Act III, Sc. 4 Hamlet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOjpvNPr3JU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqP3DRGHD4Y 

Act III sc. 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XJwsReIfis

Shmoop's Hamlet

http://www.shmoop.com/hamlet/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtYCXO-jAJg 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGSqN-UrIe4

Hamlet as Revenge Tragedy

Revenge in Hamlet

There are three plots in Shakespeare's Hamlet: the main revenge plot and two subplots involving the romance between Hamlet and Ophelia, and the looming war with Norway. The following is a guide to the main plot, with a look at all the significant events on Hamlet's journey for vengeance.

Introduction to the Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy

Thomas Kyd established the revenge tragedy with his wildly popular Spanish Tragedy (1587), and Shakespeare perfected the genre with Hamlet, which is likely based on another revenge play by Kyd called the Ur-Hamlet. Sadly, no copy of Kyd's Ur-Hamlet exists today.

Most revenge tragedies share some basic elements: a play within a play, mad scenes, a vengeful ghost, one or several gory scenes, and, most importantly, a central character who has a serious grievance against a formidable opponent. This central character takes matters into his own hands and seeks revenge privately, after justice has failed him in the public arena. It should be noted that Hamlet is the only protagonist in any Elizabethan revenge play who can be considered a hero, aware of the moral implications involved in exacting his revenge. Characters Involved in the Revenge Plot of Hamlet

Hamlet
Ghost
Claudius
Gertrude
Polonius
Laertes
Horatio


Key Revenge Plot Events

1. The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo. Horatio begs the apparition to speak (1.1.127), but it refuses. Horatio reports the encounter to Hamlet.
2. The Ghost appears to Hamlet and they leave to speak in private (1.4.86).

3. The Ghost reveals that he is, in fact, the ghost of Hamlet’s father. The revenge plot is established with the Ghost’s utterance, "So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear" (1.5.7). He tells Hamlet that he was poisoned by his brother Claudius as he slept in his orchard and, if Hamlet is not already feeling the desire, the Ghost makes plain the demand: "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (25).

4. To be certain of Claudius's guilt, Hamlet decides to re-enact the murder of his father with the production of The Murder of Gonzago (known also as the play within the play or The Mousetrap). If Claudius is disturbed by the play it will reveal his guilt. In Hamlet's words:
The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king (2.2.606-07).

5. Hamlet stages The Murder of Gonzago and Hamlet and Horatio agree that the agitated Claudius has behaved like a guilty man during the production (3.2.284).

6. Hamlet has an opportunity to kill the unattended Claudius in his chamber, but, after soliloquizing on the matter, he decides not to take action because Claudius is praying. Killing Claudius in prayer would not really be revenge because he would go to heaven, "fit and season’d for his passage" (3.3.86).

7. Hamlet kills Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius as he hides behind a curtain. (3.4.22)

8. The Ghost appears again to Hamlet. He is angry because Claudius is still alive. He tells Hamlet he has returned to "whet thy almost blunted purpose" (3.4.111).

9. Claudius banishes Hamlet to England for the murder of Polonius (4.3.46). He sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet’s actions (55) and makes plans to have Hamlet assassinated on English soil.

10. Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet reporting that he is returning to Denmark, thanks to pirates who had captured his boat and released him on the promise of future reward (4.6.11).

11. Claudius hears of Hamlet's return and he conspires with Laertes, Polonius's son, to murder Hamlet. Laertes will use a poison-tipped sword during a fight with Hamlet, and Claudius will have a poisoned drink at the ready (4.7.126-161).

12. Hamlet stabs Claudius (5.2.311) and forces him to drink the poisoned wine (316). The revenge plot is thus concluded. Hamlet himself then dies from the wound received during the fight with Laertes (348).

How to cite this article:
Mabillard, Amanda. Introduction to Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/revengetragedy.html" >.

Act III Hamlet

Retest on American Poets

Elizabethan Beliefs

Continue to read and discuss Act III in small groups.  Post your responses to the following questions.Act III

• What is the subject of Hamlet's second soliloquy, the famous "To be or not to be" speech?
• Why is he so cruel to Ophelia immediately thereafter?
• What happens in the "play-within-a-play"?  How do the speeches and actions reflect on events in the kingdom of Denmark?  How does the king respond?
• In what way is Hamlet's second major interaction with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (III.ii.375-415) different from his first encounter with them?
• Why does Hamlet decline to take action against Claudius in III.iii?
• What happens in III.iv (the closet scene)?  Why is this death so important for the play, or what does the death of this figure represent?
• Based on what you've seen in III.iv, do you think Gertrude knew about the murder?

Hamlet Act II

In groups, read Act II of Hamlet and use the following discussion questions as a guide to post a summary comment for your group.

Act II

• Why does this act open with Polonius and Reynaldo?  What does this tell us about Polonius's character, and what theme or motif does it introduce in the play?
• How does the interaction between Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern help to explain what's wrong with Hamlet?  Why are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Denmark?
• The First Player's speech is often cut in performances of the play.  Explain why it is important and why it should not be cut.
• Hamlet's "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I" is the first of his soliloquies. What is he saying, and how does this set of words help to move him to action?
• What does he decide to do at the end of this speech?

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Retest on American Poets

There will be a retest on Tuesday of the American Poets.

Use your handout to study and the first test.

Here are the poets you should know and some information from the first test.  The retest will be in a different format, though!

NAME:

AMERICAN POETS QUIZ

1.     W. H. Auden

2.     Anne Bradstreet

3.     e. e. cummings

4.     Emily Dickinson

5.     T.S. Eliot

6.     Robert Frost

7.     Langston Hughes

8.     Francis Scott Key

9.     Emma Lazarus

10. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

11. Edgar Lee Masters

12. Marianne Moore

13. Ezra Pound

14. Edward Arlington Robinson

15. Carl Sandburg

16. Wallace Stevens

17. Phyllis Wheatley

18. Walt Whitman

19. William Carlos Williams

20. Edgar Allan Poe

 a.     “Chicago,” biographer of Lincoln

b.     “The Star-Spangled Banner”

c.      “The New Colossus”

d.     “Hiawatha” “Paul Revere’s Ride” and other long poems

e.     “Mother to Son” “Dream Deferred”

f.      “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

g.     Colonial poet, first published American poet

h.     “Hope is a thing with feathers”

i.       “Annabel Lee”, “The Raven

j.       “Mending Wall”,  inauguaral poem for John F. Kennedy

k.      “Poetry”—(I, too dislike it:)

l.       “Richard Cory” “Miniver Cheevy”

m.   insurance executive who wrote

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

n.      edited “The Wasteland” for T. S. Eliot, the Cantos

o.     African poet , Negro Slave-poet of Boston

p.      “Song of Myself”

q.     “September 1, 1939”

r.       Spoon River Anthology

s.       experimented with typography in his poems, “in just spring”

t.      doctor who wrote “The Red Wheelbarrow”   “This is just to Say”--

Hamlet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0y2OAesYE