1、,I. TOPIC： Hamlet（Act 3, Scene 1, lines 55-86）II. OBJECTIVES: A） Introduction B） The main idea of “Hamlet” and its themesC） A study of the text 1. The main idea of Act 3, Scene 1 2. Key points3. Stylistic features4. Comment on “Hamlet”D） Assignment,Introduction,* As the greatest dramatist in the wor
2、ld literature，Shakespeare is remembered by the entire world for centuries and his works are read, put onto the stage, loved and memorized with an intense passion.,* “Hamlet” is the first of the great tragedies, is generally regarded as Shakespeares most popular play on the stage and can be reckoned
3、as the summit of all Shakespeares works. * The story of “Hamlet” is about the revenge of Prince Hamlet, based on an old Danish legend of the 13th century widespread in northern Europe .,1. the vengeance of a son2. to die suddenly3. the wedding 4. to brood5. ghosts appearance6. to pretend to be mad7.
4、 to estrange himself from his friends8. the performance of a play within a play9. sent him to England 10. Ophelias death. 11. a fencing match 12. to drink the poisoned wine 13. to kill Claudius,The main idea of “Hamlet”,The chief elements: 1.The stories of murder and revenge 2.The appearance of a gh
5、ost 3.The performance of a play within a play 4Whether he was mad,Themes,to reveal the power-seeking, the jostling for place, the hidden motives, the courteous superficialities that veil lust and guilt, to condemn the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption.,The main idea of Act 3, Scene 1,1.
6、 to focus on the deep conflict within Hamlet. 2. open amid agitation and gloom. 3. Hamlets brooding. 4. fathers ghost. 5. to be torn between the demands of his emotions and the hesitant skepticism of his mind.6. to reveal this conflict in several famous and eloquent soliloquies.7. The “To be or not
7、to be” soliloquy is central to Hamlets personality. 8. an excellent example of Hamlet not doing anything.9. to look too closely at our plans.10. a sense of utter world weariness as well as the authors incisive comments.,Key points,1) “To be , or not to bethat is the question:/Whether tis nobler in t
8、he mind to suffer/The slings and arrows fortune/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them.“To be , or not to bethat is the question”: to live on in this world or to die; to suffer or to take action; to take action or to do nothing; to be：to exist.“in the mind to suffer”: pa
9、ssively to suffer “slings and arrows”: attacks. “to take arms against a sea of troubles”: to take up arms against troubles that sweep upon us like a sea. The “troubles” is pictured as advancing like some overwhelming tide.,Further explanation： Hamlet is depressed and disillusioned when he hears his
10、mothers hasty marriage to his uncle and his fathers being murdering. He feels everyone and everything is tainted so that he is torn between emotions and the hesitant skepticism of his mind. It can reveal Hamlets personalitythe complex deep conflict.,2) “To dieto sleep/No more; The heartache, and the
11、 thousand natural shocks /That flesh is heir to, ” : “To dieto sleep” : To die is to sleep.“No more”: to die is to be no more. “The heartache, That flesh is heir to ”: all kinds of sufferings (shocks) that naturally occur to human beings (“flesh”human body); “natural shocks”: attacks made by nature.
12、,Further explanation：Hamlet here gives the reasons why he wants to commit suicide. That is his personal revenge and that he cannot bear the social injustice and grievance.,3) “To dieto sleep. /To sleepperchance to dream：ay, theres the rub! /For in that sleep of death /When we have shuffled off this
13、mortal coil, /Must give us pause. ”：“perchance”：maybe.“rub”：obstacle, impediment. Here it refers to the doubt or difficulty.“shuffled off this mortal coil”：end this life; “mortal coil”：turmoil of mortality, human life.“give us pause”：make us hesitate.,Further explanation：Hamlet here gives the reason
14、s why he does not want to commit suicide. He feels hesitant to kill himself because he thinks that some terrible dreams may trouble him after his death.,4) “Theres the respect /That makes calamity of so long life./For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, /The insolence of office, and the spu
15、rns/That patient merit of th unworthy takes,/When he himself might his quietus make,/With a bare bodkin? ” :“That makes calamity of so long life.”: That makes calamity of so long-lived, lasting.“the whips and scorns of time”: the suffering in our epoch.“contumely”: contempt, insolence.“The insolence
16、 of office”: the haughty and contemptuous behavior shown by holders of high governmental posts./ the contempt held by the people of high rank.“spurns”: insults, contempt, disdain, indignity.,“The insolence of office”: the haughty and contemptuous behavior shown by holders of high governmental posts.
17、/ the contempt held by the people of high rank. “spurns”: insults, contempt, disdain. “That takes”: the people of endure at the hands of the unworthy. “quietus”: the final settlement of an account. “fardels”: burdens. “grunt” : groan.,Further explanation： The lines reveal the calamity and injustice
18、of the reality of the society. Even under the conditions the sufferers would prefer endurance to committing suicide.,5 ) “Who would these fardels bear,/To grunt and sweat under a weary life, /But that the dread of something after death /The undiscoverd country, from whose bourn/No traveler returnspu
19、zzles the will,/And makes us those we have/ /Than fly to we know not of ?”：“quietus”: the final settlement of an account.“fardels”: burdens.“grunt” : groan.“The undiscoverd country”: the unknown place/where we go after death.“bourn”: boundary.“ills”: harms, disaster, calamity.,Further explanation： H
20、amlet further talks about the more reasons why he wants to live. That is, the present life is in troubles and sufferings, but death is unforeseen, so the same thing will happen. The living can choose death, but the dead cannot have any choices. Therefore, as far as the unknown place of death is conc
21、erned, the people will never return to the real world , which is very terrible.,6) “Thus conscience does make great pitch and moment/ With this regard the name of action”：“conscience”: reflection, consciousness, serious thought, contemplation, meditation.“the native hue of resolution” ：natural colou
22、r. It means determination/action. “sicklied oer” ：covered with a sickly colour.“the pale cast of thought” ：the pale look of melancholy. The reference is to the ruddy color associated with the sanguine temperament as contrasted with the tinge of melancholy.,“pitch”: significance, importance.“with thi
23、s regard”: in consideration of this, on this account.“their currents turn awry”: turn away from their original purpose.“lose the name of action” ：fail to be put into action.“Thus conscience does make cowards with the pale cast of thought”: A natural decision becomes weakened by melancholy thought.,F
24、urther explanation： These lines suggest that too much thinking or consideration makes action impossible. Here Hamlet is not only talking about actual suicide, hes also talking about “lifelong suicide” by doing nothing, choosing the easy passive approach to life. What is more, they suggest Hamlet wou
25、ld be determined to take an action regardless of life and death.,Stylistic features,Metaphor:“The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”: It is a metaphor by which Shakespeare compares misfortune/adversity to poisonous arrowsa vivid portrayal of misfortune and death.,Rhetorical questions:1. Whethe
26、r tis nobler in the mind to suffer And by opposing end them?2. For who would bear a bare bodkin?3. Who would those fardels bear not of?The rhetorical questions bring the readers to deeper consideration of the problems, thus leaving deep impression upon the readers, emphasizing the theme.,Examples,1.
27、 Is that a reason for despair?It strongly negates the reason for despair. 2. Is no one going to defend me?The speaker is sure that sb. is going to defend him. 3. If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?cf. If winter comes, spring will not be far behind.,Comment on “Hamlet”,Hamlet is the central fi
28、gure of the tragedy and much of the dramatic impact of the play derives from the complexity of his nature. He is, at one and the same time, gentle and cruel, loving and vengeful, a deeply reflective introvert and a man capable of acting on impulse.,As an ideal man, he is forthright and honest by nat
29、ure. He is a reasonably good judge of character; he has courage (e.g. in the battle at sea he led the fight against the pirates); and he is well liked by the Danes, which is indeed one of the reasons why Claudius did not punish him for killing Polonius.,A crucial but controversial issue in the consi
30、deration of Hamlets character is whether he was mad. Both positive and negative interpretations can be supported with evidence from the play.Hamlet is capable of calculated cruelty. He refuses to kill Claudius when the King is at prayer because he wants to punish him both in this world and the next.
31、,Hamlet is an intriguing character. He prefers to be a thinker but is cast in the role of an avenger. He is intelligent and sensitive, deeply disturbed by the evil and the faithlessness with which he is surrounded. His sudden swings from inactivity to impulsive rashness may not make him an easy char
32、acter to classify but they make him one of the most perennially interesting characters in literature.,The tragic greatness of the central character trying to resolve conflicts internal as well as external, the luminous insight into human motives and passions, and the terrible sweep of forces ruthles
33、sly crushing the innocent with the guiltyall these give “Hamlet” a place among the worlds greatest dramas.,Hamlet as a humanist: His learning, wisdom, noble nature, as well as limitation and tragedy are all representative of the humanists at the turn of the century. Hamlet may be regarded as a human
34、ist of Shakespeare age. Like other humanists, he sees the ugly reality, dreams of healthful human relations, and yet is unable to realize his dream. And the brighter the dream, the more gloomy becomes for him the surrounding reality, and the more acute are his mental conflicts., Hamlet has the quali
35、ties of a “blood-and-thunder” thriller and a philosophical exploration of life and death.,A brief comment on the soliloquy beginning with line “To be or not to be ”,The monologue, a psychological exploration of life and death, reveals the character of Hamlet as a man of contemplation rather than act
36、ion. With the intolerable burden of the duty to revenge his fathers death and the challenge of evil forces, Hamlet seems to withdraw into a mental world which is thrown into a conflict or a choice between life and death.,The philosophical speculation mixed up a deep pessimistic outlook resists again
37、st action at first, but awakens the hero out of his melancholy to a sense of the “enterprise of great pith and moment”, indicating that he is to do something for what he concerns himself with.,A brief comment on the theme of Shakespeares “Hamlet”,Shakespeare depicts the image Hamlet as a Renaissance
38、 humanist to embody the dramatists own ideals, personal ideal, and social and political one.,In Hamlets case, first and foremost is his own personal ideal, that of filial piety and a strong sense of justice that demands revenge, but he has his social and political ideals too. On the one hand, he eul
39、ogizes the infinite capabilities of man: “What a piece of work is man; how noble in reason! How infinite in faculty ! ”,On the other hand he sees and hopes to get rid of the social evils besetting human beings, as he speaks of “a sea of troubles”. So Hamlet engages himself in personal revenge but at
40、 the same time intends to set right the “time” that is “out of joint”.,The burden of these duties makes Hamlet a man of contemplation rather than of action, which leads to the soliloquies revealing the inner working of his mind. Then, the struggle between good and evil dominatively controls the scen
41、e of Hamlets tragedy, a tragedy of a humanist who is always to see and construct a better world.,Assignment,1. Discuss the character of Hamlet. 2. Why is Hamlet unable to take prompt action? 3. Give A brief comment on the soliloquy beginning with line “To be or not to be ”. 4. Preview Sonnet 18 with the following questions:1）What is the main idea of the sonnet?2）What is the theme of the sonnet?,
