Week IX: Life is an "unweeded garden"

At the beginning of the play Hamlet was sad, and sane. He was sad because his father had died and his mother had married Hamlet' uncle with "most wicked speed". Hamlet is sane because after seeing and talking with his father's ghost, he decides to put on an "antic dispossession", showing that the whole time he is only pretending to be insane. Hamlet's feelings for the world around him were very gloomy. He described Denmark as an "unweeded garden", and time as being "out of joint". Because of his mother's hasty marriage, Hamlet sees the world as "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable". So we see that Hamlet, at the beginning of the play, is very melancholy, decides to feign madness, and has a very gloomy outlook on the world around him.   

Week VIII: Political Figure Analysis

Caesar is most similar to Napoleon Bonaparte. This is because, like Napoleon, Caesar was a great conqueror. Also like Napoleon, Caesar's rule was brought to a premature end.
Brutus is most like Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell wanted what he thought was best for his country, the overthrow of the king, but unlike what happened with Brutus, Cromwell won. But after a short five year reign as "Lord Procter" of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, he died. Two years after, the Royalists regained power. Vice President Biden and Cassius have a lot in common. They both are power-hungry individuals They are very aggressive and aren't afraid to enhance the truth.Sometimes they say the wrong things, and later on their words come back and hurt them. They are also bulling and rude.
Mark Antony is akin to Ronald Reagan for these reasons. When Mark Antony spoke he was very direct and to the point, not overly flowering his speeches, Reagan did the same. When Mark Antony said he would do something, it was done, the same with Reagan.

Cool Beans

Saw this today, I thought it was cool.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/137505-us-air-forces-1950s-supersonic-flying-saucer-declassified

Week VII: Brutus's "Favor"

After killing Caesar, Brutus says that he did Caesar a favor by shortening his life for, as Cassius said, a man who cuts off twenty years of life also cuts off as meany years of fearing death. But back in Act II, Scene 2, Caesar says that he thinks it strange that men should fear death, being that it is the necessary end of all things. What Caesar is saying here is that he does not fear death. Therefore Brutus's "favor" is more of a curse.   

Week VII: Posh! Caesar is a god!

Near the very beginning of Act III, Scene 1, Artemidorus asked Caesar to read his petition first before Decius's letter. He reasoned that his letter was of greater importance because it "...touches Caesar nearer."
To Caesar on the other hand, things pertaining to himself were of less importance because, as we all know, Caesar is invincible! This fits very well with what we have already seen of Caesar's character, the way he views himself as a god, and just a little later, as unmovable as the northern star.

Week VI: Only "a woman's might".

It appears to me that Portia's reaction to being told what troubled Brutus was that she was struggling under the hefty secret, having only "...a woman's might."
Before Brutus told Portia his secret, she asked him if she dwelt "...but in the suburbs of your great pleasure?" I think what she meant was this: was she lower on the scale of his affections than the great quandary that troubled him? Do you love it more than me? I think this was really troubling Portia because she was used to having such a close confidence with her husband.     

Week VI: Truth, or Flattery?

In Scenes 1-2 of Act II, the structure suggests that Shakespeare is trying to show that the two men are similar. Caesar has begun to believe his own propaganda that he is a god, saying he is more powerful than he really is, and in regards to danger, "Caesar is more dangerous than he". Cassius has been telling Brutus how great and noble he is, and Brutus has started believing him Over all, both men's options of themselves are much greater than what they are in reality.