The Catch-Up Post for Wednesday through Friday

Wednesday:  We went over Hamlet's first soliloquy beginning "O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt . . " (1.2.138-165).  A few people had done very well in paraphrasing this on Tuesday, but many had not.  We made a bit more progress through Scene 2.  Homework had been to finish reading Scene 2 and to read Scene 3.

Thursday:  I was gone, but your job was to get a good start on the study questions for the rest of Act I.  In class, you were to have done the questions for Scenes 2 and 3. In class it  had been OK to work together quietly, but if you were absent, you must get this done ASAP on your own. Here is the link to the hand-out:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ARigzimXmDnvZGZ0dzhmcGhfNTJjem16dm1kMw&hl=en

Homework for Friday:  Read Scene 4, and do the questions for Scene 4.

Friday:  In class, we talked mainly about the family relationship dialogue:  older brother to younger sister, father to son going off to school, and father to daughter.  It's important to know both what Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius had to say to one another as well as to see the "universals" involved in their emotional situations that hold true even today.  We also looked at Hamlet--his bantering with Horatio that demonstrated his on-going concern about his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle, as well as both the set-up for and his first conversation with the Ghost.  

HOMEWORK FOR MONDAY
Read Scene 5 (the last scene in Act I).  Answer the questions for Scene 5.  I will be collecting all of the Act I questions on Monday.