What's next?

Over the next week or so you will have several opportunities to display the knowledge you have gained and skills you have developed while reading Hamlet.

1. On Friday Monday, we'll have a test on the play.

Here is a fill-in-the-blank outline of what--in addition to the characters and events you have reviewed in groups--you'll need to know. We'll review this tomorrow and Friday.

Hamlet Review 2012

What have we learned about how language works in literature, about Elizabethan theatre, about Shakespeare’s writing, and about Hamlet itself?

I.                     Hamlet’s sound

A.      _______________ _______________ provide memorable closure and summation

1.        “The time is out of joint: O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right.” (1.5)

2.        “The play’s the thing  / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” (2.2)

B.       _______________ _______________ / _______________ _________________________

1.        provides structure, unity

2.        provides potential for emphasis by way of variation: “to be or not to be; that is the question.”

II.                   Hamlet’s language

A.      Word play

1.        5.1 “lie”: lie down & tell lies

2.        4.7 “too much of water”: tears & drowning [&, obliquely, Hamlet’s wish to melt (1.2)]

B.       paradoxes: “more than kin less than kind”

C.       figurative language/metaphors: king > worm > fish > beggar is a metaphor for Hamlet’s questioning of the Elizabethan social structure (4.3)

D.      diction

E.       syntax

III.                 Hamlet as theatre

A.      Acting Choices (interpretations)

1.        “To be or not to be” (3.1)

a.        Zefferelli= ____________________

b.       Almereyda= ____________________

c.        Branagh= ____________________

2.        The Murder of Gonzago / “The Mouse Trap” (3.2)

a.        Zefferelli= ____________________

b.       Almereyda= ____________________

c.        Branagh= ____________________

B.       Visual Choices (interpretations)

Ex. “to be or not to be”

1.        Branagh’s mirror= deceit, also outward action v. self-directed action

2.        Zefferelli’s catacombs= death “the undiscovered country”

3.        Almereyda’s Blockbuster= “Action” / “Go Home Happy” (irony)

IV.           Hamlet’s patterns

A.      Characters

1.        Hamlet’s foils (contrasting characters) in terms of action:

 ____________________ and ____________________

2.        Another similarity and contrast: Hamlet (acts mad, wishes to die), Ophelia (is mad, allows herself to do die)

3.        Who “spies”? How?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

4.        Who follows and obeys? Who flatters authority (kisses up to those in power)?

____________________________________________________________

 ____________________________________________________________

B.       Plot

1.        Irony (3.3)

a.        Hamlet believes ____________________ is confessing for his sins and so does not kill him.

b.       The reader/audience knows that ____________________ has failed to confess.

c.        Mel Gibson claims that Hamlet’s failure to kill ____________________ here triggers all the other deaths in the play (triggers the tragedy as such).

2.        Fitting deaths

a.        ____________________ dies spying (3.4)

b.       ____________________ dies passively (& in water) (4.7)

c.        ____________________ dies drinking to Hamlet (Perhaps her death triggers Hamlet to action vs. Claudius.) (5.2)

d.       ____________________ (“I am justly killed by my own treachery.”) (5.2)

e.        ____________________ (by sword and drink) (5.2)

f.         ____________________ (“the rest is silence”: Does Shakespeare intend this as a tragic and ironic contrast with Hamlet’s constant speaking) (5.2)

g.       ____________________ ____________________ die as servants (4.6, 5.1, 5.2)

3.        Is Fortinbras rewarded for

a.        Deception?

b.       Action?

C.       Imagery (Who or what is associated with these images?)

1.        water / liquids: _____________________________________________________

2.        weeds / flowers: ____________________________________________________

3.        snakes and other animals: _____________________________________________

4.        painting / make-up: __________________________________________________

5.        other: _____________________________________________________________

D.      Historical and Mythological Allusions

1.        Hyperion (Sun God) to Satyr (Goat Man) (1.2 soliloquy)):

____________________ and ____________________

2.        Priam and Hecuba (2.2 Player’s speech and Hamlet’s second soliloquy):

____________________ and ____________________

3.        Julius Caesar (3.2 Murder of Gonzago/Mouse Trap scene)

4.        Alexander the Great (5.1 graveyard scene)

5.        other: : ____________________

E.       Themes

1.        Fallen world

a.        Hamlet sees the world as corrupt.

aa.     “How weary, flat, stale, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world.”

bb.    “tis an unweeded garden”

cc.     “Man delights not me nor woman neither”

b.       This view is triggered – it seems – by his mother’s overhasty marriage (and later by Ophelia’s lying).

aa.     “Frailty thy name is woman”

bb.    “Get thee to a nunnery.”

2.        Responses to corruption & trauma: Thought and Action

a.        ____________________ 1.2, 2.2, 3.1, 4.4

b.       ____________________ / ____________________ 4.5, 4.7

c.        ____________________ 1.2, 4.4, 5.2

3. Deception: Appearance and Reality, Seems and Is

a.        ______________________________________

b.       ______________________________________

c.        ______________________________________

d.       ______________________________________              

How does the play illustrate the complexity and variety of human responses to corrupt acts, traumatic loss, and the realization of human mortality (including one’s own)? What does the play suggest about these responses?

2. Friday (11/30) we'll get started working on a formal analysis essay in which we'll get to apply some of the analysis skills we've been working on and some of the essay writing skills we worked on during the first term.

Bring an annotated passage (100 lines, give or take) to class on Friday. Bring the annotated passage, a thesis, and a plan to class on Tuesday.

Here's the prompt:

AP English Language Q2/AP English Literature Q2 Style Essay

Choose a passage from Hamlet that is rich in content and style. Write a formal essay in which you explain how William Shakespeare’s use of rhetorical and/or literary strategies in the passage contributes to the play's exploration of the effects of and reactions to trauma, corruption, wrongdoing, and other human flaws.

There's a lot to unpack here. What passage should you write about? What strategies are used in the passage? What themes are found in the passage that are also developed in the play as a whole? How do the strategies contribute to the development of the theme?

3. You'll also write something about how you would direct a performance of the passage you've chosen. More on this later.

Responding to Motifs in Hamlet: Acts 3, 4, and 5

In the comment box below do the following by class time on Wednesday, November 28.

Write your first name and last initial.
Write down your motif (or thread).
Write down the act, scene, line of each place you notice your motif in acts 3-5. (This is a new part of the assignment.)

Write down a quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Write down another quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Write down a third quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Write down a fourth quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Write down a fifth quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Then explain the development and significance of the motif in play overall. Use quotations and other details to support your explanation.(These were often underdeveloped in the act 1-2 responses.)

Here you'll find searchable text. (Click on the act then search for words related to your motif.)

Ophelia Speaks

Ophelia Speaks

Role: You are a playwright commissioned by a theatrical troupe to create a soliloquy (or monologue or letter written by Ophelia) that will be inserted into Hamlet.

Audience: Readers and viewers of Hamlet who want to understand Ophelia more deeply.

Format:       1. a soliloquy (or monologue)

                   2. 14+ lines*

3. The lines conclude with a rhyming couplet in iambic pentameter. (*The other 12 or more lines may be in prose or in iambic pentameter# [blank verse).)

4. Try to use Elizabethan language (diction and syntax), or use language that does not stand out as obviously modern.

5. State where in the play you would insert the soliloquy (or monologue). (Would you create a 4.8? Would you place it somewhere in 4.5? Where? Be precise: act, scene, line. You could even, I suppose, create a 4.8 in which she returns as a ghost; or perhaps someone finds a letter she has written or a diary.)

6. Refer to song lyrics and flower imagery (from 4.5).

7. Show Ophelia’s mind puzzling out and wrestling with her dramatic situation and inner consciousness (just as Hamlet does in his soliloquies).

Topic: What Ophelia is thinking and feeling at the moment in the play into which you decide to insert her soliloquy?

# Much of Hamlet is written in blank verse meaning most lines do not rhyme but they do follow a particular meter (a pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). The meter is called iambic pentameter. “Iambic” means unstressed syllables are followed by stressed syllables: “And makes us rather bear those ills we have”. Pentameter means there are five iambs.

“…And makes us rather bear those ills we have,

than fly to others that we know not of…”

Due by class time Tuesday, November 20
(For explication of a passage assignment (3.1-4.4) due Monday, November 19 scroll down or click here.)

Hamlet Soliloquy 4.4

How all occasions do inform against me, (35)
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not (40)
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom (45)
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge (50)
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare, (55)
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd, (60)
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot (65)
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

NOTES

[Source: http://shakespeare.about.com/od/studentresources/a/allinform.htm  Amanda Mabillard, B.A. (Honors) is a freelance writer specializing in Shakespeare, Renaissance political theory, theatre history, comparative literary history, and linguistic topics in Renaissance literature.]

inform against ] Accuse me.

market ] Employment.

discourse ] The power of reason. God gave human beings the ability to reflect on life's events.

Looking before and after ] Our intelligence allows us to analyze past experiences and make rational judgments about the future.

fust ] Grow mouldy. Hamlet is saying that God did not give us the power of reason for it to go unused.

Bestial oblivion ] The forgetfulness of an animal. Our capability to remember separates mankind from other animals or "beasts". But Hamlet forgetting Claudius's deeds is clearly not why he delays the murder.

craven scruple ] Cowardly feelings.

of ] From.

event ] Outcome.

quarter'd ] Meticulously analyzed (literally, divided into four).

Sith ] Since.

gross ] Obvious.

mass and charge ] Size and cost. Hamlet is referring to the army led by Fortinbras, prince of Norway. Hamlet wishes he had Fortinbras's courage.

puff'd ] Inflated.

Makes mouths at the invisible event ] Shows contempt for (or cares not about) the uncertain outcome of battle.

Rightly to be great...stake ] Truly great men refrain from fighting over insignificant things, but they will fight without hesitation over something trivial when their honour is at risk. "True nobility of soul is to restrain one's self unless there is a great cause for resentment, but nobly to recognize even a trifle as such as cause when honour is involved" (Kittredge 121). Ironically, "Hamlet never learns from the Captain or attempts to clarify what the specific issue of honor is that motivates the Prince of Norway. In fact, there is none, for the play has made it clear that Fortinbras's uncle, after discovering and stopping his nephew's secret and illegal revenge campaign against Claudius, encouraged him to use newly levied forces to fight in Poland...Since no issue of honor is to be found in Fortinbras's cause, Hamlet, through his excessive desire to emulate the Norwegian leader, ironically calls into question whether there is any honour in his own cause" (Newell 143). [Mr. Cook adds: or, perhaps, Hamlet’s mind has once again moved from the particular (Fortinbras and his army) to the abstract (consideration of what defines greatness). It seems Fortinbras and his army are not important in and of themselves but in how they “inform against” (indict, critique, etc.) Hamlet’s inaction.]

twenty thousand men ] In line 25, it was 20000 ducats and only 2000 men. It is undecided whether this confusion is Hamlet's or Shakespeare's.

blood ] Passions.

trick of fame ] Trifle of reputation. But is not Hamlet jealous of Fortinbras and his ability to fight in defense of his honour? "Fortinbras is enticed by a dream, and thousands must die for it. Hamlet's common sense about the absurdity of Fortinbras's venture shows the pointlessness of his envy" (Edwards 193).

Whereon...slain ] The cause is not significant enough to consume the thousands of men fighting over it, and the tombs and coffins are not plentiful enough to hold those who are killed (continent = container).

Use first name and last initial. Number each of your responses.

1.        (Make connections!) In a well-developed paragraph compare what Hamlet says in lines 36-49 of this soliloquy to what he says in lines 91-96 of his “To be or not to be” soliloquy (below). Begin your paragraph with a bold, insightful assertion comparing the two soliloquies. Develop the assertion by citing specific language from both soliloquies. End by reaffirming your bold insight.

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry, (95)
And lose the name of action.—

2.        (Make connections!) In a well-developed paragraph compare this soliloquy with the “O What a rogue and peasant slave” (2.2.576) soliloquy. (Think about the role that Fortinbras plays in this speech and that the First Player plays in the earlier speech: “What would he do,  / Had he the motive and the cue for passion / That I have?”) Begin your paragraph with a bold, insightful assertion comparing the two soliloquies. Develop the assertion by citing specific language from both soliloquies. End by reaffirming your bold insight.

3.        (What’s your opinion?) Hamlet contrasts his own cowardly thought with the actions of Fortinbras. Do you think Fortinbras is a good role model for Hamlet? In other words, should Hamlet be more like Fortinbras or not? Explain your answer in a paragraph. Use evidence from the play and this soliloquy to develop your answer. (Like Hamlet, you might be able to argue “yes” in someways and “no” in others.) Begin by asserting your position. Develop your position. Cite and explain specific evidence from this soliloquy and from elsewhere in the text to support your position.

Explication of a Passage (3.1-4.4)

The following directions replace the forecast I sent to you last week. (Because I felt we needed more work on explications I've made a few changes.)

As you all know we've been working hard on explications (unfolding a text to show what it means and how it conveys that meaning). We broke the Hamlet's 3.1 monologue into sections. Then we analyzed what it means and how it conveys that meaning sentence by sentence. Based on your questions about other areas of act three we've explicated other passages too. I want to give you all a chance to try out the explication strategies for yourself.

1. Each of you has been assigned a different passage between 3.1 and 4.4. You will explicate the passage this way: (1) introduce the passage by providing context and discussing the overall dramatic and thematic significance of the passage; (2) take your readers through the passage, (a) explaining the meaning (sentence-by-sentence and/or speech-by-speech), (b) exploring the significance of how* Shakespeare conveys meaning, and (c) exploring dramatic and thematic connections to other parts of the play; (3) conclude with strong assertions summarizing the dramatic and thematic significance of the passage as revealed in your explication.

Jordan W and Hope W: 3.1.99-160 Hamlet and Ophelia after the "To be or not to be" speech
Hannah E & Zach S: 3.1.161-202 after Hamlet departs
Corrine D & Kevin R: 3.2.1-97 Hamlet to the actors, etc.
Kacie Q & Olivia P: 3.2.98-296 Murder of Gonzago/Mouse Trap* [A-block explicate 3.2.98-3.2.175; F-block explicate 3.2.176 to 3.2.296]
Christina S & Seiken O: 3.2.207-417 after the play within the play*  [A-block explicate 3.2.297-3.2.373; F-block explicate 3.2.374-3.2.417]
Diana D & Cara O: 3.2.418 to end Hamlet's mini-soliloquy
Kelly F & Emily M: 3.3.1-39 Claudius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius
Ivy G & Liz M: 3.3.40-103 Claudius confesses? Hamlet is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought?
Anna G & Katie M: 3.4.1-40 a rat behind an arras
Bethany G & Carren J: 3.4.41-116 Hamlet and his mother
Logan H & Michael J: 3.4.117-240 Ghost reappears to end of scene [A-block explicate 3.4.117-3.4.176 F-block explicate 3.4.177-3.2.240]
James K & Sydney I: 4.1 Queen and King after "unseen good old man" is slain
Arly M & Alan D: 4.2 Hamlet messes with R & G
Kirsten S & Josh D: 4.3 Hamlet messes with Claudius and is sent to England
Yazmeen S & Nicole B: 4.4.1-33 Fortinbras crossing Denmark; Hamlet leaving for England

Your explication must be posted to the blog by Monday, November 19. In your explication use your first name and last initial; also indicate the lines you are explicating. Your explication must represent your own work. Do not plagiarize. To help you understand tricky passages you may use the notes in the Folger's edition of Hamlet (the book you have) and the notes provided by the enotes Hamlet text (link here) but do not rely on the enotes "modern translation". You must cite the passage at the top of your explication; you must cite lines, phrases, and words (act.scene.line) as you quote them; you must cite notes that you use. (For Works Cited Page: Mowat, Barbara A and Paul Werstine, eds. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2009. "Hamlet Text and Translation." eNotes. 2012. Web. 15 Nov 2012. For in-text citation of notes: (Mowat page#) or ("Hamlet Text and Translation").
**********************
*How do I write about how Shakespeare conveys meaning?: When exploring the significance of how the passage is written think of these elements: imagery (literal and metaphorical), word choice (denotation and connotation), sentence structure (parallel structures, periodic structures, antithesis, complex/compound sentences, questions, exclamations), dramatic and rhetorical structure (look for shifts in the action and in the language), patterns (comparisons, contrasts, repeated words/images/situations within the passage or in the passage and elsewhere in the play), sound (iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets, alliteration, assonance), etc.
**********************

2. That leads us up to Hamlet's final soliloquy (4.4). Respond to the two 4.4 soliloquy prompts on the blog by class time on Tuesday, November 20.
3. By class time on Tuesday you also will have read to the end of act four (the end of 4.7) with notes on the narrative and your motif.

4. We'll have a brief class on Wednesday in which I'll explain the work you'll be doing about Ophelia, motif writing on acts 3-5, and reading the final act of the play.

3.2 (The Murder of Gonzago / The Mousetrap)

If you're looking for the 3.1 "to be or not to be" assignment scroll down...

Write a response to the three versions of the Mousetrap. (Due Wednesday, November 14.)
Choose an analytical argument question to respond to:
Which “Mousetrap” is most powerful? 
Or, which "Mousetrap" is the most effective?
Or, which is most faithful to Shakespeare’s Hamlet?
Or, which version do you prefer? 
Or, which version do you abhor? 
Or, how do the different versions each suit the settings the directors have chosen?
Or, write your own question.

Explain your position. Support your position with specific detail from the scenes and from the text. Convince me you're right. This will take the form of an informal, persuasive essay.

Post your response in the comment box below. Make sure you include the question you are answering.

Additional thoughts:
Be specific and insightful. Be opinionated. To develop your position you might need to show an awareness of what lines are cut out of the abridged versions. (Is it okay to cut the lines? Is meaning adequately conveyed without the lines? If something is lost what?) You'll certainly need to show an awareness of the different ways the three directors stage the “Mousetrap”. You might need to think about the ways that each version is faithful to the time period in which it is set. Think about the behavior and reactions of each character, especially the three Claudiuses and the three Hamlets but differences in the Ophelias and the Gertrudes are significant too. 

Click here and scroll down to watch the three versions of the "The Murder of Gonzago" which Hamlet also calls "The Mousetrap".

Due Wednesday, November 14.

Hamlet Soliloquy (?) 3.1 ("To be, or not to be")

Due Tuesday, November 13.

To be, or not to be: that is the question (3.1.64-98).

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer (65)
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks (70)
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, (75)
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, (80)
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, (85)
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of? (90)
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry, (95)
And lose the name of action.-- Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

NOTES:

slings ] Some argue that "slings" is a misprint of the intended word, "stings". "The stings of fortune" was a common saying in the Renaissance. But in the context of the soliloquy, "slings" likely means "sling-shot" or "missile". This seems in keeping with the reference to "arrows" - both can do great harm.

outrageous fortune ] Fortune is "outrageous" in that it is brazenly defiant.

And by opposing end them ] If you cannot suffer the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" then you must end your troubles with suicide.

consummation ] Final settlement of all matters.

rub ] Impediment. The term comes from bowling, where the "rub" is any obstacle the pushes the ball off course.

shuffled off this mortal coil ] To separate from one's body (mortal coil = body).

respect ] Consideration.

of so long life ] So long-lived.

time ] Time = temporal life.

his quietus make ] Settle his own account.

bare bodkin ] A "mere dagger". Bodkin was a Renaissance term used to describe many different sharp instruments, but it makes the most sense here to assume Shakespeare means a dagger.

fardels ] Burdens.

No traveller returns ] Since Hamlet has already encountered his father's ghost, and thus proof of the afterlife, this line has raised much debate. There are four major current theories regarding this line: 1) Shakespeare made an egregious error and simply failed to reconcile the appearance of the ghost and Hamlet's belief that human beings do not return; 2) Hamlet has earlier revealed that he doubts the authenticity of the ghost and, therefore, he does not believe his father has truly returned; 3) Hamlet is referring only to human beings returning in the flesh and not as mere shadows of their former selves; 4) the entire soliloquy is misplaced and rightfully belongs before Hamlet has met his father's ghost. In my estimation, theory #4 seems the most plausible.

bourn ] Limit or boundary.

native hue of resolution ] Natural. Here Hamlet refers to the "natural color of courage".

pale cast of thought ] Sickly tinge of contemplation.

great pitch and moment ] Of momentous significance. The "pitch" was the name given to the highest point in a falcon's flight before it dives down to catch its prey.

With this regard their currents turn awry ] A reference to the sea and its tides: "Because of their thoughts, their currents become unstable".

Soft you now ] "But hush!". Hamlet hears Ophelia begin to pray and he must cut short his private ponderances.

Nymph ] See commentary below.

orisons ] Prayers. 

Let's try the comparison again:

In the comment box address the following prompt: compare and contrast how two versions of the soliloquy use different strategies to convey the meaning of the soliloquy. Pay close attention to choices made the actors and directors. Interpret the significance of those choices. 

Note on compare/contrast structure: try to write a "shuttle" comparison. This means that you'll start with a bold, insightful assertion comparing and contrasting how the two versions convey meaning. Then you'll "shuttle" back and forth between the two versions comparing and contrasting. Use this method instead of writing about the two separately.

Note on dramatic strategies: Consider the actors' movements and the delivery of the lines. Consider the directors' choices of props, setting and images, lighting, editing, music and other sounds. Think, for example, about Branagh’s hall of mirrors (which creates double meanings and makes the speech not a soliloquy), Zeffirelli’s catacombs (which seem to emphasize Hamlet’s meditations on death), Olivier's water imagery, Doran's emphasis on Hamlet's face, and Almereyda’s Blockbuster video store (which emphasizes--or overemphasizes--Hamlet’s obsession with action.).

Don't forget to use first name and last initial. This is due by class time on Tuesday, November 13.

Click here for the video clips. Scroll down.

Note: HannahEllis noticed that Branagh's version is no longer available on the page I've linked to above.
So here is another link to it.

Another note: The reason I've put a question mark after the word "soliloquy" in the title of this blog post is because in some versions (including Branagh's) the director chooses to have Polonius and Claudius listen to the speech, so in those versions the speech is not, strictly speaking, a soliloquy; it's a monologue. How is this choice significant? How do you think it should be played? Why?

Responding to Motifs in Hamlet Act 1 and Act 2

The motif response will be due on Thursday.
By Wednesday finish reading act two and finish writing about the 2.2 soliloquy. (See below.)

In the comment box below do the following.

Write your first name and last initial.
Write down your motif (or thread).

Write down a quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Write down another quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)

Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Write down a third quotation that develops your motif. (Include act, scene, and line.)
Write an explanation of what the quotation means (in context) and how the quotation develops the motif.

Then write explain the development of the motif in play so far. Use quotations and other details to support your explanation.

Hamlet Soliloquy 2.2: Explication and Performance Comparison

This work is due by class time on Wednesday, November 7.

Hamlet’s second soliloquy (2.2)

Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (555)
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, (560)
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do, (565)
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appall the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed (570)
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life (575)
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this? (580)
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites (585)
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, (590)
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard (595)
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak (600)
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen (605)
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds (610)
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

rogue ] Useless vagrant.

peasant ] A person of little integrity (see The Taming of the Shrew 4.1.113).

player...Hecuba ] This passage is often very difficult for students, and standard annotations leave them wanting. So it is best paraphrased:

Is it not horribly unfair that this actor, pretending to feel great passion, could, based on what he has conceived in his own mind, force his own soul to believe the part that he is playing, so much so that all the powers of his body adapt themselves to suit his acting needs, so that he grows agitated ("distraction in's aspect"), weeps, and turns pale ("wann'd")? And why does he carry on so? Why does he pretend until he truly makes himself weep? For Hecuba! But why? What are they to each other?

Hamlet wishes he could arouse his passions so.

Hecuba ] Trojan queen and heroine of classical mythology. Earlier in 2.2 Hamlet asks the First Player to recite a monologue retelling Hecuba's response to the death of her husband, King Priam. The Player tells us that Hecuba's grief was profound and "Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven/And passion in the gods" (505-6). The contrast between Gertrude and Hecuba should be noted. To Hamlet, Hecuba has responded appropriately to her husband's death, while Gertrude has not.

cue for passion ] The reason for strong feelings.

Make mad the guilty ] "By his description of the crime he would drive those spectators mad who had any such sin on their conscience, and would horrify even the innocent" (Kittredge 68),

amaze ] Plunge into confusion.

muddy-mettled ] Dull-spirited.

peak ] Moping about; languishing, unable to act.

John-a-dreams ] A nickname for a dreamer.

unpregnant ] "Pregnant" here does not mean "with child", but rather, quick or ready. Thus to be "unpregnant" is to be unable to act quickly.

pate ] Head.

swounds ] God's wounds.

pigeon-liver'd ] In the Renaissance, the gentle disposition of the Dove was explained by the argument that it had no gall and thus no capacity to feel resentment or to seek revenge. The liver also was seen as the body's storehouse for courage.

region kites ] The birds of prey in the region, circling in the sky, waiting to feed. If Hamlet were not "pigeon-liver'd" (583) he would have long ago fed Claudius to the hawks.

kindless ] Unnatural.

drab ] A whore.

scullion ] A kitchen helper, either man or woman but usually a woman. It was a term used to show contempt. One should note that in the second quarto, scullion was actually "stallyon", which means a male whore. Scholars are still undecided on the matter, but scullion is the more generally accepted of the two.

proclaim'd their malefactions ] Announced their evil deeds.

blench ] Flinch.

Source: http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa061500b.htm

2.2 Soliloquy Explication

 In the comment box write an explication (one page, 300 words) of this soliloquy. An explications is not a paraphrase or a summary, but explains and explores a text thoroughly. You will explain what Hamlet is saying and how he says it. (What the text says and what it does.)

When explaining “what Hamlet is saying,” remember that the soliloquy is a tool that Shakespeare uses to show Hamlet’s mind at work. Ask yourself “what does this reveal about Hamlet?” and “how does what he says fit into the work as a whole?” Deal with the surface and the depths.)

When explaining “how he says it,” pay close attention to the language (particular word choices, sentence structure, etc.) and imagery (including figurative language, such as metaphors). Ask yourself “what does how he speaks and the language that he uses reveal about Hamlet?
At the beginning of your comment write your first name and the first initial of your last name. Then write "2.2 Soliloquy Explication"

2.2 Soliloquy Performance Comparison

In the comment box address the following prompt: compare and contrast how two versions of the soliloquy use different strategies to convey the meaning of the soliloquy. Pay close attention to choices made the actors and directors. Interpret the significance of those choices. I'm looking forward to reading these because of how passionate and thoughtful you were about your act one scene two preferences.
At the beginning of your comment write your first name and the first initial of your last name. Then write "2.2 Soliloquy Performance Comparison"

Click here and scroll down for the soliloquy clips.

First clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet played by Kenneth Branagh (1996)

Second clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet played by Mel Gibson (1990)

Third clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Michael Almereyda, Hamlet played by Ethan Hawke (2000)

Fourth clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Gregory Doran, Hamlet played by David Tennant (2009)

Fifth clip: 2.2 soliloquy, directed by Laurence Olivier, Hamlet played by Laurence Olivier (1948)