Shakespeare activities CRIF 2016 LUKE

TASK 2:ACTIVITIES ON SPEECH “O THAT THIS, TOO…”   FROM ‘HAMLET’

1)What kind of situations make you sad? Talk to your partner

List a few of them :Eg. My football team losing. Failing an exam, etc.

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2) What do you think can drive a person to despair?

Tick the following and comment with a partner

                                                           Yes, absolutelySometimes, depends.

Financial worries IE. Losing a job
Losing a life-long friend (through a dispute, for instance)
Grief through death of a close relative
Betrayal (by a friend, or a lover, etc)
Heartbreak (love not corresponded,  or the person you love goes with someone else)

3) Read quickly the fragment and find words related to :

Body:

Weather:

Gardening:

Greek mythology:

4) Negative words and their meanings: Match the two columns

weary	lacking in animation, zest, or vigor
stale,	having a strong, unpleasant smell
flat	indelicate, indecent, obscene, or vulgar:
unprofitable	physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain, etc.; fatigued; tired:
Rank	producing no gain, good, or result
gross	not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread

5) Go through the text now on your own and fill in the gaps. Don’t look at the original text!

1)    O that this too, too solid flesh would ___________

2)    Thaw and resolve itself into a d____ !

3)    Or that the Everlasting had not fix’ed

4)    His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O G__! O G___!

5)    How weary, stale, flat and un___________

6)    Seem to me all the uses of this ___________!

7)    Fie on’t! Ah fie! ‘tis an unweeded g___________,

8)    That g_______s   to seed, things rank and gross in n___________

9)    Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

10) But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:

11) So excellent a king: that was, to this,

12) Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother

13) That he might not beteem the winds of h___________

14)  Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!

15)  Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him,

16)  As if I  ___________ of appetite had grown

17) By what it fed on: and yet, within a m___________-

18) Let me not think on ’t. Frailty thou name is a w___________!

àNow compare the text fully (In extra handout). Read it aloud with your partner.

Stop where the ** asterisks are.

6) Analyse the characters shown in the fragment. Use the following chart to help you.

CharacterAnalysis chart	Hamlet	Father	Mother (Gertrude)	Uncle (Claudius)
GreekMythology (reference and meaning, connotations)
Charactertraits
Relevantnouns and adjectivesto describe them

7) Writing task. For this part, read from the asterisks(A little month.. on till the end.) Use a dictionary, either printed or online (Dictionary. Com, Merriam- Webster)

1.Why does Shakespeare use this type of language Ie. Married, mourn’d, unrighteous, galled, wicked.. ?

2.What imagery does he use to contrast his mother’s “purity” with her baser instincts?

3.What future does Hamlet envisage for this “incestuous” relationship?

8) Watching Hamlet in action. Nowwatchthese 2fragmentsfrom YOUTUBE.

	Question	Derek Jacobi, 1980	Kenneth Branagh, 1996
1	Wheredoesthescenetake place)
2)	What’sHamlet’sposture?
3)	Whereis Hamlet lookingtowards?
4)	What’sthetone of thevoice?
5)	Is he sadorangry?
6)	Whois more emphatic, ormakes more gesturestounderlinehisfeelings?
7)	Anyotherdifferences?: Speed of speech, dress, etc.

FULL TEXT

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, (135) Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two: (140) So excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, (145) As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on: and yet, within a month -- Let me not think on't -- Frailty, thy name is woman! – **** A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she follow'd my poor father's body, (150) Like Niobe, all tears: -- why she, even she -- O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle, My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules: within a month: (155) Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good: (160) But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.

 

YOUTUBE FRAGMENTS

1)    DEREK JACOBI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEXp5us1tSE

2)    KENNETH BRANAGH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCBVmiVkzTM