November 16, 2015
• Agenda:
• 1st/4th: complete
Midnight in Paris
• 6th/7th: IR
• Shakespeare AP
• Hamlet Vocab
• Hamlet into notes
• Fever Chart
Assignment
Learning Target: I can understand
Shakespearian language and how it
is used in context.
Reminders:
Want to be in the talent show? Sign up
with Mrs. Turner TODAY
Have your copy of Hamlet with you in
class tomorrow!
Trailer
Every time you see the
pencil, write down what is
on the screen!
Hamlet: Introductory Notes
Hamlet: Prince of Denmark
By William Shakespeare
What’s the Big Deal About
Shakespeare?
• In 1998, a film told of the
challenges Shakespeare faced as a
playwright and as a man.
• The film was set in the
Elizabethan age and depicted
drama rehearsals, the dangers of
playwriting, and the class
differences that marked the 17th
century.
• Although this subject matter
seems like it would not intrigue
the masses, Shakespeare in Love
appealed to audiences world-wide
and earned the Oscar for Best
•
When a U.S. senator wanted
words solemn enough to
match the occasion of the
September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks on the Pentagon and
the World Trade Center, he
reached for Shakespeare,
declaring, in a moving speech
reported in the Congressional
Record, “Shakespeare wrote,
‘Grief hath changed me since
you saw me last.’ We are all
changed. Yesterday changed
all of us.”
Renaissance Beliefs
• Basic Tenets
– Reason led to virtue.
– Order led to reason. Properly tended gardens showed an
orderly world.
– Love was an ideal; lust was a rejection of God-given
reason.
• Belief in ghosts!
– A hallucination
– A spirit returned to perform some deed left undone in
life.
– A spirit seen as an omen of something dreadful
– A spirit returned from the grave by divine permission
– A devil disguised as a dead person
Historical Context
If you were to stop William
Shakespeare on a sunny morning in
1599 (the year Hamlet was
written), he would tell you that few
specific issues were on his mind:
• a) the ever-present threat of the
plague
• b) the concern over who would
be the heir to the throne after
the childless Queen Elizabeth I
dies
• c) the recent threats from an
Irish rebellion and the Spanish
Armada
• d) the death of his only son
HAMNET
• 1599 was an era of boundless
artistic inspiration (about 60
different plays were performed
in London alone that year).
Artists like Shakespeare were
inspired:
–
–
–
–
by international events,
events within England itself,
personal events
½ of the London population was
under 20 years old,
• Contradictions:
– England was a land of contracted
marriages but intensely passionate
plays
– of a strong queen but no heir
– of mandatory monthly church
attendance,
Vocabulary
PROBLEM ONE: OLD WORDS LOOK LIKE MODERN
WORDS.
– “Unfold” in the opening scene
• To open and to identify who you are.
PROBLEM TWO: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.
– Horatio's line at I.i.112
• "A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye." A mote is a speck. A speck in the
eye is irritating and won't give you freedom to do anything else until you
remove it. The ghost is compared to a mote. The eye is compared to the
mind.
PROBLEM THREE: ROOT MEANINGS
– An example is in Act I, scene I, line 154 "extravagant… spirit."
• The spirit isn't spending too much money, but rather wandering, which comes
from the Latin root, vagari, to wander (compare the modern word "vagrant," a
wandering, homeless person),
are – art
was – wast
would - wouldst
were – wert
have – hath
do – dost
does – doth
did – didst
can – canst
may - mayst
will – wilt
shall- shalt, shouldst
Contractions existed during Shakespeare’s time
as well.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
'tis = it is
ope = open
o'er = over
gi' = give
ne'er = never
i' = in
e'er = ever
oft = often
a' = he
e'en = even
Shakespeare’s sentences are often “messed up” or out of
order.
• He did this to retain iambic pentameter or to create a
rhyme.
•
—
– five sets of unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables.
Example: I ate the sandwich.
• I the sandwich ate.
• Ate the sandwich I.
• Ate I the sandwich.
• The sandwich ate I.
Vocabulary
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL!
• Read with and use a dictionary.
• Take the time to analyze the footnotes.
• Look for contextual clues for discovering
meaning.
• Refer to glossaries.
Hamlet Vocab, Quiz Friday
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Apparition
N. Ghost, spirit
Calumnious
Adj. Slanderous
Canon
N. church law
Countenance
N. face, expression
Discourse
N. conversation
• Imminent
• Adj. ready to happen;
inevitable
• Perilous
• Adj. dangerous
• Portentous
• Adj. threatening
• Prodigal
• Adj. Wasteful;
extravagant
• Sullied
• Adj. tarnished
Dramatic Terms
• SOLILOQUY
– A monologue delivered by a character while alone on
stage that reveals inner thought, emotions, or some
other information that the audience needs to know.
• MONOLOGUE
– an extended narrative (oral or written) delivered
uninterrupted and exclusively by one
person(although it may be heard or witnessed
by others.)
Ideas into Themes
This will help with your fever chart…..
• Revenge:
– Hamlet questions whether or not to avenge his father’s death. His
inner turmoil stems from his concern with right and wrong on
religious, moral and political grounds.
• Appearance vs. Reality:
– True and false friends, players assume new identities. Claudius
appears to be a true and just king and Gertrude his virtuous queen.
Pay close attention to references to “seems”, “shows”, “plays” and
“practices.” Also, carefully examine the role of the acting troupe in
the play as well as Polonius’ words and actions.
• Sanity vs. Insanity:
– Is Hamlet really insane? Or does he show clarity of thought?
• Decay and Corruption:
– Personal terms for Hamlet; political terms for Denmark. Pay close
attention to the references to decay in the play.
Hamlet Fever Chart
• The purpose of the fever chart assignment
for Hamlet is to allow you to do a close
reading of the text, which will lead to an
essay that supplies evidence for the idea you
are developing.
• The basic idea of a fever chart is that you
are tracking Hamlet’s psychological state
through the course of the play.
Basic layout
• Y axis contains what it is you are tracking (levels of
sanity/insanity, levels of revenge, decay/corruption,
etc)
• X axis are the quotes to prove case
• Title contains your theory/opinion, which chart then
proves