Discussion Thread 5 - Hamlet

Remember that in response to Hamlet, you are going to recite - from memory - one speech or part of a speech of at least ten lines from the play in class. You need to choose that speech this week. Your blog entry this week is your chance to do two things: (1) reveal the speech that you have chosen and explain the reason for your choice; and (2) analyze the language of the speech closely in the way that we have been closely reading language from the Thomas and Bishop poems, the passage you chose from Ship Fever, and the speech you chose from Death of a Salesman. Note that you analysis can be brief, but it should discuss the language of the speech well.

Discussion Thread 4 – Hamlet

As we prepare to read Hamlet, consider the position that Hamlet is in as the events of the play start:

- He was happily studying at college when he was called home because his father had been murdered;
- He has reason to suspect his uncle, his late father's brother and now the king, of the murder;
- His mother is "sleeping with the enemy," having hastily married his uncle almost immediately after her late husband's funeral;
- In fact, his relationship with his mother has begun to take on an intimacy that - perhaps - only Oedipus could appreciate;
- As he deals with these issues, the ghost of his father is about to appear and demand that he avenge his murder;
- His highly emotional girlfriend is suddenly clinging to him like a vine, with her annoying father hovering in the background;
- The old friends from school who have recently joined him may be spies for his uncle;
- In the meantime, his nation's traditional enemies, the Norwegians, are trying to use the chaos caused by the murder to take back territory that they recently lost to Denmark.

Given all of these circumstances, put yourself in Hamlet's position. Which of them would bother you the most and why? Kudos, in advance, to those of you who can make a case for an unconventional choice.

Discussion Thread 3 - Is Willy Loman Tragic?

One definition of "tragedy," from Edward Quinn's Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms (Checkmark 1999), reads, in part, that it is "a form of literature that depicts the downfall of the leading character whose life, its disastrous end notwithstanding, represents something significant." Does the story of Willy Loman fit this definition? What's so significant about him or his life? Many suggest that Miller's play is a rueful commentary on the American Dream. Is Willy's failure to achieve that dream his tragedy? How then do we account for the success that Charley and Bernard enjoy?

Consider any and all of these questions in your entries. Also, please emulate Laura Love's entry from Discussion Thread 2 and try to respond to one or more of your colleagues' ideas.

Discussion Thread 2 - Death of a Salesman

This week, as we read Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, consider the role of societal pressure in the play and in your life. What effect does living in mid-twentieth century society have on Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy? How does each one of them respond to those pressures? Without revealing too many personal details - this blog is not meant to be like a group therapy session - discuss some of the societal pressures that you feel as a person, as a student, as an artist. How are the pressures that the Lomans feel similar to or different from your experience?

Discussion Thread 1 - Ship Fever

If there is one common thread that runs through the stories in Ship Fever, it is the practice, study, and obsessions of science. Whether her characters are world famous scientists like Gregor Mendel, Carl Linnaeus, or Alfred Wallace, or fictional creations like Alec Carriere, Sarah Anne Billop, or Dr. Lauchlin Grant, each is engaged in science in some way. Citing specific evidence from the text, focus on one character in the collection and discuss how Barrett presents the role of science in that character's life. It would be ideal for different students to discuss different characters, but also to comment on common threads that run through the stories as they are revealed in their fellow students' comments.