hamlet 1 april 4, 4, 5
Today is an introduction to
DRAMA | SHAKESPEARE | REVENGE TRAGEDY | HAMLET
At the end we’ll turn to the first 19 lines of the play.
HW: Review your notes. There may be a quiz next class.
hamlet 2 april 5, 6, 7
During today’s class we’ll finish reading 1.1. Then we’ll have time to watch 3 different versions of the very beginning of the play. Think like a director: What choices does each director make to set the mood and tone that the text sets?
hamlet 3 april 7, 7, 8
Today we’ll read together the beginning of 1.2:
Hamlet, the master listener: Everything Hamlet says in the play reveals his acute sensitivity to language. How do his early interchanges already reveal this trait? Why do you think it matters?
Exploring motives and feelings: Why does Claudius rebuke Hamlet so strongly for his grief? Why does he not declare Hamlet as his heir? Why does he refuse Hamlet’s request to return to Wittenberg? What does Claudius feel toward Hamlet? Is Hamlet’s agreement to obey his mother sincere? Does Claudius really believe that Hamlet gives a "loving and a fair reply?"
hamlet 4 april 11, 11, 12
What is a soliloquy? Today we’ll look at Hamlet’s first and make an effort to finish 1.2 and 1.3 during class. Whatever we do not finish in class, I’ll ask you to finish as homework.
hamlet 5 april 12, 13, 13
hamlet 6 april 14, 14, 19
productions we’re watching
To access these productions remotely on Drama Online Library, use the following credentials:
Username: strakejesuit
Password: crusaders
2009, Hamlet, with David Tennant
2010, Hamlet, with Rory Kinnear
2015, Hamlet, with Benedict Cumberbatch
2016, Hamlet, with Paapa Essiedu
2018, Hamlet, with Andrew Scott
STUDYING hamlet
The RSC Shakespeare's scene-by-scene analysis
DOCS TO HAVE HANDY
Essay Writing Process (“Sonny’s Blues”)
enjoying literature
“In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.”
