Hamlet\Shakespeare

Liz Peters-Hour 7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet#Influence

The provided link on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet#Influence) provides very useful and insightful information to help better understand Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The Old English language used in his writings can be very confusing at times. Wikipedia gives us a detailed summary of the play in the modified English language that we’re used to. This highlights some of the key points that we may have missed while reading the play in the Old English language. Reading it in the modified version also is helpful in breaking the language barrier between Shakespeare and the modern day reader.

Shakespeare is not very straightforward in his writing; he leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Wikipedia helps explain how to interpret that aspect of his writing by giving us analysis’s of Hamlet from religious, philosophical, political, psychoanalytic, and feminist critics. Considering this gives us greater insight into the inner workings of Shakespeare’s mind. It can also expand our thoughts on his work as we’re reading it.

Wikipedia also touched on the uniqueness of Shakespeare’s writing. Knowing the basic foundation of his style can help train our eye (or ear) to pick up on important parts, such as sentence rupture, or sentences with double meanings. Sentence rupture, (Rabinowitz) can often indicate that a sentence is important. Wikipedia helps educate one on how to pick up on parts like that. It also explains how to analyze sentences that are intended to hold more than one meaning, and how to interpret them.

Lastly, Wikipedia also explained some of the history behind the play Hamlet. It suggested other pieces of work that the play is based upon, and looks at how the play has been modified over the centuries. Understanding other versions of the play can help us better understand Shakespeare’s version. Comparing and contrasting the different versions can help make some of Shakespeare’s ideas more obvious and noticeable to readers.

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Despite how ridiculous the visual part of this video is, it can help us understand not only the summary of the play itself, but also the pattern it follows. In class, we compared the writing of Shakespeare, Jay-Z, and Run DMC. This video coincidentally touches on all three of these artists. It follows a pretty steady iambic pattern, with an occasional free-verse rupture. Analyzing this video, one could conclude that this video demonstrates how the old English language that Shakespeare is known for has been modified to fit into today’s culture. By comparing these versions, one can appreciate and realize how much Shakespeare is unknowingly used in today’s writings.