William ShakespeareBritish Literature

Ms. Kavalauskas

HamletHis father has been murdered by his own brother, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius.

Claudius marries Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude.

A ghost appears. But what is it really?

How does this ghost affect Hamlet?

Inner conflict

Themes: revenge, family, lies/deceit/trust, gender…

The Language of Shakespeare: Words

Words that are no longer used, have changed in meaning, or describe a time and place far away

• Rhythm, rhyme, tone, character

• Read the notes to the text

• parle (discussion/meeting), soft (hold/wait/enough)

• rivals (companions), extravagant (wandering)

• “the Dane,” “buried Denmark”

The Language of Shakespeare: Sentences

Unusual structures, interruptions, delays, omissions

• Rhythm, emphasis, speech patterns, introduce subordinate material, compressed expression

• Check subject, verb, and object placement; rearrange; practice

• “So frowned he once” (1.1.73).

• “This to me…impart they did” (1.2.216-17).

• “Which have freely gone / With this affair along” (1.2.15-16).

• “When he the ambitious Norway combated” (1.1.72).

• “Our last king…was…dared to the combat…” (1.2.8-14).

• “Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, / With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch” (1.1.76-77).

• “Therefore I have entreated him along / With us” (1.1.31-32).

The Language of Shakespeare: Wordplay

Pun - Play on words that sound the same but have different meanings

• Involve audience, make fun, hide meanings

• Stay alert to sounds of words and possibilities of multiple meanings

• “A little more than kind and less than kind”

Metaphor - One object or idea is expressed as if it were something else, usually something with which it shares commonalities

• Language helps carry the idea or feeling to the audience

• Be aware of multiple meanings

• “A mote…to trouble the mind’s eye”

The Language of Shakespeare: Stage Action

Implied Stage Action -

• To give direction to the actors

• Imagine the actors, the scene

• Affects our understanding of plays within the play, such as 3.2 and final duel 5.2

• “Last night of all, / When yond same star that’s westward from the pole / Had made his course t’ illume that part of heaven / Where now it burns”

Embrace it.

b. April 26, 1564 - d. April 23,1616

Buried inside the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he grew up and retired.

Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 (at 18) and had daughter Susanna, twins Judith and Hamnet.

A clip.

“This above all: to thine own self be true” (1.3.84).

http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323

Shakespeare’s Theaterthe Theater, the Curtain, the Fortune (all north of London), the Rose, the Swan, the Globe (built from the timbers of the Theater 1599), the Hope

Outside city limits, near houses of prostitution and blood sports, such as bear- and bullbaiting

Open-air, polygonal or circular, 2-3000 audience members, “groundlings,” stage extended into center

Blackfriars in a former monastic house, lit by candles, 1000 people, most expensive seats on stage

The Folger Library TextSecond Quarto (1604) has an additional 200 lines

First Folio (1623) has an additional 80 lines

Hundreds of words differ

Corrected typographical errors, modernized punctuation and spelling, modernized old forms of words (mo to more, a to he), correct foreign languages, regularized proper names, provided stage directions, all important changes and editions noted

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara Mowat and

Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012.

Print.