Learning Targets: I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
I can analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events.
Coming up: Wednesday, review of vocabulary that was handed out last Friday.
Thursday, October 8- vocabulary quiz (see copy of words below)
In class: review of what has happened in the play so far.
Hamlet's philosophical words...quick write
Essential question:
How does Shakespeare employ Hamlet's words to reflect various personal, historical and cultural ideas that transcend time?
Act 1, Scene 1
Hamlet opens with the sentry, Francisco, keeping watch over the castle at Elsinore. He is relieved by Barnardo, who is joined shortly by Horatio, Hamlet's best friend. They tell Horatio that they've seen an apparition:
Marcellus. Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,The Ghost of the late king of Denmark appears and promptly withdraws into the night. Horatio recognizes the armor covering the Ghost and remarks that it is the very armor that the King wore "when he the ambitious Norway combated" (1.1.61). Barnardo, Marcellus, and Horatio suspect that the appearance of the ghostly King is an ominous message to all of Denmark, as they prepare for war with Norway. Horatio pleads with the apparition to reveal its intentions:
and will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us (1.1.23-25).
...stay, illusion;The Ghost, however, refuses to speak, and disappears as the cock crows. Horatio decides to tell Prince Hamlet all that has transpired, for he knows that the Ghost will only reveal his purpose to his son.
If thou hast any sound or use of voice,
Speak to me,
If there be any good thing to be done
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Speak to me,
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
(Which happily forknowing may avoid)
O, speak! (1.1.127-35).
Act 1, Scene 2
The scene opens with King Claudius of Denmark giving a magnificently ostentatious speech on the death of his brother and his marriage to Queen Gerturde, his sister-in-law and Hamlet's mother. Claudius dispatches two of his courtiers, Cornelius and Voltimand, to Norway as peacekeepers, and he grants Laertes (Polonius' son / Ophelia's brother), who has come to Denmark specifically for the coronation of Claudius, permission to return to his studies in France.
With such matters attended to, Claudius focuses on his troublesome nephew. He commends Hamlet on the length and severity of his mourning, but insists that his "unmanly" grief must come to an end. He reassures Hamlet that his father lost a father, and his father before him, and so on.
He implores Hamlet not to return to his studies in Wittenberg, but to remain in Denmark to fulfill his role of courtier, cousin, and son. Gertrude also pleads with Hamlet to stay, and calmly, he agrees: "I shall in all my best obey you, madam" (1.2.120). Satisfied with Hamlet's answer, the royal couple leave the room.
Hamlet is left alone to expound his consuming rage and disgust at his mother for her incestuous marriage to Claudius, within a month of his father's death:
O God, a beast that wants discourse of reasonHamlet is interrupted gratefully by Horatio, along with Barnardo and Marcellus. They tell him that the Ghost of his father has appeared on the castle wall, and Hamlet is at first shocked and disturbed: "Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me" (1.2.223).
Would have mourn'd longer, --married with my uncle,
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 galled eyes,
She married; O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! (1.2.150-57)
The three further describe the Ghost to Hamlet -- his silvered beard, his pale and sorrowful countenance, his full body armour -- and, with excitement Hamlet agrees to meet them on the platform, "twixt eleven and twelve."
Act 1, Scene 3
Laertes, who is about to leave for France, warns his sister, Ophelia, that Hamlet's love for her will undoubtedly not last. He will be the next king, and as such his wants must yield to the demands and interests of the citizens of Denmark. When it is no longer convenient or appropriate for Hamlet to love her, Laertes cautions, he will cast her aside. Ophelia defends Hamlet and Laertes lovingly responds "O, fear me not" (1.2.57).
Their father, Polonius, enters the room and agrees that Ophelia has been seeing far too much of Hamlet. He begins a rant on the state of young men's morality, insisting that passion causes them to make false vows. He forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet again, and she respectfully obeys.
Act 1, Scene 4
Shortly before midnight, Hamlet meets Horatio on the battlements of the castle. They wait together in the darkness. From below they hear the sound of the men in the castle laughing and dancing riotously; the King draining his "draughts of Rhenish down." Hamlet explains to Horatio his dislike of such drunken behavior. To Hamlet, drinking to excess has ruined the whole nation, which is known as a land full of drunken swines abroad. It takes away the country's accomplishments and renders men weak and corrupt.
Then Horatio spots the Ghost approaching. Hamlet calls out to the Ghost and it beckons Hamlet to leave with it "as if it some impartment did desire" (1.4.67) to Hamlet alone. Despite the pleading of Horatio and Marcellus, who are afraid that the apparition might be an evil entity in disguise, Hamlet agrees to follow the Ghost and the two figures disappear into the dark.
Act 1, Scene 5
Hamlet will go no further with the Ghost and demands it speak at once. The Ghost tells Hamlet that the hour is approaching when it must return to the tormenting flames of purgatory and it reveals the hideous and demented truth to an anguished Hamlet, on the verge of hysteria throughout the conversation.
The Ghost is indeed the spirit of Hamlet's father, and he has not died, but has been murdered, poisoned by his own brother, Claudius. The Ghost disappears, leaving Hamlet horrified and enraged. "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!" (1.5.106). Hamlet is not yet sure how he will carry out his revenge, but he vows to think about nothing else until Claudius has suffered for his betrayal. Amidst the echoing cries of the Ghost rising from beneath the earth, Hamlet insists Horatio and Marcellus swear that they will not reveal to anyone the events of that night.
Upon Hamlet's sword the two take their oath, assuring him that they will remain silent. Hamlet then calls to his father's spirit "rest, rest" (1.5.179), and the scene and entire act closes with the lines that encapsulate Hamlet's whole tragedy:
So, gentlemen,Act 2, Scene 1
With all my love I do commend me to you,
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack: Let us go together,
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint; O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right! (1.5.181-88)
Act 2 opens in a room in Polonius' house, a month or two after Hamlet has seen his father's ghost. Polonius is making arrangements to send his servant, Reynaldo, to Paris to spy on Laertes.
Polonius justifies his actions by arguing that he is only concerned for the well-being of his son, so far away from home. The frightened Ophelia rushes into the room to tell her father that Hamlet came to see her while she was sewing, and that it had been a terrifying experience:
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd,Polonius at once assumes that the loss of Ophelia's affections has driven Hamlet insane. He expresses regret that he ever asked his daughter to behave so heartlessly toward the love-sick prince, and he decides the King must know that Hamlet has gone mad.
No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd and down-gyved to his ancle,
Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors... (2.1.77-83).
Act 2, Scene 2
King Claudius has noticed Hamlet's strange behaviour even before old Polonius can tell his tale. Claudius has summoned two of Hamlet's classmates at Wittenberg --Guildenstern and -- hoping that they will be able to uncover what has sparked such a transformation in Hamlet.
The following are two excerpts from Hamlet's conversation with his college friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In a quick write, select one of the topics, paraphrase and then expound (present and explain (a theory or idea) systematically and in detail, first tying the line into the play and then by extension into a life situation of which you are knowledgeable. This may be something historical, cultural or personal.
Graded class assignment.
First choice: 'tis none to you; for there is nothing
either good or bad, but thinking makes it so
Second choice:
I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
myself a king of infinite space.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare Vocabulary Quiz #4 Thursday, Oct 9
The quiz will be 10 matching and 10 contextual sentences
1. remembrances- (noun) greetings or gifts recalling or expressing friendship or affection.
2. origin- (noun) the point or place where something begins
3. tedious- (adjective) lacking in mental interest, boring
4. to indict-(verb) to accuse of a crime
5. to devise- (verb) to create a plan
6. to pester-(verb) to annoy someone
7. misogynistic-(adjective) Having a derogatory attitude towards women
8. torment- (noun) an intense feelings of pain
9. lunacy- (noun) state of senseless behavior, thought to be caused by the moon
10. potent (adjective)- having force or authority
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