Ap Term

Conflict: struggle a struggle or problem in a story causing tension.

In literature, every story from Hamlet to Harry Potter has some sort of conflict. Whether it is the internal struggle of a character or a great evil the protagonist must destroy, all stories have a conflict. The conflict is the main driving point of the story for with out a conflict there would be no story at all. If Hamlet's father never was murdered, Hamlet would have never had to avenge his death. If the Montagues and Capulets didn't have a bloody feud, Romeo and Juliet would have no problem loving each other. The conflict makes the story.

Here is a video that shows different types of conflicts in literature.




Here is a simple version of a conflict between two characters.

Thinking Outside the Box

At first glance Plato's "Allegory of a Cave" and  Sartre's "No Exit" seem like completely different stories. One being about prisoners in a cave the other about people in Hell. However at a closer look, you can see striking similarities. These include that both stories are told through dialogue between characters and that the prisoners in the cave and the prisoners in hell are both "kept in the dark" of what is happening outside their cave/second empire drawing room. In the cave, the prisoners are somewhat afraid to leave the cave. In "No Exit", Garcin  is given the chance to leave, the door opens and he can leave but he decides to stay, much like the prisoners wanting to stay in the cave afraid of being blinded by the light. Both of the writings have an allegory that covers the story. "No Exit"'s allegory is that "Hell is other people" and this is shown throughout the play by the characters tormenting each other in Hell while the devil has nothing to do with the tormenting just the other people in the room.
The Cave's allegory is that society has put chains on us for what knowledge is good and which is bad, however these chains have been on us so long and from the beginning that even when we are given the chance to break free we don't want to .

The Big Question

How do myths from different cultures and societies from around the world share similar themes, ideas, characteristics, etc...? Also, how do these myths relate to modern society and modern myths?

Hamlet Essay

Hamlet

            In the play Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, is indecisive and talks about what he wants to do and how to do it but we hardly see him carrying out his plans until the very end of the play. However, these scenes of Hamlet talking to himself are a major part of the play. The importance of performative utterance in the play and my own self is that it helps us get a clearer and better picture of what we think, which helps us make better decisions for the task at hand. They also let us see into Hamlets thoughts and desires. The soliloquies give us an insight on the course of the play.

            The way Hamlet speaks is a part of the action of the play because it is our, the audience’s, way to see what Hamlet is thinking about to do next. When Hamlet talks to himself he questions what his is doing, why he is doing it, and how he will go about doing it. Most of the soliloquies foreshadow what will happen later on in the play. In the “To be, or not to be…” soliloquy Hamlet asks Ophelia to pray for him because he is about to commit a sin. The sin being murder or suicide. This foreshadows the end of the play where Hamlet kills Laertes and Claudius, as well as killing Polonius earlier on in the play and sending Rosencrantz and Guildstern to their deaths.

            When Hamlet speaks to himself, he affects the plot of the play in the way mentioned earlier. He foreshadows what is to come. Hamlet also affects the characters as well. During the “To be, or not to be…” soliloquy, Claudius is eavesdropping and when he hears the soliloquy he no longer believes Ophelia is the source of Hamlet’s depression. In an earlier soliloquy Hamlet decides to write the play and set up Claudius. This is a way his talking affects the plot as well.

            When you hear yourself talk you can see through your thoughts more clearly. You get a greater understanding of what you really want to do and how to do it. Hamlet does this in his soliloquies. He talks through his thoughts and he gets a clearer picture of what is on his thoughts. Emotions like anger and rage and distort your thoughts but by talking it out you can dilute their effects. Also another benefit of hearing yourself talk is that you tend to remember it more if you hear it, even if it is from your own mouth.

            Hamlet talks his way through his clouded thoughts and judgments. By doing this he gets a better and clearer picture from which he can decide how to act upon it. His soliloquies foreshadow what he will do in the play. Also they can affect other characters in the play and even the plot itself. By talking his thoughts, Hamlet is able to cause action in the play because if he didn’t talk, he would have remained indecisive and lost. With out performative utterance Hamlet would have been lost and made the wrong decisions on how to go about his plan of action. Performative utterance is just important in our own lives for much of the same reasons.

Hamlet Versus Beowulf

In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare has Hamlet speak differently from epic heroes such as Beowulf. Both of the two heroes speak about and highly value honor. They both seek to gain and redeem their honor.  In the epic poems such as Beowulf, the heroes think more about how people see them and how their honor is perceived by others. Hamlet is the opposite. Hamlet thinks more about how he sees his own honor. He is self-conscience about himself, while Beowulf would be proud and pompous.
The main driving force behind the plot of Beowulf is his want for more honor and recognition among the people. For Hamlet, the driving force is the want to redeem his father's and his own honor. Beowulf goes to the Danes to kill Grendel so that he may gain honor and riches. While he is there, he is very hubris and puts himself at the center of the show. His pride and honor even get himself killed when he goes to kill a dragon by his own seventy year old self at the end of the poem.Hamlet is very different.
Hamlet questions himself is he should even pursue the idea of finding out if Claudius even killed his father. Through out the rest of the play Hamlet questions himself whether or not he should continue with his plan. He questions his own honor when he hears that Fortinbras is invading his home with 20,000 troops who will all die over a piece of land they all think is worthless just for the honor of Fortinbras loosing to Hamlet's father years ago over a simple little squabble. I wouldn't say that Hamlet is a sissy and Beowulf is a man, even  though it can look like that sometimes, but Hamlet is definitely much more self-conscience and even paranoid to some extent.
Hamlet is a very different hero compared to Beowulf. Although both seek honor, Beowulf is more focused on how other people perceive his honor, while Hamlet worries about how he sees his own honor.Hamlet differs from heroes like Beowulf for that reason of how he speaks and thinks about the situations in the plot.

Major Concept

One of the major things I have learned this year is how to make a blog. I feel more able with computers and I have learned more about the internet and how people use from this class.

Note's From Roy's Talk

The main points I got from this video are:
We as  human beings cannot multi-task it is impossible.
We need to know how to use the many programs on the internet, and computers in general, or be used by them.
Also, we need to bridge the gap between generations and learn how to trust each other, as well as, work with each other.