HUM110CL Module 7 AVP C Transcript
Title Page
Welcome to this presentation on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Slide 2
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1601)
Slide content:
•Soliloquy
Picture of textfrom the play Hamlet
Narrator:Arguably Shakespeare’s greatest work, Hamlet was written around 1601, and centers around a young Danish prince, Hamlet.Hamlet is called home from school in Germany to find his father, the king, dead, and his mother remarried to Hamlet’s uncle, the king’s brother.To make matters more astounding, while at home in the castle, Hamlet is summoned to the very top of the castle, the turrets, by a ghost who happens to be Hamlet’s dead father.The ghost tells Hamlet that the uncle, the king’s brother, has poisoned the king.The ghost implores Hamlet to avenge his untimely death.And, here is Hamlet’s unfortunate quandary:Hamlet did not cause his father’s death; his uncle did.Is Hamlet responsible for avenging his father’s murder?Should Hamlet do so?This leads us to one of the most famous soliloquies of Shakespeare’s plays:The “to be or not to be” soliloquy.Let’s look at what this famous speech means.
Slide 3
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Slide content: Video clip from Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Narrator:Hamlet begins this soliloquy to the audience on an empty stage.
What does Shakespeare mean by “be”?Hamlet is asking himself in this speech should he or shouldn’t he act on the ghost’s accusations and entreatments.Should he or should he not act to avenge his father’s death?Hamlet is thinking out loud what he should do about the ghost’s request to avenge the murdered king’s death.
Slide 4
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Slide content:Video clip from Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Narrator:Hamlet is asking himself, should he keep the knowledge of this crime to himself, or should he act upon it, causing himself a “sea of troubles”, possibly deadly to young Hamlet.
Slide 5
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Slide content: Video clip from Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Narrator:Hamlet is comparing death to sleeping.Hamlet, since hearing the ghost’s words, is distraught and can’t sleep.To Hamlet, perhaps death is a good solution, because he will finally have some peace and rest.He is also saying that shouldn’t we all wish for death, because the ills of this world are so intolerable.
Slide 6
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Slide content: Video clip from Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Narrator:When we die, do we dream?What happens to us when we die?Hamlet ponders what happens to us when we die.
Slide 7
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Slide content: Video clip from Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Narrator:Hamlet gives a long laundry list of why human life is so awful and unlivable.But Hamlet says, we keep our nasty existence, because we don’t really know what happens to us after death and it frightens us.We take what we know even if it isn’t pleasant rather than venturing into the unknown territory of death.
Slide 8
Title:Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Slide content: Video clip from Hamlet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Narrator:Because we are afraid of the unknown after death, we become cowards and don’t act upon situations that might cause our death.Hamlet’s soliloquy touches a nerve in all human kind.Should we stand up for what is right even if it ultimately means our death?Or, should we keep our meager human existence safe by not acting?“To be or not to be” should we or shouldn’t we act even if it means our death?Isn’t this a question that will plague man for all of mankind?
Throughout human history, man will be faced with difficult questions of action, to be or not to be.Shakespeare enlivens this question and makes this play as important today as it was in 1601.
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