How does the symbolism of Yorick's skull impact the play? What is the purpose behind it?
1) The scene where Hamlet is shown jumping into Ophelia's grave can be considered a shocking turn of events, taking the audience by surprise. Does his entire act with Ophelia's body and his proclamation of his love show the idea that Hamlet is truly going insane? That he has fallen so into his own ruse that he has begun to believe it himself?
Or do you believe that he is still sane, only continuing his act in front of everyone, keeping up his trick? Or perhaps that all he says is indeed true and he is merely speaking what he feels? In the last scene of Act V many people die. Of those is Hamlet. Just before Hamlet dies Horatio says, " I am more an antique Roman than a Dane./ Here's yet some liquor left"(V. ii. 350-351). In saying this he alludes that he might kill himself so that he will not live without Hamlet. Hamlet prevents him from doing so, but if Hamlet had not, would Horatio have truly killed himself? What effect would that have upon the story? And why does Shakespeare choose not to have Horatio kill himself?
At the end of scene three, Why does Hamlet seem so eager to be leaving? After Hamlet’s departure, what is Claudius’ goal?
What is the purpose of the characters the First and Second Clown? Are they simply comic relief or do they have a deeper purpose? If so, what?
Hamlet has what can be seen as an epiphany when he is holding Yorick’s skull and thinks of Alexander the Great, and proclaims, “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust” (V.i. 201). Is this a powerful and climactic conclusion to the thought process Hamlet has been having throughout the play or an anticlimactic conclusion? Why or why not? Furthermore, is Hamlet a philosophical man trying to understand fate or a cowardly man running away from his fate?
During Hamlet’s conversation with the first Clown we learn that at that point Hamlet is thirty years old. Some critics claim that at the beginning of the play he is a young prince only in his late teens or early twenties. No matter his actual age, we see a shift in his maturity at this point in the play. Do you believe this coincides with just a shift in conscious or a passage of actual time? Does this change the overall interpretation of the play? Would this idea play into the “disjoint in time?"
King Claudius finally shows his true colors in Scene 5 of Act IV with his conversation with Laertes. He manipulates the emotions and thoughts of the young man with his words concerning Hamlet, and the death of Polonius. What does this reveal about the King's true character? Is he a true master of deceit and evil, or is it an act of desperation knowing Hamlet is plotting to kill him?
In Act IV, Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, betrays Hamlet by telling the king about Hamlet's plot. She describes Hamlet as "...mad as the sea and wind when both contend" (IV.i.7). Do you believe Hamlet knew that his mother would do this? Was this all a ploy to maintain his instability, or did Hamlet honestly trust his mother?
Post your poems from your "Bouquet of Words" assignment here. Feel free to comment on one another's poems. (Be kind in your comments, please.)
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AuthorMrs. Lopez (AP Literature and Composition Instructor) Archives
September 2014
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