SAVE THE INDIGNEOUS AMAZONIAN PEOPLES

Okay, So I'm not one to push people to sign petitions. I know how annoying and exasperating those petitioners are when they harass students to sign things at school BUT, this is one situation that is really heartbreaking to me and for some reason, this problem really speaks to me. I'm not a hippie, but lets face the facts. The world is slowly becoming a polluted, technological wasteland and having these small Amazonian tribes still existing in our world is a rare treasure that we MUST preserve. It is a glimmer of the past towards life on Earth that we cannot even begin to fathom. As the world progresses, these indigneous people, these amazing natural environments and animals are the only things we have left to remind us of what natural beauty exists on our planet. Not only that, but this is a HOME that these people are being forced out of. So please read the information below and sign the petition! I promise they're not going to ask for all your information and they're not going to send you stupid emails. 

Kayapo tribe’s chief listening that an hydroelectrical plant is going to be build sweeping their homeland.

“While newspapers and television talk about the lives of celebrities, the chief of the Kayapo tribe received the worst news of his life: Dilma, “The new president of Brazil, has given approval to build a huge hydroelectric plant (the third largest in the world). It is the death sentence for all the people near the river because the dam will flood 400,000 hectares of forest. More than 40,000 Indians will have to find another place to live. The natural habitat destruction, deforestation and the disappearance of many species is a fact.”

(For those of you who want to read up more about it, it’s called the Belo Monte Dam. I’m not sure if it’s actually effectively in construction yet, I’m trying to find more accurate information on the Internet! but it’s still good to know.)

SIGN THE AVAAZ PETITION TO STOP THE DAM

DRJ # 4 ACTS 4&5

I knew Gertrude was going to tell Claudius what happened with Hamlet and Polonius and Gertrude, I knew Claudius was going to plot against Hamlet and do something dirty, I knew Hamlet would figure it out, but I did not know Ophelia was going to go mentally insane. I'm a little disappointed in her, I expected her to be a strong woman who'd be able to fight everyone with Hamlet and become the King and Queen of Denmark and everything else. But of course that's not his style, Shakespeare likes having everyone die in the end. It's like I knew it, but I didn't want it to happen, like most of Shakespeare's plays.

The character I am choosing to analyze is Claudius. Claudius is a dirty, dirty man. He is definitely the antagonist of the play. Simply put, he killed his brother for his throne and his wife, and plots to have the protagonist, Hamlet killed as well. At first, I sympathized with Claudius. Claudius would have bouts of depression, pangs of guilt from his actions. Unlike a lot of familiar villains, Claudius knows what he did was WRONG, and even tries to repent for his sins (although that failed). I familiarized with him a little, to understand what something I did was wrong and how awful it must have felt to realize it. I even thought, okay, Claudius is going to make it up somehow. I honestly felt Claudius was sincere, but I was horribly wrong, and curse my good judgement. After his sessions of guilt, he would just go back to his throne and his wife like it was no big deal, and then set off to plot Hamlet's death with Laertes. How dare Claudius toy with my emotions like that! Good riddance. As the antagonist, he definitely purposely causes all the conflict in the play, like having R & G and Ophelia to get the scoop on Hamlet and plotting to kill Hamlet because he is a threat to his throne, but then there would be no conflict, no play if Claudius hadn't killed his brother and knocked up his wife.

The themes present in Act's 4 and 5 is the spurring of revenge and ambition. In these acts, Fortinbras and Laertes is shown to set off doing his duty, unlike Hamlet who waited too long. Fortinbras is planning to avenge his country, claiming back the land that was taken from the previous Fortinbras, and Laertes plans to avenge his father's death. With the absence of Hamlet and the appearance two characters in Acts 4 and 5, Shakespeare purposely has them there to act as a foil for Hamlet (in order to further strengthen Hamlet's "fatal flaw") Similarly to Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes have ambition, and are determined to avenge their losses, determined to "do their duty". However, unlike Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes immediately jump in to action without a second thought. Their ambition and sense of duty is stronger than Hamlet's, although Hamlet was willing to go through with his plans of vengeance. I feel as though Hamlet was so clever, he liked to dart around the rocks instead of just simply diving in, which was his fatal flaw.

DRJ #3 ACT 3

My initial reaction to Act 3 was...weird. I wasn't sure how to feel about Act 3, although I thought act three was very funny, in a sarcastic, bitter, and cruel way. It reminded me of some kind satirical essay Jonathan Swift would write. Hamlet's witty banter definitely kept my interest afloat, which I believe was Shakespeare's intention.

I feel that Act 3 was the crux of all the action, the main ideas behind Hamlet, so I've decided to analyze the protagonist, Hamlet in this act. Simply put, Hamlet is a punk. He is mean to everyone, as seen in his rude conversation with Ophelia during the play, his rude comments to Claudius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius and his angry conversation with Gertrude. Hamlet bitterly jokes around, answering Claudius and Gertrude questions with jokes. He constantly talks throughout the play, (ashamed at himself for not being able to do what the actor is doing) yet he is clever, his wordplay, being able to call out the fake Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and able to put together this play. However, this typical Hamlet behavior makes everyone around him believe he is insane, when honestly, I feel that he is just a clever, angsty, smartmouthed teenager who is having a hard time dealing with everything that had happened to him. Hamlet even states that his "insanity" is just him fooling around, (in order for him to be able to avenge his father) but everyone doesn't understand. The main character Hamlet is not the ideal person, but he does suffer a fatal flaw. (Aristotle's tragic hero is someone who is almost perfect in every sense, in which Hamlet is definitely not) who dies because of one fatal flaw. For Hamlet, I see his fatal flaw as being someone who is not able fulfill what he set out to do. Hamlet has all these opportunities to slay Claudius, and yet he doesn't actually do it until Claudius and Laertes set out to slay him. Even his own father had to come to him (in ghost form) to try and sharpen his "somewhat dull appetite for revenge." Hamlet's dilly-dallying was his ultimate demise, because Claudius and Laertes is able to plot and kill him in Hamlet's inaction (although Hamlet barely kills Claudius at the last minute). Foils to Hamlet include Fortinbras and Laertes, because unlike Hamlet, they jump immediately into action.

One theme present in Act 3 is, what is truly madness? What is considered insane and not insane? How are you to tell when someone is being crazy, or if you're the one that is actually crazy? In Act 3 Scene 1, Ophelia constantly calls Hamlet crazy, saying "Dear God, please make him normal again!" But Hamlet is only telling Ophelia the truth, his views on women and even himself. Does speaking the truth and speaking his mind make Hamlet crazy then? I feel as though Shakespeare toys with the idea of being honest is like being insane. Everyone in Claudius's court is full of deceit and lies, tricking and plotting against one another to find information on someone or something. However, Hamlet is honest with his feelings from the start. Although he states them in a rude way, he does tell people what is going on in his mind and what he is feeling, like in Act 3 Scene 4 he bluntly tells Gertrude everything that is going on with Claudius and his father, and yet she seems to turn a blind eye to it, constantly saying Hamlet is crazy.