Monday, January 13, 2020

HW 1/13: Hamlet Act I Review Q's

Here is a good online version of the text to use:
https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/html/Ham.html


Directions for Q#1-4: Answer thoughtfully, using details from the text.

1.      How does Shakespeare create a sense of mystery in Act I?

2.      Based on what we know in Act I, explain the family dynamics in the Lord Chamberlain’s family.

3.      Explain Hamlet’s use of one or more allusions to Greek mythology.

4.      Shakespeare Fun Fact #37: Shakespeare himself never published his plays! 

Why this matters: There are several versions of the plays, published by other people, who most likely were working from actors’ scripts, notes, and first-hand memory.  Mostly, they are the same.  But occasionally there is an interesting difference between the texts.  Here’s one.  Here is some of the text from the Folger Shakespeare library website:

HAMLET (Act I, scene ii, lines 133-136)
O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter!

And here is difference in the first line according to the text in our red textbooks:

HAMLET (Act I, scene ii, lines 133-136)
O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter!


4. Explain the subtle, but significant difference between the meaning of these two versions of the text.

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