Junior Varsity English (Prep for AP, Humanities, and Big Time University)

This a blog for Mr. James Cook's eleventh grade honors English class at Gloucester (MA) High School. Remember what Northrup Frye writes in _Fearful Symmetry_, "No one can begin to think straight unless [she or] he has a passionate desire to think and an intense joy in thinking."

Friday, April 13, 2007

playing and acting

playing and acting:1.2.87, 1.2.2772.2.445-446 (etc.), 2.2.458+, 2.2.563-564, 2.2.548+, 2.2.578+, 2.2.633-634
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3 comments:

Melanie T. said...

Melanie Tobey
4/24/07

Acting and Playing

1.2.87-89 “For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

1.2.277-281 “My father’s spirit- in arms! All is not well.
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s
eyes.

In the first quote it is Hamlet speaking to his mother and Claudius but he is speaking in front of the whole kingdom and everyone present. He is explaining his true feelings about his mother remarrying so soon after his father’s death. In this particular quote Hamlet says “For they are actions that a man might play”, in which he means how he would expect a man to remarry so soon but wouldn’t have expected it from his mother. Hamlet is saying how disappointed he is in his mother’s actions and how sad he really is. I think that this quote relates to the quote acting and playing because it seems as if Hamlet describes his mother as acting immaturely in a playful way as she remarried so soon.
In the second quote Hamlet is speaking to himself after Horatio, Barnardo, and Marcellus leave after having sworn not to tell anyone about seeing King Hamlets ghost. Hamlet is talking about his father’s murder and how he is planning to revenge. Hamlet talks about revenges when he says “deeds will rise”, in which means that he is planning revenge on Claudius for killing his father. I think that this quote is foreshadowing what is to come in the play and also foreshadows Hamlet’s change in personality into more of a crazy state of mind. I think this quote relates to more of the acting motif because it foreshadows how Hamlet starts to act crazy but in the end we find out the he is really just acting.

Does acting and playing in Shakespeare’s Hamlet only occur with the same characters?

April 24, 2007 at 4:44 PM
Nick Bagley said...

1.2.277-280 "My father's spirit- in arms! All is not well.
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still, my soul. (Foul) deeds will rise,
THough all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes."

2.2.632-634 "I'll have grounds
more relative than this. The play's the thing
wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

THe first quote is by Hamlet thinking aloud to himself, or voicing his thoughts to the audience. This is after Horatio, Barnardo and Marcellus leave, and he is completely alone. Hamlet has just talked with the ghost of his father, and learned who has killed his father, and an idea of what he is supposed to do about it. He had just finished telling his friends what the ghost had told him and he reveals his plan of "acting" the part of a crazy man. For this reason he made them keep it a secret, and now is voicing aloud his frustration and contempt about the whole matter.
In the quote where it states "I doubt some foul play," it reveals that Hamlet believes the ghost and what he has told him to be true This is important due to the fact that normally ghosts are thought of as deceitful and not of this world. The fact that he believes it shows his loyalty to his father, as well as his desire for revenge and already existant hate of Claudius. "Foul deeds will rise" hint at the inmpending revenge that Hamlet will undertake against Claudius, and possibly even his mother.

The second quotation is spoken aloud by Hamlet after the players have acted out their play, and sparked his idea to bring revenge to Claudius. He is agaiun alone, and this quotation comes from the end of his second soliloquey. Hamlet plans to use a play of his father's murder to be acted in front of Claudius, in hopes to "catch the conscience of the King," or in other words, to see his reaction to the play, and therefore conclude whether he feels uncomfortable by watching it. This would prove his guilty conscience, and his guilt in the murder.

The motif of playing and acting is very significant in the fact that many people in the play are constantly acting, whether it is to gain information about someone, or in Hamlet's case, to confuse people in order that they dismiss him as a crazy person so that he can carry out his own plans without to much surveillance. But by acting this way, he induces himself under more surveillance by nosy Polonius and Claudius. Everyone in the play is acting at some point to better themselves through knowledge or self respect, whether they want to or not.

Why must one put on an act in order to gain information, rather than being upfront with the knowledge they seek?

April 24, 2007 at 7:04 PM
Chris B said...

2.2.632-634
"I'll have grounds
more relative than this. The play's the thing
wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."


This quote is said by Hamlet in a soliloquy to let the audience hear Hamlet’s thoughts. A troupe of actors comes to the castle to perform a play for the King and Queen. Hamlet seizes this opportunity to get revenge on Claudius for killing his father. Hamlet asks the actors to perform a play called the Murder of Gonzago, but to add a couple extra lines to the play. The extra lines will reenact the murder of his father. Hamlet hopes to catch Claudius’ guilty conscience.


1.2.87-89
“For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.”

This quote is spoken by Hamlet directed at his mother but it is said aloud so that all may hear including the king. In this statement he is responding to his mother’s question why he seems upset. Hamlet seems to explode at his mother telling her that he would expect a man to remarry so soon but would not expect it of his own mother. He accuses her of acting grief for the past king but is only covering up glee.

These quotes display the motif “playing and acting” very nicely in Hamlet. These quotes show that just about everything that happens in this play is not what it seems. There are layers and layers of lies embeded in the entire play. they need to act in order to cover up what they are feeling and to uncover what others are feeling.

Why must the world depend on acting and lieing to function orderly?

April 25, 2007 at 5:28 AM

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