Update Oct. 15

Writing Portfolio
Students worked on outlining their Hamlet essay exams. Students are encouraged to come to class the day of the exam with a detailed outline of the four-part quotation analyses they intend to include in their essays.  Students are welcome to come to class Thursday with questions for teacher feedback prior to the exam.

Core

Bellwrite: Compare and contrast Hamlet's and Ophelia's madness. Is anyone else in the play mad?

We had an extensive discussion on the bellwrite topic. We considered that madness may be either being ruled by reason alone or by emotion alone. We considered the shifts in states of madness for Hamlet and Ophelia, how they changed over the course of the play and which events and/or choices seemed to trigger these changes.  We acknowledged that madness is often defined as deviating from social norms; however, we also saw that when social norms are themselves corrupt, as was the case at Elsinore, then perhaps the society as a whole is mad. Perhaps Hamlet is holding a mirror up not only to individual characters in the play but also to the entire society of Denmark. Likewise, perhaps Shakespeare, through the play of Hamlet, is holding a mirror up to English civilization. After all, as we read the gravedigger scene today we saw Shakespeare take a jab at English society saying that if Hamlet does not recover his wits in England it will not matter because the people there are as mad as he. We considered why Shakespeare would have used the term "madness" instead of insanity. There seems to be a connection between madness and anger/vengeance, which suggests a relationship between madness and choosing not to be (to take arms). Madness seems to be the separation of one from himself, refusing to be ruled by conscience. We saw that perhaps madness is the ultimate expression of corruption, for it is the corruption of being.  At the same time, we wondered if this applied to Ophelia, whose madness seems to be more truly a reflection of herself than when she was being told what to think by her father. Her madness seems to be an innocence, and yet it is also more truthful for she speaks without filters. If those around her would actually listen to her, they would see that she is telling them the nature of their wrongs and hurts, as demonstrated by her symbolic use of flowers.

Class A continued their discussion of the Protestant Reformation. They learned the key doctrines taught by John Calvin:
1. natural depravity (man is by nature evil, full of the lusts and desires of the flesh and unable of himself to desire good)
2. predestination (God chooses which souls will be elect and which will be allowed to remain damned. Humans do not have free will, but rather must humbly acknowledge that the will of God will be manifest for His glory.)

As a psychological outgrowth of these doctrines, we saw the emergence of the "Protestant Work Ethic"--the subconscious desire to be industrious and materially successful to prove to oneself that God is prospering him and therefore to prove to himself that he must be one of God's elect. The Puritans who settled in North America, as Calvinists, brought this work ethic with them and may explain the origins of the American Dream.

We also read into Act V of Hamlet. We are in the middle of the graveyard scene. We noted that the gravedigger seems to be the only character in the play who is able to match wits with Hamlet. Likewise, we noted the significance of the revelation that the gravedigger began his work on the very day Hamlet was born, which was also the day Hamlet Sr. defeated Fortinbras Sr. It is almost as if Hamlet were predestinated to vengeance and death. We also found it interesting that the play starts with a wedding-funeral and now in Act V we have another would-be-wedding-funeral, as Ophelia is buried with flowers with which the Queen would have liked to have celebrated her wedding to Hamlet. Likewise, Hamlet and Laertes find themselves sharing a funeral bed with Ophelia when they fight in and over her grave.  What might be suggested by this parallel structure of the play?

Homework

• Fire in the Bones reading due Thursday. Last two reading journals will be due next Monday.
• Work on outlining your Hamlet essay.
• Continue to memorize and rehearse your Hamlet monologue.
• At the end of Writing Portfolio on Thursday, you must turn in a paragraph four-part quotation analysis that you intend to include in your Hamlet essay. This paragraph will allow you to demonstrate that you have mastered the four-part analysis structure. Make sure your claim is arguable/interpretive rather than stating an obvious fact about the play.