Your Response:
Yay!! :) (feigned enthusiasm)
Anyway, here's the task:
For this question, you will have to refer back to I.i of Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare is famous for his tragedies, particularly the revenge tragedies. As we discussed in class, Titus is one of the first and Hamlet is one of the last. With this in mind, compare (based solely on Shakespeare's skill and creativity--discuss the mood, the characterization, the conflicts, the length, or the language) the first scene from both plays. You can discuss which you liked more in your response as well.
I personally like the beginning of Hamlet better then the beginning of Titus Andronicus. Even though both of these plays begin in media res, the inital mood at the beginning of Hamlet is more creative then Titus Andronicus. The mood in Hamlet is more suspenseful,tense and scary. Titus however, is exposing more of the brothers foiling through fighting for emperory. They bring more of a concedited and selfish mood as Saturninus and Bassianus both explain why they deserve to be emperor. Saturninus and Bassianus appear to be strong and honored as they enter the scene with there followers. Unlike Bernardo and Francisco in Hamlet, who are suppose to be tough soldiers meanwhile they seem to be afraid of there own shadow. Both plays appeals to the audience because of the feeling they bring that trouble is brewing along with the idea of murder, i just feel Hamlet does it in a more interesting way that has the audience wondering about the ghost and wanting to know more rather then just listening to two brothers argue.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Jazmin. I like that Hamlet starts out very ominous and mysterious as opposed to Titus that just jumps into action; however, I understand why people would like the beginning of Titus. I also find the beginning of Hamlet to be somewhat comedic, because of these strong soldiers shouldn't be afraid to be alone in the middle of the night. The beginning of Titus is okay, but I feel that it didnt set a good tone/mood for the rest of the show.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Jazmin, the beginning of Hamlet was not only a lot stronger than Titus Andronicus but also kept my attention more. Shakespeare set the initial mood in Hamlet purposely to be tense and the setting to be gloomy and not knowing exactly why, made me as the audience want to keep reading. In Titus Andronicus Shakespeare reveals more about the characters and right off the back you know there will be conflict and tension between the two brothers, Saturninus and Bassianus, throughout the whole play. Where as in the beginning of Hamlet you start out knowing less but wanting to know more. Not knowing why Marcellus and Bernardo, the two guards, were so nervous and apprehensive was more interesting. Also by reading act one scene one you find out that Hamlet’s dead father comes back as a ghost to seek revenge, but it isn’t yet revealed as to why. Moreover after reading the first act of Hamlet compared to Titus Andronicus you are left with more questions. With more questions I feel there is more suspense, which makes me more excited to continue reading Hamlet.
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DeleteI agree with everyone above me. I liked the way Shakespeare used diction in order to hook the reader in the beginning of Hamlet. By starting this play off with a more dramatic and gloomy scene, it made me want to continue reading. In Titus Andronicus Shakespeare focused more on introducing the characters in the beginning rather than creating a tone and mood for the reader. Therefore I enjoyed the beginning of Hamlet better because it kept me interested and was actually creating a story at the very start of the play. I also agree with Anthony’s statement that although it was very gloomy and built to be scary, it was also comedic. The fact that Shakespeare makes these brave soldiers scared to be in the dark alone makes the play more enjoyable. It shows that everyone and everything is not what they seem. This can be related to Titus Andronicus because many of the characters are depicted one way but act another. Therefore that is one similarity I was able to pick up on that Shakespeare used in both play writes. Overall, I am enjoying Hamlet more than Titus Andronicus as of now.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion I found that the overall moods in Hamlet, so far, are being played out more gradually, and therefore adds a lot more suspense, unlike in Titus Andronicus where the first act was almost rushed. For example, in the first act of Hamlet there's the encounter between Francisco, Bernardo, Horatio, Marcellus, and the ghost of the King, and the diction used throughout this encounter hinted mainly at suspense and terror. This fear of the unknown gives the reader many predictions of what may or may not unfold as the play continues because of those moods. Also, the mood in the very beginning, as subtle as it may be, lets the reader know what is going on, that there is something happening that keeps the guards on edge. As for Titus, the first act goes in with the foil between Saturninus and Bassianus, to the sacrifice of Tamora's eldest son, then Titus killing his own son. Between the struggle for power between the two brothers, to the quick killing of the Tamora's son, and Titus stoically killing his son there was a scatter of emotions going on, from greed to sadness and so on. As a result of the infrequent mood changes the play came to be a little more difficult to follow, because your expecting to keeping feeling one way and then someone new walks in now you don't know how to feel. So overall, I prefer the first act of Hamlet over the first act of Titus Andronicus, because of its consistency of the moods throughout the act.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everyone above. The beginning of Hamlet is more enticing than the start of Titus Andronicus. Act 1, scene 1 of Titus offers a longer scene as well as longer dialogue, so to my opinion it was as if being dragged on. Compared to Hamlet,the scene is shorter and right away the dialogue is short and quick. The quickness, tense mood and suspense that Shakespeare uses does help draw in the reader. These two scenes are similar though by starting off in media res. In Titus, we have two brothers who are strong and fearless, arguing who will be the next leader of Rome, but one character is seen as being the "peace keeper" amongst them and that is Bassianus. In Hamlet, we start off with Bernardo and Francisco scared about a ghost roaming the castle. But in this scene Horatio enters and is seen as the logical one. By the end of scene 1 in Hamlet, the sun is rising giving the sky a red tint. This setting foreshadows maybe death, blood or fighting in the upcoming scenes. The diction used by Shakespeare makes me more interested in what is to come and makes me want to keep on reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone above as well. I did prefer Hamlet over Titus because I really liked the way Shakespeare started Hamlet. The way he opened up with the soldiers being afraid of a ghost; it is a bit ironic since their job is to protect the people and you wouldnt really expect them to be scared of something like that. It sets the mood as mysterious and ominous as well as it forces the reader to read on and want to know more of the situation at hand. On the other hand Titus is the opposite, Shakespeare went right into the play with Saturninus and Bassianus fighting over who deserves to be emperor. This caused more of a tence mood. Similarly both plays started with kind of trouble, where the reader can tell something between these characters will be a problem. Overall I enjoyed Hamlet and it left me questioning a lot more and wanting to skip ahead and see who this ghost is, and why they are so scared as apposed to Titus
ReplyDeleteIn Hamlet we have to do some analyzing before we know exactly what's going in the scene. That's the first thing that differs from Titus. Horatio, as the logical one, describes with length, why the ghost may be present to him and the soldiers. Contrasting that to Titus, the explanation as to why events were such were not as indirect, but a short and clear argument that the audience was able to find out instantly. I understand why many of my classmates enjoy the serious, questioning and eerie tone that Hamlet gives off within the first scene, however I prefer scene one in Titus. I Like how I was instantly in an interactive scene, whereas the night scene dragged a bit in my opinion. Being Shakespeares first play, I like the freshness and the immature behavior Saturninus has against Bassianus.
ReplyDeleteBoth Titus Andronicus and Hamlet are revenge tragedies. Shakespeare starts out these two plays somewhat similarly in that the play begins after the emperor is deceased and how the role of these emperors are incorporated into both plays. Both works start out in media res, which means the reader is thrown right into the middle of the action and the plot. It can be seen that Hamlet was one of Shakespeare's later works through analyzation of factors such as diction, characterization,etc.. For example, in the beginning of Titus, the characterization of the main characters is developed all at once into the same scenes and can be somewhat confusing whereas from what we've read in Hamlet seems to be more comprehensible and gradual. The mood in Act 1 scene 1 of Titus Andronicus was from the very beginning violent and brutal. I felt that the beginning of Titus was rather rushed and hard to follow at times although it was entertaining as the reader was thrown right into the action. The mood of Act 1 scene 1 of Hamlet, on the other hand, was dark and spooky. There is the portrait of the unknown, (the ghost) which adds suspense and excitement to the play. I enjoyed this because I like the aspect of the unknown that Shakespeare initiates. I like the gradualness and how he unfolds the plot line. Nontheless, both of these revenge themed plays prove to be enticing and I am excited to read on and see what happens next in Hamlet!
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with most of the previous statements made before me. I believe that the first scene of Hamlet is definitely more enticing, ominous, interesting, and thought-provoking than Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare doesn’t make the character’s roles as obvious in Hamlet and he instead allows the reader to think a little and try to figure out what is going on instead. For example, the reader is constantly wondering if the ghost is really the deceased king and if so, why is he dressed in armor and walking around the castle? In Hamlet, Shakespeare finds a way to combine humor with seriousness. Two grown men fighting over the role of emperor of Rome is nothing to laugh about, but two grown guards who startle each other and are scared to even be doing their jobs definitely is. Because Shakespeare did not simply give away the entire plot of the play and spoon-feed us the role of each character, it is obvious that Shakespeare has matured as a writer. Personally, I believe that the first scene of Hamlet is definitely better than the first scene of Titus Andronicus.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone. Although the initial response to both scenes was that I wanted to keep reading, in Hamlet, the suspense was much greater. In Titus Andronicus, I was not on the edge of my seat, whereas, after reading the first scene of Hamlet, I want to find out more about the ghost and why it has come. The setting is used as foreshadowing. The red sky and the fact that it is midnight foreshadow evil things to come. However, the two scenes are similar in the fact that they begin in media res. Both are intriguing, but Hamlet, more so
ReplyDeleteFrom the very first scene in Hamlet you can see how Titus and Hamlet differ from each other. Titus starts off with full on action and unnecessary violence, whereas Hamlet takes a more gradual start to it's story. Shakespeare seemed to throw everything on the table with his introduction to Titus, not leaving any room for mystery or character development. Even though Titus deals with tough topics such as violence and rape, it doesn't even come close to the dark mood that Act I of Hamlet sets. I also enjoyed how not every single character was introduced in Hamlet as opposed to how half the cast appears in Act I of Titus. It gives the audience time to adjust to each character instead of having an entire array of people thrown in their face. Titus overall just seems like it was rushed where Hamlet(so far) looks like it was more thought out, an obvious sign that Shakespeare grew as a writer over the years.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to finally be done with Titus because it was just a jumbled mess of insanity and violence and look forward to the rest of Hamlet.
I agree with everyone above me. I enjoyed the first scenes of both plays, but I was more excited to keep reading during Hamlet because there was more suspense and curiosity. With Titus Andronicus it was easy to figure out what was going on, and what saturninus and bassianius were both fighting about; but when the ghost appears during Hamlet it only leaves the reader with questions. Like Cristen said above, I like how Shakespeare used foreshadowing with the time and the color of the sky. It helped figure out that Shakespeare was trying to convey something bad will happen soon in the play to his audience. I enjoyed reading Hamlets first scene more than Titus Andronicus
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the statements above. The beginning of Titus Andronicus was boring to read the fight between the two brothers. I thought that the interaction between the soliders and the ghost was more interesting than listening to the two brothers bicker. Shakespeare was able to keep the audience's interest and make the audience think about who the ghost really was, and why was he there. The beginning of Titus did not involve any thinking, only pointless fighting. I felt that the beginning of Titus Andronicus seemed almost rushed. Shakespeare wanted to grab his audience's attention so he made the first act very bloody, whereas in Hamlet the beginning is more mysterious and ominous. The beginning of Hamlet seems to be more thought out and developed than the beginning of Titus Andronicus.
ReplyDeleteErik Helmle
ReplyDeleteIn Titus, we are immediately greeted with conflict in the first lines of dialogue (Bassianus and Saturninus squabbling over the throne). In comparison, Hamlet's into is more subtle with a gradual introduction to the plot and the possible conflict. Titus was more straightforward, while Hamlet is more artistic and flowing. Personally, I enjoyed the first scene of Hamlet much more than that of Titus because Hamlet's first scene did not require much background information to comprehend and appreciate; in contrast, Titus' into requires prior knowledge of Titus as a Roman general, his sons, the war, the Goths, the death of the Emperor.
I guess, I'm just strange, I really liked the beginning of Titus better than the beginning of Hamlet. I guess I enjoy conflict and not frightened soldiers crying about a ghost of their late King. From the first scene the reader can see how different the two tales are. Titus starts off with shouting between Saturninus and Bassianus, who are fighting over the right to be emperor, whereas Hamlet begins with Horatio, Marcellus and Bernando freaking out because they saw a ghost of Hamlet senior dressed in armor and believes it is a bad omen. This creates a contrasting feel to each play, Titus is violent and rash from the beginning while Hamlet is mysterious and spooky. I think I really like the character of Saturninus, because he's an idiot, and it's causing me to like Titus more.
ReplyDeleteShockingly, I agree with everyone as well. I like the beginning of Hamlet better because it is more realistic than Titus. Everyone in Titus is very manly and stoic, it was rare to see the characters get physically scared of something. I think everyone can relate to the beginning of Hamlet because anyone put in that situation would be scared too and it immidiately starts foreshadowing and unfolding the plot line slowely where as Titus jumped right into it. Titus was more predictable, Hamlet on the other hand isn't as easy to figure out. It made the audience have a lot of questions about what was going to happen next which helps lure the reader in. It shows that Shakespeare is adding more dimension to his plays.
ReplyDeleteLovin' it! Keep the comments rolling...even if most of you are agreeing with each other.
ReplyDeleteObviously since Titus Andronicus was one of Shakespeare's first plays there are some dragged out parts like the beginning of the play. In the dialogue of the first scene, it was long and wasn't as clear as Hamlets beginning was. Shakespeare was more of a developed writer when it came to Hamlet, 7 years had past and he started to realize what the audience enjoyed. Hamlet gradually introduces you to what is occurring in the plot in the scene which I didn't like as much. Scene 1 of Titus starts off with Bassianus and Saturninus fighting over who wants to be emperor, it almost seems sort of childish that Shakespeare would use this as an opening act, shows the immaturity in his writing. Even though he was more developed in Hamlet, I enjoyed Titus more in the beginning because Hamlet made me bored by just "easing me in." Titus had me more in tune to what was going by just throwing everything together.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the people's statements. In my opinion, i think that the begining of Hamlet is way better than that of Titus Andronicus for several reasons. One, because i like the way Shakespeare creates this tense, mysterious , and gloomy tone. It's more intresting that way and sort of comical. And in Titus Andronicus, it started off with the arguments of Bassianus and Saturninus which was kind of annoying. Second, In Titus Andronicus, as the play starts it's really obvious about the roles of the characters and the storyline. Shakespeare guves too much info away in the first scene, but in Hamlet he keeps in short and simple. Finally, Shakespeare uses forshadowing in Hamlet, such as the ghost of king Hamlet dressed in warrior like clothing and a frown on his face. This forshadows him maybe wanting to get revenge or keep Denmark safe. Also i like the fact that when the sun rises it covers everything in red, this shows that maybe there will be some sort of bloody battle. I liked the way Shakespeare uses forshadowing in the first scene of Hamlet because i feel that it keeps the reader hooked and leaves them wanting to know more. I didn't really see much intresting forshadowing in Titus. Overall, i really liked the first scene of Hamlet more than Titus Andronicus.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone. I like the beginning Hamlet better than Titus Andronicus. Titus Andronicus first scene is very long and there were too many things going on. It starts off with the fight of Bassianus ang Saturninus, and then jumps to another like the sacrifice of Tamora's son, Alarbus. Titus also kills his son. It was bloody. When we read the first few dialogues in Hamlet, I didn't really know how the character's emotions. It needed to be analyzed carefully, and the diction helped set the mood. The mood is mysterious and the characters were tense. I noticed how Shakespeare likes to use ghosts a lot in his plays
ReplyDeleteThough many people who have commented say that they prefered the opening of Hamlet to the opening of Titus, I agree more with Madiha and Caitlin who prefered Titus to Hamlet. I enjoyed the immediate banter between Bassianus and Saturninus more than the fear of the soldiers over the ghost. While I think that the opening of Hamlet sets up the stage for something important to happen, we enter Titus with an important event already taking place which is more engaging for an audience. While the opening scene of Hamlet may be a bit more intriguing for a reader, the beginning of titus is more intriguing for an audience member.
ReplyDeleteOne can truly see that inner developing of Shakespeare when simply comparing one of his first works (Titus Andronicus) to his later works (Hamlet). In Titus, Shakespeare was appealing to the ravenous Elizabethan public who craved violence and bloodshed. Shakespeare had already gained notoriety when he wrote Hamlet, and therefore, could write in the style he pleased. Already I am enjoying Hamlet more. Titus had too much "in your face violence" to the point where I felt my intelligence insulted. While I can agree that Titus' opening would have been more enjoyable to the play-goer, I personally enjoy the foreshadowing, and other subtleties of writers craft not found in Titus.
ReplyDeleteI also like the ominous beginning of Hamlet over the beginning of Titus as well. The beginning of Titus is about two brothers fighting over who will become the emperor of Rome where as in Hamlet, it does not start off with fighting. Hamlets starts off ironic because the two men who are suppose to be strong and brave soldiers protecting the palace, are scared of being alone at midnight and they are frightened of what is out there. In Titus, Shakespeare gives away a lot about the characters right in the opening scene of the play. It was obvious that there was going to be conflict between the two brothers Saturninus and Bassianus. However, in Hamlet, Shakespeare gives less away which leads the reader to want to continue to read on and discover what happens throughout the rest of the play. Therefore, Hamlet is written in a way that is more appealing and it is more of an attention grabber that Titus is.
ReplyDeleteThe first scene in Titus Andronicus was very direct and straight-forward, jumping right into the many violent conflicts. Shakespeare did not leave any chance for interpretation or suspense. He plainly just explained the plot rather than allowing his readers to analyze the context; there was no creativity included. However, the first scene of Hamlet shows Shakespeare's growth as a writer over his years. In the beginning of the story, there is enough information given to allow readers to understand what is occurring. At the same time, his readers are able to interpret the scene on their own. Shakespeare's creativity and writing technique has definitely improved from Titus Andronicus.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very important for a story/play to start out with a semi-normal situation that eventually builds up to the conflict, rather than starting with conflict at the very beginning. In Titus, you have the two brothers fighting and displaying the conflict of who should be king. However, with Hamlet it begins peacefully, where the guards are switching positions, which eventually leads to the conflict of the ghost that resembles the deceased King of Denmark. In order for the audience to be enticed with the show, it should certainly have its ups and downs, so when Titus begins at such an exciting part, it can only go down from there. Also, in the first scene of Titus, Shakespeare introduces many characters and many different issues all at one time, where in Hamlet, it is much easier to follow since it focuses around one or two main conflicts and less characters. These factors help to show how Shakespeare matured as a writer by making his opening scene more precise, detailed, and to the point, with a good insight to how a story should begin and work its way up to the conflict.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority in saying that i preferred the opening scene of Hamlet, although the opening scene in Titus did catch my mind and i found myself wanting to read ahead and find out what was going to happen next, but the reason i prefer Hamlet's opening scene is that it was a little easier to follow what was going on as where in Titus i was a bit confused, however i think both opening scenes were unique and both grabbed my attention and made me want to read more.
ReplyDeleteWe have not even been reading Hamlet for a whole two days and I could already tell that I prefer this play over Titus. In Hamlet, Shakespeare begins differently than he did with his other play, Titus Andronicus. Right at the beginning of Hamlet, Shakespeare sets the mood to seem gloomy, tense and cautious. He also starts off with a scene that tends to be a little ironic. He shows how the soldiers and the officers are scared because they think they see a ghost. It's comedic because they are not supposed to be scared easily; their job is to protect people. On the other hand, Titus was started in more of a complex way considering we immediately saw the tension and jealousy for the spot of emperor. I felt as if Shakespeare took more time to introduce the characters in the beginning of Titus as well. All in all, I am enjoying Hamlet more than I enjoyed Titus.
ReplyDeleteTitus and Hamlet approach introducing a play in different ways. Capturing the attention of the audience has to happen right off the bat. If they're bored at the start of the play, the playwrite has already failed at the craft.
ReplyDeleteBecause Titus is one of Shakespeare's first plays, he was still developing his writing skills. So to come up with a strong start, he ended up making the first scene action packed. While it might not be the most thought provoking scene, he does a great job of sweeping the audience up in to the conflict and establishing a frantic mood.
Hamlet opens with a different, more subtle approach to the introductory hook. Instead of creating interest through explicit actions, he grabs the attention of the audience with what they don't know. By Creating mysteries, Shakespeare captivates the viewer. They want to know what is happening, so they observe and analyze to look for clues and answers.
Neither scene is better in my opinion, because they are of different styles. Titus is about shock and awe, Hamlet about listening and learning. Both are still excellent hooks for similar plays.
I agree with a majority of my classmates. I prefer the opening scene of Hamlet because I feel it is more captivating. As opposed to Titus, in which Shakespeare blatantly reveals the motivations of many of the characters, the reader has to make more of an effort to figure out what is in store for our characters in Denmark. His foreshadowing entices me to make predictions and keep reading, so I can learn who killed the king and what the murderer's intentions were. Because we don't know everything about the characters, the conflicts are still developing and consist of less gratuitous fights (so far).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel Shakespeare utilizes language wonderfully in both plays. I cannot imagine being able to write with such great vocabulary and structure, but wish he flowed better between tragedy and casual conversation in Titus. Additionally, he did not set the mood as much with the dialogue in Titus, which was probably because the mood was always set by outrageous murders or evil plots.
Titus is enjoyable and entertaining, but I am excited to read one of Shakespeare later novels. He writes with more sophistication and is less eager to give the audience what they want (murders and rape) in the beginning because at this point in his career, he does not need to.
I agree with both Anthony Panarello and Jasmin about the beginning of Hamlet. I liked this opening scene better than the first scene of Titus because I felt that Shakespeare drew me in more with his use of comedy and his ability to create suspense. I found myself wanting to read more and more to find out what happened to king Hamlet and what would happen when the others would try to take back their land.
ReplyDeleteAnother point that I observed about the opening scene of Hamlet was that Shakespeare introduced less characters at once than he did before in Titus. This made the opening scene easier to visualize than the opening scene of Titus.
I agree with Angie in that I enjoyed Titus but I am really excited to read Hamlet. These two scenes already show how Shakespeare was able to grow and show his style as a playwright between his first and his last tragedy.
I agree with both Anthony Panarello and Jasmin about the beginning of Hamlet. I liked this opening scene better than the first scene of Titus because I felt that Shakespeare drew me in more with his use of comedy and his ability to create suspense. I found myself wanting to read more and more to find out what happened to king Hamlet and what would happen when the others would try to take back their land.
ReplyDeleteAnother point that I observed about the opening scene of Hamlet was that Shakespeare introduced less characters at once than he did before in Titus. This made the opening scene easier to visualize than the opening scene of Titus.
I agree with Angie in that I enjoyed Titus but I am really excited to read Hamlet. These two scenes already show how Shakespeare was able to grow and show his style as a playwright between his first and his last tragedy.
Like many above me have said, the mood in the beginning of Hamlet was much more eerie, mysterious, and suspenseful. The mood made me want to read on, but I still feel that the beginning of Titus was stronger overall. We don’t know anything about the characters in Hamlet yet, and I wasn’t able to initially find the fear in Bernardo and Francisco’s conversation. On the other hand, in Titus, I feel that we were put immediately into the plot and filled in on what was happening with fighting for emperor, right from the opening conversation. I felt like I was part of the story-line immediately, and I was excited to see how their argument would end. I knew what Bassianus and Saturninus were like right from their opening lines. I agree with Madiha that we get almost instant satisfaction throughout the first scene in Titus, and I feel like the mystery is just dragged on in Hamlet. I feel like a clear and to-the-point first scene is crucial in creating an interesting plot. I love the fight between the brothers in Titus because the mood was so tense. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened, but in Hamlet, it seems as if I’ll be waiting for something that compelling for a while. They haven’t gone much into much detail in Hamlet about the ghost, except for what he looks like. Still though, Shakespeare’s use of language is beautiful, and I will keep an open mind for the rest of Hamlet.
ReplyDeleteLisa
You can obviously see the contrast between the first scene of Titus and the first scene of Hamlet. Although both begin in media res, Titus is more rapid and the plot is explained right away, and Hamlet is more mysterious and it needs to be carefully analyzed to discover the characterization, and the conflict. I prefer Hamlet over Titus because I feel that Titus is a simple play that doesn’t need to be analyzed. Much like Horatio, I feel that Hamlet is already more cerebral and is more true to Shakespeare's writing craft.
ReplyDeleteSince Hamlet is one of his later plays, it is developed more sophistically which makes it more enjoyable to the reader in my opinion. His plot line isn't rushed and seems more realistic than Titus. I mean some of the actions taken on in that play are so unrealistic it makes the play less enjoyable because you can't picture it as well. By creating a mystery, or rather suspicion, it makes the reader want to read more. I felt like I never wanted to read more in Titus especially towards the end when the entire plot seemed to be rushed.
ReplyDeleteHamlet, as a character, is far more developed than any of the characters in Titus. The characters in Titus are easy to categorize. One is evil, the other nice, the other you feel sympathy for etc etc. Since I have read Hamlet before, it is hard to comment on the development of the characters without giving anything away. Just note that the characters develop in a way that is unpredictable and quite entertaining.
The beginning of Titus and Hamlet are very different from each other. In Titus, Shakespeare makes it clear what Bassianus and Saturninus are fighting about. And in Hamlet, Shakespeare leaves you questioning about most things. So far with Hamlet, we havent learned much about who killed the King (and why), and who the characters really are. I personally like how shakespeare started Titus over Hamlet, because we knew exactly what we were reading about, and knew more about the characters in the first scene of Titus, than in Hamlet. I do like though how Hamlet is more relatable to people. To me, Titus just seemed completely inacurate with being able to cut tongues and hands off without bleeding to death. Although Hamlet will probably get like that, right now I just feel like Hamlet makes more acurate sense. Hamlet also keeps the readers wondering about the ghost, and what is going to happen next. The first thing I also noticed was that Hamlet was longer than Titus by a decent amount of pages. Overall I think I am going to like Hamlet over Titus.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of characterization, the reader learns much more about the characters in Titus Andronicus than in Hamlet from scene one of both plays. The first scene in hamlet is extremely quick and sets a mysterious and eerie mood. In contrast, the first scene of Titus was long and chaotic. I feel that the opening of Titus Andronicus was better because it gave the audience a better understanding of the complexity of each character. For instance, just from scene one of Titus we see that Titus does terrible things because of his loyalty to Rome. For example, Titus kills Alarbus, gives the throne to Saturninus, gives Lavinia to Saturninus and kills his son. Shakespeare characterizes Titus to be merciless and a terrible father. There is a contradiction in Titus’ character that is picked up from scene one; Titus is shown technically being a loyal roman but in reality he is a cruel person. By scene one in hamlet, Hamlet hasn’t even been introduced to the audience and all that the audience knows about him is that his father has died. On the basis of characterization Titus greatly surpasses Hamlet in act one because of the complexity shown in Titus’ character.
ReplyDeleteOut of Shakespeare's two famous works, Titus Andronicus and Hamlet, I prefer the first scene of Hamlet. The conflict of Scene I creates suspense. Bernardo and Francisco are frightened when they greet each other in the middle of the night at the platform of the castle. The time is about midnight; the middle of the night portrays death. After their startling conversation, they begin to feel there is a ghost surrounding them. Bernardo believes it resembles the king. This causes fear in Horatio. The beginning scene of Hamlet is unique and very different to the beginning of Titus Andronicus. The beginning of Titus is confusing. It starts with many characters entering, leaving the reader to meet them all at once. The Roman family line is quite large and Saturnius is running for emperor. Saturnius pleas to please let him be emperor. Marcus Andronicus, Titus' brother, gives advice to plead the title of the empire but to not be violent. The beginning scene of Hamlet creates a suspenseful mood and makes the reader, like myself, excited to continue to read. Everyone loves a ghost story, and it makes someone ponder as well, but many important characters to meet at once could become overwhelming.
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