The Analytical Breakdown of Hamlet, Act 1 Notes #2
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Transcript The Analytical Breakdown of Hamlet, Act 1 Notes #2
Notes #2
Act 1 – Exposition
Act 2 – Complications (Rising
Action)
Act 3 – Climax
Act 4 – Reversals (Falling Action)
Act 5 – Catastrophe / Denouement
(& Recognition)
The exposition includes…
1. Main characters, a.k.a. dramatis personae
2. Establishment of time and place, setting
3. Explanation or allusions to the antecedent
action of the story
4. Introduction of the germ of conflict and
dramatic tensions
Questions
Darkness
WAR!
Ghost
Mood
Foil
Omens
“This bodes some strange eruption to our state.”
– Horatio, 1.1.69
Contrasting mood
Claudius’ rhetoric
Introduction to Hamlet’s melancholy
appearance v. reality
first soliloquy = his true feelings
Hamlet’s friends = new mood
stichomythia = importance of the information
“… Foul deeds will rise
Though all the earth o’erwhelm
them to men’s eyes.” – Hamlet 256-257
Another mood shift: Intimate family conversation
characterization of all important family dynamics
Social hierarchy
Laertes = partying player
Ophelia = an idealist with no power
Polonius = bumbling fool
Treatment of Women:
attempts to control Ophelia
expectation of the day =obeys her father
“You speak like a green girl…” (101)
“Think yourself a baby…” (105)
“Ay, springes to catch woodcocks” (115)
Ghost watch v. Claudius’ party
Hamlet seeking truth
Foreshadows his own downfall:
Vicious mole… stamp of defect… dram of eale…
Ghost beckons Hamlet he must follow
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
– Marcellus (90)
Suspense of entire Act leading to
this scene
Ghost tells all! Do we believe him?
Hamlet’s 2nd soliloquy
Importance of swearing/oaths
Hamlet’s plan to “put and antic
disposition on” (172)
“The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right.”
-- Hamlet (189-190)
Course of action becomes more
complicated and the "tying of knots"
occurs
Interests clash, intrigues are
spawned, events accelerate in a
definite direction
In other words: tension mounts and
momentum builds!
Hamlet’s Soliloquy:
9 changing moods
THE STRUCTURE OF HIS
SHIFTING MOODS,
PARALLELS PERFECTLY
THE STRUCTURE OF
THE SHIFTING
EPISODES OF ACTION
IN THE WHOLE
SCENE!
Scene 2: 9 Episodes
#1: 1 – 39
#2: 40 – 85
#3: 86 – 168
#4: 167 – 216
#5: 217 – 309
#6: 310 – 358
#7: 359 – 520
#8: 521 - 534
#9: 535 - 590
Episode:
#1: 1 – 39
#2: 40 – 85
#3: 86 – 168
#4: 167 – 216
#5: 217 – 309
#6: 310 – 358
#7: 359 – 520
#8: 521 - 534
#9: 535 - 590
With your assigned
“episode,” complete the
following:
You will something very similar to last
class…
Choose the 5-10 most important
lines in your episode
Act them out dramatically
Explain (1) the context, (2) explain
why this mini-scene is important to
the complications of Act 2, but this
time… (3) write two guiding
questions re: this passage