Well anyway, here's the notes for today's class.
Continuing discussion of Act 1, Scene 5 from Hamlet.
- Why do they try to get away from Old Hamlet's voice? (He kept saying SWEAR!)
They are just getting scared.
-Horatio & Marcellus don't know what was discussed between Young Hamlet & the ghost.
-They have never heard the ghost speak before.
-It's telling them what to do.
-The voice is following them around, to where they sit.
(They keep moving because YH needs to be sure they will not tell his secret, so they keep starting to say the oath.)
They are swearing by sword - because of the CROSS.
Spiritual oath - "swear to God".
They promise to not talk about seeing the ghost.
(YH does not want word of the ghost to get back to Claudius.)
-Because then Claudius will know that people know the truth of what happened, and in turn YH might be killed because he knows the truth of the situation.
Hamlet does not discuss the details of the conversation with the ghost, but he says things are going to be changing.
"Antic disposition" - Hamlet might act a bit crazy.
*He tells them to act normal, or worried.
*They can not let on at all that they know why he is acting crazy.
This is what is discussed between OH (The ghost) and YH, and also YH's Plan:
Old Hamlet wants Young Hamlet to avenge him.
Hamlet thinks that by acting crazy he'll be able to say what he wants/ and act how he wants.
His theory is:
* crazy people get left alone.
* I'll be able to do what I want, when I want, without questions being asked.
However, acting crazy might lead YH to actually becoming crazy.
(Keep in mind that this is a play about Identity, and this play is a lot about the character development of Young Hamlet. He is trying to figure out who he is, by playing with a lot of different options and choices he has.)
Vengeance:
- Revenge is now Hamlet's responsibility.
-This is a new thing for Hamlet, because he has not had to take responsibility in his life before because he is thirty years old, and still a student. He is escaping responsibility by staying in school.
The ghost gives 3 instructions:
-Kill Claudius (avenge me)
- Stay focused on your task / do not have a tainted mind
-Don't hurt your mother.
* Even though she had an affair, she already feels really guilty.
* "Leave her to heaven", God will be the one to judge Gertrude
* She still can repent, but it is her responsibility.
YH will probably mess up the rule that he is not supposed to hurt her, because he is already messing up the one to not have a tainted mind by creating the whole plan to act crazy.
The plan to act crazy is extremely convenient because YH has so much going on right now in his life, it would make sense for him to be a little bit crazy.
-Is this really the actual ghost of Old Hamlet?
* we are allowed to challenge this, but in the text YH is satisfied with thinking this is the ghost of his father.
-How do the people think OH died?
* people think that OH died by a snake bite, when he was relaxing in his garden.
- reference to Adam & Eve
- Next chapter in that book HAPPENS to be about a brother killing a brother.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND THROUGHOUT TEXT:
1. That which you see is not always what is right or true.
2. Is Claudius really at fault for the death of Old Hamlet?
3. Talk of EARS (which is a reference to YH's death.)
~Ellen Hassinger
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