In Shakespeare's dramatic play Hamlet, Claudius and Hamlet intertwine their ambitions and emotions into the structure of the royal language in which they speak. As the newly, recently crowned King of Denmark, Claudius attempts to develop his image as the new dominant monarch of the kingdom and father of the royal family. He heavily inflates his dominant, superior image through his elongated speeches, which demonstrate that underneath the thick layer of royal, reverential language, the new king is concealing his true ambitions and emotions. On the other hand, the mournful Hamlet reveals a much more complex pattern of speech, in public and in private. When surrounded by other people, his entire speeches consists of little words that hint at his emotions at the moment;yet in soliloquies, his phrases are short with multiple interruptions, often demonstrating his bewildered and contrary thoughts and emotions at the moment. Hence, though Hamlet and Claudius conceal their ambitions and emotions in reverential, complex royal language, Hamlet's short phrases reveal his emotional bursts of bewildering thoughts whereas Claudius' lengthy speeches develop Claudius' facade as a dominant king and father.

While Hamlet reveals his fractured, bewildered state of mind in his fractured soliloquy, the King calmly enforces his image as the new authoritative figure and father through his excessively respectful and royal language. In his first opportunity to be alone onstage, Hamlet demonstrates to the audience his bewildered and roused thoughts and emotions mourning his father's death. As revealed through his exclamatory and abrupt phrases, Hamlet's speech portrays his uncontrollable emotions, "Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!"(1.2.131-132). Exaggerating his likeness towards suicide, Hamlet demonstrates the torturous pain that his father's death is causing him. His short exclamations for the Lord correspond with the grievous loss of his father and the quick marriage of his mother to his uncle. While Hamlet grieves in private, the King attempts to develop his false image as the new, exemplary authoritative figure and father. Much to the chagrin of Hamlet, King Claudius emphasizes the paternal qualities he demonstrates for Hamlet as his son, "And with no less nobility of love/ Than that which dearest father bears his son,/ Do I impart toward you"(1.2.110-112). Despite the fact that Hamlet is his nephew, he ignores the parental relationship Hamlet's father had with Hamlet and embraces Hamlet as his son. Through his royal, reverential language, King Claudius portrays his relationship to Hamlet as an exemplary, loving. paternal relationship.

Figurative Language

Writers use figurative language to derail their pieces of writing from monotonous, literal language to metaphorical, imaginative language that communicates ideas and feelings beyond the denotation of words. To use figurative language is to communicate the story to the reader through means of senses, exaggeration and connotation of words, and other similar means. Some common examples of figurative language are metaphors, personifications, similes, and hyperboles. In the dramatic play Hamlet, Shakespeare frequently utilizes figurative language to add to the mood and tone of the scenes and to further help the reader familiarize himself with the plot and circumstances in the scenes. For instance, to describe Hamlet's supposed reaction to the afterlife, the Ghost of his father affirms that Hamlet's hair would stand stiff "like quills upon the fretful porpentine." Through the addition of a simile, Shakespeare's play communicates to the reader a sharper, distinct image of Hamlet's hair standing sharply stiff and emphasizes the fear that Hamlet would experience if he were to be told of the afterlife.

Settings

In many plays, poems, and novels, the setting is the literary device that serves as the first platform for the reader to land upon before he interacts with the story. The setting involves the introduction of the time and place in which the plot takes place, along with the social and political circumstances surrounding the environment and its inhabitants. To develop a setting is to help the reader familiarize himself with the environment and its mood and the circumstances the characters experience. In Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, the setting is an eighteenth century rural English village, where families encourage the female youth to romance and court with the wealthy, young, socially active and revered men. In this type of setting, the reader views the social circumstances as humorous, once the author develops her satirical portrayal of this society. However, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, the setting is much more dark and ominous, as the story begins with the mourning of the previous king of Denmark. The play develops mostly in the estate of the royal family at a time before the sixteenth century.

Speech: Hamlet V Claudius

Throughout Act I of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet's speech patterns convey similarities to those of Claudius in that both attempt to conceal ambitions and emotions. For Hamlet in public, his language appears to restrain his emotions at the moment, rather only hinting at them through subtle sarcasm or humor. For Claudius, his speech patterns reflect his attempt to create his image as the new dominant, authoritative king of Denmark, whilst attempting to conceal his motives and ambitions, including the murder of his brother, the previous King of Denmark. In addition, his language leans too heavily on the proper mannerism of the royal language and the use of the royal "we", further suggesting that he wants to develop his image as a dominant monarch and that he is quite self-absorbed in his actions. On the other hand, in private, Hamlet speaks in fragmented speeches, with multiple interruptions from his bewildered thoughts, suggesting the dominant control his emotions have over his words once unrestrained.

Intro for Hamlet

In Shakespeare's dramatic play Hamlet, Claudius and Hamlet intertwine their ambitions and emotions into the structure of the royal language in which they speak. As the newly, recently crowned King of Denmark, Claudius attempts to develop his image as the new dominant monarch of the kingdom and father of the royal family. He heavily inflates his dominant, superior image through his elongated speeches, which demonstrate that underneath the thick layer of royal, reverential language, the new king is concealing his true ambitions and emotions. On the other hand, the mournful Hamlet reveals a much more complex pattern of speech, in public and in private. When surrounded by other people, his entire speeches consists of little words that hint at his emotions at the moment;yet in soliloquies, his phrases are short with multiple interruptions, often demonstrating his bewildered and contrary thoughts and emotions at the moment. Hence, though Hamlet and Claudius conceal their ambitions and emotions in reverential, complex royal language, Hamlet's short phrases reveal his emotional bursts of bewildering thoughts whereas Claudius' lengthy speeches develop Claudius' facade as a dominant king and father.

Characters

In a play or a novel, characters play the essential role of developing and progressing the plot and the structure of the story. The interaction between characters leads to conflict among one another, and these external conflicts drive the plot. To develop the characters, the narrator often does so through direct or indirect characterization to reveal their personalities and opinions through actions. Or, the character may reveal his personality, or perhaps his perception of his own personality, through a soliloquy in a play, where he is often alone to speak.
In Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth remains in conflict with another character, Mr. Darcy, and the several dialogues between the two conflicting characters develops the conflicting personalities and opinions of the two. Ultimately, Elizabeth experiences an epiphany about her perception of Mr. Darcy with the help of other minor characters. She realizes that she allowed her prejudice to immediately convey her opinion of Mr. Darcy without considering the motives behind his actions. By the end of the novel, Elizabeth appears to have matured in her relationship with Mr. Darcy. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the play helps develop Hamlet's character through the dialogue between the King and him. Throughout the dialogue, Hamlet sarcastically replies towards the new King(his uncle), showing disgust for the King's assumption of the throne in a mere two month's after the previous King's death. Afterwards, the play introduces Hamlet's soliloquy, which demonstrates Hamlet's hidden, dramatic responses to the current events and reveals to the audience the private perspective of Hamlet.

Hamlet:Act I- Claudius' Speech

In Act I of Hamlet, the play introduces the recently crowned King of Denmark Claudius with a slight confrontation between Hamlet and him. Though Claudius briefly respects the mourning of the death of the last king, he disrespects the last king's throne through his marriage to the queen, who was his sister in marriage before being king. Throughout his speech, Claudius calmly commands an authoritative atmosphere as befitting a king, as if he had assumed and controlled the position of king for quite some time. In response to Hamlet's mourning, he assumes the position as father to Hamlet and claims his "paternal" love for his son. He uses this newfound relationship as reason to demand Hamlet's stay in Denmark and not to travel back to school in Wittenburg. In short, his speech highlights the new king's attempt to appear dominant and smoothly assume the role of the king and his relationship to the kingdom and the royal family.

Structures for a Compare/Contrast Essay

Two styles of writing in which I am interested in using in a compare and contrast essay are the "element-based" and the "text-based" styles. For this blog post, I will be typing it with the text-based style in order to compare these two styles. An "element-based" compare and contrast essay consists of body paragraphs that focus on different elements of two pieces of work (i.e. diction, tone, and style). In each body paragraph, the writer focuses on one element from the two works and compares and contrasts their usage or development in each work. I view this style as the much more direct one since the purpose of a compare and contrast essay is to easily demonstrate the comparisons and contrasts of different pieces of work. Even though this style of writing typically has clear organization, the element-based essay is much more difficult to plan.
For a "text-based" essay, the body paragraphs must focus on each of the pieces of works individually. The first body paragraph must focus on the text and elements of the first piece of work, and the second body paragraph must do the same for the second piece of work. In the third body paragraph, unless the writer includes more paragraphs for each text, the writer then combines the elements of two pieces of works he is focusing on and compares and contrasts them. This type of essay structure can be difficult to use effectively since the writer delays the comparison and contrasts of the works for two paragraphs or more. Moreover, the third paragraph may be read as the simple repetition of the ideas found in the body paragraphs before it and thereby would weaken the essay if the writer does not pay attention.
Both of these styles have their advantages and disadvantages for different types of writers. For the person who loves to flush out their ideas and focus on each work individually, the text-based essay would be ideal for her. For the person who loves to be succinct, yet clear in the development of their ideas, the element-based essay would be ideal for her. Yet, these two styles involve the analysis of the basic elements that make up a piece of work and their importance in the piece. For the final comparison and contrast of the two pieces of works, the two styles of writing may be similar. The text-based style may differ from the element-based one if the writer chooses to reference an aforementioned quote in his essay in his third paragraph. Or, the text-based style may be similar to the element-based one if the writer introduces new quotes that still help analyze the elements he is comparing and contrasting between the works.

Blog on Plot

A plot is the skeleton of a novel that connects the events and characters together throughout the novel. A plot consists of an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. In Pride and Prejudice, the exposition consists of the introduction of the Bennet family and the recent arrival of Mr. Bingley at town. In the exposition, the novel introduces the characters' interests and personalities and behavior towards others. After the exposition comes the rising action, which begins upon the first major interaction between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, who Elizabeth portrays as a conceited, ill-mannered man. The rising action includes a clash between characters' interests and opinions where conflict slowly develops. The novel reaches its climax when Elizabeth reads Mr. Darcy's letter about his attitude towards and perspective of Mr. Wickham and other recent issues; at this point, the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet realizes her false depiction of and prejudice against Mr. Darcy. As the falling action occurs, the characters take steps towards solving their conflicts and the plot begins to finish revealing the intertwinement of the events, the characters, and their ideas. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth gradually fall in love, and the risk of Lydia's damaging the family reputation through elopement without marriage has been avoided. At the denouement, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged, along with Jane and Mr. Bingley, as the conflicts are resolved.

WoodChucks & Traveling through the Dark

In Kumin's poem "Woodchucks", the speaker holds a vengeful attitude towards the woodchucks in his garden. He views them as enemies destroying and conquering his property. Throughout the poem, the speaker satiates his thirst for superiority over nature's creatures while enjoying the thrill he gets from hunting the woodchucks. His shortened statements of the killings of the birds demonstrates no sympathy towards them. In contrast, in Stafford's poem "Traveling through the Dark", the speaker holds a momentary,tranquil, sympathetic moment with nature after the death of a pregnant doe. Throughout the poem, unlike the violent tone in Kumin's poem, the speaker's tone is gloomy and sympathetic, reflecting upon the deaths of a mother doe and her unborn fawn. Unlike the first speaker, The speaker in Stafford's poem understands the tranquil balance he interrupts within nature.

D.W. Harding

After reading a short piece of D.W. Harding's "Regulated Hatred", a work of analysis on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I agree with one point he makes and disagree with another. According to Harding, Austen's work does not lean towards a strongly didactic satirical novel, but rather "a mode of existence for her critical attitudes." I agree with him because Austen develops each character with values or characteristics that she highlights as comical features. Yet, these features she demonstrates are the reflections of values from her own society during her time. She uses these characters(caricatures) as her means to criticize the complacency in her society. Yet, she refrains from exaggerating these features, though Mrs. Bennet would be the only character who seems to approach an extremely comical caricature.
I'd have to disagree with his point that Austen detests the characters she humorously exaggerates. Although she often remains very but subtly critical of her characters throughout Pride and Prejudice, we the readers do not have a clear indication of whether or not the author detests the people her characters are caricatures of. Austen does demonstrate a clear dislike for Mrs. Bennet and her simplicity, yet she uses light humor to criticize her characters rather than to assault the types of people they represent in her society.