Thinker vs. Doer

            I think many people can relate to Hamlet in the last two sense of Act III. I am not saying that people second guess killing their uncle/stepfather’s and then murdering a lover’s father through a tapestry because of impulse (though I am sure something along these lines might have happened once). I think that people cannot be just a thinker or just a doer.  In Hamlet’s example, he refrains from stabbing Claudius as he is trying to pray yet does not even hesitate when he hears another voice in the room with his mother. A person can be more of a thinker but from time to time but occasionally act on impulse and vice versa with a doer who occasionally sits back and ponders their decisions. It is human nature for people to behave that way. I think there are also reasons behind whether people are thinkers or doers. I understand that it could be one’s general personality or experiences; either way I find that those personal attributes can define our lives.  

I consider myself a thinker because I take a very long time making decisions about anything. I hesitate a lot of the time and become timid when I have to act on something. I do not know if that is Hamlet’s case, but I think other factors determine one’s actions.  Whether we think or do, what we ultimately act upon can really alter everything around us. It is harrowing to think about and I think that is why I take so long to make a decision and constantly think. I do not believe that people who just act or do are not intelligent, rather they just know what they want in that moment. I feel that impulse at times but the fear of the outcome or the unknown is what stops me. Thought this does not seem to apply to Hamlet, it certainly draws certain parallels. In conclusion, whether one is a thinker or doer, they will always determine their changes. 

"There's been a Death, in the Opposite House" Explication

The very first line sets the tone for the rest of the poem. Same as the title, “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” introduces a dark and ominous image. The imagery of the house is particularly potent because of how it is descried. The house is described as having a “numb look”. Numbness is associated with lacking sensation or a dead-like state of being. The diction Dickinson uses helps create an image of what the house looks like but also what it feels like in the neighborhood after someone dies.  Though a death occurs that day, people still run errands in and out of their homes and the doctor leaves and goes back to his other work. Though there is no specific language that says this, the narrative structure helps infer that these events happen and also makes it sound like it happens all the time or at least very frequently.

An action interrupts the second stanza with a window opening “Abrupt-mechanically” the dash marks between words have repeated between different words throughout the entire poem, almost like an interjection. The dash serves as a pause in the narration as if the speaker was taking a moment to reflect on what they just said or to digest what they just said. However, they continue on with the series of events which includes throwing away a mattress that may have belonged to or touched the corpse. Children run away and wonder about the mattress. There is an ambiguous pronoun reference in line three in stanza four, “They wonder if it died there-on that-“the corpse is referred to as “it” making it seem though it really is not anything anymore. The whole time one reads the poem they imagine a dead person, where in reality they do not know because the poet makes it vague and uncertain. It also presents and interesting question as to whether it was actually or a person or, possibly, after we die, are we not considered people anymore?

Dickinson has a very peculiar line in which she writes, “I used to-when a Boy” it brings an image or a feeling of a flashback that the narrator has. The line comes right after the children wonder who or what might have died on the mattress. It enhances the eerie tone of the story and makes the reader wonder if maybe the “boy” the narrator is speaking of had died in the neighborhood previously. The vague statement allows the reader to wonder and even fear what the narrator means. The narrative structure continues with the arrival of the minister in the home and making his presence known, “As if the house were His-And He owned all the Mourners.” The second part of the phrase is in active voice in saying the minister “owned” the Mourners almost making people in grief and sadness his property and his job to take care of. It is an odd way of phrasing it considering ministers are supposed to be seen as comforting figures.  Nevertheless, the structure continues with the milliner coming with new black mourning hats and people coming to measure the house to make sure the coffin fits; all usual necessities for when someone has died. The narrator has almost an inclusive knowledge of how someone dies works, more so than how other people would.

There is one single line in which the poet writes “There’ll be that Dark Parade-“ The way she presents the line makes it stand out not only because it stands on its own but because it creates a symbol that obviously means something to the narrator. They continue to describe the parade and what it entails and concludes the poem with “The Intuition of the News-In just a Country Town”. The last line is poignant and direct in analyzing its way of handling morbid issues like death.  The overall syntax was also important throughout the poem and helped enhance the overall mood the story evokes. 

To Feel or Not to Feel

To feel or not to feel-that is the question:

To allow one to succumb to another in binding

Or to wallow in the proud and humble honor of one’s own independence.

The ability to let go and let down is supposedly effortless

But is it really?

The feeling of having another close and near is comforting

But at the same time suffocating

At the same time blissful

At the same time terrifying.

Why should one focus on all that can go wrong, when there is so much that can go right.

Loving is free and in everlasting abundance

The cheery smiles and copious amounts of laughter

Knowing that someone is there and ready to catch you.

Feeling the warmth and security of human contact and

The little moments that make everything seem alright.

How then, do people become afraid?

The ones that hide and match the wallpaper in their homes

Or the ones that don’t want to be held or even touched.

Walking alone and seeming to enjoy their solitude,

Maybe they do, and maybe they enjoy and value their independence.

How then can one decipher what is better?

It all depends on the individual, as some might say

Or maybe it depends on what really is going on.

The universe is a tricky and confusing place.

There are billions of souls all walking around and waiting

And wanting, and feeling, even if they don’t want to.

Though we all feel, it is hard to let ourselves do it.

It can be intimidating and harrowing in some cases,

But it also can be rewarding and fulfilling. It is never really right or wrong,

But it is also never safe.

One should never let the fear take over, but they should also never give in to pressure.

The world may never change, but the ways in which we chose to live in it can.

As long as we feel that we can. 

Acts IV and V Opinion of Hamlet

            The character of Prince Hamlet is very authentic in terms of struggle and strife among human beings. Throughout the first act, readers see him as a lonely and miserable man. After losing his father and gaining a new one in a matter of months along with very little to contact with Ophelia, Hamlet has every right to feel the way he does. When he is sitting outside with Marcellus and Horatio, he becomes embarrassed of the sound of roaring trumpets and partying that Claudius is having back at the castle. Hamlet remarks that this Danish custom does not even really seem like a tradition but just makes him look like a fool in front of rulers in other nations. Hamlet seems as though he is slightly more mature than his father or at least not amused by public celebrations and finds them trivial. I think he may also still feel distraught about his father’s death and irritated by his new stepfather’s “words of wisdom” describing how sons must lose their fathers and move on. Either way, they are both justifiable reasons for feeling the way he feels and any person could feel that way.

            Something that is also interesting about Hamlet is his willingness to follow his father’s apparition. I find it a very human attribute to want to do that. Some or perhaps most may argue that it is not healthy and that Hamlet could be putting his life in danger, even Marcellus and Horatio think so. One could also say that he is also suicidal to begin with and this will only make his health worse. I do not disagree with those statements but I find that his wanting to follow something that actually gives him some sort of hope or expectations is utterly understandable and any person in a similar situation would do or feel the same way. I think that is why I like Hamlet. He is not outlandish or ecstatic. He may not be the most optimistic or jolly person, but he seems like a very relatable human being. 

Poem Explication-Kitchenette Building

The first line of Kitchenette Building sets the tone for the rest of the poem. In a short statement, it proclaims how we as people succumb and adhere to the monotonous and tedious days that consume our existence. We are merely game pieces the systematic board of life. We naturally stick to what each hour of the day consists. The action of dreaming is not even fathomable; it can be a whimsical thought, but definitely not more pertinent than paying mortgage or being a supportive housewife. The attitude the poet exhibits is a dull and miserable mood that somehow becomes illuminated with the thought of a dream. Could a dream possibly evade the consistent problems that arise in existence? Imagery is expressed when describing how a dream could spread through the components of everyday living, such as “onion fumes […] fight with fried potatoes, and yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall” (Brooks, 4-6). The next stanza imposes a rhetorical question: can we let dreams begin? Brooks examines the idea of actually acting on ones ambitions and almost personifying it, “Even if we were willing to let it in, Had time to warm it, keep it very clean,” (Brooks, 8-9). By personifying our dreams, it makes them that more real and possible. The elated mood quickly switches back into reality with the climax of the poem. In the midst of admiring and fantasizing, readers are soon interrupted by yet another occurrence of the daily being. The conclusion of the poem exhibits the more pressing issues in living such as getting into the bathroom when there are more people living in the house than you can count on one hand. The voice of this poem is particularly important because the narration is perceived as the typical member of society that is only thinking about how to survive physically, but not mentally.

First Impressions of Hamlet's Family

My first impression of King Claudius is that he is rather shallow. Though his brother had just passed away, within two months he marries his brothers widow, Queen Gertrude. The very first time the readers meet Claudius, he is giving a speech about how he misses his brother, but decides not to mourn but to celebrate something happy instead. It is interesting that he is so dissmissive of his late brother's end, but not of his own new beginning. I also find him quite inconsiderate. He is dumbfounded as to why Hamlet, his nephew, would still be wearing black mourning clothes. Claudius tells Hamlet that all sons must lose their fathers and that it is a natural process of life. As truthful as that is, Claudius' blunt statment is very rude because he does not put into account what it actually feels like for Hamlet. I am curious to know how Claudius felt when his father died, not that I root for his saddness, I guess I am just curious. He also does not want Hamlet to return to school and insists that he stay with his mother during this time. It is strange that Claudius feels sorrow and grief for Gertrudes pain, but when it comes to Hamlet's he is dissmissive.

Queen Gertrude is another odd character to me. Though she cares for her son, Hamlet, and wants him close to her during this mourning period, she still goes off to marry her deceased husbands brother. I am still unsure on what her motives are. In a way I think it is her method of coping with the stress and saddness that comes with the death of her first husband. I dont think it is healthy to fill the void left behind to feel complete again but it is reasonable. I think Gertrude is a genuine person. Hamlet recalls how loving she was with his father which makes it that more confusing as to why she remarried so quickly, unless we assume that she was trying to fill the void. Though she is genuine, I do believe there is some sort of saddness that has overcome her but she covers it up so well that no one can tell.

Prince Hamlet might be the most level headed person in the play so far. He struggles so much with the loss of his father as any son would. He continually wears black clothes and cries for days and gets told by his new step father that it is unmanly and weak to be mourning this way and for so long. It does not fix the situation Hamlet is already in nor does it improve it. He also openily admits that his mother is insane for getting married so soon after the passing of his father. I think Hamlet may also be insecure becuase when Claudius tells him to stay home from school, he listens even though he does not respect Claudius. Hamlet could agree to Claudius' request because he wants to be there for his mother, but it still struck me as odd.