Tuesday, 3/12 - Hamlet THICE (Take Home In Class Essay)

• P&P

• Begin getting ready for your Hamlet THICE (4 or 5 paragraphs). You may choose your prompt, write a thesis, snag some topic sentences, compile your support, which should include quotes (from Hamlet--and Julius Caesar if applicable--not from Leithart), and bring your heavy artillery (outline) to class Thursday. Please do NOT go online to scour secondary sources; I will be double-checking anything that feels like an internet oil slick. Here are your prompts:

1. Hamlet or Brutus? Who is the more tragic character and why?

2. What theme is Shakespeare developing about “acting”? In other words, what is Shakespeare saying about the nature of “drama”?

3. Examine how and why Shakespeare develops one of his key image clusters: A) poison-venom, B) death-decay-rottenness, or C) any other you find revealing. What is he saying with these images?

4. Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare uses body imagery, real bodies, and the body politic. Consider the nature of these different "bodies" and try to figure out what the bard is saying.

5. Shakespeare wrote Hamlet just after Julius Caesar. That said, what is Shakespeare saying about women with his Gertrude-Ophelia and Calpurnia-Portia duos? Does he reduce women to one lowest common denominator, or is he multi-perspectival? If extremely different, why the differences? For what purpose?

6. If you have a thesis/prompt that you think you'd like to pursue that is not here, please run it by me first and I'll consider letting you pursue it with a vengeance ; )

Wednesday, 2/5 - Hamlet

• P&P

• So it begins . . . Hamlet, that is. Before we begin it, let us hear what a few of the critics have to say about this mysterious drama (see below the HW)

• Let's discuss J4

HW:

1. Finish J4 (reading posted on Focus)

 

Monday, 3/11 - I am dead, Horatio.

• P&P

• Read Hamlet until Hamlet is dead.

HW: Not sure yet. When we finish, you'll be doing a test like the Julius Caesar test and a THICE.

Thursday, 3/7 - Gravediggers' Union

• P&P

• Hamlet, Act 5 for today. Let's get gravely dirty.

HW: Get a copy of Macbeth, or just use the Subtext version, or just use a PDF from online, or just use the farce, Luke.

Wednesday, 3/6 - Finish Act 4

• P&P

• Check Hamlet - J4

• Charge through Act 4

HW: Discuss in class  

Tuesday, 3/5 - See yesterday's post for Hamlet - J4

• P&P

• Fold, fallow, and plough through Hamlet

HW: Hamlet - J4 (Acts 4-5) 

Monday, 3/4 - Hamlet - J4

• P&P
• Let's continue to kick this action live. Light! Light! Give me some Light, a camera, and some action!

HW: (due Wed)

Hamlet - J4 . . . Acts 4-5 (Leithart 151-156)

1. What are several ways in which Shakespeare shows chaos following in the wake of Polonius's murder?

2. How is Ophelia's confusing of Hamlet and Polonius in her songs doubly significant?

3. How does Laertes mirror Hamlet? How is his mirroring significantly different, specifically as regards his philosophy of revenge?

4. How is Claudius like Hamlet's father's ghost?

5. How does Claudius plan for Laertes to take revenge on Hamlet, and what is significant about this method?

6. What is the purpose of Act 5 beginning in a graveyard . . . with Hamlet talking to a skull?

7. Why is it fitting for the play to end with a fencing match?

8. What is significant about how the major characters die in the final scene?

9. What is Fortinbras's situation at the end of the play and why is this significant?

  

Wednesday, 2/27 - More Ham

• P&P

• Hamlet thyme

HW: Hamlet - J3 (see yesterday's post)

Tuesday, 2/26 - Omlette

• P&P

• Discuss journal?

• Read

HW: (due block) Hamlet - J3 (Act 3)

1. Though fundamentally opposites, how are Ophelia and Claudius similar, according to Leithart?
2. What tendencies do Hamlet and Claudius share?
3. How is Claudius a complex character (in other words, how is he more than mere monster)?
4. What factors contribute to Hamlet's hatred of marriage (and women in particular)?
5. What is the double-edged nature of the play (what is doubly significant about the death of the player king and his murderer)? In other words, how does the court interpret it? How does Claudius interpret it?
6. What is Claudius struggling with when Hamlet finds him praying? Explain his biblical allusion ("primal eldest curse"), his distinction between earthly and heavenly justice, and his subsequent dilemma (what would be required of true repentance?).
7. Explain how Hamlet's deliberation in killing Claudius shows us he is increasing in madness (specifically as it pertains to vengeance).
8. Explain several of the ways in which the death of Polonius is the turning point ("lynch pin") of the play.
9. What is ironic about Hamlet's attempt to hold up a mirror to Gertrude? What does this tell us about Hamlet's moral constitution?
10. Given that the murder of Polonius is the murder of another father, what can we expect to see in the immediate future?  

Monday, 2/25 - Hamlet, Act 2

• P&P

• Read

HW:  

1. (Tues) Finish Hamlet - J2 (Act 2) (or see below)
2. (Block) Hamlet - J3 (Act 3)

 

Wednesday, 2/20 - Block, 2/22 - Continue forging through Hamlet

• P&P

• Read Hamlet

HW: (Finish for Tuesday the 26th) Hamlet - J2 

1. Why does Act 2 begin with Polonius's seeming impertinent dialogue with Reynaldo?
2. What are the two results of spying?
3. What is extremely significant about the ambassadors' news upon returning from Norway (and what does it have to do with Hamlet)?
4. What is so significant about Hamlet's alleged madness? In other words, why is everyone so concerned about him?
5. What are the theories concerning Hamlet's madness and who holds each theory?
6. What is Hamlet's purpose behind his "verbal fencing"?
7. What are the implications to Hamlet's calling Polonius a "fishmonger"?
8. Explain the meaning behind Hamlet's warning to Polonius: "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god kissing carrion--Have you a daughter? . . . Let her not walk i' the sun. Conception is a blessing, but as your daughter may conceive--friend' look to 't."
9. Explain why Hamlet reacts so emotionally upon hearing the first player's speech.
10. How will the play The Murder of Gonzago relate to the theme of spying? 

Tuesday, 2/12 - Hamlet Act I

• P&P
• Let's dig into this drama using Subtext. I want everyone to make one insight, ask one good question, and attempt one answer to one of your colleagues' questions per Act. Given that Elizabethan drama is five acts, that means a total of fifteen posts. This is a minimum; I'd like to see even more. Let's try to understand as much of Hamlet as we can. . . . You know, spill a bunch of virtual ink in George Bernard Shaw's face ; )

HW: 

1. See above
2. Leithart (those of you who have already done these journals for English 400 will receive the credit you already earned. If you'd like to qualify for more, please feel free to redo them).

HW:  J - Hamlet, Act 1 (block)

Read Leithart (pgs. 120-129) and answer the following questions

1. What dramatic and thematic purposes does Fortinbras, the young prince of Norway, serve? 
2. Contrast the late King Hamlet (the ghost) with Claudius (his brother and present King of Denmark).
3. What is significant (and ironic) about fathers, particularly about most of the fathers in this drama?
4. How does Shakespeare develop the theme that appearances sometimes mask reality (cite two examples)?
5.  What is the purpose of Shakespeare's "ghosts"?
6. Discuss the important question concerning the "nature" of the ghost (where it comes from) and how we know. 
7. How was King Hamlet killed? What imagery does the ghost use to describe his death, and why is this (biblically) significant?