Turnitin.com

Hi folks,

So, this is a double test for everyone in the class - I am testing people to see how often they come to the blog, but also, whether or not they listen to me.

So, in preparation of handing in your essays on Thursday, I am having all of you register for Turnitin.com.

Go to www.turnitin.com and create a profile.  Once it asks you to give a class ID, you will give it this number: 7880546

You will then need to give a password - here is the test to see if you have been listening - the password is the city in which my favourite sports team plays - all lower case.  I can't wait to see how many of you are actually able to join the class.

I will help anybody else on Tuesday, but for now, good luck.

"The Mousetrap" - Aspects of the Play-within-a-Play

It is a Failure!
It is obvious that through the staging of "The Mousetrap" Hamlet wishes to discover whether Claudius, in fact, did murder his father.  The result, however, can only be classified as a failure.  It can be said that Claudius rose from his chair and thus revealing his guilt, but, come on, seriously?  Can we really condemn a guy for simply rising in his chair?

So, is it a success?  No.  All that we learn from this play-within-a-play is that Hamlet is, for lack of a better term, a disrespectful jerk.  He does not stop making a spectacle of himself during the entire scene.  He yells things at the stage.  He says lots of rather inappropriate things to Ophelia.  He is malicious and disparaging to his own mother, and basically, rather than letting the play unfold, he hints to Claudius what is actually going on.  The original plan was to catch the King's conscience through the play.  Instead, the focus becomes Hamlet's behaviour.  And what does this result in?  The people of Denmark are concerned about Hamlet, NOT the king.

Art Contrasting with Life
It is no coincidence that Hamlet chose The Murder of Gonzago to be the play that is shown at court.  A king with an apparently devoted wife who is murdered, while asleep in his garden, by a relative who pours poison in his ears, and wins the love of the queen by giving her gifts.  However, Hamlet does not see it simply this way.  Not only does he want to use it to catch Claudius (see above), but he also seemingly uses it to insult his mother.  There is no denying that Gertrude did marry quite quickly after her husband had died...and to her brother (legally, not biologically).  What we mustn't forget, however, is the fact that she is a woman, and her choices would be limited.  It was not uncommon back in those days for a new king to "dispose" of any potential nuisances.  So Gertrude, ultimately, is playing it safe.  Which brings us to the Player Queen, who shows her devotion to her husband with many quotes of affection like

"Oh confound the rest!
Such love must be treason in my breast.
In second husband let me accursed!
None wed the second but who killed the first."  (3.2.365-368)

Bold words, and for Hamlet, they are harsh.  Poor Gertrude, as we can safely assume that she had nothing to do with Old Hamlet's death, yet is being placed in the same column as Claudius.  Her opinion of the play, when challenged by Hamlet, is met with more curses and derision from her son.  But, ultimately, despite us feeling bad for Gertrude in some respect, the words spoken between the Player King and the Player Queen are "wormwood" as they are very much the opposite of what Gertrude and Old Hamlet are.  But, as said earlier, who's fault is that?

The Play-within-a-Play changes the Play
A bit of a mouthful, but, here is the question?  Why?  Why would Shakespeare do this?  Starting at the end of Act II, with the arrival of the players, the next couple of scenes are literally a sideshow.  The Players do not further the plot, nor is there any plot whatsoever.  It is metatheatre, and whether Shakespeare was getting paid by the word for this one, it is a widely entertaining but utterly unnecessary section of the play.  Basically, with the players, Shakespeare is presenting his opinion towards theatre and how actors should act.  Good info for a drama class, but do not forget the audience he was writing this for.  It, in many ways, is just out of place.

Life is a Stage
But, at the same time, it can be seen as some philosophical thought from Shakespeare.  Shakespeare was likely a subscriber to the idea "Life is all a stage, and we are actors on this stage."  Similar to the Walt Whitman and now iPad line "That you are here - that life exists and identity, that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."  So, with Shakespeare exploring these ideas, he combines drama with life, leading us to look at our own life as that of an actor.  In what ways is life like a stage?  What verse will you contribute?

Test Format

As a reminder, here is the format of the test for tomorrow:

Part A - 6 Multiple Choice Questions

Part B - 3 Short Answer Analytical Questions

Part C - Passage Analysis

With Part C, there will be four aspects you will need to look at when analyzing the passage - Plot, Character Development, Language, and Theme.

Good Luck!  Keep Checking the Blog

Hamlet Review - Post 2

Continuing on with our review, this post will look at the character Fortinbras.

Fortinbras, the nephew of the King of Norway, a prince, "delicate and tender," but spirited and ambitious, forms a contrast to both Hamlet and Horatio. He is a man of action, and is never happy unless engaged in "some enterprise that hath a stomach in it." Being, as Horatio says, "Of unimproved metal hot and full," he engages in martial enterprises merely for the sake of fighting. He furnishes Hamlet an example which he is quick to admire, but powerless to follow. "Examples gross as earth, exhort me," says Hamlet,

Witness this army, of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince;
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event;
Exposing what is mortal, and unsure,
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. -- IV. iv. 46.

Like every other young man in this play, Fortinbras has a serious case of daddy issues. His dad Old Fortinbras, former King of Norway, made a bet with Old Hamlet and wound up losing his life and some important Norwegian territory in the process. Naturally, young Fortinbras now has to reclaim the land his father lost.

Sound familiar? Of course. But while Hamlet sits around contemplating life and death, Fortinbras takes immediate action by raising an army to reclaim Norway's lost territories. Though his uncle (the current king of Norway) at first convinces Fortinbras not to attack Denmark, in the end, prince Fortinbras helps himself to the Danish throne.

Behind the stories of both Fortinbras and Hamlet is the question of why their uncles are wearing the crowns that should, in the normal pattern of who-gets-to-be-king, go to them (the sons). Fortinbras deals by going out and conquering other countries; Hamlet, in contrast, only mentions the fact that Claudius has "popped in between the election and [his] hopes" (in other words, his hopes of becoming the King of Denmark). He distracts himself with thinking, not with conquering.

Our prince compares himself explicitly to Fortinbras when he passes Fortinbras's armies in the fields and he sees Fortinbras as a model for how he should behave. "To be great / is not to stir without great argument / but greatly to find quarrel in a straw / when honor's at the stake" (4.4.52-55). In other words, Hamlet realizes that Fortinbras doesn't have very good reasons for leading an army against Poland —but reasons don't really matter. Great men don't need a reason to preserve their family's honor. Fortinbras, like Laertes, is an example of action with little thought —precisely the opposite of Hamlet.

Our question: why is Fortinbras successful while Laertes isn't? (Maybe because he's not in love with his sister? Just saying.

Adapted from shakespeare-online.com & shmoop.com

Hamlet Review - Post 1

Hi folks,

With the Hamlet test coming on Thursday the 27th, it is important that you are prepared.  Today, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, there will be a few posts to help you focus your studies towards the actual test.  The following are some of things you should be reviewing.

1.) The "Rotten State" of Denmark

Denmark was not always rotten, as Prince Hamlet makes it clear that his father was a god-like figure when he was king.  Under the "satyr" like king, Claudius, Denmark has fallen into a state of corruption.  The second scene of the play makes it clear that it is the weak and corrupt condition of Denmark under Claudius that affords occasion for the warlike activities of Fortinbras. From the beginning of the play Hamlet has had suspicions, which are gradually confirmed as the plot develops, that Claudius has exerted a very evil influence upon the country.  From buying off Norway, rather than fight them, to allowing characters like Osiric to sit at the royal table, to performing the ancient and forgotten custom of drinking glass after glass of wine to sounds of drums and trumpets, Denmark has become a debauched place.  Consider these ideas, should a question come up on the test.

2.) Yorick

Alas, poor Yorick...he is dead.  Judging by Hamlet's reaction to the remains of the former jester, he clearly wasn't always doom and gloom like he is for the vast majority of the play.  Yorick brought great happiness to Hamlet in his childhood, and his fonder memories spring up while gazing upon the jester's chapless skull.  It helps Hamlet to realize that whether you are the highest king or the lowliest of servant, everyone ends up in the same spot - in the ground, eventually turning into dust.  To a lesser extent, there is a bit of dark comedy here.  You have a focus on the deceased court jester, the gravediggers  are clowns, and there is a whole amusing discussion as to the nature of suicide and accidental death.  The whole scene gives us a comical reminder that death can be amusing because we fear it so much, yet we do not understand it.

More to come later

Most Recent Handouts

Here are the most recent handouts if any of you have missed class - the second one will NOT be distributed in class but rather, it is up to you to download it and/or print it.

Culminating Activity

Structure of a Shakespeare Tragedy

Discussion Question for Today's Class

Today, we will be discussing a little more focused aspect of Act IV and technically, the play as a whole after finishing Act V (which we will watch all at once)

1.) Discuss the aspects and roles of the characters who can be seen as the agents of corruption and agents of truth in the Court of Denmark

2.) After the Gravedigger Scene, how has Hamlet's understanding of death changed?  What is his new outlook towards life and death?  How does he feel about this?

Looking forward to seeing all of you after our week off.

Flowers from Ophelia

Whether in the distribution of flowers to the members of the court, Ophelia gave them out as they came to hand, or whether she chose a particular flower suitable to each person, is open to conjecture; neither in the text, nor by any stage direction has the Poet left us any certainty. By a long established custom, however, which has become a fixed stage tradition, Ophelia assigns rosemary to Hamlet, who is present to her imagination; she gives pansies to Laertes; fennel and columbines to Claudius; and rue to the Queen and herself.

When the mind is unsettled, it is usual for some idea to recur which has been introduced at a critical period of one's life. Now when Laertes was warning Ophelia against encouraging the attentions of Hamlet, he urged her to consider them as trifling, and his love but a violet in the youth of primy nature. These words, imprinted on her mind in association with the idea of Hamlet and her brother, are now recalled when she again converses with her brother on the same unhappy subject. Violets represent faithfulness, and they all withered, when her lover by the slaying of her father, had interposed a final obstacle to her union with him.

The language of flowers is very ancient, and was to Ophelia, like to most young maidens, a fond subject of study. Rosemary is emblematic of remembrance, and was distributed and worn at weddings, as well as at funerals. The pansy is a symbol of thought, of pensiveness, and of grief. The daisy represents faithlessness and dissembling. Fennel designates flattery, or cajolery and deceit; and columbine, ingratitude; and these two flowers Ophelia befittingly presents to the guileful and faithless Claudius. Rue is a bitter plant with medicinal qualities, and was in folk lore a symbol of repentance. She calls it "an herb of grace on Sundays;" because the wearer when entering a church on that day, dipped his rue in Holy Water, which always stood within the portals, and blessed himself with it, in the hope of obtaining God's "grace" or mercy. "There's rue for you," she says to the Queen, and "here's some for me." The Queen, however, is to wear hers with a difference, that is, in token of repentance, while she will wear it in regret and grief at the loss of her father and her lover. In the distribution, the demented maiden is seen naively but unwittingly to choose the flower most suited to each person.

Adapted From Blackmore, Simon Augustine. The Riddles of Hamlet. Boston: Stratford & Company, 1917.

A Couple of Administrative Items

First of all, there are a few of you who have not handed into me the Analytical Paragraph Assignment - I will be talking to you tonight in class.  If you can't find the article, or the actual assignment, I have posted them in the HANDOUTS link (click the word to access it).

As well, this blog is about to become even more important.  I am going to be putting occasional discussion questions, which you are to bring to the next class.  I will not be starting that today as it is near the beginning of class, but be prepared for Thursday's class - consider it a test of your dedication to the blog!

Hamlet Themes & Thematic Topics

Themes and Thematic Topics to be considered for Hamlet are as follows and are in no particular order.

1.) Appearance vs. Reality
2.) Insanity as a ploy - is Hamlet really mad? - your opinion may change as the play continues
3.) Revenge
4.) The question of taking action - consider the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon from earlier
5.) Metatheatre - Shakespeare uses this to present his opinions towards acting and the stage
6.) Sexual innuendo
7.) The Personification of the State of Denmark - and the state is VERY sick
8.) Imagery of Corruption and Disease

Hope this helps!