Subtext Deal

LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,And that your grace hath screen'd and stood betweenMuch heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.Pray you, be round with him.

HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!

QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras

Enter HAMLET


The two plot to get as much information from Hamlet as possible. Polonius believes that Hamlet is going crazy over Ophelia

HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.


Hamlet questions the Queens motives for marrying her husband brother.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!

The Queen begins to understand that she has sinned and it is her fault.

HAMLET
What's the matter now?

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?

HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.


Hamlet is sarcastic and knows his mother is beginning to understand why he is upset with her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.

HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;You go not till I set you up a glassWhere you may see the inmost part of you.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?Help, help, ho!

Hamlet has become very violent in his tone and attitude. The queen thinks that she may be harmed.

LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!

HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras

LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies

Polonius belives the queen is at risk and comes to her aid. Hamlet stabs Polonius through the cutian under the impression that it is the King.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?

HAMLET
Nay, I know not:Is it the king?

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!

HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,As kill a king, and marry with his brother.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!

HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,If it be made of penetrable stuff,If damned custom have not brass'd it soThat it is proof and bulwark against sense.

Hamlet again shames his mother for marrying her murdered husband's brother. Hamlet attempt to humiliate her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongueIn noise so rude against me?

Again the Queen tries to plead with Hamlet by reminding him that she is his mother.

HAMLET
Such an actThat blurs the grace and blush of modesty,Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the roseFrom the fair forehead of an innocent loveAnd sets a blister there, makes marriage-vowsAs false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deedAs from the body of contraction plucksThe very soul, and sweet religion makesA rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:Yea, this solidity and compound mass,With tristful visage, as against the doom,Is thought-sick at the act.

Hamlet is disgusted with the queens immoral acts against his slain father.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?

The Queen tries to play innocent by not understanding Hamlets accusations.

HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.See, what a grace was seated on this brow;Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;A station like the herald MercuryNew-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;A combination and a form indeed,Where every god did seem to set his seal,To give the world assurance of a man:This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:

Hamlet tries to make the queen remorse her husband by reminding her of his qualities and his impact on their lives.

Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?You cannot call it love; for at your ageThe hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,And waits upon the judgment: and what judgmentWould step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,Else could you not have motion; but sure, that senseIs apoplex'd; for madness would not err,Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'dBut it reserved some quantity of choice,To serve in such a difference. What devil was'tThat thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,Or but a sickly part of one true senseCould not so mope.O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shameWhen the compulsive ardour gives the charge,Since frost itself as actively doth burnAnd reason panders will.

Hamlet speaks of the contrast between the two brothers to further guilt his mother. His speech almost brings him to tears but yet he is still bitterly angry at his mother.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;And there I see such black and grained spotsAs will not leave their tinct.

Hamlet's words have finally struck a cord with his mother. She finally begins to realiaze how much she has sinned.

HAMLET
Nay, but to liveIn the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making loveOver the nasty sty,--

Hamlet is disgusted with his mothers actions. He describes thier unholy marriage.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;No more, sweet Hamlet!

HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;A slave that is not twentieth part the titheOf your precedent lord; a vice of kings;A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,And put it in his pocket!

QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!

The Queen is finally completely broken down from listening to Hamlet's words.

HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter GhostSave me, and hover o'er me with your wings,You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?

Hamlet looks to the ghost with deep respect and admiration. He falls to his knees as if it were an angel.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!

HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go byThe important acting of your dread command? O, say!

Ghost
Do not forget: this visitationIs but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:O, step between her and her fighting soul:Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:Speak to her, Hamlet.

The ghost see how Hamlet has affected his mother with his words. She is in deep remorse and the ghost feels for her now.

HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,That you do bend your eye on vacancyAnd with the incorporal air do hold discourse?Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,Upon the heat and flame of thy distemperSprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;Lest with this piteous action you convertMy stern effects: then what I have to doWill want true colour; tears perchance for blood.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?

The queen believes that her son is mad. She thinks that he may be irrational and unstable.

HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?

QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.

HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!My father, in his habit as he lived!Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!

Hamlet is staring at the ghost as if it was truly his father.
Exit Ghost

QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:This bodiless creation ecstasyIs very cunning in.

HAMLET
Ecstasy!My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,And makes as healthful music: it is not madnessThat I have utter'd: bring me to the test,And I the matter will re-word; which madnessWould gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;And do not spread the compost on the weeds,To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;For in the fatness of these pursy timesVirtue itself of vice must pardon beg,Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.

Hamlet tries to convince his mother that he is not crazy and that his words and actions are true. What he is saying is what he truly believes and is not his irrational thoughts.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.

HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,And live the purer with the other half.Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;Assume a virtue, if you have it not.That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,That to the use of actions fair and goodHe likewise gives a frock or livery,That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,And that shall lend a kind of easinessTo the next abstinence: the next more easy;For use almost can change the stamp of nature,And either [ ] the devil, or throw him outWith wondrous potency. Once more, good night:And when you are desirous to be bless'd,I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUSI do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,To punish me with this and this with me,That I must be their scourge and minister.I will bestow him, and will answer wellThe death I gave him. So, again, good night.I must be cruel, only to be kind:Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.One word more, good lady.

He is again trying to appear clam and collected in front of his frightened mother. He does not want her to dismiss his previous words as the words of a mad man. Hamlet does not want to appear to be insane.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?

The queen beings to believe her son and sees his rationality.

HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,Make you to ravel all this matter out,That I essentially am not in madness,But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?No, in despite of sense and secrecy,Unpeg the basket on the house's top.Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,To try conclusions, in the basket creep,And break your own neck down.

Hamlet makes his final attempt to convince his mother to leave the king and that Hamlet still cares for his misguided mother. Hamlet also wants her to keep everything a secret. His tone is calm and collected, with a sense of urgency and importance.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,And breath of life, I have no life to breatheWhat thou hast said to me.

The queen tries to reassure her son, and to regain his trust. She wants him to know that she once again believes in him and in his guidance.

Poor Greeks

In Sopchocles’s Antigone, yet again we are shown how our favorite Greek heroes and heroines suffer from their horribly tragic flaws. Through examining Creon’s and Antigone’s pitiful downfalls, we can only hope to learn from their unfortunate mistakes and pass this knowledge down to future generations. From what I have gathered after careful examination of the ancient text, I have concluded that it is important that we listen to whatever Teiresias says. But since Teiresias actually isn’t real, or at least he is dead, the real message here could be that we should listen to what other people have to say. In the story, Creon, Antigone, and Haemon all face less than favorable outcomes because they did not fully account for each other’s valid arguments. Creon and Antigone are both very different characters with very different motives. Creon adheres to the law of man and kingdom and in stark contrast Antigone follows her heart and the law of God. Their stubborn personalities would not allow them to seriously look at each other’s opposing arguments and to come to some sort of common agreement. If only Creon and Antigone could have found a way to set aside their pride and negotiate, they could have both avoided their tragic downfalls.
As the king of Thebes, Creon is the complete autocrat and leader who must personify the power and dignity of the state himself. Creon is the state. He represents the strength and stability in the kingdom. He possesses the unquestioned right to rule as he pleases and in any effort to uphold the stability of the kingdom. Though it may seem as if he is being cruel by leaving Polyneices to rot, the king must adhere to the laws of his state. If Creon did otherwise, it would seem as if he was a weak man who cared more for his blood than for his own people. Once Polyneices lead an army against Thebes, he became a traitor no matter what his past connection to the royal family. Creon must deny the enemy’s right to a decent burial although it is his own nephew. The king cannot have favorites and make exceptions at the cost of threatening the stability of his rule and kingdom. Once Antigone chose to defy Creon’s edict, she became a threat to the stability in Thebes and was arrested. If Creon simply allowed her to bury her brother, then it would appear that his laws meant nothing and could be easily broken. Up to this point, Creon’s actions are understandable as he is the king and must uphold the law of man. However, his treatment for Antigone is gruesome and the situation could have been handled a lot easier if he had only tried to negotiate with his niece.
In contrast to Creon, Antigone champions the laws of God above the laws of man. Antigone’s struggle to bury her traitorous brother draws attention to the difference between divine law and human law. To her, it is her obligation to bury Polynices no matter what his crimes. She follows her heart and believes that Creon’s edicts cannot override the laws of God and of morality. Creon coldly sees her argument as foolishly passionate and imprisons her. To Creon, his laws are the ultimate authority and are always right. Creon is just following his own laws. He is too proud and stubborn to notice that his decision is not morally just. Creon is not even affected by his own son’s pleas for mercy. Yet the king’s ultimate mistake is in Antigone’s punishment. Although Creon was full of pride and ambition at the start, by the conclusion Creon suffers the wrath of the gods, and ends in his own self-destruction.
If Creon and Antigone could have reached a compromise instead of taking the extreme sides of the argument, they could have easily prevented their fates. Creon was ultimately right in denying Polynices a public burial but he did not have to deny Antigone the decency to mourn her brother’s loss. If only he had allowed her to bury her brother in secret or out of the state, then this whole play could have been avoided. There would not have been a conflict, but then we wouldn’t have learned a valuable lesson. Both the opposing forces can never come to an easy agreement that makes a happy ending, because that doesn’t sell books as well. In the end, Sopchocles wanted to make money and teach us things at the same time. It must have worked since the play has been around a long time.

My Expert #2

After reviewing the four arguments posted in the "Imaginary Panel of Experts", it seems to me that the second expert appears to have been the most accurate in his interpretation of the text. Expert #2 believes that Gregor has transformed into an insect only because Gregor has felt like an insignificant being for so many years. The expert argues that Gregor has always been a disgusting groveling, abject, vermin-like creature his entire life – yet in human form. Only now has Gregor completed his metamorphosis and taken his true identity as an insignificant insect subservient to society.

As my selected expert points out, Gregor has adopted a vermin-like posture towards his family and the other authority figures in his life. Gregor seems to care only to please those around him and believes that he is insignificant to those around him. Even after he discovers he has taken the shape of an insect, Gregor can only think about how he is late for work. Gregor worries about his superiors reaction, Anyway I can still make the eight o’clock train. I’ll be showing up at the office very soon. Please be kind enough to inform them, and convey my best wishes to the director." As Gregor further pleads with his office manager to keep his job he says, "You will, you will let me go, won’t you? You can see, sir, that I’m not stubborn and I’m willing to work; the life of a traveling salesman is hard, but I couldn’t live without it. As you know very well, I am deeply obligated to the director." Again, Gregor grovels to his superiors as an insect just as he had groveled in his human form. Even as a human, Gregor never had given himself enough self-respect. As he continues his transformation into an insect, Gregor finds that he only enjoys eating garbage. As many people say, you are what you eat, and in Gregor’s case, he feels like garage. Even when Gregor rolls over and dies, he is so insignificant that his own family will not even take the time to mourn him. His new insect body severs to exemplify how his inner identity has transformed not only his mind, but also his physical form.

Gregor has been an insignificant insect for years in both his family affairs, and in his interactions with his boss. Gregor’s new physical appearance serves only demonstrate his true sense of worthlessness. Although the other experts provide valid arguments, the second expert’s interpretation of the text provides us with the most appropriate explanation for Gregor’s strange metamorphosis. Gregor’s mental state of worthlessness has finally caught up to his physical perception. Gregor has finally become the disgusting, cringing, abject, vermin that he has always felt he was. (457)

Ivan Ilych Blog

In chapter nine of "Ivan Ilych", Ivan finally realizes that all hope for recovery is lost. After dismissing his aid Gerasim, Ivan weeps in self-pity and begins his unusual "prayer". It appears that he is looking to God for answers for his suffering, but in reality, Ivan is trying to find peace with his tormented soul.
Ivan begins his prayer not by asking for help, but by demanding why he has been plagued by pain. He questions God, "Why hast Thou done all this? Why hast Thou brought me here? Why, why dost Thou torment me so terribly?" Ivan believes he has entered a stage in which he believes that he is being punished for his sins. He believes his pains are no longer from natural causes. His illness is no longer just a physical one, but also an emotional and mental ailment that constantly runs him down.
As Ivan continues with his prayer he shifts away from accusing God and begins to search for an answer within himself. His soul searching begins when he asks, "What is it you want?" All Ivan can answer is that he wishes his life was simple and pleasant, as it was in the old days. Ivan thinks back on his childhood and school days as his happiest memories. Now that he has absorbed himself so deeply in his job and in keeping up with society’s demands, he has lost touch with his family and his old, happy life. He beings to realize his present life is worthless and trivial, and that he has forgotten about all the joys in his life. Ivan can no longer find any lightheartedness, friendship, or hope in his life. Ever since he became consumed in his work, he has lost touch with what used to matter most to him. As his career progressed, he notices that he no longer had time for any happy memories. Ivan realizes that, "It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me." Ivan comes to the terrible conclusion that his whole life had been a waste. The thought that "maybe I did not live as I ought to have done" suddenly occurs to him. However, Ivan dismisses his bizarre idea, since he is sure that the purpose of life is too succeed and that he had done everything properly. He had done everything according to what society deemed was right. Again, Ivan’s mind has trumped his soul. Although Ivan tries to convince himself that he has lived a good life, his soul is trying to tell him otherwise. (450)

Love in the Time of Cholera: Blog 2

In the novel, I find Florentino’s character to be quite peculiar. Although every character in the book seems to be a little eccentric or quirky in some way, everything about Florentino’s disposition strikes me as very odd. From the manner in which he is physically described to the actions he is involved in make him out to be the strangest character in the book. Yet, without Florentino, there would be no "Love in the Time of Cholera" at all. Like it or not, Florentino is the central character for the driving force of the plot even though he appears to be a character that no one could relate to.

The strangest aspect of Florentino’s abnormal lifestyle is his pursuit of vulnerable women. After Fermina rejects him early in his life, he vows that he will spend his whole life trying to win her back. He is sick from depression for many days over her loss and marriage. So much so that it drive him away from the only home he knows in the hopes that he will forget about her in his long journey. Despite his efforts, all he can continue to think about is Fermina Daza. Yet on his riverboat voyage, a woman essentially rapes him and his first experience seems to be life changing for him. When he returns home, he again experiences sexual relations with a widow, his first true lover. As their relationship continues, Florentino observes that widowed women seem to be the most free spirited females he has ever know. Yet he feels that they too have experienced a love lost with the passing of their husbands. As his thirst for women develops, Florentino learns that his sexual experiences serve as an elixir to heal his wounds from Fermina. Throughout the next decades, Florentino’s major pastime is the pursuit of what he calls "lost birds". In all of his loose relationships, Florentino ensures that the connection they have is purely physical, and that he is not emotionally attached to another women. For one, he does not want Fermina to ever know that he has "cheated" on her. Secondly, I believe that Florentino does not want to get hurt in another deep relationship. The only way that he can have relations with women is in a physical sense, because once they get to close he always likes to have the power to step away. Florentino is very cautious with his emotions ever since his crushing rejection.

As the years continue to pass, Florentino still has not lost hope in his quest for Fermina’s hand every though he has had so many other opportunities to live a happy life. Even after fifty years, Fermina continues to occupy his life day in and day out. Yet, he is still able to keep her a secret from everyone around him, along with his sex life. What is strange to me is that he says he has all his sexual encounters to get "experience" for when he finally receives his chance to get back with Fermina. He also uses his love exposure to help young lovers write letters to their sweethearts. Everything he does is part of his master plan to win her back. Florentino is such an obsessive-compulsive character that he cannot simply let go of his past-lost love. If only he would learn to move on, he would have so many opportunities to live a happy life with one of the many women that he has had encounters with. What also strikes me as strange is that if he is willing to go the trouble to start relationships with married women, why does he not try to steal Fermina from Urbino? If he cares so much about her that his life is devoted to her, he might as well try to have an affair with her. Florentino has the ability to woo almost any women he desires; yet he will not even talk to Fermina while she is married to the Doctor. If it was anyone else but the eccentric Florentino, he would not have wasted his time with the other women, and would have just gone for what he wanted the most, or just plain forget about her and move on. (701)

Love in the Time of Cholera: Blog 1

One of the novel’s most prominent and powerful themes is, not surprisingly, love. However, love is not portrayed as a wonderful, simplistic, union of two people who share each other’s passions without question. In "Love in the Time of Cholera", love is portrayed as a plague comparable to cholera that can devastate your life. We can see from Florentino Ariza that love is sometimes single sided and agonizing. He becomes so lovesick that he must endure not only emotional hardships, but also physical pains similar to those of cholera as he woos over his beloved Fermina Daza. Marquez’s novel suggests that lovesickness is not only a state of mind, but is a literal illness that can consume your entire life.

As chapter two progresses, we can see that Florentino is literally plagued by love. Every second of his life he can only think of Fermina. Although he only catches glimpses of her walking to and from school, for two weeks straight he thinks of nothing else but her. He even spends his time alone writing pages and pages of letters to her in hopes that one day he will find the courage to give them to her. Florentino goes to the extent of memorizing entire books of love poems only to find better ways of expressing his unconditional devotion to his secret love. His obsession with Fermina becomes so unbearable that he must unleash the weight of his secret to his mother. Since it is Florentino’s first experience with what he believes is true love, he turns to the only person that can guide him in the right direction.

When Florentino finally gives Fermina the letter confessing his love, he is instantly sick with worry. As soon as Florentino, "began to wait for the answer to his first letter, his anguish was complicated by diarrhea and green vomit, he became disoriented and suffered from sudden fainting spells and his mother was terrified because his condition did not resemble the turmoil of love so much as the devastation of cholera." (61) His lovesickness was so much like cholera that his godfather, a homeopath, mistakes that Florentino was infected with the illness. Yet, they finally conclude, "the symptoms of love were the same as those of cholera." (62) Florentino again complicates his emotional pain with physical agony when he vomits after eating roses and drinking perfume hoping to "taste" Fermina’s forbidden scent. He is so delirious over her letters that he, "spent the rest of the afternoon eating roses and reading the note letter by letter, over and over again (68)." Florentino even compromises his job as he works absent mindedly at the telegraph office and makes costly errors for the company. Florentino goes so far as to risk his life only so he can play love songs on his violin to Fermina during the Civil War. He is eventually captured by government troops, is accused of being a spy, and barley escapes execution after serving jail time for his senseless acts of love. As their relationship, solely through letters, progresses Florentino proposes to his love. Of course, Fermina’s father is enraged that a lower class boy would ruin all that he has provided for his daughter. He can only hope that if he takes her away for many years, she will forget about Florentino completely. Although they keep in contact secretly and she maintains her fidelity for years, Fermina knows she never truly loved him as soon as they are reunited in the market. All she can think to say to Florentino is "No, please, forget it (102)." After all of those years of devotion and non-stop love sickness, Florentino is finally faced with the fact that his love is one-sided. Fermina tell him in a simple letter that, "Today when I saw you, I realized that what is between us is nothing more than an illusion (102)."

Contrary to many other novels focused on love, "Love in the Time of Cholera" shows us that love is not always the wonderful experience that everyone should look forward to experiencing. More often that not, love can be one-sided and can consume your entire life as you brood over lost love. As we learned from the first chapter, even after fifty years of rejection, Florentino is still convinced of his everlasting love for her. Florentino’s lovesickness is not only an emotional and physical pain, but also a psychological illness that leads him to compulsively obsess over Fermina. (744)

The Sound and the Fury Blog 2

The Jason section in The Sound and the Fury is entirely different from any of the previous sections we have read. Unlike the Benjy and Quentin sections, Jason’s account is very structured and chronological. His recollection of past events is no where near as vivid and as emotional as the previous sections. Jason’s tone is quite harsh and cruel. He is much more vulgar, nasty, hurried, power-hungry, and consumed with his ego than his brothers are. While Benjy and Quentin both seem to reminisce in the past and their mistakes, Jason’s main interests lie in the present and controlling those around him. He is more concerned with external events than he is with his emotions and his inner world. Jason is a clear contrast to his brothers in which his motives are very black and white.

No matter what character Jason interacts with, he always attempts to gain control over them. He constantly tries to twist circumstances in his favor, usually at the expense of those around him. Jason believes that he is more clever than everyone else is and that he can control any one if he wants to by manipulating them. One of the main ways he tries to gain control over those around him is with money. Since he is the head of the family after his father and brother died, he believes that he is now financially responsible for the Compsons. He feels that since he brings in the money to support the family, he should be able to dictate how his family, in particular his niece, act. Jason tries to control the women in his life by relying on his finances. Although he swindles the money from his sister’s child support checks, Jason believes that he should be in control of Quentin’s actions since he pays for her things with his sister’s money. When Quentin does not have her books he asks her, "I know you haven’t got any books: I just want to ask you what you did with them, if it’s any of my business. I’m just the one that paid $11.65 for them last September." Although he tries to gain control over her with money, she does not listen to him nor respect him. She replies to his treats by saying, "I’d rather be in hell than anywhere where you are." Another woman Jason tries to control is his prostitute girlfriend Lorranine. The only way that he knows how to have a relationship with a woman is by controlling her with money. Jason knows that she is dependent on him and "misses" him because "last time I gave her forty dollars". Although it is a prostitute, he feels as if she is truly dependent on him. Yet without his money, Lorranine would not even pay attention to him. Jason also manipulates Caddy by requiring that Quentin’s child support checks go through him. For many years, he believes that he has tricked both his mother and sister by stealing the money, but eventually Caddy lets him know that he has not tricked her. She tells him that, "I’ve had no answer to the last two letters I wrote her, though the check in the second one was cashed with the other check. I know you are opening my letters to her. I know that as well as if I were looking at you." Once again, Jason fails at controlling the women in his life or even tricking them. The only woman that he has been able to control is his mother, only because she believes that he is her perfect son. When Jason tries to sell a ticket to Luster, Jason shows how cruel he truly is. Jason knows that his servant cannot afford the five cent ticket, yet he would rather burn it in front of him than give it too him. Jason claims that he "Needs the cash" although he has a safe box full of bills in his room. Jason again wants to flaunt his self-perceived power over everyone else because of his money. In the end, no one cares about his small amount of cash and his perception that he has any power over people is false.

Although Jason is a crafty and clever character, he never uses his talents to swindle people rather than to gain their respect honestly. Faulkner’s different use of style and tone in each characters section of the novel is based upon each characters different personality in the novel. If Jason learned to not manipulate and trick those around him, people might start to truly listen to him and he would finally have some real control over his peers. By concentrating on his small sum of money and believing that it is everything in his life, Jason never develops any higher goals or aspirations for himself. Jason appears to be a motivated character with clever ideas, driven by his strong ego. Jason could be a strong leader if he could put his traits to good use instead of wasting them on petty tricks; he could finally win some real control over those around him.(824)