Ready...Set...Compare and Contrast!!

So I mentioned earlier in one of my posts that I am reading one of my favorite books again, which happens to be a retelling of Hamlet. So now that we are finished reading Hamlet and I am reaching climatic parts in my journey, that I start doing a comparison. (I'm actually quite excited about it, and don't worry it'll only be a few posts.)



For this post I think I'm am going to simply do a character comparison between the two great literary works. (Oh, first of all you should know that the story takes place on a dog farm in Wisconsin in the 1950s. That's right "Hamlet's" family raises and trains a fictional breed of dogs.)

Hamlet = Edgar ~ Edgar is a mute! He communicates solely by sign and written word. This is partly why he withdraws so much into himself after his father's death.

The King/Hamlet Senior = Gar ~ He is actually alive for the first 100 pages of the book. You learn to love his character and see why Edgar is so distraught.

Gertrude = Trudy ~ In this retelling you see Trudy and Gar's relationship develop as well as her distress over his death. Parts of the story are actually told from her view. She actually never marries "Claudius" but he does propose and they have a relationship.

Claudius = Claude ~ Gar's brother. They have a rocky past but neither of them seem to understand quite where the conflict began. He comes to live with them and then leaves on rocky terms. He has a natural talent with dogs and helps around the kennel after Gar's death (which he caused through an injection of poison).

Ophelia = Almondine ~ She is actually a dog! She and Edgar have been best friends since his birth but when he sees her fawning on Claude he goes into a rage and refuses to acknowledge her. Edgar feels as if she has betrayed him, and while he is away she dies of old age.

Polonius = Dr. Papineau ~ The vet who works on the Sawtelle dogs and a close family friend. He actually has a share of their kennel as well and hires Claude to work for him.

Laeretes = Glen Papineau - The county sheriff who is devastated by his father's accidental death. When Claude tells him that Edgar played a role he is determined to shake Edgar up and conspires with Claude to achieve this. He doesn't end up dying but is blinded by quicklime.

My Problem with Paulina

I'll admit it, I have a problem with Paulina. Sure it's great that she sticks it to the man, so to speak and makes Leontes feel guilty, but after that I have issues with her. I don't understand why she would make Leontes feel guilt for SIXTEEN YEARS about Hermione's "death", when she knows that Hermione is alive and well. I almost feel like it is worse of Paulina for Leontes to suffer for years on end about something he didn't even do! (Okay he was responsible for the death of Mamillus and he accused Hermione but he didn't kill her!)

Not only this but at the end of the play Paulina talks about awakening faith and goes all Christian. But wouldn't part of having faith and feeling guilt also be forgiving? Like I said I just don't understand why she causes Leontes to suffer for sixteen years! That is a decade and a half of marriage that she robbed from the king and queen! Think about how much growth for the couple and the kingdom could have occurred then!

I guess I can think of two justifications for her hiding of Hermione. First would be that she is trying to fulfill the oracle's prophecy (not that great of a reason in my opinion). Secondly, might be that in some way she is exacting revenge on Leontes for the failed return of her own husband and the death of the young prince. (I guess a third reason would be to protect Hermione, but this doesn't seem necessary because Leontes is obviously very penitent.)

So there you go. I've said it, even though it seems many people love Paulina's pointed words and unsweetened tongue. I just think she was a little harsh and rash and well, rude in keeping Hermione away from her loving, though misguided, husband. It doesn't seem her place to meddle in marriage. But I guess that's what was needed to move the play forward. It just irks me (and I'm sorry that this turned into a rant). But I guess that's Shakespeare.

Wintry Blasts and Thawing Rays

I've been thinking about the theme of winter and spring in a Winter's Tale. You know the play starts out in winter and the second half is in the spring but I think that for Leontes the majority of the play is in fact spent in the winter time.

Now I don't mean this in the literal sense, Leontes doesn't have himself in a room with a snow-maker on 24/7 while catching hypothermia and drinking hot cocoa. Nope, I think that he is in "winter" in his soul. His mind is frozen in the moment 16 years ago, his heart gone cold and hope shoveled from his soul. He is in "winter" because he believes there is no way he can ever come back from his crimes. (Especially since Paulina keeps blasting him with icy stares and bitter guilt trips.)

But in Act V scene 1, I believe he begins to see the sun's rays in the distance. He slowly begins to thaw out when his long lost daughter appears and finally bursts through the ice when Hermione is revealed to be alive! His winter had ended and he has found hope, and springtime, once again.


(Just a side note, I think that if I were in charge of costuming for this play, I would keep Leontes in dull colors until the final scene. I would then choose to put him in a more earthy or spring-time color to show that vibrant hope that is returning to his soul and the new happy reality he has found.)

It's "Nature"al

The Bohemians must have been a nature lovers. All throughout Act 4 I found so many nature references and I love them. Shakespeare is a master of imagery and I find his nature analogies and references so powerful. To me they really illustrate that point that he is trying to drive across. (Granted I'm a Wildlife Conservation major so I'm a bit biased.) So here a few of my favorite nature references in a Winter's Tale...well in Act 4 but I hope to find even more!!



But come; our dance, I pray:/Your hand, my Perdita:so turtles pair/That never mean to part


(that quote reminds me a lot of Romeo and Juliet when he references pilgrims hands)


I wish you/A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do/Nothing but that; move still, still so,/And own no other function




And finally my favorite one....

For never gazed the moon/Upon the water, as he'll stand and read/As 't were my daughter's eyes




In my opinion the true romance of language is nature...not Italian, Spanish or French. Because when you speak in terms of nature everyone knows what you are talking about.

I Dreamed......

Dreams are toys

Not only are dreams toys, as Antiogonus so elegantly states, but sometimes "dreams" determine how we see the world. (And I'm not just referring to the types of dreams that occur in our sleep.) Dreams can be the way we wish the world was, and when we start to over think it we start to believe the fantasy and live in the dream. Sometimes we want something so bad that we strive to make it the reality so that we can be happier. For example, sometimes we think the cute boy down the hall has a crush on us because he comes over, when in reality he is infatuated with your roommate.

But these dreams aren't always good. Sometimes it seems we live in a nightmare. All of the world seems to conspire against us. In the same day we wake up late, fail a test and get caught in a downpour on the way home. So naturally as you walk into your apartment and hear laughter you automatically assume its about you, because hey, the world hates you. But it doesn't really. It's all a dream that is toying with you instead of the other way around. This is the situation that Leontes finds himself in. He is stuck in a dream, but not one he has developed for his own fanatasy, rather one that seems to have caught him.

Your actions are my dreams/You had a bastard by Polexines

He let his dream toy with him, just as sometimes ours toy with us. The real challenge then seems to be to try to find a dream that we can catch hold of and toy with, but not let it determine our lives.

Jumping to Conclusions

I find it so interesting that Leontes is so quick to assume the Hermione and Polixenes are having an affair. First of all he is the one who entreated Hermione to ask Polixenes to extend his visit. He had been unsuccessful in convincing his childhood friend and so he turned to the charms of a woman. Therefore, expecting his wife to most likely convince Polixenes to stay, he should not have been upset when Polixenes caved in. It is almost as if he was looking for a reason to be angry and suspicious.

Secondly, I wonder if Leontes suspects because of events that may have happened in the past. Perhaps he does not completely trust Polixenes because in their youth they competed for the same girl. Granted we do not know this because this is never mentioned in the play, but there could be that reasoning between his quick conclusions.

This would also apply to Leontes' relationship with his wife Herminoe. It may be that there had been problems in their marriage in the past. Maybe she was a particularly flirtatious women, maybe she'd had a past affair. However at the same time Leontes knows that his son looks like him and fully acknowledges it. It may just be that Leontes is a jealous man. Perhaps they never had male guests before and so he doesn't know how to react to the situation besides assuming that there has to be an affair occurring when the two seem to be friends.

So is Leontes justified in his conclusions, or is he overprotective? We may never know because we don't have that history, but we will find out what harm these conclusions can do. I mean Leontes has already decided to murder Polixenes without even confronting him about the issues first. Shakespeare's works seem to be wrought with rash and impulsive decisions by insecure people, just look at Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

Boiling Seas and Roaring Winds

Mad as the sea and wind when both contend/Which is mightier

I really loved this passage when reading Act Four because I think this line is so powerful. First of all this line is poetry spoken by Gertrude. This is fitting for her character because in Shakespeare's plays the nobles typically speak in poetry form. (As mentioned in class this is because poetry is artful and crafted, much like nobles are.)

Secondly the analogy used is powerful in and of itself. The idea that the winds and sea are fighting for power, brings forth images of boiling seas and waves crashing on ragged shores. With modern media many have seen images of this epic battle, especially when hurricanes hit landfall. Many know that the sea and the wind together can be a powerful force and virtually nothing can stop it. With Gertrude comparing Hamlet to this epic struggle she is making a very powerful point. Hamlet's "madness" has made him uncontrollable. He seems to be unstoppable and indeed unpredictable.

What is even better with this analogy is that Hamlet acts out and kills Polonius, because in a way he does have forces contending inside him. Gertrude does not even realize this but his cowardice and his need for revenge are struggling inside of him for power over his actions. In many ways this is driving him to madness because one cannot have two masters without being torn apart. Hamlet prefers to fight people with words because he is afraid of actually taking action. However his father has exhorted him to avenge his death. He has two opposite forces inside of him and so he acts rashly and in the moment, thus killing an innocent man. However he doesn't seem to fell guilty about murdering Polonius which might be a side effect of him finally reaching a breaking point as his soul continues to be in turmoil.

Spectral Encounters

Why does Hamlet alone see the Ghost in Act Three and not Gertrude who is in the same room? I've been thinking about this since class and I have another idea. Perhaps the Ghost appears in Act Three not as an actual spirit, but as a projection of Hamlet's conscience.

Ever since Hamlet discovered the cause of the late Hamlet's death, and came to acquire the charge for revenge from the ghost, he has been conflicted. He wants to kill Claudius but when the opportune moment presents itself he refrains from doing so. This had to make him feel guilty, and once again like coward hiding behind his words. So in order to get rid of some of this guilt he begins to berate Gertrude in her chambers. But Hamlet is not an evil character, he is a young man who is in turmoil over what life has handed him. When he realizes the effect his sharp words are having on his mother, indeed cutting her to the core, I think he begins to feel guilty. But since he is so passionate he can't just apologize. So his conscience brings forth an excuse to restrain himself, something that had morally led him before, the ghost of his departed father. The ghost tells him that

This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But look, amazement on thy mother sits.
O, step between her and her fighting soul

By projecting the ghost from his mind, Hamlet finds a reason to reel back his attack without once again appearing to be a coward. Since the ghost is in fact in his head this time, Gertrude is unable to see it.

Again this is just another thought that I had. There are of course also the possibilities that the Ghost chooses to appear to certain people, Gertrude's feelings of guilt prevent her from seeing the Ghost and of course, the idea that Hamlet has finally completely snapped and is simply hallucinating for no apparent reason.

We will never know why, unless of course Shakespeare's ghost is kind enough to appear and tell us...

The Fateful Beginning

I've always loved Shakespeare, even if I didn't always understand it. I loved the eloquence and flow of the words and I loved the drama that occurred in the Bard's pages of text. As I entered high school and read his sonnets I was hypnotized by his lyrical sonnets and the diversity of his plots. However I never really had to opportunity to read many of his works. Sure in my ninth grade we read Romeo and Juliet, but it was when I saw Hamlet that same year that I saw some of the depth of Shakespeare. In that same year I ended up reading Shakespeare's sonnets as well as Twelfth Night and Macbeth. But then life picked up and the Bard fell in to the dust along with the Great Depression, variables and hydrogen bonds.

It wasn't until the beginning of my freshman year at BYU that the Bard came to my attention again. I have always been a theater freak, and though my major isn't theater, I decided to be in a Mask Club production of The Taming of the Shrew. I was a minor role, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and thought how I would love to take up Shakespeare. I watched movies that were modern, but Shakespearian, such as 10 Things I Hate About You and She's the Man. I was hooked and decided that I would have to take a Shakespeare class to become more exposed. Sadly, I've had to wait a year and a half to finally make it to this fateful day. In that time I have acquired a new favorite book based off of the story of Hamlet (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle),seen a BYU production of Shakespeare, and yes, watched Gnomeo and Juliet. These spurred me forward in my quest to conquer Shakespeare and I am now excited and ready to begin the adventure and at the same time, once again immerse myself in The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.