March 5, 2020

Hamlet Act 3:1-2

Today we encounter the most famous speech: “To be or not to be.” And now you’ll see how many people get it wrong. Quite often Hamlet is depicted holding a skull, but that’s ANOTHER soliloquy–not this one!

The 2009 production skips around here, so will we, to keep it in line with the text:

VIDEO: 56:44—1:05; THEN 1:26:22—1:46:20

Go through major points of the speech.

Now, we’re going to look more closely at the “To be” speech as we did with the speech yesterday, and today we have a purpose: this once appeared as an AP Essay Exam, and yes–you get to write it up! But we’ll go through the major points it asks for in class together, then you’ll write the essay for your homework.

AP TEST QUESTION: https://www.fusd1.org/cms/lib/AZ01001113/Centricity/Domain/1056/Hamlet%20Applied%20Practice%20Q2%20Essay%20Prompt%201.pdf

How to answer the question: look VERY carefully at the parts of the prompt to see exactly what it wants us to do.

“. . . in a well-organized essay, ~~briefly summarize Hamlet’s thoughts~~, and discuss how the diction, imagery, and syntax of the soliloquy help to convey his state of mind.”

CROSS OUT “briefly summarize Hamlet’s thoughts”–the AP Exam no longer wants ANY summaries, so skip and let’s get straight to analysis:

Sometimes it helps to work backwards.
What is his state of mind?
What imagery is created to explain that state of mind?
How does the diction and syntax create that imagery?

The POWER OF DICTION–creating a style and feeling based on the words used:

Take your notes that we create in class today and WRITE this essay at home as part of your homework. To give you practice in the exam, HAND WRITE the essay on lined paper, and LIMIT yourself to 30-40 minutes. Try to get two full pages written to hand in tomorrow.

Here’s a great skit done by everyone who’s ever played Hamlet, performing the famous soliloquy together. https://www.tobysimkin.com/hamlet-skit/

And here are some jokes, which you’ll now understand better: