LAST CLASS TOMORROW

Tomorrow will be a writing workshop for HAMLET. Please come to class with a rough draft and we will either peer edit or I will look at your essays individually.

Dos and Don'ts for FINAL Paper on HAMLET:

1, Don't spell Hamlet or Shakespeare wrong

2, Write in present tense

3, Make sure every sentence makes sense and goes toward what you are trying to prove. ie. Don't add lines that you don't need, to fill up the page requirements.

4, Make sure you have a clear thesis statement

5, Do not hand in a first draft (I'll know)

6, Use atleast five quotes from the play.

7, Email me a first draft by Wednesday and I will look at it and give you feedback.

PAPERS DUE: FINAL DAY friday, DECEMBER 11, 2009 Via email at
lgcupolo@memphis.edu or lcupolo@gmail.com

Thanks, everyone, you were a terrific class.
Have a wonderful holiday season!!!! Remember, be safe.

Lisa Cupolo

Study QUESTIONS for HAMLET

THANKS FOR A GOOD CLASS EVERYONE. I THINK THERE WAS A LOT OF GOOD DISCUSSION GOING ON AND YOUR ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ WERE FINE.

1,For anyone who wasn't in class, below are the list of study questions that we discussed in groups in class. We only got to question 3 in the full class discussion and will continue on in that vein on Thursday.

2, ALSO, please consider the madness of Ophelia and Hamlet... Are they both mad? one or the other? PLease come to class Thursday with where you stand on the question and have proof (ie, lines from the play) to back up your decision. I'll look forward to hearing from you!

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HERE ARE THE STUDY QUESTIONS!


USE lines from the play to support your answers:

1, READ Act I, Scene II, lines 130 – 158, Comment on its importance in the play, how it sets everything up.


2. Hamlet faces a moral dilemma. The ghost of his father urges him to gain revenge by killing Claudius. But the questions he faces are these: Is the ghost trustworthy. Is it really the ghost of his father? Is it a demon? Is there really a ghost at all? How does he answer these questions for himself?

3. At Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet declares,

I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers

Could not, with all their quantity of love,

Make up my sum

Popular belief is that Hamlet did indeed love Ophelia and his love for her never changed. But why is it that he never makes reference to her in any of his soliloquies? Why does he say to her,

Get thee to a nunnery.
Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?
--- Act Three, Scene I, line 121.

When he kills Polonius, why does Hamlet not reflect that he has killed Ophelia’s father?


4. Why do you think Ophelia goes insane?

5. Hamlet puts on an “antic disposition”–that is, he pretends to be insane. But is he, in fact, insane or mentally unstable?

6 . Each of the main characters in the play loses a person important to them—Gertrude, Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes. Describe how each dealt with their grief.

7. Is Gertrude loyal to Hamlet or to Claudius? Use Gertrude’s lines from the play to support your answer.

8. Does Claudius have any guilt for what he has done? Give me the lines.

9. Probe Hamlet’s mind. Then, attempt to explain why he acts as he does. True, his behavior is in large part a reaction to his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to Claudius. But what else bothers Hamlet? Is he angry because he himself did not succeed to the throne? Does the ghost cause him to dwell morbidly on death? Does he suddenly hate all women because of what his mother did?

10. Comment on the role of women in Hamlet. What might the feminists say?

READ HAMLET

That is your homework, READ IT. I said this in class but for those who weren't there....

Study the lines, the words, and have something to say about it when we get to class.

****** THERE MAY BE A QUIZ, come prepared, KNOW the story, at the very least

This is fun:

Hamlet in Cartoons
http://www.angelfire.com/oh/Pretzel/dogsummary.html

HAMLET - Words, WORDS, words

We watched half of Hamlet today in class, the Franco Zeffirelli version, starring Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates and Helena Bonham-Carter. It is a brilliant dramatization of the play but many lines are missing in it. I encourage to read the play over the weekend, line for line.

Homework
1, Write one page, journal-like, about the experience of watching Hamlet and seeing the performance, the accessibility of the language, the hearbreak in the story, whatever you want to say about the experience. What it means to you.

2, Poetry explications are DUE on Tuesday!


3, read * “Writing About a Play” (2126-2137) in your books.
I will keep posting helpful links and resources about Hamlet, in the left column.

Please email me if you still can't access the Hamlet essay questions.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

POETRY EXPLICATION Deadline Extended - HAMLET begins

1, Due to popular request, I am going to extend the deadline for the poetry explications, now due Tuesday, November 24th. To that end, I will add explication examples to the list at left. Also, I will add a few more poems to the list to choose from. There will be no excuses then for poor papers.

2, COME TO CLASS ON THURSDAY KNOWING THE STORY OF HAMLET. WHAT IS THE PLOT?

3, THE HAMLET ESSAY QUESTIONS ARE ALSO AT LEFT. DUE: December 8, 2009.

WRAPPING UP POETRY

1, The deadline for Poetry Explications has been extended to Thursday, November 19,2009. There are no exceptions to this. Please bring A PRINTED version to class.

2, Tuesday's poems listed at left and in your book:
-"Do Not Go Gently Into That Good NIght", Dylan Thomas pg 867
-"Love Calls Us To The Things of this World," Richard Wilbur, pg 739
-"Spring and All," William Carlos Williams, pg 1183
- (One other that will be linked at left

3, By POPULAR request, I will give the essay assignment for Hamlet on Tuesday. We should begin our Drama portion of the course on Thursday

AS ALWAYS, PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU WANT TO MEET WITH ME ABOUT YOUR ESSAYS OR ANY OTHER QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE

POEMS FOR THURSDAY AND POETRY EXPLICATION

1, Please find the poems for Thursday's class at left. Please read the poems carefully and come prepared to talk about the poems! I have your journal so don't worry about recording, but please come to class with something to say.

2, I've listed the Poems along with the Poetry Explication Assignment below.

See you Thursday!