Thursday, October 12 in Hamlet to England, Polonius to spy, Claudius' soliloquy

Paapa Essiedu, the first black actor to play Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company, has won a top theatre award

       

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go" (3.3.97-98).

Learning standards: I can provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

I can determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

In class: idioms matching quiz

               handout for Hamlet vocabulary 4. copy below, quiz next Wednesday, October 19

                     continuing act 3.2 in text (3.2.291)

Begin 3:30 Horatio and Hamlet

Hamlet closes Act 3.2 alone, saying with the following:

3.2.396-407
	Tis now the very witching time of night,
	When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
	Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
	And do such bitter business as the day
	Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother.
	O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever
	The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom:
	Let me be cruel, not unnatural:
	I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
	My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites;
	How in my words soever she be shent*,              (*rebuked)
	To give them seals never, my soul, consent!

How shall Hamlet handle the meeting with his mother?

Begin 3.3.1

King Claudius's decision re Hamlet and Claudius' soiloquy

Now that Hamlet has the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, why does he not do it?

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Plot synopsis

1. Hamlet is triumphant. He tells Horatio that this proves the Ghost was telling the truth.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter and say that his mother wants to see him. Hamlet agrees to go, but furiously tells them they cannot "pluck out the heart of his mystery" or play him like a flute.

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8        2.    Polonius enters, repeating Gertrude's request to see him. Hamlet pretends to see odd shapes in a non-existent cloud. Polonius also pretends to see the shapes.

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       3.  All exit but Hamlet, who says to himself that he could "drink hot blood" (3.3.398), but forces himself to remember not to hurt his mother.

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4. King Claudius thinks Hamlet is a threat to Denmark, so tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take him to England. Note what sycophants Hamlet's friends are.

5. Claudius' soliloquy (3.3.38-72); Hamlet's response

 Hamlet vocabulary 4  list; quiz on Wednesday, October 19 class handout / copy below

1. remembrance  (noun) –greeting or gift recalling friendship or affection                   
2.  origin  (noun)- the point or place where something begins                                
3. tedious  (adjective)- lacking in mental interest, boring                                
4.  to indict (verb)- to accuse of a crime                             
5.  to devise –(verb)- to create a plan                              
6.  to pester – (verb)-to annoy someone                             
7.  misogynistic-(adjective)-  having a derogatory attitude towards women                  
8.  torment –(noun) or to torment (verb)- having or creating an intense feeling of pain                            
9. lunacy       (noun)- a state of senseless behavior                              
10. potent (adjective)- having force or authority