william shakespeare. the globe theatre shakespeare became so successful that he, with the burbages,...
TRANSCRIPT
William Shakespeare
The Globe Theatre•Shakespeare
became so successful that he, with the Burbages, founded his own theatre
• http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/virtualtour/stage/
Hamlet
Prince of Denmark
Background• Arguably Shakespeare’s best play
because of its accessibility• Written around the turn of the
seventeenth century (1600 or so)• Teen angst! Only he’s thirty. • Family issues• Can’t make a decision• Feels powerless over his own life
Background• The story takes place at Castle
Elsinore, Denmark• Old King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father,
has just died under sudden and mysterious circumstances
• Almost immediately afterward, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, took the throne and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude
Hamlet
Tragic Hero- a character in literature that has a tragic flaw, which ultimately leads to his or her destruction
Tragic Flaw (Hamartia)- characteristic ultimately leading to the tragic hero’s destruction
THEMES
•Suicide•Murder•Poison•Decay
And Kingship!• Who gets to be one?• What makes a good one?• What does it mean to truly have “kingship”?
Terms to know:
• Blank verse:
• Iambic Pentameter:
Iambic Pentameter is the most common form of verse in the English Language.
unrhymed, iambic pentameter
verse of five feet per line, with stress on the second beat of each foot.
Log #1
Act 1 Scene 1: Comment on the “Who’s there?” scene—what mood is conveyed by the characters? What information do we find out and what seems strange about this? How would an audience be affected by this beginning? Why would Shakespeare begin his scene like this? Use specific lines to justify your response.
Citing Shakespearean Text: Poetry
In the text: To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
In your paper:“To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the
rub;/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come”
Citing Shakespearean Text: Prose
In the text:There's another: why may not that be the
skull of alawyer?
In your paper:“There's another: why may not that be
the skull of a lawyer?”
If quoting more than three lines:
Hamlet weighs life against suicide in his most famous soliloquy,
To be or not to be, that is the question:Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortuneOr to take arms against a sea of troubles…
subsequently talking himself out of either decisive course.