Hamlet
Day 2
 Standards
Reading: 3.6 Analyze the way in which authors through the
centuries have used archetypes drawn from myth and
tradition in literature, film, political speeches, and
religious writings. 3.7 Analyze recognized works of
world literature from a variety of authors: a. Contrast
the major literary forms, techniques, and
characteristics of the major literary periods. b. Relate
literary works and authors to the major themes and
issues of their eras. c. Evaluate the philosophical,
political, religious, ethical, and social influences of
the historical period that shaped the characters, plots,
and settings.
2.2 Write responses to literature:
a. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of
the significant ideas in works or passages. b. Analyze
the use of imagery, language, universal themes, and
unique aspects of the text. c. Support important ideas
and viewpoints through accurate and detailed
references to the text and to other works. d.
Demonstrate an understanding of the author's use of
stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects
created. e. Identify and assess the impact of perceived
ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text
2.3 Write reflective compositions: a. Explore the
significance of personal experiences, events,
conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies.
b. Draw comparisons between specific incidents and
broader themes that illustrate the writer's important
beliefs or generalizations about life. c. Maintain a
balance in describing individual incidents and relate
those incidents to more general and abstract ideas.
 Objectives
Students will be able to:
•identify, define, and utilize the
literary terms associated with
dramatic works.
•identify their opinions and beliefs
on themes of the text both before
and after reading.
•identify and record the writing
style of Shakespearean text.
•compare and contrast the events,
themes, and ideas of a text to
themselves, the world, and other
text.
•identify and analyze archetypes in
works of fiction.
Reading Check
•Discuss with a partner what you read and the
annotations you took. What is similar, what is
different, do you have the same understanding about
what you read?
•Have your reading annotations ready to be checked.
Act I Vocabulary Notes
1.
apparition: noun; a ghost or ghostlike image of a person.
2.
avouch: verb; affirm or assert.
3.
dirge: noun; a lament for the dead, esp. one forming part of a
funeral rite like a mournful song, piece of music, or poem.
4.
emulate: verb; match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically
by imitation.
5.
mirth: noun; amusement, esp. as expressed in laughter.
6.
obsequious: adjective; obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile
degree.
7.
portentous: adjective; done in a pompously or overly solemn
manner so as to impress
When you come across these in the reading, add the page and sentence
to your notes. There will be vocabulary questions on the test!
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 blank verse: most of Shakespeare’s plays written in this
form, very close to normal speech rhythms and patterns,
often Shakespeare will deviate from this form in order to
make a point about the character’s state of mind or to show
a change in mood.
 Excerpt from Macbeth by William Shakespeare
 Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 double entendres: phrases or words which have double meanings,
one of which is usually sexual in nature.
 Druggist's Sign: We Dispense with Accuracy.

Has this druggist thrown accuracy by the wayside or does the
druggist dispense his prescriptions with the utmost accuracy?
 Public Service Announcement: Our X-ray unit will give you an
examination for tuberculosis and other diseases which you will receive
free of charge.

Are you going to receive the exam free of charge or the diseases?
 Hamlet tells Ophelia to “get thee to a nunnery”

A nunnery could be a convent or a brothel
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 imagery: language which works to evoke images in your
mind.
 The last of the examples of imagery poems is an excerpt is
from “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
 O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou,
from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like
ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale,
and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who
chariotest to their dark wintry bed The wingèd seeds, where
they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the
dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed
in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill: Wild Spirit,
which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and Preserver; hear,
O hear!
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase
is replaced by another indicating a likeness or
similarity between them, comparing two things
without using like or as.




“time is money”
“time is a thief ”
“you are my sunshine”
“he has a heart of stone”
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 prose: normal speech rhythm; Shakespeare often wrote
certain characters speaking in either all verse or all prose so
if a character deviates from its normal form beware of a
changing state of mind- often a slip into insanity.
 I have of late – but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth,
forgone all custom of exercise; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to
me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air,
look you, this brave o’erhanging, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire – why, it appears no other thing to me than a
foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 pun: a play on words that sound alike or that have
multiple meanings.
 Kings worry about a receding heir line.
 I would like to go to Holland someday. Wooden shoe?
 "Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun" (1.2.67).
This is Hamlet's response to the King's question, "How
is it that the clouds still hang on you?" He means that
the King has called Hamlet "son" once too often.
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 rhyming couplet: two rhyming lines at the end of a speech,
signaling a character is leaving or the scene is ending.
 "Blessed are you whose worthiness gives scope,/Being had, to
triumph; being lacked, to hope."
 "So, till the judgement that yourself arise,/You live in this,
and dwell in lovers' eyes.”
 "You still shall live, such virtue hath my pen,/Where breath
most breathes, even in the mouths of men."
 "How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow,/If thy sweet
virtue answer not thy show!”
Approaching Shakespeare’s
Language
 simile: a figure of speech comparing two things using
like or as.




“as dry as a bone”
“as easy as shooting fish in a barrel”
“they fought like cats and dogs”
“stand out like a sore thumb”
The Players

Hamlet: the prince of Denmark 

Claudius: The new king of
Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle and
now step father


The Ghost: A vision of
Hamlet’s dead father, the
former king of Denmark

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:
Hamlet’s former schoolmates
and “friends”

Osric, Voltimand, and
Cornelius: courtiers, people
who attend court, can serve as
advisors to the king or queen,
but really just “suck up” to the
royalty in hopes of gaining
favor

Francisco, Marcellus, and
Barnardo: watch guards
Gertrude: The queen of
Denmark, Hamlet’s mother
and now wife of Claudius

Horatio: Hamlet’s friend

Polonius: The lord
Chamberlain, serves the king
of Denmark as an advisor or
counsellor

Ophelia: Polonius’s daughter,
Hamlet’s on again- off again
girlfriend

Laertes: Polonius’s son, foil
character for Hamlet
Fortinbras: The prince of
Norway, son of King
Fortinbras, who was killed by
Hamlet’s father
Character Analysis
 For the main characters keep track of how they act,
feel, look, and what they say for each act.
Character Act
Hamlet
Claudius
Gertrude
Polonius
Ophelia
Laertes
Feel
Look
Say
Reading
Notes/Annotation
s
•if you have your own copy, annotate
your readings marking important
elements of setting, plot, and
characters, write your comments,
reactions, predictions, etc. in the
margins.
•if you don’t have your own copy,
take notes in a scene guide style,
summarizing the setting, the plot
(action), and the main characters
involved in the plot and then writing
your comments, reactions,
predictions, etc.
Scene One
Summary: In this scene…
Comments/reaction: I
think/feel/wonder/question/understand…
Scene Two
Summary:
Comments/reaction:
Scene Three
Summary:
Comments/reaction:
Scene Four
Summary:
Comments/reaction:
Homework
 Bring copy of Hamlet to next class
 Finish reading and annotating Act I, scene iv-v