Monday, November 30, 2015

 Today in Period 4 of Mrs. Smith's English Lit. We started by writing down important dates in our assignment notebooks. Like the test over act 3 and 4 is Friday. Also that we will start and finish act 5 by next Friday Dec. 11 to start preparing for finals. To note that we will need computers on the 11th, 14th, and 17th for finals preparations.

Mrs Smith continued class by talk about act 4 scene 5-7 and wrote down the questions from the board.

• What has happened to Ophelia? Why?
• Ophelia and Hamlet? Connections and comparisons?
• Laertes and Hamlet? Comparisons?
• Why have they not told Laertes the true story?
• Laertes revenge
• Claudius uses Laertes: better for whom? How does he convince him to kill Hamlet?
• Laertes reaction to Ophelia
• Sailor’s message to Horatio
• Ophelia’s demise
• King and Laertes’ new plan

We began read act 4. As we read on we discussed about what Ophelia is singing as she talks to the king and queen.

“OPHELIA(sings) How can you tell the difference 

 Between your true lover and some other? 

Your true one wears a pilgrim’s hat 

 And a pilgrim’s sandals and staff.”(line 22-25 Act 4 Scene 5, Shakespeare)

She talks about her feeling of love is confusing because of what is happening with Hamlet and her.

“He is dead and gone, lady, 

He is dead and gone, 

At his head a grass-green turf,  

At his heels a stone.”(line 27-30 Act 4 Scene 5, Shakespeare)

The second song she is talking about her father’s death.

“Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day, 

 All in the morning betime, 

And I a maid at your window,  

To be your Valentine. 

Then up he rose, and donned his clothes,  

And dupped the chamber door. 

Let in the maid that out a maid  

Never departed more”(line 47-54 Act 4 scene 5, Shakespeare) The third song she is talking about being Hamlet’s Valentine and having sex with him and that is what she is telling the queen that she has slept with Hamlet already.

Continuing we read on and talk about how Claudius has blamed everyone else for the misfortunes that have happened and not himself. He blames Gertrude, Ophelia, Hamlet, but not himself. He also foreshadows Laertes’ arrival because he comes in secret. The messenger tells the king that Laertes  has come back and that he has an “army” of people wanting him to be the king. The King talks to Laertes and convinces him to take revenge on Hamlet. Claudius tell Laertes to work with him. We read on to find out that Hamlet has been kidnapped by pirates but they are letting him go. He sends the same letter to the king but words it differently. The King in scene 7 talks with Laertes about how Hamlet is after him and that Hamlet is jealous of Laertes’ fencing skills and that they plan to kill Hamlet during a match in a church.

We talk about how Laertes and the king plan to poison Hamlet with the sword and drink. The sword is plan a and the the drink is plan b if the sword doesn't kill Hamlet. Reading on near the end of scene 7 Ophelia drowned and Mrs Smith discusses that with the way she acted in scene 5-7 was her death really an accident. We filled out a chart to compare Hamlet , Ophelia, and Laertes. Hamlet:sucidal, depressed, acts crazy and wants revenge. Ophelia: suicidal, crazy, and depressed. Laertes: Angry because father's death, revengeful because he wanted to bury his father, revenge: death of his father and the way Ophelia has acted.

We ended the class by watching the Branaugh version of Ophelia’s actions. That was what we did in Mrs Smith’s English Lit.

Friday, November 20, 2015

               Today Mrs Smith began class by asking the students to take out their assignment notebook. She said the homework is to review your notes for acts 3 and 4 of Hamlet over Thanksgiving Break.

                Next Mrs Smith continued class by showing a scene of the more traditional movie of Hamlet directed by Branagh. She showed the scene in Act 3 Scene 4 where Hamlet goes to Queen Gertrude's chamber, accidentally kills Polonius, and gets angry at his mother. After we watched the scene, Mrs Smith asked the class what we noticed about the scene and we concluded that:
-Hamlet was very aggressive
-Hamlet doesn't pay attention to his father's orders of leaving his mother alone by insulting her about her marriage with Claudius. 

-Asks his mother to not sleep with Claudius and to not tell Claudius that Hamlet is faking his madness.

-Hamlet thinks his friends are snakes and can't be trusted

- Hamlet does and doesn't regret killing Polonius. Hamlet doesn't regret killing him because he calls Polonius a fool and says he deserves because of his actions. Hamlet does regret killing him because he regrets the consequences of the action with his beliefs.

             Then Mrs. Smith played the scene of Act 3 Scene 4 of Hamlet from the Zeffirelli movie version. Before playing the scene, Mrs Smith explained that the director takes the incest aspect of the movie full force with something called oedipus complex. After watching the scene Mrs. Smith asked the class what we noticed and we concluded that:

-Hamlet is a lot more physical and rough in this version.

-The director creates a weird interpretation between the mother and the son as Hamlet kissed Queen Gertrude. 

-King Hamlet's ghost appears right as the kiss happens, which emphasizes how wrong the action was.

Then Mrs Smith continued class by assigning roles of characters before we began reading Act 4 Scene 1. She asked us to take out our notes and write down these questions to look for while we were reading:

• Does the queen keep her promise?
• Hamlet’s treatment of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
• Denmark’s feelings regarding Hamlet
• Is Hamlet aware of the King’s plan? How has the King’s plan changed since Act 3?
• Comparison of Hamlet and Fortinbras? Man of action v. inaction?
• What role does madness or genius play in action v. inaction?
• Role of Honor?

As we were reading Act 4 we discussed:

Scene 1:

• "O, come away! My soul is full of discord and dismay." p. 189. -  Queen Getrude doesn't keep her promise as she leaves with King Claudius as he says he is confused and in despair.
• "The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch but we will ship him hence; and this vile deed we must with all our majesty and skill both countenance and excuse." p. 189 - King Claudius states that they will ship Hamlet off to England so that Hamlet doesn't get in trouble for killing Polonius, but really King Claudius is worried about getting caught for his murder.

Scene 2:

• "Ay, sir, that soaks up the King's countenance, his rewards, his authorities." p. 191 - Hamlet states to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he isn't afraid to call them out for spying on him for Claudius. 

Scene 3:

• "How dangerous is it that this man goes loose! Yet must not we put the strong law on him. He's loved of the distracted multitude, who like not in their judgement, but their eyes." p. 193 - King Claudius explains that they can't punish Hamlet harshly for his murder because the citizens love Hamlet because he has the appearance of a true Dane. He states that they won't care about his offense no matter what he commits.
• "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm." p. 195 - Hamlet is explaining to king Claudius that everyone including royalty are buried in the ground in dirt. Worms eat dirt so what Hamlet is saying is that a man can fish with a worm that has eaten a king buried in the ground and then eat the fish he catches with that worm. He is trying to say that we are all at the same level through death.
• "Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve for that which thou hast done must send thee hence with fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself. The bark is ready, and the wind at help, th' associates tend, and everything is bent for England." p.197 -  King Claudius explains to Hamlet that the reason why he is going to England is for Hamlet's safety. Once again Claudius is trying to hide his own act of murder.
• "And England, if my love though hold'st at aught - as my great power thereof may give thee sense, since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red after the Danish sword, and thy free awe pays homage to us, thou mayst not coldly set our sovereign process, which imports at full by letters congruting to that effect, the present death of Hamlet." p. 199 - King Claudius says to himself that since Denmark and England are allies, England should follow King Claudius's request to kill Hamlet.

Scene 4:

• "Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats will not debate the question of this straw. This is th' impostume of much wealth and peace, that inward breaks and shows no cause without why the man dies" p. 201 - Hamlet is astonished as he thinks about how people act violently for so little to gain. 
• "Sith I have cause and will and strenth and means to do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me. Rightly to be great is not to stir without great argument, but greatly to find quarrel in a straw when honor's at the stake." p. 203 - Hamlet believes that he has a great deal to gain by getting revenge on Claudius, but he is disgusted with himself for failing to do anything about it. 

We finished reading for the day at the end of scene 4. 

Hamlet Act 3 Fishbowl Period 4

Live Blog Hamlet Act 3 Fishbowl Period 4

 

Hamlet Act 3 Fishbowl Period 1

Live Blog Hamlet Act 3 Fishbowl Period 1

 

Friday, November 13, 2013

Nothing much happened today:

• We had a sub
• Work day
• Practiced reader’s theater 
• DONT FORGET
• annotated script 
• roles identified
• stage directions
• costumes
• script
• setting props
• rehearse

HW: BE READY for Reader’s Theater presentations Monday, November 16: script, props, costumes, etc.

Also Answer 4 question on the purple packet about act 3

Scribe 11-4-15

Today, we did a fishbowl on Act 2. A few of the questions were:

How is Hamlet (if) he kills Claudis? Why doesn't Hamlet tell everyone that his father was murdered? Does Claudis and Hamlet's mother care for Hamlet or no? How can Denmark be less of a prison?

The Homework is to get the Reader's Theater Performance: script and reading for the act on Friday. (Make sure to read the no fear Shakespeare or today's version of Hamlet for Friday.) And all redos are due on Friday

Hamlet Act 2 Period 4 Fishbowl

Live Blog Hamlet Act 2 Period 4 fishbowl

 

Hamlet Act 2 Period 1 Fishbowl

Live Blog Hamlet act 2 period 1

 

Scribe 11/2/2015

We started class today looking over our act II notes for a few minutes before taking the quiz. We got into groups of 3-4 people to take the quiz over act II. Smith reminded us to show her notes from this week in class to get participation points.

 After the quiz we looked at guidelines for the readers' theatre assignment for act 3. For this assignment, we got into groups and picked a scene from act 3. Each group will be responsible for performing their scene for the class, complete with props, scripts, and acting. Speaking parts were chosen within each group. We will have time to practice the scenes in class, but should be ready to perform by next Friday, November 13. Smith passed out a purple packet with guidelines and a purple rubric for this performance, noting that it is for a big grade (almost like an essay). The winning group gets a treat from Smith!

After going over the readers' theater guidelines, we watched more of the movie for act II, and laughed a little bit at Hamlet's crazy eyes and silly acting.

Homework is to print a script for class over the scene your group selected and read the modern version of all of act III.

Scribe Friday October 30th, 2015

                   Today Mrs. Smith began class by asking the students to take out their assignment notebooks. She stated that the homework was to review your notes over Act 2 of Hamlet because there will be a quiz over that section on Monday November 2, 2015 and also to prepare for your role in the fishbowl for Wednesday November 4, 2015.
                    After that, Mrs. Smith asked the class to take out their Hamlet books and notes. She told the class to start a new page in our notes titled "Hamlet's Monologue" where we had room to take notes on the meaning of his phrases. She had us make these subpoints under his monologue: Why does Hamlet admire the child actor, Hamlet's feelings about himself, Hamlet's plan, and Hamlet's feelings toward the ghost.
Then we put the notes aside. Next, Mrs. Smith turned on Gibson's version of Hamlet and played movie clips of the scene where Ophelia discusses to her father about her terrifying encounter with Hamlet when he sighs to her. After we finished watching the scenes, Mrs Smith asked us what we noticed that was different in the movie than in the book. We concluded that:

• in the movie Polonius witnesses the encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. Ophelia never revealed the situation to Polonius. In the book, Ophelia explains the encounter between Hamlet and her.
• Polonius didn't even react to the encounter. We felt that a father would probably step in during that situation.
• We noticed that Ophelia was first excited to see Hamlet, but then became frightened. The book never explained how she first reacted to him.

                   Next we began to read on p. 99 on line 309 as a class with Michael acting as Rosencrantz, Emmy acting as Hamlet, and Andrew acting as Guildenstern.

While reading we discussed:

-First we stopped on p. 99 and discussed lines 311-315. We concluded that in these lines, Hamlet means that man is complicated. Hamlet states that not even women excite him which showed how depressed he is.

-Next we stopped on p. 103 on line 360. This was where we were introduced to the child actors that perform great plays. We discussed that the child actors are popular because they write plays with terrible things about people who they don't like. This causes everyone to be very kind and nice to the actors so that the actors don't write plays about the people.

- Then we stopped on p. 103 on line 368. We talked about how King Claudius is suddenly being idolized. King Claudius was criticized by some people when he first became king, but now he is being idolized and compared to the child actors. We also compared this to the world and how some people become bandwagons and like what is popular.

-Next we stopped on p. 103 on line 385. This is an extremely important part of the book because Hamlet reveals to the audience that he is still faking his madness. He is being a madman most of the time, but hasn't turned into one.

- Then we stopped on p. 105 and analyzed the lines 402-408. We realize that once again Polonius is trying to act like a "know it all" as he discusses plays. Hamlet responds to Polonius by referring to him as Jephthah. We learn that Jephthah is a biblical figure who sacrifices his daughter for his benefit. We then recognized the significance of Hamlet calling Polonius Jephthah as Polonius uses his daughter as well for his the benefit of his reputation.

- We stopped on p. 109 during Hamlet's encounter with Polonius and the First Player (child actor). Hamlet tells them about a good play involving a greek son named Pyrrhus. In this play, Pyrrhus killed a king, called King Priam, to revenge the death of his father during the Trojan War. We realized that the reason why Hamlet was attracted to that play was because he wants to revenge the death of his father.

- Then we stopped on p. 111. Here the first player is reading the play of Pyrrhus. The first player emotionally acts the role of the King's wife as the King gets killed. We find out here that Hamlet really admires the child actor because the actor can make himself feel what he is acting and also make the audience feel the same way.

- Next we stopped on page 113 because Hamlet reveals part of his plan on this page. Here we learned that Hamlet had planned for a play called "The Murder of Gonzago" to be performed the next day. The play is about a King who is murdered by his cousin and then the cousin marries the queen (this sounds familiar). Hamlet also asks the First Player to add in about 15 lines into the play that Hamlet comes up with.

                    Then Mrs. Smith asked us to take out the notes page for Hamlet's monologue because that was the last part we were going to learn. After the monologue, on page 115, we concluded:

• Why Hamlet admires the child actor? - He admires the actor because the actor can make                                                                            himself feel what he is acting and can also make the                                                                      audience feel the same way.
• Hamlet's feelings toward himself? - He feels very depressed and sometimes can't feel sad                                                                     when he feels like he should be. He feels like an idiot                                                                   because he feels like he keeps on failing.
• Hamlet's plan? - His plan is to observe Claudius during the play so that he knows if Claudius                                is guilty by his reaction to the play.
• Hamlet's feelings toward the ghost? - Hamlet feels that the ghost could possibly be a demon                                                                    tempting him to sin.

                     We had completed the reading after discussing Hamlet's monologue. Then Mrs. Smith played the same Ophelia scene as the beginning of class, but of the Branagh version. We noticed that in this version Ophelia is the one who explains her encounter with Hamlet to Polonius. This concluded class.