On Tuesday we'll start working on a thesis-driven research paper using the sources you found while compiling the annotated bibliography last week.
If you want a head start do this...
1. Think about what you have learned about the topic. What aspect of the topic do you think you could explain or interpret or analyze or compare? Then turn that aspect of the topic into a question.
For example, if your topic is St. Peter's Fiesta you might explain why certain saints are venerated during St. Peter's Fiesta. (In the form of a question: why are St. Peter and Mary venerated during Fiesta?)
Or, if your topic is Stage Fort Park you might compare its past uses to its present uses. Or, if your topic is fishing you might compare schooner fishing to trawler fishing in Gloucester. (How did the change from sails to engines change fishing?)
Or, if your topic is painters of Gloucester you might analyze Fitz Henry Lane's use of light and precise detail in his paintings. (What is significant about Lane's use light and detail in his paintings?)
Or, if your topic is Charles Olson you might interpret the meaning of one or more of his poems that interest you. (What is the meaning and significance of "Letter Six" of the Maximus Poems?)
2. Once you have a question create a clear, supportable, essential, significant, perhaps even original answer to the question. That's your thesis.
Examples:
Why are St. Peter and Mary venerated during Fiesta?
The veneration of the statues of St. Peter and Mary symbolize the importance of fishing and family to Sicilian-Americans and other Catholics in Gloucester.
How did the change from sails to engines change fishing?
The change from sails to engines led to a change in fishing practices that end up endangering the fishing stocks for future generations.
What is significant about Lane's use light and detail in his paintings?
Fitz Henry Lane uses light to convey luminous, transcendent beauty and, conversely uses to precise details to evoke the material reality of man's relationship with nature.
What is the meaning and significance of "Letter Six" of the Maximus Poems?
In "Letter Six" Charles Olson asserts the necessity of attention and care from all citizens of a place if that place is to thrive.
Post your question and thesis in the comment box below by class time on Wednesday, May 27. I look forward to reading them.
On Wednesday we will "workshop" the questions and thesis statements. Then we will work on writing the paper itself (1000+ words with at least three sources cited in the text and a works cited page--you've already found the sources!), a draft of which will be due on Monday, June 1.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Hamlet Test 2009
Here's the Hamlet Test (the version most of you took).
This will help you make sense of the answer sheets I gave back to you on Wednesday.
If you want to take a different version of the text to earn a second grade to average with the first study up and I'll offer a retake on Tuesday (5/26) and Thursday (2/28). (Don't worry I won't count it if you do worse the second time.)
This will help you make sense of the answer sheets I gave back to you on Wednesday.
If you want to take a different version of the text to earn a second grade to average with the first study up and I'll offer a retake on Tuesday (5/26) and Thursday (2/28). (Don't worry I won't count it if you do worse the second time.)
HAMLET TEST NAME:____________________________
The plot statements are in chronological order. Fill in the blank to complete the statement.
1. After thanking his subjects for their recent support, Claudius sends ambassadors to ___ (a place) to halt a threatened attack from ___ (a person).
2. Claudius gives ___ permission to return to
3. Hamlet is angry at his mother for ___ .
4. ___ tells Hamlet about the appearance of ___.
5. ___ and ___ tell ___ to stay away from ___.
6. The Ghost tells Hamlet that he is the spirit of ___.
7. The Ghost reveals that King Hamlet was murdered by ___ who ___ in his ear.
8. ___ asks Hamlet to seek revenge against ___ but to leave ___ alone.
9. Polonius believes that ___ is mentally disturbed because ___.
10. Claudius and Gertrude send ___ and ___ to spy on ___.
11. Claudius allows ___ (person) to pass through ___ (country) on the way to ___ (country).
12. A group of ___ show up at ___ (castle). Hamlet will use them to put on ___.
13. ___ delivers the “To be or not to be” speech.
14. Then, ___ and ___ spy on a meeting between ___ and ___.
15. Hamlet asks ___ to help him observe ___’s reaction to the play.
16. Before the play begins ___ makes bitter and sexually suggestive comments toward ___ .
17. ___ reacts to seeing the play by saying give me some ___.
18. Seeing this, Hamlet now believes what the ___ told him in act one.
19. ___ begins to pray for forgiveness for killing ___ but cannot because he is still married to ___ and is still ___ of ___.
20. ___ nearly kills ___ but does not because he thinks he is praying.
21. Hamlet stabs and kills ___ whom he thinks is ___ (a person).
22. While ___ is verbally attacking ___ in her room, ___ returns to remind Hamlet that his real purpose is to avenge his father’s death.
23. ___ sends Hamlet to ___ to be killed.
24. In a soliloquy, ___ says that he should be more like ___ who takes action instead of thinking and delaying.
25. ___ sings about death and betrayal because ___ has been murdered by ___.
26. ___ (person) returns from ___ (country) demanding revenge for his father’s death.
27. ___ (person) escapes death by boarding a ___ (occupation) ship and returning to ___ (country).
28. ___ agrees to kill ___ with a poisoned ___.
29. If that plan fails, ___ will give ___ poisoned ___.
30. ___ then announces that ___ has drowned.
31. A gravedigger gives ___ the skull of ___, a former court jester.
32. ___ is not given a full Christian ceremony because it is unclear whether or not she ___.
33. ___ and ___ are killed in ___ because of Hamlet’s deception.
34. ___ speaking on behalf of Claudius, invites ___ to fence with ___.
35. In the fencing match, ___ hits ___ twice.
36. ___ drinks from the ___ cup.
37. ___ then wounds ___ with a poisoned ___.
38. Then, after the swords are switched ___ then cuts ___.
39. After ___ blames the king, Hamlet kills ___ with both ___ and ___.
40. ___ asks that ___ not kill himself so he will live to tell the story.
41. After Hamlet dies, ___ becomes king of ___.
Name the characters alluded to by the following quotations.
1. ___ (a character) is "the serpent that did sting thy father's life."
2. When in his mother’s room Hamlet calls out a "a rat, a rat." Hamlet thinks the rat behind the curtain is ___ (a character) but the rat is really ___ (another character).
3. Who are the "two schoolfellows" that Hamlet would trust as he would "adders fanged"? (two characters)
Shakespeare's techniques & some interpretations of Hamlet
4. What technique is used in the following quotations: "the play's the thing/wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king" and "o cursed spite/that ever I was born to set it right"?
A. iambic pentameter
B. blank verse
C. foil
D. rhyming couplet
5. Who are Hamlet's two foils in the play?
A. Laertes and Fortinbras
B. Ophelia and Gertrude
C. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
D. Bill and Ted
6. Which of Hamlet's decisions does Mel Gibson believe causes the play's tragic events?
A. listening to the Ghost
B. not killing Claudius when he appears to be praying
C. putting on the play
D. making fun of Polonius
7. What are the two possible interpretations of Hamlet's question "What warlike noise is this?"
A. either Fortinbras is attacking
B. Hamlet is fighting against Fortinbras or he is fighting against Laertes
C. the pirates have come to take over
D. Ophelia is leading an attack on Hamlet or has just fallen into a river
Imagery
8. What is an image of corruption that spreads and keeps coming back no matter how much you get rid of it?
A. weeds B. water C. poison D. flowers E. painting (make-up)
9. What image signifies purity and passivity?
A. weeds B. water C. poison D. flowers E. painting (make-up)
10. What image in the play signifies something that is beautiful but delicate and therefore easily destroyed?
A. weeds B. water C. poison D. flowers E. painting (make-up)
11. What image is used in the play to signify creating a false appearance to cover up the truth?
A. weeds B. water C. poison D. flowers E. painting (make-up)
Deception
For three of the following you will need to provide two names. For one of the following you will need to provide one name. I’m not telling which is which.
12. Writing a letter telling
13. Planning to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword and drink is an example of deception involving ___.
14. Spying on Hamlet while he talks with Ophelia is an example of deception involving ___.
15. Finding out what Laertes is doing in
Name the characters alluded to by the following quotations.
1. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, who is the "hyperion"?
2. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, who is the "satyr"?
3. Who is "the serpent that did sting thy father's life"?
4. Who are the "sponge[s]" that "soak up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities"? (two characters)
5. Who does Hamlet "wear" in his "heart's core" because he is "not passion's slave"?
6. Who does Hamlet call a "fishmonger"?
7. Who does Hamlet call a "rat"? Who does Hamlet think it is? Who is it really? (two characters)
8. Who are the "two schoolfellows" that Hamlet would trust as he would "adders fanged"? (two characters)
Quotations and Deaths
"Is it the king?"
1. . Who says this?
2. Who has been killed?
"[H]er garments, heavy with their drink,/Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay/To muddy death."
3. Who says this?
4. Who has died?
"I am justly killed by my own treachery."
5. Who says this before he dies?
"The rest is silence."
6. Who says this before he dies?
7. How it the statement ironic? (Or you could explain how this quotation shows a change in the character.)
"They did make love to this employment."
8. Who says this?
9. Who are “they”? In other words, who are the two people the speaker has had killed by someone else, somewhere else? (two characters)
Friday, May 8, 2009
Hamlet Essay Due Tuesday, May 12
Hamlet Final Essay
(600-1200 words, twelve point font, double spaced or you may post it on the blog)
What is Hamlet about? What does the play suggest about the human dilemma, the human predicament?
That's a huge question! First of all, what is "the human dilemma, the human predicament". Those phrases are used to refer to huge, inescapable problems that all people must face, like the death of loved ones, being betrayed by loved ones, what to do in the face of dishonesty and corruption, etc.
Second, Hamlet, as a play, is especially concerned with questions about human flaws: corruption, dishonesty, debauchery, defilement, sycophancy, etc. Among the questions that come up in the play are "what effect does corruption, etc. have on people (perpetrators, victims, bystanders, etc.)?" and "what should a person do in response to corruption, etc.?"
So consider how the play's plot (what happens), its characters, its speeches, its patterns, its images seem to suggest something about the nature of human corruption, the effect of human corruption, and the response to human corruption.
These are big questions and big issues. But you're all smart enough and mature enough to handle them. It is because of these big questions and these big issues that people in 2007 still care about a play that was written in 1599.
Good luck! See me (or email me) for help if you need it.
(600-1200 words, twelve point font, double spaced or you may post it on the blog)
What is Hamlet about? What does the play suggest about the human dilemma, the human predicament?
That's a huge question! First of all, what is "the human dilemma, the human predicament". Those phrases are used to refer to huge, inescapable problems that all people must face, like the death of loved ones, being betrayed by loved ones, what to do in the face of dishonesty and corruption, etc.
Second, Hamlet, as a play, is especially concerned with questions about human flaws: corruption, dishonesty, debauchery, defilement, sycophancy, etc. Among the questions that come up in the play are "what effect does corruption, etc. have on people (perpetrators, victims, bystanders, etc.)?" and "what should a person do in response to corruption, etc.?"
So consider how the play's plot (what happens), its characters, its speeches, its patterns, its images seem to suggest something about the nature of human corruption, the effect of human corruption, and the response to human corruption.
These are big questions and big issues. But you're all smart enough and mature enough to handle them. It is because of these big questions and these big issues that people in 2007 still care about a play that was written in 1599.
Good luck! See me (or email me) for help if you need it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
