Assignment on English - Graded Assignment

English | Graded Assignment | Give Director’s Notes
Name: Date:
Graded Assignment
Give Director’s Notes
Reread Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy below; it is found in the play in Act 4, Scene 4. Then answer the questions on
this page and provide director’s notes that indicate how you would instruct an actor to speak and behave while
delivering this soliloquy.
Hamlet. … How all occasions do inform against me
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th' event—
A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward—I do not know
Why yet I live to say, “This thing's to do,”
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me.
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honor's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father killed, a mother stained,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
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English | Graded Assignment | Give Director’s Notes
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
Total score: ____ of 20 points
(Score for Question 1: ___ of 2 points)
1. What emotions do you think Hamlet experiences over the course of this speech?
Answer: Hamlet experiences new type of feeling that helps him to associate the factors regarding his father’s
death and also tries to analyze the factors regarding the understanding of his mother’s love interest in his Uncle.
The inclination of his mother towards his Uncle made his conscience doubtful. He was shattered as he found that
the army has been marching towards his castle for a meaningless battle. He was very depressed.
(Score for Question 2: ___ of 2 points)
2. What conclusion does Hamlet reach, or what does Hamlet realize, over the course of this speech?
Answer: Hamlet realizes that in a meaningless battle, the death of the innocents will be much more and the cuase
and the reason for death will be very petty to lay down lives of others for a family problem.
(Score for Question 3: ___ of 2 points)
3. How do you want the audience to feel about Hamlet and his situation after hearing this speech?
Answer: The audience will be feeling the disgust regarding the adjustment of the battle situation and also go
through the emotional stability of Hamlet during the scene. The fact of organizing the nature of one’s reaction and
the various kinds of identities as well as will be dealt with. I want to substantiate the audiences with the emotional
understanding of the dialogues as well as make them feel about the emotional trauma that Hamlet will be passing
through.
(Score for Question 4: ___ of 14 points)
4. Now use your answers to the questions above to help you formulate your director’s notes. Remember to
include details about tone of voice, volume, speaking pace, facial expressions, gestures, body language,
movements on stage, and emotions in your notes. You may also need to define words and terms that your
actor may not know. Write your director’s notes in the space provided below.
Answer:
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English | Graded Assignment | Give Director’s Notes
Hamlet’s Fourth Soliloquy Director’s Notes
Hamlet. … How all occasions do inform against me
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th’ event—
A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward—I do not know
Why yet I live to say, “This thing’s to do,”
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do’t. Examples gross as earth exhort me.
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honor’s at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father killed, a mother stained,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!
Type Notes here:
Enter Hamlet-
Hamlet speaking to the audience roaming on the stage,
slowly, teary eyed, hands on back.
Dim light on the Hamlet’s face.
Low light in the background.
Hamlet thinking and delivering monologues alone.
Sceneries at the back
Sounds in the background.
Violin Playing at the back
Symphony in the background.
Chorus at the back.
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English | Graded Assignment | Give Director’s Notes
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