Hamlet Act 3:3
This is a short scene, and since we have a number of students out for the one-act plays, we won’t be covering too much Hamlet but will instead look at various productions of it.
We’ll watch the 2009 production from 1:46:20 to 1:53:53.
Do you feel any sympathy at all for Claudius? He does seem penitent and full of regret. Why can’t he pray, then? What about Hamlet coming to dispatch him? Should he have, anyway?
We’ll do the next 10 practice questions on this past exam: TEST PRACTICE: Multiple choice problems. https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-english-literature-public-practice-exam-2012.pdf Because there are only 10 questions, I’ll limit you to 10 minutes, just as last time.
It’s interesting to see different takes and uses of Hamlet. It’s all over, in many places. As someone said in class yesterday, “That ‘To be or not to be’ speech–I feel like I’ve heard it in other places.” Yes, yes you have.
First, let’s watch this is creative, insightful, and at times ridiculous adaption of Hamlet. This section is from “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged.” These three guys perform all of Shakespeare’s works in one play, but spend the greatest amount of time on Hamlet. For today, we’re going to watch ONLY to minute 30:00, which is as far as we’ve read. (We’ll cover the rest of this once we finish the play.)
Here’s a compilation of various performers doing “To be or not to be”. (I’m not sure how many of these clips we’ll get through during class–here’s what you can watch while you’re bored one day.)
Patrick Stewart (yep, Claudius again), on “Sesame Street.” Seriously, Sesame Street:
Here’s the scene from “The King’s Speech” where he’s conned into reading the speech. (I’ve not been able to find a clip of him listening to himself reciting the “To be” speech flawlessly. Awesome scene. Find the movie and watch it if you haven’t. It’s one of my favorites. I just hit the mute button during the two incidents when he demonstrates how he doesn’t stutter when he’s swearing):
Here’s from “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country” (recognize that line?!). Here they refer to it as “the future” which isn’t entirely incorrect. Beginning at around 4:30 we have an awkward dinner between the Federation and their enemies, the Klingons, where Shakespeare again makes an appearance. (Some day I’ll learn Klingon to most fully appreciate William.):
And one more, to let you hear David Tennant’s Scottish accent:
HOMEWORK: Read Act 3: 4-6. Scenes 5 and 6 are very short. Create just ONE Ham Log for the entire reading.
AP Lit, Washington Academy 