CP English 12

2.23.25 – 3.2.15

FIELD TRIP TO WEATHERVANE THEATER ON THURSDAY, MARCH 5

To be or not to be. . . . included in the Hamlet field trip!

We will be attending a performance of Hamlet at Weathervane Theater on Thursday, March 5. We will leave school after first period, and return by the end of the day. The bus will stop at Arlington after the performance for lunch, but you may want to bring a light snack to eat during intermission as the play will last until noon.

The cost is $6.00 which I will be collecting through Friday, February 27 .

Since many of these days are a delayed start, the reading assignments and question responses are essential and must be completed by these deadlines:

Hamlet Reading Assignments and question deadlines:

Act I due February 24 (through page 42)

Act II due February 26 (through page 73)

Act III due March 2 (through page 114)

The questions must be done for each act by the due date but will not be turned in until Monday, March 2. A quiz over any act that is assigned may occur unannounced at any time.

Type or clearly write responses IN BLACK INK: Use complete sentences:

Act I

1. Describe the political situation in Denmark as revealed in Scene 1

2. Why is the ghost of Old Hamlet denied its eternal rest?

3. What delicate issues are at the top of Claudius’s agenda for the meeting with his court?

4. Would the king rather have Hamlet stay at Elsinore or return to Wittenburg? Why?

5. How does Polonius tell Ophelia to behave towards Hamlet?

6. How did Old Hamlet die? What is the official account of his death?

7. What task does the father, from beyond the grave, set for Hamlet?

Act II

8. Who is Reynaldo, and what is his job?

9. What does Ophelia report to her father concerning Hamlet’s “antic disposition”?

10. How is Claudius’s speech to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern like Polonius’s speech to Reynaldo?

11. What trap does Polonius set to get Hamlet to reveal what may be on the young man’s mind?

12. What is the source of Hamlet’s “transformation,” according to Polonius?

13. How does Hamlet propose to use the visiting actors in his conflict with Claudius?

Act III

14. How is Ophelia being used by Claudius and Polonius to deal with their problem with Hamlet?

15. Describe Hamlet’s ideas about death as expressed in the soliloquy, “To be or not to be.”

16. What decision does the king make after observing Hamlet and Ophelia?

17. Summarize the advice that Hamlet gives to the visiting actors.

18. Why does Hamlet not take his revenge during Claudius’s prayer?