Abstracting: The Battle Itself

When I think about the idea of good versus evil, the one part of the struggle that comes to mind is the battle that takes place. Sometimes, this struggle is an outward, all on fight toward whatever may be perceived as the good, the right. Other times, this battle is an inward struggle. It is not easily recognized by others, it is the inward battle of the mind. It is the common and cliched idea of having an angel and a devil on ones shoulder, and watching as the two of them have it out. Nike created a commercial that shows the battle of good versus evil as a soccer game. This commercial reminds me of a mini epic assignment I give to my students. I ask them to take an ordinary event and blow it way out of proportion - giving the main character super human qualities, and making the main event far more intense. The commercial shows an epic battle that occurs between various inhabitants of the underworld, and the star players of the European league.


Sometimes the battle is between words. Words are a very powerful thing. What someone says to a person can start an entire inner commentary that can change the actions and outcomes of events throughout a person's life. Just seeing a word can result in positive or negative emotions. This is not to say that some words are good, and others are evil, but the associations that one makes when seeing or hearing a word can give it such connotations. So, in essence, there is a battle that occurs on the pages of books, in the newspaper, and anywhere that words are presented.


Abstracting is a difficult concept to teach. It takes a great amount of thinking, and this is not something my students are very good at. They want to be told what to do, want to be able to do it without thought, and then see the grade as soon as possible. This is what some aspects of the educational system has taught them more or less, I suppose, so it isn't entirely their fault. To get a student that can think of words as a means to convey thoughts and feelings in a visually and very personal manner, as e.e. cummings did, would be a dream. The idea of seeing words as so much more than letters on a page is such a beautiful thing. There is art and beauty in the most simple of objects, in things that we see every day. When Picasso drew the motion of the knitter, and not just the knitter herself, he was thinking in a way that shows how much more there is to life that people (myself included) overlook, and completely miss, every day.

Patterning

So, at first glance Shakespeare is not the easiest to read, especially for students in an urban school. What I do to teach Shakespeare is to make it a full body experience. We start with poetry, and get used to the rhythm of the speech, how it feels. I have them stand up and “walk out” the beat of the Iambic Pentameter so that they have a feel for it. There is a specific pattern in the lines, in the vowels. I want them to note this early on, because once they learn the pattern, the content can be discussed. The first pattern here is obvious – Iambic Pentameter.

Ghost

Mur/DER most FOUL, as IN the BEST it IS;
But THIS most FOUL, strange AND un/NAT/ur/AL.

Here it becomes easy to see, and the further they get in to the text, the better. By the time we get to the real issue of good versus evil in Hamlet, the class will begin to randomly stand while reading, and stomp out the text. It is at this point that I know they are familiar with the poetic pattern. I then have to move on to content. As I began contemplating what to do next, along with this idea of patterning, I began to wonder what would happen if I were to have them go through and highlight the portions of the text that follows that may strike them as having a negative connotation, or might bring about thoughts and feelings that something evil were going on. So I gave it a shot, trying to stay in the mindset of an urban teenager.

HAMLET

Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost

I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.

HAMLET

O my prophetic soul! My uncle!

Ghost

Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebena in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leprous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

Exit

So here is what I came up with:

Revenge

A serpent stung me

Death

The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown.

That incestuous, that adulterate beast

Witchcraft

Traitorous

Wicked

Seduce

Shameful lust

Wretch

Lust

Prey on garbage

Stole

Cursed

Leprous

Vile

Loathsome

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin

O, horrible! O, horrible! Most horrible!

Damned incest

Thorns

Prick

Sting

After the students go back and figure out who is being discussed, the uncle, they can then determine the feeling of evil that saturates this passage. The words are practically spit with disgust off the page. I took this further and wrote a found poem – as our authors did – to show the evil feeling toward King Claudius this passage exudes.

Death

The serpent that did sting thy father’s life

Now wears his crown – that adulterate beast

While sleeping in my orchard – traitorous!

That wicked, loathsome, cursed, most vile wretch

Stole silent – and poison most foul did pour

I, cut off in the blossoms of my sin

Horrible! Horrible! Most horrible!

All at once lost my life, my crown, my queen

Seek revenge on that wicked uncle who

With shameful lust did seduce the queen

But she, who preys on garbage, leave her be

To suffer from the prick and sting of thorns

Farewell Hamlet, remember – seek revenge!

While a pattern is not always obvious, once a pattern is discovered, and learned, it is more likely that other – less obvious - patterns will then emerge. The idea of good and evil is displayed in many ways, and in many mediums, but here, in this passage from Hamlet, while the passage may seem to have an ominous tone to some, it may seem like a random jumble of words to others. Once the pattern is discovered, and understood, the loathsome nature of what has occurred in the play will begin to come alive, and the evil of what one brother has done – that ancient and oldest of sins – can be fully realized.