Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Hamlet Review
Hamlet Review 2011
What have we learned about how language works in literature, about Elizabethan theatre, about Shakespeare’s writing, and about Hamlet itself?
I. Hamlet’s sound
A. RHYMING COUPLETS provide memorable closure and summation
B. IAMBIC PENTAMETER / BLANK VERSE
1. provides structure, unity
2. provides potential for emphasis by way of variation: “to be or not to be; THAT is the question.”
II. Hamlet’s language
A. Word play
1. 5.1 “lie”: lie down & tell lies
2. 4.7 “too much of water”: tears & drowning [&, obliquely, Hamlet’s wish to melt (1.2)]
B. paradoxes: “more than kin less than kind”
C. figurative language/metaphors: king > worm > fish > beggar is a metaphor for Hamlet’s questioning of the Elizabethan social structure
III. Hamlet as theatre
A. Acting Choices (interpretations)
“To be or not to be” (3.1)
a. Zefferelli= MEL GIBSON
b. Almereyda= ETHAN HAWKE
c. Branagh= KENNETH BRANAGH
B. Visual Choices (interpretations)
Ex. “to be or not to be”
1. Branagh’s mirror= deceit, also outward action v. self-directed action
2. Zefferelli’s catacombs= death “the undiscovered country”
3. Almereyda’s Blockbuster= “Action” / “Go Home Happy” (irony)
IV. Hamlet’s patterns
A. Characters
1. Hamlet’s foils (contrasting characters) in terms of action:
FORTINBRAS and LAERTES
2. Another similarity and contrast: Hamlet (acts mad, wishes to die), Ophelia (is mad, allows herself to do die)
3. Who “spies”? How?
Polonius, Reynaldo (on Laertes), 2.2 Rosencrantz, Guildenstern (on Hamlet), 3.1 Claudius, Polonius (on Hamlet using Ophelia), 3.2 Horatio, Hamlet (on Claudius during play), 3.4 Polonius (on Hamlet using Gertrude)
4. Who follows and obeys? Who flatters authority (kisses up to those in power)?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
B. Plot
1. Irony
a. Hamlet believes CLAUDIUS is confessing for his sins and so does not kill him.
b. The reader/audience knows that CLAUDIUS has failed to confess.
c. Mel Gibson claims that Hamlet’s failure to kill CLAUDIUS here triggers all the other deaths in the play (triggers the tragedy as such).
2. Fitting deaths
a. POLONIUS dies spying
b. OPHELIA dies passively (& in water)
c. GERTRUDE dies drinking to Hamlet (Her death triggers Hamlet to action vs. Claudius, no?)
d. LAERTES (“I am justly killed by my own treachery.”)
e. CLAUDIUS (by sword and drink)
f. HAMLET (“the rest is silence”)
g. ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN die as servants
3. Is Fortinbras rewarded for
a. Deception?
b. Action?
C. Imagery (Who or what is associated with these images?)
1. water / liquids: Hamlet, Ophelia
2. weeds / flowers: Hamlet, Ophelia
3. snakes and other animals: Claudius (serpent), Polonius (rat), Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern (sponge, adders [snakes])
Guildenstern (sponge, adders [snakes])
4. painting / make-up: Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude
5. other: _____________________________________________________________
D. Historical and Mythological Allusions
1. Hyperion (Sun God) to Satyr (Goat Man) (1.2 soliloquy)):
King Hamlet and Claudius
2. Priam and Hecuba (2.2 Player’s speech and Hamlet’s second soliloquy):
King Hamlet and (unlike) Gertrude
3. Alexander the Great (5.1 graveyard scene) even great men end up dirt
4. Julius Caesar (3.2 Murder of Gonzago/Mouse Trap scene) Polonius once performed the role of Julius Caesar. Later Hamlet kills Polonius.
5. other: : ____________________
E. Themes
1. Fallen world
a. Hamlet sees the world as corrupt.
aa. “How weary, flat, stale, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world.”
bb. “tis an unweeded garden”
cc. “Man delights not me nor woman neither”
b. This view is triggered – it seems – by his mother’s overhasty marriage (and later by Ophelia’s lying).
aa. “Frailty thy name is woman”
bb. “Get thee to a nunnery.”
2. Responses to corruption & trauma: Thought and Action
a. Hamlet’s soliloquies are one response to trauma: 1.2, 2.2, 3.1, 4.4
b. Laertes’s and Ophelia’s responses to trauma are revealed in these scenes: 4.5, 4.7
c. Fortinbras’s response is revealed in these scenes: 1.2, 4.4, 5.2
3. Deception: Appearance and Reality, Seems and Is
WRITE DOWN FOUR EXAMPLES OF MOMENTS WHEN SOMETHING (A PERSON’S BEHAVIOR, A PERSON’S INTENTIONS, A PERSON’S WORDS, A PERSON’S REACTION) IN THE PLAY SEEMS TO BE ONE THING BUT IS ACTUALLY ANOTHER.
a. ______________________________________
b. ______________________________________
c. ______________________________________
d. ______________________________________
How does the play illustrate the complexity and variety of human responses to corrupt acts, traumatic loss, and the realization of human mortality (including one’s own)? What does the play suggest about these responses?
Friday, January 14, 2011
The Midyear Exam and How to Prepare for It
The midyear exam consists of four parts.
1. Vocabulary words taken from Beowulf, Frankenstein, and Lord of the Flies.
2. Questions about characters, events, symbols, and themes in Beowulf, Frankenstein, and Lord of the Flies. (Questions are derived from notes and quizzes on these books. Click here for quizzes.)
3. SAT reading comprehension questions.
4. An SAT-style persuasive essay about human nature, monsters, and heroes. (Click here for the prompt.)
1. Vocabulary words taken from Beowulf, Frankenstein, and Lord of the Flies.
2. Questions about characters, events, symbols, and themes in Beowulf, Frankenstein, and Lord of the Flies. (Questions are derived from notes and quizzes on these books. Click here for quizzes.)
3. SAT reading comprehension questions.
4. An SAT-style persuasive essay about human nature, monsters, and heroes. (Click here for the prompt.)
SAT-style Essay for Midyear Exam
Writing on the Midyear Exam
The SAT-Style Essay
During the first semester we have studied several works of literature and one film that explores heroism and monstrousness. (These works include an epic poem (Beowulf), a film (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), a "monster" book of your choice, a novel (Lord of the Flies), and a short story ("The Demon Lover"). Below are two quotations that we discussed during the second term.
"I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature."
William Golding
"Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick."
from Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Plan and write a well-organized essay in which you support, refute, or revise one of the quotations. Develop your position with reasoning and examples taken from two works we have studied in English during the first semester and from personal experience and/or observation.
Notes: Be careful. Take some time to understand the quotation you have chosen and the essay prompt. Plan your essay ahead of time. You must have notes. In your notes you might (1) write down your understanding of the quotation including key terms, (2) brainstorm reasoning and examples to support your opinion on the quotation, (3) organize the brainstorm into an outline. Doing this ahead of time will allow you to spend the exam time developing your ideas fully and writing with clarity and accuracy. Notes are worth five points.
Warning: Make sure you go beyond merely identifying “ignorance” or pointing out “heroes” and “sickness”. Make sure you develop an argument. Convince me you're right.
Reflective Personal Epilogue
Then, in an epilogue – an extra paragraph – use first person (I, me, my) to carefully explain and fully develop an insight into human nature you have had while studying heroes and monsters this semester. The epilogue is worth five points.
The SAT-Style Essay
During the first semester we have studied several works of literature and one film that explores heroism and monstrousness. (These works include an epic poem (Beowulf), a film (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), a "monster" book of your choice, a novel (Lord of the Flies), and a short story ("The Demon Lover"). Below are two quotations that we discussed during the second term.
"I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature."
William Golding
"Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick."
from Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Plan and write a well-organized essay in which you support, refute, or revise one of the quotations. Develop your position with reasoning and examples taken from two works we have studied in English during the first semester and from personal experience and/or observation.
Notes: Be careful. Take some time to understand the quotation you have chosen and the essay prompt. Plan your essay ahead of time. You must have notes. In your notes you might (1) write down your understanding of the quotation including key terms, (2) brainstorm reasoning and examples to support your opinion on the quotation, (3) organize the brainstorm into an outline. Doing this ahead of time will allow you to spend the exam time developing your ideas fully and writing with clarity and accuracy. Notes are worth five points.
Warning: Make sure you go beyond merely identifying “ignorance” or pointing out “heroes” and “sickness”. Make sure you develop an argument. Convince me you're right.
Reflective Personal Epilogue
Then, in an epilogue – an extra paragraph – use first person (I, me, my) to carefully explain and fully develop an insight into human nature you have had while studying heroes and monsters this semester. The epilogue is worth five points.
Lord of the Flies Vocabulary #2 and #3 Combined
| Ebullient | Adj. | 1. Zestfully enthusiastic 2. Boiling, bubbling |
| Errant | Adj. | Roving, straying, wandering |
| Exult | Verb | To rejoice greatly |
| Festoon | Noun Verb | A string or garland, as of leaves or flowers To decorate with garlands of leaves or flowers |
| Funk (Put second def. in related word box.) | Noun | 1. State of cowardly fright 2. State of severe depression |
| Furtive | Adj. | stealthy; surreptitious; secretive; shifty |
| Gesticulate | Verb | To make (hand) movements especially while speaking, as for emphasis. |
| Grimace | Noun Verb | A sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust. To make such a face (see above) |
| Impalpable* | Adj. | 1. Not perceptible to the touch; intangible. 2. Difficult for the mind to grasp |
| Inarticulate* | Adj. | Expressed without words Unable to speak; speechless Unable to speak clearly |
| Incantation | Noun | Ritual recitation of verbal charms or spells to produce a magic effect. |
| Inscrutable* | Adj. | Difficult to fathom or understand; impenetrable. |
| Interminable* | Adj. | 1. Endless 2. Tiresomely long; tedious |
| Leviathan | Noun | 1. Something unusually large of its kind, especially a ship. 2. A very large animal, especially a whale. 3. A monstrous sea creature mentioned in the Bible. |
| Malevolent | Adj. | exhibiting ill will; wishing harm to others; malicious |
| Myriad | Adj. Noun | Innumerable A vast number |
Pinnacle | Noun | The highest point [zenith]; the culmination |
Ravenous | Adj. | Extremely hungry; voracious. Rapacious; predatory. Greedy for gratification |
| Sombre | Adj. | Dark; gloomy; melancholy; dismal; serious; grave |
| Specious | Adj. | Appearing true (or plausible) but actually fallacious |
Strident | Adj. | Loud, harsh, grating, or shrill; discordant |
Tacit | Adj. | Not spoken; Implied by or inferred from |
Talisman | Noun | 1. Magic object that lends its power to the wearer or bearer. 2. Something that apparently has magic power. |
Friday, December 17, 2010
Here's the prompt for the letter-essay you'll write in class on Monday
Imagine that you are William Golding. From his point of view write a letter to the students of Gloucester High School explaining how the character(s) you have been assigned (Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger, Sam and Eric, the littluns) and the motif you have been assigned (the island itself, shell, glasses, fire, rocks, pigs, or the boys’ appearance) contribute to the meaning of the novel. You will write one letter explaining the significance of both the character and the motif.
Support your explanation of the character’s and the motif’s significance by citing at least three specific places where you, as Golding the author, use the character to contribute to the novel’s meaning and three specific places where you, as Golding, use the motif to contribute to the novel’s meaning. Make sure you explain how the parts -- the particular uses of the character & motif -- contribute to the meaning of the novel as a whole.
When thinking about Golding's point of view and Golding’s purpose in constructing the novel, consider some things Golding has written about the novel.
“I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.”
“The theme (of Lord of the Flies) is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical mature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.”
FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO EARN AN ADVANCED SCORE…
Also perhaps consider William Golding's life. The following is an excerpt from the Nobel Prize website. (Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.)
"Taught at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury. Joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and spent six years afloat, except for seven months in New York and six months helping Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. He saw action against battleships (at the sinking of the Bismarck), submarines and aircraft. Finished as Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship. He was present off the French coast for the D-Day invasion, and later at the island of Walcheren. After the war he returned to teaching [until 1962], and began to write again. Lord of the Flies, his first novel, was published in 1954."
And for more of Golding's views you'll find his Nobel Lecture at nobelprize.org.
Support your explanation of the character’s and the motif’s significance by citing at least three specific places where you, as Golding the author, use the character to contribute to the novel’s meaning and three specific places where you, as Golding, use the motif to contribute to the novel’s meaning. Make sure you explain how the parts -- the particular uses of the character & motif -- contribute to the meaning of the novel as a whole.
When thinking about Golding's point of view and Golding’s purpose in constructing the novel, consider some things Golding has written about the novel.
“I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.”
“The theme (of Lord of the Flies) is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical mature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.”
FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO EARN AN ADVANCED SCORE…
Also perhaps consider William Golding's life. The following is an excerpt from the Nobel Prize website. (Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.)
"Taught at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury. Joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and spent six years afloat, except for seven months in New York and six months helping Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. He saw action against battleships (at the sinking of the Bismarck), submarines and aircraft. Finished as Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship. He was present off the French coast for the D-Day invasion, and later at the island of Walcheren. After the war he returned to teaching [until 1962], and began to write again. Lord of the Flies, his first novel, was published in 1954."
And for more of Golding's views you'll find his Nobel Lecture at nobelprize.org.
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