Dysfunction, Fiction and Non-Fiction

I spent the day today subbing in an English class at the high school here in town.  Three of the four classes were dual credit college classes, and since the affiliated junior college's semester is over, these classes are done for the year (grades had to be turned in already).  So we got to watch movie adaptations of British and American literature--The Murders in the Rue Morgue in two classes (as well as part of a biography of Poe in one of them) and Hamlet in the other.

Hamlet is the poster child (okay, ONE poster child, as Oedipus Rex and others come to mind) for dysfunction.  He (and his family) are the epitome of Murphy's Law of the mind.  It's horribly fascinating to watch as the characters come unraveled, and even more interesting to consider what the mind behind it all must have been like.

Poe, while perhaps less dramatic, is all the more compelling in his reality.  As with Hamlet, you can trace the outline of the events in his life and see clearly how they at least contribute to tragedy.

All in all, it made for an afternoon of interesting comparisons!