Exploring the Language of Hamlet, mid-play...two days of close reading and activities with important scenes

Learning Target: I can observe, analyze and comprehend some of the more challenging passages in Hamlet.


Have students who were absent yesterday take the quiz.
Hand out essay option # 2; 
FYI...Expect me to push the due-date of the paper back by several days, possibly a week.

Essay Option # 2: What is man/woman?

Shakespeare philosophizes on the nature of man in his play Hamlet. How do you think Shakespeare might address the question: What is a man? You might begin to think about what Shakespeare considers about man/woman by thinking about what men/women desire or what man/woman’s relationship is to ideas…

Then, your task would be to frame your thesis: Shakespeare suggests that man/woman is______________. This should be a fairly complex and multi-layered thesis and you should begin tracing ideas in each act as you read. “Shakespeare suggests that man is” is just an initial idea to get you thinking!

*man’s relation to evil forces

*man’s desire for honor

*man’s questioning nature

*man’s nature

*man’s desire for perfection

*woman’s desire for love

*woman’s desire for connection

*man’s desire for wholeness

*man’s basic impulses

*man’s fears

*ethical dilemmas man must face

*man’s relationship to God

*man’s reaction to injustice

*man’s capacity for love

*man’s relationship with friends, with family

*man’s immortality

*man’s fear of death

*man’s sense desire for virtue

*man’s desire to please God

*man/woman’s desire to please family

*man’s grief

You should make reference to Shakespeare’s language/style in your paper. Don’t let opportunities pass you by to discuss: metaphor, allusion, simile, personification, imagery, structure, etc.

Knowledge of the play: Citations should not be just dropped into your paper but should be explained and discussed, shared and integrated into your sentences. You need to demonstrate your knowledge of the play….you should reference what happens and you should make reference to characters and their feelings/beliefs/behaviors. You should have at least 8 citations in your paper.  Be sure you explain them. 

Activities:

What a piece of work is man? 
Hamlet Attacks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

2.2.295-338 ("Were you not sent for" to "man delights not me")

Notice all of the language tricks which Shakespeare uses.  Metaphors, similes, alliteration, anastrophe (reversals), parallel construction, etc.

Is there a place in this scene, where Hamlet stops playing with  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and talks straight from the heart?  If so, what happens to the language tricks?

What's Hecuba?  

2.2.445-574 - Talk about Allusions and summarize the scene..Have one student read the passage while three others mime the actions of Pyrrhus, Priam, and Hecuba.

Why might Hamlet be interested in this trio from classical literature?

"O' What a Rogue!" soliloquy

2.2.576-634

Sit in a circle and read the speech, round-robin, each student reading to a semi-colon, period, question mark, or exclamation point.

While reading, students can note unfamiliar words.  Discuss the meanings, paraphrase troublesome lines

• Why is the Prince calling himself a rogue and a peasant slave?
• Hamlet compares himself to the player.  What does his comparison reveal about Hamlet's self-perception?
• Throughout Hamlet, much violence is done to the ears. How does Hamlet's "cleave the general ear" relate to other "ear" references?
• Shakespeare uses the word ear twenty-seven times in the play.  Pay attention to these occurrences.  Do any of them resonate with you?
• Hamlet uses a lot of theatrical terminology in his speech.  Find some examples.  Why might Hamlet be thinking in theatrical terms?
• Find lines or phrases that explain why Hamlet thinks himself a coward.  Do you think he is a coward, or is he acting cautiously by looking for external evidence to prove Claudius's guilt?
• Watch both Tennant and Branagh play this scene.  Discuss.
• Show periods 1 and 2 the ghost scene in Brannagh and, time permitting, each of the Hecuba scenes.
• For Tomorrow: 
• Homework: 
• Read xiv-xxiii on Shakespeare's language, wordplay and sentence structure (preface of Hamlet book)
• Do the following journal...I am thinking about writing about essay option #1/#2 because...(share some possible ideas).  This should be one full paragraph (7-9 sentences) of exploration of possible ideas.  Let them fly; don't worry about organization or grammar.  Get ideas on paper.
• 
  
• In-class activities tomorrow: 
• I will also check and initial the last couple of journal entries
• In-class Activity:  A closer look at "To be or not to be..." Reading it aloud as an internal debate.
• Watch and compare Brannagh and Tennant's interpretations