the scene, and how Claudius fits in witht he family conversation in each. I also might explore the costumes and overall look of the settings, but I need to figure out how to fit it all in.

Act IV- Hamlet

To me, Hamlet was by far the most interesting character in Act 4. We really do see a change in his character in this act, and he continues to change throughout the entire play. Hamlet finds out a lot more secret knowledge and now I feel the question of Hamlet's fate lies clear and up for grabs. I think that his Uncle, King Claudius is going to try and kill Hamlet as well, so the play is getting very interesting and could go in a couple different directions, so I am very excited to see what happens!

Hamlet- Act III

Once again, i think Hamlet is the most fascinating character in act III. We see his keen ability to show Claudius' true crime. Hamlet's attempts to seek revenge on Claudius by proving he was the man that poisoned and kill his father, finally pay off. I have been very intrigued by Hamlet throughout the play, and have been excited to see how Hamlet would finally avenge his father. Act III proves that Hamlet has truly won this "battle" between him and Cladius, as it illustrates Claudius' defeat after when he claims he is more guilty than ever.

Film versions

I found it really interesting to see different approaches to filming the same scene. Several of them had certain similarities but for the most part each attempted to capture the scene in different ways. The interactions between Claudius, Gertrude, and hamlet seem to change throughout the different scenes. In several of the scenes, we saw all three standing or sitting pretty closes together but in other scenes, Claudius was separated from the two, alienating himself to show his power, and proving the point that he is not a real part of their family. The clothes, music, and overall settings changed in each, but all the scenes tried to capture the exact same scene and attitudes in different ways.

Act II - Hamlet

Hamlet continues to be a very interesting character in Act II. Still mourning the loss of his father, and determined to get revenge on Claudius, he devises a plan to make it happen. Act II has displayed his determination, and helps foreshadow possibly outcomes with him and Claudius. We also see Hamlet's intelligence and strong resistence to deception, as he is able to clearly see his friends trickery; while they claim they have only come to see him, Hamlet unfolds the truth that they are followimng the orders of Claudius. Hamlet is a very keen and determined man who will do anything to avenge his dead father.

Claudius

So far, I am most interested with Claudius. Claudius immerses as the 'bad guy' or antagonist in act 1, when Hamlet senior's ghost tells his son, Hamlet, that Claudius poisoned him in order to take the throne from him. Now as Claudius is the king, it is clear that he really only cares about getting power, and not Hamlet or his mother. Even though it may be weird to say my favorite character is the bad guy in this play, I am really interested to see how Claudius continues to act through the play, and possibly abuse his powers, and I can't wait to see how Hamlet's revenge on Claudius plays out.

Ipad

One of the main challenges for me when using the iPad is underlining. I know using the iPad makes underlining and annotating, but especially for me, I am much more comfortable hand writing and underlining by hand. Also, when I try to underline or select certain words, it is hard to choose the exact word or set of words, and I mess up alot.

I do think there are benefits and advantages that come with using the iPad. Most importantly, using the iPad is alot more organized than using a book and annotating by hand, and I do like this aspect alot.

I also really do like blogging for English assignments. I am really happy we are given alot more independence and responsibility with giving the blogs our own touch. I also think blogging really helps with essay development, and has helped me throughout the process.

I think I'm just not used to the iPads yet, so over time I believe it will grow on me.

Hamlet Act 1

I liked the first act of Hamlet, and I am interested to continue reading this play. The first scene started out by creating, and keeping, a sort of mysterious setting with the use of of the ghost at night. Every time the ghost appears, it is night time, so there is a dark and mysterious mood that comes with it. I think the ghost of Hamlet's deceased father does foreshadow more throughout the play, and I am excited to find out.

Socratic circle discussion

I really liked the structure of the class discussion. I felt like we really got slot done even though we went very professional in how we all talked. We kind of all talked at once but still it made it feel more comfortable and fine without a teacher or leader.discussion. I think we should definitely do this more.

We connected to the novel throughout the discussion and we focused alot on personal opinions of society today and how people still have high standards for choosing a mate; still, we see alot of material values and even more than before with a more modern society, and really, our society has not changed much with finding our mates, whether we like it or not.