Today we read and then viewed samples of the "To be or not to be" speech. If you missed the class check out this speech on YouTube by these guys:
Kenneth Brannagh, Laurence Olivier, Mel Gibson, and, Kevin Klein. We had a discussion about suicide in society and Taylor noted that suicide would cause problems for Hamlet in terms of his being a Christian - good work, Taylor. Next, we did a paired reading activity designed to give understanding into the nature of the debate that Hamlet has with himself as he ponders his choice.
Here are the parts for Act 3: (student, scene to read)
King: Rebecca (i), Taylor (ii), Taylor (iii)
Queen: Chloe (i), Madison (ii), ............................ Rebecca (iv)
Hamlet: Rowan (i), Aurora (ii), Mitchell J. (iii), Aurora (iv)
Polonius: Lauren (i), Michael (ii), Hayley (iii), Mitchell J. (iv)
Ophelia: Aurora (i)
Horatio: ....................... Travis (ii)
Rosencrantz: Brittany (i), James (ii), Eileen (iii)
Guildenstern: Madison (i), Morgan (ii), Brittany (iii)
First Player: ........................ Lauren (ii)
Lucianus: ........................ Hayley (ii)
Player King: .........................Rowan (ii)
Player Queen: .........................Rebecca (ii)
Ghost: .....................................................................Taylor (iv)
PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST COMMENTS...
I enjoyed having the discussion today about suicide and what it mean to be depressed. I find talking about the play after reading it at home to be more useful than reading it at home and then re-readign it inclass. For me, its time consuming when we could just go over the parts we didnt get and then move on to a more in depth, and fun, discussion. However, i do understand that sometimes a scene is reall difficult andwe all have different levels of skill in interpreting Shakespeare, me not being one of the best interpreters. Perhaps I'm just getting tired now that were nearing Christmas break and i wanna have a little more fun, and a little less cramming.
ReplyDeleteI thought our discussion in class today about suicide to be very useful since during most of the play the main character is contemplating it. Unlike Becky, I do not find reading the play in class to just be time consuming, I enjoy hearing the words aloud. This however is most enjoyable only when the readers have read and prepared themselves for their parts before hand. If I could choose I would have it that we read at home, in class, and had in depth discussions. For the most part we have been doing this, however I do realize that we may not have time to discuss the whole play in as much depth as I would have hoped to. I look forward to reading tomorrow:)
ReplyDeleteI thought our discussion today was very productive and there was some good ideas brought up. Yet on the other hand, I found the partners reading assigment useless. I felt that it wasnt nessecary in order to understand the soliloquy. So this brings me to my daunting challenge of reading. At the moment I am realizing that I might have volunteerd to read way too many parts tommorow and the panic is just starting to set in, considering that I will probably fall asleep before I finish reading all of act 3. Regardless, I will try my best to get the reading done.. but no promises. Oh ya, and I completely disagree with Becky about reading in class. I think it's a good way to get more grasp of what we have read the night before and in my opinion it's funner to here other people read then to read in your head.
ReplyDeleteI was a little bit disapointed about the end of act 2 scene 2 when we found out about Hamlet's revenge. I guess I was expecting something more exciting. Forcing the King to come clean by Hamlet's play wasnt the revenge I expected and hoped for. As for class discussion, I normally always enjoy discussions in class,just like todays. I know I don't often put my voice out, and i'll try to work on that, but I always like listening to discussion in class.
ReplyDeleteAs i sit here contemplating the meaninglessness of life... JK I am looking forward to reading in class tomorrow. However there is little chance that we will finish all of act III but that's ok because we are making progress. I enjoyed the discussion today mainly because the topic was more intriguing than most. I disagree with Becky because reading in class is great for comprehension and it is absolutely not a waste of time. The other exercise we did today (the partnered reading) did seem a little confusing because when I heard debate I was ready for a debate. :(. I still think it was use full for some people's interpretation of the soliloquy.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed our classroom discussion on suicide, and look forward to playing Hamlet today. I agree with Mitch, Aurora, and Taylor that reading the play aloud in class is more entertaining and probably more useful than just reading it at home, though I must admit that I sometimes get a bit annoyed (if that's even the right word) when others begin to make a lot of mistakes. I guess I'm a bit over critical, but it kind of takes away from the play for me when lines are delivered with a sort of emotionless, mispronouncing drone. Regardless, I still enjoy our reading and discussions.
ReplyDeletewow after reading Rowan's post i feel like a bit of a Noob for not knowing my lines better. (will work on that) besides that I relay enjoy our class discussions
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, folks. Keep up your good effort. Please help some of your student colleagues find their way to the bog.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the play aloud today, it allows for a better understand, at least for me. Also going back to the discussion on suicide, i found it interesting and sad at the same time, as would most people. Although it is interesting i still can not fully understand what possible reason would be good enough to end the most precious gift that could ever be received.
ReplyDeleteMr Marshall, what educational value will we find in a bog =P
ReplyDeleteIn previous acts I found Hamlet to be a fairly flat, depressed and troubled character, but as the play progesses I find so does Hamlets personality. His intellect, which has been exposed more in the last few scenes I've read, leaves me thinking that he is not as crazy as I once thought. Often his comments seem well placed and his wit is often delivered precisely, and at an opportune time. I'm beginning to find Hamlets character more fascinating than confusing.
well I've discovered that if you type in jmarshall.blogspot.com, forgetting the "sd46" part, theres an interesting blog about some fellows life XD
ReplyDeleteThis is in regards to the second novel study, and as most people have already moved on from this blogpost, I will probably re post it on the next blog entry as well.
ReplyDeleteI personally like the sounds of the book you said you read recently, "The Fallen", but the idea of leaving with a book for christmas break and coming back having completed it doesn't really appeal to me. I'd like to meet at least twice throughout the book to talk about it because I always find that the discussions in lit studies brings my attention to things I don't normally focus on. Would those wanting to participate be willing to meet twice over the christmas break to discuss whatever book we choose?
I feel quite bad that I missed this class because of how useful the discussion seemed to be by the opinion on my fellow classmates. However I did view some of the suggested speeches so that's what I'll comment on. First the only ones that really stuck in my mind was the one with Mel gibson and the other from the movie. I think that both were done well but the line it self in Mel gibson's went much too fast. However it also made the part of the speech that is less known more impactful as many of the comments on the youtube video have stated.
ReplyDelete