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Hamlet “The Whisper Goes So” Act 1.1

Hamlet “The Whisper Goes So” Act 1.1. AP English – Nov. 21, 2011. Warm-up.

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Hamlet “The Whisper Goes So” Act 1.1

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  1. Hamlet“The Whisper Goes So”Act 1.1 AP English – Nov. 21, 2011

  2. Warm-up Consider: “I perceived, as I read, how the collective white man had been actually nothing but a piratical opportunist who used Faustian machinations to make his own Christianity his initial wedge in criminal conquests. First, always “religiously,” he branded “heathen” and “pagan” labels upon ancient non-white cultures and civilizations. The stage thus set, he then turned upon his non-white victims his weapons of war. – Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X 1. What is the author’s attitude toward the collective white man? 2. What is the tone of the passage? List the words that reveal it. Apply: Rewrite the first sentence to read like positive propaganda for “the collective white man.” Don’t change the meaning, just the tone.

  3. Discussion: Examining Act 1.1.1-80 • Who are these people? What are they doing? • What information is provided about the physical setting? • What atmosphere/mood is created by this setting? • What do the physical aspects of the setting suggest about the characters’ behavior?

  4. Quick Write: Examining Act 1.1.1-80Answer the following questions in your journal. • What does the opening question “Who’s there?” imply about Barnardo and the situation? • Does anything in the conversation between Barnardo and Francisco reinforce these implications? • What additional information do we gain about Barnardo and Francisco from their conversation?

  5. Discussion: Examining Act 1.1.1-80 • Shakespeare wrote into the body of the play many signals and directions. What do the commands and questions in lines 1-20 suggest about staging this scene? • What inferences can be drawn about Horatio’s character? About his relationship to the guards?

  6. Setting the Scene • What is the mood? • What should the set look like? • Where do the entrances and exits go? • Where should the actors be positioned? • What props are needed?

  7. Acting the Scene • Actors, please come forward. • Directors, be prepared to guide your actors.

  8. “Weighing Delight and Dole” • In reading scenes 1 and 2, did you come across situations or comments that could cause problems for Hamlet? • Claudius’ drinking • Claudius taunting of Hamlet • Claudius allowing Laertes to go back to school but not Hamlet • Hamlet following the Ghost against the advice of his companions

  9. Claudius’s Opening Speech:How language reveals character • Use of royal “we” • Public = we; Private=I • When a monarch switches between first-person plural and firs-person singular it signals a change in situation or tone • Why does Claudius continue to use the royal “we” when addressing Hamlet, whom he calls his “son”?

  10. Claudius’s Opening Speech:How language reveals character • Antithesis: the balancing of two contrasting ideas, words, phrases, or sentences in parallel grammatical form • “An auspicious and drooping eye” • “with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” • What feelings do these juxtapositions evoke?

  11. Claudius’s Opening Speech:How language reveals character • Choice of words • Why does Claudius remember old Hamlet with “wisest sorrow” rather than “deep sorrow”? • Why does he say it “befitted” them to ber their “hearts of grief”? • Order of ideas he presents • Why does Claudius justify his marriage to Gertrude, deal with Norway’s impending invasion, and respond to Laretes’ petition before he addresses Hamlet?

  12. Exchange between Claudius and Hamlet 1.2.66-96 • When Claudius says, “But now, my cousin Hamlet and my son,” what does he really want? • What is he thinking? • Why might he choose a public place to greet Hamlet?

  13. When Hamlet says, “‘Seems,’ madam? Nay it is. I know not ‘seems,’” what does he really mean? • What is he thinking about his mother? • Why does Hamlet use puns and riddles when he speaks to Gertrude and Claudius? • Pun= “kind” – affectionate or natural and lawful or “common” – universal occurrence and vulgar • Riddle = “Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun,” to Claudius’s question “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?”

  14. Homework • Read Hamlet’s soliloquy “O, that this too, too sullied flesh” (1. 2.133-164) several times out loud. Then, • Paraphrase it in your log • Note signals in the language that give clues to Hamlet’s innermost thoughts • Choice of words, construction of phrases, sequence of thoughts • Does he hide behind puns as he does with Claudius? • What does the antithesis reveal?

  15. Ghost Scene Actors • Prepare to perform next class.

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