Allusions: The Odyssey

For my allusion presentation in AP lit I have to research the Odyssey. The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus who is a great Greek hero and his journey home after the Trojan War. The story starts ten years later and suitors have already overrun his kingdom and tried to marry his wife. His Son Telemachus is not confident enough to get rid of the suitors, but is sent on a journey to find his missing father. Meanwhile Odysseus is held captive by the goddess Calypso who has fallen in love with him. He is freed by the gods and eventually reaches Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians, where he asks the king and queen for help. They promise to help him but first wish him to tell his story. So he tells them of his travels.

When Odysseus left troy the wind swept him and his men to Ismarus, city of the Cicones, they plundered the land but were attacked before they could leave and lost 6 men per ship. A storm sent by Zeus then sweeps them along for 9 days until they end up in the land of the Lotus eaters. Here some of his men ate intoxicating fruit that made them want to stay but they eventually dragged them off the island. They then sailed to the land of the Cyclops, where when trying to steal sheep, milk, and cheese from Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon all his men are captured and 2 are eaten. To escape Odysseus devises a plan and gets Polyphemus drunk and tells him that his name is “nobody”. When Polyphemus falls asleep they stab him in the eye and he yells out “nobody is killing me”. In the morning they escape the cave on the belly of sheep and once safe on their ship Odysseus reveals his true identity. Polyphemus then prays to Poseidon for revenge.

From there they sail to Aeolus, ruler of the wind, and he gives Odysseus a bag of wind and then provides him with winds that will guide him home. When they are in sight of Ithaca the men open the bag thinking that it is filled with secret gold and the winds take them all the way back to Aeolus who refuses to help them this time. Without wind they row to land of the Laestrygonians, a race of giants who eat Odysseus’s scouts. The rest of the men flee towards their ships but the giants throw boulders and sink all the ships except Odysseus’. They then travel to Aeaea the home of Circes, a witch-goddess, who turns a bunch of the men into pigs. Hermes comes to Odysseus and gives him an herb that will protect him from her spells and he is able to overpower her and makes her turn all his men back. Odysseus then falls in love with Circe and they live in luxury for a year before continuing their journey home. When he asks Circe how to get home she says he must travel to the underworld and speak with the spirit of Tiresias.

                Odysseus travels to the River of Ocean and performs a sacrifice as instructed, and dead souls begin to appear. He talks with Tiresias who tells him that he is being punished by Poseidon, and also says that he will return home, but must make a trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. He warns Odysseus not to touch the flocks of the sun. After seeing many other souls he becomes frightened and sails away. He sails back to Aeaea where Circe tells him of the obstacles he will face and says to plug his ears with beeswax when they approach the island of the Sirens. Once they pass the Sirens they must navigate directly through Scylla, a six headed monster, and Charybdis, an enormous whirlpool. He chooses to go closer to Scylla who eats six men. Odysseus comes to Thrinacia, the island of the Sun and is stuck there for a month. His crew disobeys his orders not to touch the cattle on the island, and Zeus punishes sending a storm that kills all of them except Odysseus and sends him back to Charybdis which he narrowly escapes and floats to Ogygia, Calypso’s island. Odysseus stops his story here.

In the morning he returns to his kingdom and plots to slaughter all of the suitors who took over his kingdom while he was gone. He and Telemachus hide all of their weapons why they are sleeping. The next day Penelope promises to marry whoever can shoot an arrow through 12 axes. All the suitors try and fail, but then Odysseus tries and succeeds and follows with a second arrow through one of the suitors throats. At this point an entire battle breaks out, but Athena joins and it ends quickly. The disloyal servants are executed. Odysseus then proves his true identity to Penelope by telling her that their bed is immovable. And finally a mob of the suitors parents attempt to kill Odysseus but Athena makes them forget everything and peace is restored.

Emma, Character Introductions

As the story of EMMA by Jane Austen begins a lot is already going on in the house Emma lives in. Emma is the main character of the story and from the first chapter we can already tell that she is a very privileged young lady. The first line of the novel even describes her as “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition”. Her mother died when she was very young so she has no memories of her; instead all of her memories were made with Miss Taylor, who came to the house to take care of the children. Miss Taylor like both of the daughters but developed a special bond with Emma and became more of a friend of Emma than a mother figure. Emma’s father, Mr. Woodhouse, is also introduced as a very “indulgent”, kind and loving father. He has shown to be so friendly with Emma that he became almost a push over and Emma could get whatever she wanted. Mr. Woodhouse also is characterized as someone who is unable to understand any feelings but his own, which makes him a very interesting and funny character.

The main action of the story as it opens up is the marriage of Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston. Emma and Mr. Woodhouse seem to be very sad about the marriage because it will result in the loss of their close friend Miss Taylor. Mr. Weston, having the trait of thinking others feel as he does, often says “poor Miss Taylor” because he is sad that she is moving out of their house after sixteen years. Easily depressed Emma feels the need to always be a very happy person and look at the bright side of every situation to cheer up her father.

The topic of Miss Taylor’s marriage continues when Mr. Knightley is introduced into the novel. The first impression I got of Mr. Knightley is an easy going man with a “cheerful manner”. Mr. Knightley comes over to Mr. Woodhouse’s house at a late hour and Mr. Woodhouse claims that he must have had a “shocking walk”, but Mr. Knightley actually enjoyed the pleasant moonlit sky which I found to be very Ironic considering that his name is Mr. Knightley. With a name like that and someone who enjoys the night as much as Mr. Knightley I would expect his character to be more mysterious as opposed to a man with a “cheerful manner”. The relationship between Emma and Mr. Knightley is also very interesting because he is described as the only one who could see “faults in Emma” and is “only one who ever told her of them”.  They seem to have a very playful and jokingly relationship.

In the second chapter we are introduced to Mr. Weston and Frank Churchill. Mr. Weston is depicted as a man who married above his class into the Churchill family and when he was widowed by his wife was left to poverty, but because of the high expectations that the Churchill’s used to impose on him he has become very hard working and gained his fortune back. Frank Churchill is the son of Mr. Weston, but was “adopted” by the Churchill family after Mrs. Churchill died. Frank seems to be a prize of Mr. Weston but oddly never returns the feelings and has not visited Mr. Weston in a long time. Now that he is remarried however, Frank has written a “handsome letter” and will come visit his father.

Is Hamlet actually mad?

In the play Hamlet there is a major debate as to whether or not Hamlet is actually “mad” or simply is acting insane for the purpose of deceiving everyone so he can sneakily kill Claudius. At the beginning of the play it seemed quite obvious to me that Hamlet was simply a very good actor but now being in act iv it seems his acting is turning into actual madness. In the beginning of the play when Hamlet first meets his father’s ghost he acts a bit crazy but then becomes very composed in order to devise a plan. One of his first acts of madness was when he went to Ophelia after she had stopped talking to him and did a bunch of emotional actions with his body and did not say anything. To me this simply seemed like an act to deceive Claudius into believing he was simply upset because Ophelia left out of know where. I don’t believe that he was actually mad because he had very witty conversations with all the characters that implied that he wasn’t actually mad. He also told Horatio that he was going to act crazy in the near future. The language he uses when talking to Polonius implies that he is smarter than everyone in the room and that he knows about all their plans to spy on him. This does not seem to be the personality of someone that has gone mad. He seems “crazy” but composed and ha everything planned so that it will go perfectly his way. People who actually go crazy are unorganized and act off impulse. This is how Hamlet starts to act in Acts 3 and 4. When he talks to Ophelia he starts composed but then gets much angrier with her when she lies straight to his face about where her father is. Also in the beginning he had a clear purposed plan to make a play and watch Claudius’s reaction to find if he is guilty or not; however as the play approaches he is not a composed as you might think. When the play is going on he is talking the whole time and saying rude things to both Ophelia and his mother. When he is supposed to be watching Claudius for a reaction he isn’t even patient enough to let his plan do its work he instead spoils the entire play be yelling what happens right to Claudius and Claudius ends the play. This was not characteristic of Hamlet. This is when I believe that he actually begins to go crazy. At first he was simply playing a part but it seems that he has fallen into the part that he was acting and now is actually mad. His madness even grows when he goes to talk to his mother and accidently kills Polonius when he finds him spying. This is the peak of his madness and after this event his metaphors and puns are so crazy they are hard to decipher and analyze and some of them don’t make sense at all. In conclusion Hamlet did not start as mad but has grown in to the part he was playing.

Peace Like a River

For my outside reading book I read Peace like a River by Leif Enger. This novel was about a poor family in the town of Roofing. The story is told from the point of view of Reuben Land looking back on his childhood. He has a younger sister named Swede who is a great writer and is smart and talks sophisticatedly. Davy is Reuben’s older brother who is a strong protective figure who acts on his own and is very independent. He is Reuben’s biggest role model because he stands up for what he believes in and holds himself together very well. The single father of the family is Jeremiah, who is very smart but for some reason gave up his education and became a janitor at the kid’s elementary school. Jeremiah is very respectful, kind, and forgiving. He is depicted as a Christ figure and Reuben is the witness to all of his miracles. The family is very close and in fact family relations are one of the major themes of the story. Anyways the story tells of all the miracles that Reuben’s father does the first one being bringing Reuben back to life after he was dead for 12 minutes right after his birth. From then on he is seen as a Crist figure of the story he is seen as a luminous figure in the dark and even walks on thin air at time. When 2 trouble making boys attack Davy’s girlfriend Jeremiah stops them and beats them up with a broom and they swear to harm his family. Later they come to their house and kidnap Swede but let her return safely without harm. Despite that no harm was done this was the last straw for Davy who took it as his responsibility to exterminate the problem so he lured the 2 boys to intrude into his house again and shot them down cold bloodedly. He was found guilty and would be sent to prison if he did not trick the guard into coming into his cell so he could escape. Now with the family split up many problems start to arise. Jeremiah got fired and then got sick leaving Swede as a nurse and Reuben to work for groceries. When Christmas comes around Jeremiah miraculously gets better and they decide that they will head west in hopes to find Davy. As they travel west they meet up with friends who have seen Davy and spend some time there. Through faith, hope, and love they continue their journey and eventually meet up with Davy. At the end of the story they are satisfied with the outcome of Davy’s escape that is now in Canada living happily. Reuben often visits his older brother on trips up to Canada and now hunts just like his brother used to by himself. With the whole family on good terms happiness is returned and the family has a happy thanksgiving with all their friends back in Roofing.

Hamlet Act II

In act II of Hamlet a lot has developed in the play. Scene I opens up with Polonius giving his servant Reynaldo a lecture on how he should go about spying on his son Laertes. This is where we see the theme of deception and spying increase significantly. We see here that Polonius doesn’t care to protect the name of his son as long as his good name is maintained. He tells Reynaldo that to find out the bad things that Laertes might have been doing, he should fish for information. He tells Reynaldo that he should say he saw Laertes doing something that is considered bad and see if the people he tells support or refute this claim. As Polonius says let “your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth”, which means he is willing to slander his sons name to find out the truth. This parallels to the spying that Claudius will do on Hamlet in the next seen. It is easy to see that they wish only to spy on him to discover is plot as opposed to helping Hamlet by finding out what is wrong with him. Ophelia also tells Polonius that Hamlet has approached her seeming crazy, and Polonius wishes to tell the king that this is the root of Hamlets problems and is willing to “loose” his daughter to him to discover the truth. Although Polonius believes he is very wise and discrete it does not take long for Hamlet to discover his plot and play it to his advantage. When Polonius is telling the King his plan it appears that Hamlet over hears and when Polonius goes to talk to Hamlet, Hamlet acts as crazy as they believe while making fun of Polonius. He calls Polonius a “fish monger” which is similar to a pimp because he is using his daughter as a whore. He also calls him old and says he has a “plentiful lack of wit”. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are friends of Hamlet who were sent for by the King to spy on Hamlet but Hamlet quickly finds out. Hamlet reveals his depression to his friends but is cheered up quickly when they tell him the players are coming. Through interaction with the players Hamlet becomes deeply saddened that they can so easily be emotional about a fake story when he cannot speak a word about it. This is when he devises a plan to reveal the truth about Claudius. Hamlet is going to give the players a play write that is similar to the murder of his father so that he can read the reaction on Claudius’s face. In his silhouette at the end of act II Hamlet reveals a lot about how he feels. He feels weak and pathetic because he has waited around and is unable to take vengeance against his father. He seems to be a pacifist and is using the play as a test to make sure Claudius is guilty so that he can build the courage to kill him. He does not want the spirit to have been the devil trying to damn him to hell.

Hamlet- Deception

In class right now we are reading the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. As the play begins Hamlet falls into depression because of the death of his beloved father, the king, and because his mother remarried his uncle very quickly. Within a few scenes Hamlet is introduced to his father’s ghost, who tells him that he did not die by accident but that he was in fact murdered by his uncle for the crown. While he is speaking with his father’s ghost Hamlet swears that he will seek revenge on his uncle, he also tells Horatio that he may act a little funny for a bit. So far in this play deception and spying seem to be the main themes. We see it everywhere and in almost every character. For example when Laertes is leaving to go finish school his father lectures him on a bunch of stuff and it seems as if he really cares about the wellbeing of Laertes, but in fact he only cares about the reputation of himself. Polonius also sends a servant, Reynaldo, to go spy on Laertes while he is away. The deception and spying doesn’t stop their either. The family relationship between Polonius and Laertes parallels directly with Hamlets family relationship. Hamlets Uncle Claudius is constantly lying to Hamlet about what happened to his father and also wishes to keep an eye on Hamlet, not for the good of Hamlet but so that he can make sure Hamlet is not up to anything bad. When Hamlet seems to be acting weird and sad after his father’s death, Claudius sends two of Hamlets good friends to spy on him and figure out what is wrong with him and report what they find back to him. Although it seems that Hamlet and Laertes are the victims of all the deception this is actually quite the opposite. Hamlet, being the smartest and most clever person in the room at all times, has every fooled about what he is up to and why he is doing it. By simply running into Ophelia’s room and giving a quick act of desperation he has Polonius thinking that he is crazy because of his love for Ophelia. He also seems to know everyone’s plan as they come up with it. In Act II it seems as if he over hears Claudius and his mother talking to his friends to spy on him and a few minutes later simply walks out reading a book and they have no idea. Watching Hamlet fool everyone seems to be very interesting and he doesn’t seem to have any trouble with it. I am wondering what kind of conflicts he will run into when he is always one step ahead of the game. I also wonder if the relationship between Laertes and Hamlet will have a significant meaning considering they parallel to each other very well yet we have not seen how Laertes acts or how he will play a role in Hamlets conflict.

Hamlets First Soliloquy

                In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet is the son of a king who recently passed away. His mother did not spend much time mourning before she married Hamlets Uncle Claudius, the king’s brother, and Claudius became King. Although the death of a beloved king is usually a big deal, the wedding of the queen and Claudius seemed to end the mourning of the country rather quickly, leaving Hamlet the only person still sad with no one to talk to about it. Until Hamlet’s first soliloquy very little is known about Hamlet’s personality and his view points about the world and the people around him. Once Hamlet is alone and able to vocalize his feelings for a brief moment, he manages to summarize all the events that happened and gives in depth imagery about the situation he has been put in and how it makes him feel.

                As the soliloquy begins it is very obvious that Hamlet is in a state of depression while he mourns for his father. He begins venting by saying he wishes “that the Everlasting had not fixed/ his canon against self-slaughter”. The “Everlasting” in this line is a reference to god who has made it a sin to commit suicide. The wish to commit suicide reveals that Hamlet, does not feel that life is worth living any more, possibly because the entire world has moved on from his father’s death and he has no one to relate to or look up to. Hamlet has very poor relationships with the people around him and sees the world as “stale, flat, and unprofitable”, or in other word useless to him. He does not wish to build relationships with the people around him because he sees the world as an “unweeded garden” which could allude to the Garden of Eden and the impure people are the weeds. This means that the impurities of the world have yet to be rid of, just like the unbeautiful weeds in a garden are not picked and cover the beautiful flowers. Hamlet states that “Things rank and gross in nature/ Possess it merely”. This further relates to the world being an unweeded garden because weeds are “rank and gross” and yet seem to take over the every place it reaches. This is also a play on woods because “rank and gross” also describe people who are high in class or in government positions. When you put the pun together it could mean that all people of rank are truly bad people. From the first half of the soliloquy we can already see many of Hamlets views on the worlds. He does not believe that life is worth willing because everyone in the world seems to be morally bad, especially those with rank.

                In the second half of the soliloquy Hamlet expresses his problems with women and his mother. He describes how strong and protecting his father was and then said his mother “would hang on him/ as if increase of appetite had grown”. This shows the ever growing dependency of his mother and connects this dependency to why she married his uncle so quickly and unexpectedly. This is when Hamlet says one of his most famous quotes, “frailty thy name is women” which shows that he believes all women are as dependent and weak as his mother. So from this short speech by Hamlet we have discovered that Hamlet has many emotional feelings hitting him at once at this point in the play. He feels anger towards his mother and all women, and is disgusted with the world because everyone seems to be morally bad. Not only that but he is confused about how all this happened at once and is deeply depressed about his father.