Hamlet Learning Communities

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http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/hamlet/

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Vocabulary #7

Shenanigans - mischief; prankishness.

Ricochet - rebound: to hit a surface and bounce, traveling away in a different direction.

Schism - division in a religious denomination: a major split in a religious denomination usually on the grounds of differences in belief or practice, leading to the setting up of a separate breakaway organization.

Eschew - abstain from: to avoid doing or using something on principle or as a matter of course.

Plethora - large or excessive amount or number: a very large amount of something or number of things.

Ebullient - lively and enthusiastic: full of cheerful excitement or enthusiasm.

Garrulous - talking too much: excessively or pointlessly talking.

Harangue - address somebody loudly and forcefully: to criticize or question somebody.

Interdependence - depending on each other: unable to exist or survive without each other.

Capricious - given to sudden changes: tending to make sudden unexpected changes.

Loquacious - talkative: tending to talk a great deal.

Ephemeral - short-lived: lasting for only a short period of time and leaving no permanent trace.

Inchoate - just beginning: just beginning to develop.

Juxtapose - put side by side: to place two or more things together, especially in order to suggest a link between them or emphasize contrast between them.

Perspicacious - perceptive: penetratingly discerning or perceptive

Codswallop - nonsense

Mungo - cheap fabric

Sesquipedelian - using long words: characterized by using long words

Wonky - unreliable in use: not to be relied on to be steady or secure or function correctly

Diphthong - two vowels as one syllable

Green Eggs and Hamlet

a) What do you know about Hamlet, the "Melancholy Dane"?

-I know that there's a ghost and I'm pretty sure that Hamlet is trying to marry his mom or something else strange like that.

b) What do you know about Shakespeare?

-I know that Shakespeare created a lot of new words, wrote a lot of plays, and was married to a woman named Anne Hathaway.

c) Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?

-Shakespeare wrote a long time ago which means the language and word usage was different than it is today, and on top of that sometimes Hamlet just made up words as he went along so students have to learn to read old English and Shakespeare speech.

d) What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?

-Assign watching the Mel Gibson version along with our reading, linking to youtube clips on the blog.

If I had more time

If I had more time I'd focus more on remembering the word than the definition because I felt pretty solid about the definitions and would have done just fine if we were given words on the test, it was difficult to try and remember what the words actually were thanks to the English language being so lengthy.

Lit Analysis #2

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1. Of Mice and Men is the story of two unemployed travelers named George and Lennie. George is a small man with a big heart. Lennie on the other hand is a very big man which is very dangerous considering he's mentally challenged. In the beginning of the book, Lennie unintentionally killed a small mouse due to his lack of control. Despite not knowing his own strength or how to control it, Lennie is a overall sweet and innocent character. They both share a dream to own land and grow crops of their own when they can obtain more money. Sadly finding jobs isn't so easy with Lennie's state of mental health, he constantly hurts others unintentionally and it makes it very hard for the two to secure a nice job. Eventually the two find work on a ranch where they quickly befriend the other laborers with the help of Candy, a man who too shares the friends dream. Things seem to be running smoothly for Lennie and George until they meet Curley and his very friendly wife.  Curley's wife makes advances on both George and Lennie, which lead her to her accidental death caused by Lennie. Due to Lennie's lack of self-control, he end's up breaking Curley's wife's neck and becoming the target of every laborer on the ranch. He leaves the ranch in a panic and is later found by George. George is aware that Lennie's only chance of freedom is death so George mercifully kills Lennie himself to save him from a brutal murder by the ranch laborers.

2. The theme is friendship. George sticks by Lennie through thick and thin even in knowing he could be more successful without him by his side. Even though George killed Lennie in the end, it was only to save Lennie from himself.

3. The author used the feeling of loneliness and feeling lost for his tone.

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They ain't got no family. They don't belong no place . . ."

4.
-Imagery
-Personification
-Flashback
-Foreshadowing
-Symbolism
-Dialogue
-Oxymoron
-Microcosim
-Ethos
-Pathos

The Comparisons Tale

I read The Miller's tale with my group and upon hearing the presentation of The Wife of Bath I immediately found similarities. Chaucer's satirical and humorous tone was consistent throughout both of the tales. The theme was also similar in that both pieces focused on satirizing the sanctity of marriage and peoples' integrity. Both stories involved deceit and lack of faith within marriage as well as people who showed little to no shame for their actions.

Tale of a Canterbury Tale

Summary: There is a carpenter named John who rents rooms out to various guests. Among the guests is a student (clergy, clerk) named Nicholas the Handy (handy...how ironic). The carpenter has a young wife named Alison who he is very possessive of and in a constant state of worry of losing her. While he is out of town Nicholas flirts with Alison and after a slight reluctance ends of getting his HANDY hands on her. They realize that it would not be a good idea to carry on this affair while John is in town so Nicholas devises a plan. Meanwhile Absalon (another clerk) is giving his all to try to win over Alison. He waits outside her window until late into the night to serenade her with songs of his undying love much to the dismay of John the carpenter and his wife. Nicholas decides the best plan is to convince the carpenter that a flood is coming and that he must complete a list of tasks before he, his wife, and Nicholas himself are all killed. The carpenter believes him and completes the ridiculous tasks. He is exhausted after and falls asleep. While he is asleep Nick and Alison sneak away for a hook up in the carpenter's bed. While they are there Absalon has decided to try his luck with Alison and goes to the window to ask for a kiss. She and Nick think it is pathetically hilarious and trick him in to literally, kissing her ass. Enraged by this cruel trick Absalon finds the blacksmith and requests a hot iron. He goes back to the window and pretends he wants another kiss. This time Nick sticks his bum out of the window and gets swatted and scalded by the hot iron. This commotion causes the carpenter to startle awake and he ends up getting injured in his haste to avoid the false flood. When he tries to justify his actions Alison and Nicholas to HANDY write him off as mad and the entire town laughs him off as a crazy person. Excerpt:  "So she was screwed, the carpenter's young wife, despite all jealous safeguards he could try; And Absalon had kissed her nether eye, and Nicholas is scalded in the rear. This tale is done, God save all who are here!"

1. One of the central characters was Alison, the carpenter's young wife. She is described by everyone as being exceptionally beautiful. Reader's learn she is easily persuaded because it literally took a man five minutes to get her to cheat on her husband. Whenever she speaks to anyone she is described as having a "wanton" look in her eye.

2. I believe Chaucer's purpose with telling this character's tale was to satirize society. He was saying that maybe even the people of the church aren't as straight-laced as they like to appear. Such as how Nicholas and Absalon were both either clergy's or students of God and they showed no mercy in going after a married woman and telling lies to get what they want.