The past few weeks in AP Lit have involved
a great deal of work with Hamlet and
most recently, Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. For Hamlet, we
finished reading the play and watched a film version by the Royal Shakespeare
Company, we had detailed in-class discussions regarding a whole range of
important themes and motifs, and came up with an overarching theme statement as
a class. We also did an interesting online activity where we all contributed to
a shared document discussing different clips from Hamlet movies. I found this helpful, but also a bit
cumbersome because it lacked the traditional forum format and so it was
difficult to see the order and direction of the replies.
After discussing Hamlet and writing an open prompt, we began reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
This was a very different perspective on Hamlet
which provided a refreshingly existential and absurdist interpretation that the
traditional version lacks. I especially liked the way the characters
contemplate their reality and struggle to create meaning out of an unmercifully
sparse characterization. It almost seems as if this perspective allows Stoppard
to criticize or parody aspects of Hamlet.
Once we finished reading the play, we started watching a film version. I have
watched this version before and greatly enjoy it, especially the way the
setting contributes new ideas to the original text. I also find Rosencrantz’
accidental discoveries of Newtonian physics hilarious.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteGood job on this post. I agree that the forum activity was helpful and that we should do more of those. Although I didn't really enjoy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, I can see why you enjoyed the play through your explanation. I do agree, though, that the many discoveries of physics was indeed interesting. Again, you should consider putting down your thoughts more than discussing what we actually did in class to retain the information better.
Hey Thomas,
ReplyDeleteI actually liked the shared document thing we did, but I was one of the first people to post on it so it was pretty easy to add things no one had thought of yet. I really liked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead too, however I don’t think I fully understand it. Existentialism seems simple upon first examination but when we started the in depth class discussion I had a hard time contributing any useful information. It's fun you had already seen the movie version we watched in class but was it your first time reading the play?