Friday 12/21

 Ophelia's death

Journal:  Clauduis explains to Laertes why he could not "prosecute" Hamlet for the death of his father:

O, for two special reasons;
Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd,
But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself--
My virtue or my plague, be it either which--
She's so conjunctive to my life and soul,
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive,
Why to a public count I might not go,
Is the great love the general gender bear him;
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind,
Would have reverted to my bow again,
And not where I had aim'd them.

Summarize Claudius' rationale for not imprisoning Hamlet.

1.   Review Fortinbras as a "foil" to Hamlet.  Anti-war themes?

2.  Discuss Journal.

3.  Identify the possible causes of Ophelia's mental collapse.

4.  What has happened to Ophelia at the conclusion of Act IV?  
--Was this intentional or an accident?

5.  **Explain how Hamlet arrives back in Denmark.  Believable?

6.  With a partner, list the various components of Claudius and Laertes plan
to kill Hamlet.