Joseph Melanson
Shakespeare
Prof. Tryon
30 August 2012
Shakespeare Final
Reflections
I selected James Holmes for this
essay, the apparently bright and gifted graduate student who walked into a theater on July 20th of
this year, in Aurora, Colorado, and killed 12 people, while injuring another 58. He had entered
into the crowded theater dressed combat gear in, and opened fire on people who had
come to see the newest Batman movie, “A Dark Knight Rises”. When he was apprehended
he had underneath his
combat gear, the appearance of the character the “Joker”
from the Batman series of comic books and movies, the nemesis and antagonist of the Batman.
James Holmes did not seem like the
typical person who would throw away his life, as well as carelessly destroying others as well. He is
described as a bright and gifted, yet socially awkward graduate student who was attempting to
pursue his doctorate and applied to multiple universities. He writes in an
application letter about a youth that seemed strict, yet agreeable. Holmes writes about his
ability to gain the trust and love of children as a camp counselor, as well as children with
mental illnesses. Holmes had pursued his desire to study neuroscience, in the hopes of
helping to unlock the mysteries of the mind.
Holmes was denied admittance into
his school of choice, the University of Iowa, after earning his degree at the University
of California at Riverside, and turned down an offer of acceptance at the University of Illinois.
Holmes presented himself as an unsuitable candidate at the University of Iowa, despite the many
awards and accomplishments that he had made. Dan Tranel, a “neurology
professor and director of psychology” strongly recommended against his admittance into
the school’s neuroscience program (Hill, para. 2). Holmes would have probably never
heard the reasons for the denial of his admission, but he would probably wonder
forever what the reasons behind it were. Perhaps it was the final thing that needed to happen
to set off Holmes’ madness into violence.
All of us are the stars of our own
shows in our heads, having the leading role in a story that is always evolving, gaining and losing
characters, some bringing with them tragedies, while others bring us comedies. In all, they are
both the histories that we share, only to later be forgotten in the passages of time, but like
all history it repeats itself, and we can all find much of ourselves in others lives.
One has to wonder if Holmes, like a
character of Shakespeare was compelled by ghosts that only he could see like Hamlet, felt himself
betrayed and manipulated by his personal circle like Othello, persecuted and prejudiced
against without recourse like Shylock, surrounded by enemies and seemingly unreliable
allies like King Henry, or consumed to fulfill his own dark prophecies?
Was James Holmes a weak character,
suffering from either a mental illness, a personality disorder, felt shunned by his society, his
madness finally erupting into violence like a burst pipe to people like this who have no
means to unburden themselves of life’s inevitable pressures, trapping within themselves
their emotions, which inevitably spill over into our shared world, after becoming compacted
and mutually destructive to all?
Did James Holmes possess a
character flaw which became a madness that could not properly interpret this world, limiting his
participation within it, and thus driving him into murdering innocent people who he probably had never
met?
Does our culture play a part in how
people like James Holmes seem to end up at their inevitable homicidal rampages? What kind of home life,
what kind of parents and friends did he have that he thought it was a good idea to
massacre strangers? It seemed he presented warning signs, yet did anyone think to approach
him and try to show him how to live and be, or does our culture still encourage us to
shy away from, and shun people like him? Influenced by a culture that glorifies violence,
prizes audacity and vulgarity, a society that offers weapons of mass destruction for sale,
perhaps a rampage against the Dark Knight is in effect an attempt to attack a culture that
abandons people thus betraying them, leaving people like Holmes with only their dark
obsessions, and the voices of ghosts that will forever haunt them?
Hmmm...
definitely a terrible story from the recent news. Really unreal. But did you realize that you only made
reference to Shakespeare in one sentence out of the whole paper: “One has to wonder if Holmes, like a
character of Shakespeare was compelled by ghosts that only he could see like
Hamlet, felt himself betrayed and manipulated by his personal circle like
Othello, persecuted and prejudiced against without recourse like Shylock,
surrounded by enemies and seemingly unreliable allies like King Henry, or
consumed to fulfill his own dark prophecies?”
I think this is a really interesting comparison, but I’d love to hear
more specific reasons that you think this is an apt comparison. What lines from Hamlet, for example, call James Holmes to mind for you? What lines from Othello? Because the point
of this paper is to help you take away from this class a sense of the relevance
of Shakespeare in modern society, I would challenge you to really think on some
of those amazing passages that have stood the test of time—that we hear ringing
in our brains when news stories like this come up. At some place in your brain, those stay with
you forever… 86%.
Works Cited:
Hill, Cole Garner. “Read Dark Knight Shooter James Holmes’
Rejected Grad School
Letter”. Books and Review. August 30, 2012.
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