Monday, November 30, 2015

A Comparison

I know y'all just finished Hamlet, but I hope I'm not too too late with this.

Meeting Hamlet for the time, we see that he is sad and full of despair. His reaction to his father’s death is normal, but he struggles with it and also the marriage of his uncle and mother. Onika Miraj (Nicki Minaj was born in 1982 in Trinidad and Tobago. Her family struggled living in New York once they moved. She struggles with the mental diseases her father had. Basically, the father she knew died and was replaced by an emotionally unstable shell.

Onika Miraj created Cookie, her first alter ego, to escape the troubles and to understand her life and her father. Similarly, Hamlet continually questions his existence to understand his world.

The Harjuku Barbie, also known as Black Barbie and also known as Barbie, is Nicki Minaj’s famous alter ego that is fun and flirty. Barbie struggles to find love because sometimes she likes to act like she’s in love rather than actually be in love. Hamlet acts like he’s in love with Ophelia, true or not, but unlike Barbie he does it with a purpose. Ophelia plays a huge role in the Hamlet's emotional roller coaster. Hamlet tells Ophelia that he loved her once but then tells her to leave him. This scene establishes that Hamlet has become 'crazy' in love. (similarly, Nicki Minaj has a song titled so). Later, Hamlet says to Laertes that he loved Ophelia more than he ever did, but he also makes her feel bad when he pretends he doesn’t love her.

Hamlet becomes crazy when his father tells him the truth of his murder. The late Roman Zolanski is Nicki Minaj was most vocal alter ego. Zolanski has been described as a gay man from London, England, characterized as being far more outspoken and oftentimes more malicious than Nicki. He is considered crazy, but really this is due to the situations he’s been placed in. Hamlet ends up killing his Laertes after being poisoned by the tip of Laertes sword. Hamlet also kills his uncle. Hamlet is not a killer but his craziness has taken over due to the situations he has been placed in. Whether or not he is acting, he looses complete control of his sanity. Hamlet's emotions progress towards complete insanity and lead him to killling Polonius, Laertes and eventually Claudius.

Nicki Minaj has different egos and does not progress towards one. She bounces around her egos without much reason. There is no progression in her egos, only sporadic changes. Hamlet on the other hand has a much clearer progression.

2 comments:

Jack Zheng said...

Harri please you can't even spell comparison

Jac said...

It is very strange to consider comparing Hamlet to Nicki Minaj, but I definitely see the comparisons. Similarly, I very much see the comparison between Hamlet and the Great Gatsby. My brother actually brought this comparison up when I told him we had just finished Hamlet. Gatsby does not have a father anymore, like Hamlet. My brother brought to my attention that both characters are dealing with ghosts, whether literal (Hamlet) or fictional (Gatsby). Gatsby's "ghost" is the past that haunts him. He tries to create a fake life and lavish lifestyle that he constantly needs to update his lifestyle. Most importantly, Gatsby and Hamlet are both working toward a far-reaching goal: Gatsby to secure Daisy and live happily ever after, and Hamlet, to avenge his father's death and live happily ever after. This is hardly connected with Hari's comparison of Nicki to Hamlet, but the comparison reminded me of Hamlet compared to Gatsby.