ENGLISH 11 Date: 12.14.2011 Assignment: HAMLET NOVEL STUDY
WORKBOOK
[ROBINSON]
Hamlet by William Shakespeare Objectives: *To appreciate a
Shakespearean tragedy *To distinguish qualities that make a tragedy
and a tragic hero *To recognize and analyze Shakespeares poetic use
of language *to recognize blank verse *to recognize foreshadowing
*To understand the mood created by a literary work *To recognize
comic relief *To recognize motif *To recognize and understand the
uses of soliloquy and aside *To explore the themes and big ideas
Evaluation: Class participation (reading and discussion),
quizzes/tests, homework, classwork, projects and/or essay.
Project1: Practice and read lines. All students are responsible for
reading. Parts will be assigned in advance so that students may
practice before class. Grades are based on understanding the
part/s, reading with fluency (which includes correct
pronunciation), and showing enthusiasm. Quality is just as
important as quantity. 50 pts. Act I December 16, 2011 Act I Scenes
1, 2, 4, and 5 Bernardo Francisco Horatio Marcellus Scenes 2, 3, 4,
and 5 King Claudius Queen Gertrude Hamlet Polonius Laertes
Voltimand* Cornelius* Scene 3 Ophelia Scene 5 Ghost Alternates:
*This is not a full reading credit.
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
Project: Memorize and recite lines from the play. This may be
done individually, with a partner, or in groups. Grading will be
individual, taking into account the effect that other group members
might have in such areas as cueing lines, setting mood, etc. Total
points based on both quantity and quality. 50 pts. This project
will be due at the conclusion of the play, about the first week in
February. Do not procrastinate. 20 lines = A (45 - 50 pts.) You may
do five extra lines for five points extra credit. 15 lines = B (40
- 44 pts.) 10 lines = C (35 - 39 pts.)
Hamlet Memorization of Lines 50 points Project #1: Memorize
lines from Hamlet. These lines must be from one speech unless you
decide to work with one or more others. (Choose carefully as
individuals must rely on others in a group.) 20 lines = A 15 lines
= B 10 lines = C Evaluation of lines will be based on the following
criteria. Hand in this evaluation form before beginning your
recitation. Fill-in only the double lines. Name
__________________________________________Date_______________
Speech (page and lines) ____________________________ Number of
lines attempted/performed__________/___________ Fluency (5 pts.) 1
(poor) Interpretation (5 pts.) (excellent) 2 (fair) 2 3 (average)
(fair) 4 (good) 4 5 (excellent) (good) 5
1 (poor)
3 (average)
Number of lines (40 pts.) 40 - 35 (A - 20 lines) 34 - 30 (B - 15
lines) 29 - 25 (C - 10 lines) (Points vary based on pronunciation,
completeness, etc.) Evaluation /50
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
Directions:
The First and Second Globe TheatersThe Globe was built for in
1599 when the Chamberlain's Men could not renew their lease for
their old theater in the north of London. Like many of London's
more puritan minded citizens, their landlord Giles Allen considered
playacting to the same as prostitution and other vile crimes and
didn't want to have the company to continue to operate on his
property. Simply known as "The Theatre", their company's old
structure, was slyly taken down lock, stock and thatch when Giles
Allen was out of town and moved across the Thames to a new sight in
the section of Southwark. The new site also had the benefit of
being in a territory that was beyond the control of London's city
government. The areas known as "liberties" were sections that
originally housed religious structures that were independent of
mayor's office. The Globe opened in late 1599 to such plays as
Julius Caesar and Hamlet. As You Like It may also have been on the
first season's roster as some scholars think the famous line from
Jaques "All the World's a Stage" is a jab at their old landlord. As
he tried to stop their theatrical endeavors, the more the company
showed that they could perform anywhere.
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
The Globe theater as it was rendered in a surveyor's engraving
in 1647. The Globe was a roughly cylindricalprobably
polygonalthree-storey timber building, unroofed over the stage in
the centre. A rough description can be found in the opening
prologue of Henry V as the chorus describes their unworthy scaffold
as This wooden O. Each floor contained open galleries with seats.
The galleries extended around much of the circle, and the stage was
built out into the center from the remaining part of the building.
In the building behind the stage were dressing roomsthe 'tiring
house'perhaps galleries for musicians, and apparatus for scenery
and props. Above the thatched roof rose a tower, or 'penthouse',
from which flags were flown and trumpets sounded to announce a
production. An 18thcentury account asserted that on its facade the
Globe sported a painted sign depicting Hercules supporting the
planet Earth (one of his legendary tasks was to stand in for
Atlas). If this was soand scholars generally believe it wasthis
sign may be alluded to in Hamlet, where the Childrens Companies, in
a satirical passage on the War of the Theaters, are said to have
triumphed over both the players and 'Hercules and his load too'
(2.2.358). This war was a bitter feud between playwrights and
companies they were associated with around 1600 when Hamlet was
written. Ben Jonson, Shakespeares once protg and now friend and
fierce rival, was one of the main
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
generals in this volley of verbal and written attacks on
playwrights. He considered his art to be the true way to do
theater, based on the guidebook set by the Greek philosopher
Artistole, his Poetics. Jonson wrote for companies of boy actors
that were considered the crme of polite society and a major source
of competition for Shakespeares company. Jonson would take satiric
jabs at his fellow playwrights by lampooning their scripts,
individual lines or the men themselves in each new play he wrote.
In kind the playwrights responded back, but the war of words and
putdowns only lasted a few years. Through their careers, Jonson
always made his opinion known about his fellow writers, Shakespeare
seemed mildly amused to indifferent.
Period drawing of the Swan theater, similar in structure to the
Globe. This is the only drawing of the interior on an open air
theater surviving from Shakespeare's time. On June 29, 1613, the
Globe's thatched roof was set on fire by a cannon fired during a
performance of Henry VIII, as called for in the stage direction at
1.4.49, and the building burned to the ground. It was open again
within a year, rebuilt to much the same plan, but this time the
roof was tiled. In 1644, two years after the theatres of England
were closed by the revolutionary government, the Globe was torn
down and tenements built on the lot. The appearance of the Globe
can only roughly be determined, from several drawings of its
exterior (in large-scale city scenes), from the specifications in
the builder's contract for the Fortune Theatre
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
(which was modeled on the Globe), and by extrapolating from the
only sketch of the interior of an Elizabethan playhouse, the Swan
Theatre.
The New Globe TheaterIn the 1950's American actor Sam Wannamaker
went looking for Shakespeare's Globe on the south side of London
only to find a dirty plaque marking the spot where the building
stood. After several unsuccessful years of lobbying the British
government to rebuild the theater, Wannamaker decided to do it
himself. Completed in 1997, Shakespeare's Globe theater is a close
approximation of the famous theater, which stand 200 yards closer
to the river than the original. The grounds of the original being
paritally under an apartment complex. Since exact dimensions of the
original structure had to be guessed, the theater has been slightly
modified since its opening. Most modifications come from on going
archeological digs at the Rose Theatre located a few blocks away.
The theater holds the interesting distinction of being the first
building in London in nearly 400 years to apply for a permit to
build a roof with thatch. Not even the second Globe had that, they
rebuilt with a tile roof. Today the theater sits a capacity of 1000
people, almost half of what the original held and holds both
daytime and nighttime showings.
An exterior shot of the New Globe.
A performance at the Globe, shot from an upper gallery seat.
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
DIRECTIONS:
Hamlet Study Questions Act I Famous quotes Frailty they name is
woman. scene ii Neither a lender nor a borrower be. scene iii And
this above all: to thine own self be true. scene iii Something is
rotten in the state of Denmark. scene iv
Scene i 1. Write down the lines that indicate the time at the
beginning and at the end of the scene. 2. How many times have
Marcellus and Bernardo seen the apparition? 3. Quote the line that
shows that Horatio does not believe that the two have seen a ghost.
4. Why does the ghost appear but not speak to the three men? 5. How
does the ghost appear (look) to the men? 6. Horatio thinks that the
ghost portends some strange eruption to our state (page 3). What
things have been happening that seem a strange eruption? Why have
they been going on? 7. What historical event does Horatio connect
to the appearance of ghosts? What is this literary device called?
8. To whom do the three think the ghost will talk? Scene ii 1. The
king talks of many things in his first speech. What personal event
does he announce? What message is he sending to Norway, the uncle
of Fortinbras? Why? 2. What does Laertes ask of the King? 3. What
two things do the King and Queen ask of Hamlet? 4. In his
soliloquy, what are Hamlets reasons for objecting to the remarriage
of his mother? Define soliloquy.
5. What is the countenance of the ghost of Hamlets father? 6.
Hamlet wants to see his fathers ghost. When will the meeting take
place?
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
7. What is Hamlet asking when he says, If you have hitherto
conceald this sight,/Let it be tenable in your silence still (page
14)? scene iii 1. What advice does Laertes give Ophelia? 2. What
advice does she give to him in return? 3. List at least three
pieces of advice that does Polonius gives to Laertes. 4 What does
Polonius tell Ophelia regarding Hamlet? 5. List the three themes
introduced by these scenes. Scene iv 1. Write the lines that
indicate the time. How much time has passed since the play began?
2. What is King Claudius doing? What does Hamlet think of this
activity? Why? 3. What lines indicate the Hamlet is not sure
whether the Ghost is good or evil? 4. Why dont Hamlets friends want
him to follow the Ghost? Scene v 1. According to the Ghost, where
will his finally resting spot be? Quote a line to show this. Why
does he think this is his fate? 2. According to the Ghost, what is
the story told about his death? 3. How did he really die? What
happened to his skin and blood? 4. What does the Ghost want of
Hamlet? 5. What does he say about Gertrude? 6. What oath does
Hamlet extract from his companions following the encounter with the
Ghost? 7. How does Hamlet plan to act in the future? 8. What do you
think Hamlet means when he says O cursed spite,/that I was ever
born to set it right. (page 28) 9. Hamlet is called the Melancholy
Dane. Why do you think this is so? 10. What do the following lines
mean? A. My fathers brother, but no more like my father /than I to
Hercules. (page 11) B. For Lord Hamlet,/Believe so much in him,
that he is young,/And with a larger tether may he walk/Than may be
given you. (page 19)
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
DIRECTIONS:
Act II Discussion Questions 1. Why does Polonius send Reynaldo
after Leartes? Why do parents spy in this play? 2. How does
Polonius explain Hamlets madness? Are Claudius and Gertrude
persuaded? Do you agree with his reasoning? 3. Taking another look
at Polonius, is he the same man that you initially thought he was?
What changed your opinion? 4. Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
and what are they doing at court? How are we supposed to feel about
them? 5. Why and how does Hamlet plan to catch the conscience of
the King? 6. Looking at Hamlets friends and associates, does he
seem to be surrounded by people he can trust? 7. What was Hamlets
behavior like in scene one when he visits Ophelia? Do you think his
actions provide evidence of his insanity or are his actions
motivated by something else? Explain. 8. How does Shakespeare
accomplish the escalation of the level of suspense in Act II? 9.
How does the tone of Act II differ from that of Act I?
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
DIRECTIONS:
Acts I and II Interpretation of Lines who said them to the play
to whom or about whom they were said the significance
(11) Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him/As if increase
of appetite had grown /By what it fed on; and yet, within a
month--/Let me not think ontFrailty, thy name is woman Speaker:
Hamlet About: Gertrude Significance: Hamlet is upset that his
mother has married his uncle less than two months after his father
has died. Even worse, she is showing desire for the uncle. He
accuses her and, it seems, all women of being weak. 1. (17) This
above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the
night the day,/thou canst not then be false to any man. 2. (18)
Think yourself a baby,/That you have taen these tenders for true
pay,/Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; (What
literary term does this quotation represent?) 3. (21) Let me not
burst in ignorance, but tell/Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in
death,/ Have burst their cerements,why the sepulcher,/ Wherein we
saw thee quietly inurnd/Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,/to
cast thee up again. (What literary term does this represent?) 4. (
22) Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. 5. (24) The
serpent that did sting thy fathers life/Now wears his crown. 6.
(44) O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou! (What
literary term does this represent?) 7. (50) The plays the thing/
wherein Ill catch the conscience of the king. 8. Read the following
lines from Hamlet and Macbeth. Then answer the questions. Hamlet
(probably written 1600-1601) ( 41) Guildenstern: the Which dreams
indeed are ambition; for the very substance of ambitious is merely
the shadow of a dream. Hamlet: A dream itself is but a shadow.
MacBeth (probably written 1605)
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
Lifes but a walking a shadow, a poor player,/ that struts and
frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. What is
life begin compared to in each play? In what way/s are the
comparisons similar? Are these appropriate comparisons? Why or why
not?
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
DIRECTIONS:
Act III scene I Hamlet To be or not to be, that is the question
Get Thee to a nunnery Conscience does make cowards of us all. To
Sleep; perchance to dream Ay, theres the rub. 1. 2. What do
Guildenstern and Rosencrantz report to the King? Read Claudiuss
words at the top of page 53. Is he sorry for his actions? What
makes you think he is or is not?
Answer the following about Hamlets famous soliloquy on page
53-54. 1. What is Hamlet contemplating? To be or not to be, that is
the question. 2. To what does hamlet compare death? 3. Hamlet sees
death as an escape from life. What does he say that life is like?
4. What does tis a consummation/Devoutly to be wishd mean? 5. What
keeps a person from seeking death? How might the following line
from Act I scene ii relate to this thought? O, that his too too
sullied flesh would melt,/Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,/ Or
that the Everlasting had not fixd His canon gainst
self-slaughter!
6.
Keeping in mind the discussion in question 5, what does Hamlet
mean when he says, To Sleep; perchance to dream Ay, theres the
rub.
7. Hamlet says, Thus conscience does make cowards of us all. How
is Hamlet a coward? The remaining questions address the rest of the
scene. 1. Why does Hamlet tell Ophelia, Get thee to a nunnery.
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
2.
How do women fool men? What does Hamlet mean when he says, I
have heard of your painting too, well enough. God hath given you
one face, and you make yourselves another. Who is he referring to
when he says, I say, we will have no more marriage. Those that are
married already --- all but one --- shall live; the rest shall keep
as they are. (He knows that the King is listening.) According to
the Kings speech on page 56, does he think that Hamlet is lovesick?
Explain. What metaphor is in the first ten lines of the Kings
speech? What has the King decided to do with Hamlet. What does
Polonius ask?
3.
4.
5. 6. 7.
Hamlet Act III scene iii 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Does the king think that
Hamlet means to hurt him? How do you know? Why do Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern agree to go with Hamlet? What does Polonius plan to do
when Hamlet speaks with his mother? What shows that the king feels
guilty? What cant he do? What does the king mean when he says, What
if this cursed hand /Were thicker than itself with brothers
blood,/Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens/to wash it
white as snow? (This idea is also part of Macbeth.) 6. What are the
reasons that the King murdered his brother? 7. Why doesnt Hamlet
kill the King when he has the chance? When will he kill him? Why is
this ironic? Hamlet Act III scene iv (Climax) What happens to
Polonius? Why? To what does Hamlet compare the marriage of Claudius
and Gertrude? (73) How does Hamlet describe his father? How does he
describe his uncle? What lines indicate that Gertrude sees herself
as Hamlet does? Why does the ghost appear? Can Gertrude see the
ghost? How do you know? What does Hamlet demand of Gertrude? Find a
line that shows that Hamlet is sorry for what happened to Polonius.
Find a line in which he seems unfeeling. 8. What does Hamlet say
about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? 9. What is the pun at the end
of the scene? 10.What event is the climax? Scene v 1. What does
Gertrude tell the King? What doesnt she tell him? 2. What is the
Kings reaction? 3. What is Hamlets punishment for killing Polonius?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
4. What are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern commanded to do?
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
DIRECTIONS:
Act IV begins with four relatively short scenes. Shakespeare is
speeding up the action as the King moves to protect himself from
Hamlet even as Hamlet baits him by playing hide-and-seek with
Poloniuss body. Scene i 1. How does Gertrude keep her word to
Hamlet? 2. Quote the line in which the King says that if he had
been in the Queens room, Hamlet would have killed him. 3. What does
the King send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to do? Scene ii 1. How
does Hamlet compare Rosencrantz to a sponge? Scene iii 1. In what
three places does Hamlet say he has placed the body of Polonius? 2.
The King is sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to England with
Hamlet. He is also sending with them a letter to the King of
England. What message is in the letter? Scene iv 1. Why is
Fortinbras in Denmark? 2. According to the Captain, how much is the
land in Poland worth that the Danes mean to attack? 3. According to
Hamlet, what is a man who just sleeps and feeds? What has God given
man to make him more that this?
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
4. Hamlet contrasts his own inaction with the willingness of
Fortinbras and his men to fight for a trick of fame. Quote the line
that shows what should be making Hamlet act more decisively. Scene
v 1. What has happened to Ophelia? 2. According to Claudius, what
is the bad news from court? 3. In this scene, Laertes acts as a
foil to Hamlet. Explain. Scene vi 1. This scene introduces a
somewhat implausible reason for Hamlet to return to Denmark rather
than continue to England. What is it? 2. What does Hamlet ask
Horatio to do? 3. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are supposed to
accompany Hamlet to England. What has happened to them? Scene vii
1. The King reveals to Laertes that Hamlet is the murderer of
Polonius. He tells Laertes that he has two reasons why he has not
punished Hamlet for a crime so capital in nature. What are his
reasons? 2. The King enlists Laertes in a plot to kill Hamlet. How
is Laertes to kill Hamlet so that even Gertrude will think it an
accident? 3. What will the King do to ensure Hamlets death? 4. What
happens to Ophelia? How did it happen? 5. What does Laertes call
the tears that he sheds for Ophelia?
ENGLISH 11
[ROBINSON]
DIRECTIONS:
Act V study questions Hamlet Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him,
Horatio Scene 1 1. The clowns (gravediggers) discuss Ophelias death
and burial. They think she will be given a Christian burial even
though they also feel she has committed suicide. What reason do
they give for this? 2. What is the answer to the riddle: what is he
that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the
carpenter? 3. The gravedigger throws skulls around as Hamlet and
Horatio comment on them. What are some of the people that they
attribute to the skulls? 4. What is the pun on page 104? 5. Who was
Yorick? 6. How long has the first clown been a gravedigger? About
how old is Hamlet? 7. What is the joking insult to the English on
page 105? 8. Hamlet and Horatio discuss life and death. Hamlet
continues the idea that death is a great equalizer. (Polonius is
eaten by worms, that feed fish, that the common man eats.) What
does he say about Alexander and Caesar? 9. What does the priest say
about Ophelias death and burial? 10.What line shows that Ophelia
was meant to be Hamlets wife? 11.Do you think that Hamlet loved
Ophelia? Why or why not. Scene 2 1. What happens to Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern? How does Hamlet justify this act? 2. Osric enters to
tell Hamlet of a wager between the King and Laertes. What is the
wager? 3. Think about the plan to kill Hamlet. What goes wrong? 4.
How does the King die? What is ironic about his death? What does
this say about Hamlet and his decision/indecision? 5. What is
Hamlet and Laertes relationship at the end of the play? 6. Who is
to be the new king? 7. Horatio also tries to drink the poison, but
Hamlet wont let him. Why?
