Hamlet Response Journal

Response Journal for Act 1, Scene 1 to Act 1, Scene 5

1. How does the play make you feel at this point? Record your emotional response(s) in a few sentences and then explore them for a few minutes, trying to figure out why you feel as you do.

I think that Hamlet is a very medieval play. The old English in the script and in the movie really makes me uncomfortable. I don't really like it that much and it makes me want to not speak English ever again. Since listening and reading to old English from Hamlet, I start thinking why did old English change to modern English at all. So Hamlet basically makes me feel bad about the language I speak. 

2. In what situations have you felt similar to the characters? What persons, places, or ideas, from your own experiences came to your mind while you were reading this portion of the play? Try to list at least three associations, but don't worry about trying to figure out why they came to mind. Just accept that they occur.

a) I felt similar to Hamlet at Act 1 Scene 2 when Claudius and Gertrude marry right after the death of King Hamlet. I can relate to that a little bit. I see and hear about a lot of people breaking up with their partners and getting together with another person in a short period of time. It's like they don't have enough time to get over a break-up or over the lost of a loved one. It just makes me feel uncomfortable just thinking about it.

 

b) I could feel similar to Hamlet when he was surprised about when his best friends told him about the ghost of his father. I have felt very surprised sometimes like he has. So I think that is quite similar.

c) I feel similar to Hamlet when he saw the ghost of his father. It looked like to me that he was very scared. I have been very scared like that sometimes but in different situations. So I can relate to that.

3. What portions of Shakespeare's language attracts your attention? These might be individual words, phrases, lines, scenes, or images. Make note of whatever features draw your attention. Speculate for a few minutes about what you think they might mean.

A phrase from what the ghost told Hamlet in Scene 1 Act 5 caught my attention:
"The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown"

I love how the ghost told Hamlet that it was Claudius who killed him. Instead of telling straightforwardly, Shakespeare used an interesting way to tell it. 

4. Make note of any portion of the play, its language, or events that cause you problems. Note any questions that you might ask.

I have a very hard time understanding this play. It is very confusing about all the old English and what words they use. I don't realy like it at all. Although I wish that we could use the abbridged version. I think that it would be much easier and more understanding. And I don't understand most of the scenarios, since I don't understand most of the words they use.

Spectator Sport: Outdoor Basketball

                I was playing basketball there. An opened-air, hard-floor basketball court that was covered by a roof, with a soccer field to one side of it, a parking lot on the adjacent side, and a place to just sit around on the opposite side. I loved playing basketball here. It was late in the afternoon and I was going to go home soon. I had been playing for about 3-4 hours. I lost track of time because all I was thinking about was putting the ball that I had in my hands into the orange rim that hung off the plastic backboard. It takes practice to get better at shooting, and practice is what I was going to do to get better at it. I'd been coming here to train for about three or four years now. I would usually hang around after practice to work on some of my skills. Then he walked in.

               A guy about 5"9 that was in really good shape to play basketball. He had black hair and his face looked like he was Asian American. I was quite indeterminate about his name or who he was. He went to the sitting area and changed his shoes to his Jordan basketball shoes, which were not so appealing. His shoes didn't have much color in it and looked very bland. He started shooting around at the other end of the court, opposite to where I was. He was sinking in every one of his shots. Seeing that motivated me to try to be a better shooter. He started doing some drills and practiced his crossovers and ball-handling. He had amazing ball-handling skills and had great crossovers, almost like Allen Iverson. Although it wasn't dubious at all that he was a better player than me. It was already categorical to me that he was a phenomenal player.  He kept practicing for about ten more minutes and he shouted over to me and asked me if I wanted to play one-on-one or not. I accepted the offer and we played. He was an amazing offensive player, but he wasn't so great on defense though. We played a game to eleven and he ended up beating me 11-9 since I was so tired from playing from the past hours. He had a respectful demeanor. I wasn't going to ever let him beat me again, but I was apprehensive about the next time we would play against each other again, if we ever did. Then we both went home. 

image from: air-jordan-release-dates.com

image from: blogs.prestosports.com