Matt

media type="file" key="lawrence_tinkercreek.mp3"

Janette Qian’s Comments On:

Matt Lawrence Matt begins his commentary by giving a brief summary of this passage, also putting it into context in the play (i.e. right after the play within a play). He certainly demonstrates a strong grasp on the literary elements present, giving valid and insightful analysis. However, Matt failed to tie these analyses into the overarching authorial purpose, which is crucial to address in such a commentary. Some of his analyses also could have addressed more of the purpose in which this type of literary element was utilized in contributing to the theme of the passage, much less the purpose of Shakespeare. For example, when Shakespeare uses polysysndeton in his list of the sins Claudius may partake in, this build-up of the poossibilities at enactnig murder gives Hamlet a false sense of “security” at the time and luxury he can afford. This continues to contribute to Hamlet’s overarching inability to act. Matt does not analyze line by line, reading each one off. He does pick and choose the lines that seem important to the passage, and only quotes when referring to specfic literary elements or when supporting his argument. This forms an organized and focused direction. However, if Matt had addressed and tied in authorial purpose, then the separate pieces of analysis would have all been tied together, all contributing to the main purpose and completing the orgazatinoal structure naturally. Right from the start, Matt addresses the anaphora in the first three lines with the word “now”. However, he fails to notice that there is also the repetition of the phrase “and so”; the missing interpretation of this phrase causes Matt to miss the important contribution to the tone. “And so” causes this matter of murdering Claudius to seem like a simple thing—just kill Claudius, and Hamlet will quickly have accomplished his revenge. Combined with the repeated “now”, the usage of anaphora in two instances seems as if Hamlet is almost encouraging himself to commit murder since killing Claudius “is so simple.” In addition, the diction at the beginning (which was not addressed) with such broken and short sentence structure is crucial to the interpretatino of Hamlet’s mindset at the moment. In addition, Matt’s interpretation of the lines “O, this is hire and salary” to “as flush as May”, in my opinion, is wrong. He claims that the phrases such as “broad blown” and “flush as May” are describing Claudius. However, I took that as Shakespeare’s attempt at ironically showing the extent of King Hamlet Sr.’s own sins, and how since Claudius took the late king in such a state of fallen corruption, enjoying all the pleasures of the world, it is all the more reason to take Claudius’s life when he too, is ensnared in sin-filled matters. Matt’s oral commentary is only 8:04 minutes long, so next time, he will have to pay attention to the time. However, if he addresses authorial purpose and gives more in-depth analysis in some instances, timing would not be a concern. Matt is able to give very thoughtful interpretations; but without the author’s purpose, this passage just hangs alone by itself, not connected to the rest of the book or the main message being conveyed. Therefore, be sure to tie all the literary terms and your analyses into the authorial purpose.

Questions:
 * If Shakespeare had not utilized the type of diction (i.e. cut-off sent. structure) that he did at the very beginning of the passage, how might the audience’s interpretation of Hamlet’s character have been different? And how has this type of diction played into the decision that Hamlet later makes to not kill Claudius?
 * What does the heavy use of commas, semi-colons, and short phrases contribute to the tone of the passage. What is it trying to convey about Hamlet’s character and the overall message?

Score: • Knowledge and Understanding: 3 • Interpretation and Personal Response: 4 • Presentation: 5 • Use of Language: 3