Getting almost toooo pumped over Shakespeare...

I'm starting to think that Byronic heroes are located in all novels. Lets some of the examples just using novels from this year: Jack Burden, Grendel, Frankenstein, Hamlet, Tess of the D'Urbervilles... I believe that nearly every knowledgeable character who is tormented is a Byronic hero... Maybe I'm completely off base but I think that in every great novel, the protagonist is a Byronic hero. And if they aren't a "byronic hero" then they are a "christ figure" but really they are both. Those that are tormented and take a stand are generally either taken negatively (Grendel) or positively (Harry Potter) but they are actually the same thing. Grendel is actually working to show people how grateful they should be for acceptance and a place in the world where Grendel is forced to be confused and have a lack of direction in life. The funny thing is, the characters that are rejected from normal society but are endearing and loved in novels are Byronic heros instead of christ figures. It's ironic because the whole point of using Byronic heroes is to show the negative attention they get in society but their true giving and caring qualities. It STILL prejudiced! Instead of giving Frankenstein the good name of Christ figure (which we have definitely played around with) we call him a "Byronic Hero." I started thinking about this when we began reading Hamlet because I'd like to think that Hamlet is a Byronic hero. He's an average human but with the loss of his father and the torment he is plagued with because of his mother's decisions, he is a little mad but also is fighting for his father's good name and the good of his country. His madness would definitely put him out of the running for a Christ figure. Why would Shakespeare do this? Because Byronic heroes are cooler. When i think of Hamlet, i think he's hot, sarcastic and crazy and this makes him sort of sexy. Not gonna lie. I totally think Lord Byron when im thinking about Hamlet... I think its the soliloquies and eloquent speech but who knows! Anyway, i think its ironic that Shakespeare would create a novel where the protagonist is 100% not a christ figure. Shakespeare is like no other writer. He was probably one of the first people to use a more byronic hero character instead of the more practical christ figure. Shakespeare writes about disease, death, love and intense situations. Romeo is one of the most desired characters in fiction. Everyone wants a Romeo! And maybe some people want a Hamlet... the disgruntled, older, sexy one... Maybe thats just me, but its still an interesting idea. Maybe he wasn't always desired as an adult and so he made a variety of men that all women would DIE for in order to fulfill his secret desires. Anyway, i like both romeo and hamlet.. such interesting male characters.

Hamlet...He kind of reminds me of someone...

I really do wish I could take Hamlet seriously but unfortunately, I am having a touch of trouble with it. Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite plays so it's not that Shakespeare makes me giggle but there is something there. I think it's the ghost. I don't really like scary movies so I don't usually watch them unless it has something as completely ridiculous as a ghost or a poltergeist. When you start throwing ghosts into the picture (and having people constantly trying to chat them up) I am going to have a bit of trouble being completely serious about it. I have already come up with some ideas about why that ghost is not really a ghost... Of course :) There are two reasons that Shakespeare has put in this ghost: As a symbol or as a "not" ghost ghost. I'm thinking it's a symbol because everyone can see it. Ghosts: gray, Casper, creepy, Halloween, dusty, usually have reasons for still being on Earth... I believe that the ghost combines inner torture of his brother, ex-wife and Hamlet (you have to make sure that everyone is clear on the fact that his brother marrying his wife is not right) but I also believe he represents things that do not exist in reality, existing in Shakespeare's plays and in the characters lives. Just like on Secret Life of the American Teenager, their is WAY too much drama that you cannot stop watching, Shakespeare does the same thing by making fiction into fact. I also like how a whole love saga is about to begin begin Hamlet and Ophelia. It is no mystery why people enjoy Shakespeare and why he is SO infamous. He created the perfect formula for great plays, novels, movies and anything else theat involves a story. First you start out with violence. This captures the audiences attention extremely quickly, add some crazy reasoning, some very interesting and slightly confusing characters followed by a trifle between families, something that is not real (love or ghosts) and put in at least a small section of a love story and you have encompassed every person, genre and idea that anyone could ever find interesting. Hamlet reminds me of someone who I know but someone whose name I cannot speak of in this blog :) I believe that in life, we have characterization about people and those correspond to people in novels because although we are all different, we are all the same. Like novels, we all stem from each other both physically and mentally. In this way, the traits we exhibit in real life correspond to the characters in the novels we read and now I am starting to see everyone I know as a Daisy Buchanan or a Jack Burden... It's the painful truth of being an AP lit student. Everything is about everything... in life and in literature. I believe that everyone has a small amount of Hamlet in them. I don't think anyone is a direct Hamlet because that is too much sarcasm and baggage for any one person to carry around but it does occur in everyone. All people experience struggle and strife so we are either enticed because we have not experienced it yet or we are enticed because we have.