Over the next two weeks, we'll be reading William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Please note the Reading Schedule for Hamlet by William Shakespeare
It is strongly recommended that you read the material aloud- at least so in your mind. You are to keep a running list of questions, thoughts and reflections, which will serve both as your homework and participation grade, for we’ll use these in class. Please post them on the blog each day. Each student should have ten entries, one for each day. They are worth ten points each; so, in theory, everyone should have a 100 for their participation and homework grades. If you are absent, and cannot post, there will be short written assignments as make-up.
Tuesday Sept 14- collect play from library; how an actor interprets the text; homework: read Act I, scenes i and ii/ post; Hamlet vocabulary sheet- quiz Monday Sept 20
Wednesday Sept 15: in class reading of the rest of Act I; HW: make sure you post your comment / question / reflection
Thursday Sept 16- Homework: read Act II, scenes i and ii; post
Friday Sept 17- in class finish Act II. Homework: Act III.i; post; vocabulary quiz Monday
Monday Sept 20- First Hamlet vocabulary quiz; in class Act III as far as we can get. Homework: finish Act III/ post; 2nd Hamlet vocab sheet- quiz Monday 27 September
Tuesday Sept 21 In class begin Act IV; HW finish Act IV; post / IN SCHOOL ESSAY TOMORROW
Wednesday September 22 -in class essay
Thursday September 23- Act V in class; HW finish Act V; post
Friday September 24- finish play in class; HW: post; 2nd Hamlet vocab quiz on Monday
Monday September 27- review; last post; second Hamlet vocab quiz
Hamlet, Shakespeare's most well-known and most frequently performed play, is a tragedy of revenge, betrayal, and inner conflict. The Danish prince Hamlet is outraged by the hasty marriage of his uncle, Claudius, to his mother after the death of his father. When he is told in a terrifying encounter with his father's ghost that Claudius had in fact poisoned the king, Hamlet agrees to avenge the murder. Throughout the play, however, he faces a struggle between his desire to act and the uncertainties, fears, and obstacles that prevent him from doing so. In the midst of his anguish and ambivalence, he feigns madness, spurns the woman he had loved, and leaves a trail of death and destruction before finally killing Claudius and dying himself.
Today we are exploring the role of the actor in interpreting the text.
Plan on being very creative!
Twenty-five point bonus: Which of the following film adaptations tells the story of Hamlet? (submit answer on a piece of paper and put on my desk before class)
1. Roxanne 2. West Side Story 3. Ten Things I Hate About You 4. Lion King
The following is a copy of the first Hamlet vocabulary list. Quiz this Friday.
Hamlet vocabulary list number 1 The assessment will involve simply defining the word. It is suggested that you create flash cards.
1 .to entreat - to beg; to ask
2 .to assail .- to attack
3. fortified- shielded; secured; protected
4. to illume - to brighten; to lighten
5. to usurp - to seize; to confiscate
6. to avouch - to certify; to confirm; to guarantee
7.to esteem- to honor; to respect; to prize; to treasure
8. to ratify- approved; confirmed; legalized
9. mettle- endurance; bravery
10. resolute- brave; fearless; relentless people
11. portentous- foreboding; threatening; sinister
12. privy - adj.- made participant in a secret
13. discretion - permission to make decisions with own judgment
14. auspicious- adj.- delightful; joyous; happy; lucky; favorable
15. dirge- funeral song; death march
16. dole - sadness (think doldrums from Coleridge)
17. visage - the face or facial expression of a person
18. denote - to indicate; to mark; to signal; to mean
19. countenance - n.- appearance; facial expression / v.- to condone
20. calumnious - adj.- slanderous; attacking one's character
22. precept-- rule; principle
23. perilous.- dangerous
24. to importune- to insistently beg
25. to traduce- to slander
peri- Are there two Fortinbras and did the elder Hamlet kill the elder Fortingbras?
ReplyDeleteI notice that the night watch of Bernardo, Horatio and Marcellus all immediately think to call Prince Hamlet to meet the ghost, because they seem to think that it is royal business. Maybe Hamlet could make the ghost speak.
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ReplyDeletehelene-
ReplyDeleteWhy does Hamlets dress bother Claudius and Gertrude? i dont get how a dress could bother someone.
Willis A. Brooks-
ReplyDeleteWhy do the king and queen not permit Hamlet to leave and return to school?
melissa: why do horatio and barbando go straight to Hamlet when they see the ghost?
ReplyDeleteHow did the father die? Why would Hamlet think that it is a ghost of his the king if the ghost didnt even talk to him?
ReplyDeleteMaddy Orcutt
ReplyDeleteWhat does the ghost of Hamlet want?
Six good questions...keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteshanelle- Were the uncle and the queen having relations while the older hamlet was alive?
ReplyDeleteShaundrana- Why does Horation think that ghosts come from the grave?
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteWhat does Harachio tell Prince Hamlet about the ghost's appearance?
I was wondering if I can still post, because I wasn't here yesterday and did not get my book.If I can, I just wanted to say was that the beginning of scene 2 was a tad complicated with marrying the sister-in-law and such.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Hamlet is upset at his mom for getting married “within a month.” Such an act is suspicious on both the wife’s and husband’s part. The fact that the mother is a new widow. Also that her new husband his her dead husbands brother.
ReplyDeleteLaertes and Polonius warning Ophelia about Hamlet, could be used as foreshadowing, to what Hamlet will do to Ophelia. It seems about right though that the brother and father do not like the little sister/daughters boyfriend.
For a moment I thought about Hamlets actions toward the ghost, as to why he would go? However I sort of understand. If my father died and then I saw a ghost of him signaling me, I would to go toward the ghost. So I realized that Hamlet was acting on part, although I suppose that many people would just run away. What would you do? Why?
Why does the ghost tell Hamlet not to be upset at his mother? I wonder if the ghost knows something, as to why the queen married her dead husbands brother. I wonder if the queen knows that the king was murdered and by her newly announced husband.