Here is the student debrief for our recent production of Hamlet, Prince of Somewhere Cold. If you’re thinking about putting on a Shakespeare play, or if you’re despairing in a current production, read this. Call it, a message from beyond the black hole…
All posts by Amanda McCarthy
Hamlet Prince of Denmark Actor Debrief
Hamlet Prince of Denmark Debrief January 29, 2015
For anyone interested, here is the actual transcript of the players debriefing about the disaster that happened to their Hamlet, Prince of Denmark play on January 24, 2014.
Protected: Hamlet Prince of Somewhere Cold 2015
So You Think You Know Hamlet
So you think you know Hamlet? See if you can answer these questions.
Hamlet is:
(a) A Roman soldier who hates commoners
(b) A Scottish king who consults witches
(c) A Danish prince who loves to talk
Characterization and Costuming Worksheet
Machiavelli and The Prince
In 1532 a philosopher poet diplomat named Machiavelli who lived during the Italian Renaissance published a little book called The Prince. This was about 30 years before Shakespeare was born. In it, he describes the arts by which a Prince, can retain control of his realm. He focuses primarily on what he calls the “new prince”, under the assumption that a hereditary prince has an easier task since the people are accustomed to him. All a hereditary prince needs to do is carefully maintain the institutions that the people are used to; a new prince has a much more difficult task since he must stabilize his newfound power and build a structure that will endure. This task requires the Prince to be publicly above reproach but privately may require him to do immoral things in order to achieve his goals.
Students’ Insights on The Tempest
Here are some insights my students came up on their own with from The Tempest. I haven’t shared their names, but will when I get permission. Great job!
Making the best of a bad situation
It’s in human nature to make the best of a bad situation, as many do in The Tempest. What comes of it depends on the way you go about achieving it. Two groups of characters in The Tempest show two different approaches: The first group, Stephano, Trinculo, Antonio, and Sebastian, goes about it in a way that exploits others for their own personal gain, while the second group, Prospero, Ferdinand and Gonzalo goes about in a different way. They change their perspective on things. It turns out, making the best of a bad situation does not necessarily have anything to do with changing things.
Metaphor
Introduction to Metaphors and Similes
What is a metaphor? Probably the simplest way to define it is to use one. We use metaphors and similes every day, often without realizing it:
This house is a zoo – beehive of activity
Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter – now we’re getting to the sore spot
Your words are music to my ears – your words are bitter medicine.
Some are spending their time poorly – Time waits for no one.
What do all of these have in common?
In each one of these, we have described something by comparing it.
Examples of Interesting Thesis Statements for the Macbeth Essay
- Macduff is the only character who shows real humanity in the play
- Contrast his character with the lack of humanity showed by others, highlighting the specific points in which he shows “true” human emotion)
- The Witches are responsible for all the evils of the play
- Explain why the responsibility lies on them instead of on Macbeth for his own actions.
- Lady Macbeth’s rejection of her feminine traits while attempting to adopt masculine qualities is the root of all the unnatural and evil events in the play, leading to the downfall of herself and her husband.
- Through the use of gender stereotypes in the play, Macbeth, Shakespeare sends a message that straying from one’s culturally assigned gender expectations is dangerous.
- Through the use of gender stereotypes in the play, Macbeth, Shakespeare sends a message that straying from one’s culturally assigned gender expectations is dangerous, but only for women.
- Without the presence of overwhelming guilt, Macbeth’s ambition would have led him to true success
- Explain how the actions that lead most directly to his downfall are committed out of guilt and/or paranoia
- Macbeth’s guilt leads to the loss of his sanity and ultimately his downfall.
- When Macbeth’s honor is at its highest points, his sanity is also apparent, but when his ambition overtakes his honor, his signs of insanity show.
Literary Techniques
Alliteration: the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word, such as the repetition of sounds in “bag and baggage,” “bed and board,” “primrose path,” and “through thick and thin” and in sayings like “look before you leap.” There are also specialized terms for other sound-repetitions. Consonance repeats consonants, but not the vowels, as in horror-hearer. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, These indeed seem.