Thursday, January 10, 2013

Due 1/11

1. Review plot events for scenes 3, 4, and 5 of Act I.

2. Review the following speeches, practicing our close text (literal summary and analysis techniques) in your head. You do not need to write anything down, but can if you choose.

- Act I, scene 3, Laertes' speech "Think it no more/For nature crescent does not grow alone"

3. No marking the text required.

Also, since I'm actually remembering to post information:

Hamlet Research Paper Information

(Due January 25th)

You must find and read 1 critical essays written about Hamlet. Your essays can come from the internet, a literary journal, the back of a copy the play (if included) or the introduction to the play if long enough. JSTOR would be an excellent resource for this assignment; please ask if you need login or other JSTOR information.

If you choose to use an essay from the internet, it must be from a reputable, academic source. This excludes essays from Sparknotes, Echeats, Purple monkey, Debbie’s Book Report Grade 8, etc.

Then you must write a 2-3 page evaluation of the essay. Your evaluation should include a summary of the thesis/argument of the essay you read (use quotations to refer to this) as well as your personal reaction to the validity of these points. Your summary portion should not exceed half of your total length. Please be sure to maintain a 3rd person formal voice even though you are expressing your opinion. You will also want to make sure you support your reaction/opinion with quotations from Hamlet.

Pay special attention to the language used by the authors of the critical essay. This is a chance for you to experience the language of literary analysis and learn from it stylistically. It is also a chance for you to research an aspect of Hamlet that you find personally interesting: gender relationships, minor characters, etc.

Please use MLA formatting and include a works cited. (You will not, however, lose any points for formatting errors). Hallelujah!