Core Concept #2: 11/29/10-12/10/10

Ophelia

• Does she love Hamlet?
• She sure wants to get married to him quickly, which makes sense because there is substantial textual evidentce pointing to the fact that she slept with Hamlet and is pregnant
• Ophelia probably committed suicide because she is unmarried, pregnant, and the man who slept with her and promised to marry her had just dumped her and killed her father, who was the only other person she could depend on
• But did she bring about her own demise?
• She did lie to Hamlet when he asked her about the whereabouts of his father, showing just whose side she is on.
• So is Ophelia truly innocent?

King Hamlet the Ghost

• Is he a good ghost?
• He visits people at the dead of night (representing bad), and is forced to leave by dawn (representing good)
• He is clad in war armor
• He is pretty much sending his one son to hell so that he can get his revenge (good parenting?)
• Shakespeare decides to start the play after all the action of King Hamlet getting killed, thus taking away the reader's chance to empathize with the King. Instead, the reader meets King Hamlet as a ghost.
• Personal connection: When I think ghost, I think of Casper the Friendly Ghost, so I think King Hamlet may not be all bad.

Polonius

• Polonius is not the buffon he pretends to be in court
• He is actually a very shrewd and perceptive guy
• Claudius puts immense trust in Polonius

Idea Connection. These nobles in Hamlet usually speak in blank verse, which we learned about earlier in the year. This is an example of Shakespeare using diction to try to differentiate between the different classes of his characters.

Bible Allusions

• "Am I not i' th' right, old Jeptha?" (II.ii. 419) Hamlet asks Polonius.
• Jeptha was a Hebrew judge who sacrificed his daughter, showing that as early as Act II, Hamlet knew about Polonius' plans
• In a play that depends on who knows what and who doesn't know what, little clues like this are important because they let the reader understand the characters more

• "There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow" (V.ii.220-221) Hamlet says.
• Throughout the play, it has been about people defying God (i.e. Claudius killing old Hamlet for the throne)
• Hamlet, before death, comes to terms with the idea that God wills and has a plan for everything, and he is finally at peace
• Relationship to previous notes: since in the original ending of Hamlet, Hamlet survives and becomes king, why does Shakespeare not keep the original ending and make the point that God has a plan and everything will become as they should be in the end? But Elizabethan tragedy is inherited from the Roman seneca, thus Shakespeare needed blood and death.

Existentialism 101

• Definition (sort of): humans make choices based on our experiences, beliefs, and biases, and those choices are unique to us-and made without an objective form of truth. There are no "universal" guidelines for most decisions, existentialists believe.
• Individuals make their own choices, so they are free; but because they freely choose, they are competely responsible for their choices
• Freedom is accompanied by responsibility
• The playwrights loosely grouped under the label of Theater of the Absurd try to convey their sense of bewilderment, anxiety, and wonder in the face of an inexplicable universe
• Common images: fantasy, dream, and nightmare
• They portray the playwright's emotional perception of inner reality
• Connection with other academic subjects: this reminds me of British Literature, when we read an existentialist short story. I can't remember the name of the story, but a quote from it is, "you can't blame anyone for looking black (angry) because I'm sure it's summat in the blood."

Hamlet on the Big Screen

• There are three kinds of Hamlets: wilted flower Hamlet, furious Hamlet, and stoic Hamlet: usually, actors manage to capture only one type of Hamlet.
• In order to reflect the true intent of Shakespeare, the staging would have to be modern and the props would be whatever the producers have lying around
• Various interpretations of Hamlet shown in movies: gay Hamlet, modern Hamlet (with security camera), Kenneth Branagh Hamlet (with mirrors reflecting back on characters and secret passageways)
• Connection with current events: Hamlet is currently playing in Michigan Theater in Jackson

Homework

1. Ophelia forum: post reaction to Rimbaud's poem ("Ophelia"), and respond to two peers' posts
2. "Shakespeare in the Bush" forum: post reaction to the article and respond to two peers' posts
3. Journal evaluations
4. Core Concepts notes
5. "Shakespeare in the Bush" follow-up: find a topic that Ms. Holmes has posted in and join the conversation
6. Read the "Lecture on Stoppard"