Hamlet-practical activities

Lead in
Read the following story which is loosely based on the plot of Hamlet.
Winston Hamlet and his brother Roger are partners in a successful business.Roger is having an
affair with Winston’s wife,Geraldine.Togheter they plan to kill Winston so that Roger will
become the sole owner of the company.While away on a fishing trip together, Roger pushes his
brother overboard,and manages to convince the police that the drowning was an accident. Just
two months later he marries Geralldine.
Gertrude and Winston’s son,Freddie,is horrified at his father’s death and his mother’s
remarriage.When he receives an anonymous letter saying that his uncle killed his father, he
decides to take the law into his own hands.
As Winston is sitting in a restaurant with Gelardine, Freddie walks in and shoots him dead.He
then asks the restaurant owner to call the police and waits calmly until he is arrested. In court,
he is found quilty of murder.
The judge is about to pass sentence.You are the judge. Choose one of the following sentences and
explain whi you chose it.
• Life-in-prison
• A prison sentence(specify for how long)
• A fine(specify how much)
• House arrest(specify for how long)
• Any other sentence?
Introduction
Hamlet is probably the best-known character from Shakespare’s plays.He is a young man who has
to deal with the terrible trauma caused by his father’s murder.What intrigues many
theatregoersand literary critics is Hamlet’s psychological make-up.Is he strong or weak?Is he
really mad or is he only pretending?These and many more questions continue to be asked about
this fascinating character.
The Story
Claudius kills his brother Old Hamlet,marries his window Gertrude and becomes King of
Denmark.One evening Hamlet sees his father’s ghost who asks him to avenge his death.From
 that day on he starts to act strangely and seems, to many people,to be going mad.He dearly
wants to get revenge by killing Claudius but finds it hard to actually do it.
He rejects Ophelia, and continues to behave very oddly. Claudius begins to suspect that he might
know something about the murder and asks Polonius to spy on him.
While Hamlet is talking to his mother, Polonius hides behind a curtain to overhear what is being
Claudius then decides to send Hamlet away to England with two of courties(Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern), who are under orders to kill him.Hamlet outsmarts them and returns home to
learn that Ophelia has died in a state of madness and desperation.
In a final attempt to get rid of Hamlet,Claudius organizes a sword fight between him and
Laertes.His plan goes terribly wrong,however,and although Hamlet does die,Claudius,Gertrude
and Laertes are also killed.

CHARACTERS
• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
• Ghost of Old Hamlet, Hamlet’s father and former king
• Claudius, current King of Denmark and former king’s brother
• Gertrude, Queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother
• Polonius, close adviser to Claudius and father to Ophelia and Laertes
• Ophelia, Polonius’s daughter, in love with Hamlet
• Laertes, Polonius’s son
To Be or Not to Be
In this very famous speech Hamlet asks why man does not lose his will to live despite the obstacles
he has to overcome.
Act III Scene I : A room in the castle
Hamlet:To be,or not to be – that is the question.
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die- to sleep – 5
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to;’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die – to sleep –
To sleep! perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub; 10
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 15
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love,the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make 20
With a bare bodkin? Whowould these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death –
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns – puzzles the will, 25
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought; 30
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
GLOSSARY

1. Slings and arrows: (slings: pieces of cords with leather in the middle used to throw
stones;arrows: thin pointed sticks than you shoot with a bow)
2. Outrageous: adverse
3. Heart-ache: pain
 4. Flesh is heir to: part of a human life
5. Consummation: conclusion
6. Perchance: perhaps
7. Rub: impediment,obstacle
8. Shuffled off:removed
9. Coil: spiral loop(here:body)
10. Respect: thought, consideration
11. Of so long life: last so long
12. Whips and scorns: (fig.) blows
13. Wrong: unjust actions
14. Contumely: offensive behavior
15. Pangs : sudden and sharp feelings of pain
16. Despised:rejected
17. Spurns: rejections
18. Of the unworthy takes: receives from people of little value
19. His quietus make: write his own quittance (document stating that he is free from debt)
20. Bare bodkin: naked dagger
21. Grunt: emit the sound that pigs make
22. Sweat: perspire
23. Weary: tiresome
24. Dread: fear
25. Borun: boundary, limit
26. Puzzles: confounds
27. Ills: adversities
28. Native hue: natural colour
29. Sicklied o’er: turned pale as if sick
30. Cast: colour
31. Pitch and moment: importance
32. With this regard: because of this
33. Their currents turn awry: change direction
COMPREHENSION
1 Focus on lines 1-5. Consider the two metaphors :
‘…to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’
‘to take arms against a sea of troubles’
Which metaphor* represents passive submission to the injustice and suffering of life and which
one suggests active rebellion?
2 What does Hamlet compare death to in lines 5-10?
3 Which expression in line 10 interrupts Hamlet’s flow of thoughts and introduces a different line
of reasoning?
4 In line 12 Hamlet says that when we die we are freed from ‘this mortal coil’. Consider the
meaning of ‘coil’ given in the glossary and explain what Hamlet means in your own words.
5 In lines 15-21 Hamlet describes the suffering and injustices of life. Find expressions which refer
to the following:
- unrequited love………………………………………………………………
- inefficiency in legal procedures………………………………………
- political oppressions……………………………………………………….
- ageing……………………………………………………………………………..
- mistreatment by authorithy……………………………………………
- contempt………………………………………………………………………..
- unjust criticism………………………………………………………………..
6 What escape from life’s misery does Hamlet suggest in lines 20-21?
7 In line 22 Hamlet uses the expression ‘to grunt and sweat’. Which negative aspect of life is he
drawing our attention to?

a) Social discrimination
b) Political injustices
c) Emotional turmoil
d) Physical hardship
Which expressions suggest that man is nothing more than a beast of burden?
8 What is the ‘undiscovered country’ from which no traveler returns, which Hamlet refers to in
lines 24-25?
9 What, according to Hamlet, stops man from taking action?(Lines 28-33)
ANALYSIS
1 Which semantic field do the expressions ‘slings and arrows’(line 3) and ‘to take arms’(line 4)
belong to?What image of life do they suggest?
2 By comparing death to sleep (lines 5-10) does Hamlet depict it positively or negatively?
3 In the opening ten lines of Hamlet’s speech each infinitive is balanced by another of similar or
opposite meaning. Link each of the infinitives in column A of the table below with an infinitive
in column B.

A to be to suffer to die to
sleep

B to take arms to dream not to be to sleep

4 Focus on lines 9-10: ‘To die – to sleep -/To sleep!perchance to dream’. What effect does the
repeated use of infinitives create?

a) A soft, lulling effect

b) A harsh, rhythmic effect
5 In his list of the injustices man suffers(lines 15-21) Hamlet uses personification*. In line 15 time
is personified and described as having ‘whips’ and ‘scorns’. Can you find other examples of
personification in lines 15-21?
6 Which expression in line 30 parallels and contrast with the expression ‘natural hue of resolution’
in line 29?Which words in line 30 link thought and disease?
7 Which of the following adjectives would you choose to describe the tone of Hamlet’s speech?
Justify your choice by reffering to the text.

a) Angry e) Optimistic
b) Proud f) Philosophical
c) Ironic g) Melancholic
d) Passionate h) Dejected
8 In this speech Hamlet does not use the pronous ‘I’ or ‘me’. Which personal pronouns does he
use and who do they refer to?
Would you consider the speech to be:
 a) Hamlet’s personal reflections on his immediate situation?
b) a general analysis of the human condition?
On the basis of the answers you have given can you explain the universal appeal of the speech?
9 What aspects of Hamlet’s character emerge from the speech?

a) His confusion
b) His lack of courage
c) His melancholy nature
d) His strong religious convictions
e) His weariness
f) His desire for revenge
g) His hatred of his uncle
h) His indecision
i) Other: ……………………………………………………………………. .
WRITERS’ WORKSHOP
Soliloquy
Soliloquy is a theatrical convention in which a character speaks aloud to himself. The character
may not necessarily be alone on the stage; other characters may be present but if they are, it is
assumed they do not hear the words of the soliloquy. The playwright uses soliloquy to convey
directly to the audience the character’s motives, intentions and his innermost feelings and
thoughtsm or simply to fill in parts of the story.
Task
Which of the following purposes does the soliloquy you have just read serve?

a) To fill in parts of the story

b) To explain Hamlet’s motives
c) To outline Hamlet’s intentions
d) To convey Hamlet’s feeling about his immediate situation
e) To express Hamlet’s thoughts on fundamental human problems
Over to you
Soliloquy is used to develop the story or to help the audience to understand the inner feelings of a
character. Can you think of a similar convention that is often used in cinema the same purposes?
OUT
In the speech you have read, Hamlet is asking the question, ‘What makes life worth living?’ He
wonders if it would not be easier to commit suicide than have to deal with all the problems and
difficulties that life throuws up.Human beings in general,however,seem to have and indomitable
will to live and,unlike Hamlet, feel that life is worth living.What small and big things make life
worth living for you? Example:
The smell of freshly baked bread Friends a sprind morning

Words like Daggers

Hamlet is talking to his mother while Polonius is listening to their conversation behind a
curtain(arras).
Act III Scene 4: The Queen’s closet
Hamlet: Now,mother,what’s the matter?
Queen:Hamlet,thou hatst thy father much offended.
Hamlet:Mother, you have my father much offended.
Queen:Come,come,you answer with an idle tongue.
Hamlet:Go,go,you question with a wicked tongue. 5
Queen: Why, how now, Hamlet!
Hamlet: What’s the matter now?
Queen:Have you forgot me?
Hamlet:No, by the rood, not so.
You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife; 10
And – would it were not so! – you are my mother.
Queen:Nay, then, I’ll set those to you that can speak.
Hamlet:Come,come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you. 15
Queen: What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Polonius: [Behind] What, ho! Help,help, help!
Hamlet: [Draws] How now! A rat? Dead! For a ducat, dead!
[Makes a pass through the arras.]
Polonius: [Behing] O! I am slain. [ Falls and dies] 20
Queen:O me! What hast thou done?
Hamlet:Nay, I know not. Is it the king?
Queen:O! what a rash and bloody deed is this!
Hamlet:A bloody deed! Almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother. 25
Queen: As kill a king!
Hamlet: Ay, lady, ‘twas my word.
[Lifts up the arras and discovers Polonius]
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better;(…)
Leave wringing of your hand. Peace; sit you down, 30
And let me wring you heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff (…)
Queen: What have I done that thou dar’st wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
Hamlet: Such an act 35
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty;
Calls virtue hypocrite; takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And sets a blister there; makes marriage vows
As false as dicers’ oaths. 40
(…)
Queen: Ay me, what act
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Hamlet: Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow - 45
Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New lighten on the keaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed 50
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man.
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband, like a mildew’d ear
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? 55
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! Have you eyes?
You cannot call it love,for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
And waits upon the judgement; and what judgement 60
Would step from this to this
(…)
Queen: O Hamlet, speak no more!
Thou turn’st my eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct. 65
Hamlet: Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty –
Queen: O, speak to me no more; 70
These words, like daggers, enter in my ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
Hamlet: A murderer and a villain!
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings; 75
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
Queen: No more!
[Enter the Ghost in his night grown.]
Hamlet: A king of shreds and patches – 80
Save me, and hover o’er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Queen: Alas, he’s mad!
Hamlet: Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
that, laps’d in time and passion, lets go by 85
The important acting of your dread command?
Oh say!
Ghost: Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits. 90
Oh, step between her and her fighting soul –
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works –
Speak to her, Hamlet.
Hamlet: How is it with you, lady?
Queen: Alas, how is ‘t with you, 95
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
(…)
Whereon do you look?
Hamlet:on him, on him! (...)
Queen:To whom do you speak this? 100
Hamlet:Do you see nothing there?
Queen:Nothing at all;yet all that is I see.
Hamlet:Nor did you nothing here?
Queen:No,nothing but ourselves
Hamlet:Why,look you there!Look,how it steals away!My father, in his habit as he liv'd 105
GLOSSARY
1. idle: lazy
2. wicked: bad,cruel
3. rood: crucifix
4. would it were not so: I wish it was not true
5. Nay: no
6. set: send( Polonius and Claudius)
7. budge: move
8. draws (his sword): takes his sword out
9. slain: killed
10. rash: foolish, stupid
11. wretched: worthless
12. Leave wringing: stop twisting (from discomfort or anxiety)
13. I shall, If … stuff: this I will do if I can penetrate it
14. wag: shake, move
15. blurs … modesty: makes your grace and pale colour of modesty disappear
16. blister: thin watery swelling under the skin
17. vows: solemn promises
18. dicers’ oaths: promises made by gamblers
19. roars: makes a loud noise (like a lion’s)
20. thunders: makes a loud noise (like that of thunder)
21. index: list(of crimes)
22. counterfeit presentment: portrait (not real presentation)
23. brow: upper part of a face, above the nose
24. Hyperion: in Greek mythology, a giant sized got with superhumans powers
25. Threaten: say menacing words
26. station: posture
27. New lighted on the heaven-kissing hill: newly, freshly arrived on the high hill
28. A combination and a form: a combination of qualities and physical presence
29. seal: official mark in a document
30. mildew’d ear: fiseased ear of corn
31. wholesome: healthy
 32. Could you … moor: you abandoned Old Hamlet(fair mountain) and chose
Claudius(moor: desolate land; batten: become fat)
33. hey-day … tame: your sexual drive should have diminished
34. humble: unimportant
35. waits upon the judgement: puts rational thought first
36. grained spots: ingrained marks
37. leave their tinct: lose their colour, fade
38. rank sweat: smelly perspiration
39. enseamed: lurid
40. Stew’d: immersed
41. honeying: sweet talking
42. nasty sty: disgusting pig’s den
43. daggers: knives
44. tithe: tax of ten percent given to support the local church
45. vice: clown(in Morality plays ‘vice’ impersonated human vices and wore the
multicoloured clothes that would later become typical of clowns)
46. cutpurse: thief
47. shreds and patches: badly dressed
48. hover: stay in the air
49. would your gracious figure: what is your wish?
50. tardy: hesitating
51. chide: reprimand
52. laps’d in time and passion: guilty of letting time pass and the passion of revenge cool
53. go by: pass
54. dread: terrifying
55. but to whet … purpose: only to spur you into action
56. amazement: great surprise
57. Conceit: imagination
58. bend … vacancy: look into an empty space
59. hold discourse: talk
COMPREHENSION
 1.When the queen speaks of 'thy father' an hamlet speaks of 'my father' are they referring to the
same person?
2.When Hamlet says that the queen will see the inmost part of you' is he speaking literally or
figuratively?
Does the queen understand what her son wishes to do?
3.Who does Hamlet thing is hiding behind the curtains?
4.What does Hamlet mean when he says that he wants to 'wring' the queen's heart?
5.When the queen asks Hamlet what she has done to anger him,does he answer her question
directly?
6.From line 43 to line 57 Hamlet compares his father and his uncle Claudius.
7.At what point in the text does the queen seem to admit that she has done something evil?
8.What overcomes the gueen's judgement according to Hamlet in lines 59-61?
9.Hamlet thinks that the ghost has come to reprimand him.For what?
10.Does the ghost want Hamlet to take revenge o his mother?Refer to the text in your answer
11.Underline the sentences in the text that suggest that the queen cannot see or hear tear the ghost.
ANALYISIS
1 In the opening lines of the text Hamlet uses the queen's own words to point the finger of
accusation away from
himself and towards her.Find two examples.
How would you describe Hamlet's attitude towardshis mother in these opening lines?
2 Focus on lines 20-29.Hamlet thinks that he has killed Claudius when in fact he has mistakenly
murdered Polonius.
Underline sentences that convey Hamlet's dispassionate indifferences to his crime.How would you
explains his lake of emotion?
3 Find an example of personification in lines 37-42.Refering to the text, complet the folowing
metaphors.
The crime commited by the queen:
-makes modesty lose.......................
-makes virtue become......................
-replaces a rose with.....................
-transforms marriages vows into...........
What do the metaphors have in common with each other and with the queen's actions?
4 Make a list of the gods Hamlet mentions in describing to Greek and Latin mythology suggest
about Hamlet view of his father
In the image that follows Hamlet's father and his brother Claudius are compared to 'two ears of
corn'.Why is
Hamlet's father 'wholesome' while Claudius is 'mildew?
5 Complete the following table which analyses the metaphor in lines 56-57
6 Examine lines 66-69.What in Hamlet's opinion is the relationship between Claudius and the
queen based on?
Which wolts imparticular convin Hamlet's desgust?
7 What aspects of Claudius's caracter does Hamlet Underline in the mentaphors in lines 73-77
8 Focus on the apretion of the ghost lines 88-93.Does his attitude towerds the queen confirm on
contrast wiet Hamlet's?
The ghost is often consideret to be a figment of Hamlet's imagination, of extasion os his mind
and conscience.If this is the
case what does the ghost's attitude towers he queen sugeston about of relations sheep between
Hamlet is he mother?
That Hamlet this pises is mother and cannot forgive hear.That Hamlet is caught beetween whis
shing to avange his father's
that but not weishing to punish his mother one hi love's.
9 What purpose does the appearnce of the ghost serve? It heights tenseion by introducing
potentiali frightening supernatural element
It helps the audience to follow the plot of the play.It makes the audience more sympletic towards
the queen.If the ghost interpreting
and as an extension of Hamlet's twoughts, if shows the more forgiving side of his nature.
10 Focus on the caracter of the queen.What is hear attitude to words Hamlet's?Find evidence in the
text that suggest that:
In the past her relaton ship with Hamlet pozitiv line.......
She is afraid of Hamlet meat do in his current state: line.....
She loves Hamlet and cnows and the gentle side on his nature: line.....
She fithinks that Hamlet is suffering from some form of mental disorder: line ......
She is concerned about Hamlet's with weel-being:line......
11 The queen speaks primarily in questions and exclamation.Find some examples in the text.What
does her form of
speech convey about her state of mind?Do you feel sympathic or ungry tho words the queen in this
scene?
12 Consider the aspect of Hamlet's caracter that amerge from this text.Which of the following
adjectives wold you
choose to describe him on the bases of this scene?
Passionate
Rational
Forgiving
Isterical
Confused
Heartless
Mad
Rightlous
Are they the same adjectives that you would use to describe Hamlet in text C6?