Fine Arts Unit 3

Over _______ plays written between 1567-1642 (around 500 survive)

2,500

In Shakespeare’s life, there were between ___ - ____ playhouses in London

4-9

Traits of the Global theater:

• no sets, minimal props

• trap door (where the ghost came in!)

• groundlings (lower-class ppl, surrounded the platform stage)

• plays performed in daylight

• more: galleries, Lords’ Rooms, tiring house, discovery space, balaconies, heavens, etc.

Shakespeare was born when & where? (dies where & when?):

April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

Dies: April 23, 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

Shakespeare’s family:

• (married 1582) Wife: Anne Hathaway

• (1583) Daughter: Susanna

• (1585) Twins: Hamnet (dies 1596) & Judith

Shakespeare had an approx 20 yr career (1591-1611) in which he writes _____ plays

38

When was Hamlet composed? What is the setting of Hamlet?

1599-1601; Denmark

Genre, imagery, & themes within Hamlet:

• Genre: (revenge) tragedy

• Imagery: disease, things rank & rotting, dead things, theater

• Themes: Uncertainty of Knowledge, Storytelling, Action/Inaction, Corruption, Madness, Revenge, Family, Death

Revenge tragedy:

features a protagonist driven to avenge a heinous wrong (usually a murder) thru elaborate plots… usually a carnage-filled ending where the avenger and many others die

Who are Claudius, Gertrude, & the Ghost?

• Claudius — Hamlet’s uncle; the new King of Denmark.

• Gertrude — Hamlet’s mother; Queen of Denmark.

• The Ghost — The spirit of Hamlet’s father, the former king.

Who are Polonius, Ophelia, & Laertes?

• Polonius — Chief counselor to King Claudius (Hamlet kills accidentally thru curtain)

• Ophelia — Daughter of Polonius; Hamlet’s love interest (goes mad & drowns herself)

• Laertes — Son of Polonius; Ophelia’s brother (who Hamlet duels w/ in the end)

Who are Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, & Fortinbras?

• Horatio — Hamlet’s closest friend. (Hamlet told him to tell his story) (they met at Wittenberg)

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern — Former schoolmates of Hamlet, summoned by Claudius.

• Fortinbras — Prince of Norway; his story parallels Hamlet’s.

Who are Reynaldo & Osric?

• Reynaldo — Polonius’s servant.

• Osric — A courtier who invites Hamlet to the duel with Laertes.

Who are Marcellus, Barnardo & Francisco?

guards who first encounter ghost

Major plot points of Hamlet!

• Ghost appearing

• Hamlet vows revenge

• Polonius misinterprets Hamlet (thinks Hamlet’s mad cuz of Ophelia)

• Play-within-the-play (Mousetrap)

• Hamlet kills Polonius (confronts Gertrude too)

• Ophelia goes mad

• Claudius sends Hamlet away (to England w/ orders for him to be executed)

• Laertes seeks revenge

• Graveyard scene (Hamlet discovers that Ophelia has died)

• Duel (between Hamlet & Laertes) (Laertes wounds Hamlet with poisoned sword, Gertrude drinks poisoned wine meant for Hamlet, Laertes is wounded with his own blade)

• Final deaths (Hamlet kills Claudius, Fortinbras arrives & claims throne of Denmark)

Why is it an ominous time in Denmark? (Act 1)

• Denmark is prepping for war

• Ghost keeps reappearing

Political vs. personal dramas in Hamlet (things are “rotten” in the state of Denmark): (Act 1)

Political dramas:

• death (& ghost) of King Hamlet, war, Fortinbras of Norway died (his son Fortinbras now trynna reclaim lands lost earlier to King Hamlet), Denmark aquiring rep of being drunkards

Personal dramas:

• Why isn’t Hamlet the successor? Gertrude married Claudius, Hamlet has to leave school @ Wittenberg, Ophelia cautioned by Laertes & Polonius to be cautious abt Hamlet’s affections to her

Questions to think abt from Act 1!!

• Is he acting mad or actually mad?

• Does Hamlet have agency to act (what r his constraints)?

• Is it morally right to act or not act (morality of avenging death vs. murder and reliability of ghost)?

How are people being monitored and policed in Act 2-3 (agency)?

• Adults (King, Queen, Polonius) policing behavior of their children (Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes)

  • Lecturing them on appropriate/proper behavior, having others check up on them, spying on them from behind curtains

Examples of what the audience knows that the characters do not. How do we know these things?

• Soliloquies (Hamlet’s feelings), asides (Claudius’ admission of guilt), overhearing convos that Hamlet’s not privileged to

Soliloquy

character speaks innermost thoughts aloud while alone on stage, allowing audience to understand their true state of mind, motivations, and any hidden plot points

What are Hamlet’s 5 soliloquies?

• “O that this too solid flesh would melt” (Act 1, Scene 2)

• “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I” (Act 2, Scene 2)

• “To be or not to be” (Act 3, Scene 1)

• “Now I might do it pat” (Act 3, Scene 3)

• “How all occasions do inform against me” (Act 4, Scene 4)

Context/summary/meaning of “O that this too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy: (Act 1, Scene 2)

CONTEXT:

• Only a month after King Hamlet’s death, Gertrude & Claudius celebrate their marriage… Claudius tells Hamlet to “stop grieving” (“coiled spring released after all the ppl had gone”)

SUMMARY/MEANING:

• Hamlet wishes he could fade away/die, but knows suicide is a sin

• Disgusted by his mother Gertrude’s quick remarriage, feels world is full of corruption and moral decay

• Shows Hamlet’s depression, feelings of betrayal, his moral conflict (wanting escape but fearing diving judgment)

Context/summary/meaning of “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I” soliloquy: (Act 2, Scene 2)

CONTEXT:

• group of actors arrives at Elsinore, Hamlet watches and realizes he can’t act on his emotions regarding his father’s murder (father’s death floods back to him suddenly)

SUMMARY/MEANING:

• Feels like a coward for failing to avenge father, creates plan to reenact murder of King Hamlet for Claudius

• Showed Hamlet’s self-doubt, overthinking, need for certainty

Context/summary/meaning of “To be or not to be” soliloquy: (Act 3, Scene 1)

CONTEXT:

• Claudius & Polonius set up a trap by having Ophelia talk to Hamlet and spying

• “Story of a man whose conscience can’t bring him to act in the way that the world around him requires him to act”

SUMMARY/MEANING:

• Hamlet debates whether it’s better to live or die (death might be worse cuz afterlife is unkown) humans endure suffering cuz they fear what comes after death

• Shows Hamlet’s depression and how thoughts prevent him from acting

Context/summary/meaning of “Now I might do it pat” soliloquy: (Act 3, Scene 3)

CONTEXT/MEANING:

• Hamlet sneaks up on Claudius to find him "praying” and decides not to kill him cuz then he’d go to Heaven (but he wasn’t actually repenting ☹)

• Finds moral justification to delay again (Hamlet takes role of surveillor here)

Context/summary/meaning of “How all occasions do inform against me” soliloquy: (Act 4, Scene 4)

CONTEXT:

• Hamlet’s on his way to England (where Claudius secretly plans to have him killed) sees Fortinbras’ army marching to fight for a tiny worthless piece of land with honor

SUMMARY/MEANING:

• Feels ashamed that thousands of soldiers are willing to die for honor, while he hasn’t taken

• Marks his shift from hesitation to determination

Verse

text with a set rhythm & meter

Iambic Pentameter:

• Iambic: pattern of rhythm that combines stressed & unstressed syllables (BA-bum)

• Pentameter: repeats the iambs (BA-bum) 5x in the same line (total of 10 syllables per line)

Blank verse:

unrhymed iambic pentameter (used for speakers of high class, ceremony, formality)

Prose:

text that has no set rhythm (used for lower classes, realistic or witty dialogue, to show mental instability)

Play-within-a-Play:

fully scripted play in the play (“Mousetrap”)

Dumb show:

silent mime or pantomime, a short scene acted out wordlessly (builds tension)

• (the one in Hamlet) had a guy pouring poison into king’s ear