For Tuesday: Hamlet, Act 1

Remember to read Act 1 of Hamlet for Tuesday's class. There are no questions yet, because I just want you to concentrate on reading the first act without any distractions, even if you get a bit lost in doing so. I promise we'll work on sorting things out in Tuesday's class. Keep some of Poole's ideas from Tragedy in the back of your mind as you read (they'll make appearances in many of your questions to come). 

As you read, here are some general ideas to keep in mind to help you with Shakespeare's language:

* Remember that a lot of the language is visual: there's not much to look at onstage in Shakespeare's day, so they have to paint pictures for the audience. They do this through poetry, metaphors, etc. If a speech seems wordy or confusing, remember that some of it is scene painting, or even scene setting. These are the 'images' that we get naturally in TV and film.

* You DO NOT have to understand everything. You wouldn't catch even 50% of the words if you watched an actual performance of Hamlet, so don't worry if you don't understand everything that is written. If a speech confuses you, it's okay to skim around looking for parts that you do. I'll show you an example below of how to read a long speech a few lines down. 

* That said, use the left side of the book (if you have the Folger edition) to help you gloss words and phrases you might not understand. The more you look up, the more it will all start making sense. The Folger edition also summarizes the plot of each scene, so you don't have to worry about what's going on. The plot is just a fence to keep in all the cool characterization and poetry. Focus on that.

* All of the language in Act 1 is verse, and mostly blank verse. But occasionally someone busts out a rhyme. Why? Whenever there's a change of language, try to figure out why Shakespeare is doing this to us.

* Remember, too, that this is a play, not a poem, so look at how people talk to one another, and how they respond to each other. Who is listening and who is just talking? Who likes to hear themselves talk? And who might be weighing their words? 

* Read out loud initially, just so you pay attention to the words, their sounds, and the characters. It will prevent you from skimming too quickly. 

* Read slowly and/or read through it quickly once and then re-read it slower. Or go back to parts you didn't understand the first time around. There's no right way to read Shakespeare, but try to find a way you can enjoy. 

HOW TO READ A LONG SPEECH (Act 1, scene 2, the King's speech)

This is a pretty long speech that isn't super important for the plot, but it does give some backstory, and more than anything, tells us WHO the king is. So you want to give it a little attention. Here are some ways to break it down:

a. First, read it out loud. What do you hear rather than see? What sounds or words or phrases jump out at you? One thing I notice is how wordy it is. He likes to hear himself talk, and likes to turn a good phrase, as in, "With mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage." You can almost see himself patting himself on the back with each sentence.

b. Ask yourself, WHY is he making such a big speech right now? What is he responding to? Remember that everyone who speaks is responding to something: either what someone else said, or some other dramatic situation. What might prompt such a long and weighty utterance?

c. The first sentence says it all: "Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death/The memory be green, and that it us befitted/To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe,/Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature/That we with wisest sorrow think on him/Together with remembrance of ourselves...(it goes on and on and on for several lines before we get a period). 

Oftentimes, politicians try to distract us from problems with a lot of talking. Basically, he's saying here "okay, we all know my brother recently died, and though we should be in mourning, I decided to think the better of it and remembered we have a country to run." He goes on to say "and since my sister-in-law was so sad, I thought it best to marry her and restore her to her rightful role as queen and get on with it. And now we can all move on."

d. Why is he saying all of this? Because he knows people are TALKING about it. They think it's WRONG, or maybe it's wrong, or maybe he shouldn't have married her. Later on, Hamlet himself calls it "incestuous." Well, they're not related by blood, but some might think this skirting the line. So this speech is a bit of damage control, early on in the play, to legitimize his rule. So everyone knows it's the 'right' thing to do.

e. The speech then goes on to explain the political situation around line 17: he talks about how his brother defeated Fortinbras Senior, and took all of his land. Well, Fortinbras Junior wants it all back, and is going to wage war with Denmark to get it back. So the King has written the King of Norway to barter a truce. He's sending two servants (at the end of the speech) to delilver his letter. So we get a two-part speech here: one part damage control (which helps us see his character, how he speaks, etc.), and one part plot exposition (what happened before the play). 

f. Do you need to get all of this? Not really, and some of it will become apparent even without the speech. What's interesting about the speech is seeing how the King is trying to shape public opinion with his words, and assume control of the kingdom. This gives the actor a chance to dig into the character and helps the audience start to judge him, so we can see if he's really the scoundrel Hamlet thinks he is. 

Try to have fun with the play, and remember, for all its poetry and big themes, it was meant to ENTERTAIN. And it still can, if you let it. The best productions always do, and in your mind, it can be the best production of all! 

For Tuesday: Poole, Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapters 2 & 3

 

NOTE: Read the next two chapters and answer TWO of the following questions. Remember that these questions are highlighting some of the big ideas (and small passages) that I want you to consider as you read. It can be overwhelming to read everything in these chapters and then walk away 'blind,' so hopefully this will give you something to chew on and think over.

Q1: In Chapter 2, Poole quotes Lucien Goldmann's statement that "Tragedy can be defined as a spectacle under the permanent observation of a deity" (23). Does this mean that in an increasingly secular world (or at least one without the idea of gods that take delight in our human dramas), tragedy is no longer possible? Does tragedy require belief? If you don't believe in divine justice or punishment, does tragedy too easily become comedy?

Q2: The playwright Ibsen switched to prose so he could portray people more realistically and without the "tongues of angels" (poetry). In his later plays, Shakespeare also increasingly uses prose instead of verse. But without the elevated language of poetry, how can we tell that someone is 'acting' tragic? In modern day movies and shows, how do actors make their language and performance seem 'serious'? What are the signs that we're supposed to cry rather than laugh?

Q3: According to Chapter 3, why do so many tragedies deal with ghosts? Like poetry, why are ghosts and the dead almost necessary to create the atmosphere and language of tragedy? As we’ll see in next week, the plot of Hamlet is set in motion by the appearance of Hamlet’s father’s ghost…but is the ghost itself the tragedy, or something more avoidable?

Q4: Tragedy literally means "goat-prize" as we learned in Chapter 1, but in Chapter 3 Poole imagines where tragic plays actually originated. What is the beginning of tragedy? Why were they first enacted, and what did they help the players and the audience understand or experience? What aspects changed or disappeared as the original performance eventually became a "play"? 

Welcome to the Course!

Welcome to our Fall 2025 installment of Shakespeare's tragedies! This class will focus on tragedies about tyrants, usurpers, and the so-called ruling class--the people who are supposedly more brilliant and important than the rest of us, but who really just use their money and power as an excuse to get up to all sorts of mischief. This semester, we'll read some of his most famous plays, all of which are based on actual people/rulers, though most of them take enormous liberties with the source material. 

Be sure to buy the books for the class ASAP, especially the short book, Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction, which we'll start using next week. See you in class! 

Guiding Quote for the class: “Real life does not speak for itself. It has to be turned into words, stories, and plots. It is only when these are lifted out of the unstoppable flow that they hold our protracted attention…We need from [tragedy] an insight—we might even wish to add, a foresight—into the way we should expect things to happen…Tragedy is in this sense thoroughly realistic. It tells us the truth about the way things are going to be—probably, inevitably (Poole, Chapter 1, Tragedy).