Hamlet's+key+speeches+-+patterns+of+thought




 * This activity is designed to enable you to trace ideas and shifts in Hamlet's preoccupations through some of his key speeches and his soliloquies**.

You should do this whilst the play is still fresh in your mind. We will discuss a date by which you need to complete the task.

You are advised to e-mail the completed grid and your answers to the following questions to your teachers for feedback.


 * A. Complete this grid by finding quotations in each of the soliloquies and key speeches which relate to the headings of the columns. Add your own headings to the extra columns (create more columns if you need to) and add more speeches to reflect your understanding of the play.**


 * B. Then complete the following activities:**

1. **Write down the dramatic context of each speech:** -What has prompted the speech? -What will happen after it?

2. **Decide how you would describe the mood of the speech.** -Is it the same throughout? -Does it change? -Where? -What is the dramatic effect of this?

3. **Summarise Hamlet's line of thinking in each speech.** -What are the key ideas he engages with? -Does he think logically or not? -Is his thinking deductive, intuitive, circular, obsessive and therefore repetitive? -How do you account for this? -What do you think of his powers of thinking?

4. **What are the key images or symbols in the speech?** -How does each image give us insight into Hamlet's thinking? -How do the key images compare/contrast with those in the other speeches?

5. **What shifts and changes do you notice between this speech and the previous ones?** -Is Hamlet thinking in a predominantly practical or philosophical way? -Is he self-pitying? -Is he prevaracating? -How can you support your view with evidence from the speech?

6. **Can you use this speech to explore the view that Hamlet is a figure of the Renaissance whose habit of mind are recognisably shaped by Renaissance attitudes?** -What would you use as evidence? -What are these attitudes as evident in this speech?

7. **What does this speech add to the play at this point?** -Do you feel that you are being positioned to view Hamlet in a particular way? -How is Shakespeare using the conventions of the soliloquy (if this speech is one) to shape your response?

8. **Look at the overall patterns on your grid.** -Do Hamlet's preoccupations change during the course of the play? -How does his thinking about death, corruption, etc change from the beginning to the end of the play? -Would you say these speeches indicate that he grows in understanding of his world and his place in it during the course of the play? -Would you say that he does not grow, but instead is locked in a fruitless struggle with a notion of self which is irreconcilable with the action required of him? -Would you say something entirely different?

9. **How does this analysis develop your understanding of the play and the key concepts it explores?**