Ceremony Summary and Analysis

Leslie Marmon Silko

• part-Laguna Pueblo, part-Anglo American, part-Mexican
• considered part of the Native American Renaissance

Setting

• takes place mostly on the reservation and surrounding areas
• memories flash back to time spent during World War II in the Philippines
• directions and landscape important to the symbols and messages of the story as a whole

Plot

• starts with four poems, telling of Spider Woman, the power of stories, about a ceremony, and sunrise
• story starts with Tayo at home, waking up from a dream about World War II
• shifts in scene from life on the farm to memories of World War II, tell stories about Rocky and him
• establishes deaths of Rocky and Josiah
• prose poem talks of Reed Woman, Corn Woman, and purposes
• Tayo blames himself for praying away the rain - "So he had prayed the rain away..."  "...he cried for all of them, and for what he had done."
• flashback to time at hospital when Tayo feels insubstantial (literally) - "invisible scattered smoke"
• flashback to train station when he has blackout and is helped by the Japanese woman
• back at the farm, Harley visits, remember past (Tayo stabbing Emo, Harley leaving the sheep), decide to go to bar; also compare to the past Harley (hated beer) - "It tastes like poison!"
• traveling to the pub, moving in semicircles, Grandma's complaints and stubbornness, Tayo talks about his isolation/death compared to Rocky's spiritual life
• Tayo starts to cry, then falls off the mule
• arriving in New Laguna and being taken care of by Auntie, establishing a little on characters of Auntie and Robert
• Tayo wakes up crying and Grandma talks about bringing in a medicine man, against Auntie's protests of name and hints at responses to Sis's actions
• Ku'oosh arrives and he and Tayo discuss warfare and killing; discontinuity with the old ways - "In the old way of warfare, you couldn't kill another human being in battle without knowing about it."
• prose poem about Scalping Ceremony and K'oo'ko to stop bad things from happening.
• Ku'oosh speaks of the need for a ceremony, but that it might not work. - "The others who had the Scalp Ceremony, some of them are not better either."
• shift to trip to the bar, bitter at the U.S. Government, Tayo realizes power of alcohol (white medicine), telling stories about the war and wartime - "swallowed the beer in big mouthfuls like medicine"
• Tayo told to talk, provides commentary on their mistreatment but others stopped him, Tayo realized they don't want to blame whites - "They never thought to blame white people for any of it."
• shift to memory on the Philippines during WWII, relating Japanese to Native Americans, tells the story of Rocky's death - "The tall one looked like a Navajo guy..."
• jump back to present in a valley still with water, Tayo remembers the visits with his uncle, optimism while drinking from the well - "maybe this wasn't the end"
• prose poem about false magic, Pa'caya'nyi, ignoring mother corn altar, bringing drought - similarities to the main story
• Tayo and Harley leave the animals tied to a windmill and hitchhike to a bar, Tayo tries to remember Rocky
• memory of hunting with Rocky for deer, connecting idea of death, relating to Laguna pueblo traditions on hunting vs. Auntie and Rocky's view of white American culture
• shift back to the bar, Harley asks for jukebox, scared of Tayo exploding again; Tayo describes various explanations of his attack
• prose poem about continuation of drought, asking Hummingbird about other sources of food, talks about other worlds
• Emo becomes more and more aggressive about being below white people, annoyed at Tayo's half-white ancestry
• prose poem about Indian man and white women show style of possession and acceptance during the war
• story returns to making fun of Emo, Emo turns on Tayo in annoyance, Tayo stabs Emo
• shift to tale of recruitment, still emphasize discrimination, first time Rocky called Tayo brother (strong influence on him?) - "Anyone can fight for America... even you boys."
• story of how Tayo was left with Auntie at the age of four, Josiah tells Rocky that he has a brother now and Rocky doesn't want him to be a brother, Auntie gives Rocky preferential treatment when alone with them but doesn't show rest of the family
• flash to Auntie's life with Tayo's mom, trying to stop her from leaving the reservation, Sis tried to leave and fit in with whites, changing times brought fear - "They were losing her.  They were losing part of themselves."
• Auntie tells Tayo about Sis, Tayo mentions old photo of Sis
• prose poem continues to tell story of Corn Mother and how to bring back rain
• Tayo and Rocky enlist, then Tayo remembers he promised to stay on the ranch, Auntie argues then lets them go hoping something would happen to Tayo
• shift to conversation about the cows and Josiah's plan, Rocky scornful and Auntie has support in dislike from dislike of Night Swan
• cattle arrive and keep moving South towards home, Josiah has them branded, glimpse of Night Swan provided
• prose poem continues with creation of fly for being messenger to fix the world
• Josiah meets Night Swan and falls in love, Night Swan tells him her history and dances for him, lots of blue associated with Night Swan
• Auntie is furious but says that it'll make Grandma upset, Grandma doesn't care - "If she had a better one about them, then it didn't matter what they said."
• Night Swan tells Josiah about the cows and he buys them, Auntie keeps them busy with checking on the sheep to keep Josiah from visiting Night Swan, complains about nobody being home (including Rocky), compares Josiah to their old dog that was run over
• Tayo remembers his mother's funeral and Josiah's comfort
• Tayo goes to the canyon with the spring to perform ceremonial rituals and pray to bring back the rain, sees a spider
• compares old stories to school science, believes old stories anyway
• sees a hummingbird while coming home, gets rain the next day
• Josiah sends a nervous Tayo with a note to Night Swan because of rain, Tayo goes upstairs and has sex with Night Swan, comments on eye color, people fear change
• Tayo leaves Harley at bar and walks to Mexican cafe, sees man killing flies, remembers Josiah's story about the fly (same story as being told in prose poem), acknowledged separation between cultures
• Tayo still killed the flies on Rocky
• return to bar, couldn't find Harley, went to Lalo's, visited Night Swan's old place, remember that Night Swan left after Josiah died, sleep behind Harley's grandfather's barn's loft
• prose poem: Hummingbird and Fly ask Corn Mother to help the people, she says to get Buzzard to purify the town
• Tayo wants to help with the farm again, Robert tells him the others want him to get help, Tayo realizes the elders want him to leave
• description of traveling through Gallup, Tayo and Robert headed there
• relating the lives of homeless children in Gallup area, mention that many are half-Indian, half-white
• boy (Tayo) lives with his mother under the bridge in Gallup, learns to fend for himself while downtown by eating random dropped food, used to stay in nice place
• Tayo saw woman burying child, serves as a memory relating to death
• fight between white men and Indian women, police arrive and arrest all of the women, the houses are destroyed and burned, the boy hides
• prose poem: Fly and Hummingbird give Buzzard offerings, Buzzard asks for tobacco
• Robert leaves Tayo with Betonie, Betonie's house filled with collected things from both white and Indian cultures over generations, Tayo is scared of Betonie and considers returning to white hospital
• Tayo tells Betonie about his situation, factors everything into his plan on the ceremony, emphasizing interconnectedness
• Betonie talks about importance of changing ceremonies based on time, Tayo is skeptical and sees the wealth of the white people as sign of lying and broken promises, anger at whites, Betonie tells him that not all are the same, introduce Shush
• prose poem: child with the bears, medicine man got him back but slightly different, presumed to be about Shush
• clarification about witches vs. animal people and whether only evil comes from witchery
• Tayo thinks that whites took everything from Indians but Betonie says that witchery wants them to think that all evil resides in whites to cause massive destruction, tells Tayo story of how Indians created the evil
• prose poem: creation of European people from a witches' meeting, too much arrogant bragging so witch (?) tells story that comes true about people who are scared of everything and kill everything
• Betonie, Shush, and Tayo ride north, headed to high mountains for a ceremony
• prose poem: Coyote captures a man hunting, family finds him almost completely taken over by Coyote, Bear People perform ceremony to bring him back
• Betonie and Shush perform same ceremony for Tayo, Tayo dream of Josiah's cattle that night
• Betonie tells Tayo story about his grandparents, the Mexican girl and Descheeny, they design a ceremony for the future
• prose poem: Fly and Hummingbird fly back for tobacco from the people but they don't have any, go to fourth world to ask mother where to find tobacco, directs them to caterpillar
• Betonie describes his family, directs Tayo to continue the ceremony and not be impatient, look for the stars and the cattle and a woman, leaves to return home
• Tayo travels by truck, stops and sees a white man clearly for the first time, meets up with Harley, Leroy, and Helen Jean, resists offer of beer for a while, then accepts, goes to a bar, Helen Jean leaves with Mexican
• story of Helen Jean, from Towac but went to Gallup to raise money, unsuccessful in trying to get a good job, quits after boss expects sexual favors, meets up with Indians and asks for money, resists sexual favors for money but can't, wants to change how she's been acting
• Tayo fell asleep at bar, wakes up when Leroy and Harley get in a fight, drives them home, Tayo vomits out the alcohol and past
• scalp ceremony fixed the individual ghosts but still problems like white beads from grave and haunting, like lost land with Indian soldiers
• prose poem: Ck'o'yo Kaup'a'ta the Gambler taking everything from people, takes storm clouds and locks them up, another story on the absence of rain, following the advice of Grandmother Spider brings success
• jumps ahead to meeting a woman (Ts'eh), invited for dinner and sees Betonie's stars that night on her porch
• prose poem: Fly and Hummingbird go to Caterpillar to get tobacco for Buzzard
• Tayo and the woman (Ts'eh) have sex, Tayo dreams of cattle again, Tayo sings to the sunrise, watches the woman bundle rocks and plants as he eats breakfast, and leaves
• rides up to the mountain where more white people keep grazing their cattle, hopes to find them and drive them home
• reach Floyd Lee's land and sees his cattle, wait until after dark to cut through the fence, muses that it's hard to believe a white man stole the cattle because he'd always learned that they're better - "Why did he hesitate to accuse a white man of stealing but not a Mexican or an Indian?"  "He knew then he had learned the lie by heart... only brown-skinned people were thieves; white people didn't steal, because they already had the money to buy whatever they wanted."
• Tayo looks for hours for the cows, begins to lose hope in Betonie's words, falls down and approached by mountain lion, sings to the hunter's helper, follows the direction it came from to find cattle, directs them through the hole in the fence
• tries to outrun patrol, sees the cattle leaving as he falls from his stumbling horse, patrol men plan to bring him to their boss but find mountain lion tracks so track it instead, snow falls to block the tracks
• Tayo meets a hunter, takes him home to woman's house, perform rituals on the shot deer, finds his horse there, woman caught the cattle in the old corral, cattle used in roping tournaments, leaves to go home to get cattle truck, returns with Robert to find place abandoned but cattle cared for
• Grandma takes pleasure in Betonie's success, Auntie still waiting for something to go wrong
• Finally Tayo realizes the purposes of the nightmares and that nothing is ever lost, deals with daily life and watches Pinky try to deal with working on the farm with the sheep
• meets Ts'eh while looking for the cattle, stays camped up with her by the spring, gets bull for the herd of cows for more breeding, optimism
• Ts'eh asks Tayo to gather plant if she can't, hints at changing times ahead, still time of peace but with uncertain deadline
• Robert arrives to share news about Emo spreading rumors that Tayo is crazy, sending people up to capture him, Ts'eh mentions how death is not the worst thing, Tayo decides to end the witchery
• Ts'eh and Tayo spend time with the art of the she-elk, Ts'eh talks about the future and friends' betrayals, potential in hiding and waiting for it to blow over
• Ts'eh leaving as well, pack together, Ts'eh leaves with a promise to see him again
• Tayo runs away, avoiding people and planning to get out of the area, strength in the valley and optimism, trust Leroy and Harley and gets in their truck, releases they betrayed him after they stop
• realizes that he's in the witchery stronghold and has not as much power, runs off
• history of the uranium mines, hides in the mines compared to a grave, leftover explosive power can be used for destruction
• patterns of the uranium indicate the location of the final part of the ceremony, survive the night
• prose poem about working Ck'o'yo's magic and not working with spectator, Tayo is the spectator for the using of the witchery
• Leroy, Pinky, and Emo show up with Harley, witchery could be confused for normal actions, torturing of Harley causes Tayo to want to save him and kill Emo but leads to own witchery, resists urge
• stars converge and ceremony ends, Tayo survives and pushed back the evil for now
• returns back to home, crosses river towards own land at sunrise
• prose poem: getting the tobacco back to Buzzard, purified land, plants grow again and mother returns
• ceremony at home with Ku'oosh about the worship and the saving of the land
• prose poem about the joys of seeing and having support of A'moo'ooh
• Tayo still stuck there, another brought food to him and ceremony is performed
• prose poem: Coyote skin is cut to pieces and evil removed
• Harley and Leroy found bed, both got military honor at the funeral, symbolize white recognition
• Auntie treats Tayo like another member of the family, announces Pinky's death and Emo's escape to California, Grandma's heard the story before
• prose poem about the end of the witchery and new arrival of sunrise

Characters

Tayo

• representative of Sun Father
• half-Laguna, half-white and torn between two cultures
• tormented by experiences in the war and the connections between others
• importance of balancing between cultures and ideas

Rocky

• cousin to Tayo
• always tried to follow American way
• eventually overtaken by the white culture
• gave up connection with Laguna pueblo beliefs

Auntie

• supports the American way
• proud of her son, accepts his way of life
• dislikes Tayo for being left to her
• selfish in her own salvation for Christianity
• needs to have something to complain about
• hypocritical and oftentimes either purposely blind, projects feelings onto others

Josiah

• Tayo's uncle
• acts as father figure for missing father in childhood
• death brings confusion and loss to Tayo's life
• taught Tayo old customs

Betonie

• spiritual guide and medicine man
• another mixed race
• brought up with the idea of the ceremony and established the changing ceremony
• another father figure in Tayo's life

Ts'eh

• representative of the she-elk
• Yellow Woman
• lover of Tayo
• helped give Tayo strength and encouragement to bring back the rain

Emo

• main representation of evil
• believed strongly in the dominance of the white culture and tried to believe it
• hated Tayo for being part white and therefore being above him
• wants to be accepted by whites and power he had during the war

Others

• Robert: wife to Auntie, supported Tayo but quiet-spoken
• Grandma: representation of Grandma Spider, brought about change in Tayo's life
• Laura/Sis: Tayo's mother, raised him when young then took him to live with Josiah
• Ku'oosh: Laguna medicine man, uses original methods, could only stop the nausea
• Night Swan: Lover of Josiah, Yellow Woman, introduced Tayo to the world and accepted him
• Hunter: saved Tayo on the mountain, lover/friend/husband of Ts'eh
• Harley: Tayo's closest friend aside from Rocky, wanted to help Tayo but caught in web by white culture and Emo
• Pinky: Cousin of Tayo's, cheated family out of money, veteran of the war, believed in white culture
• Leroy: Friend of the group, veteran, believed in white culture, follower of witchcraft
• Helen Jean: failed Yellow Woman, tried to change her family but got caught in white culture mess
• Shush: Assistant to Betonie and a bear-child

Style and Voice

Point of View

• varied based on scene
• mainly third person limited for Tayo
• shifts to other perspectives and sometimes to first person

Structure

• jumping through time
• disjointed and chaotic
• prose poems form backbone for the story

Tone

• critical in approach to balancing white culture and Indian culture - descriptions of severe inequalities
• optimistic in the future of the balance - hopeful in Tayo's success of balance

Imagery

• detailed descriptions of nature and scenery - important in Native American culture
• emphasis on colors of all different kinds - different meanings associated
• focus on natures of objects - shapes, chaotic vs. organized

Symbolism

• Blue - power
• Stories - bring worlds of their own into existence
• Direction - cardinal directions associated with different ideas and locations
• Cows - importance of mixed balance
• Tangles - spiderweb-like structure of world and interconnectedness of everyone
• Alcohol - white medicine/corruption
• Drought - negative result from focus on white culture and not enough on Laguna culture
• Circles - indicate importance, result in continuation and renewal

Themes

• "Cultures need to adapt to others and be tolerant." - the importance of the mixed races show that, "There are balances and harmonies always shifting."  "You don't write off all the white people, just like you don't trust all the Indians."
• "People make mistakes."  - Tayo falls to temptation but always finds his way out.
• "History repeats itself." - stories repeat over and over, "It seems like I already heard these stories before...only thing is, the names sound different."

Response to Course Materials 8

Perhaps I am doomed to have boring post titles from now on.  Well, no matter.  What have we done recently?

With Spring Break in the middle, I can hardly remember what we did before break.  I mean, I recall there were quite a few interactions with Ceremony in one way or another, but I cannot remember the specifics.  I believe we had time to read in class for many a day, which means there really isn't much to say for those days.  We read Ceremony.  La dee dah.  I was super worried about the reading test though.  I mean, it turns out that no, I didn't need to be, but the book seemed so long and the whole idea was basically just a little intimidating.  I really should have been more worried for the annotations.  I had expected them to take some time, but not that long!  The book was extremely enjoyable, though, and annotating allowed us many things to observe so I suppose I cannot be too upset.  We then discussed the book after reading some articles and such.  I still believe that it would have been better if we were given some of this information before we annotated, it would have made our lives a little easier.  I mean, how were we to know that "Ts'eh" means "water"?  There are some things that I think would be more meaningful if we knew the stories or the culture better.

Anyway, what else have we worked on?  We started reading Fifth Business, which is our final class reading this year.  That's actually a pretty strange thought.  We're so close to being finished with school already.  And that's a scary thought!  But I digress.  We don't have to annotate this time, but I might put in a few sticky notes if I find the need; I may have things to remind myself of in the book.  I'm not sure if I really see how everything we talked about in terms of Jung's psychoanalytic theories are related to the book, but I may be spotting a few points at the moment?  At any rate, I did like that discussion, even if some of it was a review of my Psychology class.  And I love talking about archetypes.  I don't know why; I've always found them interesting to read about.  I've spent so much time on tvtropes before just reading about different archetypes in stories.  I guess I just like to read about random things.  More on the topic of Fifth Business.  I don't like it.  I mean, it seems like it'll be okay, but when I don't like the main character, I can't really appreciate the book as much.  It's why I wasn't too fond of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Because I didn't really like Scout very much.  But hopefully I'll grow to like Fifth Business more.  The summaries we get about it make me want to like it.  I just don't know if I can.  At any rate, I'm looking forward to reading more.

Jane's Struggle Revisited

1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.


Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is a classic and beloved novel about a young orphan, Jane Eyre, who faces down all of the challenges in her life to find happiness in the end.  Time and time again, her determination, honor, and spirit are tested, but each time she prevails.  One of her most striking and memorable struggles was that which tested her moral resolve with love, the love she feels for Mr. Rochester.

Even at the beginning of the novel, Jane's character is seen as strong, both mentally and morally.  From her childhood with her aunt and cousins, the Reeds, Jane is abused.  However, in spite of chaos and fear, she remains, for the most part, mentally strong.  While she is being picked on by John Reed, her cousin, who lies about her activities, she retains her belief in telling the truth, and though her aunt never goes to her defense, she keeps her spirit and fends for herself.  Later, while at school, students like her friend Helen Burns submit to the harsh conditions and ultimately perish, but Jane's morality does not allow her to meekly tolerate the treatment they receive and she fights against the school by maintaining her protests of innocence in the face of accusations of deceit.  She knows and respects the moral importance of telling the truth, though Mrs. Reed did little to instill it in her.  In spite of her upbringing, Jane feels a certain moral and personal obligation to stand up for herself and do what is right, which comes back to cause her future pain.

However, trouble arises when she meets the man who employs her as his ward's governess, Mr. Edward Rochester.  At first, he seems only strange, dark, and brooding, perhaps distracted by some unhappy past events.  As time passes, however, mysteries begin to arise and Jane falls in love with him.  When, following a convoluted process which involves her questioning his feelings towards her many times over, he declares his love and asks her to marry him, she is deliriously happy.  However, trouble makes itself apparent in the form of Bertha Rochester, Mr. Rochester's first wife.  During the wedding itself, Mr. Mason, the sister of Bertha, reveals that Mr. Rochester is already married and Jane is thrown into a personal struggle.  Though her heart wishes to stay with her beloved, her morals and honor insist that she cannot stay.  It would be wrong to continue to live under the same roof as a man she loves but could not have, who has tried to deceive her into marrying him, whatever his reasons are.  In the end, her mind and honor reign supreme and she runs away, retaining her name and her honor in spite of her feelings.  During this pivotal moment, Jane demonstrates the strength of her character and the importance of following what is right rather than what is easy.  Though it hurts her to know that she cannot stay with him, she leaves anyway, because her morals dictate that it is the right thing to do.  Jane's personality, her most defining trait, is illustrated through her taking control of her life and the way she leaves Mr. Rochester.

Through the character and struggles of her character, Jane Eyre, Bronte constructs a powerful message for women, that they can be strong and take control of their lives, an inspiring message for women living in her time period to assert their own capabilities and decide their own lives, as Jane did.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Summary

Tom Stoppard

• post-modern playwright and movie director (directed the movie adaptation)
• Theatre of the Absurd

Setting

• Unclear setting for most of the play
• Presumably outside, in Elsinore, and on a boat
• Abrupt scene changes with little or no transitions - Ophelia just comes running in to signal a change

Plot

Act One

• Guildenstern is flipping coins and keeps getting heads as Rosencrantz bets on it.  Guildenstern is questioning this phenomenon and explains it poorly while Rosencrantz simply accepts it but feels bad for Guildenstern losing so much money. - "A weaker man might be moved to re-examine his faith, if in nothing else at least in the law of probability."  "The law of probability, it has been oddly asserted, is something to do with the proposition that if six monkeys..."
• Rambling discussions from probability to toenails (courtesy of Rosencrantz) turns to trying to remember what happened.  Guildenstern is concerned by Rosencrantz' lack of memory.  Transition to talking about what brought them there. - "(tensed up by this rambling): Do you remember the first thing that happened today?"
• Conversation about the past, realize they have no idea where they're going - "We were sent for."  "That's why we're here...  Travelling."  "We are entitled to some direction.  ...I would have thought."
• Conversation about waiting for something unexpected and making it seem expected - "The more witnesses there are the thinner it gets and the more reasonable it becomes until it is as thin as reality, the name we give to the common experience..."
• Tragedians come!  Player makes references to prostitution for money but Rosencrantz misses it entirely.  Guildenstern gets it but gets horrified by the implications when Alfred is offered.  *Note: First time Rosencrantz confuses their names.  Rosencrantz finally gets it but Guildenstern offers a bet: heads vs. tails.  Then switch to another impossibility - doubling a number gets an odd number.  Offer of Alfred countered by offer of putting on a play.  End with reveal that the last coin was tails. - "We can give you a tumble if that's your taste, and times being what they are."  "It costs little to watch, and little more if you happen to get caught up in the action..."  "You and I, Alfred - we could create a dramatic precedent here."
• Ophelia runs by chased by Hamlet, reenact scene Ophelia describes in Hamlet.  Claudius and Gertrude enter; more misidentification.  Lines spoken from Hamlet.  Then Ros and Guil act melancholy and confused with some mixed metaphors.  Ros is frustrated with not remembering anything.  Guil tries to make him feel better and reasons things out. - "I want to go home."  "-over my step over my head body!"
• Discussion on what they have to do.  Talk about playing a game and getting "such thanks as fits a king's remembrance."  Trying to figure out their purpose.  Start a game of questions and have conversation at the same time.  Also trying to find themselves. - "What's your name when you're at home?"  "Consistency is all I ask!"
• Discussion of Hamlet followed by attempt to mimic how the conversation with Hamlet would go through question and answer.  Rosencrantz doesn't get it and still confuses their names.  Also more puns about Gertrude's incestuous marriage to Claudius. - "Oh!  You mean - you pretend to be him, and I ask you questions!"
• Hamlet actually enters, talking to Polonius.  Shift to scene with Hamlet and R and G.

Act Two

• Skip scene with Hamlet, jump to when Players arrive.  More confusion between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
• Ros and Guil discuss the success of their conversation, or rather, lack of success. - "I think we can say he made us look ridiculous."  "He murdered us."  "Half of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn't mean anything at all."
• Discussion of directions in trying to figure out the direction of the wind to see if Hamlet is actually making sense.  Also trying to figure out their general direction.  Some sexual innuendos about licking toes? - "You won't find the answer written down for you in the bowl of a compass."
• More talk about fate and identity. - "Wheels have been set in motion, and they have their own pace, to which we are...condemned."
• Ros plays a guessing game with Guil, and then it turns out that the coin he is hiding actually disappears.  Hamlet, Polonius, and Players interrupt the scene.  Ros, Guil, and the Players talk, first in puns, then in serious conversation.  Player complains about being left behind and gives an explanation of what actors are like and about being familiar with Elsinore. Then discuss Hamlet with the player. - "We're actors - we're the opposite of people!"  "I can come and go as I please."  "And I know which way the wind is blowing."
• Try to work out what's wrong with Hamlet, reference Ophelia and Ros and Guil are confused again; understand that Polonius in love with Ophelia.  Guil wants order.
• Discussion on death. - "Eternity is a terrible thought.  I mean, where's it going to end?"
• Ros tries to stay calm with jokes and gets impatient at the same time.  Keeps getting the opposite of what he wants; parade enters when he forbids people to enter.
• Another scene with the King and Queen.
• Ros and Guil discuss Hamlet again and Player reappears.  Ros and Guil get surrounded by Players and Ros freaks out.  Players start reenactment of dumbshow. - "We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style."
• Interruption by Ophelia, Hamlet, Claudius, and Polonius.  Then retelling of Hamlet occurs with Player narrating. Another conversation about death and dying. - "Traitors hoist by their own petard? - or victims of the gods? - we shall never know!"  "It doesn't bring death home to anyone.... One day you are going to die."  "Audiences know what to expect, and that is all that they are prepared to believe in."  "It's just a man failing to reappear...  An exit, unobtrusive and unannounced."
• Ros and Guil wake up on and try to figure things out.  Claudius comes and sends them to find Hamlet.  Spend time debating whether or not to find Hamlet together or alone and what direction to go, end up going nowhere fast.  Try to use their belts to stop Hamlet but hopelessly impossible.  Try to shepherd Hamlet to Claudius but he walks away.  Claudius enters, asks where Hamlet is, and almost leaves before Hamlet is escorted on by luck.
• Suddenly Ros and Guil are taking Hamlet to England.  Lots of foreshadowing in discussion.  Talk about seasons.  Talk about wanting to know where they are. - "They'll have us hanging about till we're dead."  "The spring can't last for ever."  "I like to know where I am.  Even if I don't know where I am, I like to know that.  If we go there's no knowing."

Act Three

• Wake up in the dark, talk about how to know if one is alive.  Signs of being on a ship.  Guil misunderstands "land of the midnight sun."  Discussion on time and location.  Guil mentions being unable to disbelieve anything.
• Discuss containedness of being on a boat.  Also freedom.  Guil trying to work out their situation.  Repeated lines between Ros and Guil.
• Game between Ros and Guil where Guil keeps getting the coin.  Guil getting nervous because he thinks it a repeat of never ending situation.  Discussion about money and similarity between the two again.
• Ros starts freaking out.  Guil comforts him.  Tells him the situation.and start looking for the letter.  Discussion on believing in England  and death.  They act out the conversation with the king and discover that Hamlet is to be decapitated.
• Guil works through the morality of it.  Ros feels bad.  Hamlet hears about it.  Ros still trying to work out the situation.  In the dark of that night, Hamlet replaces the letter.
• Ros still trying to figure everything else.  Guil hears the pipe, recognize people coming.  Ros sent to identify source, finds the Players.
• Discuss the situation with why the Players are there.  King is angry so they stowed away.  Discuss betting on certainties.  Guil discusses their lack of restrictions.  Hamlet shows distaste for the audience.  Back to discussing Hamlet and Ros and Guil repeat each other again.  Show similarities between Hamlet and the Player.
• Pirates interrupt.  Leap into barrels to hide.  Player mourns Hamlet after he disappears.  Determines that Hamlet is dead.  Guil is nervous about not having Hamlet, the Player is interested in the set of their ways and relaxes.  Ros tries to keep Guil talking and happy.  More acting between the two.  Realize the change in the letter.
• Player gets all of the other people out, discuss death with Ros and Guil.  Guil gets angry and tries to kill the Player, who acts dead but comes back. - "No one gets up after death."  "If there are no explanations for us, then let there be none for him."
• Players act out all of the deaths at the end of Hamlet.  Guil and Ros keep talking, and Players disappear.  Ros wishes he could stay alive, but then accepts it and disappears.  Guil looks for him, then seems to expect to move on. - "Couldn't we just stay put?  I mean no one is going to come on and drag us off...."  "We've done nothing wrong!  We didn't harm anyone.  Did we?"  "I don't care.  I've had enough."
• Play ends with the final scene between Ambassador and Horatio in Hamlet.

Characters

Rosencrantz

• terrible memory
• often confused and childlike
• innocent to mature - seems to go through puberty
• cares about others and has good intentions - "We're his friends."
• often confused with Guildenstern - literally doesn't know his own name

Guildenstern

• similar to Rosencrantz
• tries to apply knowledge but often wrong - "The law of probability, it has been oddly asserted, is something to do with the proposition that if six monkeys..."
• more aware of the situation and comes up with ideas
• impatient and uncomfortable with the situation; dislikes being lost
• philosophical

Player King

• Believes in the power of acting and doing what his audiences want
• Accepting of the situation and is more aware of his surroundings
• Beliefs on death counter that of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Other Characters

• Hamlet: Does not show complex motivation; seems less heroic
• Alfred: boy in the Player group; often targeted in sexual jokes for low humor
• Claudius and Gertrude: Establish similarities between Ros and Guil; mainly just say lines

Style and Voice

Point of View

• Play so written in third person
• Pretty extensive glimpses into characterization at times
• Variety of philosophical opinions

Tone

• Humorous and immature at times - sex jokes
• Mocks Shakespeare and focuses on the princely characters
• Mocks theater - breaking the fourth wall and scorning the audience

Imagery

• Very descriptive stage directions provide some image of characters' actions
• Not much imagery in describing scenes or set up of the stage
• Focus remains on characters' words and actions

Symbolism

• Coins - Chance/luck vs. Fate
• Player's Music - Arrival of unexpectedness, usually negative
• Compass/Wind - general directionless and aimless situation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Themes

• Death is nothingness. - Characters die dramatically in acting, but death is just nothingness, the final disappearance of the characters.
• Fate is inescapable. - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to "go against" the plot that Shakespeare set for them but are lost.  The Player accepts the situation and knows where he is and what is going on.  It is impossible to escape from fate.  One must simply accept it and move on.

Response to Course Materials 7

No clever titles this time.  I can't think of anything.

So what have we done recently in class?  Lots of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.  It's actually a pretty great read.  A little hard to understand, at times, to be sure, but there's a lot to think about in the text and what it means for the audience and life as a whole.  The confusing bits are almost reminiscent of The American Dream, like I said before.  Actually, I think what really helped a lot was the movie.  It showed a cool new perspective on it that Tom Stoppard himself was responsible for, since he directed it.  And the articles helped too, though I still think the one about Shakespeare essentially being the god of authors and the play to be a bit out-there.  But I guess that's the point of literature; to put ideas out there, no matter how radical they seem at times.

What else have we done recently?  We've actually done some more work on writing.  I know I missed the discussion of our essays on Friday, but who knows, I may still be able to figure out some things to write about.  At any rate, I think the practice is definitely helpful, even if I don't particularly like writing essays in class (honestly, who does?).  Still, considering we're going to have to do it on the AP exam, it's a good idea to get some practice in now, so we have an idea of what to include and how to time ourselves.  I feel like the Close Prompts may actually be more difficult, because they seem to be looking for very specific things about the readings which I'm afraid I might miss sometimes.  I'm also worried about my ability of picking out the meaning behind the piece.  Hopefully having more feedback will help.

And most recently, we started working on reading Ceremony.  I actually really like it.  It's interesting to read from the perspective of a non-Western-white-culture (that doesn't actually make much sense, I know).  I feel like there aren't enough books written from the perspective of minority groups and I really like the insights that it gives on the life of Laguna Pueblos.  Also, it's certainly intriguing with the stream-of-consciousness narration and unsteady timeline.  I find myself getting confused at times, but it's also really fun to try and figure out.  I feel like I'll be going through a lot of sticky notes to annotate it; my copy of the book is too nice and I don't want to write on it!  Anyway, I can't wait to explore it more!

Macbeth and Macduff Revisited

2008. In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.

In the famous play by William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Lord Macbeth expresses insecurity on his own masculinity, which are cast further into light by the scheming words of his wife as she presses him to strive for power by killing the king of Scotland so he can take control of the kingdom.  This is in stark contrast to the attitudes of Lord Macduff, who is unafraid to show sorrow or pain and expresses them freely when he views appropriate.  Through Macbeth and his foil, Shakespeare provides commentary on the appropriate balance of masculinity and femininity.

Lord Macbeth's insecurity is easily seen through his wife's methods of controlling him.  When he expresses discomfort with the idea of killing the king of Scotland, who has taken him in, is a good leader, and is his kin, she scorns him and accuses him of being weak and feminine.  In response, he performs the necessary actions which lead to the deaths of the king, as well as his friend Banquo, who discovers the actions.  Macbeth continues to order atrocious actions to be performed, including the murder of Lady Macduff and her innocent children in hearing that Lord Macduff would cause his downfall.  Through his titular character's heinous actions, Shakespeare denounces those who focus too heavily on their appearance of masculinity and being what men ought to be.

Macbeth's foil, Lord Macduff, on the other hand, provides a contrasting take on masculinity.  When Macduff is informed of the deaths of his wife and children, he does not pretend to hide his sorrow, but openly displays his grief.  When the prince and rightful heir to the throne, Malcolm, questions him on his display, Macduff's response indicates that it is not shameful to mourn that which has been lost, nor does it show any sign of weakness in his status as a man.  Though a minor character, Macduff's righteousness and honor endear him to the reader and his actions proclaim the appropriate response of man to painful news.  Shakespeare uses Macduff to illustrate that proper balance of emotions, acclaiming his actions as those of a proper and dignified man who has nothing of which to be ashamed.

In the end, Macbeth and Macduff meet in person in the last act and fight.  At first, Macbeth, whose arrogance has grown from the fact that he is unable to be killed by any man, does not seem to worry when confronting his foil.  Even after Macduff reveals that he was not born by a woman but instead taken from his mother's womb early, Macbeth refuses to surrender.  This may have also been partially due to his concept of surrendering as weak.  His wife accused him of being weak and feminine when he wanted to turn back from killing the king and taking his position as ruler of Scotland and he could fear her reaction if he were to surrender then.  Furthermore, the sword-fight itself between Macbeth and Macduff can be seen as a play on the word "foil," since foils are a type of weapon similar to a sword.  However, in the end, Macduff kills Macbeth, indicating that in spite of all of what Macbeth would perceive as signs of femininity and weakness in Macduff, he can still kill and solve the conflict.  As such, Shakespeare indicates that having more feminine aspects does not detract from a man's capabilities.

By setting up very contrasting characters in both personality and morality, Shakespeare uses Macbeth as a method of indicating the proper balance of femininity and masculinity in an honorable man.  It does not do to be wholly one, Shakespeare insists, but a balance will create a much better man, such as the strengths of Macduff over Macbeth, which eventually lead to the downfall of the main character.

Rosenstern and Guildencrantz

Yeah, so that was a terrible attempt at an interesting blog title.  But that essentially sums up what we did...

So first we finished Hamlet.  I loved loved LOVED Tennant's Hamlet.  Except I didn't really like the Ophelia.  She wasn't quite what I was imagining for Ophelia.  (Side note: Does anyone else have a really hard typing the name "Ophelia"?  I can't ever seem to get it right.)  The last version that we saw, with the genderbent Polonius and Horatio was weird.  I mean, I didn't understand it.  At all.  I am intrigued though.  I kind of want to sit down and watch the whole thing.  I did enjoy the Horatio and Hamlet scene at the end.  I was kind of hoping that by changing the gender, they'd make it better for a kiss to take place (though I resent the fact that because it's a straight couple, it's more reasonable to show them kissing).  But I digress...

After finishing everything on Hamlet, we've been reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.  It's certainly... interesting.  I'm finding a lot of things catching my attention, but at the same time, I'm feeling like I'm missing a lot as well.  It's really quite confusing, but our occasional pauses help to work certain things out.  It kind of reminds me of when we first started reading The American Dream because we had no idea what we were getting into and we didn't understand what's going on.  Except this has a little bit of understandable plot because scenes are taken from Hamlet - and then elaborated, of course.  It's like a spin-off, only one that changes how we see the entire thing as a whole?  I don't know but it's certainly interesting.  I can't wait to finish it!