Lesson 8 - "Words, Words, Words" - A Closer Look at Language"

11 MARCH 2014

Hamlet 'Attacks' Polonius
2.2.187-237

-Q. If you were to make a movie version of this scene - what would the set look like? Where in Elsinore would you place it? What furniture, props, costumes, music and special effects might you use?

Hamlet 'Attacks' Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
2.2.240-338
- Q. (Same questions as above)

Explore Language in these Scenes

"Double Entendre"
- This is a trick whereby authors set up words and phrases so that they have two (2) meanings -- a clean one and a bawdy one.

Find possible Double Entendres in 2.2.187-237:


Next, look at 2.2.240-254. There is a series of double entendres in the exchange between Hamlet and R AND G, who claim to live about the waist of Lady Fortune:

- Q. Why might Hamlet be using these words? Does he mean to be bawdy?

More Language

Look at 2.2.298-338 ("Were you not sent for? to "man delights me not." Notice all the language tricks Shakespeare is using. (Metaphors, Similes, Alliteration, parallel construction, etc.)

Is there any place in these scenes when Hamlet stops playing with the other characters and talks straight from the heart? If so, what happens to the language tricks?

"What's Hecuba"

Focus on 2.2.445-574

Shakespeare, like other authors, often refers to people and situations in classical Greek and Roman literature (Classical ALLUSIONS).

- Q. What classical allusions may be found in this passage?

- Q. What may the reasons be for Hamlet's interest in the relationships between Pyrrhus, Priam, and Heccuba?

HW
Read 2.2.576-634