Hamlet and the players
Learning targets: I can cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
Coming up: Wednesday- power point review for Hamlet vocabulary 4 (copy of words passed out last Friday below)
Thursday, Hamlet vocabulary 4 quiz
Today's class:
We ended yesterday with the announcement that a group of players were arriving at the castle to perform. Hamlet watched them and was profoundly moved by the experience. He also asks the players if :
We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need,Clearly Hamlet has a plan. We then have Hamlet's second soliloquy (an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud).
study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which
I would set down and insert in't, could you not? (II.ii.550-3).
We will listen to the soliloquy. (21:52) (You have an accompanying graphic organizer. (Class handout / copy below). .
Important information for understanding the soliloquy: In Greek mythology, Hecuba was the wife of Priam, king of the city of Troy. She bore Priam many children, including Hector, Paris, Polydorus, and Cassandra.
While pregnant with Paris, Hecuba had a dream in which she gave birth to a fiery torch that was covered with snakes.
The prophets of Troy told her that this was a bad omen and predicted that if the child lived, he would be responsible for the fall of Troy.
Therefore, upon Paris's birth, Hecuba ordered two servants to kill the child. Unable to perform such a terrible act, the servants left Paris on a mountain to die, and he was found and raised by a shepherd.
Years later, Paris returned to Troy, and as predicted, he caused the city's destruction. He began the Trojan War by taking away Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. All the rulers of Greece had sworn to defend Helen. To rescue her, they declared war on Troy, sacking and burning it after a long siege.
Hecuba watched as many of her 19 children were brutally slayed or carried away as slaves This is what the players performed for Hamlet.
Before starting the graphic organizer, as a class we will review the text for understanding. Please annotate as we review.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! 560
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, 565
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do, 570
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed 575
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king, 580
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat, 585
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites 590
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, 595
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion! 600
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions; 605
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, 700
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits, 705
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Soliloquy Hamlet Act II Name
________________________ (writing grade)
Now I am alon
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wann'd, Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing! For Hecuba!  What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do, Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears And cleave the general ear with horrid speech, Make mad the guilty and appal the free, Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed The very faculties of eyes and ears. 
Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing; no, not for a king, Upon whose property and most dear life A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face? Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat, As deep as to the lungs? who does me this? Ha!  'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall To make oppression bitter, or ere this I should have fatted all the region kites With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! O, vengeance! Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, A scullion!  Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard That guilty creatures sitting at a play Have by the very cunning of the scene Been struck so to the soul that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions; For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. 
I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this: the play 's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. |
1.
Why is Hamlet angry with himself?
Write a complete sentence that
weaves in some of the text.
2.
How would Hamlet have acted, if “he the motive
and cue for passion” that the actor had when weeping for Hecuba? Write a complete sentence weaving in
text.
3. List
four items from the text that Hamlet gives for excuses he could use for not
having fulfilled his ghost father’s request for vengeance. TEXT
1.
2.
3.
4.
4.
List 4 adjectives Hamlet uses to berate
himself.
1.
2
3.
4.
5. a. What has commanded Hamlet to revenge his father’s murder?
(TEXT)
b. To what does Hamlet compare himself? (TEXT)
6. What happens when “guilty creatures” observe their bad actions in
a play? Write a complete sentence, weaving in text.
7. Write out the final couplet
and explain Hamlet’s plan.
|
Hamlet vocabulary 4 list; quiz on Thursday, Oct 6
- remembrance (noun) –greeting or gift recalling friendship or affection
- origin (noun)- the point or place where something begins
- tedious (adjective)- lacking in mental interest, boring
- to indict (verb)- to accuse of a crime
- to devise –(verb)- to create a plan
- to pester – (verb)-to annoy someone
- misogynistic-(adjective)- having a derogatory attitude towards women
- torment –(noun) or to torment (verb)- having or creating an intense feeling of pain
- lunacy (noun)- a state of senseless behavior
- potent (adjective)- having force or authority
