Hamlet

12/19: Because I will not be in school for the rest fo the week, I have to cancel performances. Please write the reflection in class today on the chrome books and share with me. Write me a reflection that recounts for me your work on the scene, what you were trying to do, what you learned and what you would have changed if you could. Reflections due on Thursday via Google Docs.

12/18: Rehearse performances

12/15: Rehearsing scenes. Mrs. McTigue will give you the rubric for performance.

12:14: Work on your scenes: see "Hamlet scenes" attached below.

12/13: See "Hamlet 5.2 the end" attached below. I will put the Branagh version of Hamlet in the Media Center by Monday so you can watch the scene if you were absent.

12/12: See Hamlet 5.1" attached below.

12/11: Questions that arise from 4.7: the plot against Hamlet and its many layers, three sons have reason for revenge - their similarities (death to the offender is the price, to fulfill man's law requires one to abandon God's law) and differences: L & F are ready to act and have a plan, Hamlet has not. F is willing to go to war and ask many lives, L is willing to cut Hamlet's throat in a church (desecrating the church and God's law), Hamlet did not do that. Ophelia's death, suicide and the church, etc. We summarized 4.6 (Hamlet's coming home - letters proceed him) and read and discussed 4.7).

12/8: We watched 4.5 (Tennant version) and talked about Ophelia's madness, Laertes' rage, Claudius' steely confidence and Gertrude's conflict and where she throws her support.

12/7: Paragraph tips: You need an opinion (arguing that Hamlet wants to seek revenge is a fact, not an opinion). You need strong evidence put in context (if your evidence is good, context always helps. If you are writing about one of the clips, the evidence is what happens in the scene - describe what you see). My strong suggestion is that you do NOT use quotes unless you are going to analyze the language of the quote. Almost everyone who used a quote simply dropped the quote in the paragraph and wrote "This proves..." rather than analyzing. A strong paraphrase (see the Gertrude paragraph) works well and more often results in the writer explaining the evidence more thoroughly. If you are going to quote, here's how you parenthetically cite (Shakespeare 3.1.121-124).

12/5: SEE model proof paragraphs for Hamlet" attached below (revisions due on Monday). For homework and classwork, see "Shakespeare revising argument + nunnery" attached below.

12/4 For classwork, see "Revising Shakespeare reflection" attached below.

12/1: For classwork and homework, see Hamlet 3.4 attached below. Links to possible scenes: Closet scene Hawke (this one cuts out before the Ghost enters, sadly), Tennant Nunnery scene: Branagh, Hawke, Gibson, Tennant (start at 3:55 mark).

11/30: Read Hamlet 3.3 - pay particular attention to the two speeches at the end of the scene.

11/29: Please see "Hamlet 3.2 play" attached below (classwork and homework are part of that attachment). If you missed class, watch the Tennant version here.

11/28: Please see "Hamlet 3.1 Ophelia (attached below).

11/21: HOMEWORK: Forsyth ( "Rhetorical Questions"). Instructions and reading on Forsyth Chapters page (link on Shakespeare page). In class, we watched, wrote analyzed and talked about "To Be or Not To Be:" Gibson, Tennant, Hawke, Essiedu.

11/20: HOMEWORK: Forsyth ("Diacope"). Instructions and reading on Forsyth Chapters page (link on Shakespeare page).

In class: We worked with 3.1 - R&G report to the king and queen + Ophelia's role as a spy. As "To Be or Not to Be"

We watched Branagh's version of the speech.

11/17: HOMEWORK: Read through the class notes (posted below as "Hamlet group notes"). My comments/corrections are in red. Please make sure you understand the notes and come to class on Monday with questions. In class, we shared highlights from the small group work.

1/16: HOMEWORK:On the front of the notecard: Think about the experience today and reflect on your own strengths, fears and concerns and about what you learned: What were your feelings when we started this (when you were separated into groups and were you started to work on your own)? How did those feelings change as you continued to work and why? What was it like talking together in groups? Were you nervous? Did you listen more than you talked? If you talked more, were you willing to listen? Were you willing to speak up when you had questions/ideas? What surprised you about your strengths? What have your learned about yourself and about the play?

In class see "Hamlet groups after 2.2" attached below.

11/15: We finished 2.2: Points of discussion - Hamlet's interactions with Polonius (echoes of 1.2., "there is matter to 't," acting or really mad, gallows humor), Polonius' plan (Ophelia) and R&G - prose, mirroring, the betrayal over and over again. We focused on the soliloquy too: Recap and reaction (how he's feeling/thinking about what just happened), reflection (why it matters in his current situation), reveal (what's the plan?)

11/14: See Hamlet 2.2. (attached).

1/8: HOMEWORK: For Tuesday: Revisit one of the scenes we watched in class (there are links on the website). Watch it two or three times, taking good notes. THINK about how the Ghost is portrayed and why? Hamlet’s interaction with the Ghost and what that tells you, the mood of the scene and why that matters, etc. Write a reflection about one aspect of the scene that particularly strikes you. Describe what you see and how it informs your thinking about character, relationship, etc. Be specific and clear.

1/7: We talked through the possibilities about the Ghost and watched scenes.

See "Hamlet 1.5 reflect" attached below. After you reflect on your own choices for performance, watch three scenes Ghost scenes: Branagh, Tennant, Hawke, Gibson

1/6: HOMEWORK: read “Pleonasm” and respond as we always do to Forsyth (see the Forsyth page on the website if you need a refresher).

Please work in groups of three today (a pair is fine if that’s what needs to happen). You’re reading 1.5 today in Hamlet. Remember that Hamlet is following the ghost because he wants to speak to it (his friends follow to protect him). Remember what we’ve said about the dangers of ghosts). Read through the scene together carefully. Pay close attention to the speeches. Keep in mind the ghost and our questions as he lays out his story. Pay attention to Hamlet’s reaction and to his speeches. Once you understand meaning, choose two speeches to look at more closely (on of Hamlet and one of the ghost’s). Look at imagery, at language, rhetoric (alliteration especially matters in these speeches). Take group notes of what’s important and why, and write down questions and character ideas. Please turn these in at the end of the period. HOMEWORK: read “Pleonasm” and respond as we always do to Forsyth (see the Forsyth page on the website if you need a refresher).

11/3: We talked through the choices for Polonius' speech and watched different versions. We then continued on to 1.4 and the ghost.

11/2: HOMEWORK: See "Hamlet 1.3 directing choices" attached below. In class - we revisited the Laertes- Ophelia scene in an effort to think about how to stage the scene: taking into consideration setting, relationship, character, and highlighting visual cues for meaning. We plotted out the spacial relationship during the discussion, the physicality and what that conveys, etc. Then we returned to the text, read Polonius' speech to Laertes in several different tones (cold, pompous, goofy Dad, lovingly concerned) to get a sense of his character and relationship and did the same for the end of the scene.

11/1: Examining Laertes and Ophelia as characters and in relationship. Several goals here: to begin to create an understanding of Laertes as a foil to Hamlet, to understand their characters and relationship, to think about the family unit in contrast to Hamlet's, and to think about how the text and interaction informs our understanding of character (see "Hamlet 1.3 family dynamics" attached below).

10/30: We looked more closely at Hamlet's soliloquy, talked about the dangers of ghosts, about Hamlet's relationships (to family, to dead father, to Horatio and to the teaching of the church) and of Claudius and Gertrude, etc.

10/27: HOMEWORK: Over the weekend, please watch the opening scene as portrayed in the Kenneth Branagh version and the David Tennant version. After each scene, in your journals, respond to what you saw. What surprised you, interested you, what struck you are particularly strong and why, what confused you, what choices do you think were the best and why, which ones would you say don’t make sense and why? For each, write at least 2/3rds of a journal page. If you cannot access the videos this weekend, you can come in early Monday morning to watch in the classroom. You need to be here before 7:00 a.m. to have time.

In class: see "Hamlet classwork 1.1 and 1.2" attached below (the Forsyth chapter is on the Forsyth chapters page). Here's the full text.

10/25: Richard 3 test.

10/24: HOMEWORK: plan for the test on Wed. In Class: Performances of the neutral scene and looking at the characters and family units in Hamlet.

10/23: HOMEWORK: plan for the test on Wed. In Class: We talked through the test (Wed) and started work on Hamlet (sharing lines across the way and starting on scene work: neutral scene from Hamlet).