Class Notes 3/22/10 & 3/23/10

Act 4 scene6

"The Pirate Scence"

- Claudius sent Hamlet to England, told King of England to kill him
-Hamlet is on the ship with Rosencranz and Guildinstern
-Pirates come and capture Hamlet leaving everyone else still on the boat on there way to England
- Hamlet and the Pirates become friends
- he convinces the pirates to take him back to Denmark
- Hamlet writes two letters and the pirates deliver them
-The first one is to Horatio saying, the pirate(messanger) will take Horatio to where Hamlet is, and that there are important things he needs to tell him
- the second letter is for Claudius and it basically says I'm back
-the pirates never appear and are never mentioned again

Deus ex Machina= God in machine
- God pullyed down from ceiling to save the day, fix all problems, does not fit in storyline
-Lots of people think thats what the Pirate scene is in Hamlet

Act 4 Scene 7

-Gertrude comes with the news that Ophilia "drowned"
-iconic image, Ophilia floating with flowers in her hair

Act 5

Setting- outside in church graveyard

2 clowns= poor gravediggers
Malapropism=word you mix up with another word
- the clowns tell many jokes/riddles and malapropisms
- the clowns are comic relief
- they are talknig about wheather Ophilia really did kill herself or not
- Everybody thinks she killed herself(if she really did she would go to hell, and not get a church buryial) Claudias makes sure she is properly buried so she goes to heaven, he also doesn't want Laertes mad at him(he needs Leartes for his plan to kill Hamlet)
- one of the clowns riddles:mason=brick layer, gallows=what you get hanged on, Gravediggers homes he builds last forever

- Hamlet is bothered by the clowns singing as they work, he thinks its rude/disrespectful, but then he thinks that if thats your job you must get used to it
-the clowns are disturbing the bodies throwing skulls all around and burying bodies on top of other bodies
- Hamlet asks how long it takes until the bodies decompose, the clown says 8 /9 years longer if your a tanner(joke)

- Jester=the only one who could tell the truth
- clown shows Hamlet Yurik's skull (Hamlet knew Yurik)
- we find out how old Hamlet is
- why call Hamlet and Fortanbras 'young' if they arent really young at all?

Sophia Meyers

Class Notes 3/8/10

• Hamlet and his mother may have had a sexual relationship, this has been argued in both directions.
• Freud's Psychosexual Stage Theory:

Oral Stage: infant-age 2, they want to put everything in their mouth

Anal Stage: age2-4potty training, the idea of someone being "anal" comes from this theory

Phallic Stage: age 4-6 sexual feeling occur but are then sublimated

(From then on puberty occurs and then adulthood)

• Freud's ID Ego and Superego Theory:

You are born with your ID which simply tells you what you need

Ego develops later which is basically common sense and knowing right from wrong

Superego acts as you conscience and tells you right from wrong

• Madonna Complex

A problem that can develop in young boys and follow them into adulthood. They can only view women in two ways, either the virgin mary or (for lack of a better way to describe it simply) a whore. Therefore they have issues maintaining healthy relationships because they can't have sex with the virgin mary and they see no point in treating a whore with respect and have no desire to be with her.

• All of this can be related to Hamlet's relationship with his mother and why he cannot be with Ophelia and tells her to "go to a nunnery"

Emma