ACT 1:

Initial Reaction:

I have seen some of the various movies of Hamlet and tried to comprehend them when I was younger. I got the idea of what was going on however I’m not sure that I understood some of the smaller details. Hamlet kind of reminded me of one of my brothers David. When my grandmother passed he acted almost in the same manor Hamlet does to his fathers death. 

Character Analysis:

The main character Hamlet is a very sensitive guy who is not afraid of showing his feelings. Whether it is his mourning of his father or his affection for Ophelia he makes his feelings known. This is his fatal flaw because his feelings keep him from immediately acting on his father’s request for revenge. I believe from what we know in act one that he fits Aristotle’s concept of the tragic hero because he is in a high position of power and it is clear that he has flaws. 

Theme Analysis:

Shakespeare used atmosphere to give the reader/viewer the feeling that someone is being deceiving. The fact it started with the perceived ghost of a king wandering around at night set the tone for something devious to be told of later on. When Claudius says:

 “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death

The memory be green, and that it us befitted

To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom

 To be contracted in one brow of woe,

Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature

That we with wisest sorrow think him

Together with remembrance of ourselves…” (1.2.1-8)

 It is made clear that something is going on with Claudius. He is not mourning his brother’s death but trying to benefit from it, is a clear signal of deceit and adds to the atmosphere of something devious waiting to be told. Later when we find out that he is the one who in fact murdered the king the suspicion of deceit is laid to rest because we know the king was deceived. When the ghost of the King was telling Hamlet to seek revenge for his death Shakespeare was telling the audience that if you are deceitful eventually the truth will come out.

Thesis #2:

Chopin expresses this by having the main character Mrs. Mallard think of freedom while looking out a window of her prison. Making Mrs. Mallard idealize what it would be like to not be with her husband suggests that she was not in the marriage for love but possible forced into it from outside pressures. Chopin paints the perfect socialite life for Mrs. Mallard but leaves one thing broken, her heart. Implying that Mrs Mallard was already dead before the shock of her husband actually being alive killed her.

"The Hand" by Colette:

"The Hand" by Colette was creepy to me because at first I could not tell weather or not the guy was morphing into something or if it was just figurative. I feel like the imagery stood out the most to me because she went from loving his hand to being completely disgusted by it. The way Colette described the change in his hand made it easy to imagine what it would be like seeing it.

Colette used symbolism in "The Hand" to show how a marriage can be a nightmare if someone jumped into it too soon. She uses the hand as symbol of happiness as it should be when someone gives you their hand in marriage but later on in the story sheds light on what the hand really looks like. Leaving the reader to speculate about why all of the sudden was the hand so obscene to the newly wed wife. Colette insist that appearances are deceiving having her main character take a second look at her new husbands hand and suddenly discovering what it truly looks like. Displaying the old tale of someone only wants to see what they want to see and may not be getting the big picture about something important like marriage. Colette forces the newly married wife to kiss the hand at the end of the story to symbolize how women often sacrifice themselves in the role of wife.

If you found out a dark or sinister secret about your new husband/wife would you stay married to them like the main character in "The Hand" trying to push past the little imperfection?

--Melissa