Through the Looking Glass

As I mentioned in my previous post, Showtime!, we are currently reading Hamlet in my senior English class. In order to enhance our study of the play, we have been learning about different critical approaches that one can utilize while reading a work of literature. Several of these approaches include feminist, formalist, psychoanalytical, mythological, Marxist, and new historic. We have learned that reading a text from a certain approach can greatly affect the way you perceive the characters and events within a story.

For example, when reading from the mythological approach, King Hamlet’s ghost fulfills the archetype of the “wise old man.” By identifying the ghost as the “wise old man” of the play, the ghost takes on the role of the savior or guru who represents knowledge, reflection, insight, wisdom, and cleverness. If the reader had been looking at the ghost from a different approach, that meaning would be lost and the ghost would just be the spirit of the dead king.

Taking the Critical Approach to Life
Similarly to studying texts using one of these critical approaches, people often view life though a lens, skewing the way that they perceive themselves and others. I’m not saying that everybody looks at life through one lens and can’t ever see things a different way, but people often have certain biases that unconsciously affect the way they think and act, like a reader who has chosen an approach to read through. These lenses can come in different forms, just like critical approaches do, and are shaped by a number of things such as a person’s religion, ethnicity, upbringing, socioeconomic status, and education.

Sharing Lenses
Your identity is largely dependent on the lens that you view life through because as you saw with the ghost in Hamlet, you may perceive a person or event in a way that is completely different than the way somebody else does. There is no “good” or “bad” lens to view life from, it is just important to recognize that not everybody perceives life in the same way. Often times arguments arise because of these differences in perception. One of the best ways to solve these conflicts is to attempt to understand what lens the other person is looking through and try to see things their way, or “take a walk in somebody else’s shoes.” Similarly, it is important to look at a text through a number of different approaches because you never know what you may be missing by looking at it in just one way.

Valentine's Day: It's All In The Way You Celebrate

Today is a Monday. Usually on Mondays I roll out of bed, throw on a pair of sweatpants, and head to school still half asleep. However, this morning was different. When I woke up I was in a fairly good mood (which is much better than I can say for most Mondays), I dressed in red and pink, and I walked into school to see many other people dressed in the same colors. If you haven’t figured it out already, today is Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day means something different to everybody. Most commonly, it is a holiday during which two people in a romantic relationship express their love and appreciation for one another through cards, candies, and gifts. In my family, Valentine’s Day is a holiday for expressing familial love as well. My mother always gets my sister and I Valentine’s Day gifts to show us how much she cares about us. There are also some people who find this holiday to be pointless because they feel that love shouldn’t be more important on any one day than on others.

Although initially the way that you perceive Valentine’s Day may seem unimportant, it actually reveals information about your identity. They types of relationships you choose to celebrate on holidays such as this one show which relationships are the most important to you. For some people, the most important person in their life might be a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, so they choose to celebrate their relationship with this person. Some people are more family oriented, so they choose to have a nice dinner with their whole family or call their parents to tell them how much they mean to them. There are also some people who are less comfortable expressing their emotions than others, so even if they have relationships to celebrate, they don’t do so with big, loving gestures. Valentine’s Day can also be a holiday for celebrating friendships, so some people choose to just go out to dinner with some of their closest friends. However we choose to spend our holiday, we are revealing which relationships are the most important to us and how comfortable we are with expressing this importance.

Showtime!

Currently, in my senior English class, we are reading Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Before starting the play, we learned a little background on the Globe Theater in London at which many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed. While learning about the Globe and the way that shows were performed there, I began to think about the advancements that have been made in theater productions between Shakespeare’s time and now. But regardless of these advancements, the general idea of theater performances remains intact, making it a timeless art form.

Now and Then
I am currently participating in my high school’s variety show, which is a huge production that showcases the many talents of the students at my school. Our tech crew spends weeks creating different lighting cues for all of the acts and our stage crew builds a beautiful set made specifically to fit the theme of the show. At the Globe, shows could only be preformed during the daytime when weather permitted because there was no ceiling and the only light came from the sun. Special effects were limited to things such as people speaking from under the stage or appearing on a balcony. The audience often had to rely on their imaginations and the descriptions of the scenery given to them verbally by the actors to figure out what was happening on stage.

Some Things Never Change
Despite some advancements made in special effects or scenery, the concept of performers being on stage and entertaining an audience with their talents has remained the same. Performances are still put on at the Globe Theater in London without the many special effects of contemporary theater, and they are well-received by modern audiences. People still read and enjoy Shakespeare’s plays hundreds of years after they were written because the themes within the plays such as love, loss, victory, and tragedy are universal and timeless.

Love What You Do, Do What You Love
People involved in theater productions have always been and still are very passionate about what they do. It is common for people involved in theater to invest so much of their time and effort into their passion that they consider performing a part of their identity. After being in the variety show for four years, I have discovered how much work truly goes into putting on a show such as that one and I have gained a lot of respect for people who are involved in theater. It is difficult to really understand how a passion can become part of your identity until you have found a passion of your own. However, there is a danger in letting your life’s passion overcome you. It is important to remember to balance doing what you love with the many other wonderful opportunities life has to offer you.