Block, 11/29 - The Players Are Coming!

*P&P

*Vocab Quiz - Shakespearean sight words (take out one sheet of paper). When you finish, turn in your quiz and work on your sonnet quietly while others finish the quiz. 

*Check and review J8 as needed; any questions about any of the questions? 

*Continue reading Hamlet . . . if there is time, watch a bit of the movie to keep current with the drama.

HW: 

1. Begin studying new sight words posted on the blog
2. J9 (due next block) - Lesson Three: Act 3

1. Though fundamentally opposites, how are Ophelia and Claudius similar, according to Leithart?
2. What tendencies do Hamlet and Claudius share?
3. How is Claudius a complex character (in other words, how is he more than mere monster)?
4. What factors contribute to Hamlet's hatred of marriage (and women in particular)?
5. What is the double-edged nature of the play (what is doubly significant about the death of the player king and his murderer)? In other words, how does the court interpret it? How does Claudius interpret it?
6. What is Claudius struggling with when Hamlet finds him praying? Explain his biblical allusion ("primal eldest curse"), his distinction between earthly and heavenly justice, and his subsequent dilemma (what would be required of true repentance?).
7. Explain how Hamlet's deliberation in killing Claudius shows us he is increasing in madness (specifically as it pertains to vengeance).
8. Explain several of the ways in which the death of Polonius is the turning point ("lynch pin") of the play.
9. What is ironic about Hamlet's attempt to hold up a mirror to Gertrude? What does this tell us about Hamlet's moral constitution?
10. Given that the murder of Polonius is the murder of another father, what can we expect to see in the immediate future?

Wednesday, 11/28 - The Play's the Thing!

*P&P

*Book through Hamlet

HW: 

1. J8 (block)
2. Vocab Quiz (block) - Shakespearean sight words on the blog (from adieu to ne'er)
3. CWP (revised due date: it is now Tuesday, Dec. 11)   

Tuesday, 11/27 - Hamlet . . . All Day

Two thumbs up . . . if one is standing upside-down

*P&P

*Hamlet . . . as I said . . . all day.

HW: 

1. J8 (block)
2. Quiz on Shakespearean sight words posted on the blog (block)
3.  Sonnet (Monday, Dec. 10) 

Monday, 11/26 - Back to Denmark

*P&P

*Today, before we dive back into the tragedy brewing in Denmark, we will need to take a look at your CWP Q2: The Sonnet. Open the documents entitled "CWP - Senior Sonnet" and "Sonnet Grid." Let's discuss.

*Now let's get into Hamlet.

HW: 

J8 - Lesson Two: Act 2 (Leithart 130-139)

1. Why does Act 2 begin with Polonius's seeming impertinent dialogue with Reynaldo?
2. What are the two results of spying?
3. What is extremely significant about the ambassadors' news upon returning from Norway (and what does it have to do with Hamlet)?
4. What is so significant about Hamlet's alleged madness? In other words, why is everyone so concerned about him?
5. What are the theories concerning Hamlet's madness and who holds each theory?
6. What is Hamlet's purpose behind his "verbal fencing"?
7. What are the implications to Hamlet's calling Polonius a "fishmonger"?
8. Explain the meaning behind Hamlet's warning to Polonius: "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god kissing carrion--Have you a daughter? . . . Let her not walk i' the sun. Conception is a blessing, but as your daughter may conceive--friend' look to 't."
9. Explain why Hamlet reacts so emotionally upon hearing the first player's speech.
10. How will the play The Murder of Gonzago relate to the theme of spying?
  

Wednesday, 11/14 - The time is out of joint

"Mr. Skull, you know my mantra by now."

*P&P

*Hamlet

HW: study Shakespearean vocab   

Extended Chapel Schedule

Tuesday, 11/19 - Frailty, thy name is woman, whoa! Man! Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-man!

• P&P

• GUM - Please treat the following quote as if you were including it in a THICE (Take-Home-in-Class Essay). Hamlet is the speaker here, so please provide an appropriate signal phrase:

"These (appearances of mourning) indeed "seem,"
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe." (1.2.86-
 
 






HW:

Monday, 11/12 - Hamlet the (Friendly?) Ghost

Remember me

*P&P

*Check for new Vocab and Lit Terms to write in your binder

*Today we continue our (ghost) story. 

HW: J7 (due tomorrow)

Last Memorization of Quarter 2

Choose one:


1. Shakespeare's Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
      If this be error and upon me proved,
     I never writ, nor no man ever loved.



 2. Translation of Psalm 13 by Queen Elizabeth I

Fools that true faith yet never had
Saith in their hearts, there is no God.
Filthy they are in the practice, 
of them not one is godly wise. 

From heaven the Lord on man did look
To know what ways he undertook.
All they were vain and went astray,
Not one he found in the right way.

In heart and tongue have they deceit,
Their lips throw forth a poisoned bait.
Their minds are mad, their mouths are wode,
And swift they be in shedding blood.

So blind they are, no truth they know,
No fear of God in them will grow.
How can that cruel sort be good,
Of God's dear flock which suck the blood?

On him rightly shall they not call,
Despair will so their hearts appall.
At all times God is with the just,
Because they put in him their trust.

Who shall therefore from Sion give
That health which hangeth in our belief?
When God shall take from his the smart,
Then will Jacob rejoice in heart.

            Praise to God. 



3.  "Death be not proud" by John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. 

4.  "When I was Fair and Young" by Queen Elizabeth I

When I was fair and young, then favor graced me.

Of many was I sought their mistress for to be.

But I did scorn them all and answered them therefore:

Go, go, go, seek some other where; importune me no more. 

How many weeping eyes I made to pine in woe,

How many sighing hearts I have not skill to show,

But I the prouder grew and still this spake therefore:

Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.

Then spake fair Venus’ son, that proud victorious boy,

Saying: You dainty dame, for that you be so coy,

I will so pluck your plumes as you shall say no more:

Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.

As soon as he had said, such change grew in my breast

That neither night nor day I could take any rest.

Wherefore I did repent that I had said before:

Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.

Wednesday, 11/7 - Something Is Rotten

"I'm astounded yet again at your wisdom, Mr. Skull"

*P&P

*We begin our tragedy . . .

HW: Finish J6 

Tuesday, 11/6 - Back to Denmark

"Hmmm. I do believe I see your point, Mr. Skull."

*P&P

*(Schwager) - Sight words handout, Intro to Tragedy (first section of Leithart doc)

*(Reno) - finish reading Intro to Tragedy

*Begin Hamlet . . .

HW: finish J6 (due block day)

Block, 11/1 - A Whole New World!

*P&P

Shakespeare's Sonnet 116: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
      If this be error and upon me proved,
     I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

*Read Intro to the Renaissance (and take some helpful notes)

*Shakespearean high-frequency sight words (posted on Focus)

*???