Coming up: vocabulary quiz Hamlet 6 on Friday. (class handout last Friday with copy on the blog); vocabulary review on Thursday.
Due at the beginning of class tomorrow: figurative language graphic organizer.
Important: in class tomorrow. I am not here, but you will have a timed, in-class writing assignment based upon Hamlet's conversation with his mother. Please pay particular attention today to how Hamlet develops his argument on how Gertude could not be enamored of Claudius. You will have a copy of the conversation and will need to incorporate textual evidence. Unless you have an extension, this will be due at the close of class for a writing grade.
In class: review of last Friday's class material
watching Act 3: Claudius' soliloquy, Hamlet's conversation with his mother.
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, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
I can determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Essential Question: How do character and plot inform each other in the development of the play?
Link for today's film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOjpvNPr3JU&list=PL8653490E2C680C5C&index=17
What we have covered last: (see Friday's blog for links)
The "Murder of Gonzago" or as Hamlet refers to it "The Mouse Trap", has angered King Claudius, and so the play has ceased. Hamlet challenges Claudius with "What, frightened with false fire?" (3.2.271). Claudius demands: "Give me some light" (3.2.275).
How are these words more than literal?
Hamlet now believes that he can "take the ghost's word for / a thousand pound" (3.2.272-3), and his close friend Horatio agrees. Hamlet chastises his school friends Rosencrantz and Guidenstern that they would "play upon [him]."
How has the relationship between Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guidenstern deteriorated? How might this impact the development of the plot?
There is a brief conversation between Polonius and Hamlet, where the former tells the Prince that the "Queen would speak with [him]" 3.2.382-84). Hamlet then teases the minister about by saying he sees a cloud first shaped like "camel" then a "weasel" and then finally a "whale".
Why would Hamlet play with Polonius like this?
What insights do we gain about Polonius' character?
Act 3, scene 2 ends with Hamlet noting that "'Tis now the very witching time of night, / When churchyards yarn and hell itelf breathes out / ...hot / blood" (396-8).
Act 3, scene 3
Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that they "will forthwith dispatch, / to England" (3-4), and Hamlet will accompany them, so that "we will fetters put about this fear / Which now goes too free-footed" (25-26).
Finally, Polonius informs Claudius that he will hide "behind the arras... / to hear the process" (3.3.26-27), while Gertrude talks with Hamlet.
Claudius' soliloquy.
Claudius expresses -or seems to- his remorse or his crime of having killed his brother, King Hamlet. He acknowledges that he is guilty of "the primal eldest curse" (3.3.37).
To what is Claudius alluding?
Claudius wishes to pray and ask God for forgiveness for his "offense," but he is "still possessed / Of those effects for which [he] did murder, / [His] crown, [his] own ambition, and [his] queen" (3.3.53-55).
He kneels to heaven, and low and behold, Hamlet stumbles upon Claudius, as his hands are clasped in prayer.
According to Hamlet, what is ironic about this situation?
Better times to kill Claudius: when he is drunk, in a rage, gaming, swearing "Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed" (3.3.90).
Another bit of irony: what is the outcome of Claudius' praying? (note his last words: "Words without thoughts never to heaven go."
Act 3, scene 4: What is Hamlet's initial attitude towards having killed Polonius?
What does Hamlet mean when he says: "I took thee for thy better? (33).
How finally does Hamlet view Polonius? death? Remember that he says: "Heaven hath pleased it so" (174).
Note fate vs choice
How does Gertrude react when Hamlet says "as kill a king"?
Hamlet compares the Old King Hamlet to his brother Claudius, pointing out that his father was like the sun god Hyperion, whilst Claudius was "mildewed." Hamlet also reminds Gertrude how old she is as "the heyday in the blood is tame" (70).
Why does Gertrude think Hamlet is "mad"?
Hamlet reminds Gertrude that he is being sent to England, along with Rosencrantz and Guidenstern. He reveals that they will "marshal [him] to knavery" (3.4.206).
Explain this famous line: "I must be cruel, only to be kind" (3.4.179) (if time, class quick write)
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