Different People, More Impact

They say, dangerous people will always be dangerous, that someone who has committed a crime is bound to do it again. Is this really true?This American Life's podcast says otherwise. When prisoners in a high security prison are asked to read Hamlet and take part in its production for the prison, their is a clear change in some of the prisoners. Yet, it is unclear if it is a temporal or a permanent change, one thing that is known is that we are always prisoners of our actions. The following post will discuss how the characters evolved during the six months of rehearsing for their Hamlet performance at the prison. 

The prisoners are being constantly interviewed as the rehearsals go by, and in every interview prisoners begin to look at themselves in different ways. They start questioning themselves, figuring out why they became criminals, and even begin to compare themselves to the world and others. The play brought good feelings to people. For one prisoner his whole world was enlightened. Thoughts of "I can do better" and "if I apply myself I can do anything", began to flood his mind. The characters in Hamlet also are very violent, and one of the prisoners says that they can do the best at interpreting the characters performance because they have been playing these roles their entire lives. Its not that criminals dont know what they are doing is wrong, they are fully aware of how terrible many of their actions are. "Criminals are cowards" is what one fo the prisoners said, "putting a gun to someones face is unfair, and cowardly." The play helped them realize all the wrong that had been done and the prisoners began to truly study themselves as individuals and figure out who they are and why. Dany says "a person changes and I know im not going to commit any more crimes, but I killed a man do I really deserve to be out there again?" Dany knows he was given a chance and he messed it up and ended up in prison, and he knows he does not deserve another chance even though he has changed and grown in ways unimaginable for a man who has never been in prison. That is exactly what the play did it transformed the prisoners to better people but it still kept them thinking about their actions and did not allow them to simply forget about them and wonder why they are currently in prison. 

The story of Hamlet created a hands on connection with the prisoners, each prisoner connected with the characters in all sorts of different ways. Some believed they were just like Laertes, others just like Hamlet or Claudius, etc. The truth is having the prisoners read and experience the story of people so similar to them, changed them in one way or another. Many of the prisoners still want to go back to their violent ways while others will really never commit another crime again, the still violent ones may not have changed their violence, but they definitely could have had a change in knowing their place in the world, such as being the "killer whale". 

Pitiable Thoughts

Hamlet and J. Alfred Prufrock’s pathetic indecisiveness is clearly exposed in both Shakespeare's play Hamlet and T.S. Eliot's poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The main characters have one task throughout the text; Prufrock needs to ask the womAn he loves out, and Hamlet needs to decide whether or not to kill King Claudius, his uncle, to avenge his father’s death or live knowing that he failed his father. In the end only Hamlet is able to make a decision as he was dying while Prufrock was never successful in putting his thoughts into actions. 

These texts embody both characters’ disappointment and pitiable thoughts towards their own indecisiveness. In T.S. Eliot's poem, J. Alfred Prufrock agonizes over whether he should "eat a peach", similar to how Hamlet grapples with thoughts of whether to take revenge in his famous lament, "To be, or not to be: that is the question" (3.1). The characters are asking different questions, but they both lack the impulsive drive to decide. Should they keep on doing what they have been doing or find another way out such as, suicide? The difference the poems have is, what is causing the characters to be in a position in which they have to decide between two options. In Hamlet, Shakespeare really expresses his frustration by making readers feel the same anger, because the audience is placed in a position from the beginning of the play until the end in which they are simply waiting for Hamlet to decide to kill Claudius and avenge his fathers death or simply keep all the information to himself and have a constant internal conflict. While in T.S. Eliot's poem the frustration with indecisiveness is clear because the questions J, Alfred Prufrock has are so absurd and plain. Everybody struggles while making decisions, especially when the consequences of both possibilities are unclear. Without the pressures of the Elizabethan life, Hamlet would have enjoyed continued indecisions such as Prufrock. 

The differences between T.S. Eliot's poem and Shakespeare's play are not only clear in the characters pitiable thoughts towards indecisiveness but also in the types of indecisiveness and how we enjoy postponing final decisions. When comparing Prufrock and Hamlet, the quick conclusion can be made that, Prufrock is more pathetic then the other because Hamlet's indecision involves a human life, while Prufrock's is simply about his own boring and isolated life. The statement that Hamlet is more pathetic then Prufrock, or vice versa, can't be made, because other factors are involved such as time period, setting, and prior events in their lives. Hamlet is seen as a more pathetic person because a mans life depends on his decision. Yet, before making this conclusion the audience needs to keep in mind that Hamlet takes place in the 16th century, a time in which killing for vengeance wasn't a big deal. Also, they have to keep in mind that Hamlet already killed another man, Polonius, and he did not seem to care even though Polo its was entirely innocent. If Hamlet as an individual could kill and innocent man and not a man that murdered his father for the throne, wouldn't that make him as pathetic as Prufrock. If Hamlet were from the twentieth century and had never witnessed or been a part of any violent act then yes, he would be less pathetic. In the end, the stories of Hamlet and Prufrock, depend on more then just the text. Background information must be done in order to fully compare with no bias the play and poem. 

Looking at the play and the poem as a united whole, they both tell the story of a man that could never make a decision. Even though the questions were different and Prufrock had many more then Hamlet they both struggled with their decision making. Their procrastination could be the result of the pleasure that comes form not making a decision and still being able to go about life like nothing is happening. This is what Hamlet and Prufrock are doing, they ignore the fact that a decision has to be made and try to avoid it at all times so that it would be as if they nerve have to make a decision because the question was never presented. 

Why Wait?

             Why is it that most of us procrastinate? All procrastination does is lead to unnecessary stress and work that cannot compete with work done days before a deadline. Why did I procrastinate until tonight to do this blog post? I know the excuse that sates, "I work better under pressure" is ridiculously inaccurate, yet many others and I use it and make ourselves believe in the excuse that we all know is false. Yes, the excuse could work to certain points, for example if it is 10 at night and the assignment is do first thing in the morning students will tend to work much faster than if the did it over a weeks time. I know procrastination causes not only poor work, but also a unhealthy lifestyle because of all the stress being created, yet just like Hamlet the character who struggles with procrastination and indecisiveness I still procrastinate just like he does. Why, there is no correct answer explaining this phenomena. 

             Could the reason why I along with many others procrastinate be linked with avoidance, motivation and satisfaction vs. dissatisfaction. Avoidance is pretty much another word for procrastination. Why is it we avoid doing tasks? Is it lack of motivation, or are we all just lazy and useless people. I think it is lack of motivation for me personally, because it is not for all assignments I procrastinate for. When it is a subject I really enjoy, or a task that I am excited to do, or a standard I really need to get a good grade on, I am satisfied with the assignment and the amount of time and effort I need to put into it, therefore I have the motivation to do it. For assignments I have no motivation to do I sometimes notice that I fear im going to get a bad grade, or I know the task is to demanding and therefore I will not reach the standards required, also rarely I find myself unmotivated because the task is to easy. It is a vicious cycle that always leads to the same satisfaction if we learn to procrastinate at the correct time. If we are motivated we do it and we feel satisfied, if we are not motivated we don't do it and we still feel satisfied, because we did not make our brain have to think about something we are uninterested in, or have to think too much. Since we delay doing the task we spend less time thinking about it an therefore we are satisfied because our brain goes through less torture. I see how ridiculous this conclusion is, but it is how my brain thinks and even though I know its pathetic I still do it. Hamlet knows from the beginning what he has to do in order to feel satisfaction: kill Claudius. Yet, he gets side tracked because he doesn't have the spark to do it, and therefore begins to procrastinate because he is getting the same amount of satisfaction by not doing it as he would if he did do it. As ridiculous as this sounds, it is true because if he does it he can only feel satisfaction to a certain level because he knows people will look at him as a killer ad he would have to live with blood on his hands, if he doesnt do it the only dissatisfaction he would feel is the fact that he is a wimp, so in the end the satisfaction on both sides of the decision is the same. So the decision he had originally made to kill his uncle gets erased from the picture because he already lost the motivation to do it.


             Procrastination is a "curse" as the author of Viewpoint: Why do we procrastinate so much? puts it. We know it is a damaging action but it is almost as an inexplicable control that takes over the body and stops us from doing something.  I know I have to do it, but I kept putting the blogposts off so I wouldn't have to do it. I waited until last minute to feel the least amount of displeasure possible from doing the assignment, and that time I decided not to do the blogpost, I was getting a false sense of satisfaction because I was not spending my time and effort on a task that I fear of getting a bad grade on and know I will not reach the standards the teacher requires.