HAMLET

Shakespeare: Tragedy, Comedy and Metaphor

“The poem, the song, the picture is only water drawn from the well of people
and it should be given back to them in a cup of beauty so that they may drink—
and in drinking, understand themselves.”
--Lorca


This unit will give students a chance to look at Shakespeare from a personal and cultural perspective. The class will break of the structure of the play HAMLET and discuss how metaphor and symbol, plot and theme work in conjunction with the development of characters and ideas. A study of Hamlet must involve an examination of his melancholy, his indecision, his fatalism, his cynicism, his general disillusionment with humanity, the question of his sanity or insanity, and the revenging of his father’s death. The play is full of questions: How should one behave? What should one believe? Who is there (what force outside of humanity abides in the realms of the universe)? What is beautiful and what is ugly in humanity? The play also deals with problems: parent’s treatment of their children, the question of suicide and mortality, corruption and evil, loyalty and fate. Ultimately, Hamlet is a play about the question, “How can one live in an inherently evil world?” A timely question even today as we look at possible war with Iraq, a Middle East divided in fractions, a Korea on the verge of nuclear weapons, American and World companies that value money over people and people who value money and power over love.

OBJECTIVES: At the end of this unit students will be able to

Knowledge:

1) List the five elements of tragedy
2) List the five elements of a tragic hero
3) Define theme, plot, setting, foreshadow, oxymoron, soliloquy, personification, dramatic foil, metaphor, symbol, simile, pun
4) Give the four elements of a sonnet and a brief description of traditional sonnet themes
5) Define various vocabulary words from the play


Comprehension:

6) Identify a metaphor, simile, pun or symbol within the play
7) Identify the rhyme scheme of a English sonnet and break a sonnet into quatrains and couplets
8) Give a brief description of all the characters and their roles in the play
9) Given a line of dialogue identify the speaker
10) Outline the plot and break in up into exposition, inciting event, rising action, climax, falling action and catastrophe (or resolution)
11) Summarize each scene into a headline

Application

12) Demonstrate an understanding of a scene in a drawing
13) Demonstrate a relation of characters to contemporary times through a simulation
14) Demonstrate an understanding of characters and acting techniques by writing out a script (including the lines, subtext, emotion or tone, and blocking) and acting out the scene from memory
15) Demonstrate an understanding of the play by writing journal entries and in-class writing assignments including a Dear Abbey Letter, interviews with citizens of Denmark, personal responses, and in-class presentations on characters.
16) Demonstrate an understanding of parts of the play by translation Shakespeare’s lines into contemporary English
17) Write a rap about Hamlet

Analysis

17) In an essay compare and contrast a Shakespeare Comedy to a Shakespeare Tragedy.
18) Write a persuasion paper on some element or question of Hamlet and present the paper to class as an oration


Synthesis

19) Write a sonnet

PROJECT:

A variety of activities could be included as a project, but some include staging a scene of the play (with costumes), making a puppet show, making an activity book, reading other Shakespeare plays and presenting them to class (with some acting), making a movie or video, recording your song/rap (with some polishing), writing a sonnet sequence, writing a paper.


STUDENTS WILL BE ASSESSED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

1) Class participation (this includes worksheets, homework)
2) Oral presentations and drawings
3) Individual writing (both critical and creative)
4) Character acting
5) Quizzes and Unit Final
6) Unit Project (if time permits)

ACTIVITIES TO BE INCLUDED (but not limited to)
1) short lectures
2) note guides for movies, reading and lectures
3) in-class reading/ some homework reading
4) in-class writing
5) role-plays/ simulations
6) dramatic acting of scenes and/or poems
7) drawings
8) listening to CDs related to Shakespeare
9) scavenger hunt
10) project


QUESTIONS TO DEVELOP THESIS STATEMENTS ABOUT AND ANSWER


1) Polonius is sometimes played as a senile old fool, sometimes as a shrewd and worldly old man. Which interpretation do you agree with and why?
2) Pick one character who could, at some point, have changed the whole chain of events. Discuss.
3) Analyze the three appearances of the ghost seen in the play. Where did he appear; to whom did he appear? How does the third appearance differ from the first two? What is the significance of this?
4) Discuss the reasons for Hamlet’s apparent delay in seeking revenge for his father. What is your opinion regarding his procrastination?
5) Compare and contrast Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras as avengers.
6) What is Hamlet’s attitude towards life and people? How does it affect his actions?
7) Apply the following quote to Hamlet: “A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how to not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case.” -- THE PRINCE, Machiavelli
8) Examine the reoccurring pun on sun and son. How does this symbol work in the overall meaning of the play.
9) Others will be added as we read.