Prompt Revision #3

1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

In William Golding's novel, "Lord of the Flies", a group of English schoolboys are deserted on an island where their plane has crashed. The boys form what they can of civilization based on a conch shell. The conch serves as the greatest source of power available to the boys as they must survive through the society they have created themselves.

The conch announces the creation of the civilization. The boys must create a plan, or some sort of system of survival in order to get though their struggles together. The conch is discovered by Ralph and Piggy and they first use it to gather all of the boys around the island. This is the first way the conch is used as a way to unite the children. The conch symbolizing unity is important because unity is what they need to establish first before a civilization is built. The conch represents the foundation of the mini-civilization. This powerful conch allowed order to be placed on the island.

The conch is also used as a symbol of power. The conch determines who holds power at a given moment. During the boys' meetings, the conch is used to control thoughts and ideas by giving the person holding it the power to share their voice. One would fear what would happen if the power of the conch was abused. The order that the conch brought to the secluded society represents the democratic system that had been subtly put into place.

 However, similar to a democracy, when the rules are not obeyed, chaos breaks loose and the democracy falls apart. This trend is demonstrated in "Lord of the Flies" when the civilization begins to fall apart and the conch looses its power. The unity the shell once brought is now destroyed because of the barbaric behavior of the boys. The shell no longer has the influence and control it once had on the boys. The final destruction of society is when the conch shell is crushed by one who once believed in the power of the shell. The conch shell is constantly being referred to in this novel because of the importance it served to the success of the boys. The foundation of the boys' had been ruined, just like their attempt at civilization.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Summary/Analysis

Author: Written by Tom Stoppard in 1965, R&G is his most famous play

Setting: The play begins with R&G walking wondrously, arrive at the Elsinore Castle, and then somehow end up on a boat

Plot:

Act 1

-Ros and Guil are flipping coins, which all mysteriously land on heads. Can’t remember anything

-Guil is very concerned with finding a logical reason for the coins

-Ros is confused of why Guil is so concerned with resolving this

-Ros finally remembers how the morning begun; a messenger sent for them

-Now that they have some understanding, they still can’t come up with any direction or what to do next

-The players run into Ros and Guil

·      Players offer performances to watch or to take part

·      Neither catch on for a while, and as the players are about to take off each time either Ros, or Guil, call them back for some reason

·       Guil makes a bet with the Player; Guil tricks player into loosing, then the Player tricks Guil by standing on a coin that landed on tails

-There is a shift in lighting, and Ros and Guil are in the Elsinore castle. Claudius and Gertrude assign Ros and Guil to their mission

-Ros wants to go home, but Guil convinces him to finish the play and act through his lines

-Ros and Guil play a question game, in attempt to practice confronting Hamlet

-Ros and Guil finally meeting up with Hamlet

Act 2

-Hamlet claims to be mad when the wind blows a certain direction

-Ros and Guil are very puzzled by this statement and get angry because Hamlet beat them at their own question game

-Ros and Guil try to establish the direction of the wind

-Ros suggests for Guil to lick his toe

-Ros screams “Fire!” to the audience, then flips a coin but doesn’t tell Guil the result

-Players enter and announce they will be performing The Murder of Gonzago tomorrow

-Ros and Guil talk to the players, and figure out that the players were mad because they were left performing without an audience

-All discuss the play that will be performed tomorrow and its purpose, and Hamlet’s behavior

-No conclusions are drawn, players leave to memorize lines

-Ros and Guil talk about death; what happens after death, life in a box, religion…

-Gertrude enters and asks them how their talk with Hamlet went

-Ros and Guil watch Hamlet talk to Ophelia

-Players enter, player is covering a coin and Ros reaches down to get it and his hand is stepped on

-Players run through the rehearsal of The Murder of Gonzago

-Ros and Guil can’t recognize their own characters in the play

-Guil argues with the player that actors ‘deaths’ aren’t real deaths

-Play ends with the spies bodies lying on stage with the lights dimmed, then the lights come on and Ros and Guil are in their spots

-Claudius sends Ros and Guil to find Polonius’ body

-Can’t decide what to do or where to go

-R&G briefly see Hamlet dragging Polonius’ body off stage, then denies it when confronted by R&G

-R&G talk about taking Hamlet to England

Act 3

-Ros and Guil find themselves in a place of darkness not knowing where they are

-Hamlet lights up the stage with a lantern to reveal they are on a boat

-Neither Ros or Guil can decide on what to do, but Guil enjoys being on a boat because he is free

-R&G find Hamlet sleeping, and are unsure what to do

-Ros does a coin trick to Guil, then Guil realizes he had coins in both hands just to please Guil

-Guil wants to know how much money Claudius gave to Ros, Ros tells him he got the same as him

-They remember they have a letter with instruction, but can’t remember who has the letter

-R&G act out what they will do when they get to England, and Ros opens the letter and reads it revealing the command for the English King to kill Hamlet

-R&G hesitate to proceed on giving the letter to the King because Hamlet is their friend and he didn’t do anything wrong

-Hamlet blows out the lantern and replaces the letter from R&G while they are asleep

-R&G wake up and hear music, Ros searches for the origin of the sounds

-Realize sound is coming from barrels, when the music ends the players come out on stage

-The players tell R&G that they are on the ship because they had to run away from Elsinore because their play made Claudius angry. They talk about freedom and control, and Hamlet’s behavior (Hamlet spits into the audience while they are talking)

-Pirates charge the ship and the player, Hamlet, and R&G jump into the three barrels to hide. Lights go out

-Lights come back on and Hamlet’s barrel is missing

-R&G act out the meeting with the king again, Guil opens the letter discovering it has been changed, commanding their execution, not Hamlet’s

-Guil argues with the Player about death, and Guil stabs the Player with a fake knife

-Ros realizes they are about to die and Guil is in denial

-Ends with the final scene of Hamlet (Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude and Laertes are dead) and the English ambassador says that he has fulfilled Claudius’s wishes.

Author’s Style: very descriptive stage directions, based off of and interconnects with Hamlet, a lot of word play, comedy

Narrative Voice: none, it's a play!

Significant Characters:

Rosencrantz: easygoing, not concerned about the meaning of things (coin flipping), confused about his situation and Guil’s reactions, pragmatic, very caring for Guil, sensitive, more positive than Guil, does what Guil tells him.

Guildenstern: anxious, philosophical, tries to reason with logic, desperate for a rational explanation, easily frustrated, gives commands to Ros, snaps at Ros often but always comforts him.

Both R&G are two very confused characters, little description on their physical appearance is given, spend a lot of time asking questions and receiving no answers.

The Player: comes off as very mysterious, like he knows something the others (R&G) don’t, mentions doing/seeing things before so he has experience in the plays, doesn’t help R&G to the extent they’re looking for, full of wit, life of an actor

Quotes:

“Ros: My name is Guildenstern, and this is Rosencrantz.” Pg. 22

àThis quote gives the readers a preview of the mass of confusion that will continue between the two throughout the play. I find this comedic because they don’t even know who they are! The level of confusion is so high, and remains at this level, that one can’t even identify themselves.

“Ros: It could go on for ever. Well, not for ever, I suppose. (Pause.) Do you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?” Pg. 70

àThis is the first time Ros asks a philosophical question and expresses concern for the meaning of life or what happens after so. This quote is significant because it highlights character development in Ros. As Ros becomes more entangled in his confusion he is curious on what is really going on.

“Guil: 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.” Pg. 95

àI found this quote very ironic because they most definitely don’t have a clue of what’s going on. This quote is in terms of traveling to England, and Guil’s stubbornness to proceed. Guil is hesitant because he won’t know of his whereabouts, and this standard for Guil is completely disregarded throughout the entire work. Stoppard is showing us that your fate will continue even if you’re not ready.

Theme:

Each decision one makes will affect the next and one’s choices will always end at with one’s fate, no matter how hard such destiny is avoided.

à Ros and Guil spend a lot of time discussing their circumstances, options and results; there is always a choice to be made between the two of them. Stoppard uses the setting and the plot to prove to R&G that their choices will not affect their destiny. As the play opens, R&G are wandering endlessly as they run into the players. R&G eventually decide to keep walking, but when they arrive to Elsinore they meet the players again and eventually a performance is given which is what they were trying to avoid originally. Stoppard connects everything to show R&G their miniscule decisions will not affect Stoppard’s greater picture. 

Response to Course Material #7

Words could not express how happy I am to be completely done with Hamlet! I found it really interesting how Stoppard created an entire play from Hamlet, and also that he directed the screen play. There were similar motifs and themes in both works as well as major differences. I came up with this theory that Stoppard wanted to be the director of his movie to leave minimal room for interpretations so no one else could recreate R&G portraying something other than what Stoppard intended. This is one of the major differences between the two authors. Shakespeare left out a lot of detail on purpose, but Stoppard is making a statement by including every trivial detail and action such as a lot of stage direction, which is unseen in Hamlet. Stoppard doesn't give the audience a choice of what they interpret, just like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don't have control over what they do. 

It's slowly starting to hit me that the AP is right around the corner. It's bittersweet because that means the year is almost over and I will be graduating soon, but it also makes me realize how unprepared I am. The AP will definitely be a major challenge, especially going off of the scoring for the essays, but I do like a good challenge. My writing has improved from earlier this year, so with some more practice I think I stand a chance. The multiple choice however, that will need A LOT of practice. I find preparing for the AP in class is very helpful. On my own I have many questions and it's easier when we are discussing efficient methods to go about such difficulties. It's also helpful to see I'm not the only one struggling. 

So far in our first novel, Ceremony, I really like it! When Ms. Holmes introduced to the book I was bit intimidated because the context seemed very unfamiliar but I was excited to learn all about Tayo as well as Leslie Silko's writing style. I'm looking forward to finishing the book but definitely not annotating. I thought annotating the plays was fine but this novel will be a little different...