best way of studying hamlet

hatethisfeeling

Were getting a question on hamlet as part of our christmas test and Im trying to revise it now but I have no idea of what way to structure my study.
At the moment Im going through the play scene by scene and picking out quotes for each character...what way do you go about doing it?
Should I look at the whole play in respect to each character, mapping out their storyline form beginning to end?Im so confused!

Ciaramb92

Did you not make notes as you went along? Our teacher made us make a folder full of notes!

I would learn a few key themes, key characters and their relationships. Don't learn of a load of quotes, learn 7 or 8 applicable to each topic and also the important ones (to be or not to be and all that). Know what happens in each act (and know the order of the scenes (less obvious than it sounds)).

johnthemull

Just enjoy the text. It's not a test it's
A masterpiece.
Enjoy it

Chuchoter

johnthemull wrote: »

Just enjoy the text. It's not a test it's
A masterpiece.
Enjoy it

Err...its completely a test. A big giant test called the leaving cert.

At the op, try making a brainstorm for each topic. For example if you were making a brainstorm about Hamlet's character, you would draw a line to a trait, a line to a quote illustrating that trait, and then another line to a tiny bullet point explanation of why that quote illustrates that trait. Then obviously, loads of practice questions.

mathepac

As it's a play, it's meant to be watched. Get it on DVD, (Olivier 1948 or Brannagh 1997) watch it with your text and see the characters come to life. There will be differences but you'll be amazed how it will improve your comprehension and insight to see great actors speak great lines. Make note of the stage directions etc and see how they made it (or didn't make it) onto the silver screen.

Chuchoter

Definitely watch the film, its a big help, but keep in mind directors can be a bit all over the place with the actual play. For example, in Radfords Merchant of Venice, Antonio has this big wistful look at the end, implying a romance between Bassanio and himself...NOT IN THE PLAY. IN hamlet, Hamlet and Ophelia are shown having sex, but this also is not explicitly shown in the play, and examiners won't like it if they see you're taking stuff that was in the film but not the play

jumpguy

I watched the version on YouTube with Mel Gibson and it was fairly meh.

You have to pay attention in class so you understand the play and what's going on through all the scenes, especially if you find it really difficult to understand the English used, which nearly everyone does! Once you know what the play is about, you need key quotes (ours were given by our teacher) and that's it really. You need to know what the play is about, the characters, etc. Paying attention in class really helps...

Best of luck.

Marjie

Hello The main questions you could be asked is:

1. Character questions (Eg: Analyse the strenghts and weaknesses of Hamlet) or (analyse the role of the female characters in Hamlet)

2. Relationship questions (Eg: Analyse the relationship between Hamlet and his father/claudius) or (Analyse the relationship between hamlet and his foils, Laertes and Fortinbras)

A question similar to these is almost guaranteed to come up.
I would reccommend:

*Analysing the character of Hamlet:
-write out what you think the characteristics of Hamlet are (eg; procrastinator)
-find 4 or 5 quotes to back each characteristic up (eg; "the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought")
-find a referece of Act/Scene which backs this up further (eg; in Act III scene II, we see how hamlet actually puts on a play to "catch the conscience of the king" - a clear example of his procrastination, as he doesn't just go up and stab claudius in the feckin back.)
-and always, ALWAYS give your own opinion. The great thing about Hamlet, is that there are so many varied opinions on him, your opinion is never wring, but it's vital.


follow the same structure, more or less, fo the other questions and you should be ok. In the end, you should have 9 or ten sheets with a different character/relationship/theme on them.

The last step is to try a question from the exam papers on your own.

I hope this helped, the very best of luck!

ride-the-spiral

mathepac wrote: »

As it's a play, it's meant to be watched. Get it on DVD, (Olivier 1948 or Brannagh 1997) watch it with your text and see the characters come to life. There will be differences but you'll be amazed how it will improve your comprehension and insight to see great actors speak great lines. Make note of the stage directions etc and see how they made it (or didn't make it) onto the silver screen.

Our class watched the Brannagh version, we pretty much all hated it, teacher included.

ChloeElla

Try not to get mixed up between the text and a film version! I think going through every scene and writing about what happened and what impact it has on characters and future scenes helps. Then decide on themes and use your scene summary to write notes on that theme, or character. It takes time but I find it helpful!