Honors Dystopian Literature:
Block C
3/4/14
DOL #29
 Book club in G101
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DOL #29
the writer william buckley who hosts the television
series firing line has written a number of successful
mysteries one of which is stained glass
my cousin kevin commented that washington high
school is different than whitman middle school in
three ways size expectations and facilities
Honors Dystopian Literature:
Block C
3/6/14
DOL #29
 Journal: Do people always mean what they
say? How can you tell when someone is
being insincere?
 Continue reading Hamlet Act 1

Honors Dystopian Literature:
Book Club Dates
C Block
3/10/14
March 14
th
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DOL #30
Journal: Do people always mean
what they say? How can you tell
when someone is being
insincere?
Book club RAFT project (due
Thurs, 3/20 at 5:00 to turnitin).
Hand out Room books, meet in
groups to determine benchmarks.
Finish Lion King
March 25th
April 3rd
Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/11/14
Objective: Students will understand the
political situation in Denmark and will be able
to identify major characters.
 DOL #31
 Journal: What personality traits does a person
have to have to be powerful?
 Review Hamlet 1.1
 Preview Hamlet 1.2
 Read Hamlet 1.2

What happened before the play
started?
King Hamlet (Denmark)
Killed and took
some of
Norway’s land
King Fortinbras of Norway
Dies later
(we don’t know how yet)
Younger
brother
Claudius
takes
throne
Prince Fortinbras (King
Fortinbras’ son) is
gathering an army to
take throne from uncle
and land from Denmark
Younger
brother
“Old
Norway”
takes
throne
What happens in 1.2?
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We meet a lot of new characters:
 King Claudius: King Hamlet’s younger brother. He
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took the throne and married his sister-in-law.
Queen Gertrude: King Hamlet’s widow, King
Claudius’s wife, and Hamlet’s mom
Polonius: The king’s advisor, Laertes and Ophelia’s
dad
Laertes: Polonius’s son, a student in France
Hamlet: The prince
What happens in 1.2?
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Claudius makes a speech to the court
Claudius sends two messengers to the king of
Norway to tell the king what his nephew (Fortinbras)
is up to
Laertes asks Claudius’s permission to go back to
school in France
Claudius and Gertrude tell Hamlet to stop acting so
sad about his dad’s death
Hamlet tells the audience that he’s in such deep grief
over his father’s death that he’s considering suicide
Horatio and the guards tell Hamlet that they’ve seen
his father’s ghost.
Questions for 1.2
Why did Gertrude marry Claudius? What are
the possible reasons?
 How sincere is Claudius?
 Who is Hamlet more angry at: his uncle or his
mom? Why?
 Why does Hamlet say he won’t commit
suicide?
 What is Hamlet like?
 Will the ghost talk to Hamlet?

Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/13/14

Objective: Students will be able to describe the relationship between
Ophelia and her family and understand the topic of advice in the play.
DOL #31
 Journal: What advice have you gotten as you
prepare to graduate? What advice has been
useful and what hasn’t?
 Preview of Hamlet 1.3
 Watch 1.3 and discuss

What happens in Hamlet 1.3
We meet Ophelia, Laertes’s sister and
Polonius’s daughter
 We find out Ophelia and Hamlet are dating
 Laertes gives Ophelia some advice about
Hamlet before he leaves for college
 Polonius gives Laertes some advice before
Laertes leaves for college
 Polonius gives Ophelia some advice about
Hamlet

Questions for 1.3
What are Laertes and Polonius concerned
about regarding Ophelia and Hamlet?
 What is our impression of Polonius?
 What is our impression of Ophelia?
 What are Ophelia’s relationships to her
brother and father like? What do they think
about her?

Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/14/14

Objective: to understand the Elizabethan Chain of Being
and apply it to Hamlet
 DOL #33
 Notes:
The Elizabethan Chain of Being
 Book Club in classroom (sorry)
The Elizabethan Chain of Being
GOD: All-knowing, all-powerful, incapable of sin. Created and controls
the chain. All spirit, no body. Capable of reason.
ANGELS: All-knowing, powerful over humans but subservient to God.
Capable of intellectual sin but not physical sin. All spirit, no body.
Capable of reason Have their own hierarchy (archangels, angels,
seraphim, cherubim, etc.)
HUMANS: Strive to be like angels, but nature tempts them to act like
animals. Capable of intellectual sin and physical sin. Have a spirit
and a body. Capable of reason. Have their own social hierarchy
(kings, merchants, peasants) and family hierarchy (father, mother, son,
daughter).
ANIMALS: Incapable of reason or sin. Act on basic instincts. No soul.
Have their own hierarchy (mammals, fish and reptiles, bugs).
PLANTS: Living, not sentient. Hierarchy: trees, shrubs, grass
MINERALS: No spirit, not sentient. Hierarchy: gold, brass, stone
How does the Elizabethan Chain of Being relate to Hamlet?
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People in Shakespeare’s day saw society as very
ordered and structured.
They believed bad things could happen when someone
or something disrupted the order.
 Small betrayals might result in minor punishments, and big
betrayals might result in major punishments.
 If a peasant overthrew a king, a natural disaster (like a hurricane
or earthquake) might happen.
 If a daughter disobeyed her father, she might die.

Hamlet believes his uncle disrupted the order of things
by ascending to the throne and he has to fix it.
 “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, that ever I was born to
set it right.”
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Hamlet thinks his mom acted like an animal (lustful,
instinctive) in remarrying, while he thinks people should
strive to be like angels (using their reason)
Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/17/14
DOL #34
 Journal: What advice have you been given as
you prepare to graduate from high school?
What advice has been helpful and what hasn’t?
 Preview / questions for Hamlet 1.4-1.5
 Watch 1.4-1.5 and discuss
 Homework:
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 RAFT projects due Thursday
What happens in Hamlet 1.4-1.5
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Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus wait for the ghost
while Claudius parties downstairs
The ghost appears and beckons Hamlet to go
away with it
The ghost tells Hamlet how he died and
commands him to avenge his death
Horatio and Marcellus find Hamlet and notice he’s
acting a little jumpy
Hamlet makes them swear not to tell anyone what
they saw
Hamlet tells them that he’s going to act mad
(crazy) to make it easier to kill Claudius
Questions for 1.4-1.5
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Why don’t Horatio and Marcellus want Hamlet to
follow the ghost alone?
Why isn’t Hamlet afraid of the ghost?
Where does the ghost go during the day and at
night? Why?
How was King Hamlet murdered (according to
the ghost)? What’s the story the public of
Denmark has heard?
Why does Hamlet plan to act mad to get his
revenge?
Is Hamlet really mad?
Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/20/14

Objective: Students will understand how Hamlet’s
reason for being “mad” differs from what other
characters think.
DOL #35
 Journal: What do you think causes
miscommunications or misunderstandings
between parents and kids?
 Preview and read Hamlet 2.1-2.2
 Homework:
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 RAFT project due today at 5 P.M. to turnitin.com
 Next book club meeting: Tuesday
What happens in Hamlet 2.1-2.2?

Act 2 Scene 1
 Polonius hires Reynaldo to spy on Laertes to make sure
Laertes is behaving at college.
 Ophelia tells Polonius that Hamlet came into her room
acting crazy
 Polonius thinks Ophelia’s rejection caused Hamlet’s
madness
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Act 2 Scene 2
 Claudius and Gertrude hire Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
(Hamlet’s childhood friends) to figure out why Hamlet is
acting mad and report back to them.
 Polonius tells C&G that Hamlet is acting crazy because
Ophelia rejected him.
 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern try to figure out why Hamlet is
acting mad
 A troupe of actors arrives at the court to put on a play.
Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/25/14

Objective: To understand the three big questions in the
nunnery scene and how the answer to those questions
might impact the interpretation of the characters
No DOL or journal
 Read Hamlet 3.1 (starting on pg. 95): the
Nunnery Scene
 Book club—staying in the room due to MCAS.
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 Homework:
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 Journals and reflections due Tuesday, April 1st
What happens in Hamlet 3.1 (the
Nunnery Scene)?
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Claudius and Polonius ask Gertrude to leave, then
hide behind an arras (a large tapestry) to spy on
Hamlet
Hamlet delivers the “to be or not to be” soliloquy
where he
 Considers suicide, since that would be easier than dealing
with the miseries of life
 Decides against it, since he’s afraid that what comes after
death might be worse than life
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Ophelia meets with Hamlet to return his gifts and
break up with him (while Claudius and Polonius
watch)
Hamlet freaks out on Ophelia and tells her to go live
in a nunnery
This is an arras
Big questions in the Nunnery
Scene
What were the literal and slang definitions of
the word “nunnery” to Shakespeare’s
audience?
 Did (or does) Hamlet really love Ophelia?
 Does Hamlet know he’s being watched, and if
he does, when does he figure it out?
 How do our answers to these questions affect
how we view Hamlet and Ophelia?

Big questions in this scene:
What did the word “nunnery” mean to
Shakespeare’s audience?
Literal Definition
Slang Definition
A convent
A brothel (house of
prostitution)
Hamlet wants to protect
Ophelia from bad men, OR if
he can’t have her, no one can.
Hamlet’s calling Ophelia a
whore
Hamlet loves her, or he feels
like he owns her
Hamlet and Ophelia may have
had sex
Big question in this scene: Did
(does?) Hamlet really love Ophelia?
Yes
No
He’s broken-hearted that
Ophelia is breaking up with
him
He doesn’t care that Ophelia
is breaking up with him
His emotion in this scene is
real
His emotion in this scene is a
show for Claudius and
Polonius
Big questions in this scene: Does
Hamlet know he’s being watched?
Yes
No
Hamlet’s putting on a show to
convince Claudius and Polonius
he’s mad
Hamlet’s being honest
He really loves (or loved) Ophelia
and doesn’t mean what he says
He may have loved her but is
very angry with her, or he never
loved her, OR he’s really mad
He’s only a little bit of a jerk
Hamlet is very cruel or very
insane
Honors Dystopian Literature:
C Block
3/26/14
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DOL # 35
Journal: What effects can guilt have on a person?
Is anyone ready to recite for extra credit?
Preview of Hamlet 3.2-3.3
Watch Hamlet 3.2-3.3
Important lines
(If time) Notes: Hamlet and Oedipus
Homework:
 Journal and reflections due Tuesday, 4/1
 “To be or not to be” extra credit due Friday, 4/4
What happens in Hamlet 3.2-3.3?
The players perform the play Hamlet wrote to
see if Claudius reacts
 Claudius commands Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern to take Hamlet to England
 Hamlet walks in on Claudius praying and
almost kills him, but decides against it.
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Hamlet and the Legend of Oedipus
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Oedipus (“ed-i-puss”) = ancient Greek king
Born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes
 Oracle says Oedipus will kill Laius and marry Jocasta when he
grows up
 Left on a mountain to die of exposure
 Found by a shepherd; raised without knowing he’s a prince
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Grows up, meets King Laius on the road; they argue,
Oedipus kills Laius
Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sphinx, who has been
terrorizing Thebes
Oedipus becomes King of Thebes, marries Jocasta,
has four kids
When they finally find out, Jocasta kills herself,
Oedipus pokes out his own eyes.
The Oedipus Complex
Coined by Freud in early 1900s
Between ages 3-5, every boy feels jealous of his
father for taking his mother’s attention: the
“Oedipal stage”
 Subconsciously, every boy ages 3-5 wants to kill
his father and marry his mother.
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 This is normal and most boys grow out of it.
 Experience of Oedipal stage helps boys eventually
have successful relationships with women.
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Some boys don’t grow out of the Oedipal stage
 Grow up subconsciously wanting to kill father and marry
mother
 “Mama’s boys”
 Men who expect their wives to be just like their mothers
What does this have to do with
Hamlet?

Does Hamlet have an Oedipus complex?
 Hamlet fixates on his mother’s remarriage to his uncle and
the fact that she has sexual urges at her age.
 Hamlet has a very volatile relationship with Ophelia

If Hamlet does have an Oedipus complex . . .
 He’d want to have murdered his father and married his
mother
 Instead, Claudius did that
 Hamlet hates Claudius but also identifies with him, since
Claudius did what Hamlet subconsciously wanted to do
 Hamlet hesitates in killing Claudius because that would be
like killing a part of himself.
Do I have to believe this?

No.
 Most psychologists don’t believe in the Oedipus
complex, at least not totally.
 Many scholars think diagnosing Hamlet with an
Oedipus complex over-simplifies his relationship
with his mother.
 This interpretation is starting to go out of style.

However, it’s important to know that lots of
people DO believe Hamlet has an Oedipus
complex, and some productions reflect that
with overly-affectionate touching / kissing
between Hamlet and Gertrude.