Thursday, October 29 the final fight

 

Due now: semi-colon take-home assessment. 
                

              In class:  Act 5, scene 2......THE ENDING
Period 8 Quick write class handout / copy below
  Periods 3 and 6: Act 5.2 writing / plot summary and demonstrating semi colon usage.
class handout / copy below



Where we left off:

A calmer Hamlet recounts the events leading up to his escape from the plot to kill him. He says that he is convinced now more than ever that divine providence governs man's life, and that things happen as they are meant to happen. He tells Horatio that the night before the pirates took him, he found himself unable to sleep.

 He used this opportunity to investigate Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's cabin. Groping about in the darkness, he discovered letters addressed to the English King, which he managed to open with surreptitious skill. To his surprise, he read that Claudius had requested the king of England to imprison and behead Hamlet as quickly as possible. 

Horatio remains incredulous until Hamlet hands him the letter. While Horatio reads, Hamlet continues. He says that he immediately conjured a brilliant plan. He composed a second set of letters in the flowery style of the original ordering that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern be killed. He sealed the letters with his father's State Seal, which he carried in his purse.

 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not know that Hamlet has replaced the letters, and thus, according to Hamlet, their demise will be due to their own actions in delivering the letters to the English king.

Claudius' behavior horrifies Horatio. "Why what a king is this!" he exclaims. Hamlet reminds him that this same king killed the rightful king, made Gertrude a whore, and robbed Hamlet of his own birthright, all in one fell stroke.

 Horatio worries that Claudius will learn the outcome of events in England too quickly, but Hamlet assures him that he will now act expeditiously to eliminate the King.

Hamlet says he is only sorry about one thing now: That he has had to engage Laertes in the business. Osric, a courtier, enters and Hamlet mocks the man's flamboyance. Osric tells Hamlet that Laertes invites the Prince to duel with him. The King has wagered that Hamlet will win, and Osric is to return and report whether Hamlet will accept.

 He does. After Osric's exit, a lord enters with instructions from the King to see if Hamlet wants more time before meeting Laertes. Hamlet says he is ready whenever the King wants to get started. Then the lord tells Hamlet that the Queen wishes him to extend Laertes a pre-duel overture of friendship. Hamlet agrees, and the lord exits.

Horatio feels uneasy about the duel and suggests that Hamlet could lose. Hamlet shrugs off any possibility of Laertes' winning, but says that, in any event, one cannot avoid one's destiny. Hamlet must do what he must do. All that matters is being prepared for the inevitable. "The readiness is all."

Turn to Act 5, scene 2, line 225

    Film link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9VZp7IFfXQ&list=PL8653490E2C680C5C&index=26    



  Name ___________________________________   Hamlet: Blood Bath

After having viewed the Act 5, scene 2, the climax of the play, please write a plot summary that demonstrates 1) you understand the narrative structure of the act and 2) in at least two of the five sentences I am asking you to write, you use semi colons.

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Name______________________________________   Quick write  

Explain Hamlet’s reasoning for participating in Claudius’ bet to compete with Laertes.

Augury (noun)-m the act of studying the future

To augur (verb)-to study the future

Horatio tells Hamlet that it’s not necessary to fight Laertes, and he could easily beg off. Hamlet responds:

Not a whit, we defy augury: there's a special
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now,
'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be
now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the
readiness is all: since no man has aught of what he
leaves, what is't to leave betimes? Let be. (5.2.219-224)

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