Hamlett Act II

Hamlet Act II

by Danny Luu, Eli Esparza, Ian Steller, Lesther Valenzuela, Miranda Nillo

Miranda Nillo

Danny Luu

What did I learn?

I noticed that Hamlet is a teenager just like us who deals with his problems in a somewhat negative way. He’s emotionally driven to do the wrong things, which in fact is a negative away to solve problems because it could lead to irrational decisions. Just like how Nik Koyama talked about how a person should find their true energy and not vary the energy between people you despise and enjoy, Hamlet should really be direct with his feelings and not leave everyone so confused. I also observed that Polonius resembles the modern day overly protective dad. Who sends someone out all the way to Paris just to spy on his own son?

1) What did you learn?

Act II Scene I

· Polonius is a member of King Claudius’s court and Reynaldo is his servant. Ophelia and Laertes are both Polonius’s children. Polonius told Reynaldo to spy on his son Laertes in France, which I fine very awkward because he won’t talk to his son face to face. In addition to this awkward way of checking up on your son, Ophelia was saddened that Hamlet wouldn’t talk to her so her father created an idea and showed Claudius to find why he is being so different.

Act II Scene II

· Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Hamlet’s college friends from Wittenberg. These two friends participated in Claudius and Gertrude’s plan to cheer Hamlet up out of his sadness by going together to Elsinore to find him. Voltimond and Cornelius were the ambassadors that Claudius sent to Norway to resolve the conflict between Denmark and Norway. Prince Fortinbras requested that Claudius give safe passage through Denmark to attack the Poles, in which Claudius gladly accepted to avoid a war they would lose. Polonius talked to Claudius about Hamlet saying that he was mad with love for Ophelia. In addition Polonius showed Claudius love letters and poems that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia. Polonius devised a plan to see if Hamlet’s state of being with Ophelia was true by hiding behind a curtain with Claudius while Ophelia and Hamlet have a discussion. Hamlet finds out that Claudius and Gertrude sent Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to find out why he was in a state of sadness. Some players arrived to Elsinore where Hamlet devised a play to see if Claudius killed his father by resembling the scenes the ghost described.

How Did I Learn It?

Eli Esparza

How did you learn it?

The first steps to understanding Act 11, was to actually read the text, which I did through No Fear Shakespeare. I chose to read the modern version, for it helped me understand more and I am terrible at interpreting old English. Also, it just took a little bit of fate and chance to conjure a conversation with a colleague of mine about Hamlet and what kind of person he is, basically just trying to relate him to modern day people (or people that we know). This also helped me understand Hamlet as a character better. Lastly, after Nik’s inspiring presentation, the whole good/bad vibes positive/negative energy got me thinking about how Hamlet is handling his decision about killing his Uncle. Overall, learning this took a reading, conversation and presentation.

Lesther Valenzuela

· I learned this Act II by reading through the modern translation of the play and watched some YouTube videos of the scenes to visualize what they look like. In addition to these resources, I normally need to understand all the characters before reading so I asked my group to help describe each character for me.

Ian Steller

What did I learn?

Characters

ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN

Both of these characters were called upon by King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. The reason is to cheer up Hamlet because he has been acting very peculiar and no one knows why. When the two of them finally see Hamlet he immediately asks them why they are here and is right because he had suspected that they were sent by his Uncle. Because the two of them told Hamlet why they were there it reveals that they can’t be trusted with any information because they both revealed why they were their so quickly and did not keep it a secret.

HAMLET

Hamlet is still continuing to show that something is wrong and is not hiding it. He still is wishing for the death of his Uncle and wants to prove he is guilty in front of everyone. Hamlet’s plan is to have some actors come and do a play for everyone. Hamlet has requested that the actors do the play his way and he wants to set up a scenario in which someone is killed similarly to the way his father was. The goal is to see how his Uncle reacts to what he sees.

1) What I learned:

Overall, I learned that Ophelia and Laertes, are Polonoius's children. I also learned that Laertes goes to France for a personal trip. I also learned that Polonius questions Laertes's purpose for the trip. Polonious feels that Laertes is drinking, causing trouble, interacting with prostitutes etc. He then orders his servant to shadow Laertes and to inform him of the activities and mischief that Laertes is involved in. Later on, Ophelia comes into the scene. She shows signs of distress. She then explains how Hamlet comes to her window, shows signs of passion desperation, and then leaves. After Ophelia is done explaining, Polonious then makes the assumption that Hamlet has gone mad all because he is in love with Ophelia and that Ophelia has avoided Hamlet to the point where he becomes desperate and depressed. In Scene 2, I felt that Shakespeare focused more on Hamlet's depression and how Hamlet is acting the same as he did in the past. Claudius invites Rosencrantz and Guildernstern to visit Hamlet to cheer him. A drama team that Hamlet used to enjoy has arrived to cheer him up. This leads to Hamlet creating a plot to prove that Claudius did kill his father by having the drama team act out a story that is similar to his father's murder. This way, Hamlet can see any signs of guilt that Claudius might have after killing his father. Hamlet wanted to make sure that Claudius really did murder his father. He questions the ghost because he might be wrong and that the ghost is the devil with his father's appearance as a disguise. He is afraid that the devil might be abusing him and taking advantage of his weakness.

WHAT I LEARNED AND HOW I LEARNED IT

During Dr. Preston's absence I learned quite a few things. I read Act 2 of Hamlet, and I was able to further myself on the story-line of that, but while conversing with my colleagues in class, our every-day conversations gave me further insight to Hamlet as a character. In fact, I found Hamlet to be so related to the teens in the modern world that a conversation about Homecoming even provoked some thought.

Aside from the story-line of the play that everyone's currently reading, the lesson that stood out to me the most was one from Nik Koyama. It is always insightful and unexpected when learning from one of our peers. During his presentation, he clearly demonstrated a key element of teenage life: that we all have many great things in our lives, but one negative event or thought or action could change our positive energy into negative energy. I saw the passion that Nik presented to us, and I saw a future motivational speaker in him. Since his presentation related to teenage life, his talk also applied to Hamlet. I heard once from Calvin Terrell that "hurt people, hurt people." Because of the pain that Hamlet has been suffering through from his father's death, he chooses to take this negative energy and convert it into revenge. As a hurt person, he chooses to hurt others, and this is seen every week in high school where some smoldering teenager takes their anger out on the others around them, whether that be on social media or face to face. Lastly, I finally connected the dots on the whole "Open Source Learning" thing. It took me long enough, but Nik said that he is currently undergoing the process of creating a network of sources or "helpers." With these connections, new doors open up for him, because he is creating an open source, where everyone who is willing and able to help is invited. An Open Source is kind of like a power outlet that anyone can plug into. I understand now why Dr. Preston utilizes the internet, because it gives all of us access to connect with one another. With the internet, we can all create sources in which we can learn from and guide each other. It may not fully make sense to you, but it does now for me. I learned all of this through reading alone, conversing with colleagues, listening to Nik's presentation, and thinking, which I tend to do a lot.

How Did I Learn It?

How Did I Learn This

• Reading the passage

• Discussing it with my peers

• Looking up videos to help give me get a visual of what is going on

I learned all of this by using different resources and a modern text version to easily understand Act 2. I also discussed Act 2 with my group and other colleagues to get a well-round grasp on Act 2.