APEnglish–Los Al

Period 4

To start off, thanks Tricia for the reminder that I was the scribe
Otherwise I would not have noticed

We began class by looking at Nadir’s “Ridiculously Smart” interview.
Then we looked at the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge line that Hamlet randomly inserts
Look on the post on February 22 and you’ll understand

Anyways today we did not have a quiz, but we have an essay tomorrow. So I had to write all these notes down as quickly as I could. The notes are all over the place but at least they’re pretty decent.

Here goes:

First we had Gryffindor start it off with the “Closet Interview” scene with Hamlet and his mother Gertrude

• At first we should address Hamlet’s ethical appeal (His credibility and character issue), because he had just killed Polonius. Who would believe/listen to a murderer?
• Hamlet’s goal in this excerpt was to convince Gertrude that Claudius is wrong and that the best way to get to a man is by separating him from his wife
• It starts off by contrasting the two kings (Old Hamlet and Claudius). Old Hamlet was described as a heavenly/godly person: “Eye like Mars, to threaten and command; a station like the herald Mercury…” Claudius, however, was described as having a “mildew’d ear, blasting his wholesome brother”. Old Hamlet was godly, but Claudius was the poison, which reminds us of the “poison in people’s ears” where he feeds people lies except for Hamlet, wcho sees right through the deceit.
• Then Hamlet uses pathos to question Gertrude’s morals on marrying Claudius. “Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, and batten on this moor?” He says in lines 73-76 “Is apoplex’d; for madness would not err, nor sense to ecstasy was ne’er so thrall’d but it reserved some quantity of choice, to serve in such a difference.” He says that Gertrude is worse than crazy people to still be with Claudius after what he’s done

Next, we had “Spam-Wow!” (what kind of product would that be?) discuss the passage where the ghost tells Hamlet of Claudius’s murderous deed

• the ghost uses ethos, or ethical appeal by stating that he is Hamlet’s father’s spirit.
• Then the ghost goes into pathos by describing how it is suffering using detail and imagery such as “hellish prison”
• The ghost also says “I could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul…. but this eternal blazon must not be to ears of flesh and blood” to say that “It’s so bad I can’t even tell you”
• Finally the ghost uses logos with syntax in lines 25 and 27: “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Murder most foul, as in the best it is; but this most foul, strange and unnatural.” The ghost repeats murder and foul and we have learned that if something is repeated twice, we should pay attention to it

And randomly the focus was shifted to Keith’s shoe color, with Ed shouting that it was periwinkle and Sean saying that his friend was in AP Studio Art and that the color was royal blue

Anyways to continue: Adam’s group had the King’s first speech

• The King had two purposes in this statement: first to convince people that he is fit to rule and 2) to convince Gertrude that he’ll be a loving father to hamlet by pretending he cares about him
• The King uses all this bs (effectively) such as his ethical appeal as Old Hamlet’s brother, and as if he really loved his brother and to Gertrude that he is a good father figure for Hamlet
• In line 10 he uses antithesis with defeated joy, dirge in marriage and mirth in funeral
• He uses logos so that people will feel okay
• Finally concludes with more ethical appeal by brushing aside a big matter (Fortinbras’s march through Denmark) and commanding Cornelius and voltemand to show that he’s a powerful figure and has everything under control.
• The king’s speech is full of bs which reminds us of the “poison in the ears” thing
• Sadly, the only person who can see through this is Hamlet while the people take it all in (and people call him crazy…)

Next it was the EGMADICKS (the k belongs there Mr. Eldridge) discussing Laertes’s advice to Ophelia

• Laertes is speaking to Ophelia, but Polonius is the silent audience because Laertes knows that Opehlia will tell her dad everything he says.
• Laertes tells Ophelia to avoid Hamlet and don’t do anything stupid that will ruin her honor (which was a big thing in the Shakespeare’s lifetime) and her family’s reputation
• He tries to seem smarter and act like he knows everything. Like father like son.
• He tells her to keep her virginity but little does he know that it’s too late
• He uses pathos and logos to get all these things through to her, logic saying that honor is everything and pathos by maintaining a reputation
• He is not completely successful, as Ophelia tells him not to be a hypocrite

FINALLY it was the Shadowy SNAFUs turn with the Ghost’s long speech

• The audience is Hamlet and the ghost’s goal is to persuade Hamlet to revenge his murder
• the ghost uses appeal through pathos by talking about how his love for Gertrude was great and how the wretched uncle took it away from her
• He uses vivid imagery describing the murder which is pathos. In lines 62 he states “Which juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, and in the prches of my ears did pour the leperous distillment…” once again we have POISON IN THE EARS (this time literally)
• However, the ghost doesn’t want vengeance against Gertrude and uses logos to convince hamlet not to kill Gertrude and leave her to heaven’s punishment
• Throughout the speech the ghost uses diction like vile, thoathsome, imperfections

sorry it’s late and  good luck on the essay tomorrow!
-Andrew

Period 5

Hey everyone! Thursday, February 26, 2008 in Mr. Eldridge’s fifth period started out with a bunch of papers being passed back. Then, Shelene, Shaina, and Ashley gave a demonstration of the motion of a grinding sword, a slashing sword, and a piercing sword. That led into the conversation that Hamlet is an excellent swordsman. Even after getting sliced by the poisonous sword of Laertes, he still was able to exercise a maneuver in which he exchanged swords and slashed Laertes back.

Next, we went over the Hamlet speech packet. Everyone was supposed to take very careful notes because we have to write an essay on one of these essays tomorrow. In case you didn’t get all the notes, here’s an overview of each speech.

1.      Speaker: King Claudius

• Goal: to prove to the court (the public along with his family) that he is worthy of being king and taking Old Hamlet’s position
• Audience: the court
• Pathos:
  • “That we with wisest sorrow think on him/ Together with    remembrance of ourselves” (6-7)
  • “With an auspicious and dropping eye,/With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” (11-12)
  • “Or thinking by our late brother’s death” (19)
    • -         This appeals to emotion because King Claudius is relating sympathy for Old Hamlet’s death. Claudius. He is also arousing the emotion in each listener’s heart by placing a joyful occasion and a sorrowful even side by side.
• Logos:
  • “In equal scale weighing delight and dole,/ Taken to wife: nor have we herein          barr’d/ Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone/ With this affair long. (13-16)
    • -         Here, Claudius uses reason to prove that his decision to marry Gertrude is justified (he says that he married her because that is what the court wanted).
• Ethos:
  • “Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:/ Thus much the business is:..” (26-27)
    • -         Here, Claudius builds his character by delegating power and authority to himself.
    • -         Because he is the King, he already has an incredible amount of ethical appeal. This is the most important type of appeal.
• Successful: in persuading the people but not Hamlet

2.      Speaker: mainly ghost (#3)

• Goal: to persuade Hamlet to avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius
• Audience: Hamlet
• Pathos:
  • “If thou didst ever thy dear father love” (23)
  • “I could a take unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,/ Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres (15-17)
    • -         The first touches Hamlet by addressing the death of his father, a topic that he is very depressed about. The ghost does this to provoke anger for Claudius and pity for Old Hamlet.
    • -         The second uses imagery to make Hamlet feel sorry for the ghost. He has to dwell in a horrid place, causing Hamlet to feel sympathy for him.
• Ethos:
  • “I am thy father’s spirit” (9)
    • -         This is the most important appeal in this passage. Because Old Hamlet has come back as a ghost he must build up his credibility so Hamlet will believe him. He has to dispose his audience to listen.
• Successful: Partially because Hamlet does not automatically go out and kill Claudius but he does arouse anger in Hamlet.

3.      Speaker: Ghost (#4)

• Audience: Hamlet (already has emotion)
• Goal: Since we do not know whether the ghost is evil or not, his goal is to either get Hamlet to kill Claudius or just to cause chaos.
• Pathos:
  • “Unhousel’d, disappointed, unanel’d” (77)
  • “O, horrible! O, horrible! Most horrible!” (80)
    • -         These lines arouse pain and sympathy for the ghost in Hamlet.
    • -         The imagery in lines 64-69 is the majority of the pathos. With this vivid and grotesque image, the ghost once again arouses pity in Hamlet. The King, who is supposed to be always pure, was covered with disease within a moment.
• Ethos: Like in the other passage with the ghost as the speaker, he must establish     his ethos for Hamlet to believe him.
• Logos: The whole description and narration of the murdering of Old Hamlet is logos IF he the ghost was able to gain enough credibility for Hamlet to believe him.
  • -         This points out the straight facts. They cannot be avoided. Claudius deserves to be killed.
• Successful- not very much because Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius right away (shows Hamlet is an individual with his own beliefs)

4.      Speaker: Hamlet (#6)

• Audience: Gertrude
• Goal: to prove to Gertrude that marrying Claudius was a moment of indiscretion and foolishness
• Ethos: (Hamlet also has to prove that he isn’t crazy)
  • Builds up Old Hamlet by describing his as having “Hyperion’s curls”, “eyes like Mars” and “a station like the herald Mercury”
    • -         This diction and choice of detail are very powerful. They create a sense of awe, pertaining to Old Hamlet.
  • On the other hand, he degrades Claudius – “Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,/ And batten on this moor?” (67)
    • -         Here, the diction degrades Claudius, therefore destroying his ethical appeal.
• Pathos:
  • “O shame! Where is thy blush?” (82)
    • -         appeals to Gertrude’s virtues (doesn’t she feel guilty?????)
    • -         uses a perplexed and bitter tone
• Logos: most important here (ethos and pathos only support the logos)
  • “Nor sense to ecstasy was ne’er so thralled/ But it reserved some quantity of choice” (74-75)
  • “To serve in such a difference what devil was’t/ That thus has cozen’d you at hoodman-blind” (76-77)
    • -         Hamlet makes Claudius seem like obviously a stupid choice. He emphasizes how she is no longer a child and cannot be swayed by love to do foolish actions.
• Successful: YES!!!!! Gertrude does see her action as wrong and even responds with, “O speak to me no more/ The words are like daggers enter in my ears/ No more, sweet Hamlet” (96-98)

5.      Speaker: Hamlet (#7)

• Audience: Hamlet is his own audience (tries to convince himself to get revenge)
• Goal: persuade himself to kill Claudius
• Ethos:
  • Here, Hamlet uses ethos to degrade himself therefore inciting action within himself – “What is a man,/ If his chief good and market of his time/ Be but to sleep and fee? a beast, no more. (33-35). He is making himself feel ashamed.
• Logos: “When honor’s at the stake”
  • - Of course Hamlet’s honor is at stake, although only Horatio knows it. If he does not kill Claudius he will live in shame forever. That is plain fact.
  • *Hamlet is reading and interpreting the world.
• Successful: Yes, because he kills the King out of passion.

Lastly, Mr. E mentioned the research paper. It will probably be due a month and a half from now and he will post the three books we can choose from on the blog tonight. Our job is to read the book, pick out a claim the book makes, pick a side for that claim, and argue it.

Alright that’s it! See you tomorrow!

Gellan

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