Class Notes 2/24 & 2/25

Act III Scence IV

When Hamlet is talking to his mom:
- He feels betrayed becase he once cared about her
- Hamlet wants to save her, he loves her (repentance)
- He wants to save her from herself

Edipus Complex:
- Young boys want to be daddy's so they can marry mommy
- Take over roll of Dad
- Be responsible for mom

When Hamlet stabs Polonius:
- He asks if it's Claudius (he wants it to be him)
- Pumped up/ready, emotionally on edge (from the scence before)
- More emotional = Less logical

What makes Polonius shout out:
- Gertrude says "help" she thinks Hamlet will kill her
- "Speak daggers but use none" Hamlet does not intent to kill her
- Niro, killed his mom becase he wanted to see where he came from( Hamlet mentions him earlyer)
- Sword = Intimidation
- glass = mirror (lots of mirror & refelection references)
- You can't force someone to repent
- Must come from Gertrude's own self reflection
- Woman. not capable of making her own (good) decitions

Why can't the Ghost be seen by Gertrude:
- Ghost doesn't want to be seen (Elizabethan people)
- It's not really there (us)

Sophia Meyers

Act 3 Scene 3 Notes

- Claudius has decided to send Hamlet to England, and he doesn't plan on having him return.

- Rosencrantz's reference to the whirlpool and spoked wheel have to do with the Great Chain of Being and how if the king is killed everything begins to fall apart.

- Rosencrantz believes that he and Guildenstern will be preventing this, however, it has already happened with the death of King Hamlet.

-Claudius confesses in his soliloquy, but is confused on what to do. He wants to know if it is possible to be pardoned and still keep the things he has obtained. We know that it is not possible.

-The only way Claudius could be pardoned is if he would confess publicly, give up all that he has gained, and be killed.

-When Hamlet comes upon Claudius he sees him alone and as a chance to finally end this. But, he then realizes that this would be a bad thing because this wouldn't be the right way to carry out Vengeance. Hamlet finally makes his first real kingly decision when he decides to wait to kill Claudius.

-Plus, when Hamlet comes upon Claudius he is either praying or is in a church praying. Either way killing someone while they are praying is against a very sacred rule. Churches are sanctuaries and by extension so is the process of praying. Killing Claudius now would be a free pass to heaven, which is exactly what Hamlet doesn't want. He wants Claudius to rot in purgatory for his sins. Which is what Claudius made King Hamlet do when he killed him before King Hamlet had the chance to repent. So Hamlet decides to until Claudius is in the process of committing a sin or after he has committed one.

-Hamlet is shown here as having an inner struggle between rationality and emotion.

-Directors have done this part of the scene differently. Film versions usually don't have Hamlet being in the same room when this goes on, that way it can be a true soliloquy by Claudius. Stage versions do it differently. One version had a cone of light around claudius and had Hamlet circling around Claudius while he did his soliloquy. Although the actor playing Hamlet was actually walking around Claudius it was meant for a metaphorical purpose.

-Much to Hamlet's ignorant chagrin, Claudius never really is praying and he never really repents because he doesn't believe enough in his words to make them have effect.

-Matt

Mel Gibson version

Mel Gibson version of Rogue Soliloquy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9EmcAfWrsQ

Hamlet Act 3.ii

Its in order of how we talked about stuff in class, so it doesn't exactly follow the order of the text.

Hamlet tells Horatio that he doesn't let his emotions get the best of him and Hamlet is both envious and respects him for this. This is the reason why Hamlet tells Horatio to watch Claudius because Horatio will remain level-headed and not lie to Hamlet about it.

• Hamlet & Horatio speak after the King leaves
• neither Hamlet or Horatio directly say what it is they saw.

-Nephew poisons King and Claudius runs out in fear of his life

• Hamlet takes it as him showing his guilt
• Horatio doesn't correct him

Hours after confrontation with Ophelia Hamlet sees her at play and is extremely mean to her calling her a slut in public and Ophelia just has to take it

Reference to Mousetrap is Hamlets way of saying that Claudius is insignificant and also goes back to "springes to catch woodcocks"

Hamlet tells Guildenstern to play the pipe and Guildenstern doesn't know how to play. Hamlet says its as easy as lying, meaning he may think he knows how to play him (Hamlet), but he doesn't. This is showing that Hamlet is getting over confident.

After speaking w/ Guildenstern Polonius walks in and Hamlet asks him about the shapes of clouds in the sky. He does this because (1) it will make him look crazy, and (2) to prove he can outsmart anyone although its ironic b/c Polonius is a fool.

Hamlet's Soliloquy is very angry/depressed/serious

- Hamlet says he's very angry and could kill someone, he then says hes going to see his mom and had to remind himself not to hurt his mother.

Hamlet asks player king to act natural, not to over do it or under do it

• this is Shakespeare talking through Hamlet

"the mirror up to nature"

• drama provides a mirror so we can see ourselves
• people act in order to see a different prospective

"excellent, i' faith, of the chameleon's dish"

• thought that chameleon's eat air b/c they couldn't see it eat flies
• talking about empty promises and being surrounded by liars

Player King expects Player queen to move on after he dies, and she says she won't.

• Gertrude realizes the play is about her and Claudius

_Molly_

the rogue soliloquy essay

If anyone has started essay on the the rogue soliloquy and has any reccomendations for how to organize it that would be great cause I am kinda confused about where to start. I am doing Burton vs. Branagh, but any tips would help.

Kiera

the rogue soliloquy

If anyone is looking for the videos online and is having trouble finding them just type in google videos the rogue soliloquy and they all should come up heres the link too.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&resnum=0&q=the%20rogue%20soliloquy%20kenneth%20branagh&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

Kiera

Act 3- Scene 1

Act 3- Scene 1

Ophelia wants to give Hamlet back his stuff- Ophelia young "good girl"- is not trying to purposely push Hamlet's buttons

Are you honest? Are you fair?
- both have double meanings
- fair: 1) beautiful 2) are you just as in do you play by the rules
- honesty: 1) truthful 2) chastity - purity as in are you a virgin

Ophelia are you seeing someone else- Hamlet seems jealous
Those who are fair and honest do not stay honest for very long

Polonius buys the act, but Claudius doesn't

"Get thee to a nunnery"
-nunnery double meaning
1) convent: won't be around guys- so she won't have children- no chance of ruining her reputation- protected from the likes of Hamlet
2) whore house: no relationships there either- keeping the world at a distance no risk of being hurt.
*How do you protect yourself from the difficulties/pain of relationships?

*Do Hamlet and Ophelia care about each other- this is not a nice scene - violence on Hamlet's part against Ophelia
*Why is he so awful to her-how does she respond?
*Why would Hamlet treat her like this if he loved her?

-push her away to protect her from guys like me
-yes, Hamlet is angry - Polonius/Claudius/set-up/murder/Gertrude-mother betrayed him.
ALL WOMEN BETRAY- notion of time and of how Hamlet feels about women


The King's aside (before Hamlet and Ophelia talk)
images of disease- Claudius

• internal disease: don't know before it is too late

slowly kills you - spreads-spreads till it overwhelms

• king on the throne that is not the rightful king-disease at the center of the kingdom-put usurper and the corruption spreads
• can't camouflage that which is truly corrupt- the more make up - the more ugly something becomes
• the themes of make-up/whoredom/corruption all go together

ASIDE:
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot's cheek, beautied with plast'ring art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word.
O heavy burden!

• The heavy burden refers to the king's guilt- we know at this point that he is guilty of something but are unaware of what that something is
• harlot- refers to whore
• plast'ring art refers to make-up
• whores wear lots of make-up because they often contract STD's most commonly syphilis and syphilis shows up on the face to hide the disease must wear lots of make-up
• The aside is in part a response to Polonius comment:

'Tis too much proved, that with devotion's visage

And pious action we do sugar o'er

The devil himself

meaning that we do bad but for a good reason

These are the notes on act 3 scene 1

Kiera

Act 2 Scene 2 Soliloquy Notes

- Hamlet is insulting himself when he calls himself a peasant slave
- Comparing himself to the player king
- Player king weeps for Hecuba though he has no real reason for it
-Hamlet cannot understand why the player king weeps so much for someone he does not know
- Asks himself what the player king would do if he had the motive that Hamlet has
- Decides the player king would have killed Claudius but says he is too scared to do so
- Admits that he is a coward and only acts like he is going to take revenge for his father
- Makes a plan to show a scene that he makes in front of Claudius and the family which compares to his fathers murder to see how Claudius reacts to find out if he is the true killer
- Realizes that the ghost could be the devil trying to damn him which is why he needs greater justification than what the ghost told him.

Marc Cavalier

Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2 2/2/10

These are the notes for Tuesday. They will be out of order because someone already posted the Wednesday notes.

The purpose of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz

• spying
• philosophers
• college guys
• want to find out whats wrong with Hamlet- similar to Polonius

"Faith, her privates we."

• multiple meanings
• HER REFERS TO FORTUNE
• Private- is a person in the military - a foot solider- lowest rank- G&R are the lowest in fortunes army, therefore they simply do what she says.
• If your in good with fortune than you get what you want (sexual translation)
• Fortune is a whore

R&G are another source of comic relief when Polonius is not on stage

-Polonius is set up to believe that Hamlet's insanity is all about Love and a broken heart

-R&G are set up to believe that is because Hamlet has had bad dreams

* 2 reason for Hamlet's supposed madness is better than one

Pride is the ultimate tragic flaw- pride- Hamlet is beginning to think that he can out smart anyone - but the reality is that he can not. Hamlet believes in the power of his intelligence--will this lead to his demise?

QUESTION 20:

Maggots were originally thought to come from nothing - spontaneous generation

Hamlet wants to continue to encourage Polonius' belief that he has gone crazy because of his relationship with Ophelia

Hamlet loves to play verbal games and say one thing but mean something else (appearance vs. reality)

"Let her not walk in the sun"

-spontaneous generation idea- if she walks in the sun she might magically conceive

-don't let her be seen in the light - i.e.- don't let her be sought after

-conception is a blessing

These are the notes from Tuesday's class .

A quick recap for any confusion. During class we talked about the importance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as characters. They provide an element of comic relief, they add to Hamlet's insanity plot, and they relate to Hamlet as college guys, and as fellow philosophers. We talked a little bit of Hamlet's flaw that he is beginning to feel as though his high level of intelligence will allow him to manipulate those around him. In addition to R&G involvement in Hamlet's on going plot we talked about Polonius and his relation to it- specifically with the quote regarding Ophelia.

-Kiera

Class Notes 2/3/10

Act II Scence II

Question 25-What does he mean by,"...there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so"?
(Hamlet says this when he's talking about Denmark)
-He says that Denmark is like a prison because he's not allowed to leave and to go back to school go go anywhere else
-Everything is really a prison-up to the universe
-All about your preception, how you feel about where you are
-you might be in prison physically, but not mentally
-only you can control your mind

Nutshell: What if a person was stuck inside a nutshell there whole entire lives and it was all they ever knew of the world? The nutshell is infinate until you come out and see whats outside of it.
-Hamlet was stuck in his nutshell (Dennmark) until he went to school, and saw the world, now he wants to get back out there. He has been enlightened and doesn't want to be stufffed back.

-Perceptions are what dictate our realities, our good perceptions and bad ones
-There is no such thing as a real world-it all depends on perception
ex:People are all at a stadium watching a football game, none of them are watching the same game though because everybody's reality's are different.

Hamlet likes using words/lines
-we must use language to get things done
-things are described by function-it is whatever we choose it to be, everyone has a different way
-it is what you choose to call it, nothing more then that
ex: What is abortion?
What is life?
What is marriage?
What is a terrorist?
-Who has the right to define all these words?

Words=Symbols
-How do we make symbols for absrtact concepts?
-Can we point to love like we point to a stapler?
-Nobody knows what things are, they only know perseptions

What about numbers?
-time is all relative, it doesn't exist

Hamlet Act 2.ii Notes

This scene is the start of the rising action (complication)
It starts with
+King/Queen/Rosencrantz & Guildstern
-Rosencrantz & Guildstern
+Polonious
-Polonious
+Polonious/Volitmand and Cornelius
-Volitmand and Cornelius
+Hamlet
-Claudius & Gertrude
+R&G
-Polonius
+Polonious
+Players
-Polonious & Players
- R & G
= ends with Hamlet alone by himself to give a soliloquy

-Old king has Fortinbras arrested and put on house arrest, but because he almost pulled off his plan they tell him he can go to Poland, but then asks Claudius a safe passage through Denmark to Poland

-Polonius is anything, but brief when he says Hamlet is crazy which is added as a comic relief

-Both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are philosophers likes Hamlet, but not as smart as him, they have a normal conversations and speak of dirty jokes (other comic relief)

-Hamlet gives Polonius and R&G two different reasons why he is crazy, even though he is not crazy at all

- Hamlet's flaw is that he thinks he's undefeatable (the tragic flaw of all mythic heroic archetypes)

-Shakespeare plays off of spontaneous generation so Hamlet plays verbal games with Polonius saying Ophelia shouldn't walk in the sun because a.) she could get pregnant and b.) other guys will see her

These are the notes I took for Monday... feel free to add more.

-Molly

Hamlet 2.1 Notes

These are the notes that I took from class, there not the best notes but its better than nothing..

-Polonious is sending Reynaldo to spy on Laertes

-Polonious isn't that out of line for doing this because Laertes is/has been a screw up

• he wants Reynaldo to bring him up in a bad manner

-Rumors destory people

-Polonious is telling lies to find the truth, reality shows the appearance, which goes back to the theme of appearance vs. reality

-Hamlet's antic disposition is just a facade that will reveal the truth, and get vengeance for his father

-Hamlet's plan may be a serious error in judgement

-Phelia listened to her father and stopped relations with Hamlet

• Hamlet is using Ophelia to act crazy, which explains his craziness, his broken heart (did it to hurt Ophelia)

-Hamlet sees Gertrude betrayed King Hamlet which reinforces his thoughts that women betray men. Gertrude is guilty of these sins, and then so if Ophelia.

Old Generation vs. Young Generation Battle

-Old

• Claudius
• Gertrude


• Polonious


• Ophelia

-Young

• Hamlet
• Laertes (maybe)
  

--Molly