Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thursday 29 September 2011


Vocabulary 2 due tomorrow


Please finish Act IV by tomorrow.


Final assessment / Act V due Monday.



Finish the play by Monday. Turn in the accompanying responses to Act V. This is your final assessement. There will be no cumulative test on the play.

Act V study questions for Hamlet DUE MONDAY 3 OCTOBER test grade.

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

See below for a copy of the questions that have been handed out in class.

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