Agenda:
Vocab Review
Vocab Quiz
Act I and II Review
Hamlet’s 3rd Soliloquy
Nunnery Scene
Monday, January 12, 2015
HW: Act I and II quiz tomorrow!
ambiguous – (adj.) unclear; uncertain
auspicious – (adj.) favorable; well-timed
contrive – (v) invent; design
dexterity – (n) skillfulness; proficiency
enmity – (n) hatred; loathing
impious –(adj.) unholy; showing lack of respect for a god
obsequious – (adj.) overly respectful; too eager to help or obey
obstinate – (adj.) stubborn
pernicious – (adj.) harmful; destructive
portentous – (adj.) ominous; threatening
usurps – (v) captures; seizes
Vocab Review
What does Claudius mean when he tells Hamlet, “this is obsequious
sorrow”?
What makes the ghost a portentous figure?
Act I and II Quiz Tomorrow!
What kind of a man is Polonius?
Who said this?
“Thus was I sleeping, by a brother’s hand/ Of life, of crown, of queen at
once dispatched,/ Cut off even in the blossom of my sin,/ Unhouseled,
disappointed, unaneled,/ No reck’ning made, but sent to my account
with all my imperfections on my head.”
Who said this?
“That can I. At least the whisper goes so: our last king, whose image
even by now appeared to us was, as you know, by Fortinbras of
Norway, thereto pricked on by the most emulate pride, dared to the
combat; in which our valiant Hamlet did slay this Fortinbras, who, by a
sealed compact well ratified by law and heraldry, did forfeit with his
life, all those his lands which he stood seized of, to the conqueror.”
First Soliloquy
Why does Hamlet compare his father to Hyperion and his uncle to a
satyr?
Second Soliloquy
Why is Hamlet so disgusted with himself?
1. To be, or not to be.
The question is should I continue living or should I end it all?
Is life worth living or not?
2
Which is more noble –to endure the suffering of life or to fight against
it by putting an end to life?
3
To die means to sleep forever, to put an end to consciously enduring
the pain of living life as a human being. That’s an ending to wish for –
just for it all to stop.
4
But does it all stop after death?
But in that sleep, we could dream (be haunted by thoughts). That’s the
problem. We are afraid of the possibility of what dreams might come to
us in this eternal sleep. They probably won’t be good dreams! And this
is a sleep that we cannot wake from.
5
That’s the consideration that stops us from committing suicide. For
who would agree to suffer through the whips of scorn, contempt,
rejected love, disrespect, humiliation, injustice? –when you’re capable
of releasing yourself from it?!
6
Who would endure this unless they dreaded the unknown of what
comes after life?
7
Overthinking takes the action out of plan and makes us all cowards.
The Nunnery Scene
Truman Show - Do something!
Hamlet is thinking, “This isn’t how you talk to me?! What’s going on?!”