The sane amongst the mad

            Compared to Claudious, Polonius, and Gertrude, Hamlet is the sanest person in Denmark! At least Hamlet has every reason to be mad. He returned home to find himself in the middle of a nightmare. Imagine waking up to find that your uncle has married your mother. At the same time, your new uncle-dad mentions that your mourning is “of impious stubbornness; ‘tis unmanly grief” (I.ii.9). Now try being sensible. Hamlet, born and raised as a leader, has huge responsibilities to carry out. It is his duty, as a prince of Denmark, to bring justice to the scandal. To make matters worse, the ghost of Hamlet’s father orders Hamlet to avenge his death. The same ghost, which four men witnessed, could not be seen by Gertrude. This fact alone suggests that Gertrude is mad. The people who are crazy are also the people who are not questioning the actions and morals of Gertrude and Claudius. Hamlet feels lost within the confusion that was created with the first drop of poison in his father’s ear. “What is a man, / If his chief good and market of his time / Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.” (IV.iv.85). Even Hamlet’s own mother, the maker of his madness, can’t speak to her “too much changed son” (II.ii.34). Furthermore Hamlet never receives any good news. Ophelia, the one person Hamlet hopes to confide in, refuses to accept his love because of her father.

          While Hamlet is a tragic hero, the bigger tragedy is the inability of the spectator to forgive him. The hamartia in which Hamlet acts under is not exactly madness although Hamlet does lose his ability to control himself. Even heroes make mistakes. In my opinion Hamlet’s revenge does not taint his character. In fact Hamlet redeems himself when he and Laertes exchange forgiveness.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

In my opinion Flannery O’Conner’s short stories are gruesome and addicting. I hate how easily I can become attracted to her stories. This is the type of reaction O’Conner desires the reader to have though. A Good Man is Hard to Find is especially painful to read. The hypocritical grandmother is constantly complaining. Every time I find myself pitying the grandmother, she makes an inappropriate comment. The grandmother is so stubborn that she requires an act of violence in order to recognize the problem. In the very last moments of her life, she redeems her self. She tells the Misfit, the killer of her family, “ ‘you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children.’ ” She admits to helping create the “meanness” in the world. She raised Bailey to have bad manners and her generation raised the Misfit. The beauty of O’Conner’s stories lies within the vivid images and the dialect of each character. O’Conner’s belief that “reality is something to which we must be returned at considered cost” is seen through the vicious circumstances that each of her characters “wake up” in. 

School is to Law, as AP lit is to Loophole

I am looking for inspiration and knowledge from AP lit. To me, literature is as important an art as pictures, movies, and music. Art is the only topic where I can find peace and meaning. I love to learn and always question things. I like to try new things, and AP literature was too intriguing to walk away from. Honestly though school irritates and bores me because it implies too many restrictions. I think backwards, upside down, and never the “easy” way. I see AP literature as a loophole in the system though. I enjoy hearing people’s opinions on art because art never requires a right or wrong answer. It is always interesting to discover unique perspectives too. In the future, I plan on utilizing the knowledge I acquired from AP lit to experience new things, change the world, and learn.