Hamlet



Before break begins, please submit a one page typed analysis of your motif. How many times total does the image appear? Please cite 3-5 examples of your motif, provide context, explain how usage adds to the meaning of the play. (For example, blood-related images appear at least 25 times throughout the play--but in what context? Focus on a few to highlight themes, characters, conflicts, etc.)
 * December 15**

Cite passages by act, scene, line. For example: (3.2.15-18) would signify Act 3, Scene 2, lines 15-18).

To help those with trickier words/images/allusions, etc., you may wish to visit [] It offers a searchable text of Shakespeare's plays. Remember to look for dfferent forms of words (for example, if you have "blood" as your motif, you might also search bloody, bleed, bleeding, bloodily, 'sblood, etc.)

Other tips: [] []

You can turn this paper in any time between now and when break begins on December 23.

Hamlet Creative Project--December 2010

Oh, Oh, Ophelia

Investigate one of the optional topics (authorship, interactive web page, documentary film clips) and prepare a written response. For this assignment you have a choice. Option A. Leave a shorter response posting in under the discussion tab of this sapce. You can start a discussion with a new post or respond to someone else. The caveat is that this will be part of a public discourse. Option B. Type up a longer response (1 full page, double spaced) and submit in class. This response will be graded more scrupulously in terms of content, mechancis, style, and content, but will not be shared.

This is just a reflection piece. What did you discover of interest? What surprised you? What might others find noteworthy? How did this change/challenge/enhance/etc your understanding of Shakespeare and his plays?

__I. Questions about authorship (optional)__
Christopher Marlowe using Shakespeare as a pen name.media type="youtube" key="OsJTbWF1-lg?fs=1" height="385" width="480"
 * "Much Ado About Something"**

[|Mystery Man] A new documentary revives an old controversy: Was actor and landowner William Shakespeare merely a front man for Christopher Marlowe, the flamboyant gay genius and shadowy Elizabethan spy?
 * More on the Authorship Debate:**

For four hundred years, doubts have been recorded about whether William Shakespeare actually wrote the works attributed to him. This website offers the chance to explore different arguments for the most prominent authorship candidates. Cases are presented for the following:[|Group Theory of Authorship,] [|Francis Bacon,] [|Edward de Vere,] [|Roger Manners,] [|Christopher Marlowe,] [|Henry Neville,] [|William Shakspere,] [|Mary Sidney Herbert,] [|and William Stanley.]
 * The Shakespearean Authorship Trust**

[]

[]

[]
 * Shakespearean Identity**

Some suspects: [] Founded in 1957, the Shakespeare Oxford Society is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to exploring the Shakespeare authorship question and researching the evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) is the true author of the poems and plays of “William Shakespeare.”
 * The Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere**

Was Shakespeare a woman? Gender issues. []
 * Mary Sidney Herbert**

[]
 * One more: The Shakespeaere Enigma**

__**II. Interactive Page (optional)**__ [] Click on site to launch an interactive page to investigate the life and legacy of Shakespeare There are videos located on the lower right hand side on such topics as: Early Life and Schooling Shakespeare's Early Years in London Modern Interpretations
 * Kennedy Center: Discover Shakespeare**

__**III. Miscellaneous Links**__ Recent Review of [|Hamlet] Read a bit more about the play we'll be reading.

[|Should Shakespeare be Barred?] The plays of Shakespeare don't need to be 'translated' they just need to be made relevant - and if theatre-makers can't do that, maybe it's time to give him a rest

[|Why Read Shakespeare's Biography?] Why do we read critical biographies of Shakespeare? The reasons that we shouldn’t have been ably given by his best critics. “Reader, looke / not on his Picture, but his Booke” was Ben Jonson’s advice right there at the start, on the title page of the First Folio, confronting the familiar Droeshout portrait of the unprepossessing bald guy with the ruff. The advice not to look at the life continues to this day. Artists, Auden insisted, should be anonymous;

See [|CNN.] Or [|BBC.]
 * Did Shakespeare Do Drugs?**

[|Reclaiming the Shrew.] Germaine Greer rebuts the derisive tales told of Mrs. Shakespeare. Antother review [|here]: Germaine Greer uses this fabulously argumentative book to challenge the male literary critics who have traditionally asserted that William Shakespeare was trapped in an unhappy marriage.
 * Mrs. Shakespeare**:

[|Looking at Shakespeare in Three Ways]

"The question 'was Shakespeare gay?' is so stupid as to be barely worth answering, but for the record:" Well, for the record, I guess you'll hve to read this. Or this. I cannot tell you to go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexuality_of_William_Shakespeare Because "This Websense category is filtered: Adult Content. "
 * Was Shakespeare Gay?**

[]
 * Other FAQ**

__**IV Documentary Film clips**__
Family and Childhood __ [] __ __ Education and Young Adulthood __ [] England Under Elizabeth [] London in 1587 [] The Globe and the World of the Theater [] Shakespeare's Career in the Theater [] Stratford and Later Years and Legacy []