Roll on, thou o'erlong and lasted year, Roll!

Today's class began with a quick check at the rest of the year. We have only 8 classes left (less now, since today's is over)! We talked about what has to be accomplished by the end of the year and we speculated on a possible review class during exam week.

Following the discussion, we went to Hamlet, reviewing our answers for the end of Act IV. We then did the Act IV Quotes Quiz, and began reading Act V.

It was put to question whether we would like to have a cumulative test for Hamlet, or to have another Quotes Quiz for Act V. The word 'obnubilate' means 'to obscure; to cloud over'. Although there were voices crying out for no more quotes, by the end of class some minds were changed and it seemed that one more Quotes Quiz may in fact be the winner. It was not solidified so think it over.

FOR HOMEWORK:

- Finish Act V:i and the related questions
- Ponder the meaning of life
- Begin preparation for the essay work regarding Hamlet (refer to the hand out for ideas, or make your own!)

Mrs Loconte for valedictorian!

To recap on Friday, we started talking about the valedictorian vote that was held in Mr. Rose's lab on the 3 rd block. Most of us said that although it was desirable,  we didn't seem to have much time for it. Yet Mrs. Loconte told us that it is definitely an amazing opportunity to become a valedictorian and also a great way to represent our 2013 grad. In most of our class, we worked on snippets. After we finished writing we went on to discussion of several quotes, phrases or words in the play. Many of the points we discussed were very philosophical. I for example talked about the word "fish monger" and how it represented "a person who wants to fish information" or "a person who sells prostitute."

The homework: read act 4 scene 7 and do all th questions. Read act 5 scene 1 up to the point where hamlet enters (roughly stop at line 54)

Alas, It Was Not To Be...

As is evident by the time shown at the bottom of your screen I have once again forgotten to blog. I have therefore decided that after forgetting so many times, it was not to be. I was not meant to write blog posts. But that is beside the fact because here I am writing a blog post late yet again. Oh well, better late than never I guess. To start off class today I received a recap of what has happened in the play since Act 3 (and boy did I miss a lot: Polonius dead, Ophelia mad, and Hamlet off to England, what?). We then read Act 4 Scene 6 even though that was actually for homework, but there was a misunderstanding for no one did it…thankfully is was only a page. After we read Scene 7 as well which was a rather lengthy scene involving much deliberations between Laertes and Claudius. We finished off with a discussion about “The Hamlet Question” and like so many before us were not able to figure it out either. Sometimes I wonder is Shakespeare could see us now if he’d just laugh and be like “Ha! I don’t even know what’s up with Hamlet; I was just having some fun!” I feel like this might be a common occurrence in literature, people writing plays and books just to confuse those who study it in the future. Awesome. Anyways, if you’re still up and don’t know the homework it’s to do the in-class writing and discussion activity about picking and analysing three phrases. Oh, and there’s an Act 4 quotes quiz on Tuesday.

Poor Ophelia

Today we started by reviewing scenes i-iii of Act IV.  Essentially, Claudius is sending Hamlet to England, supposedly to protect him after Polonius's death, but really, he wants Hamlet to be killed in England.  We did scene iv in class where we run into young Fortinbras.  Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.  Hamlet has a good speech at the end of this scene.  We did most of scene v in class.  In this scene we find that poor Ophelia has gone mad, (really insane, not like Hamlet) and that Laertes has returned from France to find out about his father's death.

Homework:
Finish scene v and do the questions.

BE PREPARED.

 Hey guys! So today we got another bonus assignment! It will be due at the end of Hamlet and has two options. One is to make your own code following the pattern of Polonius' advice to Leartes, the second is to write your own To Be Or Not To Be speech.
Also during class we went over the questions for act 3 scene 2, read act 3 scene 3 which was very short.
On Thursday, we will be reading scene 4 (last scene of act 3) which will feature a "Passionate Hamlet" and his mother, as well as a spying Polonius. After we finish reading WE WILL BE TAKING THE QUOTES QUIZ, so be prepared <3

To Be or Not To Be

Today we tackled Hamlet's most well-known monologue and one of the most famous passages in all of Shakespeare's works, "To be or not to be..."  As none of us felt qualified to read this monologue, we listened  to a couple readings of it instead.  It is a very profound passage and it provoked a very interesting discussion surrounding suicide, depression, etc, in particular from a Biblical perspective.  We also talked about how Hamlet is proving to be more and more indecisive and governed by fear.  We finished Act 1 Scene 1 together and started Scene 2.  The Scene 2 questions are due on Tuesday, you do not need to do the Scene 1 questions.  Have a good weekend!    

Joon = Mrs Loconte

I had high hopes of giving out a quiz today but alas, it was 'not to be'.

It is all about the journey rather than the destination though, (at least in this context) so I was happy to discuss the "I have lost my mirth" dialogue, and "you are a fishmonger" exchange, as well as a host of others.

We will finish #s 14 to the end on Thursday, take that pesky quiz and Carry On.

"So wise so young, they say, do never live long". Richard III

I suggest you read ahead and cover 3.1 so when we come to it as a second reading we will be able to get at it in a bit more depth (hopefully) a bit more quickly.