“We do on stage the things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else.” This was said in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by the Player a character in this play that seems to know a little more than everyone else. Throughout this play Rosencrantz and Gildenstern explore the concept of being in a play with the help of The Player who is an actor himself. So even though Rosenscrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is based on Hamlet, it is a literary significant play because it has multiple literary devices, a storyline that explores existentialism, and brings a new perspective to the great play Hamlet.
Allegory, Allusion, Foreshadowing, Characterization, and Tragedy. These are just some of the Literary devices that make Rosencrantz and Guildenstern great. Foreshadowing plays a major part in this play because if you’ve read Hamlet, or even the title of the book, you know that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are going to die. “But you’re not dead”, “I didn’t say they started to grow after death!” this is interesting because they don’t know that they are destined to die but they hint at it. Characterization is shown through the fact that they don’t remember a life before the play starts and they grow to start to discover curious things about the universe they live in. I haven’t read to many plays but this really stands out to me because I’ve never read a play about characters in a play discussing what it means to be in a play. This just one of the things that makes this play great.
Another thing that is interesting about this play is explores concepts of existentialism through their journey. “Till events have played out. There’s a logic at work-it’s all done for you, don’t worry. Enjoy it. Relax To be taken in hand and led, like being a child again even without the innocence a child…” This is them taking a stab at if there is free will in the world. There’s no free will in the play because all their lines have already been written out so it raises the question is everything planned out in our world? What is free will? These are key questions that are not only raised in this play but also in the play it’s based on.
Another thing that is special about this play is that it is based on the classic play Hamlet, and makes you look at it a different way. Because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have a whole adventure throughout their play while Hamlet is going on it makes you wonder what other characters in Hamlet might be doing while they are off screen. Could Polonius be planning a rise to power through connections with the king? “…if you look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else.” This quote is very important to the concept of this play because it makes you look at every exit in Hamlet as an entrance to a different story.
Hamlet by itself is a classic play and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a great play on it’s own to, but together they increase each other’s value as a play. When I first read Hamlet I didn’t pick up on the fact that there could be a world outside just the main story of the prince of Denmark’s struggles. And after reading Hamlet a second time and reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern right after I starting picking up on some relating concepts of existence.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Honors Essay The Federal Theater Project
The Federal Theater Project was a project where the government funded plays to stimulate employment for people out of work. This happened during the great depression so it was a time where the U.S. really needed something to help the economy. To get people to come watch these plays they were producing they would do some plays called “Living Newpapers” which analyzed current hot topics. However the “Living Newspapers” started to get problematic when they started to go over foreign issues so congress made it so that the actors couldn’t depict foreign heads of state on stage because they were afraid of diplomatic backlash. Even worse the Federal Theater Project was cancelled in 1939 because the government decided it was costing them too much money, even though it created thousands of jobs for unemployed citizens.
This relates to the argument of what the government is doing currently because they are spending money to bail out the banks and other organizations as to create jobs but they are also taking away jobs from people because they are costing too much money. Because the economy is bad and homeless rates are up people are turning to the government to create jobs for everyone, but even though they are trying to create more jobs it seems even more people are getting laid off from their jobs.
So the real question is should the government take the risk like they did with The Federal Theater Project went into action and spend money to create jobs or should they just keep doing what they’re doing?
This relates to the argument of what the government is doing currently because they are spending money to bail out the banks and other organizations as to create jobs but they are also taking away jobs from people because they are costing too much money. Because the economy is bad and homeless rates are up people are turning to the government to create jobs for everyone, but even though they are trying to create more jobs it seems even more people are getting laid off from their jobs.
So the real question is should the government take the risk like they did with The Federal Theater Project went into action and spend money to create jobs or should they just keep doing what they’re doing?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead
In some respects, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a play about nothing—I mean, we all already read Hamlet and we all know what happens to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, so really what could this play be about?
I think this play is about what minor characters of a major play do while they aren't on screen. I also think it's about plays in general and how they create new worlds and perspectives.
So, really, what is this play all about?
Two minor characters in Hamlet and what they do when they're not on stage.
I think this play is about what minor characters of a major play do while they aren't on screen. I also think it's about plays in general and how they create new worlds and perspectives.
So, really, what is this play all about?
Two minor characters in Hamlet and what they do when they're not on stage.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
blog 15 digital essay reflection
What are the most important concepts that you took away from reading Hamlet?
I learned that character foils show a lot more about a character than just that characters dialouge and actions. Through the actions of another character it helps the audience compare the two characters to show their differences and similarities giving the audience a new perspective on each character.
What are the most significant concepts that you learned from creating your digital essay?
I learned that editing a video takes a significant amount of time and should be started as soon as filming is done.
I learned that character foils show a lot more about a character than just that characters dialouge and actions. Through the actions of another character it helps the audience compare the two characters to show their differences and similarities giving the audience a new perspective on each character.
What are the most significant concepts that you learned from creating your digital essay?
I learned that editing a video takes a significant amount of time and should be started as soon as filming is done.
Digital Essays
the questions we answered were about siliques, character foils, how women are treated and suicide
Friday, October 7, 2011
Honors history essay
Honors History Essay
If you happen to be a fan of plays or even just know about plays then you know that not all of them are musicals. Music however does play a big part in theater quite often whether it is a major part of the play or simply just a background sound to set a specific tone. However I believe that music is not necessary in theater because many plays have been successful without it, sometimes it takes away some of the audiences image of the play, and it can sometimes turn people off of the play.
Plays such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and much Ado About Nothing are some of the most famous plays ever and did not have music written into their scripts. There are some famous musicals out there but the number of non-musical plays outnumbers the amount of musicals. Also what makes a great non-musical play is not the background music; it’s the acting and/or the plot of the play. Even in some musicals the plot and acting makes the play great not just the music. If you do prefer music in your plays you could even imagine the music that goes behind a scene yourself.
Another reason music isn’t necessary to a play is because you could easily imagine what music would go into a play yourself. Imagine watching a play and the acting and scenery are magnificent the only flaw is that you don’t like the music that the director has chosen for a particular scene and now you feel as the though he doesn’t know what he’s is doing and it ruins the whole play for you. Now image the same play only there is no music in the background and you can happily image that your favorite song is going along with the actors. A bad soundtrack could ruin your whole theater experience when a soundtrack could be totally avoided in the first place. This shows music is unnecessary and can even make people not want to see a play.
Also music is unnecessary in theater because it can cause people to not want to see the play. What’s your favorite non-musical play? Oh Really? I had no idea. Now imagine you see a poster for the play coming into town but the poster says it has been readapted into a musical. Now you probably liked the original play because of the acting or the storyline, but now it’s a musical and you have no interest in seeing it. Or you do have an interest in seeing it because you are an adventurous person and the play is now ruined for you because every time you see that play the hideous music of the musical version that you saw plays in your head every time you think about it.
Music can sometimes be a great part of theater but I believe it is not necessary because it takes away the audiences ability to imagine music to the play, many plays have been successful without it, and it can sometimes turn people off the play. I’m not saying that all plays with music in them are terrible they’re not I’ve enjoyed some plays with music myself, but when I see a play it’s not for the music it is because I’ve heard the acting was great, or the storyline is mind blowing. I believe that music is not necessary in theater because many plays have been successful without it, sometimes it takes away some of the audiences image of the play, and it can sometimes turn people off of the play.
If you happen to be a fan of plays or even just know about plays then you know that not all of them are musicals. Music however does play a big part in theater quite often whether it is a major part of the play or simply just a background sound to set a specific tone. However I believe that music is not necessary in theater because many plays have been successful without it, sometimes it takes away some of the audiences image of the play, and it can sometimes turn people off of the play.
Plays such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and much Ado About Nothing are some of the most famous plays ever and did not have music written into their scripts. There are some famous musicals out there but the number of non-musical plays outnumbers the amount of musicals. Also what makes a great non-musical play is not the background music; it’s the acting and/or the plot of the play. Even in some musicals the plot and acting makes the play great not just the music. If you do prefer music in your plays you could even imagine the music that goes behind a scene yourself.
Another reason music isn’t necessary to a play is because you could easily imagine what music would go into a play yourself. Imagine watching a play and the acting and scenery are magnificent the only flaw is that you don’t like the music that the director has chosen for a particular scene and now you feel as the though he doesn’t know what he’s is doing and it ruins the whole play for you. Now image the same play only there is no music in the background and you can happily image that your favorite song is going along with the actors. A bad soundtrack could ruin your whole theater experience when a soundtrack could be totally avoided in the first place. This shows music is unnecessary and can even make people not want to see a play.
Also music is unnecessary in theater because it can cause people to not want to see the play. What’s your favorite non-musical play? Oh Really? I had no idea. Now imagine you see a poster for the play coming into town but the poster says it has been readapted into a musical. Now you probably liked the original play because of the acting or the storyline, but now it’s a musical and you have no interest in seeing it. Or you do have an interest in seeing it because you are an adventurous person and the play is now ruined for you because every time you see that play the hideous music of the musical version that you saw plays in your head every time you think about it.
Music can sometimes be a great part of theater but I believe it is not necessary because it takes away the audiences ability to imagine music to the play, many plays have been successful without it, and it can sometimes turn people off the play. I’m not saying that all plays with music in them are terrible they’re not I’ve enjoyed some plays with music myself, but when I see a play it’s not for the music it is because I’ve heard the acting was great, or the storyline is mind blowing. I believe that music is not necessary in theater because many plays have been successful without it, sometimes it takes away some of the audiences image of the play, and it can sometimes turn people off of the play.
Honors English Essay
Honors English Essay
Memento is a screenplay about a man, who has no short-term memory, who is in search of the man who killed his wife and caused his memory loss. An overall theme that I have noticed in this screenplay is that when looking back on your life you see how your purpose in life has changed and how relationships you’ve had with people can seem to be one way but have turned out to be a completely different way.
In the screenplay Memento the literary device of structure plays a big part in the theme. Now what’s interesting about Memento is that while the story is going forward for the audience it’s going backward for the characters. The first scene for us in the audience is really the last scene for what happens to the characters. Besides this the structure of this screenplay is very similar to the structure of most other screenplays. Most stories are structured like this: first there’s rising action then something that gets in the way of the protagonist then there’s falling action, then rising action again until there’s a climax and then falling action. This is where it gets confusing because of the reverse storyline the structure is in reverse too. When it’s in reverse it follows the typical structure but if you look at the events in chronological order the structure is backwards. There is also a simultaneous series of events going on while the main story is going on. Leonard is telling someone on the phone how he deals with his memory problem and the story of Sammy Jankis who had the same problem as he did. Unlike the rest of the screenplay this part is in chronological order just broken up throughout the screenplay and then later meets up with the reverse story line at the end of the screenplay.
Another Literary device important to this screenplay are flashbacks because not only is this movie displayed as a flashback but it also gives you a background of what has happened before the beginning of the story. If this screenplay did not have the flashback of Leonard telling someone on the phone what happened to his wife and how he deals with his condition because of his previous client of his with the same disorder the story would just be a man looking for revenge with no real method of figuring things out.
Also one of the most important literary devices used in this screenplay is characterization because at one part of the screenplay a character could be acting one way, but then you realize they are really the opposite. For example the character Teddy. In the beginning of the screenplay you see Leonard murdering him because he thinks he killed his wife, this makes you think that he is the villain the whole movie giving you a different perspective of the character. But by the end of the movie you realize that Teddy was really helping Leonard from the start and was just shown to be a villain to give people that perspective of that character. Another example is the character Natalie who from the beginning of the movie is shown to be helping Leonard trying to catch who he’s looking for but as the story goes on you see she was really using him to kill Teddy to get revenge for her missing boyfriend.
Without these there literary devices we would not have the same theme. If the character were shown differently, the structure was in a different order, or if the flashback hadn’t been giving pre-story details the theme that when looking back on your life you see how your purpose in life has changed and how relationships you’ve had with people can seem to be one way but have turned out to be a completely different way the theme wouldn’t be conveyed. If it weren’t for the flashbacks then we wouldn’t of seen how Leonard looks for his purpose in life. If the characters teddy and Natalie were shown differently we wouldn’t realize how Leonard’s relationships are effected, and without out the structure of this story we wouldn’t have the “looking back” quality of the theme.
Memento is a screenplay about a man, who has no short-term memory, who is in search of the man who killed his wife and caused his memory loss. An overall theme that I have noticed in this screenplay is that when looking back on your life you see how your purpose in life has changed and how relationships you’ve had with people can seem to be one way but have turned out to be a completely different way.
In the screenplay Memento the literary device of structure plays a big part in the theme. Now what’s interesting about Memento is that while the story is going forward for the audience it’s going backward for the characters. The first scene for us in the audience is really the last scene for what happens to the characters. Besides this the structure of this screenplay is very similar to the structure of most other screenplays. Most stories are structured like this: first there’s rising action then something that gets in the way of the protagonist then there’s falling action, then rising action again until there’s a climax and then falling action. This is where it gets confusing because of the reverse storyline the structure is in reverse too. When it’s in reverse it follows the typical structure but if you look at the events in chronological order the structure is backwards. There is also a simultaneous series of events going on while the main story is going on. Leonard is telling someone on the phone how he deals with his memory problem and the story of Sammy Jankis who had the same problem as he did. Unlike the rest of the screenplay this part is in chronological order just broken up throughout the screenplay and then later meets up with the reverse story line at the end of the screenplay.
Another Literary device important to this screenplay are flashbacks because not only is this movie displayed as a flashback but it also gives you a background of what has happened before the beginning of the story. If this screenplay did not have the flashback of Leonard telling someone on the phone what happened to his wife and how he deals with his condition because of his previous client of his with the same disorder the story would just be a man looking for revenge with no real method of figuring things out.
Also one of the most important literary devices used in this screenplay is characterization because at one part of the screenplay a character could be acting one way, but then you realize they are really the opposite. For example the character Teddy. In the beginning of the screenplay you see Leonard murdering him because he thinks he killed his wife, this makes you think that he is the villain the whole movie giving you a different perspective of the character. But by the end of the movie you realize that Teddy was really helping Leonard from the start and was just shown to be a villain to give people that perspective of that character. Another example is the character Natalie who from the beginning of the movie is shown to be helping Leonard trying to catch who he’s looking for but as the story goes on you see she was really using him to kill Teddy to get revenge for her missing boyfriend.
Without these there literary devices we would not have the same theme. If the character were shown differently, the structure was in a different order, or if the flashback hadn’t been giving pre-story details the theme that when looking back on your life you see how your purpose in life has changed and how relationships you’ve had with people can seem to be one way but have turned out to be a completely different way the theme wouldn’t be conveyed. If it weren’t for the flashbacks then we wouldn’t of seen how Leonard looks for his purpose in life. If the characters teddy and Natalie were shown differently we wouldn’t realize how Leonard’s relationships are effected, and without out the structure of this story we wouldn’t have the “looking back” quality of the theme.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
blog 11
What Act and Scene or portions are you producing for your digital play?
Act3 scene 3
What Theater Jobs are showcased in your group?
Marketing, Documentarian, and Actors
This is a screenshot of us uploading the video.
This is a screenshot of us editing the video
This is a screenshot of the outline for what we were going to film
* What is going well? We've already filmed everything and now all we have to do is edit
* How is your group collaborating? We are collaborating well we all had a say in writing our script.
Act3 scene 3
What Theater Jobs are showcased in your group?
Marketing, Documentarian, and Actors
This is a screenshot of us uploading the video.
This is a screenshot of us editing the video
This is a screenshot of the outline for what we were going to film
* What is going well? We've already filmed everything and now all we have to do is edit
* How is your group collaborating? We are collaborating well we all had a say in writing our script.
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