Hamlet

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read Act I, Scene v and Act II, Scene i of Hamlet while following the study guide questions.

Objectives:

• 1. To establish the background story to Hamlet.

2. To begin to formulate character sketches of the major characters.
3. To identify the setting of the drama.
4. To review the Aristotelian unities.

Activities:

• A. Administer the quiz you should have found with these plans.

• B. Use the following questions (and answers) to facilitate a discussion of Act I, Scene v and Act II, Scene i of Hamlet.

  Act I, Scene v

  • 1. What important information concerning the ghost comes from lines 5-7 and 14-17, aside from its identity?

    The ghost must return to a place of pain [5-7], and it must roam the earth at night until its murder is avenged, at which time it may leave the Purgatorial realm it now occupies by day [4-17].

  • 2. What significant exposition does the ghost provide in lines 46-98? Is that information trustworthy? Be sure you can defend your answer.

    King Hamlet was murdered [46]. Claudius seduced Gertrude [49-53]. Claudius poisoned Hamlet as the king slept [66-77]. Finally, King Hamlet died unshriven [83-84].

    This is an OPEN QUESTION. The students should understand that Hamlet must answer that question before he can act.

  • 3. What is the ghost’s request (command) of Hamlet? What prohibition does he lay upon Hamlet? What is the significance of line 112?

    The ghost commands Hamlet to end the lustful incest between Claudius and Gertrude [89-90].

    The ghost further prohibits Hamlet from harming Gertrude - which indicates by omission that he must kill Claudius.

    In lines 112-115, Hamlet condemns his mother as an accomplice to murder and calls Claudius a hypocritical villain.

  • 4. Why does Hamlet resolve to “put an antic disposition on” (192)?

    Hamlet proposes to disguise his intentions with false madness.

  • 5. What is the significance of lines 153-154 in determining Hamlet’s state of mind? How does it measure up against lines 210-212?

    Hamlet believes the ghost because he already suspects his uncle.

    Hamlet regrets the circumstances of his father’s death and of the vengeance now incumbent upon him.

  Overview

  • 1. What parallels can you find in the following lines from this act: 2.139-141, 3.42-43, 4.100, and 5.39-40? What idea or emotion may Shakespeare be trying to evoke?

    These are OPEN QUESTIONS.

  • 2. Compare the word strange in 1.75, 2.233, 5.34, and 5.185.

    Make sure the students defend their answers.

  Act II, Scene i

  • 1. What does Polonius’s conversation with Reynaldo reveal about the old man’s character?

    Polonius is instructing Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris and to do so in a most remarkable manner. He wants Reynaldo to go about inquiring of other Danes there whether they know Laertes and in so doing to attribute immoral behaviors to him to see if they agree. He explains that by using this kind of indirection Reynaldo may get at the real truth about Laertes’ behavior.

    All this expresses Polonius’s own distrustful and suspicious nature. It may even hint that he suspects Laertes of the same kind of bad behavior Polonius himself had indulged in during his own youth.

  • 2. Explain line 70.

    In essence the metaphor might be paraphrased: If you fish for information with this kind of bait, you will catch the truth of Laertes.

Assignment for next class meeting: Read Act II, Scene ii of Hamlet. Do the corresponding study questions.