Monday, October 7, 2013

Monday 10/07 Per 4

Main Idea/Summary:
  • We began Hamlet today. Mrs. Smith stressed the importance of reviewing the text for our quizzes (the first of which will be Friday). Also while we read, we kept our guiding questions in mind: "Who are we? Men of action or men of inaction? Revenge or compassion?" 
  • We read/acted out Hamlet from the start to the beginning of Hamlet's first soliloquy which is on page 29 of the school copy or to the line "O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,"
  • Note the parallels between Hamlet's and Fortinbra's lives (juxtaposition):
    • Fathers murdered
    • What's rightfully theirs was taken away (throne/land)
    • Both have uncles, both named after father
Details(And specific help with reading):
  • First we discussed the movie that we watched on friday (the old black and white version) with the guards changing shift on the castle wall and the ghost that appeared in the likeness of King Hamlet.
  • Then we watched clips of the other two versions to see different interpretations:
    1. King Hamlet has just died, and his wife (Gertrude), his son ("young" Hamlet), and the King's brother/Hamlet's uncle (Claudius) stand in a tomb weeping over the grave. Claudius has become King even though Hamlet should have, and Claudius tells Hamlet to think of him as a father. We can see though that both Hamlet and Gertrude are suspicious of Claudius. The next scene, it is day and Claudius announces that he has married Gerturde.
    2. Francisco (a guard) is patrolling the castle gate when Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus come to relieve him of his post and to see the ghost that has been appearing the last two nights. When the ghost appears, the men take it as a bad omen. We also see workers making weapons, and learn that the country (Denmark) is getting ready for war with Norway.
  •  Finally we chose roles and acted out Hamlet
    • Setting: Elsinore Castle, Christmas time
    • Preparing for war with Norway: King Hamlet (deceased) killed King Fortinbras of Norway and took his lands. Now his son, also named Fortinbras, wants revenge and is planning to attack Claudius, the new king of Denmark.
    • Claudius publicly admonishes Hamlet, and sends two people to go talk the the uncle of King Fortinbras to talk him out of attacking them.

No comments:

Post a Comment