Chaucer Why do you think the poem says that the Wif of Bath is Plath’s favorite character in all of literature? What complaints does the Knight have for the old woman and how does she answer each of them? What is the correct answer to the old woman’s question? How does this apply to the poem Chaucer?

Hamlet’s Odd Behavior When Ophelia describes Hamlet on page 46, what are his symptoms? How is he acting? How does Polonius interpret these actions? Given the fact that we know more of what’s going on than Polonius, we may draw different conclusions. How much of Hamlet’s actions are driven by Ophelia’s rejection, and how much by other life problems? Draw connections to the previous scenes with Hamlet to create your own diagnosis. Look back at Act I, scene v. Is he acting this way on purpose? How does he intend for Ophelia to respond? For others to respond? How much do you moderate your appearance and actions with others in mind? What is the purpose of adjusting your behavior or appearance for the benefit of others?

Polonius as a father Examine Polonius as a father here by examining his actions and their implications in a T-Chart. How does he act toward both his son and his daughter? What does this say about him as a parent? Example: ACTION: PARENTING IMPLICATION: He sends his son money and notes He must care for his son

Now get in your groups Take your conclusions you’ve drawn about Polonius here and get into your previously assigned groups. Compare your analyses: Did you see all the same actions? Did you draw the same conclusions? Go back to pages 26-28. How are our first impressions of Polonius and his relationships with his children fulfilled or adjusted here? How is he different with his two children?

Group Work continued Now compare Polonius as a parent to some of the other parents in the book. How are his relationships similar to and different from the following: The Ghost and Hamlet Claudius and Hamlet Gertrude and Hamlet Old Fortinbras and Fortinbras

TABLOIDS! Create a tabloid article to highlight the parenting skills of the court in Elsinore. Try to make it sound authentic. Give examples to support your claims. In the article, explore the political, emotional, and thematic problem produced by bad parenting.

Reflection How are your skills in textual analysis progressing? How far have you come in the last year? What are you still struggling with? What are some methods you think would help you to further improve?

Soliloquy! Analyze Soliloquys here: 71-73 76-78 101-102

Conversation skillz Examine the following conversations: Hamlet and Ophelia (78-80) Hamlet and Ophelia (87-94 behind the play) Hamlet and R&G (95-98) What does it reveal about the character’s relationships? About Hamlet’s character?

CLIMAX Some people consider Act III, scene iii to be the climax of the play. Why? What do you think makes it important? How does Dramatic Irony play a role in our understanding of the scene? How do Claudius’s and Hamlet’s speeches develop their characters in III, iii?

Mommy dearest! What is the relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude like? What can you learn from this scene? (Consider how we discussed other parent/child relationships.) What arguments does Hamlet make to Gertrude? How does she respond? What does he want her to do? What does the arrival of the Ghost mean? How does it influence Hamlet and his actions?

Another Soliloquy Time to analyze a soliloquy! Break down the language, ideas, and form of the soliloquy on pages 124-125 on your paper. Express your knowledge of the context and your personal interpretation. Recognize the artistry of the passage. Organize your ideas and use appropriate language to the task. (In other words, follow the rubric!) Also, compare his ideas to his previous soliloquies—pages 15-16, 71, 76-77!

Loyalties Act IV, i: Who is Gertrude loyal to? Does she respond as you expected after her conversation in III, iv? How does Hamlet’s encounter with Fortinbras influence him and his plans? Because this is Shakespeare’s longest play and somewhat impractical to perform in its entirety, the scene in which Hamlet meets Fortinbras is usually cut. What is lost when this scene is removed?

Ophelia’s madness Often in older stories madness is symbolic—an insane person exhibits a kind of truth and reality not entirely clear to the more lucid. What does Ophelia reveal in her madness? Compare Ophelia’s madness to Hamlet’s. Does this comparison strengthen our idea that H is mad or weaken it?

Love and Graveyards Does Hamlet love Ophelia? What does the argument with Laertes show about him? How have Hamlet’s ideas of death changed over time? Compare his ideas here with his ideas over Polonius’s death and his initial ideas about death.

Horns of the Altar What does being eaten mean for Dillard? How does it apply to our via positiva/via negative scope of the book? How does the idea of being eaten influence her understanding of previous images: the sharks, the mockingbird, the tree with the lights? How does she respond to new realization? Does it unravel the numinous? Does it reaffirm it? Or something else? In what way does she use the gnawed fringe image to connect to and revise previous understandings of the universe?

Come in and READ! Come in, sit down, and read. After our reading time and anthem, you will be divided into the following groups. Please move into those groups at that time and wait for instructions. Group 1: Hayden, Stephane, Angelina C Group 2: Sydney E., Fondren, She Group 3: Breja, McKenzie, Riley Group 4: Harper, Mia, Caroline Group 5: Lon, Sydney M., Zoey Group 6: Sophie, Reagan, Angie Group 7: Amber, Alatha, Nate Group 8: Nima, Ainsley, Edwin Group 9: Jonah, Andy, Quinn, and Jeffery

Choosing IA Poems! The time has come to select your IA poem options! In a moment, I will put up a list of all the Sylvia Plath poems we’ve analyzed this semester. For this activity, you will need your poetry notebook. If you also need a copy of Ariel (if not all the poems are copied into your notebook), you may borrow a copy from the shelf. With your group, look at each of the poems and the notes you’ve taken. Then, answer the following questions: Is the poem an appropriate length (approximately 30 lines, no more than 40)? If not, what features does it have that might still be useful to reference in connection with a different poem? What images, phrases, and lines connect to other Plath poems? If so, are their any other aspects that make it undesirable for an IA (ie. Too short, too confusing, etc.)? Once you have finished your list of possible choices, note the most interesting features of your selections that make them good choices. We will discuss your final selection at the end.