In class: you are in the theatre today for a PSAT prep, which you will be taking in school at some point.
We will be finishing up Hamlet tomorrow in class, reviewing the study questions for Acts IV and V. On Friday there will be a final assessment with the material taken directly from the study questions. It will count in the 30 % category.
On Monday, October 15 your formal analysis paper on Hamlet will be due. NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. The term ends on the 19th, and these must be graded by that time. See copy of the assignment below. FOR HOMEWORK TONIGHT-WEDNESDAY- please read the detailed instructions on the paper that were handed out in class before you went to the PSAT meeting. Copy follows, as well. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME-dmpalond@frontiernet.net.
ACT V study questions:
1. Even Shakespeare’s tragedies have comedians and Hamlet’s are the gravediggers. Why was Ophelia allowed a Christian burial, despite having committed suicide? And “What is he that builds stronger than the mason, the shipwright or the carpenter? V.i.1-61.
2. Hamlet plays word games with the gravedigger. Eventually, the prince asks him how long he has been at this profession. Shakespeare then uses the digger to make a dig at the English by explaining to Hamlet, whom he does not recognize, where for is the prince and why it makes no difference whether or not he returns to Denmark. Explain this self-effacing humor. V.i.145-160.
3. The macabre fascinated the Elizabethans, much as it does many in contemporary society. According to the gravedigger, what determines the time necessary for decomposition of a corpse? And whose skull is discovered in the grave? V.i. 168-191.
4. What was Horatio’s relationship with individual who once occupied the skull? V.i.202
5. What does Horatio do, asking them to “hold off the earth awhile?” And when Hamlet steps into the scene, how does he behave? V.i.258-273.
6. How does supposedly Hamlet feel about Ophelia’s death? What does he mean by these parting words” “The cat will mew, and the dog will have his day.” V.i.285-311.
7. Explain the following words said to Horatio by Hamlet: “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough hew them how we will” (V.ii.11-2).
8. What did Hamlet discover in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s sea cabin? How did he change the information to suit his own purpose? V.ii.15-60.
9. What does Osric tell Hamlet that Claudius has wagered in his match against Laertes? V.ii.160-166
10. Horatio worries that Hamlet is not as good a fencer as Laertes, but the prince assures him that while in France he has improved from “continual practice.” Hamlet is determined to “defy augury.” “There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now, yet it will come. The readiness is all” Explain Hamlet’s attitude toward the upcoming match. V.ii.233-236.
11. What explanation for his behavior does Hamlet give to Laertes? V.i.240-258
12. How does Claudius demonstrate his support for Hamlet during the match? V.ii.286-307
13. Claudius announces that the queen “swoons to see [Laertes and Hamlet] bleed. What is the real reason? V.ii.339-341
14. How does Hamlet kill Claudius? V.ii.356-359.
15. What is Hamlet’s last request for Horatio? V.ii.381-384
16. Fortinbras from the Polish wars and the ambassador from England arrive after the debacle. Horatio orders the bodies “high on a stage be placed to the view.” “So shall [they] hear / Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, / Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, / Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, / And in this upshot, purposes mistook / Fall’n on the inventors heads.” V.ii.415-427. That pretty much sums up the plot. Give specific examples of each.
a. Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts.
b. Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters
c. Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause
d. And in this upshot, purposes mistook / Fall’n on the inventors heads
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