Response to Course Materials - February
Rosencratz and Guildenstern are waaay too post modernist for me. Don't get me wrong, I've loved playing Guildenstern... I mean Rosencrantz..... ugh. It is obvioiusly a well thought out play, but I'd like to flatter myself and say that if I am struggling so much as an AP student who just finished Hamlet, then who actually comes willingly to watch this show be performed? It seems to me it was written to be analyzed.I thought it was a little funny how Holmes told us she was going to step back and let us do the interpreting on this one... but we're so hopeless, she has to jump in and explain whats going on every few pages. The thing about absurd-ism is that there is no balance - it is all about shock and controversy and challenge, and less about content or reader satisfaction- but maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough (after all, there are a lot of loose ends from American Dream that I never tied up). Aside from reading the Confusing Play, we got back to the AP multiple choice, which I need some practice/strategies for. The AP looks a lot closer, this side of finals. I honestly miss Hamlet - we got into such great conversations, and I loved acting it out. Our final was so much fun, because there are so many different interpretations of Shakespeare (whereas Sheppard doesn't really leave room for other interpretations). I'm sure R& G will grow on me - I like the philosophizing, its just very bizarre.
I actually found Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead to be much easier to interpret than Hamlet. For me, I think it was the language. With Hamlet, I couldn't understand what the dialogue meant on the surface, nonetheless in the deeper sense. With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern though, I found that just being able to understand the lines made them significantly easier to read into. I also don't really miss Hamlet like you said you did. I just find it a lot easier to find things to discuss in R & G, and I get a lot more out of it. I like how it makes me question more things in Hamlet. I also think it's good that we got back into working on some AP multiple choice questions because I tend to struggle with those and going over the reasons why answers aren't correct help me to spot out those false answers in the future.
ReplyDeleteYour wit and humor make this piece amusing to read
ReplyDeleteI find that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a much easier read. With the use of modern language it helps ease the understanding. Even more so adding to the understanding of Hamlet in a sense. Hamlet on the other hand,I had to buy myself a copy of the No Fear version just to get a grip of the absolute basic understanding. On missing Hamlet, it was a major work and how I see it, a lot of his plays are useful on the written portion of the AP exam. Multiple choice is always good, good for the brain, a good workout. They become a strenuous workout when we have to think of the questions on our own.
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