Monday

Today we need to discuss Friday's test and then look at and discuss the Unit Goal. 

Unit Learning goal: Students will demonstrate an understanding of Hamlet by choosing a prompt from below, developing a thesis statement out of it, and answering the thesis statement by analyzing and using direct evidence from the text.  

QUESTIONS TO DEVELOP THESIS STATEMENTS ABOUT AND ANSWER

1. Polonius is sometimes played as a senile old fool, sometimes as a shrewd and worldly old man.  Which interpretation do you agree with and why?
2. Pick one character who could, at some point, have changed the whole chain of events.  Discuss.
3. Analyze the three appearances of the ghost seen in the play.  Where did he appear; to whom did he appear?  How does the third appearance differ from the first two?  What is the significance of this?
4. Discuss the reasons for Hamlet’s apparent delay in seeking revenge for his father.  What is your opinion regarding his procrastination?
5. Compare and contrast Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras as avengers.
6. What is Hamlet’s attitude towards life and people?  How does it affect his actions?
7. Apply the following quote to Hamlet: “A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good.  Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how to not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.”  -- THE PRINCE, Machiavelli
8. Examine the reoccurring pun on sun and son.  How does this symbol work in the overall meaning of the play.
9. Was Ophelia pregnant with Hamlet’s child?
10. Did Hamlet slip into madness?
11. It is Hamlet who causes the downfall of Denmark.
12. What is the meaning of the pirates?
13. Is Hamlet Jesus Christ?  How is Horatio either John the Baptist or an apostle.
14. Why or how is Denmark the Garden of Eden?
15. Gertrude knows about the murder?
16. The meaning of prostitution in Hamlet?
17. Can Hamlet be compared to our current society?  If so, how?
18. Perhaps others—as we read or when we finish
    

    
    Scale/Rubric relating to learning goal:

    
    4 – The student is able to combine more than one question into a thesis statement, and answer it by evaluating the text and using specifics to back up his/her position.

    3 – The student can choose a question, develop it into a thesis statement, and analyze the text using specific evidence to back up their position.

    2 – With some direction/help from the teacher the student can choose a question, develop it into a thesis statement, and analyze the text using specific evidence to back up their position.

    1 – Even with help from the teacher the student is unable to choose a question, or develop it into a thesis statement, and analyze the text using specific evidence to back up their position.

Hamlet Wednesday

Today - we need to take a vocabulary quiz and then look at a review guide.  Remember that there is a previous test on the website.  You might want to look at it.

The final on Hamlet will be on Friday.

      HAMLET FINAL REVIEW:

1)    List the five elements of tragedy

2)    List the five elements of a tragic hero

3)    Define dramatic foil

4)    The following characters are dramatic foils for Hamlet.  Discuss in detail how?

a)     Claudius

b)    Gertrude

c)     Laertes

d)    Ophelia

e)     Polonius

f)     Fortinbras

5)    What do Fortinbras, Hamlet and Laertes have in common?

6)    Define the following:  soliloquy, monologue, implied metaphor, direct metaphor, extended metaphor

7)    Be able to give at least three examples of – implied metaphors, direct metaphors, extended metaphors and discuss what is being compared

8)    Be able to give three examples of symbols and discuss how they work in Hamlet.

9)    Be able to give at least three examples of allusions.

10) Give the four elements of a sonnet

11) Give a description (mental, physical, emotional) of the following characters:

Ghost:

Hamlet:

Gertrude:

Claudius:

Ophelia:

Laertes:

Polonius:

Reynaldo:

Horatio:

Rosencrantz:

Guildenstern:

Osric:

Fransico:

Barnado:

Marcellus:

Fortinbras:

Gravedigger:

12) Outline the plot according to Exposition, Inciting Event, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Resolution.  Make sure you know where events fall.

13) Be able to summarize the following acts in vast detail:

ACT I:

ACT II:

ACT III:

ACT IV:

ACT V:

14) How is Polonius a meddling old fool?  Think about how he buts in between Ophelia and Hamlet, How he sends Reynaldo to spy on his son Laertes, How he suggests spying on Hamlet three different times.

15) Do you think Ophelia loved Hamlet?  Prove this with examples from the play.

16) In Act II what does Hamlet ask the players to recite?  How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?

17) What is a fishmonger?  Who are fishmongers in the play? Why?  Who are fishmongers in the senior class.

18) Who is Jephthah?

19) Explain the quote: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

20) How is Hamlet rude to Ophelia?  How is Ophelias rude to Hamlet? 

21) What are some of the instructions Hamlet gives to the actors?

22) How is the “play within a play” scene a turning point in the story?

23) What are three important things about Claudius’ soliloquy?

24) What proof is there that Hamlet actually goes crazy in Act 3?

25) What is one thing Hamlet says that women do to men?

26) Discuss the meaning of the following soliloquys:  ACT I SCENE ii lines 129-159

        ACT III  Scene 1 lines 57-91

        ACT IV Scene iv lines 34-68

27) What characters are in the opening scene?

28) Describe Hamlet’s appearance in Act 1.

29) Why does Claudius need to justify him marriage in Act 1.

30) What is the continuous pun on sun?  Discuss how Shakespeare and Hamlet are using it.  Give some examples of its use.

31) How does Ophelia’s craziness in Act 4 reflect Hamlet’s in Act 2 and 3?  How does it differ?

32) Why does Ophelia sing songs of sexual betrayal and death?  What does it say about her character. 

33) Why does Ophelia die?  Do you think her death was accidental or suicide?  Why?

34) What is the point of the gravedigger’s riddles and songs?  How is the gravedigger a bit like Hamlet?

35) What is Osric’s role in the play.  What concerns, Shakespeare’s concerns, does he reinforce.

36) Why does Hamlet ‘defy augury’?

37) How does the dying lines of Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes reflect the way their character has been presented throughout the play?

38) Who wins in Hamlet?  Why?

39) What is the most disturbing element in Hamlet?

40) How does Hamlet reflect contemporary times?

41) What is odd about the following quote:  “A bloody deed; almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother.”

42) What is disturbing about the following: “Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed; stewed in corruption; honeying, and making love over the nasty sty.”

43) What is one statement about Humanity that Hamlet makes.

44) What is important about the Pirates?

45) How does Hamlet change in Act 5?

46) Do you think Hamlet forsees his own end?  Why do you think this?

47) How is Hamlet like Christ? 

48) What is the purpose of Horatio?

49) What does the following quote mean:

“Alexander died, Alexander was buried/ Alexander returneth to dust; / dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam whereto/ he was converted might they not stop a beer barrel?/ Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,?/ Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.? O, that that earth which kept the world in awe/ Should patch a wall t’ expel the winter’s flaw.”

50) Quotations from all Acts from various individuals.  Be able to state who is speaking, who they are speaking to, and what they are talking about.  Look over quizzes and reread important acts.

51) Essay question

Monday

Today we will talk about when you will have a vocabulary quiz.  Finish Act 5, and then I will give you some time to work on Act 5 questions.

Act 5

HAMLET ACT 5: Questions

1) What do you feel is the point of the gravedigger’s riddles and song? How does it fit into the play?
2) In what ways do Hamlet’s reactions to the skulls in the graveyard seem to suggest a change in his outlook? Compare Hamlet’s attitude towards Yoric to Hamlet’s attitude to Ophelia or even his father? How is it different? How is it similar?
3) How old is Hamlet? How do you know this?
4) What does the violent argument between Hamlet and Laertes add to the play?
5) What developments in Hamlet’s character are presented through the story of what happened on the boat? (V.ii 1-62). How has Hamlet changed?
6) How do Hamlet’s motives in killing Claudius seem to have shifted according to his speech beginning “Does it not, think thee…” (V.ii.63)
7) What concerns of the play are reinforced in the Osric episode? (V.ii.80-170)
8) Why does Hamlet ‘defy augury’? (V.ii.192)
9) What does Laertes say is his motive in still resenting Hamlet? How has already lost this? How does this contribute to the presentation of revenge in the play? (V.ii216-223)
10) How might the dying lines of Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes be viewed as typical of the way their characters have been presented throughout the play?
11) Who “wins” in Hamlet? How and why do you think this?

Act 4

Study Questions


Act IV, Scene 1

1. What is Claudius' main fear in the immediate aftermath of Polonius' death?

Act IV, Scene 2

1. What does Hamlet refuse to tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

Act IV, Scene 3

1. What image does Hamlet use (ll. 19-29) to warn Claudius he's only king temporarily?
2. Claudius ends the scene by writing a letter: to whom, and what order does it contain?

Act IV, Scene 4

1. What's the value of the land Fortinbras' army is marching to capture in Poland (l. 20)? What will the invasion itself cost (l. 25)?
2. Hamlet's soliloquy (ll. 32-66) is self-critical; summarize his main fault.

Act IV, Scene 5

1. Ophelia's songs during her first appearance in this scene deal with love, death and sex. Why? What do they tell us about her at the moment? What might they reveal about Her, Hamlet and Polonius?
2. Why is Laertes a danger to Claudius' throne (ll. 98-103)? (Actually two or three related reasons.)
3. What does Claudius offer as assurance that he had no part in Polonius' death (ll. 190-9)?

Act IV, Scene 6

1. Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet explaining how he escaped from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. How did he?

Act IV, Scene 7

1. What reason does Claudius give Laertes for Hamlet's killing of Polonius (ll. 1-4)?
2. What are his two reasons for not charging Hamlet with murder (ll. 9-24)?
3. Claudius reveals that Laertes is famous for his skill with the rapier (a fencing weapon) and that Hamlet is envious of this fame.
4. How does Claudius plan to exploit this envy to give Laertes a chance for (publicly) guiltless revenge (ll. 126-38)?
5. How does Laertes refine the plan (ll. 138-147)?
6. What announcement does Gertrude make to end Act IV?

Act III Scenes 3 -4

Hamlet Vocabulary #2

Consummation
Contumely
Beguile
Unction
Cicatrice
Superflous
Requiem
Augury
Felicity
Calamity 

Act III Scenes 3 -4 Study Questions

1) What does Claudius plan to do with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Hamlet?
2) What is Polonius going to do while Hamlet speaks with his mother?
3) List three important things about Claudius’ soliloquy.

a)
b)
c
4) Why is it odd that Hamlet sees the king praying?
5) Why doesn’t Hamlet take this opportunity for revenge?

Scene IV

1) Describe Polonius’ advice to Gertrude.
2) What is the significance of the following quote: “How now, a rat? Dead! For a ducat, dead!
3) What is odd about the following quote: A bloody dead; almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother.
4) Why might Gertrude say, “What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me.”
5) What descriptions does Hamlet use to compare his father and his uncle?


King Hamlet


Claudius

6) What point does Hamlet make by comparing the men?
7) What is disturbing about the following: Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed; stewed in corruption; honeying, and making love over the nasty sty.”
8) What stops Hamlet’s ranting and raving at Gertrude? What does this figure tell Hamlet?
9) By the end of the act, Hamlet has made many statements about humanity, in general. Explain a few of his points. Do his opinions reflect his madness.
10) Explain the differences between the ghost in Act I with the ghost in Act III. Why might these differences reflect Hamlet’s insanity?