Annotated Bibliography

Downing, Crystal. “Reading Hamlet.”  Hamlet: with Contemporary Essays.  Ed. Joseph Pearce. San Francisco: Ignatius Pr, 2008. Print.

Downing’s essay, Reading Hamlet, presents a different approach to the interpretation of the tragedy of Hamlet.  Interpretative ambiguity throughout the play often leads to misreading lines, resulting in different meanings.  Right at the beginning of the essay, Downing tackles the most important misinterpretation in Hamlet- “To be, or not to be, that is the question”.  Incorrect emphasis on that leads people to interpret this as Hamlet battling over suicide.  Instead, the emphasis is on being, “to be” which expresses Hamlet’s longing to know the meaning of existence.  Thus, Hamlet’s search for understanding plays out throughout the tragedy.  Downing continues to explore other puns and word usage that can significantly alter the image of the character that the reader has of him or her.  She also investigates Shakespeare’s choice of school Hamlet attends, Wittenberg, and the historical and religious significance it has on the play. 

            Downing displays different interpretations of Hamlet that most likely have been overlooked by many readers.  She points out how one simple line, such as “I am too much in the sun”, can say so much about a character.  She also examines the misreading characters have of other characters, such as Hamlet and his father’s ghost. 

            Downing’s insight on the usage and interpretation of words in Shakespeare’s play can easily challenge the reader’s previous analysis of Hamlet.  Her essay would be beneficial to any person looking to critically analyze the tragic play.  It is also useful to any student looking for a new approach to writing a paper, especially for Shakespeare’s work.  Downing’s well crafted and researched essay can open the minds of those who never thought about Hamlet like this. 

Flowers

If Hamlet were to give his mother flowers, they wouldn't represent the nicest and happiest of meanings.  Instead, I believe the bouquet would consist of columbines, white roses, ivy, petunias, begonias, cypress, and deadly nightshades.  Columbines represent adultery.  Hamlet doesn't not approve of his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle and views it almost as adultery/incestuous relationship.  White roses can represent remembrance.  Hamlet wants his mother to think of his father and not forget about what she's done to his legacy by marrying Claudius.  Ivy represents fidelity.  Hamlet is very sarcastic throughout the tragedy, so the ivy would be a sarcastic joke.  In reality, Hamlet does not view her actions as faithful to his deceased father.  Petunias represent resentment and anger.  Hamlet does not condone his mother's actions and resentful of her quick marriage after his father's untimely death. Begonias represent dark thoughts and beware.  Hamlet knows that Claudius is the one who killed his father and believes he married his mother to obtain the throne as well.  The marriage is tainted by dark motives and these flowers are a way to display that.  Cypress flowers mean mourning, death, and melancholy.  Hamlet would chose these to constantly remind his mother of his father's death.  Deadly nightshades are a symbol of falsehood. Hamlet does not view his mother's marriage to his uncle Claudius as pure and for the right intentions.  He views it fake and not for the reasons a marriage should be for.  Therefore, this bouquet of flowers would be a great representation of how he feels about his mother.

In Act IV, Scene v, Ophelia passes out flowers as a way to express her sorrow, grief, and feelings.  This contributes to the garden motif.  Throughout the play, references to gardens are the opposite of what people would think of a garden.  In Hamlet, gardens are negatively portrayed as ruined, disgusting, and "unweeded."  Most of the flowers Ophelia passes out have negative connotations, like columbines (adultery), rue (sorrow), fennel (ingratitude), and so on. These flowers fit in the negative imagery of the garden.   Ophelia says she would have given violets "but they withered all when my father died" (Lines 208-209).   Judging from these lines, there are no happy flowers that you'd normally plant in a garden.


 Columbine


 White rose


 Ivy 


 Petunia


 Begonia


 Cypress


 Deadly Nightshade 


Flower Symbolism courtesy of: http://livingartsoriginals.com/list-flower-articles.html

Shakespeare and Dante

The writer of this article makes striking points about William Shakespeare inexistent relationship with Dante.  His inferences and contrasts of the two literary geniuses are quite strong when he mentions the language barrier. The article was at its strongest point when he brings up the language topic.  Dante wrote in his vernacular, Italian; while Shakespeare was English.  He also brings up a good argument when he states that Dante's work was not translated until many years later into English.  Showing the fairly similar parallels in Shakespeare's and Dante's works displays that the author is "tipping the hat to the other side" and that maybe there could have been contact since they are similar yet he still disbelieves it.  He does not delve and explore that aspect further so that is potentially the weakest part of the article.