Hamlet

jdevlin

Anyone any ideas as to what type of questions will come up. My teacher thinks a character study of Hamlet is likely which would be grand. Unfortunately she also has a feeling a theme like the corruption or apearance vs reality could appear on the paper. Any suggestions.

chillywilly

revenge-claudius

randomfella

wouldn't vouch with the hamlet character
*checks 2002 paper

yeah definetly wouldn't.
Theme of revenge is widely tipped. i think the ghost could be one or theme of filial duty. meh hard to say. i better learn some quotes.

jdevlin

What is filial duty? Also if revenge where to come up what would you write about apart from Hamlet and laertes

Let's not forget about Fortinbras, the one that most people leave out. That ususally distinguishes between the A and B students.

chillywilly

jdevlin wrote:

What is filial duty? Also if revenge where to come up what would you write about apart from Hamlet and laertes

like what i said the 1st time: revenge:claudius

Scarinae

jdevlin wrote:

What is filial duty?

Duty, as a son, to honour your father (or something along those lines)

baby*cham*bell

jdevlin wrote:

What is filial duty? Also if revenge where to come up what would you write about apart from Hamlet and laertes

doesn't that also refer to daughter-parent relationships?????????
therefore you have Ophelia also

Scarinae

the other thing you gotta remember is that two questions come up, generally one is on characters, relationships etc and the other is on themes. So it is possible that the character of Hamlet and the theme of corruption could come up on the paper (though it's unlikely that your teacher would manage to get a feeling for two questions and be right on both counts!)

randomfella

Deleted User wrote:

Let's not forget about Fortinbras, the one that most people leave out. That ususally distinguishes between the A and B students.

but what can u really say about him? what does he symbolise? that good triumphs in the end and that harmony is restored like all shakespearen tragedys i guess?

Scarinae

baby*cham*bell wrote:

doesn't that also refer to daughter-parent relationships?????????
therefore you have Ophelia also

Actually yeah, you're probably right, just the first thing that would have sprung to my mind was Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras

D-Generate

Well if its revenge you talk about Fortinbras, Hamlet and Laertes's respective crusades.

Scarinae

randomfella wrote:

but what can u really say about him? what does he symbolise? that good triumphs in the end and that harmony is restored like all shakespearen tragedys i guess?

Here's a buzzword (or buzzphrase?) - Fortinbras is a foil for Hamlet, as is Laertes. In other words, they highlight his shortcomings. Hamlet procrastinates about honouring his father, delays, puts it off... However, the instant Laertes finds out that Polonius is dead, he whips up a mob and comes charging back into Elsinore; similarly, Fortinbras charges around the place trying to restore his father's honour

chillywilly

randomfella, read your PM!

cessy

yeah like d generate said u discuss hamlet.laertes and fortinbras revenge tactics how they differ contrast how lartes is violent and unscrupulous as an avenger how he is unrestrained by considerations of law,church or conscience unlike hamlet both laertes and fortinbras represent the threat of vengence let loosedont forget the parallel imagery of the hamlet/claudius and priam /pyrrhus suituations to further consolidate the answer

im hoping revenge comes up with either hamlet or polonius

exiztone

This is good stuff, guys. How do you think a question about the theme of revenge will be worded?

Does anyone think the role of women in Hamlet might be another possibility?

BraveheartGal

the theme of revenge is central to the plot and the effect of the awesome responsibility is central to the characterisation of hamlet


go on to speak how hamlet's internal conflict between his desire to avenge his father and his abhorence of bloodshed is as a consequence of revenge

laertes,difference in attitude to revenge
he is unscupulous and remorseless.......contrast with hamlet and his attitude to revenge


fortinbras depicts the harmful effects of revenge, (talk about him sacrificing a group of mercenaries for a piece of crap land in poland, jus to satisfy his lust for vengeance)

then conclude, summarising the above

hope that helps! (screw that, hope it comes up!)

jdevlin

what is priam and pyrhus? Im guessing it is a greek myth. Also you say Laertes is untroubled by matters of law church or conscience unlike hamlet. I agree with the church and conscience aspects but when do thoughts of the law lengthen his procrastination?

Cannibal Ox

Priam and Pyrhus are from the Aeneid by Virgil.
Basically, Pyrhus kills Priam in revenge for the death of his father (Achilles). If you mention it in your answer, it's another counter-point for Hamlet's delayed revenge.

cessy

hey exiztone!
eh not sure it will prob have the word "revenge"
in it he he ah no sseriously something like
"the medieval chivalric code demanded revenge aror the sake of family honour"discuss.

yeah go over the passive female roles in hamlet if women come up its not gonna be on their own it will be ophelia and gertrude together discuss the patriarchal world in which they live then go in depth on their virtues and faults

cessy

jdevlin wrote:

what is priam and pyrhus? Im guessing it is a greek myth. Also you say Laertes is untroubled by matters of law church or conscience unlike hamlet. I agree with the church and conscience aspects but when do thoughts of the law lengthen his procrastination?

i know not what u mean laertes didnt procrastinate!!!!!!!!

D-Generate

Cannibal Ox wrote:

Priam and Pyrhus are from the Aeneid by Virgil.
Basically, Pyrhus kills Priam in revenge for the death of his father (Achilles). If you mention it in your answer, it's another counter-point for Hamlet's delayed revenge.

Dude its from the Illyiad by Homer!
The Aeneid is all about Aeneas crossing the River Styx in the Underworld.
Aeneid was Roman literature
Illyiad was Greek.

BraveheartGal

i take it most of us are reading "theme of revenge" from the hamlet notes in the purple book



and there was i thinking i sounded smart

jdevlin

Cessy- Read my post again. I never said that Laertes procrastinated.You said that Laertes is untroubled by law, conscience or church, unlike Hamlet. Therefore you are stating that Laertes doesn't meditate on matters but hamlet does, which is true. My problem was that although hamlet does meditate on matters of religion and morality, I dont think he meditates on the law

BraveheartGal

jdevlin wrote:

Cessy- Read my post again. I never said that Laertes procrastinated.You said that Laertes is untroubled by law, conscience or church, unlike Hamlet. Therefore you are stating that Laertes doesn't meditate on matters but hamlet does, which is true. My problem was that although hamlet does meditate on matters of religion and morality, I dont think he meditates on the law

im with you

hum

another aspect of hamlets procrastination may be the the fact that, weather he knows it or not, he is trying to detach himself from power, love, family,freindship,the world and above all sanity... hence the antic dispostition and his treatment towards ophelia/claudius/gertrude and also rozencrantz and guildenstern as he barely acknowledges their deaths... in doing this, the detaching that is, he is preparing himself to take revenge which means he probably knows that when he actually does it that he will die too.. he is a fatalist...

fortinbras depicts the harmful effects of revenge, (talk about him sacrificing a group of mercenaries for a piece of crap land in poland, jus to satisfy his lust for vengeance)

he does indeedy but also when you think about it fortinbras actually didnt have to do alot to get his revenge except march his army across the land etc.. because in the end Hamlet gave him the throne to him..

my teacher also did alot about curruption and revenge..

i just want it over with!!

BraveheartGal

right on

Waltons

BraveheartGal wrote:

the theme of revenge is central to the plot and the effect of the awesome responsibility is central to the characterisation of hamlet


go on to speak how hamlet's internal conflict between his desire to avenge his father and his abhorence of bloodshed is as a consequence of revenge

laertes,difference in attitude to revenge
he is unscupulous and remorseless.......contrast with hamlet and his attitude to revenge


fortinbras depicts the harmful effects of revenge, (talk about him sacrificing a group of mercenaries for a piece of crap land in poland, jus to satisfy his lust for vengeance)

then conclude, summarising the above

hope that helps! (screw that, hope it comes up!)

I don't necessarily think Hamlet abhors bloodshed. There is a memorable quote in the play when he says "My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!". He sacrafices Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pretty easily after finding out that they had been sent to accompany him to his death. (Killing old friends. Friends that had turned on him, but old friends nonetheless.) It's a fairly calculating act of murder as well considering he had to pen the letter and seal it with the signet.
Let's not forget poor Polonius in the closet scene as well. After killing him, Hamlet doesn't even think about the body until he's gotten his point through to Gertrude after which he "lugs the guts into a neighbour room".

In relation to revenge and Hamlet I'd be very inclined to talk about him not killing Claudius in the chapel. This shows that Hamlet is far more concerned with revenge than putting the kingdom back into an 'equilibrium' state.

Laertes is a very good example to use in this question because he's willing to stoop to any level to get revenge for Polonius's death; anointing his sword with the unction from the mounteback, slitting Hamlet's throat in the church. General deceipt really.

Cherry_Pie

Claudius is not entirely bad , he does have some redeeming qualities. Anyone think something along those lines could come up!?? Or the use of imagery in Hamlet???

BraveheartGal

id love if claudius's redeeming qualities comes up


and waltons, yeah thats a really good point
i suppose you could bring that into his complexity tho
his internal conflict between the impulse to avenge on the one hand and the unconscious repugnance to vengeance on the other


his instinctive impulse ( "haste me to know't that I with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge")
is inhibited by inconscious misgivings


and all that malarky

hum

Claudius is not entirely bad , he does have some redeeming qualities

yup that came up in my mocks, you could talk about his good qualities in realation to kindship.. stuff like how he leads the courtiers, his public speaking at the start of the play etc.. also the way he treats ophelia might be useful with that..

how many qoutes are you people learning for hamlet im thinking in between 20 and 30?????

BraveheartGal

yeah right
one per paragraph is what our teacher told us
as long as you have a quote to support your point youre sorted



i better be
or ill beat her.........with my shovel

exiztone

hum wrote:

yup that came up in my mocks, you could talk about his good qualities in realation to kindship.. stuff like how he leads the courtiers, his public speaking at the start of the play etc.. also the way he treats ophelia might be useful with that..

how many qoutes are you people learning for hamlet im thinking in between 20 and 30?????

How did he treat Ophelia?

Anybody want to list their quotes grouped by theme?

Cherry_Pie

Obviously every walking idiot will have to be or not to be so don't over use that!!! lol

15 well chosen quotes should get you through most answers though, 15 - 20 if you're aiming for the A! Remenber one idea per paragraph , one quote per paragraph and each paragraph written like a mini essay! To make things easier for you on the day write a list of you're ideas in order of how you will discuss them in the essay then work off that rough sheet and the whole thing becomes alot easier and less daunting!!

Waltons

To be honest I haven't learned off that many quotes, certainly not one per paragraph I'll be doing anyway. I'm a big fan of close reference as things can be said in a flowing manner. Quotes, I feel anyway, tend to break up things. Sure quotes are excellent for getting the examiner to stop and go "Yep, knows his/her stuff", but if you're stuck for a quote, don't be afraid to use close reference! You might not know the play off word for word (Fair play if you do!), but you'll know the story and the events by this stage!

Cherry_Pie

Can anyone break down what you would write about with revenge in a simple bulleted paragraph!???

BraveheartGal

its prob in your actual play
most hamlet plays have notes in it

Innervision

Anyone else find the notes in the Folens book for the most part pretty cack?!

randomfella

lot of people know their stuff on Hamlet. Few articulate statements made. Its good to see, easy to benefit from other people so somebody already said this but..

quote a quote and explain the context where u would use it etc...


"to be or not to be that is the quest-ion" - this breaks the usual iambic pentameter, shows how hamlet is on a quest and mission. He is infatuated with carrying out the task, ordered by his father.
Filial duty is a central theme to the play hamlet.

baby*cham*bell

jdevlin wrote:

Cessy- Read my post again. I never said that Laertes procrastinated.You said that Laertes is untroubled by law, conscience or church, unlike Hamlet. Therefore you are stating that Laertes doesn't meditate on matters but hamlet does, which is true. My problem was that although hamlet does meditate on matters of religion and morality, I dont think he meditates on the law

further to this:
Hamlet expresses his disrespect for the psyically strong types, such as Laertes, who act before thinking, referring to them as "hercules" scoffingly (can't remember quote, early in play)
perhaps he is jealous- Gertrude refers to Hamlet during the fencing scene "he is fat and scant of breath" !!!!

cessy

jdevlin wrote:

Cessy- Read my post again. I never said that Laertes procrastinated.You said that Laertes is untroubled by law, conscience or church, unlike Hamlet. Therefore you are stating that Laertes doesn't meditate on matters but hamlet does, which is true. My problem was that although hamlet does meditate on matters of religion and morality, I dont think he meditates on the law

oh sorry i did just skim over your post im all over the place at the mo i didnt mean law as in the legal system at the time more like the elizabethen codes of chivalry at that time not dail kinda stuff!!
sorry ill be more careful next time!

baby*cham*bell

Cherry_Pie wrote:

Obviously every walking idiot will have to be or not to be so don't over use that!!! lol

15 well chosen quotes should get you through most answers though, 15 - 20 if you're aiming for the A! Remenber one idea per paragraph , one quote per paragraph and each paragraph written like a mini essay! To make things easier for you on the day write a list of you're ideas in order of how you will discuss them in the essay then work off that rough sheet and the whole thing becomes alot easier and less daunting!!

Nah, learn some quotes, make some sort of plan, and just go with the flow.
(if they think its learned off they mark you wayyyyyyyy down, better to give the impression your making it up!)

Johnerr

Can someone tell me about fortinbras, I don't know anything about him and how i could incoraporate him into a question on revenge etc,

What does he do at the start, why does hamlet hand over his kingdom to fortinbras, I thought he was the enemy??

I've missed out on this character somewhere in school and never really seen a question on him, so can someone please explain the above and hopefully i'll be ok

*Angel*

Johnerr wrote:

Can someone tell me about fortinbras, I don't know anything about him and how i could incoraporate him into a question on revenge etc,

What does he do at the start, why does hamlet hand over his kingdom to fortinbras, I thought he was the enemy??

I've missed out on this character somewhere in school and never really seen a question on him, so can someone please explain the above and hopefully i'll be ok

The wonders of google - Fortinbras essay, actually I'm glad I found it, it'll help me out too.

Cherry_Pie

baby*cham*bell wrote:

Nah, learn some quotes, make some sort of plan, and just go with the flow.
(if they think its learned off they mark you wayyyyyyyy down, better to give the impression your making it up!)

Why would they mark you down for learning something!!!! Thats just the load of CRAP!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

hum

at the start of the play we learn that fortinbras is on his way to take over denmark.. hence the whole reason the gaurds are on patrol, he basically works as another contrast in character to that of leartes and hamlet.. so for something on revenge you could probably talk about each of the characters and how they deal with the responsibility of revenge.

fortinbras is seen as the enemy for nearly all of the play as he poses as a strong treath to elsinore but when hamlet sees how he deals with his army and how he holds himself etc he starts to idolise him and decides he has "pondered too much on the event"... and has to learn from him and go ahead with the task of taking revenge.
thats why he hands over the kingdom before he dies, because of this new light in which he now sees him...
ugh i hope this makes sense its very late!

Cherry_Pie

Johnerr wrote:

Can someone tell me about fortinbras, I don't know anything about him and how i could incoraporate him into a question on revenge etc,

What does he do at the start, why does hamlet hand over his kingdom to fortinbras, I thought he was the enemy??

I've missed out on this character somewhere in school and never really seen a question on him, so can someone please explain the above and hopefully i'll be ok

At the start of the play Denmark is under attack from Norway , Fortinbras. Claudius sends two ammbassadors to the old uncle of Fortinbras to try to settle without war. Fortinbras wants to attack Denmark because Old King Hamlet killed his father and he wants to get revenge for that.He is the young Prince of Norway, and wants to restore his fathers honor making him another foil for Hamlet. Hope that helps!

*Angel*

Cherry_Pie wrote:

Why would they mark you down for learning something!!!! Thats just the load of CRAP!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

She's right, why the hell would they mark you down?!? You would loose marks if you weren't making sense.

baby*cham*bell

*Angel* wrote:

She's right, why the hell would they mark you down?!? You would loose marks if you weren't making sense.

Obviously you have to learn stuff off, but if you ryhme of an answer, aperently they can tell and you're done for lack of personal response (this is just hear-say!)
but arent the qs one's they never asked before? you'd have to amke something up then anyway!

honru

baby*cham*bell wrote:

Obviously you have to learn stuff off, but if you ryhme of an answer, aperently they can tell and you're done for lack of personal response (this is just hear-say!)
but arent the qs one's they never asked before? you'd have to amke something up then anyway!

How... can they tell?

Do they see the sweat of guilt from the answerbook?

If your come out with an essay that answers all nessessary requirements then they can't hardly take marks away.
The whole "write-your-own-essay-or-you'll-lose-marks" scenario is really such a load of bull.

Plus, the Hamlet question is hardly a section dealing with personal interpertations or opinions, just black and white analysis.

Also, Hamlet questions that have been asked before are most definetly considered each year for inclusion.

Cherry_Pie

But if you learn off a good personal response then it does sound personal!!!!!