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| Ophelia, Hamlet and Polonius
In class today: review of Act I. Make sure you have your text!
For Friday: have read through Act II. For Monday: finish Act III In class assessment on Act I. No surprises. You will be given the questions below, and using the text, you will respond to them. These will be due at the close of class on Friday. Heads up! If you are absent from class- and this is not listed as a legal abscence on the attendence- please send along the responses by midnight Friday; otherwise they are late.
Please read review notes for Act I that are listed below the questions.
Hamlet Act I questions
1. To what is the following line a reference? “With mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage.”
2. What is the pun in the following said by Hamlet when asked by Claudius, “How is it that the clouds hang upon [him]? “Not so my lord, I am too much in the sun.”
3 .Sum up Claudius’ argument to Hamlet as to why he should not be so morose. Incorporate words from the text.
4. What is Hamlet bemoaning from his soliloquy* in lines 133-135 from Act I, scene ii?
soliloquy * an utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself or herself or is disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present (often used as a device in drama to disclose a character's innermost thoughts).
5. Describe the tone of these words of Hamlet's.
Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables (I.ii.187-8).
of his father, He was a man, Take him for all in all /
I shall not look upon his like again (I.ii.195-196).
7. Hamlet will meet Horatio "'eleven and twelve" ; then notes
"All is not well...Foul deeds will rise, / Though all the earth o'erwhelm
them, to men's eyes" (I.ii.277-80). Paraphrase the above.
8. What advice does Laertes give to his sister Ophelia as to Hamlet's real feelings for her? see I.iii.
9. Ophelia's no fool. What jab at hypocrisy does she make after telling her Laertes she will keep his "good lesson?"
10. Polonius next gets on his daughter's case about
Hamet and tells her:
...................................Think yourself a baby
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly,
or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
.............................you'll tender me a fool.
Rewrite Polonius' advice in contemporary English.
For two nights Marcelus and Bernardo have watched guard on the ramparts, for it is feared that Fortinbras the Younger, whose father had been killed in battle and also lost some land to the Danes, will seek to recapture this lost acreage. Whilst on guard they have seen a ghost that seems in the visage much like the old King Hamlet, whose demise was but three months ago.These two have informed Horatio, Hamlet's buddy and a member of a higher social class; hence what he says carries more weight. That there has been a ghost "bodes some strange eruption to our state" (I.i.80), notes Horatio. As well, when the world has been out of kilter, such as when "the mightiest Julius fell / The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets; / As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,/ Disaster of the sun"(I.i.125-30), both entertains and entices the audience. In short, Shakespeare is establishing a connection between Hamlet's father's death and other great historical events. In addition, he establishes a tie between the events of mankind and nature.The ghost comes in, but disappears when the cock crows, or when "the morn in russet mantle clad / Walks o'er the dew of youn high eastern hill" (I.i.180-1).
Act I.ii. King Claudius has announced his marriage to "our sometime sister, now our queen, / Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state"(I.ii.8-9). So much for his "valiant brother;" on to the business of state.We have met Laertes, the son of King Claudius' councillor Polonius. This ertwhile friend of Hamlet's has asked the king for permission to head back the school. It is given. King Claudius then importunes Hamlet to no more "persever / In obstinate condolement" (I.ii.96-7), for "'Tis unmanly grief / ...shows a will most incorrect to heaven"(I.ii.99-100). In other words, Hamlet needs to man up and accept his father's dying a natural process and that even God would be offended by his "impatient mind." Besides, now King Claudius is his father.Note Hamlet's solioquy I.ii.(134-164) He contemplates suicide here and notes "fraility thy name is woman." It seems he has a problem with his mum- and maybe that explains his actions towards Ophelia, Polonius's daughter, Laertes' sister. Hamlet and Horatio catch up. Hamlet isn't stupid; he knows that Horatio came for both the funeral and the wedding: "The funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables" (I.ii.187-88). Also note that Hamlet accepts his father's faults: "He was a man. Take him for all in all" (I.ii.195); still he acknowledges his father was special: "I shall not look upon his like again" (I.ii.196). So Horatio and Hamlet agree to meet upon the ramparts to talk to the ghost. Hamlet is concerned that his father's spirit is "in arms." Nothing can stop the truth from being revealed: "Foul deeds will rise,/ Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's / eyes (I.ii.279-81).
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Laertes is saying goodbye to his sister Ophelia, as he heads back to school. He gives her brotherly advice: "For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor, / Hold [you] a fashion and a toy in blood,/...not lasting,/ The perfume and the suppliance of a minute, / No more"(I.iii.6-10), essentially, he's does not look on you as marriage material, and never "lose your heart or your chaste treasure open"(I.iii.35. Keep in mind that a woman's virginity at this time is a bargaining chip (The Elizabethans would have been familiar with this concept in terms of the Henry VIII and Anne Bolyn, Queen Elizabeth's mother, who held out for the throne, but nevertheless lost her head on the chopping block.
Ophelia says she'll listen to her brother, but tells him as well to behave. Shakespeare has her make a dig at hypocritical pastors, who "the primrose path of dalliance treads," while they show their flock "the steep and thorny way to heaven."
Ophelia's father gives advice to his son. His words are good truisms for life:
1. don't be overly familiar with people
2. don't be vulgar
3. don't provoke quarrels, but if attacked fight
4. don't spend money you don't have
5. don't borrow or lend money
Then Polonius expands on Laertes' advice to Ophelia concerning Hamlet.
Note the three meaning of tenders:
"Do you believe his "tenders", as you call them?
Marry, I will teach you. Think yourself a baby
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay.
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly,
Or (not to crack the wind of a poor phrase,
Running it thus) you'll tender me a fool.Act I.i. notesHamlet remarks how King Claudius "keeps wassail"; that is, he is drunk. And while it is a custom to entertain guests it is "more honored in the brach that the observance"(I.iv.18). The king is vulgar, but has a "viscious mole of nature."
Horatio and Hamlet head up to the ramparts to see the ghost, who comes from "heaven or blasts from hell." Is he good or evil? The ghost bids Hamlet follow him. Horatio worries that the poltergeist might lead him over the walls to the sea below. Or "deprive [Hamlet] of sovereignty of reason / And draw [him] into madness":(I.iv.78-82). Note this as a bit of foreshadowing.
Finally, in this scene we have Marcellus' famous words: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"(I.iv.180). These words are applicable, of course, to the play, but they have taken on a metaphorical meaning, indicating that there is a serious problem.Act I.v. notesHamlet has gone off to have a private conversation with the ghost, who says, "I am thy father's spirit." Dad continues to explain that he is "forbid / To tell the secrets of his prison house" (I.v.18-9). (The audience would have loved this spooky stuff.) From the description, we know his father is in Purgatory. And this poltergeist reveals that Hamlet should "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (I.v.31). Now this is news to Hamlet, who thought his father's demise natural.
How did his father die? Well, a serpent did not sting him, well, actually one did and he now wears the crown. If you have forgotton, that is King Claudius, "that incestuous, adulterate beast." Ok, Hamlet, Sr. wants revenge on his brother, but tells his son to "let thy soul contrive against thy mother naught." Dad's last words are "remember me."
And so Hamlet promises thus. And here's another famous line: "One may smile and smile and be a villain"
Act I ends with Hamlet playing word games with Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo, who are quite curious to know what has passed between the ghost and Hamlet. Hamlet does not tell and has them swear to secrecy- the ghost gets his last words in as well. No one quite understands what has passed. Is the ghost evil? Anyway, he is "wondrous strange", and Hamlet remarks that "'There are more things in heaven and earth.../ Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"(I.v.187-8).
At this point Hamlet has taken on the responsibility of revenging his father. 'The time is out of joint, O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right"(I.v.210-1). (what is implied is not just an obligation, but a fated responsibility.
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