Vocabulary 2 due FridayParaphrasing of Hamlet's soliloquy due today
Act III questions due tomorrow / Wednesday (test grade)
Analysis exercise between Hamlet and his father due today in class.
Notes for Act III on this blog
In class: we are looking at the relationship between Hamlet and his father as a stepping stone to building an analysis paper.
To begin: reread Act I.iv.
Then complete the relationship chart that follows.Act 1, Scene 5
SCENE V. Another part of the platform.
Enter GHOST and HAMLET
HAMLET
Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.
Ghost
Mark me.
HAMLET
I will.
Ghost
My hour is almost come, 5
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself.
HAMLET
Alas, poor ghost!
Ghost
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold. 10
HAMLET
Speak; I am bound to hear.
Ghost
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
HAMLET
What?
Ghost
I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, 15
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word 20
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end, 25
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
HAMLET
O God! 30
Ghost
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET
Murder!
Ghost
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.
HAMLET
Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift 35
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.
Ghost
I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 40
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, 45
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
HAMLET
O my prophetic soul! My uncle!
Ghost
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,-- 50
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity 55
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved, 60
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air; 65
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour 70
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour doth posset 75
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body. 80
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account 85
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest. 90
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once! 95
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. Define each of the following verbs, noting any positive or negative connotations. In Act I.5, it is the Ghost’s purpose to
corrupt ____________________________________________________________________
help ____________________________________________________________________
save _____________________________________________________________________
destroy _____________________________________________________________________
induct _____________________________________________________________________
seduce _____________________________________________________________________
empower ___________________________________________________________________
infect ____________________________________________________________________
tempt ____________________________________________________________________
enslave ____________________________________________________________________
inspire _____________________________________________________________________
transform ___________________________________________________________________
ensnare ___________________________________________________________________
invade ____________________________________________________________________
use ____________________________________________________________________
guide ___________________________________________________________________¬¬¬
…… his son.
DIRECTIONS FOR PAPER
English III Honors Hamlet essay. Due Friday 7 October
Based upon the following criteria of blood-revenge, discuss how Hamlet exemplifies-or does not- this act.
Requirements: TYPED (no exceptions)
MLA format- including header and pagination
Size 12, Times New Roman
MINIMUM of 500 words; include word count- under tools
MINIMUM of 6 specific textual references with Act, scene and
annotation.
Please make arrangements to see me soon, if you need support. Plan on bringing your outline. I am available periods 1, 2, 4, and 6, as well as before and after school. Can’t come then? Communicate by e-mail with specific questions. dolly.parker@rcsdk12.org
Keep in mind your thesis! This is a fact based essay, not an opinion of the play or its author. You make statements, you support them with specific evidence and you give an analysis. Of course, it is necessary to have carefully read the play.
BLOOD-REVENGE: A custom nearly universal in the tribal or clan stage of society, often surviving later, binding the kin of a murdered man to secure satisfaction for the murder by the death of the slayer or of one of his clan. The custom depends upon two fundamentals of that stage of civilization: (1) the sacredness of life and the solidarity of the clan; (2) the lex talionis. Its essence is execution of the slayer or some of his kin by the representatives of the slain, not by public authorities; it belongs therefore to private as opposed to public justice. In nomadic society the perpetuation of the clan depends upon its fighting strength and its sense of unity. Hence assault upon a member of the clan, if attended with even unintended fatal results, involves the tribe, clan, or family of the slain in what is felt to be a sacred duty, the avenging of the shedding of blood. The custom is important from the standpoint of utilitarian ethics, since the knowledge that reparation will be demanded by the clan of the assailed restrains a potential assailant from wanton attack and makes men more careful in ordinary intercourse. The duty set by the institution is binding, and so close is the relationship in the clan that all its members may become involved, the result being a blood-feud between the clans of the assailant and the victim. Usually, however, the duty devolves upon the next of kin. Refusal on his part to exercise his right and perform his duty subjects him to utter contempt and even to outlawry (http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc02/htm/iv.v.clviii.htm).
Act III. scene i notes:
Queen Gertrude and King Claudius inquire of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern how their meeting with Hamlet went. They reply he was "most like a gentleman", didn't ask many questions but answered any they had.
Polonius then puts into play his plan for his daughter Ophelia to speak to Hamlet, whilst he and the king listen in, this being to ascertain if Hamlet's madness is really caused by his love for Ophelia.
Hamlet enters and we have his famous to be or not to be speech. Should he kill himself? What are the arguments for and against suicide?
Hamlet and Ophelia converse. She returns his "perfume-lost" love letters. Hamlet plays word games with her, questioning her honesty and telling her to "get thee to a nunnery" for he is "indifferent honest" and an "arrant knave." As he speaks harshly to Ophelia, but perhaps the words are really meant for his mother. He then says, That those that are married already / all but one, shall live"(III.i.160). On that note, he leaves.
Ophelia's very distraught over this noble mind o'er throwned. But the King realizes that love is not the root of Hamlet's madness."His affections do not tend that way." He determines to send the Prince to England., as "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." Polonious still thinks Ophelia is the cause, but asks King Claudius to let the Queen privately speak with her son about her grief, before he is sent away.
Act III.ii.
Hamlet practices with players / actors and gives them new lines to insert into the play. Shakespeare has him give good advice to being a successful performer. These words hold true today. As well, he tells Horatio of his plans, that he is to "rivit" to the [King's] face." Horatio agrees to watch carefully.
The play: Hamlet makes bawdy allusions with Ophelia, and she notes that he is "merry".
In the play within the play: note that Hamlet tells the King the play is entitled "The Mousetrap." In"The Murder of Gonzago" the former king's death, Hamlet's father's murder, is reenacted. Claudius has a fit and the play is brought to a premature end.
Horatio too has noted the king's behavior and Guildenstern informs him of the king's choler (anger) and that the Queen wishes to speak with him. With both Guildenstern and Polonius, Hamlet plays more word games, augmenting the belief that he is truly mad. The scene ends with the "witching time of night" when Hamlet knows he is capable of action. But to his mother, he must "be cruel, not unnatual"; "speak daggers, but use none."
Act III.iii
The King tells Rosencrantz and Guidenstern to take Hamlet to England.
Polonius informs the King that Hamlet is with his mother. King Claudius' reflects on his actions. Hamlet observes him "a-praying" and so decides not to kill him, because that would mean the King would be forgiven in God's eyes. Remember his father is in Purgatory; how ironic if his murderer goes to heaven.
Act III.iv
Polonius hides behind the arras (curtain), whilst Hamlet converses with his mother. Hamlet kills Polonius. This is an intense scene. What do you think is the nature of the relationship between Hamlet and his mother? He is violent towards her, makes vivid comparisons between his father and her new husband, and overt sexual references. His father's ghost appears- or does it, as only Hamlet sees him- and chides him: "Do not forget. This visitation / Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose"(III.iv.126-7). In the meantime, Gertrude thinks he is crazy and asks him to "sprinkle cool patience". When the ghost leaves, Hamlet explains he "must be cruel to be kind." She should not "go to my uncle's bed"...for "a pair of reechy kisses." The scene concludes with her acquiesing to Hamlet's demands and Hamlet telling her that he is to England with "two school fellows / Whom [he] will trust as adders fanged". (Note that he refers to the "letters sealed" his friends carry. These are a mandate from Claudius to kill the Prince, but Hamlet is aware and relishes the idea "when in one line two crafts directly meet". First though he'll "lug the guts (that's Polonius) into the neighbor room."
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