Wednesday, October 8, 2014: Act II

Act II.ii
Hamlet's third soliloquy

Vocabulary Lesson - Quiz tomorrow!

Hamlet's dual character and theme of revenge: We will review what we talked about yesterday in terms of Hamlet's internal struggle and the dual sides of his character pertaining to inaction versus action. We will also go over how the theme of revenge is manifesting in the play.

There is a helpful handout on character and theme that will help you write your essay - please see Ms. Bowering if you missed class and need the handout. The handout is copied and pasted below.

In-class writing for the remainder of class. Respond to the following prompt:
What are the dual sides of Hamlet’s character in terms of inaction versus action? How does Shakespeare accentuate the play’s central idea of revenge? Use evidence from the text.

Remember: introduction paragraph states a claim, and body paragraphs use evidence to back it up!

We will continue to write in class tomorrow. Essays are due by the end of the day on Friday.



Handout distributed in class:

Hamlet is:

·      Alone

·      A recluse

·      A slave to his situation

·      Inactive

·      An observer

·      Passive

·      In a daze, not acting on his worthy cause (as opposed to the players)

·      Unable to make decisions

·      Struggling against himself

·      Confused/unsure – especially by the ghost of his father (is it real or the devil?)

·      Hesitant

·      Cowardly

·      Depressed

·      Angry at himself

·      Degraded/dejected

·      Crazy/can’t get his thoughts straight

·      Unstable

·      Deranged

·      Full of rage

·      Passionate

·      Emotional

·      Loyal, which may cause him to take action depending on the outcome of the play

All of these feelings are channeled into staging the play – his plot to catch Claudius!

Hamlet’s dual character: evidence from the text

Inaction: Coward

¡  “Now I am alone” (559)

¡  “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (560)

¡  “Yet I, / a dull and muddy-meddled rascal, peak / Like a John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, / And can say nothing” (577-580)

¡  “Am I a coward?” (582)

¡   “I am pigeon-livered and lack gall” (588)

¡  “What an ass am I!” (594)

¡  Self-hatred, disappointed in himself and unhappy with who he is

Action: Vengeful

¡  “What would he do / Had he the motive and the cue for passion / That I have? He would drown the stage with tears” (570-572)

¡  “That I, the son of a dear father murdered, / Prompted to revenge by heaven and hell” (595-596)

¡  “Bloody, bawdy villain! / Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! / O vengeance!” (591-593)

¡  “If ‘a do blench, / I know my course” (609-610)

¡  “Fie upon ‘t! foh! About, my brains.” (599)

¡  “The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil” (611)

¡  “I’ll have grounds / more relative than this” (615-616)

¡  “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” (616-617)

¡  Enraged, overcome with emotion, committed to changing and taking action

Theme: revenge

¡  Hamlet is obsessed with revenge.

¡  Why?

¡  Depression/Grief – He is mourning his father.

¡  Anger – He is mad at his mother for marrying his uncle so quickly.

¡  Disgust – He is appalled by his uncle and does not want to be his “new son.”

¡  Curiosity – He needs to see if his father really was murdered by his uncle, like the ghost claims.

¡  Blood loyalty – Hamlet feels it is his duty to avenge his father.

¡  Why hasn’t he done anything yet?

¡  He needs proof of his Uncle Claudius’s guilt before he can move forward with revenge.

¡  He needs to overcome his cowardice.

¡  Solution – what’s going to happen?

¡  “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” (616-617)

Essay Question:

What are the dual sides of Hamlet’s character in terms of inaction versus action? How does Shakespeare accentuate the play’s theme of revenge? Use evidence from the text.

¡  Remember: Introduction paragraph states a claim, and body paragraphs use evidence to back it up!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014: Act II

Act II.ii: Hamlet's third soliloquy
Graphic organizer and brainstorming

Please take 2 minutes with your partner to refresh your memories from yesterday.

Each pair will go over their question and it’s significance. Responses will be written or typed on the Smart Board. Everyone else should be writing answers down during this time.

Brainstorming activity:

We will be writing a paper in class Wednesday and Thursday.

Break into small groups to brainstorm around this specific prompt:

What are the dual sides of Hamlet’s character, and how does Shakespeare accentuate the play’s central ideas of revenge and inaction versus action? Use evidence from the text.

Chart/poster of brainstorming for each group due at the end of class!

Monday, October 6, 2014: Act II

Monday, October 6, 2014: Act II

Act II.i Summary and Act II.ii Analysis: 
Hamlet's third soliloquy

"The play's the thing /Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." (last lines Act II)

The following students need to make up the vocabulary test from Friday, as well as the two Act I. handouts from Friday, one on Claudius's speech to Hamlet, the other Hamlet's first soliloquy.

Rahim, Clifton, Khiara, Starasia, Christian, Jameya, Katie W. 

REMINDER: Vocab Quiz on THURSDAY this week! I will go over vocabulary with a slide show on Wednesday in class.

Where did we leave off with the end of Act I?

Act II begins:

Hamlet’s emotional turmoil over his father’s murder has left him in a visibly agitated condition, which some members of the court have interpreted as madness. Claudius and Gertrude, concerned for his health and welfare, summon two of Hamlet’s oldest friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in the hopes that they can learn what is troubling him. Hamlet is immediately skeptical about their surprise visit - he doesn't believe they are just there to see him as friends.

Meanwhile, anxious to confirm his own suspicions regarding the source of Hamlet’s trouble, Polonius arranges a meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet, as he is convinced that Hamlet’s love for Ophelia is the cause of his suffering. When Polonius approaches Hamlet, Hamlet answers his questions although he believes Polonius to be a foolish old man. 

When a group of players arrives at the Danish court to entertain, Hamlet arranges for them to perform The Murder of Gonzago with the addition of lines Hamlet has written. What Hamlet hopes is to prove Claudius’s guilt in the murder by watching his reaction to the drama the players will stage. 


Watch: Hamlet's soliloquy - Part 6 (beginning through 4:22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj8K_F_iPDQ


Graphic organizer: Pair Activity

Period 4:
Khiara & Jenna - Question 1
Starasia & Rodney - Question 2
 - Question 3
India & Kat - Question 4
Lauren, Jameya & Alyssa - Question 4
Arelle & Shealyn - Question 5
Starr & Manny - Question 5
Stephen & Clifton - Question 6
Samyra & Nate - Question 7
Katie & Allen - Question 8
Christian & Alexis - Question 9
James, Celeste & Momo - Question 10

Absent: Rahim & Xavier

Period 8:
Esteban & Alenna - Question 1
Joseph, Jayson & Faezhon - Question 2
Birnela & Tim - Question 3
Adrianna & Mahogany - Question 4
Zahra & Marc - Question 5
Demi & Tanisha - Question 6
Chaz & Rafael - Question 7
Emily & Xavier - Question 8
Seneca, Elaine & Kalvon - Question 9
Keion & Thomas - Question 10

Each pair is assigned 1 questions to focus on for tomorrow. Please focus on your assigned question first, and then move on to the rest! You have a responsibility to your classmates, because you will present your question to the class – be ready to share your answer and why it’s important! 

Ay, so, God bye to you. –Now I am alone.

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!                (560)

Is it not monstrous that this player here,

But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,

Could force his soul so to his own conceit

That from her working all his visage wanned,

Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,             (565)

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting

With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!

For Hecuba!

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,

That he should weep for her? What would he do   (570)

Had he the motive and the cue for passion

That I have? He would drown the stage with tears

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,

Make mad the guilty and appall the free,

Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed             (575)

The very faculties of eyes and ears.

Yet I,

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, 

And can say nothing. No, not for a king,               (580)

Upon whose property and most dear life               

A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?

Who calls me villain? Breaks my pate across?

Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?

Tweaks me by the nose? Gives me the lie i' th’ throat       (585)

As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?          

Ha, 'swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be

But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall

To make oppression bitter, or ere this

I should ha’ fatted all the region kites                    (590)

With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!

Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!

O, vengeance!

Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,

That I, the son of a dear father murdered,             (595)

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,

Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,

And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, 

A scullion! Fie upon't! foh! About, my brains.

Hum—                                                                  (600)

I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play

Have by the very cunning of the scene

Been struck so to the soul that presently

They have proclaimed their malefactions.

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak      (605)

With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players

Play something like the murder of my father

Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks;

I'll tent him to the quick. If  ’a do blench,

I know my course. The spirit that I have seen      (610)

May be a devil, and the devil hath power

T’ assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps

Out of my weakness and my melancholy,

As he is very potent with such spirits,

Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds            (615)

More relative than this. The play's the thing

Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.

1. How does Hamlet describe himself in line 560? What image of Hamlet does this description create?
2. Summarize the two questions Hamlet asks about the player on lines 569-572.
3. What figurative language does Hamlet use in line 572 to describe how the player would act if he had Hamlet’s passion?
4. Why does Hamlet say he is like “John-a-dreams, unpregnant of [his] cause” in line 579? How does this contrast with Hamlet’s description of the player?
5. How does Hamlet’s description of himself and the player develop a central idea (main theme) in the play? Cite evidence from the text.
6. What does “cunning of the scene” mean in line 602, and what does “malefactions” mean in line 604? Paraphrase what Hamlet thinks is going to happen.
7. What does Hamlet mean by “For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ” (lines 605-606). How does Shakespeare’s use of personification help your understanding?
8. What does Hamlet mean by “if he do blench, I know my course”? (lines 609-610)
9. Read lines 610-615. What are Hamlet’s fears about the ghost of his father? How do these lines develop the central idea of revenge?
10. What does “this” mean in line 616 when Hamlet says “I’ll have grounds / More relative than this.”

Friday, October 3 Hamlet 2 vocabulary test. analysis of Hamlet's soliloquy and Claudius' speech

Hamlet and Ophelia
In class: 1) Hamlet vocabulary test 2
When you have finished, please bring it up to me. I have the grades open.
2) summary of Act I. material below / we'll review as a class.
3) Two handouts: Claudius' speech to Hamlet AND Hamlet's soliloquy. This is classwork. You may work with a partner,if you so choose. 
4) These are two graded classroom participation assignments, one of which must be completed in class, whilst the other may be finished at home, if you need the extra time. This will be due at the beginning of class on Monday. (class handout / copy below)
5. Ms. Bowering will be taking over for the next 4 weeks. I will, however, be in the classroom. The expectation is that everyone continue with same class policies, as you would in any other classroom. 

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Summary for Act I (http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/hamlet/summary/hamlet_summary.htm)

1. Shakespeare's longest play and the play responsible for the immortal lines "To be or not to be: that is the question:" and the advise "to thine own self be true," begins in Denmark with the news that King Hamlet of Denmark has recently died. 2. Denmark is now in a state of high alert and preparing for possible war with Young Fortinbras of Norway. A ghost resembling the late King Hamlet is spotted on a platform before Elsinore Castle in Denmark. King Claudius, who now rules Denmark, has taken King Hamlet's wife, Queen Gertrude as his new wife and Queen of Denmark. 3. King Claudius fearing Young Fortinbras of Norway may invade, has sent ambassadors to Norway to urge the King of Norway to restrain Young Fortinbras.  4. Young Hamlet distrusts King Claudius. The King and Queen do not understand why Hamlet still mourns his father's death over two months ago. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet explains that he does not like his mother marrying the next King of Denmark so quickly within a month of his father's death. 5. Laertes, the son of Lord Chamberlain Polonius, gives his sister Ophelia some brotherly advice. He warns Ophelia not to fall in love with Young Hamlet; she will only be hurt.  6. Polonius tells his daughter Ophelia not to return Hamlet's affections for her since he fears Hamlet is only using her... Hamlet meets the Ghost of his father, King Hamlet and follows it to learn more. 7. Hamlet learns from King Hamlet's Ghost that he was poisoned by King Claudius, the current ruler of Denmark. 8.  The Ghost tells Hamlet to avenge his death but not to punish Queen Gertrude for remarrying; it is not Hamlet's place and her conscience and heaven will judge her. 9.  Hamlet swears Horatio and Marcellus to silence over Hamlet meeting the Ghost. If you need assistance, I am available periods 6 and 7 today in 176. Ask for a pass.  Hamlet ActI.ii   responses to Claudius’s speech to Hamlet In Act I.ii, you are encountering the character of Hamlet for the first time through the eyes of his Uncle Claudius, who is now his stepfather.  Claudius reproaches Hamlet for his continued grief over the death of his father. Note their interactions and begin to think about the following ideas: gender roles, duty and mortality. KING CLAUDIUS      ' Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father: But, you must know, your father lost a father; That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound            90 In filial obligation for some term To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever In obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, An understanding simple and unschool'd: For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition      100 Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, To reason most absurd: whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, From the first corse till he that died to-day, 'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe, and think of us As of a father: for let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our throne; And with no less nobility of love            110 Than that which dearest father bears his son, Do I impart toward you. For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire: And we beseech you, bend you to remain 115 Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. Lines 90-92 1.     Who is Hamlet mourning? ___________________________ 2.     What are the two adjectives that the King uses to describe Hamlet’s Nature? 3.     What word used by Claudius gives evidence that that indicated the King’s shift to the main purpose of his speech? __________________________ Lines 93-96 4.     How does Claudius view the loss of Hamlet’s father? Use evidence from the text to support your position. _________________________________ ________________________________ _______________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _______________________________ __________________________________ _________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ Lines 96-101 5.      Condolement is  similar to condolences. What does it mean to send condolences? 6.      Paraphrase (put into your own words) lines 93-98. ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ 7.      What may be inferred about Claudius’s sense of grief and its relationship to duty? ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ 8.      What does Claudius mean when he calls Hamlet’s sense of grief unmanly? ________________________________________________________________________________________ 9.      Lines 102-105 Read the meanings for vulgar: characterized by ignorance of or lack of good breeding or taste                                       indecent, obscene or lewd                                       crude, coarse, unrefined                                       of, pertaining to ordinary people in society                                       current, popular or common How is the word vulgar used is line 103? Lines 107-110       10.  To what concept does Claudius appeal in lines 107-110?  ______________________________ 11.  How does Hamlet’s grief appear to Claudius? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 12.  What is the reasonable attitude towards death, according to Claudius? _______________________________________________________________________________________   O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed 135 His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God, How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on 't, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature 140 Possess it merely. That is should come to this But two months dead nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 145 Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on. And yet, within a month (Let me not think on 't; frailty, thy name is woman!) 150 A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body, Like Niobe, all tears ñ why she, even she (O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!), married with my uncle, 155 My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallËd eyes, 160 She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good. But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. Accompanying 1. What does Hamlet wish for? 2. Who is the Everlasting? 3.What does the Everlasting say one cannot do? 4.What metaphor does Hamlet use to show his attitude toward the world? 5. How long ago did Hamlet's father dies? 6. Hamlet compared his father to Claudius as "Hyperion to a satyr."  Explain 7. With what phrase does Hamlet justify his mother's weakness in marrying Claudius with a month of her husband's death? 8. How does Hamlet intend to handle the marriage at this point? Incorporated text into your own response.

Thursday, October 2 Hamlet- questions on Act I...library

Due tomorrow: Hamlet vocabulary 2 assessment.

Below is a copy of the handout you were given upon entering the computer lab. This is for those who are absent.  Everyone in class should refer to their handout.

English III Directions for day 2 in the library.

The purpose of today’s assignment to review ActI, specifically looking at important parts of dialogue.

As well, you are demonstrating your technology skills in sending along the completed assignment as an attachment. You may use your personal or school e-mail. There is no hard copy handout.

1)      Please sit at your teacher-assigned computer.

2.      Log on and go to the blog: http://english3-14-15.blogspot.com

3.      Open up a word document.

4.      Read and respond to the questions on the blog, making sure to use complete sentences.

5.      When you have completed the assignment, send along as an attachment to my school address: Dolly.Parker@rcsdk12.org.

6.      This is a silent assignment. If you have questions, please raise your hand and Ms. Bowering or myself will assist you.

             

                                   Class work: please respond to the following on a word document. If you wish, copy and paste the question.  Begin with an MLA heading. Please respond in complete sentences.

1. Explain the following exchange between Hamlet and Claudius. KING CLAUDIUS How is it that the clouds still hang on you? HAMLET Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.               2...Laertes warns his sister Ophelia to "keep...in the rear of [her] affection / Out of the shot and danger of desire." Ophelia tells her brother the following:  I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, As watchman to my heart. But my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads... Paraphrase Ophelia's words in a couple of well-written sentences. 3. Read Polonius' advice to Laertes and make a list of how the father believes his son should behave. LORD POLONIUS Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee! And these few precepts in thy memory See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. 60 Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 70 But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. 4. What news has the ghost imparted to Hamlet in these lines? If thou didst ever thy dear father love-- HAMLET O God! Ghost Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Wednesday, October 1 Hamlet Act I. viewing in library.

Due Friday: Hamlet 2 vocabulary test.

In class: we are reviewing and continuing with ActI, which we will finish tomorrow in the library and then respond to, using the computer.

Watch the following clip that includes Hamlet's first soliloquy, when you begin to get a deeper insight into his character and inner thoughts. You will also see how Horatio imparts what he has seen on the castle ramparts. You will also hear the love advice given to Ophelia from her brother Laertes and her father Polonius.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SBrh2NJmLk

When you have finished, continue with the next clip. Note what the ghost tells Hamlet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEl-Eb832uE