Now that I’ve read Hamlet, Death of a Salesman,
and The American Dream, it’s time to
make some comparisons. This would probably look a lot better on a chart or Venn
diagram, but here goes.
It’s pretty clear that family relationships
played a major role in all three of the plays. The American Dream and DoS
both revolved around one family, while Hamlet
featured two families. In The American
Dream, the family relationships were very negative. Mommy frequently argued
with Grandma, revealing a surprisingly bitter relationship with her mother. Mommy
also said that she married Daddy for his money, not because she loved him. In DoS, Willy’s relationship with his son
Biff was also pretty rocky. Though he gained Biff’s respect and admiration in
earlier days, it was a relationship based on empty promises and rhetoric. When
Biff slowly realized his father’s flaws, he grew to resent him. In contrast, Hamlet featured a strong relationship
between two siblings that cared for each other and had full trust in one
another, Laertes and Ophelia.
Another thing that stood out to me was
differences in the role of women in the plays. Unlike in Hamlet and DoS, women
dominated the men in The American Dream.
While Ophelia, Gertrude, and Linda were all pushed around by their male
co-characters; Mommy, Mrs. Barker, and Grandma from American Dream were the ones who wielded control over Daddy and the
young man. Yet this doesn’t mean that the women in Hamlet and DoS weren’t
also different. In DoS, Linda was a
wise, motherly figure to the Loman men. When Willy and his sons were riding a
roller coaster of emotional highs and lows, Linda was a constant, level-headed
voice of reason. On the other hand, Gertrude was hardly the strong, stable
woman that Linda was. Gertrude quickly succumbed to the poison and deceit of
Elsinore. She wasn’t a good, caring mother either. In fact, it was Hamlet who
served as the voice of reason by opening Gertrude’s eyes to her sins.
I don’t know if Ms. Holmes is going to have
us compare and contrast the three plays we’ve just read. But if she does, now I
have some good starting points.
Hey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThis is really impressive! I never thought to compare the plays like this in a blog post, but I can definitely see how this would be helpful! The only thing I have to say is that you should probably include a response to the other things we do in class, like multiple choice practice and voice/atmosphere practices. This is a GREAT example of a response to the major works we've worked on this year, but try to keep in mind the minor things too; I'm sure they'll be important for the AP!
This was really unique. I love how you compared the works instead of just talking about Hamlet. It gets hard when we haven't done that much to not just ramble on. This is very good!!! Nice spin on the post.
ReplyDeleteI think this is what Ms. Holmes intended for responses to be like, rather than focusing only on what we had done since the last response. As we go along, we learn more and can draw more conclusions from earlier materials, so what you are doing here is exactly what we all should be doing. Good work!
ReplyDeleteNoah Symanzik