ENG4U

= = =This page is designed as a place for information related to my ENG4U classes.=

=// Hamlet // Act 3, scene 1 Questions = Answer each of the following in your **notebook**, with quotations to support your positions.  1. a) With regard to Hamlet’s soliloquy “To be, or not to be”, state the theme and summarize the content.  b)  If the soliloquy were omitted, what difference would it make to the play?  c)  Which of the major preceding soliloquies does it resemble? How?  2.   a) Of what dramatic importance (to plot, characterization, and atmosphere) is Hamlet’s interview with Ophelia?  b)  Why is it almost essential to assume either that Hamlet had overheard Polonius’ plans, or that he became aware of the presence of Polonius and Claudius?   3.   Show how the forces opposed to Hamlet have gained the ascendancy in this scene.  4.   Of the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, Dover Wilson says; “No one but Shakespeare could have interrupted an exciting dramatic intrigue with a passage like this. The surprise and tha audacity of it take our breath away, and render the pity of it the more overwhelming.” Explain and comment on this passage.  5. It has been suggested that the principal purpose of the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy is to give us the one picture in the play of Hamlet, the scholar, the intellectual, pondering a problem of moral philosophy. Discuss this statement.  =// Hamlet // Act 3, scene 2 Questions = Answer each of the following in your **notebook**, with quotations to support your positions.  1. On the assumption that Shakespeare is voicing his ideas on acting in the advice to the Players, give a synopsis of his views on the subject.  2. Outline the qualities in Horatio that Hamlet admires, explaining why he admires them.  3. a) What is the __dramatic__ importance of the play within the play?  b)  To what extent does it fulfil Hamlet’s purpose?  4. Select the passage or passages that Hamlet might have written for the play within the play. Give reasons for your choice.  5. What is added to the play by the recorder episode?  6. Show how Polonius adds unconsciously to the humour of the scene? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 7. Give the dramatic importance in this scene of a) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, b) Horatio. <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 8. a) If the revenge plot is considered as a game of chess between Hamlet and his uncle, which of the contestants is in the more favourable position? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 9.  Why may the establishment of Claudius’ guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?  = Hamlet // Act 3, scene 3 Questions //=   Answer each of the following in your **notebook**, with quotations to support your positions. <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 1.   Which may be regarded as the more logical crisis of the play: the King’s revelation of his guilt in the preceding scene, or Hamlet’s failure to kill him in this scene? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 2. a) Explain how Shakespeare creates sympathy for Claudius in this scene? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> b)  Of what dramatic importance is this attempt to create sympathy? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 3. How is Polonius’ behaviour in this scene consistent with his previous actions? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 4. a) Of what significance is Claudius’ plan to send Hamlet to England ? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> b)  What qualities of Claudius are revealed? <span style="font-family: Garamond; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;"> 5. Analyse Hamlet’s reasons for not killing the King as presented in his speech on lines 73-96.

=Notes on __Hamlet__ Act 2 — The Story of Pyrrhus=



Just before this speech, Hamlet has asked the Player King to perform a speech about Pyrrhus taking revenge. The Player King talks first about Pyrrhus and then moves on to Hecuba, to the grief Hecuba feels over the murder of Priam, which stirs a number of different things in Hamlet. There are all kinds of coincidences in the speech for Hamlet. Firstly there is the remorseless image of a murderer, a revenging murderer, chugging through the streets of Troy. Pyrrhus finds Priam but just as he’s about to kill him, his sword ‘seemed i‘th’air to stick.’ Suddenly Pyrrhus is caught in a moment of inaction – ‘Pyrrhus stood, / … [and] Did nothing.’ It’s a wonderful image, a short line, just ‘did nothing’ and like a hammer blow, it strikes Hamlet in his present state. Then Hamlet wants to hear about Hecuba and there’s an image of a grieving woman, wailing over her dead husband, which reminds Hamlet that his mother didn’t truly grieve. If you’re thinking of learning a speech like this for an audition, it is important to read the notes in which ever edition you’ve got so that you understand the story of Priam, Hecuba and Pyrrhus. (http://www.rsc.org.uk/hamlet/learning/language.html)

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=__Hamlet__ Act Two Considerations= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Answer the following questions using quotations to support your answers.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">What? Why? How?

 * 1) How does the Polonius and Reynaldo scene in the first scene of Act 2 contribute to the effect of the play as a whole?
 * 2) In what ways is the Pyrrhus character similar to Hamlet and to Claudius?
 * 3) How might we connect the content of Hamlet's supposedly crazy remarks to Polonius to what the prince is actually feeling?
 * 4) Name FIVE different characteristics of Polonius that can be proven on the basis of this act.
 * 5) Why might one suspect that Hamlet's theory that the ghost may be devil is not what has actually stopped him from taking action?
 * 6) What reasons for not acting are suggested by Hamlet himself?
 * 7) What different types of madness do we see in Hamlet during this act?
 * 8) What do each of the main characters feel to be the cause of Hamlet's madness?
 * 9) Why might we agree that Claudius is a good king?

Imagery and Symbolism

 * 1) Find TWO references to disease or decay.

Themes

 * 1) Who is acting a part in this act? In what ways?
 * 2) "The time is out of joint". In what ways does Hamlet discover this to be the case during Act Two?
 * 3) Find THREE references to remembering or forgetting our feelings.

=__Hamlet__ Act 1, scenes 3-5 Questions=

Act 1, scene 3

 * 1) The word “Advice” provides a suitable title for the scene. How does Laertes’ advice to Ophelia resemble a) Polonius’ advice to Laertes? b) Polonius’ advice to Ophelia?
 * 2) How is sympathy created in this scene a) Ophelia? b) for Hamlet?
 * 3) What sources of humour are to be found in this scene?

Act 1, scene 4

 * 1) Show that thus scene contains examples of contrast, surprise, and suspense (clearly you will need to define these terms in the context of drama and literature).
 * 2) What differences are brought out between the characters of Hamlet and Claudius?

Act1, scene 5

 * 1) State the substance of the Ghost’s revelation to Hamlet.
 * 2) How does Hamlet receive the news from the Ghost?
 * 3) What reasons would Hamlet have for feigning madness?

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