All missing work is due to me today! After today, anything turned in will be worth no more than 50 points.
Vocab passed out today. Quiz on Friday, 10/24:
1.
wretched (adj.) – very unhappy, ill, etc.
2.
ecstasy (n.) – archaic for madness
3.
neglected (adj.) – given little attention or
respect
4.
expel (v.) – to drive or force out or away
5.
commencement (n.) – beginning, start
6.
entreat (v.) –
to beg
7.
arras (n.) –
a wall hanging, as a tapestry or similar object
8.
Hyperion (n.) –
the sun god, often said to be the most beautiful of the gods
9.
cozened (v.) –
tricked
10.
sans (prep.)
– without
Recap - take notes on your hand out:
Act III Scene i:
Claudius
and Gertrude discuss Hamlet’s behavior with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who
say they have been unable to learn the cause of his melancholy. They tell the
king and queen about Hamlet’s enthusiasm for the players. Encouraged, Gertrude
and Claudius agree that they will see the play that evening.
Polonius
directs Ophelia to walk around the lobby. Polonius hears Hamlet coming, and he
and the king hide. Hamlet enters, speaking thoughtfully and agonizingly
to himself about the question of whether to commit suicide to end the pain of
experience. In mid-thought, Hamlet sees Ophelia approaching. Having received
her orders from Polonius, she tells him that she wishes to return the tokens of
love he has given her. Angrily, Hamlet denies having given her anything; he
laments the dishonesty of beauty, and claims both to have loved Ophelia once and
never to have loved her at all. Working himself into a rage, Hamlet denounces
Ophelia, women, and humankind in general, saying that he wishes to end all
marriages. As he storms out, Ophelia mourns the “noble mind” that has now
lapsed into apparent madness.
The king and Polonius emerge from behind the tapestry.
Claudius says that Hamlet’s strange behavior has clearly not been caused by
love for Ophelia and that his speech does not seem like the speech of insanity.
He declares that he will send Hamlet to England, in the hope that a change of
scenery might help him get over his troubles. Polonius agrees that this is a
good idea, but he still believes that Hamlet’s agitation comes from loving
Ophelia. He asks Claudius to send Hamlet to Gertrude’s chamber after the play,
where Polonius can hide again and watch unseen; he hopes to learn whether
Hamlet is really mad with love.
Act III Scene ii:
That
evening, in the castle hall now doubling as a theater, Hamlet anxiously
lectures the players on how to act the parts he has written for them. Horatio
enters, and having told Horatio what he learned from the ghost—that Claudius
murdered his father—he now asks him to watch Claudius carefully during the play
so that they might compare their impressions of his behavior afterward. Horatio
agrees, saying that if Claudius shows any signs of guilt, he will detect them.
As the audience of lords and ladies enters, Hamlet begins to
act strangely on purpose. The players begin to enact the play in full, at first
the king and queen are shown in love, and then the king is left alone sleeping
and a man murders him by pouring poison in his ear. At this moment, Claudius
rises and cries out for light. Chaos ensues as the play comes to a sudden halt,
the torches are lit, and the king flees the room, followed by the audience.
When the scene quiets, Hamlet is left alone with Horatio. Hamlet and Horatio
agree that the king’s behavior was telling.
Now extremely excited, Hamlet continues to act frantic and
scatterbrained. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive to tell Hamlet that he is
wanted in his mother’s chambers. Polonius enters to escort Hamlet to the queen.
Hamlet says he will go to her in a moment and asks for a moment alone. He
steels himself to speak to his mother, resolving to be brutally honest with her
but not to lose control of himself: “I will speak daggers to her, but use none”
(III.ii.366).
Read Act III Scene iii –
roles:
King
Guildenstern
Rosencrantz
Polonius
Hamlet
Graphic Organizer - due at the BEGINNING of class Wednesday.
Notes:
Act III Scene i:
Act III Scene ii:
Play
Exit Polonius
Oh, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; (36)
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t, (37)
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not, (38)
Though inclination be as sharp as will. (39)
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent, (40)
And like a man to double business bound (41)
I stand in pause where I shall first begin, (42)
And both neglect. What if this cursèd hand (43)
Were thicker than itself with brother’s blood, (44)
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens (45)
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy (46)
But to confront the visage of offense? (47)
And what’s in prayer but this twofold force, (48)
To be forestallèd ere we come to fall, (49)
Or pardoned being down? Then I’ll look up. (50)
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer (51)
Can serve my turn, “Forgive me my foul murder”? (52)
That cannot be, since I am still possessed (53)
Of those effects for which I did the murder, (54)
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. (55)
Paraphrase/translate
Questions
Which characters are on stage when Claudius begins?
To what “offense” is Claudius referring on
line 36?
What is Claudius trying to do when he is
alone on stage? Why does he say, “Pray can I not” in line 38?
What “cannot be,” according to Claudius in
line 53? What explanation does Claudius give for believing this?
Play
May one be pardoned and retain th' offense? (56)
In the corrupted currents of this world (57)
Offense’s gilded hand may shove by justice, (58)
And oft ’tis seen the wicked prize itself (59)
Buys out the law. But ’tis not so above. (60)
There is no shuffling. There the action lies (61)
In his true nature, and we ourselves compelled, (62)
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, (63)
To give in evidence. What then? What rests? (64)
Try what repentance can. What can it not? (65)
Yet what can it when one can not repent? (66)
O wretched state! O bosom black as death! (67)
O limèd soul that, struggling to be free, (68)
Art more engaged! Help, angels. Make assay. (69)
Bow, stubborn knees, and, heart with strings of steel, (70)
Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe. (71)
All may be well. (kneels) (72)
Enter Hamlet
Paraphrase/translate
Questions
How does Claudius’s attempt to pray further develop his character?
How does Claudius describe his soul on lines 67–68? What does this say
about him?
What is the impact of Shakespeare’s choice to reveal Claudius’s
confession of the murder through a soliloquy?
Play
Now might I do it pat, now ‘a is a-praying, (73)
And now I’ll do ’t. And so ‘a goes to heaven, (74)
And so am I revenged. That would be scanned. (75)
A villain kills my father, and, for that (76)
I, his sole son, do this same villain send (77)
To heaven. (78)
Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge. (79)
‘A took my father grossly, full of bread, (80)
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; (81)
And how his audit stands, who knows save heaven? (82)
But in our circumstance and course of thought, (83)
'Tis heavy with him; and am I then revenged, (84)
To take him in the purging of his soul, (85)
When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? (86)
No. (87)
Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. (88)
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, (89)
Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed, (90)
At game a-swearing, or about some act (91)
That has no relish of salvation in ’t— (92)
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, (93)
And that his soul may be as damned and black (94)
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays. (95)
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. Exit. (96)
Paraphrase/translate
Questions
When Hamlet enters the scene, what does believe Claudius is doing?
What is Hamlet describing when he says, “Now might I do it” in line 73?
What stops Hamlet from killing Claudius at this point?
How does Hamlet resolve to kill Claudius? Explain Hamlet’s reasoning.
What does Hamlet wish upon Claudius in lines 98–100?
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