Essay

The Light and Dark of Polonius: A Twisted Journey Into the Unknown

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there is a constant battle between reality and appearance that gives rise to the display of Polonius’s true character towards the audience. The theme of uncertainty highlights the drastically different speech pattern of Polonius as he changes character when he is in private with equals and public with superiors. Indeed, Polonius, a pompous yet foolish man displays his stupidity in private, yet possesses a certain SEEMING virtuous persona in public. It is through his conniving repetitious words, predominance of speech, complex syntax and detailed language that distinguishes his true character from his seeming self.

In private, Polonius shows his world of dominancy and foolishness towards his children in long-winded and monotonous speeches. In a wordy and repetitious tangent Polonius gives his infamous advice to his son Laertes:

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy           

judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy.

Not only is too much advice bad advice, Polonius’s words do not matter. Indeed, he may seem to trust Laertes, but it is all a facade, as Polonius will soon deceitfully spy on Laertes for the honor of King Claudius. Polonius’s sneaky character seems to show the audience that appearance can indeed be deceiving and there is much more that meets the eye. Polonius predominance of speech can display a profound need to control his family- that gives rise to how badly Polonius wants to be seen in public. Yet, wouldn’t he need to be hiding something unfavorable to try so hard? What is he masking that cannot be shown? To be sure, it is this suspicious and dominant character that displays the illegitimacy of appearance and reality and how so easily it can be morphed. 

OUTLINE:

P1: PRIVATE : POLONIUS'S EQUALS - Ophelia, Laertes, Ron

P2: PUBLIC : POLONIOUS'S SUPERIORS- King, Queen, Royalty

P3: SYNTAX, REPETITION, PATTERNS, THEMES, MEANINGS, AND LANGUAGES

Figurative Languange

Figurative language is a language that goes past just the literal and into metaphors, similes, personifications, hyperboles, exaggerations, alliterations, straw-mans, and on and on. This language is a great way for the writer to produce a vivid and powerful image for their meaning. These words provide meaning in themselves and give an emotional response that ordinary words couldn't do. The language opens up an idea and leads the reader to interpretation of their own. The language is playful and easy to get carried away with into a world of tasteful or untasteful words. But, its up for the reader to decide. Their effect is important and their meaning more important, but its the way we view and think about the world that establishes these relationships among different objects, things, and ideas. This is an elaborate language and is often used to strengthen the writers ideas and support, to evoke emotions of depth, and to invite the reader into meaning. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses metaphors and hyperboles to strengthen her argument against certain people and create them as fools. Her metaphors not only display certain follies but highlight and exasterbate them further. We are opened up to her world through figurative language and we even begin to possess certain feelings so close and known to Austen herself. Her words helped up get closer to her meaning as well as adding richness to her story.

Setting

The setting in plays is different because you must consider the physical setting as well. A setting much be realistic and appropriate to create. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen sets up the setting for a Victorian style set- traditional and conventional dressing, furniture, and atmosphere. This setting is so fundamental to Austen's argument. Although it may seem like a mundane, minute detail - it truly makes up half of Austen's  complex story. Her setting added a true reality to the suffocating principles of her time and truly gave the reader a sense of time- which is extremely important. The plot and characters are intertwined with the setting and they feed off of each other to support Austen's main themes and points. Also, Austen was so detailed in describing her settings- and this was not unintentional. It adds a certain taste, interpretation and imagination that extends the story further to expose Austen's inner workings and struggles. The information in the setting is something the playwright must think about for it creates a mental image that can be built upon for an honest design.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

There has been a constant struggle between conformity and rebellion in which heroes like Hamlet will rise above mundane expectations and transform to higher princibles. Through choas and deception in the play Hamlet by Williams Shakespeare, Hamlet finds the line between appearance vs. reality. Hamlet struggles constantly "to be or not to be" and through the many puns, solioquies, and attitudes in his speech pattern we see a  rebellious side of Hamlet. Indeed, the speech patterns in the Ghost and Hamlet possess comparisons in uncontrolled emotions of rage and passion while also exemplifying their differences of a serious vs. sweet personality. Also, these similarities and differences feed off of each other intensifying these emotions even more!

Outline:
P2: Public : Hamlet vs. Ghost
Including: diction and tone, levity of manner of speech, personality, puns and jokes of seems*
P3: Private : Hamlet vs. Ghost
Including: audiences, emotion, diction, traits, reality
P4: Including the final : appearance vs. reality and final meaning of the former motif

Ghost & Hamlet

The speech pattern of Hamlet and the Ghost have many similarities and both highlight each other. In terms of Hamlet, his speech seems to be completely controlled by his passionate emotions of hate, rage, love, fear, anger, sadness, and so on. His emotions seem to control him more than he can control them and he comes off as a kind of hot-blooded youth. Also, as a side note, for this comparison i'm going to have to ignore Hamlet's other-side - intelligent and calm in his soliloquies for the sake of my argument. However, i grant and acknowledge this side of Hamlet. Now continuing on, the Ghost (which is Hamlet's dead father) displays both the passion and lack of control Hamlet has in his speech too. His father show a certain amount of rage and revenge in his voice as he demands : "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder." Indeed, it seems that his father is just as emotionally invested as Hamlet is- and the uncertainty and shakiness of his father mirrors that of Hamlet's speech patterns. Emotion and memory seem to cloud both Hamlet and his fathers speech patterns and their similarities in this both highlight and even more intensify this. Also, although Hamlet is well educated and a sweet boy - his want for revenge and rage seem to take over more and he almost loses himself in this and meeting with the Ghost only worsen these feelings as both their rages feed off of each other.

Character

Character certainly goes along with plot; the character in the plot can either be the protagonist or antagonist. During the course of the plot, the characters begin to grow and evolve - which in turn structure and evolve the plot itself- again as you can see, the plot and character are intertwined. Moreover, characters fall into two categories : flat or round. Round characters usually have complex emotions and stories whereas flat characters only possess a few traits. A common flat character would be a FOIL. Foil is where the plot involves two characters that are completely different- and in this, they can both emphasize their own traits by comparison to the different traits of the other foil. Now, direct and indirect characterization are important too. Direct is when the author comes out and tells us what the character is like, in terms of motivations, background, and appearance. Indirect would be the author telling us indirectly who they are in terms of motivation, background and appearance through showing. An example would be Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. As the plot starts off, we see Mr.Bennet as just a father figure who seems to laugh at all the follies and silliness in his life. However through both indirect characterization and as the plot and character starts to develop and evolve we see that there is more to the story. Mr.Bennet becomes to be seen as more and more of a faulty, bad father who indulges in his family rather than help his father. Indeed, as this happens and changes are attitude changes towards him too.

Hamlet

Shakespeare employs different mannerisms and voices within each character that give meaning to each person and represent heavy symbols. For instance, Shakespeare gives a certain language/voice to Hamlet that displays his sorrow and bitterness. He often seems to be full of hatred and making sarcastic remarkes towards both the King and Queen: his dad and mom. Now, the King seems quite opposite of Hamlet - cold and calculating- where Hamlet often seems full of passion. Indeed, the King is ambitious, but seeks more in politics than does he in his own family - he mistreats Hamlet and disregards his mournings (a clear sign of heartlessness). Yet the Queen shows great love for both her son and husband, yet, she seems weak and shallow- whereas the King seems strong and certain. Also, Horatio, a friend of Hamlet is shown as very loyal to Hamlet through his helpful actions. In Hamlet lies massive and beautiful paradoxes that give way to a deeper meaning- one i've yet to find, but will hopefully give way deeper into this work.

Slam Dunk Hook & Fast Break

To compare and contrast Slam Dunk Hook & Fast Break it would be better (at least for me) to address them item by item, element by element rather than poem by poem. I would address the contrast movement, the imagery used to convey the sence of the game, the use of diction (passion vs. grace), the attitude each speaker hold towards the basketball game, different perspectives, slow pace vs. quick pace, reflection vs. in the moment. It would be very important to recreate the actual experiences each author held towards the game when writing. Moreover, it would be brilliant to reflect the rhymes of each poem- giving a choppiness and then fluidness when presenting each analysis. Finally, the syntax and imagery each speaker presents works to give a different attitude, a different mood and ultimately a different meaning.

Plot

Plot is defined as what happens in a narrative. So, a series of events need to take place in order to create a believable relationship - this includes the exposition that gives background information and then leads to the rising action that begins to build on that background information. Then a climax occurs that has emotional tension leading into the falling action where the conflict gets resolved. Finally, the denouement happens where the conflict is restored and the reader is off to ponder the possible meanings of what came before on his or her own. In Pride & Prejudice, the exposition provides us with information on the relationships each character has and also what kind of relationship they individually hold with the world. For example, we see how Liz sees everyone and also how everyone sees her. The rising action occurs when these relationships begin to develop and get more complex and the characters stories intertwine. The climax occurs when Darcy proposes to Liz and the falling action is when she denies. However, when the denouement comes, Liz finally accepts his proposal and all is restored and the conflict resolved. Now, in Alice in Wonderland (the book i've chosen to read), the author provides us with the exposition of Alice- she's in her own world metaphorically first and we see how disconnected her relationships are with those she is around. The rising action begins when Alice falls into a world of her own literally now and she begins to explore. Then the climax occurs when Alice meets her enemy- the Queen of Hearts and she must go through a trial in Wonderland, in where she finally wakes up from the "sham" of Wonderland. Finally, the denouement provides the audience with relief as we see that it was, in fact, all a dream...(Or was it?)

Kumin and Stafford

Kumin and Stafford both present descriptive language and an overall theme of life and death that present insight into the savageness of man and innocence of animal. "Woodchucks" and "Traveling through the Dark" both show the inhumane side of animal treatment - yet Kumin's tone is much more harsh, aggressive and unforgiving than Staffords. He attacks the evil psychology of humans and even alludes to Nazism- his relationship to nature is one of contempt. (Yet, it compels me to question the mental state of the speaker and his legitimacy if his perspective is influenced by the utmost extremisms like Nazi warfare.) Now, Stafford's tone is much more gentler but he is still saddened by the treatment of such poor animals. His relationship to nature is one of concern and despair - he see's much beauty in nature but also it's state of destruction. Stafford is very much "traveling through the dark," unable to find the pacifism or mercifulness he so wishes for.

D.W. Harding

I believe Harding accurately emphasized both the wit and physchology Austen implores in Pride & Prejudice, yet he misjudged her intentions and desire. I agree with him that Austen, whom was surrounded by a conventional society of customs and material social and economic institutions, was a truly remarkable person. For her time and environment, she did an amazing job of discussing and bringing full front the serious evils in societies. Now, i disagree with his proposition that she wrote about these social issues as a sort of self-preservation; rather, i believe that Austen wrote for both theraputic and moral reasons while admist a world of crude complacency. And, although i agree that she did bring satire into her work to discuss the faults of her world- i disagree with Harding that she was merely a "delicate satirist." Austen wasn't writing to simply employ humor into her readers, but rather, to enlighten her readers. I disagree with Harding that Austen exaggerated her characters in efforts of hoping to maintain and or camouflage her hatred so she could still "fit in."Austen doesn't care what so ever about social niches and to imply that she does simply shows Hardings ignorance of that which Austen stands most for. Yet, i agree with him that Austen's ability (through satire) to bring "fake" characters and "real" characters together artistically displays the massive disconnect between them and their worlds. Moreover, Harding claims that she did not have any "didactic intentions", however, i strongly disagree. I believe that through her satire she was trying to inspire and teach her readers of the follies of society and its trivialities. Also, Harding claims that Austen wanted people not to go to her writings as a means of escape but rather one of alliance. In part, i agree that Austen would of liked to have support for her thoughts, however, i believe she did write for people's relief- and more than that, for people's benefits- for knowledge. Austen was trying to expand, open people's consciousness to their embarrassing unconscious social world.