Author: Ken Kinard

Arthur Miller, won Pulitzer Prize for this drama. From New York.

Vignette 1

Willy and Biff talking about how great Willy is in other cities where he travels.

Themes:

• popularity: being “well-liked”
• exaggeration: Willy’s creating an impression of his great life out there
• Happiness of being somewhere else, another city (not here)

Vignette 2

Ben and Willy. Ben is Willy’s dead brother, coming back in a vision. When I was 17 I went to the jungle and came out 21, rich.

Symbolism:

• Jungle: the wild world of opportunity
• Ben: tangible example of what could work. Symbolic of success. A dream-chaser that succeeds.
• Stockings: sign of prosperity, he’s upset when he sees his wife repairing hers. He doesn’t like seeing his wife having to repair her stockings, reminding him that he had given hers away to “the women” in unfaithfulness. And broken stockings a sign of lack of prosperity.
• Seeds: he wants to grow a garden but he didn’t do the work of planting

Vignette 3

Biff and Linda, where Linda defends Willy, not as a great man, but a man that needs help and respect.

What does this say about family? Linda seems to defend him. What does she see in him? She defends his humanity, his roles.

Happy takes the place of Willy, always dreaming about what can or will happen in the future. He carries the torch of optimism.

Vignette 4

Howard and Willy: Willy talks about his youth, not going to Alaska after talking to a salesman who was very popular in different cities without leaving his room. “Selling was the greatest career a man could want: what could be more satisfying than going into different cities on the phone and being so loved and helpful.”

Is there nobility in being a salesman? Willy thinks that a dying salesman would be well grieved, well loved.

After groveling for $70/week down to $40/week with his boss, he was offered $40/week by Charlie for another job, he refused it. What does this reveal about Willy.

The death

Why did he kill himself? This was the only way that he could get the insurance money for his kids who could then make it big. But the insurance wouldn’t pay for suicide, so another thing he failed at. Or the delusion that all his friends would be at the funeral, mourning his loss.

Vignette 5

Biff with Charlie and Happy at the Requiem

Happy wants to take over the dream, to conquer the city, to pick up where his dad left off. He wants to make it big, suddenly a success. Biff says he now knows who he is (after his epiphany of stopping to steal, not needing other people’s stuff). He knows he’s not a super special somebody like his dad wanted him to be.

The impact of the book: ties into the American dream, the dream we all have, the aspirations. How to balance the desire we have to be seen as significant with the humility of knowing we are mere humans. Abraham’s dream given by God versus people’s desire to make a name for themselves.

Is this just a story or a philosophy book?

Camus: born 1913, poor but overcame it, got an education, lived through WWI and WWII. Algeria. Sense of meaninglessness: how can you continue to live after the war after all the suffering and pain?

Absurdism. Did this philosophy come as a result of the Wars? Contrast Camus with Victor Frankel in Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankel survived the worst concentration camps and comes out with a more positive existentialism. Nihilism and absurdism under the umbrella of existentialism? Camus says that he’s not an existentialist. How are they different?

def. the universe is meaningless; the search for meaning brings conflict.

Other absurdism: Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett.

He manages to successfully avoid hope.

Is he immoral or a-moral? We think Meursault is a-moral, whereas Raymond is immoral.

Is the main character more reflective in the second half? Does he grow/change? By design, all is still meaningless.

This modern thought became post-modernism today: how yesterday’s absurdism became today’s entitlement.

Bio: 1885 to 1972, married Dorothy Shakespear, who illustrated his first book of poems, had a child

Writer and critic, stayed to his morals, got his fellow writers out of jail & hospitals, introduced them to rich women, got them published, advocated for them: TS Eliot, James Joyce, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway.

He was banished from US for treason, lived in Italy. Unfit for trial, sent to jail, had a mental breakdown, was in mental hospital. Awarded an American award while in psychiatric hospital.

Style: imagism, derived from Chinese and Japanese poetry. He’s a utopian. Suspicious of centralized government. Advocate of impractical ideals. Advocate of just society brought about by reason.

Cantos: a steady stream from darkness to light. Structure: First 30 set the themes that he dips back into during the other cantos. Written over 20 year period.

Why write it? As with Aeneid, he wanted America to have a founding epic poem.

Confucius: not seen as divine, his ideas dictated not by a god, but by a reasoned trained thought, dealing with temporal matters (no afterlife). Believed in man creating order within himself, which brings order to family, then to clan, village, etc.

Values: strong family loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by children, husbands by wives. Family as basic unit of society. Silver rule: don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you. Emphasized personal morality, hierarchy of respect, correctness of social relationships.

Confucius makes his first appearance in Canto XIII. VS Dante’s Divine Comedy, also prominently featured, a Judeo-Christian viewpoint where heaven and hell are real. Both are pinnacle works.

Pound is pointing the way to reaching paradise through the mind, reasoning our way to paradise. America founded on these ideals, the age of reason, exalting reason and questioning theology as it had been provided by the church.

Ref. American vs. French Revolutions. Both have a foundation of exalted reason, but in American it’s more Judeo-Christian or at least deist: “endowed by your Creator”. French leads to Napolean and an emperor, and it works in America much better.

Message: through the purgatory of this life we can get to the light of paradise through reason and ordering our lives. Dealing with injustices, etc. like Purgatorio. But this path is less linear.

His convictions were strong and narrow, he had a moral sense: people were judged in hell for doing wrong.

Background

Stephen Crane, studied in Syracuse U, passionate about baseball and literature, worked for NY Tribune. Liked to explore the slums and police courts of Syracuse. Liked to observe humanity, hanging around with the poor, trying to understand the psychology of their lives.

First work Maggie, was about women of the streets. Read realistic writers like Tolstoy, especially Sebastopole, an unvarnished tale of war.

Crane’s son of Methodist minister, but didn’t really embrace their views. Aware of insignificance of man, attentive to how sin can inspire guilt and fear.

He died of tuberculosis and exhaustion at age 28. He wrote a lot and traveled widely and wore himself out early.

The novel was well received, made him a celebrity, veterans thought he must have served in the war but he had never seen a battle. “They all think I’m a veteran of the civil war.”

1800-1850 Romantics dominated literature, viewing nature as benevolent. So realistic writers are taking over (nature as neutral). He’s attracted to that. Then naturalists who considered nature as hostile.

1860-1890 Realism: you know someone is going to die at the end, usually a woman at the mercy of society, divided class structures. Faithful depiction of reality: verisimiltude. Typically middle class live, reaction against romanticism, interest in scientific method, rational philosophy. Focus on here and now.

Psychological realism: realism as described by the person, how it appeared to him.

1880-1930: Naturalism. Plumb the natural to find the laws. Influenced by Darwin’s evolution. Used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity and environment had an inescapable force to shape human character. Example: Call of the Wild, a dog completely reverts to his primal instincts, the fit survive. Depict every day reality. Attempts to determine the underlying forces that influence the subject’s actions. Include uncouth subject matter. Expose the dark side of life: human vice and misery.

1860-1900 ish: Impressionism movement, applies not just to visual art. Internal monologue (pre-stream of consciousness), inarticulated thoughts. Narrative style is intentionally ambiguous. Action explained while events are occurring, instead of after the events are processed by the character. Concerned with the emotional landscape of the setting—the way the setting evokes emotional responses in the character and reader. Employ details in ways that it’s difficult to get clarity by looking at the details. You can’t trust the narrator. Often avoid chronological telling, focusing instead of how and why things happen.

Plot:

Some say it’s nearly plotless. Maybe overstatement. How does it flow? The linear mountain-peak plot line (conflict, rising action, climax, denoumout). Perhaps not plot-driven, but certainly has a plot.

climax? end he goes from boy to man, his soul is changed, it rained (symbolic of baptism, a newness out of the rain).

Different perspectives or ways to read the work: lenses.

Reader response lens: how was it for me, the reader

Moralistic/religious lens.

It’s hard not to bring yourself into the work.

Close reading: using the work itself to inform your reading of it. The new and most accurate lens, they say. This is how we study the Bible these days, an exegetical approach. In previous centuries they interpreted the Bible differently.

This work fits into so many categories: Russian literature, Western canon, psycho-drama, political statements, new philosophies: nihilism

How to approach the plot

Imagine a circle with Raskulnakov in the center, going out in spokes:

• Sonia
• Razumíkhin
• Svidrigáylov (foil, double)

Character traits of Rask:

• impulsively generous
• bright but didn’t finish (sign of class despite not finishing)
• lazy (Sasha always says he’s lazy)
• always in a hurry but isn’t getting anything done
• he’s always so torn

Techniques:

Division/schism: show a character in light of another one that is his double or counterpoint.

Is he redeemed at the end, or merely redeemable? Last few pages show hope, if mechanical, as he turns to the NT that Sonia provides.

Sonia

From R’s perspective, they are similar—they both destroyed someone, in her case, herself. She’s prostituted herself, going against moral code. Yet they are both the great ones, testing to see if this theory was true.

But he’s prideful and selfish, where she is humble and practical.

Over time R’s swings between wanting to confess and self-preservation became more violent. By the end he is creating opportunities to confess.

Possible outcomes when dealing with his sin: sink into depravity (seared conscience), suicide, or go mad (Mr. Marmaledov). Sonia offers 4th option: redemption.

The Murder

Based on a theory that some people are extra-ordinary, perhaps have to do something morally wrong to get to the place of greatness. Before the murder thinking mostly academic and some moral struggle. But after the murder it was so moral, haunting his conscious. Did he do it for money? He never used the money.

For him (utlitarianism), the end justifies the means, that she (he calls her a louse) would be better off dead, and the money given to the poor. First you have to de-humanize a person before you can justify killing them. (cf, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl where slaves were de-humanized by slave owners).

 

Victorian novel—realism, looking at characters in a raw way, ending isn’t likely to be happy, serially published in 1878, examines everyday things that happen and the ensuing misunderstandings, victims of misunderstandings (small mistakes/decisions have major consequences), much greater amount of introspection in realistic novels than in romantic

Role of the Heath

• bleak and wild, sets up the heath as a character (furze is a woody shrub that gets thick stems and yellow flowers, used for fuel)
• constant—still there at the end
• loved and hated by some, those who love it survive (Thomasin, Diggory, Clym) but others succumb to it (Eustacia, Wildeve, Mrs. Yeobright)

The Three Women

• Thomasin—more fragile than Eustacia, Madonna-figure, English rose, content, country girl
• Mrs. Yeobright—proud, protective, many similarities with Eustacia, strong sense of propriety—strong views of class
• Eustacia—age 19, discontent, “raw material of divinity,” sensual, similar to Emma Bovary, self-aware enough to recognize these things in herself, bad motives (builds the bonfire to draw in Wildeve again, marries to serve herself, Clym might fulfill her dreams of Paris)

serially published in 1878

The Three Men

• Diggory Venn—never considered acceptable for Thomasin because of his work, not because he lacks ability to provide for her, honest, upright, resourceful (okay, all the women liked him)
• Clym Yeobright—”the native,” much was expected of him, he was successful by others’ standards but not by his own so he gives it all up, didn’t consider himself above manual labor (even when he has a physical impairment that could have excused him), he doesn’t have the same ideas of class that Eustacia and Mrs. Yeobright have
• Damon Wildeve—false, original story showed more of an extra-marital relationship with Eustacia than in the final published version, he’s crazy about her, always longing, “a man of sentiment,” “the Rousseau of Egdon”

Clym disappoints mother and wife—unmet expectations after so much promise

What is our influence on one another?  What expectations do we have and how do they affect behavior, choices?

The Climax

Mrs. Yeobright comes to Clym’s cottage to apologize, sees her son without recognizing him at first, knocks on the door and Eustacia doesn’t open the door (Wildeve has come to visit unexpectedly), by the time she returns (thinking Clym is visiting with his mother) Mrs. Yeobright has already left, walks home but collapses on the way and is bitten by an adder

Clym learns that his mother had visited but is too late, goes to find her only to see her die, he and Eustacia are estranged and she goes to stay with her father

Clym writes to her to reconcile after she is already planning to escape to Paris with Wildeve’s help, but she doesn’t get the note in time

Everyone converges on a pond, three end up in the water, only Clym survives

Lessons from the Book

• Listen to your mother when she says don’t marry that woman! (listen to those who love you best)
• The need for forgiveness
• Prejudice—they’re stuck in their ideas about one another and they don’t listen to one another, Mrs. Y could have responded to Eustacia differently (and Eu. to Mrs. Y)
• Motivations—we have strong feelings about the characters despite their inaction because we care about their motives (Mrs. Y—class and propriety, Wildeve—wants what he can’t have, Thomasin—fear of society, Clym—philanthropist, Diggory—true love, Eustacia—adventure and a better life)

Ending

seems to suggest an unhappy ending but Hardy was forced to give the book a happy ending to please the Victorian public (he includes a footnote stating such)

We like to read books with good heroes and heroines because we can identify with them and feel good, but a heroine like Eustacia makes us uncomfortable

Connections to other books—Madame Bovary, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre

Books written from a Christian perspective that don’t moralize:

Death of Ivan Ilyich (Tolstoy)

Housekeeping, Gilead, Lila (Marilynne Robinson)

The Landmark for the Beginning of Realism in Fiction

Between revolutions of 1830 and 1848. 5 literature philosophies going on at the time: classicism, romanticism, realism to naturalism (socialist), parnast (art for art’s sake, purely for intellectual community), symbolism.

Influenced by The Lady of Thirty.

Translation: makes so much of a difference.

History: inspired by a real-life tragedy in 1848, young medical student of Flaubert’s father’s student. Depressed and unhappy, Delamare (last name), married several times. Flaubert was in the middle of another book, a student reminded him of this case and suggested writing about it. A woman fits the description of this woman also. He was in Egypt watching the Nile rise and said, “Eureka, I will call her Emma Bovary!” He was staying in a hotel in Cairo managed by a buy named Bovaray. He later denied knowing anything about this case, not giving credit where credit is due.

Originally published serially in magazine in 1856.

Style: descriptive but not juicy metaphors, leaves the author out of it, presents material without commentary (from a distance), like reporting facts: journalistic. Painstaking descriptions (without decoration), informative. Seeing the thing, or seeing it, hearing it: sensory. Clinical, surgical way of writing. Unsentimental. Controlled style, holding the edges. Has a claustrophobic effective, oppressive, unrelenting. Periodically some romantic cliché.

Whatever Emma thinks or attends, her progress is arrested by what she observes with the senses: she’s distracted. Each character suffers from distraction.

Many great authors like this book. Anna Korenena comes from influence of this book.

Characters:

Charles: average, not that smart, big act of rebellion is to go against his mom by marrying Emma.

All characters seem to be daydreaming.

Emma: influenced in her religion. Lives on the idea of promises (books, religion, arts). Failed to spark love of herself, failed to find herself. Doesn’t know herself, so how can we expect her to experience true things. She embarks on love without knowing what love is. Unsympathetic character. Always searching for something she doesn’t know about.

She goes to a ball: a ball because he’s coming out into the Republican party, but for her it’s like Cinderella going to the ball. She doesn’t improve herself in any way, she’s selfish with her child, blaming others for what happens to her. She tries to climb up by Charles’ position but it costs the boy his leg when Charles tries to do a surgery.

Rodolphe: not sympathetic either.

There are no kindred spirits in this book.

What is the most important event in the book? Humais gets medal of honor

What did Emma want and what was her problem?

She is always longing, wanting something she can’t have but read about in books. She’s casting herself in her own story.

What’s the point of the story? Foolishness, happiness seeking through materialism, 19th C women in society, dreaming and monotony, slaughter of romanticism, demise of the family.

Symbolism:

1. Windows: over a hundred references to windows

2. Human/Divine suggestions

3. Green: both Rodolphe and Leon wear green, cigar box is green. Green in Victorian sense means hope.

4. Hirondelle: means the swallow (bird). Emma walks with bird-like steps, swallows when she doesn’t speak. There are swallows on the weather vanes. Her dreams drop in mud like wounded swallows. At that time it meant good luck, rebirth, hope for better prospects.

5. Fog/mist/haze. Misty blue colors. Make possible some comings and goings.

6. Manure, fertilization. Yoneville didn’t give up old agricultural stuff, That’s where she first meets Rodolphe.

7. Metal/iron: beginning of industrialization.

8. Cigar: worldliness, luxury, sensuality. Priest has cigar stains on his chest. Emma buys an expensive case she can’t afford.

9. Plaster priest in garden: symbol of her pride. It breaks: perhaps the church/religion is failing. They finally lose it.

10. Greyhound. Symbol of rich.

Hard to read in some ways. Reads like a screen play.

It doesn’t guess motives, you get to. You see this in short stories in 20th century. Has starkness.

Why does it survive? You can see psychology, religion, climbing social status, etc.

Style: we only see each other by our actions. We don’t see their motives. We are removed from each other’s true heart.

She comes to a point of real awareness in her death.

After her death: still the people around her are sowing what Emma reaps. Showing how selfish her suicide was.

Message: now that we have the ability as a middle class to self-actualize, we have no idea what we are doing.

A cautionary tale about what happens when you are not content, not grateful, always wanting more than you have, wanting it now (impatience).

Historical Background

1807 Portland, Maine, then part of Massachusetts, grandfather Revolutionary war hero, described as a dreamy child, liked to read esp. stories set in faraway places (Arabian Nights). Sailors would come to town speaking different languages. He became a linguist, knowing 8 languages and able to read 4 others. Published poetry at age 13 as name “Henry”. Father said it was a “lousy” poem, not knowing it was his son’s work. Went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Franklin Pierce and Nathaniel Hawthorne were in his graduating class. Hawthorne and Longfellow not friends in college, but their paths crossed later in life.

They wanted him to teach at the college but first he traveled in Europe for 3 years getting to know languages better (learning 7 languages). Kept a journal, later publishing this.

1829 taught at Bowdoin, teaching languages, librarian. Married and publishing literary criticism, textbooks, invited to teach at Harvard after going again to Europe, wife dies from complications during miscarriage. Sends he body to Mass. and stays in Europe, grief-stricken. Travels a few more years and in Swiss Alps meets Appletons from Mass., likes daughter Fanny but it’s not reciprocated.

Department head at Harvard, not much time for writing. Hawthorne writes “Twice Told Tales” and sends it to Longfellow, starts their friendship. (Wrote a poem on Hawthorne’s death, 1864.)

1839 publishes collection of poems. Good at marketing them, reputation grew. Continues to woo Fanny Appleton though she refuses. Several years later she decided to marry him. He describes it as best 18 years of his life, has several kids, happy marriage, become a well-known family because of his reputation as a poet. They become a national symbol of tranquility. Fanny’s family is wealthy, buy them a home. Visitors include Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, etc.

1854 Resigns post at Harvard, first self-sustaining poet in America. Fireside poets popular at this time, publishing in literary magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly, around 1850s.

Publishes lots of work: Hiawatha (30,000 copies in 6 months),

Whittman self-publishes “Leaves of Grass” 1855.

1860 Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride is published, the nation on the verge of Civil War, an attempt to unite the nation.

1861 wife Fanny is putting together packets of children’s hair, going to seal them with wax and her dress is on fire, he tries to help her and it burns her and him. She died the next day. He grew the beard to cover the scars.  He wrote a poem about her 18 year later. Wrote letter to Fanny’s sister how hard it was for him, and how he loved her. Wrote a poem “The Cross of Snow” referencing Mountain of the Cross.

Fireside Poets included him and 4 others, all known for long life, memorizable poems, abolitionists, and celebrated.

Honored as a kind of father of American poetry, appreciated by public and scholars alike. But now, has fallen out of favor. Why is this? (because it’s too simple, not intellectual enough).

Themes

He wrote about family, faith, freedom, home life. He write about the patriotic themes by glossing over truth and romanticizing it.

What’s he doing? Dipping into the American past, using language skills to immortalize, to give America it’s themes.

Dickinson

1830 b. 1 brother (married, lived nearby), 1 sister (never married either). Train was expanding America, people could be more connected. No longer was the West a lifetime away.

Emily read widely, her father frowned on reading all but a few books. 1849 Longfellow published Cavanaugh about a small town. When her father left the house they would read this contraband.

Compared to Poe, connected to Walt Whitman, admired the Bronte’s and Shakespeare. Wrote lots of letters to friends and family. Went to school a few years. May have had a personality disorder, not having lots of face-to-face relationships. Her behavior was progressively odd, wearing only white.

Wrote lots of poems, only a few published during her life, taking out her odd grammatical ways, which bothered her. It was common to burn your correspondence after your death, and many of her poems in her letters were burned. The maid saved a lot of her poems in her trunk, an act of disobedience. She died of kidney disease at age 56.

Came from Puritan heritage, strong work ethic, piety, brought up to be honest, obedient, and pleasant. Learn to rule your passion with reason. Virtue in self-denial.

Words to describe her: unique writing style, one of America’s best poets, emotionally complex, unconventional, reclusive, fun imaginative.

Poetic devices: personification (by capitalizing the words, giving them personality), alliteration, symbolism. Almost 150 poems begin with “I” but are not necessarily autobiographical, which she wrote that it’s not really her. She imagines herself as another.

Looking at her original writing on envelopes and scraps of paper. Used dashes, strange punctuation. She would cut the envelopes apart out of frugality. She was an influencer in the idea that poetry was visual. She experimented with slant rhyme. Or sight rhymes (like “word” and “lord”). A wordsmith, crafting complex ideas into short sentences. She would read the dictionary for fun. Some of her poems begin as dictionary definitions.

Themes

Nature, balancing imagination and observation,

A Bird Comes Down the Walk, tune to Blessed Be the Tide that Binds, she didn’t intend for it to be sung, but it was the same meter as in these familiar hymns.

Tom: Managing for Baltimore Shakespeare, little acting, seen 22 of 39 plays live. Now it’s getting harder. Not all are great.

Ref. Christian Business Network, founded by Tom Shetleck?

Shakespeare wrote for the stage, not the page. He was an actor and gave them enormous liberty, with little stage direction, unlike other playwrites. In Winter’s Tale there is a single indication of someone entering “stage right” or some such thing. This leads itself to people resetting and retelling the stories. Wife Vicky connected with Gentlemen of Verona because it was set in New York City and she could relate.

PowerPoint: slideshow. Describe the people you are looking at.

1. pensive, thoughtful, reflective (Lawrence of Olivia)
wistful,
2. emersed in his thoughts, cool
tricky, self absorbed
3. puzzling, young (Christopher Plumber, Michael Kaine
weak, distracted,
4. intense: Kenneth Branaugh
determined
5. regal, high brow, Ser Bernheart (19th Century Hamlet)
6. intense, slick,
angry, disturbed
7. sad, reflective, Kevin Kline (favorite)

There are some similarities, but huge differences. There is a huge liberty in interpretation. Compare the Bill Murray as Polonius in Hamlet (2000) in which the son barely pays attention to him, to the older versions in which Polonius is highly regarded by the son.

Shakespeare is seen either as a genius, a man beyond his time, or more recently a man of his wonderful time.

Stephen Greenblatt: Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, a wonderful book for context. Hamlet in Purgatory he also wrote. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, a year in which he wrote 1599 4 plays, started Hamlet at the end of that year. (As you like it, famous speech about the ages of man: All the world’s a stage, a lot about death, a precursor to Hamlet. After Hamlet he wrote Measure for Measure, also a character like Hamlet.

He wrote for a company. He was an actor and lead the company. He wrote for the individuals who made up the company. In 1595 he writes lots of comedic pieces, Henry IV part 1 (Fallstaff, the great big baudy, hard-drinking, braggart Knight), Mary Wives of Windsor, Much Ado about Nothing, repurposing the same character 4 times, then stopped. He had an actor Will Kemp, a fantastic comedic actor, who he wrote for. Then there was a falling out, and he killed Fallstaff in Henry V (what Tom Clancy did with Jack Ryan. Tom Clancy died and now there is a new Jack Ryan movie coming out!)

Richard Burbage, a tremendous actor, the first Hamlet, Lear, Othello.

Another book: God’s Secretaries, the making of the King James Bible.

Thomas Moore, chancellor of England in time of Henry VIII, in prison for not recognizing the divorce. Writes the “Dialoge of the Comfort against Tribulation” about how to find comfort in tribulation, in circulation at the time Hamlet was written.

Reference 3 kinds of men who are in trial, from Thomas Moore’s work, where we see the 3 kinds. One who receives comfort (Fortinbras). Two who don’t: one who is lethargic (Hamlet) and one who is fuming (Laertes). 3 kinds of men who are avenging their father’s death.

Act IV, Scene 4, line 15:

Shakespeare often tells people why they are doing things.

Gertrude: she likes her station and doesn’t want to step down. She likes being queen. And she may have been involved with Claudius before. Act III, Scene 4, closet scene: just after killing Polonius, Hamlet says that she was involved in killing her husband.

Shakespeare played the Ghost in this play. He played old kings a lot. Is the ghost satisfied with the result that he had set in motion? He is in his armor, does he only think about himself? Contrast with Hamlet, the intellectual.

Why wasn’t Hamlet king upon his father’s death? It wasn’t primogenitry, it was an elector system whereby nobles elected the next king. They draw from a tight band from around him.

To Be or Not To Be Speech: with Ophelia on the stage, which makes it much more of a foreshadowing.

2 themes going on concurrently: Montaignes talking about appearance and behavior, and how you can never really know people. All the while Renaissance is re-birthing humanities, where character qualities are being elevated and examined.

At the end you are left with lots of questions. How did you like how it turned out? etc.

Tom’s favorite speech: Hecuba speech: actors can produce emotion about something that means nothing to them. Why am I so paralyzed when I have something so important to me to emote about.

Favorite character?

Measure for measure was written just after this, the last comedy he wrote, there is a male character in prison scheduled to be executed. Set in Venice, Duke goes away putting his brother in charge, irresponsible, baudy jokes. Sister is studying to be a nun, going to a guy to let her brother go, says she must sleep with him for him to release her brother. His last comedy, from there it was just dark.

Horatio: boring? blank slate? For a scholar, he never initiates, he’s always just a step behind.

Everyone is always spying on each other in this play, behind a curtain, being sent to France to spy on family members.

Claudius: never really “owns” the throne, perhaps because he is usurping it.

Reference:

Bill Murray, Hamlet, 2000 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXS2esgBvxQ

Orson Welles and Peter O’Toole on Hamlet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smMa38CZCSU

Looking for Richard: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116913/

Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare http://vimeo.com/53246814

Historical Context
Reformation Timeline
1456 Gutenberg Bible and Augustine’s writings (Luther called himself an Augustinian)
1517 95 Theses
1520 Luther’s writings (letter to the Pope, Bondage of the Will)
1521 Excommunicated from the church
1522 End of Luther’s focus on the academy; now he focuses on the larger Church
1529 Diet of Speyer: Protestantism born
1534 Church of England formed under Henry VIII
1545 Council of Trent: Counter-reformation (Catholic Church begins to reform itself)

Religious Context
Catholic
indulgences
relics
powerful leaders but in decline
works-based salvation
lots of bureaucracy and corruption
had strayed from the excitement and simplicity of the apostolic church
1545 Counter-reformation: corrected the big problems but the Reformation had gained so much traction that it was much more defined and major differences in doctrine now become apparent, Protestantism was now a new, distinct religion

German
Luther
city-states
humanism – individually minded

Swiss (Zurich, Strasbourg)
Zwingli
free states, republics
focused on community
more influential in England (the Puritans, who carried the ideas to the New World)
(Reformed churches are more common on the East coast)

95 Theses
reform the church but don’t remove it
spreads quickly because of the printing press (Wittenberg was not a prestigious university)
very critical of indulgences

Freedom of a Christian
The good you do is because of your faith, not because you’re bound to do it.
Freedom comes from faith.
The Christian is perfectly free, subject to none. The Christian is the dutiful servant of all, subject to everyone.
Inner man (spiritual) vs. outer man (bodily)
commandments were given to show man that he is lost
depravity of man – there is no good in him, so he cannot gradually work his way closer to God
Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works. (result of salvation, not a means of earning it)

Bondage of the Will
response to Erasmus – pointing out his flawed arguments
Erasmus tries to not make waves by being vague and even illogical about doctrine
humanism (not the sames as secular humanism) – theologically neutral in the 16th century, wasn’t a religious term, the concept existed but wasn’t used as a term until 1808, humanists were not against God but believed certain things about the study of the liberal arts and culture and humanity, to have life the way it should be, go back to original source documents and pull out meaning from them directly (Bible, Plato, Aristotle) instead of getting it second- or third-hand
Erasmus considered Latin the language of the world and was opposed to national boundaries as detrimental to the search for knowledge
Luther was a humanist in his time too – believed in returning to the original source documents, saw culture as off track
Luther’s argument – sin incapacitates people from working out their salvation
Christian humanist – read the Bible in the original languages, read Augustine and other church fathers

difficult to take off our 21st century, Protestant glasses and see Luther’s writings as ground-breaking