Annotated Passage, Hamlet (I,Iii, 48-54)

Annotated Passage, Hamlet (I,iii, 48-54) Amos Abati

Ophelia I shall the effect of this good lesson keep As watchman to my heart1. But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors2 do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles like a puffed3 and reckless libertine Himself the primrose path of dalliance treats, And recks not his own rede.5

1 Craft of Writing: Metaphor: Ophelia is comparing Laertes’ advice to a watchman. This is helpful because it tells the audience what Ophelia believes: that her brother has good intentions and that she most likely believes Hamlet to have good intentions, too--if she didn’t, she would have most likely accepted his advice more readily and have mentioned possibly ending her relationship with Hamlet.

1 Reading Strategy: Question: Will Ophelia take his advice? Though here she says she’ll keep what he said in mind, she seems to just be telling him what he wants to hear so he’ll go away. If she listens to her brother, she will be suspicious of Hamlet and his intentions. If she doesn’t, she will be vulnerable to him. Later Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia results in her suicide. So of the two scenarios mentioned, the former, in which she listens to her brother, would’ve been better for her welfare and possibly Hamlet’s.

2 Reading strategy: Connection to other writer: Whenever I hear of a corrupt or disrespectful religious figure, I think of Christopher Hitchens’ criticisms of the Christian Right, particularly Jerry Falwell, whose title he always puts in quotes: “the ‘Reverend’ Falwell.” By making this collection, I see Ophelia as intelligent and not easily swayed. She knows, in other words, that some people who are thought to have a good moral code--such as a brother, another family member, or a preacher-- may in fact be flawed in their thinking. Hitchens’ writing, like Ophelia in this scene, is asserted through independent thinking rather than the thinking of a group.

2 Resonating: This is connected to the reflection about, also marked with a superscripted two. I’ve never liked it when people, such as radical Christians and Islamic extremists, use God to advance a political agenda. There is a book in the library (whose citation I can’t provide but which I could easily find) containing a speech by Tommy Douglas, who was not only a politician, later to be voted the “Greatest Canadian” (despite being Scottish), but also a Baptist minister. “The Bible is not one book,” points out Douglas; “it is many books. It does not have a static concept. It represents man’s emerging moral concepts as they have grown through the centuries.” Christian extremists, who condemn people for being gay and for showing many liberal traits, do not share his views regarding Bible. By seeing that there are really “ungracious pastors” in the world, it amplified the effect of Ophelia’s metaphor.

3 Craft of Writing: Word choice: As Shakespeare often does (to the dismay of high school students worldwide), this passage contains many interesting words. One of these is puffed. Normally, when thinking of this word, one thinks of a marshmallow or pillow--something puffy. But in this instance, as the notes so kindly written in a column say, puffed is to mean proud. This creates more imagery than simply saying proud (not to mention adding another syllable), and evokes many images in the audience. After reading it over a few times, I tend to think of a hefty Hamlet, with puffy being a euphemism for heft (and heft, too, being euphemistic for fat).

5 Resonating: When I had my nose operated on (I promise not to mention anything gruesome in this reflection), I wanted to do what the passage suggests: not heed my own advice (working comes from the cheat notes down the left column of the page). I had been telling myself for a few months that it was a good idea to have the septoplasty. I couldn’t breath out of the right side of my nose, which wasn’t so much a major medical concern but an annoying inconvenience. My main concern wasn’t the week following the operation--which it should have been, given that I couldn’t breathe out either nostril for that week because of splints--but, as with most people, the operation itself. There fear of death and fear of being inadvertently left partially conscious during the operation were what scared me most. On the day of the operation, however, these went away as I smelled the gas and noticed the way the ceiling floated before taking a dreamless, hour-or-so nap. If I had not taken my own advice, which my doctor and family seemed to think was best, I still wouldn’t be able to breathe out that nostril and make loud whistling noises for no reason. By making this connection, I see the benefit, and thus Ophelia’s point, of heeding one’s advice.