1. Act 5 Scene 1 Tuesday 15th November 2016 Bell Work:
QFL: Understand the key ideas in Act 5 scene 1
Act 5 Scene 1
Bell Work:
This is one of the most important scenes in Hamlet. It defines the philosophical context in which the whole tragedy takes place. Throughout this play, taken from an old pagan story, the terms of reference have been Christian. All major characters are aware of the idea that this life is succeeded by another in which divine judgement will come.
Read through the contextual information on suicide in the 15th Century.

2. Read Act 5 Scene 1 Other - Tejasbna Hamlet – Olivia Laertes – Amal
Readers:
Gravedigger – Sammara
Other - Tejasbna
Hamlet – Olivia
Horatio – Mia
Priest – Anissa
Laertes – Amal
King Claudius – Juliet
Queen Gertrude - Jay

3. Use the following key words to help you in your response…
How is Act 5 Scene 1 important for the development of Hamlet’s character?
Use the following key words to help you in your response…
Symbolic
Own death
Chain of events
Own funeral
inevitability
duel

4. Challenge Hamlet’s Views
The Gravedigger has two important roles. Can you find examples for the two roles below?
Provide Comedy
Challenge Hamlet’s Views

5. Hamlet and Laertes finally meet…
How does Hamlet show mixed feelings for Laertes?
How does Hamlet praise Laertes. How does he reflect this onto himself?
Analyse the language Laertes uses to make his grief seem more impressive. How does it actually seem?
Hamlet and Laertes are like love rivals. How could you support this statement?

6. Tuesday 15th November 2016
Death
QFL: Can I explore Shakespeare’s presentation of death?
‘Death was everywhere in Elizabethan England – life expectancy was 40 years and infant mortality was high and disease was widespread.’
Bell Work:
Where have we seen examples of death in Hamlet so far? /

7. How does Hamlet begin to think about death differently? Act 5 Scene 1
Death & Hamlet
How does Hamlet begin to think about death differently? Act 5 Scene 1
Look at the following FOUR areas:
Physical images of death
Importance of his dead father
Yorick’s skull
childhood

8. How does Shakespeare present Hamlet’s anxiety about the afterlife?
‘Let me not burst in ignorance. But tell/Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death/Have burst their cerements’ (1.4)

9. Hamlet’ unsure about what happens after death…
The Reformation bought new ideas about the afterlife to the newly formed Church of England. However, many people still held onto Catholic ideas of the time about spirits, demons and purgatory.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses different characters to introduce the conflict between Catholic, Protestant and humanist ideas. The play reflects the current debates of Shakespeare’s time.

10. Yorrick’s skull is a reminder of man’s mortality
In Elizabethan times, death was considered to be much a part of life as birth. Horatio refers to the ‘womb of earth’ (1.1) which suggests that burial is a return to the fertile soil that supports life on earth.
Momento Mori – Elizabethan art often used images of skulls as a reminder of death and man’s inescapable mortality. This type of object is called a momento mori, which roughly translates as ‘Remember you will die’.

11. Hans Holbien – The Ambassadors
Public clocks, statues and paintings like the one above would be decorated with skulls. The painting has a stretched image of the skull across the bottom. This hidden skull reminds the viewer that even when you cant see it, death is near.

13. Find examples of this language that Hamlet uses.
Hamlet uses Yorrick’s skull as a theatrical momento mori in Act 5 Scene 1. Directors often decide to have Hamlet holding the skull up to his face, as if he’s having a conversation with it. This represents Hamlet facing death out of fascination rather than fear or bravery. This is reflected in his language.
Find examples of this language that Hamlet uses.

14. Suicide was a sin that barred the soul’s entrance to heaven…
Suicide was condemned by Christian teaching and people who committed suicide were buried in unconsecrated (unblessed) ground.
What does the Priest at Ophelia’s funeral say that suggests she does not deserve a Christian burial?

15. Act 5 Scene 1 is the most important scene for the development of Hamlet’s character.
To what extent do you agree with this statement?

16. Hamlet’s Changed View Abuse of Language Justice
Tuesday 22nd November 2016
The Duel
QFL: Understand the key themes of Act 5 Scene 2
Act 5 Scene 2
Hamlet’s Changed View Abuse of Language Justice
Bell Work:
Act 5 Scene 1 (Gravedigger Scene) is the most important scene for the development of Hamlet’s character.
To what extent do you agree with this statement?

17. Write a quote to support each of the statements
Act 5 Scene 2 – Readers:
Hamlet – Olivia
Horatio – Mia
Osric – Danielle
Lord – Annisa
King- Juliet
Laertes – Sinduja
Queen – Sammara
Fortinbras - Tejasbna
That he will stop hesitating…
To give into fate…
That he’ll be damned if he does not kill Claudius…
Hamlet has a changed view of the world. He decides to take control of his own actions. He decides…
Write a quote to support each of the statements
To take ownership of his quest for honour and revenge
To start considering others…

18. What does the duel symbolise?
Battle between Goodness and Corruption?
Justice?
Revenge?
???

19. What do you think for each character?
Justice
The themes of justice and revenge come together when Hamlet kills Claudius. By the end of the play, Claudius is isolated. He’s the single villain and all his potential co conspirators (Polonius, R+G, Laertes and Gertrude) are dead. Its clear that Claudius deserves his fate, but its more ambiguous whether everyone else gets what they deserve.
What do you think for each character?
Gertrude
R+G
Laertes
Hamlet
Fortinbras

20. ‘All the deaths in Hamlet are the direct result of each character’s individual flaws – they all cause their own downfall.’
To what extent do you agree with this statement.