We are to blog, from now until the end(if indeed there is such a thing) on The Bhagavad Gita and Hamlet, because it is from these texts that the rest of what we are to know will emanate. Because Hamlet and Arjuna have the same problem: they cannot act, and do what they must do. Arjuna has Krishna, and Hamlet has another avatar: the Ghost, who is essentially a secular version of Krishna.

Both avatars are here for the sake of reminding their respective pupils of their sacred duty, which we have suggested is thus: the the thing that you would do even if you weren't required to do it.

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." This is a great example of a synechoche(a part which represents the whole), so "Denmark" really means "the whole world and the whole of life".
Similarly, the battlefield in the Gita is a metaphor for all of human life, and so the call to violence isn't a literal call to killing, but a call to do what you must do. This is why Gandhi, a great practioner of nonviolence, was so influenced by the text.

I look forward to seeing the portion from Peter Brooks' film version of the Mahabarata(sp?), the long Hindu epic of which the Bhagavad Gita is one portion of. The voice of the Mahabarata, as a whole, including the Gita is Sanjaya, and Sanjaya is the poet.

And by this time next week, we are to tentatively have a thesis for our papers up and viewable. Kari thinks that she shall do something with War and Peace but she is so intensely percieving the anxiety of influence that she may end up wondering "To be or not to be." We shall see.