Sandy related update

Most importantly, I hope everyone is safe.  Given the storm-related loss of class time, we are pushing our assignments back a few days.  Tomorrow, we will be completing what would have taken place on Monday.  As we were not originally going to have class on Wednesday, I'm scheduled to be at Two Rivers School in the morning.  The assignment from Monday (listed again below) will be classwork.  I will check Friday's homework and Wednesday's classwork/homework on Thursday.

Wednesday's classwork/homework:

classwork:  Read Act IV
Homework:  Finish reading, annotations & questions for Act IV.

Upcoming Hamlet Work: 10/25/12

Upcoming Hamlet Work:

Quiz/Test analysis due: Friday, 10/26/12

Friday (in class) read Act III, scenes 3 & 4
H.W. Finish reading, annotations & questions for scenes 3 & 4.

Monday (in class) read Act IV
H.W. Finish reading, annotations & questions for Act IV.

*Students who are going to Salem, have a wonderful time!  However, understand that on Tuesday, October 30th, I will check annotations and questions all the way up through the end of Act IV.

Next Hamlet Quiz, Thursday, 11/1/12

Groupon Discount for SAT & AP Courses:

As I described to you earlier in the month, this is the promo code I used for my daughter's SAT prep.  The offer is valid for another day so if you are interested, talk to your parents ASAP.  My daughter seems happy with the program.

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Groupon deal link:

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BenchPrep website:

https://benchprep.com/courses

Review Hamlet

No Homework other than to review up to scene 2 of Act III.  Quiz on Monday. (Individual quiz with test analysis after.)

Homework: Thursday, 10/18/12

Tonight's homework is to read Act III, scenes 1 & 2, annotate the text and answer the corresponding questions in your review packets.  If it helps to hear the lines read, there are several free audio versions on the web.  Below is a link to the one that we've used in class.

 http://librivox.org/hamlet-by-william-shakespeare/

*Remember, tonight is the deadline for the extra credit assignment. 

Your thoughts on tonight's debate - extra credit

I am happy to hear that our class is interested in watching tonight's debate.  With the PSAT's in the morning, I want you all to get a good night's sleep.  However, I think it would be nice for you to be able to post your thoughts, observations and questions for extra credit.  

While this doesn't have to be in an essay format, please maintain appropriate academic diction. This is a public blog; it is often visited by parents, teacher, administrators and complete strangers. 

*You do NOT have to stay up and watch the entire debate. You can comment on your initial impression or post tomorrow morning.  I want you all WELL RESTED for the PSAT!

Hamlet Act II - classwork & homework Friday, 10/11/12

Class,

Today you will be submitting your test analysis for Act I, scene I.  Then, you and Ms. O'Keefe will move forward with Act II.  Please take out your textbooks and open up to Act II, scene I (page 1048.)  You should have your post-it notes out for annotations.  You will be listening to and annotating Act II.  The audio is roughly 40 minutes so there is a chance you can get through the entire Act.   

(All of Act II is due on Monday, regardless of whether or not you are able to listen to it in its entirety during class. I will be checking annotations and study guide questions at the start of class.)


 Make sure you note this quote when you see it...


 "Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t."
                         -Hamlet. ACT II Scene 2.


Have a great weekend; be safe.

Ms. O'Donnell

The Protestant Reformation & Hamlet: Some Background Information

Although the play's story is set in the late middle ages (before the Protestant Reformation), critics tend to agree that Hamlet is a quintessential "Protestant son." Not only does he live in Denmark, a Protestant nation by the time Shakespeare wrote the play, but he also attends school in Wittenberg, Germany. This, as we know, is where Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-five Theses in 1517 (considered to be the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation). Why does this matter? Well, the play can't seem to make up its mind about whether or not the play is set in a Catholic or Protestant world, which seems to register the kind of religious and spiritual anxiety and confusion that was brought on by the Protestant Reformation and England's official break with the Catholic Church under Henry VIII (1534).

The Ghost not only claims to be Hamlet's "father's spirit," it also suggests that it's a Purgatorial ghost. (Purgatory was often imagined a fiery place where souls "purged away" their sins before going to heaven. Purgatorial spirits returned to ask loved ones for prayers that could help them to reach heaven faster.)

The problem with this is that Protestants don't believe in Purgatory. At the time Shakespeare wrote the play, England was a Protestant nation that persecuted practicing Catholics. So, it's a big deal that the Ghost seems to be a Catholic.

In terms of plot, this partially explains why Hamlet is so skeptical of the Ghost's claims (that it's the spirit of his father and also that it was murdered by Claudius). This has some major consequences for the way the action of the play unfolds – Hamlet spends much of his time trying to figure out if the Ghost is trustworthy and whether or not Claudius is guilty of murder, which is one of many things that delays Hamlet's revenge.

The fact that the Ghost appears to be Catholic (while Hamlet appears to be a Protestant) isn't the only thing that makes the spirit a suspicious figure in this play (see discussion above). We should also keep in mind that Purgatorial spirits weren't in the habit of asking living relatives to murder other people (murder being a major sin for both Protestants and Catholics) to help them get to heaven. At the same time, Hamlet belongs to the generic category of "Revenge Tragedy," which doesn't exactly square with the kind of Christian ideologies that are registered in the play. All of which is to say that Shakespeare is working within and weaving together multiple literary and cultural traditions.

Literary critic Stephen Greenblatt argues that the Ghost in Hamlet is significant for much more than its impact on the plot. For Greenblatt, the Ghost registers the complexities of the 16th century debate about Purgatory without coming down on one side or the other. Perhaps more than anything else, praying for Purgatorial spirits, argues Greenblatt, was a important way for the living to remember and express grief for lost love ones. According to Greenblatt, when the Anglican Church officially rejected the doctrine of Purgatory in 1563, it eliminated an important social and psychological function for the living. The Ghost in Hamlet, then, represents the bereavement process. (Hamlet, unlike the rest of the Danish court is still working through his grief for his dead father when the Ghost appears.) Greenblatt also argues that the Ghost registers general anxieties (among the living) of being forgotten after death – hence, the Ghosts demand that Hamlet "remember" his father.

Test Analysis

The elements of Test Analysis: 

In order to receive full credit, each test analysis must contain:

• The original question and all possible answer choices
• An explanation of your original understanding and/or thought process for selecting your answer.
• Your enhanced understanding after class discussion/analysis of the question.
• Credit to students and or teacher for information that aided you in your enhanced understanding.
• An explanation of why the other answer choices were inadequate.
• When appropriate, a reference to specifics in the passage/quotes.

The conventions of standard written English apply. As this is a meta-cognitive activity, you should be writing in the first-person.

Below is a sample from one of  last year's students. (Based on A Streetcar Named Desire.)
(This is the student's original writing - no corrections were made.)

_____________________________________________________________________

When the playwright describes Blanche’s outfit as “incongruous to the setting” he means that she is

A. dirty and tired from traveling

B. wealthy and self-assured

C. practical and pragmatic

D. fragile and delicate

E. urbane and sophisticated

            This question presented me with some difficulty because I was not sure what I should choose since most of the options seemed to make sense. The answer that I inevitably chose was E. I thought that since she was dressed so nicely with her white clothing that she was considered sophisticated based on the setting of New Orleans being more like a party setting. However, the correct answer was D. Lauren said that she got the feeling that Blanche was delicate. She also said that answer choice A would not work because she was well dressed therefore did not look dirty and tired from traveling. Answer choice B would not work because she was not self-assured and gave off a tone of being stressed even though she did present herself as wealthy. Lauren said that she did not consider answer choice C because she was not sure what the words meant therefore she stayed clear of it. Finally, she said answer choice E did not work because Blanche was not sophisticated because she was from the country side. Therefore, answer choice D makes the most sense. Blanche comes to New Orleans as a fragile and delicate woman with a lot of history behind her belt and therefore needs the most help and guidance even though throughout the story she becomes more degraded and insane from Stanley’s influence. I now understand why the correct answer is D and why my answer choice of E does not make sense within the context of the story and the question.

Homework: October 1 - 4

Monday's HW: Complete the questions for Act I, scene I of Hamlet.
Tuesday's HW: Complete the questions for Act I, scene II of Hamlet & prepare for Hamlet Quiz on Thursday, 10/4/12.
Wednesday's HW: Prepare for Hamlet Quiz on Thursday.
Thursday's HW:  Finish reading the remainder of Act I, annotating & answering the questions. (Work is due on Tuesday, October 9.)