Hamlet by William Shakespeare Guided Notes

Name:______Date: ______

Guided Notes – Lesson 4

How does Hamlet’s language in his soliloquy convey his point of view towards society?

Objective: In this lesson you will learn how to identify point of view by interpreting a character’s language about a topic. Steps: 1. Identify the shift words. 2. Ask yourself, “What point does the character make in the words that follow the transition?” 3. Ask yourself, “What commentary is the character making about society?”

FOCUS PASSAGE: III.i.64-96 1. Identify the shift words. Circle all of the shift words. When prompted to press pause in the lesson, circle the shift words in the passage on the right.

HAMLET To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 65 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks 70 That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 75 Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; III.i.64-77

2. Ask yourself, What point does the character make in the words that follow the transition?” Write your answer to this question in the “notes” section for each passage.

Notes

3. Ask yourself, “What commentary is the character making about society?” Answer this question on the lines below.

Text dependent question: How does Hamlet’s language in his soliloquy convey his point of view towards society? Answer this question on the lines below.

Your Turn!

How does Ophelia’s language convey her point of view towards Hamlet’s madness?

1. Identify the shift words. 2. Ask yourself, “What point does the character make in the words that follow the transition?” 3. Ask yourself, “What commentary is the character making about Hamlet’s madness?”

FOCUS PASSAGE : III.i.163-174

1. Identify the shift words. Circle all of the shift words.

OPHELIA O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state, 165 The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck'd the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, 170 Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

2. Ask yourself, “What point does the character make in the words that follow the transition?” Write your answer to this question on the lines below.

3. Ask yourself, “What commentary is the character making about Hamlet’s madness?” Write your answer to this question on the lines below.

Text dependent question: How does Ophelia’s language convey her point of view towards Hamlet’s madness? Write your answer to this question on the lines below.