Month: September 2015

This is the scene where Hamlet meets the ghost. As Marcellus, Horatio and Hamlet wait for the ghost to appear, Hamlet tells them about how other countries look down on Denmark because of the way they act (more specifically, loud parties and drunkenness). The ghost then appears and beckons Hamlet forward to follow him. Hamlet tries to follow, but is held back by Marcellus and Horatio as they believe it will lead him to his death or drive him mad. They only let go once Hamlet draws his sword and threatens to turn them into ghosts (he means he would kill them if they held him back once more). Hamlet follows the ghost and then reluctantly, Marcellus and Horatio follow as well.

In this scene, Ophelia is being told by her brother and father to stay away from Hamlet. They try to explain to her that Hamlet has alot more freedom than her as he is the future king so he can do as he pleases. Her father, Polonius, tries to tell her that the love that Hamlet is showing her is just false love. He says it’s because Hamlet is young and he doesn’t know what he is doing. Ophelia doesn’t seem to try and protest about what her father is saying. Finally, Polonius just tells Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet and talk to him less, and again, she doesn’t protest.

In this scene it is shown that Hamlet is extremely upset with his mother’s decision to marry her brother-in-law (her dead husbands brother ). Hamlet is told by Claudius (the brother) to stop mourning the death of his father as it is something that would have happened anyway. While Hamlet is by himself, he talks about how his mother married pretty much instantly after his father died. At one point he even uses the word incest because she is marrying her brother-in-law. Claudius is nothing of a man compared to Hamlets father which is another reason why Hamlet is upset. Finally, Bernardo, Marcellus and Horatio appear and tell Hamlet about the ghost they have seen. They explain to Hamlet that the ghost looks like his dead father. Hamlet tells them that he will come with them at night in hopes to see this ghost, but tells them not to tell anyone else.

During the change of watch,  Francisco and Barnardo (two sentinels) both open the scene on an edgey note. Barnardo calls out (to Francisco) “Who’s there”. Francisco reply is quite abrupt when he replies “nay, unfold yourself. ” The tension then eases as Barnardo tells Francisco to go to bed, which Francisco is very grateful for. Then Marcellus and Horatio enters and they start to discuss about a ghost that Marcellus and Barnardo have seen twice already. Horatio does not believe them, but then the ghost appears and he tries to speak to it. The ghost refuses to speak and disappears with the cocks crow. They start to discuss how the ghost has a striking resemblance to the dead king. They all discuss about Hamlets victory of the Norwegian King Fortinbars and how his son, who has the same name, is apparently building an army to retake the land. The men then all decide to find Hamlet and tell him about the ghosts appearance.

Belfast Confetti

Belfast Confetti is quite a strongly written poem. It sound like the author is trying to put you in the middle of a riot where you feel there is no escape from. The poem is about a riot in Belfast in which Protestants used scrap metal objects as missiles in anti-Catholic protests. The Poem tells me that the people in the riots must have been very scared and felt trapped, so this makes me think about how scared people must’ve been in this situation. One of the main quotes from the poem is “And the explosion, an asterisk on the map.” This explains that at some point during the riot there was an explosion that (in a certain sense) shook the map. Ciarán Carson was the Irish poet that wrote this poem. He won the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry award for this poem.

Flag

Flag, the poem, had a strong impact on me as I was all about how a simple flag can signify so much. Countries can be torn apart just from a piece of cloth, and countries can unify just from a piece of cloth. The white flag is a symbol of a country surrendering in a war, while a raised British flag means they have won the war. The poem has a strong sound to it, and it also has a strong meaning. The poem explains many different situations, such as; what’s that unfurling on a pole? It’s just a piece of cloth that makes the guts of men grow bold. This is referring to soldiers looking at their nation’s flag, and making them have a strong sense of pride that they are fighting for their country. The poem has five stanzas, each with three lines. The middle line is shorter than the other two lines in the stanza. It is in this form because in old medieval times, flags used to be shaped like this. Some of the strong words in the poem are; bold, unfurling, rising, flying, nation to its knees, makes the guts of men grow bold and there are many more. The author of the poem, John Agard, says that this poem represents how national symbols bind nations together, but also drives people apart. Agard grew up in British Guyana and was taught all about British history, but Guyana was nothing like Britain. This explains why he feels that Flags drive people apart, because he may have been from British Guyana, but he never learned about his own country’s history.