ENGL 339: Shakespeare Dr. Debora B. Schwartz English Department, California Polytechnic State University Hamlet: Video Questions Review General Instructions for Personal Responses to the Required Video Screenings. All video assignments are to be submitted to your PolyLearn Group Discussion Forum.  For each assigned video, you will answer each of three questions TWICE:  once for yourself, prior to seeing the video, based upon your own informed understanding of the play; this "Pre-Video Analysis" posting is ungraded, but it is required for you to get credit for your graded PR.  It should be completed before you screen the required film and must be posted to your Group Discussion Forum before the class meeting when the required video will be discussed.  a second time after screening the required video, Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of Hamlet.  (You must screen this film in its entirety, either at a scheduled group screening or on your own, prior to the scheduled video discussion on the last full class day devoted to Hamlet).  The second time, answer the questions as you believe director and star Laurence Olivier would, based upon your attentive viewing of the video and informed knowledge of the text.  (Be sure to identify the film clearly by Director's name and year produced.)  Your graded PR Video Analysis of the assigned film is due no later than 10 PM on the Friday following class discussion of the required video and clips from other filmed versions of the play.   Both your ungraded Pre-Video Analysis responses with your own thoughts on the play and your graded PR analyzing the assigned video should be clearly numbered (questions 1a, 1b, 2 and 3).  Remember that for the ungraded pre-video analysis posting, you are answering the questions based upon your own informed understanding of the text, as if you were a director planning your own prodcution of the play.  Your graded PR should answer the same questions as you feel the director of the assigned film might have answered them.    As you write up these questions, take care to state your interpretation clearly (it is your thesis) and support it textually (cite specific textual passages with act, scene and line numbers). For the video, cite both specific non-textual details from the video screened AND at least one key speech or scene which the director may have been thinking of when making these choices about how to film the play. General Questions to answer prior to screening ANY Shakespeare video:  1a) What is the central issue in this play? (What is it really about?) Upon what speeches/textual passages is my (or is the director's) understanding of this issue and its central importance based?   NOTE: In the case of Olivier's Hamlet, you should pay attention to the voiceover after the opening sequence and credits,  "This is the story of. . . ",  which explicitly states one of the things Olivier considers Hamlet to be "about." 1b) What non-textual details would I use (or are used in the video) to get this message across? Consider the contributions of director, actors, set and lighting designers, costumers, choreographers, musicians, cinematographers, etc. -- NOT elements common to ANY production of the play (such as plot lines or speeches that are in the script regardless of the director's interpretation).  Specific video questions for Hamlet: 2)  "Method in their madness?"  Is Hamlet really sane throughout, or does he teeter on the edge of madness?  In watching the video, note Olivier's use of voiceover (speeches which we hear on the soundtrack, but which the character does not say aloud).  When there is a mixture of voiceover and direct speech, consider how Hamlet would appear to another character in the film, who does NOT hear the voiceover.  What must Gertrude think when he sees the ghost for the second time?  Note also Ophelia's behavior in the mad scene immediately before her drowning.  Does she know what she is doing?  Is her drowning a tragic accident or a deliberate choice?  3) Repressed sexuality.  What are Hamlet's feelings for Gertrude? How do you explain his intense interest in her sexuality?  Does Hamlet truly love Ophelia?  Why is he cruel to her?  For video, what image is "zeroed in on" as the camera descends through the castle (after the famous line "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," transposed from I.iv to the end of I.i), just before I. ii begins?   Click here for Hamlet Study Questions Click here for information on Establishing the Text of Hamlet Click here for information on Revenge Tragedy Click here for information about Tragedy Click here for Macbeth Study Guide   Contents of this and all linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1996-2010 Return to ENGL 339 Home Page Send me mail!