HW for Tuesday, 1/29

IRP 5

Please type your answer. Include your name, the date, and the title of the assignment.

Week 5 Question: What morals or lessons do you think the author intends his/her reader to find in this book? (200 words)

Hamlet movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knSplNP57Pc

HW for Thursday, 1/24

ACT 1, scenes 1-3
Choose 10 questions and answer them in complete sentences

1.1
1. What happens when Francisco and Bernardo meet at the beginning of 1.1? Where are we, and when? Why is there confusion over which one is supposed to challenge the other by asking "Who's there"? Why is Horatio with Bernardo and Marcellus? Who is he?
2. What is Horatio's initial response to the story of the apparition? What happens when the ghost appears for the first time (1.1.37.1)? Notice that Horatio addresses it as "thou." This is the form of address used with friends or inferiors. Shakespeare's audience would have been much more attuned to the difference than we are. What is the effect of Horatio's addressing the ghost as "thou"?
3. What does Horatio first assume the appearance of the ghost means (1.1.68)? Why are there such intense war preparations in Denmark? (Read 1.1.69-106 carefully to get the international background of the play.) What does Horatio suggest by his discussion of Julius Caesar's death (1.1.106.5-.18)? Why does he choose the example of Rome? Why is the passage set off and in italics? (See note 2, line 106.)
4. What happens when the ghost appears for the second time (at the SD before 1.1.108.1)? Why does it leave so abruptly? The questions Horatio asks it represent, according to the thought of the time, the reasons why a ghost could appear.
5. What is the purpose of the two discussions of the crowing of the cock, Horatio's pagan one (1.1.130-37) and Marcellus' Christian one (1.1.138-45)?
6. What do we know so far about the nature of the ghost? Do we know yet if it is a "good" ghost (i.e., "really" the spirit of the person it appears to be) or a "damned" ghost (a devil or evil spirit in the shape of the person it appears to be)?
1.2
1. What is Claudius telling the court in the first part of his speech (1.2.1-16)? What does he say about young Fortinbras and his uncle the king of Norway (ll. 17-41)? How is Claudius responding to the threat? (You may also want to keep in mind that the name "Claudius" appears only in the opening stage direction for 1.2. The name is never spoken in the play. He is simply "the King.")
2. What does Laertes want from the King? How does Claudius respond to him? Based on his first 64 lines in office (1.2.1-64), how would you rate Claudius as a ruler? In what ways does he already differ from Old Hamlet as king? (Consider how Old Hamlet would have responded to Young Fortinbras.)
3. What do Claudius and Gertrude want Hamlet to do that he doesn't want to do? What won't they let him do it? How does he respond to them? How do they respond to the way he responds to them? (You probably know three names associated with the University of Wittenberg in Germany: Martin Luther, Doctor Faustus, and Hamlet. Can you see any connections among the three?)
4. How seriously do you take Claudius' argument against Hamlet's "prolonged" mourning (1.2.87-108)? How long has Hamlet been mourning (1.2.138)? (The normal mourning period of a noble or gentle woman for a dead husband at this time [ca. 1600] was a year or more.)
5. Read Hamlet's first soliloquy (1.2.129-59) carefully. What is it that is really bothering him about what has happened since his father's death? How would you describe the tone of his feelingsdetached, impassioned, rational, ironic, or what?
6. What is Hamlet's response to the news from Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo? Notice the way Hamlet questions them. How much do we know about how his mind works at this point of the play? What does he suspect as the reason for the ghost's appearance (1.2.254-57)?
1.3
1. What does Laertes warn Ophelia about? What, apparently, has been the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia since his return from Wittenberg?
2. How seriously do you take Polonius' precepts (1.3.58-80)? Consider especially the last one (1.3.78-80).
3. How willing is Ophelia to discuss with her father what she has discussed with Laertes? What is his response to Hamlet's interest in her and her response to him? How seriously should she take their warnings about Hamlet's lack of seriousness and his inability to choose his own wife?
4. What do we know about Laertes, Polonius, and Ophelia by the end of 1.3? What sort of people are they? What sort of family are they? Who is missing from this family? How strong-willed in Ophelia?

HW for Monday, 1/28

Complete the Act I packet.

HW for Tuesday, 1/22

IRP 4 
Please type a 200 word response to the following question. Make sure to label the assignment with your name, the title of the assignment, and the date. DOUBLE SPACE!

What aspects of the plot or story can you relate to your own experiences? Describe how.

HW for Thursday, 1/17

Read the "Hamlet" introduction packet and write  quiz questions (with answers) -- there will be a quiz using those questions on Tuesday!

HW for Tuesday, 1/15

IRP week 3

(Please type your response, and include your name, the date, and the title of the assignment.)

Week 3 Question: Describe the character(s) you most identify with. Why or how do you relate to him/her or them? (200 words)

Sonnet for Lucas

SONNET 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

HW for Monday, 1/14

Translate Sonnet 130!

Sometimes, understanding Shakespeare is just a matter of getting used to the way it sounds.  So, just so before we leap into reading one of his plays, let’s read one of his famous sonnets.

Read the sonnet I’ve given you.  In your journal, then do a line-by-line translation of it – that is, put each line in your own words.  You may write your translation on this page or on a seprate sheet.  Feel free to use online resources (Shakespeare glossaries, for instance) to help you with the vocabulary.

Hint: This is a very untraditional love poem.  It's funny!

Sonnet 130

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

   As any she belied with false compare.

HW for Thursday, 1/10

Complete the "Ordering Shakespeare Around" and "Shakespeare was a pretty punny guy" worksheets.

AND

Complete any re-do's you need to do.

Daily Warm Up for Thursday, 1/10

Shakespeare coined (created) a lot of words.  Play this game to learn some of them:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/swf/words.html

Daily Warm Up for 1/8/13

Start IRP Week 2

(Please type and double-space your response. Be sure to label it with your name, the date, and the title of the assignment -- see the Paper Formatting Guidelines to your right.) 

Week 2, Question 1: Are you liking the book so far? Why or why not? (100 words)

Week 2, Question 2: Describe in detail where and when the book takes place. Cite sections of

the book or lines that give you a sense of place.(100 words)

HW for Tuesday, 1/8/12

1) Click here and finish watching the "In Search of Shakespeare" video -- your completed notes sheet is due Thursday.  We've watched up to minute 12:22 as a class, so feel free to fast forward to that point.

2) Also, finish IRP 2 :

(Please type and double-space your response. Be sure to label it with your name, the date, and the title of the assignment -- see the Paper Formatting Guidelines to your right.) 

Week 2, Question 1: Are you liking the book so far? Why or why not? (100 words)

Week 2, Question 2: Describe in detail where and when the book takes place. Cite sections of

the book or lines that give you a sense of place.(100 words)

HW for Monday, 1/7/13

Shakespeare Homework 1/7/13

Let’s take some time to get used to Shakespeare’s Language.

Go to

http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/

Scroll through the 100 quotes, then pick 10 and click on the link.  Read the entire quote, then, on a separate sheet of paper, write the number of the quote, and a brief explanation of what you think it means.

For instance . . .

11. I think this means that the person saying it really needs a horse, and would even give up his kingdom just to get one.

HW for Thursday, 1/3/13

Independent Reading Project Week One:
Pick an independent reading book, then . . .

Please answer the following question about your independent reading book. Be sure to follow the paper formatting guidelines we discussed in class.

Week 1 Question: What book did you choose? Why did you choose this book? If someone chose it for you, why did you agree to it? (100 words)

PLEASE BRING YOUR BOOK WITH YOU TO CLASS ON MONDAY!