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To sum up the play: Your father, whom you love, dies, you are his heir, you come back to find that hardly was the corpse cold before his young brother popped on to his throne and into his sheets, thereby offending both legal and natural practice. Now why exactly are you behaving in this extraordinary manner?

Shakespeare took the basic plotline and created 5 stories in one!  Family Drama – An uncle has married the wife of his brother.  Love Story – Young love is forced apart by circumstance  Madness – A young prince may or may not have gone mad.  Revenge Play – death, murder, suicide, ghosts!  Political Thriller– Who should have the throne?

 The plot of Hamlet is that of a “revenge tragedy,” a popular genre at this time.  About a noble person who has been wronged and must take revenge on a powerful enemy.  Hamlet’s delay and inaction is the central problem of the play. Main MenuNext Edwin Booth as Hamlet, 1870

GodAngelsDemonsStarsMoons Kings PrincesNoblesMenWild AnimalsDomesticated AnimalsTreesOther PlantsPrecious StonesPrecious MetalsOther minerals Shakespeare’s audience believed in a great Chain of Being that determined the natural order of events. The chain was a series of hierarchical links with God at the top. Each level of the chain had its own hierarchy, with the king at the top of the human level. Disruptions in the chain could also disrupt the laws of nature and cause bizarre events to happen.

 The King and the Chain of Being  The king was believed to have been appointed by God in order to assure the stability of society.  Removal of the king disrupted the chain of being and risked the collapse of order and universal disaster. Hamlet and the Ghost, Henry Fuseli, 1789

 Ghosts and the Devil  Shakespeare’s audience believed in ghosts and believed that the ghost of a murdered person could return to demand revenge on his murderer.  Shakespeare’s audience also believed in the Devil and believed that he could appear on earth in many forms, including that of a ghost.

Okay, so are you ready to get into the play? Journal Entry: Some say Hamlet is a good ghost story so let’s start with the obvious. Do you believe in ghosts? Write a few sentences discussing why or why not you believe in such things as ghosts and/or apparitions.

ACT I, scene 1 On a dark winter night outside Elsinore Castle in Denmark, an officer named Bernardo comes to relieve the watchman Francisco. In the heavy darkness, the men cannot see each other. Bernardo hears a footstep near him and cries, “Who’s there?” After both men ensure that the other is also a watchman, they relax. Cold, tired, and apprehensive from his many hours of guarding the castle, Francisco thanks Bernardo and prepares to go home and go to bed. Shortly thereafter, Bernardo is joined by Marcellus, another watchman, and Horatio, a friend of Prince Hamlet. Bernardo and Marcellus have urged Horatio to stand watch with them, because they believe they have something shocking to show him. In hushed tones, they discuss the apparition they have seen for the past two nights, and which they now hope to show Horatio: the ghost of the recently deceased

King Hamlet, which they claim has appeared before them on the castle ramparts in the late hours of the night. Horatio is skeptical, but then the ghost suddenly appears before the men and just as suddenly vanishes. Terrified, Horatio acknowledges that the specter does indeed resemble the dead King of Denmark, that it even wears the armor King Hamlet wore when he battled against the armies of Norway, and the same frown he wore when he fought against the Poles. Horatio declares that the ghost must bring warning of impending misfortune for Denmark, perhaps in the form of a military attack. He recounts the story of King Hamlet’s conquest of certain lands once belonging to Norway, saying that Fortinbras, the young Prince of Norway, now seeks to reconquer those forfeited lands.

Journal Entry Loyalty and Betrayal What constitutes loyalty? To whom do we owe loyalty? Family? Lovers? State? Ourselves? What happens when loyalties conflict?

1.2 Claudius, the new king of Denmark, holds court. he dispatches ambassadors to Norway to halt a threatened attack from Fortinbras. He gives Laertes permission to return to France but denies Hamlet‘s request to return to the university in Wittenberg. Hamlet, mourning for his father‘s death, is left alone to vent his despair at what he regards as his mother‘s all too hasty marriage to his uncle, Claudius. The audience learns that the marriage took place ―within a month-- of the former king‘s death. Horatio, Barnardo, and Marcellus arrive and tell Hamlet about the Ghost. Hamlet, aroused by the news, agrees to join them that night

After reading Scene 2—which description illustrates Hamlet the best? A. Hamlet is devastated by his father’s death and betrayed by his mother’s marriage, is introduced as the only character who is unwilling to play along with Claudius’s gaudy attempt to mimic a healthy royal court—Hamlet wears black while the king and queen wear bright colors. This may suggest that he is the only honest character in the royal court, the only person of high standing whose sensibilities are offended by what has happened in the aftermath of his father’s death. B. He is depressed and unwilling to move on with his life. He is someone who refuses to go along with the rest of the court for the sake of the greater good of stability. He’s simply angry that his mother remarried so quickly and he allows this anger to control his actions.

1.3 In Polonius‘s chambers, Laertes says good-bye to his sister, Ophelia, and tells her not to trust Hamlet‘s promises of love. Polonius joins them, sends Laertes off, then echoes Laertes‘s warning to Ophelia, finally ordering her not to see Hamlet again. 1.4 While Claudius drinks away the night, Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus are visited by the Ghost. It signals to Hamlet. Hamlet‘s friends try to stop him from following the Ghost, but Hamlet will not be held back.

1.5 The Ghost tells Hamlet a tale of horror. Saying that he is the spirit of Hamlet‘s father, he demands that Hamlet avenge King Hamlet‘s murder at the hands of Claudius. Hamlet, horrified, vows to ―remember and swears his friends to secrecy about what they have seen. Journal Entry: Revenge vs. Justice What is the difference between revenge and justice? Is one more moral than the other?

1. And keep you in the rear of your affection, Out of the shot of danger and desire. (Laertes warns his sister that Hamlet is not a good man) 1. The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown. (Ghost tells Hamlet Claudius is a poisonous snake who killed his father) That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark (Hamlet realizes the ghost is a bad omen indicating the decline of Denmark under King C’s rule).

THEME: Appearance vs. Reality Journal Entry: Respond in complete sentences Is deceit a fundamental part of the way society functions? Do we live in a society filled with deceitful people? Why do you think this is so?

ACT II 2.1 Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to Paris to question Laertes‘s acquaintances. Ophelia enters, deeply disturbed about a visit she has just had from an apparently mad Hamlet. Polonius decides that Hamlet has become insane because Ophelia is refusing to see him. Polonius rushes off to tell the king

2.2 Claudius and Gertrude set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two boyhood friends of Hamlet, to spy on him to discover the cause of his apparent madness. After the returned ambassadors announce their success in stopping Fortinbras‘s planned invasion of Denmark, Polonius reports his ―discovery-- that Hamlet is mad for love. Claudius is not persuaded but agrees to join Polonius in spying on Hamlet.

2.2 continued When Hamlet himself enters, he is confronted first by Polonius and then by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom he quickly identifies as Claudius‘s spies. As they talk, a company of touring actors enters. Hamlet persuades one of them to deliver a speech, and recognizes, to his shame, that he has shown less intensity in avenging his father‘s murder than the actor has done in performance. Hamlet hopes that, when the players stage The Murder of Gonzago for the court, he can determine whether Claudius is guilty of King Hamlet‘s death.

Citations from ACT II “As it is common for the younger sort to lack discretion…” (Ophelia mentions to Polonius how crazy Hamlet has been acting—& Polonius indicates Hamlet is going mad.) “Man delights not me…” (Hamlet’s opinion of mankind— and womankind—has been tainted by the deception of his family. This adds to his overly tragic mood.) “You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal—except my life, except my life, except my life.” (Here Hamlet makes reference to suicide to show his exaggerated depressed state of mind.)

Theme: Sanity vs. Insanity Journal Entry: Respond to the following question in complete sentences: Is insanity just a sane way of reacting to the madness of the world around us? Is anything in this world really normal?