Hamlet Assignments

The following are your two play-long assignments for Hamlet. Keep all entries together, organized, and shared with me. Name the document “Hamlet: Themes and Devices".

Scene Themes and Tone

Each of the scenes in Hamlet, generally speaking, has a kind of thematic concern that emerges through the action and dialogue along with an overall tone that reinforces the thematic concept. This part of the assignment is to simply make a list of each scene’s theme and tone along with a quick list of plot elements that demonstrate them.

1.1

theme: uncertainty

tone: mysterious, apprehensive, tense

events: setting is at night, outside; characters are on watch (opening words of play “Who’s there?); the appearance of ghost (what is it? what does it want? what should we do? what does this mean?);  why the preparations for war; tell Hamlet?

Literary Devices and Techniques in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Literary devices are what puts the art in literature. Each has a specific function and adds meaning and depth to a text. One of our goals with Hamlet is to gain experience identifying these techniques as they appear in a text and then appreciating how they enhance meaning of that particular passage, but also contribute to larger ideas of the text as a whole. (This is essentially D>E, right?)

Step 1: Learn the meaning of the following terms and begin to identify them in the text as we read.

•Alliteration  •Allegory •Allusion  •Ambiguity  •Anaphora   •Anastrophe  •Analogy •Anecdote •Antihero •Aphorism  •Apostrophe  •Aside  •Assonance  •Antithesis •Asyndeton  •Cacophony •(Metaphysical) Conceit  •Connotation  •Caesura •Colloquialism •Consonance  •Chiasmus •Denotation • Deus Ex Machina  • Dialect  •Double Entendre  •Enjambment  •Epanalesis • Epigraph •Euphemism •Euphony  •Flashback  •Form  •Hyperbole  •Foreshadowing •Imagery •(Situational) Irony  •(Verbal) Irony  •(Dramatic) Irony  •Juxtaposition  •Litotes •Meiosis •Metaphor •(Extended) Metaphor •(Implied) Metaphor •(Mixed) Metaphor •Metonymy •Malapropism  •Mood  •Motif  •Onomatopoeia •Oxymoron •Paradox •Paralipsis •Parallel Structure •Parody •Periphrasis •Personification •Polysyndeton •Pun •Rhyme •Sarcasm •Simile •Soliloquy •Stream of Consciousness •Symbol  •Synecdoche •Synesthesia •Tone •Tragic Flaw  •Understatement  •Zeugma

Step 2: For each act of Hamlet, choose one device and create a literary device analysis assignment. Follow the format of the example below precisely.

Literary Device Glossary Act One: Alliteration in Hamlet

Alliteration is the use of repeated sounds (usually consonants) at the beginning of words for various poetic effects. When used properly, alliteration places special emphasis on words essential to the meaning of the poem or passage or creates sound effects resonant with the ideas or events of the text.

Example: “A little more than kin and less than kind.” (1.2.67)

Description and Effect: Hamlet’s first words, as an aside in response to Claudius, are this alliterative line which repeats the ‘l’ sound in “little” and ‘less” and the ‘k’ in the words “kin” and “kind”. “Kin” and “kind” are worthy of the emphasis the alliteration imbues, as his mother’s “o’er hasty” marriage to his father’s murderer Claudius is the initial conflict and impetus for the plot (2.2.60). “Kin” and “kind” are juxtaposed with their descriptors “more” and “less” to suggest that Hamlet resents the marriage and his new position within his restructured family. He and Claudius are now “more than kin” in that his uncle is now his father – that is, twice related; further, the line, taken with a bit of sarcasm on the word “little”, suggests Hamlet’s lack of love and respect for Claudius who he values at “little more than kin.” The second half of the sentence, “less than kind”, reiterates his distaste for Claudius. Shakespeare surely intended “kind” to be also read as “natural”; in other words, the marriage of Claudius and his mother is unnatural, even “incestuous” (1.2.162). Further, Hamlet may be implying that Claudius is of a less worthy stock than he or his Father, as in “less than” their “kind”. That Hamlet’s opening line is phonetic wordplay rich with multiple connotations fits well with his wit and his inscrutability. The less obviously alliterated measuring words “little” and “less”, spoken as an aside rather than a direct verbal confrontation, underscore Hamlet’s “measured” thinking, his introspective nature and lack of commitment to decisive action that will haunt and torment him as his tragic flaw throughout the play.

Notice:

The first part is a formal definition in complete sentences. As a resource for definitions of the terms, use a literary glossary, not a standard dictionary; paraphrase definitions.

The second part is a quote of the passage that contains an example of the device you have defined; include an MLA citation.

The third part is the analysis. The analysis clarifies the use of the device in the quotation, provides basic context of the situation, discusses, in depth, the contributions the device makes to the meaning of the passage (D>E), and attempts to connect the device and its meaning to large issues such as character or plot development and thematic ideas.