HAMLET

ENGLAND 1601

Religion

The Renaissance

FRIDAY 18.10.19

NO LESSON

COMPLETE WEEK 3 AND THE HOMEWORK OVER HALF TERM.

Act 1 scene 4

'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark'

Politics vs family

Act 1 scene 5

The Haunting of Hamlet

Spook chat

In Act 1, what do you think has been most prevalent - Political affairs of the State or family affairs?

Find three quotes to support your argument.

Homework

Read Act 2 Scene 1 – make a bullet point summary

• What does the Ghost’s language tell you about Elizabethan beliefs- particularly in relation to Hell?

• We understand what the Ghost is telling Hamlet and why – but what is he not talking about? What has he left out?

• Who can hear the Ghost shout ‘Swear’?

End of Act 1

‘To put an antic disposition on’

​(l.172 p.55)

What has happened by the end of Act 1?

What do we think might happen next? Why?

Big Brother is watching you...

Appearance vs reality

Find one example in each act where you feel that appearance does not match reality.

Write a comment on what aspects of either appearance or reality are addressed in each of these examples.

Let's take a look behind the scenes of the 2009 Tennant production. MAKE NOTES AS WE WATCH THE VIDEO.

Class reading read from 2. 2. 166-348

As we read let us consider the relationship between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Make notes in your books and in your copy of the text.

Homework check

Metatheatre describes the aspects of a play that draw attention to its nature as drama or theatre, or to the circumstances of its performance.

Melancholy Hamlet

w.4

Week 2

1. Claudius is head of state and head of his new family. How do we see him exercise his authority? Gertrude has a new husband. Does she display any power here?

These may include:

• the direct address of the audience (especially in soliloquies, asides, prologues, and epilogues);
• expression of an awareness of the presence of the audience (whether they are addressed directly or not);
• an acknowledgement of the fact that the people performing are actors (and not actually the characters they are playing);
• an element whose meaning depends on the difference between the represented time and place of the drama (the fictional world) and the time and place of its theatrical presentation (the reality of the theatre event);
• plays-within-plays (or masques, spectacles, or other forms of performance within the drama); references to acting, theatre, dramatic writing, spectatorship, and the frequently employed metaphor according to which "all the world's a stage" (Theatrum mundi);
• scenes involving eavesdropping or other situations in which one or several characters observe another or others, such that the former relate to the behaviour of the latter as if it were a staged performance for their benefit.

Meta theatre

2. Thinking back to last week, consider how Hamlet displays his melancholy mood. Look at a) his exchange with his mother Gertrude and King Claudius on p. 19.

a definition...

Hamlet's soliloquy exposes his deep depression. He expresses weariness, grief, anger, nausea, loathing and disgust and resignation. He has no thoughts about political matters, becoming king or about being forbidden to return to Wittenberg. His troubled mind is obsessessed solely with family matters (1): his father, his uncle and - above all - his mother.

Soliloquy One Act 1:2.129-159

3. Find examples of these emotions and his attitudes to the three members of his family.

To catch a King

Timed essay writing: 1 hour

Discuss the soliloquy from Act 1 Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare's use of language and its dramatic effects.

The world of Elsinore: Surveillance

(2.40 to 6.02)

1. What is Hamlet's attitude to theatre?

2. Who is Pyruss? What paralells can we draw between this character and the character of Hamlet?

3. How does the player inspire Hamlet?

Jonathan Slinger, RSC 2013

David Tennant RSC, 2009

Paapa Essiedu, RSC 2018

Exploring a soliloquy

CONTEXT

In the Elizabethan Period they believed that the health of the country was reflected in the health of the Monarch and vice versa. The two were inextricably linked.

So what does this quote ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ on p43 tell us?

Analysis

• With the person next to you decipher what is going on in this scene .
• What happens?
• Do the characters all have the same reactions?
• What does this scene tell us about Elizabethan beliefs?
• What do we think might happen next?

As we read on, consider how you can relate what is said about surveillance in the video to the events that occur in 2.1 and 2.2.

Soliloquy 4:

'To be or not to be'

Claudius opens and closes 3.1. The opening conjunction 'And' leaves the audience to enter mid conversation suggesting a thorough investigation by Claudius.

As we read let us consider the following:

• Claudius' guilt
• The role of Polonius
• Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship

How does the character come across in each version? What does the use of props in Tennant 2009 version add to the scene?

'What we hear and what we see reinforces our reality.'

Using your knowledge and understanding of the play studied so far discuss to what extent is this true...

a) for Hamlet and b) for us as members of the audience?

Group discussion and feeback followed by extended writing.

Paapa Essiedu RSC 2018

Behind the scenes: David Tennant 2009 (0.0 to 2.40)

The Ghost... PRESENTATIONS

The Ghost weaves its way in and out of Act 1. Let's examine its first appearance in the dramatic opening scene.

Here are other key episodes in Act 1 where the Ghost plot takes centre stage.

A. Horatio tells Hamlet about the Ghost

Act 1 sc 2 lines 159-257 (pp23-29)

B. Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus wait for the Ghost to appear 1.4 (pp39-43)

C. Hamlet speaks alone with the Ghost

1.5.45-91 (pp45-49)

D. Hamlet makes Horatio and Marcellus swear not to reveal what they have seen to anyone

1.5.92-191 (pp49-55)

Use the RSC resource below to help you rewrite the soliloquy in your own words. (Click on: LOOK Read the scene and explore.)

https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare-learning-zone/hamlet/language/to-be-or-not-to-be

Family Matters (2)

Homework

Plot recap

Four versions of Ophelia

1.

Week 3

Look back at p.17, what kind of relationship does Polonius have with his son? (Don't forget you must be writing in full sentences and quoting from the text in all of your written work.)

Another moment of Metatheatre... comedy

Metatheatre describes the aspects of a play that draw attention to its nature as drama or theatre, or to the circumstances of its performance.

3.2 The 'play within a play'

Hamlet is a play about families in turmoil.

To what extent do you agree with this idea.

In Hamlet, there occurs the following exchange between Hamlet and Polonius:

Hamlet: ... My lord, you played once i'th'university, you say.

Polonius: That I did my lord, and was accounted a good actor.

Hamlet: And what did you enact?

Polonius: I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i'th'Capitol. Brutus killed me.

Hamlet: It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there.

(3.2.95–100)

If the only significance of this exchange lay in its reference to characters within another play, it might be called a metadramatic (or "intertextual") moment. Within its original performance context, however, there is a more specific, metatheatrical reference. Historians assume that Hamlet and Polonius were played by the same actors who had played the roles mentioned in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar a year or two earlier on the same stage.[1] Apart from the dramatic linking of the character of Hamlet with the murderer Brutus (foreshadowing Hamlet's murder of Polonius later in the play), the audience's awareness of the identities of the actors and their previous roles is comically referenced.

A. Advice to a sister Act 1:3 l.5-52

For each of the tasks, copy out the information you are given on page 30 then answer the questions.

These may include:

• the direct address of the audience (especially in soliloquies, asides, prologues, and epilogues);
• expression of an awareness of the presence of the audience (whether they are addressed directly or not);
• an acknowledgement of the fact that the people performing are actors (and not actually the characters they are playing);
• an element whose meaning depends on the difference between the represented time and place of the drama (the fictional world) and the time and place of its theatrical presentation (the reality of the theatre event);
• plays-within-plays (or masques, spectacles, or other forms of performance within the drama); references to acting, theatre, dramatic writing, spectatorship, and the frequently employed metaphor according to which "all the world's a stage" (Theatrum mundi);
• scenes involving eavesdropping or other situations in which one or several characters observe another or others, such that the former relate to the behaviour of the latter as if it were a staged performance for their benefit.

a) Aleksandra Amanda Anisa Aneta Asha Afua Cherish Ethan Evie

b) Jui Jess Kezia Rinesa Ruth Sophia Sabiha Yalda

Make sure you include discussion of

• the royal family of Denmark
• the royal family of Norway
• Polonius' family

B. Advice to a son Act 1:3 l.58-80

Write out all the pieces of advice given to Laertes. Can you get to 15?

Typed: 1000 words

2.

C. Advice to a daughter Act 1:3 l.85-136

Why do you think Ophelia immediately breaks the promise made to Laertes? How does Polonius advise his daughter?

Act 1 scene 3: Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia

• Read the whole of Act 1
• Write and prepare to present a two minute summary of the Ghost's appearances in Act 1.
• How does the Ghost influence Hamlet and drive the plot?

D. What are the similarities and differences between this and the advice Polonius gives his son? Comment on the verbs and terms of address used by both Ophelia and Polonius.

3. Hamlet and Friends

Write a paragraph on the new developments in Hamlet's relationship with his friends. Pick and discuss at least two quotes for Horatio and two for Guildenstern and Rosencraft.

Homework:

HANDWRITE scene summaries from Act one to Act two scene two.

2. Hamlet and Women

In your notebooks draw a spiderdiagram. Find as many quotes as you can that show his attitude to Ophelia, Gertrude and possibly women in general. Make sure you note your analysis next to each quote.

*Add to this diagram when we have finished the scene.

1. Shakespeare makes the audience conscious of the artificiality of theatre

• What points does Hamlet make in order for Shakespeare to do this? Annotate 3.2.1-35 of your text.

• Do you think that Hamlet mirrors Polonius in some ways here too?

• Class reading of the 'play'

3.1 Are you honest?

Duologue analysis

Hamlet and Ophelia

RATIONALE

READING:

We will NOT read the play out in class. You MUST read the play in your own time. You can do this at home, on your journey to and from college or in the library.

Your A Level examinations will be in 2021.

This might seem a long time in the distant future.

In order to enjoy your A Level experience and ensure a stress free Y13, you need to make sure that you

a) know what you are working towards and

b) make excellent notes

so that your future-self is well prepared.

ACT 4 Action Packed

Timed Writing: Extract Hamlet and Horatio 3.2

The 7 Soliloquies in Hamlet

Paapa Essiedu RSC 2018

1. O that this too too solid flesh would melt (Spoken by Hamlet, Act 1 Scene2)

2. O all you host of heaven (Spoken by Hamlet Act 1 scene 5)

3. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I (Spoken by Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2)

4. To be, or not to be (Spoken by Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1)

5. 'Tis now the very witching time of night

(Act 3 Scene 2)

*. Oh my offence is rank, it smells to heaven (Spoken by Claudius, Act 3 Scene 3)

6. Now might I do it pat (Spoken by Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 3)

7. How all occasions do inform against me (Spoken by Hamlet, Act 4 Scene 4)

w. 1

Create a spiderdiagram with your character at the centre.

Act 4 contains 7 scenes, most of which are short and follow in quick succession. Today we are going to look at scenes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 briefly and scenes 5 and 7 in detail.

1. 'The Prayer Scene' 3.3.36-98

GENRE

REVISION: For each one list:

Key images, references to Hamlet's relationships with other characters, references to revenge, death and action/inaction, anagnorisis, development of Hamlet's character.

ELIZABETHAN TRAGEDY

Let's consider three readings of Hamlet's choice to delay killing Claudius.

Right: David Tennant 2009 RSC Film of the stage production

Below: Spark Notes summary

In scenes 5 and 7 we see how tragedy becomes the driving force behind the creation of new partnerships.

TRAGEDY

Characteristics of Senecan tragedy

The hero in Classical Greek tragedy is:

H472/1 Section 1

Assessment Objectives

1904 A.C. Bradley

Even now, probably, in a court so corrupt as Elsinore, he could not with perfect security have begun by charging the King with the murder; but he could quite safely have killed him first adn given his justification afterwards, especially as he would certainly have had on his side the people, who loved him and despised Claudius.

1930 G Knight

Set against [Claudius'] lovely prayer - the fine flower of a human soul in anguish - is the entrance of Hamlet, the late joy of torturing the King's Conscience still written on his face, his eye a-glitter with the intoxication of conquest, vengeance on his mind; his purpose altered only by the devilish hope of finding a more damning moment in which to slaughter the King.

Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) observed the following conventions in the tragic genre:

1. The drama is usually centred on one main tragic hero (the protagonist) who acts in a way that proves disasterous.

2. We see the fall of a great, prosperous or noble character into misery and catastrophe (peripeteia).

3. The suffering/fall usually results from a flaw of one or more causes:

Hubris - excessive pride

Hamartia - error of judgement

Something of which the character is ignorant

4. The hero moves from ignorance to knowledge and comes to recognise clearly what causes his suffering (anagnorsis).

5. The play arouses pity and fear in the audience and succeeds in purging and purifying such emotions (catharsis)

6. People are tested by great suffering: regicide (killing of royalty); parricide (killing of parents); fratricide (killing of blood brother/s); reconciliation, incest, women driven to violence and revenge are all major themes of Greek drama.

1. of a certain nobility or noble nature, high rank, power, fortune or high birth

2. cannot be completely virtuous or good (the audience would feel cheated and therefore the play would be meaningless)

3. cannot be completely evil or immoral (the audience would rejoice in their downfall)

4. may be courageous and generous

5. has to be partly to blame for his own misfortune

6. downfall brought about by some flaw or frailty

1619 Anon

To desire to destroy a man's soul, to make him eternally miserable, by cutting him off from all hopes of repentance; this surely, in a Christian Prince is such a piece of revenge as no tenderness for any parent can justify.

1. a division into five acts with Choruses

2. a considerable retailing of ‘horrors’ and violence, usually, though not always, acted off the stage and elaborately recounted

3. a parallel violence of language and expression.

Claudius Gertrude

Ophelia Laertes

1. Gertrude's private room

2. A corridor in the castle

(6. A room in the castle)

3. A state room

4. The sea coast near Elisnore

In your groups prepare a quick presentation on one of the scenes above. Find:

5 key thematic points

5 interesting uses of language to underline and analyse

5 plot or character developments

WRITTEN ASSESSMENTS:

Each week you will produce either

a) an essay for homework for peer assessment or

b) a class timed essay for me to assess your understanding of the text and your exam technique.

Both will include marking of AOs.

Question 2b

AO1 – 50 % Knowledge and understanding of texts and tasks; planning and organising your argument; using relevant terminology

AO5 - 50% Detailed exploration of different readings or ways of reading the text

Question 2a

AO2 – 75% Analysis of language, structure and form; using quotations, blended into your argument

AO1 – 25 % Knowledge and understanding of texts and tasks; planning and organising your argument; using relevant terminology

ACTIVITIES

2. 'The Closet Scene' 3.4

https://www.bl.uk/britishlibrary/~/media/bl/global/dl%20shakespeare/teachers%20notes%20pdfs/contextual%20summary%20of%20hamlet.pdf

Analyse how your character interacts with the other three characters across both scenes.

Exposition Horatio on Norway Act 1:1.79-107

List the key facts that the audience is given.

Social Class

• What is your reaction to Polonius' death?
• How do you think this moment fits into the dramatic structure of the play?
• What do you think of Hamlet's reaction to his error?
• How is the relationship to his mother presented?
• What do you think about the way he speaks to her?

RESEARCH THE STORY OF OEDIPUS

Exposition Claudius opening speech Act 1:2.1-39

List the key facts that the audience is given.

Again find:

5 key thematic points

5 interesting uses of language to underline and analyse

5 plot or character developments

HOMEWORK

Succession and the Monarchy

Soliloquy 7

How all occasions do inform against me (Act 4 Scene 4)

• Hamlet commits to his pursuit of revenge.
• Fortinbras' ability to act magnifies Hamlet's inaction.
• Events conspire to to reawaken Hamlet's desire for revenge.
• Despite having valid reasons for acting, Hamlet does not. The contrast between him and the soldiers following Fortinbras, magnifies his failings.

1. Put the above line summaries in order that they appear in the soliloquy.

2. Find examples that relate to the points above and write 4 paragraphs using each bullet point as your opening topic sentence. Make sure you use at least two terms in each paragraph.

Key extract 1

Annotate the print out carefully. You should show your understanding of the language and what is being said.

Extension: Try to explore the literary, linguistic or dramatic techniques and how they enhance meaning.

ACT 4 - Consolidation

Melancholy

• Check your scene 5 and 7 presentations. Make sure you have explored your character's relationships across both scenes.

• AO5?
• You have a bank of critics on your tables. Discuss them in your groups and choose which ones can easily be linked to your scene 5 and 7 analysis of character and /or plot. Prepare to briefly feedback.

• Write a paragraph (1/2 a page) incorporating one of your chosen critics into one of the points you have made about your character.

Before we file away our Act 4 analysis let's make sure it's complete. In your groups complete the extension work bubble on your mini scene analysis. Add to your own copies of the handout.

(Q1:1601, Q2:1604, F1:1623)

Question 2b

'Hamlet is a play about the destruction of the family unit and the consequences that follow.'

To what extent do you agree with this idea.

15 Minutes

Planning

Time

HAMLET

audience become the actors as a result of the actors becoming the audience breaks the fourth wall