Hamlet Act 5:1 (fight at a funeral)

Essay Practice! Your favorite! We’re going to discuss how to address this essay prompt, then I’m going to give you 30 minutes in class to write it up.

Open Response Question from the 2007 Form B AP English Literature Exam:

Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty or may betray their own values. Select a novel or play that includes such acts of betrayal. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

List O’Betrayal in Hamlet

• Claudius betrays his brother King Hamlet
• Gertrude betrays her husband King Hamlet by marrying his brother
• Gertrude betrays her son Hamlet by siding with her new husband Claudius
• Hamlet betrays his girlfriend Ophelia by dumping her, toying with her emotions, then killing her father Polonius
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern betray Hamlet to England for the king’s payment
• Additional betrayals? (There are quite a few to choose from.)

Next, what are some major themes in Hamlet? We’ve already discussed loyalty, as well as appearance vs. reality. What other themes could you incorporate?

Choose which betrayal is your favorite, then create a clear, concise thesis sentence, such as this one: In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s betrayal of Hamlet emphasizes how greed corrupts friendship. This corruption of relationships creates a disparity between how people appear and how people really are.

30 minutes to write the essay, handwritten.

WATCH 2009 video: 2:34:47–2:46:50 (about 12 minutes)

We’re skipping some of the clowns dialogue, but a few points about suicide and intent are interesting.

We’ll also look at the Yorick speech which is NOW when Hamlet holds the skull, and it’s really not that much of a speech. I think the skull just gets to people, so they remember that.

Far more memorable is Laertes diving into his sister’s grave to hold her and be buried with her, then Hamlet rushes over claiming that he loves her 40,000 times more than a brother (what do we call this kind of language? Yes, hyperbole). Then Hamlet confesses his love (a little late, bro) and Laertes has even more reason to revenge on him. Good old Claudius steps in to get Laertes even more riled. Who says he’s not a good king? All of this sets up for an epic read tomorrow . . .

But first, more Yorick comics:

HOMEWORK: Act 5:2–THE END! Nooo . . . But alas. Create 1 Ham Log.