more act 4

some things we went over today:

-in scene 3 Hamlet talks to Claudius about the worms eating Polonius
"Not where he eats, but where he is eaten..."
what was concluded was that we are fish bait, which is nothing. Hamlet says that we think we are the top of the food chain but the worm always lives.. and the hobo eats the king?

-(random side note about the 'nothing joke') 'nothing'=vagina.
the Elizabethans believed that women are empty and useless unless they have a male to go along with them. this is slang that appears in most of Shakespeare plays. ex. King Lear

-at the end of scene 3 the King talks to England because he is sending letters to let them know about Hamlet's execution and he is telling England what the letters say basically.
-England will do what Denmark says because they are afraid. 'do it or else...'
- Claudius says:
"For like the hectic in my blood he rages...."
this is saying the sickness in my blood (Hamlet is like a virus) and the cure is his death. When really Hamlet is the cure, Claudius is the sickness because he is all fake.

-Does Claudius know how or if Hamlet really knows?
He doesn't care, he just cares that there is a problem and he needs a speedy way to solve it, why ask questions. less cause, more about the effect.

-scene 4: Fortinbras is seen for the first time, why now?
He is acting to fight in Poland for a useless patch of land. Hamlet sees that honor is enough.. and realizes that he is 3/4 coward, 1/4 wisdom.

Tanya

Act 4 Notes

Hey everyone, so it's like 11pm and the night before the test! But i suppose i'm just going to post all my act 4 notes that I have so far. Since we've been lacking on updating the blog again. Good LUCK everyone on the test tomorrow and thanks Tanya for those quotes! They were really helpful.
ACT 4 Scene 1/2/3
This is following Hamlet's murder of Polonius in Act 3. At the end of Act 3 Hamlet also leaves Gertrude with a choice to either pick her role as queen or her role as mother. (Basically making her pick sides.) So the start of Act 4 shows her choosing Hamlet over Claudius. Gertrude tells Claudius how crazy Hamlet is and explains to him how Hamlet killed Polonius after mistaking him for a rat. Hamlet is very intent on creating chaos and turmoil in this Act. The story gets more chaotic obviously now that Claudius fully established that he is in fact a usurper. The chaos Hamlet is creating at the moment is not telling anyone where the body of Polonius is. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ask him, Hamlet calls them sponges which are low on the evolutionary chain and also spineless/useless.
A significant quotes Hamlet says which sounds crazy, but we know what it really means. "The body is with the king...the king is not with the body." This is just another play on words by Hamlet that uses "king" to mean king hamlet because we as the audience know the real king cannot be a usurper(claudius).
The fox hunt reference means an extremely unfair and onesided hunt. (Horses, guns, and lots of people versus one fox)
******The reasons Claudius will not persecute Hamlet for the murder of Polonius
1. keeping order and becoming VERY desperate to maintain power
2. people love Prince Hamlet
3. He's prince
4. Hamlet knows about the murder and could use that if persecuted
5. obviously Gertrude wouldn't be too thrilled if Claudius had her son executed..

We also talked about why Hamlet calls Claudius mother. It's mainly because he would NEVER call Claudius father. It's very insulting and his bond with Gertrude gives them a collective identity. It's also pretty funny.
Today we mainly reviewed for tomorrow's testttt. It's got 10 quotes that we have to analyze and explain. Know context and significance! Alrighty.
Emily Wallace

Act 3 quotes

Here's a couple quotes to think about from Act 3 scene 1 for the test on Friday. If anyone has some other ones, post them up if you get a chance..

Act III. i
(around line 30)
King- "With all my heart; and it doth much content me
To hear him so inclined.
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpose into these delights."
-Claudius to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern/ after receiving notice that Hamlet is excited about the players and would like them to go watch.
--I was wondering why Claudius orders them to 'drive' him as to steer him into certain pleasures.

(around line 50)
Polonius- "Read on this book,
That show of such an exercise may colour
Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,
'Tis too much proved, that with devotion's visage
And pious action we do sugar o'er
The devil himself."
-First three lines: Polonius is asking Ophelia to use the book to add realism to her loneliness.
-Last two: to Claudius stating that it has been done before and proven that things can be covered up but still remains true (Theme: not everything is what it seems to be)

[directly after, the King says aside:
"O, 'tis too true.
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot's cheek, beautied with plast'ring art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word.
O heavy burden!"
-Polonius's words bother him: this shows us he is guilty of something (keeps the audience going
-The reference to the artificiality of the make-up that beautifies the harlot's face is compared as similar to Claudius's words that cover up his deeds. (Theme: Appearance vs. Reality)

Hamlet's 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy

(around line 150)
Hamlet- "I have heard of your paintings well enough.
God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another...
...Those that are married already, all but
one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery,
go."
-To Ophelia, pin pointing her false appearance
-Foreshadowing a death: 'all but one shall live'




Tanya

hey guys, for anyone doing their paper on either the gibson or the the branagh version of the scene, i've found both on youtube, and favorited them, so if you want, you can find them on my page at www.youtube.com/pianoman728 in my favorites.  Hope that helps! good luck everyone.

--Patrick Lafferty

3/11 Class Notes

Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 2)

Analysis/Notes:

-Hamlet requests the play in order to mimic how he belies the murder of his father took place.

-Claudius will fully understand the play and, as a result, he will only further want Hamlet out of the country due to him now being a direct threat of his kingship.

-The playwright gives Shakespeare the opportunity to directly talk to his audience. 

-Shakespeare loves theatre therefore he creates Hamlet to be a fan of theatre as well.

-Hamlet asks why do we act? He answers by saying it gives people the chance to look at their life in a non-objective way, and this is only something theatre can offer. 

-Honor demands that Hamlet carry out his action out without another person being involved. Hamlet must be the one to make things right.

-Hamlet most likely had a small relationship with his father. They differ in interests and he's barely been around him during his adult life. People are often more respected and like once they're dead, and this is most definitely one of those cases. 

-Ryan Grosso

3/10 MINUTES

Mr. Lazarow began the class by first asking if there were any questions about our essays due this friday. Since there were none, we continued on to Hamlet act 3, scene2. During act 3, scene 2 the players acted out The Murder of Gonzaga. Before they began, Hamlet told them to add an extra scene which was the killing of the king killed by his nephew which is symbolic to Hamlet killing Claudius. This is a public threat by Hamlet to Claudius' life which everyone in attendance saw. During the previous scene Hamlet also made a private threat to Claudius' life when he said that he would kill all those who are married.

Before the play, Hamlet proved a point to Polonius, Guildenstern, and Rosencrantz who were trying to get information out of Hamlet that they could not play him but he could easily play them and make them do whatever he wanted.

By the end of the scene when Hamlet is planning on going to see his mother, he is very angry. During his ending soliloquy he has to remind himself not to attack his mother.

-Mickey Gill

Minutes- 3/9/09

Today we began class by talking about the new movie Watchmen. Mr. Laz mentioned that he will be holding the discussion group for those who have read the book, or seen the movie. It will be next Monday (3/16/09) at 2:00 PM. He also said that anyone who would like to is more than welcome to write a paper about any of the various questions that were addressed in Watchmen.
We were also reminded that our paper comparing 2 of the videos of the "Rogue" soliloquy in Act 2 of Hamlet is due this Friday (3/13/09)
We spent the remainder of the period watching video of the "To be or not to be" speech as well as Hamlet's confrontation with Ophelia in Act 3. We watched the 2 major motion picture versions starring Mel Gibson & Kenneth Branagh. While watching we were to be asking ourselves questions, especially, At what point is it that Hamlet realizes that he is being watched?
Laz also told us that tomorrow we will be starting Act 3, Scene 2 so be ready.
-Celia

MINUTES- 03/04/09

Gugggggg i'm sorry I just got back from work :(! Bah it's so late. Anyhow today in the beginning of class we turned in our responses to the quotes we recieved. Then Mr. Lazarow handed out more Hamlet questions and thus started our discusion of Act 3 Scene 1. There is a point in the break up scene with Ophelia, that Hamlet realizes her father is in the room. This place is line 129. He says "Where's your father" and Ophelia responds by lying and telling him that her father is at home. When everyone departs Ophelia has a moment alone where she has her own soliloquy. In it she expresses worry for everyone and the nation but does not refer to love or her and Hamlets relationship. This indicates betrayal and that any love that MAY have been is now gone.
HAMLETS SOLILOQUY..... 'to be or not to be...'
We compared this soliloquy with his previous one, where he is very enthusiastic about the players and his plan to expose claudius. His feelings are almost considered manic in comparison to this Act 3 Scene 1 soliloquy. This moment is a very low one where Hamlet mainly discusses death. He believes that in death there is no pain and that life is pretty awful.
He compares death to sleeping when you dream. If you dream when you are dead you would not be able to wake from a bad dream. Hamlet then comes to a conclusion that FEAR GOVERNS ACTIONS: in life you can try to fight for troubles (but inevitably life will mull you over) or you can just die. But, troubles in death could be worse than troubles in life. Either way you are avoiding which ever you think is worse thus being a 'coward'.

MARCH 13TH is when the film analysis paper is due!
-Emily Wallace

YIPPIE!

SNOW DAY!

:)

yay.