Hamlet Essay Intro

Write a 1-2 ¶ intro for your Hamlet essay.

Start by re-reading the essay prompt. What character/argument from Shakespeare’s play do you want to focus on? Choose one that will allow you to speak to the very different appeals made by Castiglione and Machiavelli. Then find passages from those two writers that speak to the argument you’ve chosen from Shakespeare’s play.

Open your intro with a tight focus on the character you plan to focus on—or start with something more famous from the play that might serve as an interesting backdrop for the character/passage you’ve chosen. Around the intro’s midpoint, voice some preliminary understanding, then use the final sentences to express your thesis claim as a deeper understanding that complicates or undercuts the prelim U.

Paste the results in the comments section, below.

A Gift in One Hand, a Knife in the Other

In Social Science this past week you’ve read all of Machiavelli’s Prince. For class today I want to focus on passages that strike you as significant for thinking about Shakespeare’s portrait of court life in Hamlet. Go back through your Soc Sci reading, and then transcribe a short but significant passage from Machiavelli into the comment box below. Then reply to that comment with a 2-¶ writeup. Use the first ¶ to discuss what Machiavelli is arguing in that passage, perhaps clarifying its meaning by reference to the issues and concerns in the larger context of the book. Use the second ¶ to discuss how this passage is relevant for Hamlet.

People not enrolled in Social Science have my permission to do this assignment focusing on JUST the passages I’ve excerpted from Machiavelli on the Unit 4 Assignment Page—look down in the comments. But before doing the assignment, see if you can get someone who IS in Corrin Social Science to give you a brief run-down on what Machiavelli is up to in The Prince.

Finally, as an aid for anyone who doesn’t have the Social Science reader, I’ve scanned a large portion of The Prince and uploaded it to the CourseDocs site.

The Rhetoric of Infographics

Last time we touched on how graphics differ from narrative reporting. Here’s an interesting contrast, between a global warming piece published in Rolling Stone Magazine and an infographic based on information in that article.

Skim through the article and then look at the infographic. Write a short ¶ comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Be specific: if you think the article is effective, identify particular elements that you found impressive and try to say something about how or why. Paste your response in the comments.

Bonus—two more infographics on climate change:

• Visualizing the Warmest August in 136 Years
• A Timeline of Earth’s Average Temperature Since the Last Ice Age Glaciation

You needn’t write anything about these two graphics, but check them both out and come to class prepared to discuss!

The Dance of Courtly Graces

In Humanities this week you’ve read Book 1 and part of Book 4 from Castiglione’s Courtier. For class today I want to focus on passages that strike you as significant for thinking about Shakespeare’s portrait of court life in Hamlet. Go back through your Humanities reading, and then transcribe a short but significant passage from Castiglione into the comment box below. Then reply to that comment with a 2-¶ writeup. Use the first ¶ to discuss what Castiglione is arguing in that passage, perhaps clarifying its meaning by reference to the issues and concerns in the larger context of that section of the book. Use the second ¶ to discuss how this passage is relevant for Shakespeare’s play.

People not enrolled in Humanities have my permission to do this assignment focusing on JUST the passages I’ve excerpted from Castiglione on the Unit 4 Assignment Page—look down in the comments. But before doing the assignment, see if you can get someone who IS in Coffman Humanities to give you a brief run-down on what Castiglione is up to in The Book of the Courtier.

Finally, as an aid for anyone who doesn’t have the Humanities reader, I’ve scanned a large portion of The Courtier and uploaded it to the CourseDocs site. Note that my upload includes a brief excerpt from Book 2 that is NOT in the Humanities reader. We will discuss this decision in class.

Infographics

Check out the following infographics:

• 42 States Shifted to the Right in 2016
• Where Americans Are Sent to Prison Most
• A Sharp Increase in ‘Sunny Day’ Flooding

Choose one that you think does a particularly good job of conveying a rich understanding of the topic without losing you in a sea of numbers. What does it do well? Write up your answer in a short ¶ and post it below in the comments.

Hamlet Takes the Final Exam

Read Hamlet, Acts 4.5-5 (the rest of Act 4 and all of Act 5). (Available online here and here, as well as in the Humanities course book.)

As you read, watch for moments that stand in sharp contrast with earlier events in the play. Highlight your chosen passage and paste it into a comment below. Then reply to that comment with a 2-¶ deepening analysis of your quoted passage. Use the first paragraph to outline the speaker’s rhetorical intent, and the second ¶ to call attention to how the speaker’s words stand in contrast with words or events from earlier in the play. Feel free to briefly quote an earlier line or two in developing this analysis. Be sure to explain what you think the contrast suggests—has a character changed? Has the situation changed?

As you consider what passage to quote for this assignment, take note of what other students have already covered, and try to focus on a passage that no one else has covered. Or, if someone has covered it but you have a different take on the passage, reply to their passage with your (different) account.

Looking Inward

Read Hamlet, Acts 3-4.4 (all of Act 3 and Act 4 up through Scene 4). (Available online here and here, as well as in the Humanities course book.) As you read, watch for moments where a character’s words unwittingly reveal something about his or her inward state of mind. Highlight your chosen passage (up to 30 lines long) and paste it into a comment below. Then reply to that comment with a 2-¶ deepening analysis of your quoted passage. Use the first paragraph to outline the speaker’s intent, and the second ¶ to call attention to an insight about the underlying significance of those words.

As you consider what passage to quote for this assignment, take note of what other students have already covered. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s interactions with Hamlet were entirely neglected from our discussion of Act 2 in our last class, so I’d love to see them get some coverage, even if it means drawing from Act 2 for today’s assignment. I’m also eager to see you draw on Hamlet’s scene with his mother after putting on the play, his musing on the tears shed by actors, his thoughts on the furious march of Fortinbras, and his failure to murder the praying Claudius.

For this assignment, it’s even more important that you pick a passage where there’s something interesting going on: a bad fit between what the character trying to argue and what he or she actually believes, or an ironic gap between what the speaker believes and what is actually happening. Passages where characters speak in paradoxes make good leads for the upcoming essay.

Danish Prince 101

Read Hamlet, Acts 1-2. (Available online here and here, as well as in the Humanities course book.) As you read, watch for moments where a character speaks with intent to persuade. Highlight a short passage (1-5 lines lone) and paste it into a comment below. Then reply to that comment with a brief, ¶-length discussion of what’s striking in your quoted passage. What’s the speaker’s intent? How does the speaker marshal arguments, evidence, authorities in support of that aim?

As you consider what passage to quote for this assignment, take note of what other students have already covered. While I want to get some coverage of the great ghost scene in Act 1 (not to mention the meeting of the court and the leave-taking of Laertes from his father Polonius), I don’t want you to neglect Act 2, with Hamlet’s feigned madness, his feigning friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the troop of players who arrive at the very end of that act.

But more important is that you pick a passage where there’s something interesting going on: something worthy of note in the way that characters approach the task of persuasion, something paradoxical or otherwise interesting as focus for the upcoming essay. It’s too early to commit—you’re still dating, playing the field as it were—but no sense playing the game without an eye to the future, right?