Search for Identity in The Joy Luck Club
"Imagine, a daughter not knowing her own mother!" And then it occurs to me. They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English. (Tan 40-41)
Amy Tan frames The Joy Luck Club with Jing-mei Woo's search for identity. When Jing-mei's mother's friends tell Jing-mei that her sisters have at long last been found and insist that she tell her sisters about their mother's life, Jing-mei emotionally replies that she does not know her mother. However, her mother's friends' generosity helps Jing-mei to realize how much she wishes that she had understood her mother, how desperately she would like to question her if only she could. It is in this moment that Jing-mei recognizes the necessity of understanding her mother's life in order both to figure out who her mother was and to understand herself.
Jing-mei's placement at the mah jong table already suggests a link between Jing-mei and her mother that parallels Jing-mei's position in the rest of the novel, for wherever Suyuan should be telling her story, it is told through the voice of Jing-mei instead. While Suyuan should be the one to reconcile with her lost daughters, Jing-mei will go in her place. This planned act of reconciliation where Jing-mei will fulfill her mother's dream foreshadows the other mother-daughter stories in the novel where An-mei, Lindo, and Ying-ying are just as eager to reclaim their daughters as Suyuan, in order to help in their daughters' struggles ...
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...perately to connect with her mother. In her quest to close the cultural gap between her Chinese heritage and her American upbringing, she questions what it means to be Chinese. Suffering from a disadvantage compared to the other daughters in the story, since her mother is dead, Jing-mei struggles to remember the foods her mother cooked, her relatives' names, and the stories her mother told. However, it is when Jing-mei finally embraces her sisters, and they observe in the polaroid shot how they all look like their mother, that it occurs to Jing-mei that her family is the part of her that is Chinese. Therefore, in order to understand that part of her identity, she must embrace the memory of her dead mother. With the sisters linked by their mother in their family likeness, the photograph symbolically reconciles the two generations, as well as the two cultures.
During class we have reviewed many versions of the play Hamlet. The two movie versions that I chose to compare on the play Hamlet are the David Tennant version and the Kenneth Branagh version. I chose these two versions because these were the two that most interested me. I believe that some scenes from each movie were better than the other, but overall I liked these two versions just as equally. The three main scenes that stood out to me that I will be comparing are ‘Ophelia’s Mad Scene’, the ‘Hamlet Kills Polonius’ scene, and Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ scene.
The differences between the movie and were not big enough to distract from the power and meaning of the story. Even though there are a few differences, the movie and the play are telling the same story. All in all, the movie was an excellent depiction of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story about a king that was murdered by his brother and the prince has been asked by his father?s ghost to avenge his murder. The original story line has been altered a few times since it has been written. The original Hamlet the play and the altered Hamlet the movie are shown differently in many different ways. Hamlet the movie with Mel Gibson shows different things than the play, but there are three major differences between the two. The three major differences are in the way both of the productions start out, differences in the scene that the players put on a play, and differences in the way the productions end.
This movie was similar to the others that we watched, but it also had some differences. It did have the same dialogue and had the same basic plot to show Claudius that Hamlet knew he killed his father. A big difference was that this was set in present day as compared to the others, which were set during Medieval Times. Also Hamlet puts on a movie instead of a play, and Hamlet had no interaction with anyone, it just cut to the opening of the play. This is different for how the other Hamlet movies go, because since he makes a movie and not a play it does not show him meeting with any people that are in the cast and Hamlet teaching them what to perform like it did in the others.
Shakespeare's Hamlet has been adopted to the screen many times, each with its own interpretation of the dialogue. The directors Kenneth Branagh and Michael Almereyda both bring the words of Shakespeare to life with vivid and original settings, costumes, and personalities. Of course they both attempt to convey different moods and tones. Branagh's on-screen version is very traditional as it is set in the 1800's and every word of Shakespeare's is included verbatim. On the other hand, Almereyda presents the world a completely modern version of the famous play complete with cell phones, laptops, guns, and your mundane company take-over!
Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius becomes aware of Fortinbras’ plans, and in an evasive move, sends a message to the new King of Norway, Fortinbras’ uncle.
the play. " O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand pound."
The theme of vengeance is apparent within the tragedy before the tragedy even begins. King Fortinbras is defeated by King Hamlet, leaving Prince Fortinbras orphaned. This naturally brings about bitterness between Prince Fortinbras and King Hamlet. Prince Fortinbras is angry, within reason. His father was just killed, his lands stolen, and now he is the person to whom all of the duty is left. These feelings lead Fortinbras to a state of angered reactions. He prepares an army to march into Poland and Denmark to recover the lands that his father had lost. He takes action, leaving the rest of his life behind, and marching over to get retaliation against the man who killed his father. He sets his mind on what he has to do, and sets off, away from his home, in a strong, purposeful manner. When Fortinbras prepares to march through Denmark, his address to King Claudius is direct, purposeful, and unemotional.
Hamlet is first tormented by the death of his father, the king of Denmark. Then he is cast into utter agony when Gertrude, the mother he loves dearly is hastily married to his uncle, Claudius. Through a ghostly revelation, Hamlet learns that his suspicions that Claudius murdered his father are true. He becomes incensed and wants to enact revenge upon the guilty party. From this point on, Hamlet struggles with his plan for revenge that conflicts with his opposite contemplative nature.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
“I like the movie but it was not as good as the book” is a saying that is said by most people. In most cases, a movie changes drastically from the book it is based on. Hamlet is one of those cases. Although it does not change completely, there are some big differences and similarities within the book and movie. Reading the play and then watching the movie makes it easier to pick out the differences and similarities. Being able to compare and contrast the movie and play of Hamlet might make it easier to decide which one is better or which one gives a better story. The movie and play of Hamlet are different because of the chronological order, parts being left out and parts being added. They are the same in ways through dialogue, characters,
Different adaptations of William Shakespeare’s works have taken various forms. Through the creative license that artists, directors, and actors take, diverse incarnations of his classic works continue to arise. Gregory Doran’s Hamlet and Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet bring William Shakespeare’s work by the same title to the screen. These two film adaptations take different approaches in presenting the turmoil of Hamlet. From the diverging takes on atmosphere to the characterization of the characters themselves, the many possible readings of Hamlet create the ability for the modification of the presentation and the meaning of the play itself. Doran presents David Tenant as Hamlet in a dark, eerie, and minimal setting; his direction highlighting the
Hamlet’s sanity began to deteriorate when learned that his father’s death was not an accident, but rather a foul deed committed by the newly crowned King of Denmark. “If thou didst ever thy dear father love – Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” [Act I, v l .23-25]. As a mysterious ghost appeared in the terrace, Hamlet learned of a murderer that would prove his fealty towards his father. As he contemplated the appalling news recently brought to his attention, the control Hamlet had over his actions was questioned. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark,” [Act I, v l. 106-109]. Hamlet’s hatred toward his father’s killer caused him to relate the tribulations between murder and the aspects of Denmark as a country together. As with most of the conflicts Hamlet faced, his lack of ability to avenge his father’s death, furthered the deterioration of his life and surroundings.
...mbines the best qualities as his two foils: the nobility of Laertes' cause, and the execution of Fortinbras' coup. Fortinbras attacks without justice - his father died honorably in a fair fight, on the battlefield. Laertes has a larger grievance than Hamlet, but must stoop to treachery to complete his vengeance. Hamlet, however, remains true throughout, resisting his impulses until he cannot only perform Vengeance, but Justice as well.
As illustrated through his speeches and soliloquies Hamlet has the mind of a true thinker. Reinacting the death of his father in front of Claudius was in itself a wonderful idea. Although he may have conceived shcemes such as this, his mind was holding him back at the same time. His need to analyze and prove everythin certain drew his time of action farther and farther away. Hamlet continuously doubted himself and whether or not the action that he wanted to take was justifiable. The visit that Hamlet recieves from his dead father makes the reader think that it is Hamlet's time to go and seek revenge. This is notthe case. Hamlet does seem eager to try and take the life of Claudius in the name of his father, but before he can do so he has a notion, what if that was not my father, but an evil apparition sending me on the wrong path? This shows that even with substantial evidence of Claudius' deeds, Hamlet's mind is not content.