Post-Modernism

Postmodernism (1945 →) is an attempt to rethink the cultural landscape with theories taken from linguistics, psychiatry, continental philosophy, and left-wing politics.

To many readers, Postmodernist poetry is not poetry at all. Postmodernism is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature.

Tends to be an art of:
Fragmentary (consisting of small parts that are disconnected or incomplete)
Solipsist (the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist. )
Provisional
Paradoxes
Pastiche
Employs Metafiction
Questionable Narrators
Opposed to the 'great themes of art' and saying anything definite.
Styles are simple
Anything goes.

Themes:
Iconoclastic (a person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions.)
Groundless
Formless
Populist (seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people using politics)

Poets:
Julia Williams
Michael Boughn
Gary Barwin
Kate Hall

Post-Modernism
by James Galvin

A pinup of Rita Hayworth was taped
To the bomb that fell on Hiroshima.
The Avant-garde makes me weep with boredom.
Horses are wishes, especially dark ones.

That's why twitches and fences.
That's why switches and spurs.
That's why the idiom of betrayal.
They forgive us.

Their windswayed manes and tails,
Their eyes,
Affront the winterscrubbed prairie
With gentleness.

They live in both worlds and forgive us.
I'll give you a hint: the wind in fits and starts.
Like schoolchildren when the teacher walks in,
The aspens jostle for their places

And fall still.
A delirium of ridges breaks in a blue streak:
A confusion of means
Saved from annihilation

By catastrophe.
A horse gallops up to the gate and stops.
The rider dismounts.
Do I know him?

Helpful Site for Poetry Periods

Representative Poetry Online:

You can find a collection of 4,700 poems in the English and French language by over 700 poets spanning over 1400 years. 
Go HERE.

Neo-Classical or Augustan

The last quarter of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century of English literature has been called the Augustan Age, the Neoclassical Age, and the Age of Reason. 

Augustan Age literature was noticeably influenced not only by the preceding era of Latin literature, but by Syracusa, and Alexandrian, and Greek writers.

Characteristics/Forms: 

Mock epics

Didactic poetry

Love elegies

Historic

Epic

Heroic couplets
Commonly uses satire and irony, iambic pentameter, and paradoxes

Often has a plain/ordinary plot

Alludes to ancient Roman/Greek epic poetry

Themes:

Human frailty

Standards of man's potential

Order in the universe

Mocking of human behavior

Authors:
-John Dryden
-Alexander Pope
-Jonathan Swift

Poem:
SONG

By Robert Dodsley

1     Man's a poor deluded bubble,

2    Wand'ring in a mist of lies,

3     Seeing false, or seeing double,

4    Who wou'd trust to such weak eyes?

5     Yet presuming on his senses,

6    On he goes most wond'rous wise:

7     Doubts of truth, believes pretences;

8    Lost in error, lives and dies.

Metaphysical Poetry 'Poetry of Strong Lines'

   Metaphysical poetry (A term used to group together certain 17th-century poets) is concerned with the whole experience of man, but the intelligence, learning and seriousness of the poets means that the poetry is about the profound areas of experience especially - about love, romantic and sensual; about man's relationship with God - the eternal perspective, and, to a less extent, about pleasure, learning and art.

    Metaphysical poems are lyric poems. They are brief but intense meditations, characterized by striking use of wit, irony and wordplay. Beneath the formal structure (of rhyme, metre and stanza) is the underlying (and often hardly less formal) structure of the poem's argument. Note that there may be two (or more) kinds of argument in a poem.

Poets: 

John Donne 

George Herbert 

Henry Vaughn 

Edward Herbert 

Thomas Carew

Richard Crashew 

Andrew Marvell

Richard Lovelace

Sir John Suckling

Metaphysical poets adopted a style that is energetic, uneven, and rigorous. (Johnson decried its roughness and violation of decorum, the deliberate mixture of different styles.) It has also been labelled the 'poetry of strong lines'. Used far-fetched or unusual similes and metaphors. 


Terms Associated with Metaphysical Poetry:


Psychological Analysis: emotion, love and religion.
Imagery: that is novel, unpoetic, and sometimes shocking, drawn from the commonplace or the remote, including the extended metaphor of the metaphysical conceit.
Simple Diction: echoes the pauses and breaks of everyday speech.
Form: frequently an argument with the poet's lover, God, or oneself.
Meter: often uneven, not 'sweet' or smooth. This roughness goes naturally with the metaphysical poets' attitude and purpose: a belief in the perplexity of life, a spirit of revolt and the putting of an argument in speech rather than song.
Metaphysical Conceit: far fetched and ingenious extended comparison used by metaphysical poets to explore all areas of knowledge. Uses unusual analogies for the poet's ideas in the startlingly obscure or the shockingly commonplace - not the usual stuff of poetic metaphor.


The Best Metaphysical Poetry: is intellectual, analytical, psychological and bold.

Poems: 
 
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-his-coy-mistress/ 
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/flea.php 

Great Gatsby Review

Major Themes:

Death of the American Dream:

This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. Through his dealings with organized crime he didn't adhere to the American Dream guidelines. Nick also suggests this with the manner in which he talks about all the rich characters in the story. The immoral people have all the money. Of course looking over all this like the eyes of God are those of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg on the billboard.

Repeating the past:

Gatsby's whole being since going off to war is devoted to getting back together with Daisy and have things be the way they were before he left. That's why Gatsby got a house like the one Daisy used to live in right across the bay from where she lives. He expresses this desire by reaching towards the green light on her porch early in the book. The last paragraph, So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past reinforces this theme.

Immorality that was besieging the 1920's: 

Fitzgerald was in his twenty's when he wrote this novel and since he went to Princeton he was considered a spokesman for his generation. He wrote about the third theme which is the immorality that was besieging the 1920's. Organized crime ran rampant, people were partying all the time, and affairs were common play. The last of which Fitzgerald portrays well in this novel.

The Eyes of T. J. Eckleburg:

George Wilson compares them to the eyes of God looking over the valley of Ashes. The unmoving eyes on the billboard look down on the Valley of Ashes and see all the immorality and garbage of the times. By the end of the novel you will realize that this symbolizes that God is dead.

Society and Class
Love
Wealth
Dissatisfaction
Isolation
Marriage
Gender
Education
Lies and Deceit
Compassion and Forgiveness
Religion

Questions that would be good to Answer:

1.    Does that definition of success in America transcend the divides of social class, race, sex, gender, and citizenship?

2.    Is the novel a satiric or realistic representation of life in the 1920s?

3.    Questions about the American Dream

4.    How the novel reflects the authors life

5.    How colors affect the meaning/flow of the novel

6.    Relate to the reaction of WWI?

7.    Money leads to happiness?

8.    Questions about how time passes

9.    Questions about how rumors affect people

10.    The use of weather to reflect the mood of the story

11.    Absence of God

Literary Devices:

Symbols:

Owl-Eyed man

Gatsby’s unopened books

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg

The Valley of Ashes Below

Green Light

Colors

Wolfshiem’s cufflinks made of human teeth (connection to the underworld)

Motifs:

Time

Geography (West/East Egg)

Weather

Important Scenes:

•    Nick moves to West Egg

•    Nick meets up with Daisy and Tom

•    Nick gets invited to Gatsby’s party

•    Nick meets Gatsby

•    Tom shows Nick his other woman

•    Jordan, Gatsby and Nick arrange to have Gatsby and Daisy meet at Nick’s house

•    Gatsby and Daisy tell Tom about there affair and Daisy tells Tom she doesn’t love him

•    Daisy accidentally hit and killed Tom’s in the street

•    Wilson kills Gatsby and then kills himself

•    Nick meets Gatsby’s father

•    Funeral – no one comes to Gatsby's funeral despite his popular parties

•    Nick decides to return back west

Characters:

•    Jay Gatsby

•    Nick Carraway

•    Daisy Buchanan

•    Jordan Baker

•    George Wilson

•    Myrtle Wilson

•    Meyer Wolfsheim

•    Owl Eyes

•    Klipspringer

Structure:

The novel is really a story within a story, for Nick Carraway, the frame narrator of Gatsby’s plot, is really a protagonist himself. Additionally, there is another subplot revolving around the triangle of Myrtle, Wilson, and Tom. Much of the story is also told as flashbacks, so the chronological order of the plot is constantly interrupted. Fitzgerald, however, masterfully intertwines all the plots and all the flashbacks into a unified whole.

Summary:

Our narrator, Nick Carraway, begins the book by giving us some advice of his father’s about not criticizing others. Through Nick’s eyes, we meet his second cousin, Daisy Buchanan, her large and aggressive husband, Tom Buchanan, and Jordan Baker, who quickly becomes a romantic interest for our narrator (probably because she’s the only girl around who isn’t his cousin). While the Buchanans live on the fashionable East Egg (we’re talking Long Island, NY in the 1920’s, by the way), Nick lives on the less-elite but not-too-shabby West Egg, which sits across the bay from its twin town. We are soon fascinated by a certain Mr. Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and mysterious man who owns a huge mansion next door to Nick and spends a good chunk of his evenings standing on his lawn and looking at an equally mysterious green light across the bay.

Tom takes Nick to the city to show off his mistress, a woman named Myrtle Wilson who is, of course, married. (Fidelity is a rare bird in this novel.) Myrtle’s husband, George, is a passive, working class man who owns an auto garage and is oblivious to his wife’s extramarital activities. Nick is none too impressed by Tom.

Back on West Egg, this Gatsby fellow has been throwing absolutely killer parties, where everyone and his mother can come and get wasted and try to figure out how Gatsby got so rich. Nick meets and warily befriends the mystery man at one of his huge Saturday night affairs. He also begins spending time with Jordan, who turns out to be loveable in all her cynical practicality.

Moving along, Gatsby introduces Nick to his "business partner," Meyer Wolfsheim. Everyone (that is, Nick and readers everywhere) can tell there’s something fishy about Gatsby’s work, his supposed Oxford education, and his questionable place among society’s elite. Next, Gatsby reveals to Nick (via Jordan, in the middle school phone-tag kind of way) that he and Daisy had a love thing before he went away to the war and she married Tom (after a serious episode of cold feet that involved whisky and a bath tub). Gatsby wants Daisy back. The plan is for Nick to invite her over to tea and have her casually bump into Gatsby.

Nick executes the plan; Gatsby and Daisy are reunited and start an affair. Everything continues swimmingly until Tom meets Gatsby, doesn’t like him, and begins investigating into his affairs. Nick, meanwhile, has revealed Gatsby’s true past to us: he grew up in a poor, uneducated family, and would in all likelihood have stayed that way had he not met the wealthy and elderly Dan Cody, who took him in as a companion and taught him what he needed to know. Yet it wasn’t Dan that left Gatsby his oodles of money – that part of his life is still suspicious.

The big scene goes down in the city, when Tom has it out with Gatsby over who gets to be with Daisy; in short, Gatsby is outed for being a bootlegger and Daisy is unable to leave her husband for her lover. As the party drives home to Long Island, Tom’s mistress, Myrtle, is struck and killed by Gatsby’s car (in which Gatsby and Daisy are riding). Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving, but that he’s going to take the blame for it. Tom, meanwhile, feeds Gatsby to the wolves by telling George where to find the man that killed his wife, Myrtle. George Wilson shoots and kills Gatsby before taking his own life.

Daisy and Tom take off, leaving their mess behind. Nick, who by now is fed up with ALL of these people, breaks things off with Jordan in a rather brusque way. He is the only one left to take care of Gatsby’s affairs and arrange for his funeral, which, save one peculiar former guest, none of Gatsby’s party-goers attend. Nick does meet Gatsby’s father, who fills in the picture we have of Gatsby’s youth. Standing on Gatsby’s lawn and looking at the green light (which, not accidentally, turned out to be the light in front of Daisy’s house across the bay), Nick concludes that our nostalgia, our desire to replicate the past, forces us constantly back into it.

Scarlet Letter - read your journal entries!

Themes:

Revenge: Nathaniel Hawthorne presents revenge as an unnatural act that twists a person’s soul into something evil. In the religious worldview vengeance belongs to God alone.

Women and Femininity: several strong women in an era when women were expected to be subordinate to their male counterparts. Hester Prynne is willing to take on her own shame while protecting the man she loves from his share of the public condemnation. She keeps his secret faithfully, for seven long years. Even when she might have been able to demand his help, she does not seek it. Alternatively, the two men in Hester's life, her husband and her lover, are cowards and hypocrites, unwilling to reveal their true identities. Women, although the "weaker sex" in this heavily religious society, prove to be incredibly strong in this novel.

Nature vs. Human Law/ Justice vs. Judgement: the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay Colony have a finely tuned sense of justice based on a partnership of religion and law. When a citizen breaks the colony’s law, he is also breaking God’s law. While it is only through confession to the public that a sinner, Arthur Dimmesdale, finds peace, this conflation of God’s law with man’s law also creates an intolerant, authoritarian society that does not allow for human mistakes.

Nature of Evil/ Supernatural: things like eyes that glow red, meteors in the shape of an “A,” witches that go riding their broomsticks. These events as being part of a fable or (dark) fairy tale tell us something important about the characters and the secrets they keep.

Sin vs. Forgiveness or Punishment vs. Forgiveness: In Christianity, grace and forgiveness are frequently contrasted with the law. The Puritan faith suggests that conformity to a strict set of rules is the most important religious practice you can perform. The more good you do and the fewer sins you commit, the more likely you are to go to heaven.
    The narrator presents the society as essentially legalist, with its inhabitants adhering to strict moral codes and societal values. Hester’s punishment is a form of legalism. She has sinned and must be isolated from the rest of the group to keep her from contaminating them. The narrator gives the belief that their society should be ruled by grace.

Guilt & Blame: The relationships of these characters are defined by either the guilt they feel or by the blame they place. Hester Prynne commits adultery and is ostracized for the blame placed upon her. Her lover is transformed physically and emotionally by the guilt he feels, and her husband is driven mad by his quest to inspire guilt in Hester’s lover.

Exile: Hester Prynne lives in isolation for years for having a child out of wedlock. Her isolation leads her to see her society in a new light and allows her to think outside of the box. Ironically, it seems characters who are the most appreciated by and involved in this society seem to be the most conflicted and alone.

Public Guilt vs. Private Guilt/Hypocrisy: Private guilt is a sin that leads to great personal injury. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a religious figure, comes to embody hypocrisy, resulting in so much guilt that he becomes ill. His guilty conscience produces the mysterious appearance of the scarlet letter on his skin over his heart and ultimately causes his death. 
    The narrator warns us not to let our reputations become more important than our lives, and it poses an interesting question about the danger of valuing appearances.

Civilization vs. Wilderness or Town vs. Woods: Nature is almost like a character in their society. It is often personified as listening, commenting on, and interacting with other characters. The society itself is like an island surrounded by nature. The town is bordered on one side by a huge expanse of woods, home to Native Americans (the Wampanoag tribes). On the other side lies the big blue Atlantic Ocean. From the beginning of this story, our narrator tells us that nature is “kind” and generous, contrasting heavily with the cold and strict ways of Puritan society.

Good vs. Evil/Sin: In the Puritan society religious sin is associated with breaking the law.

Fate vs. Free Will/ Individual vs. Society: a religious society that believes in fate and in the idea that each person’s life follows a specific and set path. Puritans believed that God was a guide who controlled every aspect of life and a nation’s livelihood. They believed God worked toward bringing about good, and they looked for messages and signs from him through the celestial occurrences (like meteors). Characters in this novel constantly struggle between letting fate run its course and choosing a path for themselves. Those who are ostracized by society seem more able to forge a life of their own.

Questions that would be good to Answer:

1.    The function of physical setting in a book.
2.    The relationship between the book’s events and the locations in which these events take place.
3.    Do things happen in the forest that could not happen in the town? What about time of day?
4.    Does night bring with it a set of rules that differs from those of the daytime?
5.    Questions about the different treatments of men and women.
6.    Questions about revenge.
7.    The function of the past in the novel. The narrator tells a two-hundred-year-old story that is taken from a hundred-year-old manuscript.
8.    The role of a child. Why are children presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults? How do children differ from adults in their potential for expressing these perceptions?

Literary Devices:

Symbols:  

The Scarlet Letter
The Meteor
Pearl

Motifs:
Civilization Versus the Wilderness
Night Versus Day
Evocative Names (“Prynne” rhymes with “sin”, “Dimmesdale” suggests “dimness”)

Important Scenes:

The scaffold scenes: dramatic structure devices. Hawthorne's three scaffold scenes symbolizes Dimmesdale's gradual advancement towards an utter public repentance.
     In the first scaffold scene, he acts as Hester's deceitful accuser. Hester stands alone on the scaffold with Pearl, a child born out of wedlock, in her arms. Meanwhile, a crowd of townspeople has gathered to watch her humiliation and to hear the sermon. Dimmesdale is present throughout  the scene as a mere spectator but in reality he is her accomplice in the crime of transgression. Moreover it is in this scene where Haster's husband Chillingworth  comes to know about his wife's transgression.
     In the second scaffold scene all the major characters are brought together. this scene focuses upon Dimmesdale's guilt and remorse, which have led him to the edge of insanity. The scene takes place in the middle of the night, seven years after Hester's punishment, Dimmesdale holds a vigil on the scaffold where he finally accepts his sin not to the town but to himself. In his torture he suddenly cries out a shriek of agony that is heard by Hester and Pearl on their journey home from the dying bed of Governor Winthrop. After hearing this shriek both Hester and Pearl  join Dimmesdale on the scaffold. Pearl then asks Dimmesdale if he will be joining her and Hester there at noontime on the next day. Dimmesdale responds that this meeting will be on the great judgement day rather than here in the daylight. Hawthorne describes this situation as such: "And there stood the minister, with his hand on his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between the two of them" The cry od Dimmesdale was also heard by two other people and they were Mr. Wilson and Chilligwoth. Mr. Wilson thought that Dimmesdale was sad over the death of Governor Winthrop, Chilligworth was spotted by Pearl when a large meteor flashed in the sky.
     The final scaffold scene occurs after the procession of Election Day. Dimmesdale give his sermon and confesses his sin to the public. suddenly he sinks down and dies. In this powerful scene Dimmesdale regains his soul, Pearl gains humanity, Chillingworth loses his victim and Hester loses her dream.
 

Characters:

•    Hester Prynne
•    Roger Chillingworth
•    Arthur Dimmesdale
•    Pearl

Structure: 

Its structure is tight, with all of the events interrelated and integrated into a logical sequence. The imagery is bright, and the writing is consistent in its evocation of the dark reality of Puritan Boston.

Summary:

    Hester is briefly released from prison so that she can be paraded through town, displaying her scarlet "A" while standing on top of the town scaffold (a public stage). She carries her baby daughter, Pearl, in her arms. Pearl was born in prison. Hester steadfastly refuses to reveal the name of Pearl’s father, so that he might be saved from punishment.
    Hester Prynne’s long lost husband arrives in the midst of this parade through town. He visits her in prison before her release and asks her not to tell anyone that he’s in town. His plan is to disguise himself so that he can ferret out and seek revenge on her lover.
    Hester’s husband tells the townspeople that he’s a physician, and he adopts a fake name: Roger Chillingworth. Hester keeps his secret. Chillingworth soon realizes that the minister, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, is the likely father of Hester’s baby, and he haunts the minister’s mind and soul, day and night, for the next seven years.
    The minister is too afraid to confess his sin publicly, but his guilt eats away at him; Chillingworth’s constant examination really makes him antsy. Seven years pass and, finally, Hester realizes the evil her husband has done to the man she loves.
    Dimmesdale confesses his sin to the townspeople on the scaffold that had, seven years earlier, been the scene of Hester’s public shaming. His dying act is to throw open his shirt so that the scarlet A that he has carved onto his chest is revealed to his parishioners. Dimmesdale finds peace through confession.
    When Chillingworth dies about a year after his rival, Dimmesdale, he leaves all his money and property to Pearl. Hester and Pearl finally escape the community where they have been outcasts for so many years and return to the England.
     Many years later, Hester returns to the New England community that had been the site of her shame, resuming the scarlet letter of her own will.
     When she dies, she is buried near the minister, and they share a gravestone. The gravestone contains an image, described as follows: "On a field, sable, the letter A, gules." In other words, marked on the headstone is a scarlet letter A drawn over a black background.

HAMLET ACT 5

1) What do you feel is the point of the gravedigger’s riddles and song? How does it fit into the play?

He sing a sad song about getting old and dying but in a happy way as he digs Ophelia’s grave. He sings and recites riddles to lighten the mood of the play and to foreshadow more death to come later in the play. Some of the riddles could hint that the gravedigger actually knows who Hamlet is.

2) In what ways do Hamlet’s reactions to the skulls in the graveyard seem to suggest a change in his outlook? Compare Hamlet’s attitude towards Yoric to Hamlet’s attitude to Ophelia or even his father? How is it different? How is it similar?

He knows whose skull he’s holding – the gravedigger told him that the skull was Yorics. Yorkic was Hamlet’s childhood jester who brought him happiness and laughter. While holding his skull it brought him back to a time where he was innocent and happy. Ophelia and his father bring up unsettling feelings for him – he wouldn’t have the same reaction to their skulls as he did with Yorics.

3) How old is Hamlet? How do you know this?

The gravedigger said that he had been a gravedigger for 30 years since the prince was born (aka Hamlet). Hamlet is 30.

4) What does the violent argument between Hamlet and Laertes add to the play?

It’s the first time that Hamlet admits to him wanting to be King – he calls himself a Dane. Leartes is rash and they wrestle in the grave which is a foreshadow to both of them dying.

5) What developments in Hamlet’s character are presented through the story of what happened on the boat? (V.ii 1-62). How has Hamlet changed?

He was able to have the King of England kill his childhood friends by using a letter. He wrote in the letter that he wanted them to be killed on the spot – no leeway. His friends betrayed him and he took it very seriously. He wanted to get a message across to Claudius. Hamlet is finally starting to take action. 

6) How do Hamlet’s motives in killing Claudius seem to have shifted according to his speech beginning “Does it not, think thee…” (V.ii.63)

Hamlet is saying that he wanted to be king after his father, not Claudius. It would have made more sense to have Hamlet be the king instead of his uncle because the people honored him much more.

7) What concerns of the play are reinforced in the Osric episode? (V.ii.80-170)

It kind of brought back Polonius. Osric uses huge words to compliment Laertes and to tell Hamlet that Claudius wants him to have a duel with Laertes. Osric sucks up to the people in power. When Hamlet talks back with intelligent words, Osric cannot understand him. He’s an idiot, like Polonius.

8) Why does Hamlet ‘defy augury’? (V.ii.192)

Technically, he doesn’t defy augury, he just believes that if he doesn’t go to Claudius and Laertes, he is only putting off what will happen later.

9) What does Laertes say is his motive in still resenting Hamlet? How has already lost this? How does this contribute to the presentation of revenge in the play? (V.ii216-223)

Laertes wants his family’s honor protected; he wants elders and people in high power to make a decision on what to do with what happened to Polonius and Ophelia. Laertes accepted Hamlet’s apology, but his apology and his honor are ruined because Hamlet knows that Laertes wants to kill him anyways.

10) How might the dying lines of Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes be viewed as typical of the way their characters have been presented throughout the play?

Gertrude tells Hamlet that she had been poisoned in a room full of people. Her last words were to Hamlet, the one person who had always been there that she cared about.
Claudius is asking for help from people that don’t really care – he’s trying to use the people around him.
Laertes realizes that what he has done may be wrong – he really accepts Hamlets apology and then asks for forgiveness himself. 

11) Who “wins” in Hamlet? How and why do you think this?

Fortinbras was the only person left alive and was able to get revenge on the people who had killed his father. He was able to seek revenge by watching the kingdom fall all on its own. It allows readers to question whether or not Hamlet knew he was going to die and so he made a deal with Fortinbras.

Hamlet Act 4

Act IV, Scene 1

1. What is Claudius' main fear in the immediate aftermath of Polonius' death?

He’s afraid because of Hamlet’s madness – that that could have been him, or could have been meant for him. He’s also afraid that the kingdom and the people of Denmark will blame him because Hamlet’s out of control and he’s not fixing it.

Act IV, Scene 2

1. What does Hamlet refuse to tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

Hamlet kind of plays with his friends using his words – he won’t tell them where to find Polonius’ body. “The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body.” Claudius isn’t the king – he’s the face of the state. Polonius is dead, with the real king, Hamlet’s father. HA HA… clever.

Act IV, Scene 3

1. What image does Hamlet use (ll. 19-29) to warn Claudius he's only king temporarily?

Hamlet tells Claudius that Polonius is at supper, and he asks where. Hamlet replies that it’s not where he’s eating, but where he’s being eaten – that people fatten up other creates to eat them, when all people are doing is fattening themselves for worms to eat when they’re dead. There’s no difference between a fat king and a skinny beggar once they’re dead. (26-27) A man can fish with the worm that ate a king, and then eat the fish he catches with that worm.

2. Claudius ends the scene by writing a letter: to whom, and what order does it contain?

Claudius is afraid of what Hamlet is capable of, and because he killed Polonius, Claudius has a reasonable excuse to send him away. Claudius writes to the King of England to tell him that he’s sending Hamlet there. He orders him to kill Hamlet when he gets there.

Act IV, Scene 4

1. What's the value of the land Fortinbras' army is marching to capture in Poland (l. 20)? What will the invasion itself cost (l. 25)?

The value of the land is 20,000 ducats, and the invasion of Poland itself costs 2,000 souls & 20,000 ducats.

2. Hamlet's soliloquy (ll. 32-66) is self-critical; summarize his main fault.

His main fault is the same fault he’s had since he first saw his father – he’s afraid of taking action against his uncle. Hamlet is inspired by Fortinbras’ army because no matter what the battle or the importance; he’s prepared and able to take action. Hamlet knows that to be truly great it doesn’t mean you’d only fight for a good reason, it means you’d fight over nothing if your honor were at stake. He knows he’s being a coward, but also that he needs to do what was asked of him from his father.

Act IV, Scene 5

1. Ophelia's songs during her first appearance in this scene deal with love, death and sex. Why? What do they tell us about her at the moment? What might they reveal about Her, Hamlet and Polonius?

Ophelia is just as crazy as Hamlet. She kind of makes some weird accusations – she basically said that Hamlet had sex with her, and because of that he doesn’t want to marry her because she’s unpure for losing her virginity before marriage. Hamlet and Polonius are the two big reasons that she’s crazy – they both left her, and well, Hamlet killed her father…awkward.

2. Why is Laertes a danger to Claudius' throne (ll. 98-103)? (Actually two or three related reasons.)

3. What does Claudius offer as assurance that he had no part in Polonius' death (ll. 190-9)?

He told Laertes to go find his best friends to listen to both of them to see who was telling the truth, and if they found Claudius to be lying he offered Laertes his kingdom, the crown, his life, and everything he called his own.

Act IV, Scene 6

1. Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet explaining how he escaped from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. How did he?

Pirates captured hamlet. He was the only one taken, was treated well, and was asked to do a favor for them.

Act IV, Scene 7

1. What reason does Claudius give Laertes for Hamlet's killing of Polonius (ll. 1-4)?

The most obvious reason – Hamlet was trying to kill Claudius not Polonius. Easy to believe.

2. What are his two reasons for not charging Hamlet with murder (ll. 9-24)?

The first is that the queen loves Hamlet too much to charge him, and Claudius doesn’t want to upset her. The second is that the people of Denmark love Hamlet, and if Claudius were to do anything to Hamlet it could cause an uprising.

3. Claudius reveals that Laertes is famous for his skill with the rapier (a fencing weapon) and that Hamlet is envious of this fame.

He’s trying to get Laertes to kill Hamlet. Claudius says that people should do what they intend to do right when they intend it. People’s intentions weaken and delay as time goes by. He wants Laertes to prove that he’s his fathers son, that he cares about his father by killing Hamlet and avenging his death.

4. How does Claudius plan to exploit this envy to give Laertes a chance for (publicly) guiltless revenge (ll. 126-38)?

Have a fencing competition! Claudius believes that no one can match Laertes fencing skills. Claudius wants to make Laertes' sword actually sharp, when Hamlet's won't be. Laertes then one-ups that and says that he also wants to poison his sword. Claudius decides that he'll also poison a glass of wine - Hamlet will die either way.

5. How does Laertes refine the plan (ll. 138-147)?

Laertes… is a little darker than Claudius in his plan making, and instead says that he’ll cut Hamlet’s throat in church. *gulp*

6. What announcement does Gertrude make to end Act IV?

She announced that Ophelia died in a stream. Suicide perhaps.

More Study Questions for Act III

1) What does Claudius plan to do with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Hamlet?

He plans to send Hamlet and his ‘friends’ to England. Because Hamlet killed Polonius he actually has a legitimate reason to send him away.

2) What is Polonius going to do while Hamlet speaks with his mother?

(^^ nice order Fielding… he’s not planning on doing anything, he’s dead! Ha ha!)
Okay, but really. He wants to spy on Hamlet, and listen in on their conversation so he hides behind a curtain in her room.

3) List three important things about Claudius’ soliloquy.

a) Claudius feels guilty – he says his deed has the mark of Cain on it because he killed his brother, his kin. (WOAH I KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THE BIBLE. *gasp*)
b) He wants to pray, but he knows that he cannot because even though he does regret what he did, he doesn’t feel sorry enough for the things he has gained out of it; the queen and the kingdom.
c) He believes that prayer serves two purposes—to keep people from sinning and to bring people forgiveness when they have sinned. However, he also believes that in heaven, every action is judged for exactly what it’s worth – so he basically just wants to pray for forgiveness and then deal with it later.

4/5) Why is it odd that Hamlet sees the king praying? Why doesn’t Hamlet take this opportunity for revenge?

Hamlet sees Claudius praying and thinks it would be the opportune time to kill him, except for the fact that he believes that if you die while you’re praying, you automatically go to heaven. Hamlet doesn’t think that he is worthy of heaven, so he passes on his chance.

Scene IV

1) Describe Polonius’ advice to Gertrude.

He basically told her to be Hamlet’s mother and act like it – make consequences for his actions.

2) What is the significance of the following quote: “How now, a rat? Dead! For a ducat, dead!

He knows that someone is spying on him and his mother, and because he had just seen Claudius praying, he figured it wasn’t him. He knew it was Polonius so he compared him to a rat… he really didn’t like Polonius!
 

3) What is odd about the following quote: A bloody dead; almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother.

This is odd because Hamlet is insinuating that his mother killed the king and then married Claudius… even though that really wasn’t the case at all. This is the first time Hamlet said anything to his mother about his father’s murder, and it’s completely misconstrued because of the way he had said it.

4) Why might Gertrude say, “What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me.”

She is hurt because of the things that Hamlet is saying and what he’s implying that she had done. “What have I done,” means pretty much anything and everything that she has done (especially to upset Hamlet.) For one, she doesn’t think that marrying her husband’s brother was wrong. For two, it seems as if she had no knowledge of any kind of murder, whether she did it or anyone else, which proves that she really didn’t kill the king.

5) What descriptions does Hamlet use to compare his father and his uncle?

King Hamlet

He was kind, gentle, with curly hair and a forehead like a Greek god. His eyes showed authority, and his body was as agile as Mercury landing on a high hill. He believed that because his father had so many good qualities, every god must had blessed him.

Claudius

Hamlet says he’s “like a mildewed ear”. He doesn’t understand what is wrong with his mother, how she could be so blind. “What devil was ’t that thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, or but a sickly part of one true sense” He tells her she made a mistake because really, there’s no comparison between the men.

6) What point does Hamlet make by comparing the men?

He makes the point that they aren’t comparable. His father is notably superior in every way. His mother’s an idiot. 

7) What is disturbing about the following: Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed; stewed in corruption; honeying, and making love over the nasty sty.”

He’s saying that she lies in the sweaty stench of her dirty sheets, wet with corruption – hinting at her sex life and how disgusting it is for her to have slept with both his father and uncle… especially in the bed that was once hers and King Hamlets.


8) What stops Hamlet’s ranting and raving at Gertrude? What does this figure tell Hamlet?

The ghost of King Hamlet appears and tells him that he’s scaring and confusing his mother, so he needs to stop and let up a little bit. He also tells him that he isn’t worrying about killing Claudius as much as he should… (he’s too worried about acting crazy and freaking out at his mother!)

9) By the end of the act, Hamlet has made many statements about humanity, in general. Explain a few of his points. Do his opinions reflect his madness.

His “to be or not to be” speech talked about whether or not killing himself was worth it. He said that women who wear makeup make the world more dishonest, and he blames them for making men act crazy. He talks to Horatio and lets him know that he is really the only person that he has left to trust. His friends and family are either spying on him or don’t care about him at all. Hamlet is seriously going mad.

10) Explain the differences between the ghost in Act I with the ghost in Act III. Why might these differences reflect Hamlet’s insanity?

The big difference between the ghosts is that Hamlet actually believes that it’s his father in Act III, in the first act he wasn’t sure and questioned whether or not it was him. Believing that the ghost was his father was made easier when in Act III he seemed to still care for Gertrude.

Act 3

Scene 1:

1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Polonius?

Hamlet knows that his friends are spying on him so he won’t actually tell them the truth. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Polonius that Hamlet admits that he feels confused, but refuses to say why. They tell Polonius that Hamlet’s completely avoiding the question as to why he’s acting crazy – he’s dancing around it. 

2. How does Claudius react when Polonius says, "…with devotion's visage, And pious action we do sugar o'er/ The devil himself"?

Polonius is talking to Ophelia and telling her to read the bible so it looks normal that she’s alone. He says that people tend to act faithful in order to hide their mistakes or wrongdoings. This causes Claudius to feel guilty for killing the old King Hamlet.

3. What plan do Polonius, Claudius and Ophelia now put into action?

They want Ophelia to test Hamlet’s love by insulting him when she returns his love letters. Polonius and Claudius want to spy and listen to their conversation and see his reaction.

4. What is the nature of Hamlet's soliloquy, lines 57-91?

It discusses inaction, the good and bad sides of it, whether or not to stay that way or actually take action. He weighs the grief of killing Claudius to the duty he has to avenge his father’s death, and the affects that each would have on him. It’s really about making the choice between life and death. 

5. What is Hamlet's main argument against suicide?

He questions the afterlife, but seems to be afraid of it because he’s not sure what to expect, he doesn’t know "what dreams may come.” He believes that suicide is uncourageous.

6. Why does Hamlet treat Ophelia as cruelly as he does? What has changed him?

He was upset with her because she tried to return the letters, but when she lied to him straight in the face he became enraged. He treats her as cruelly as he does because he can no longer trust her, and she was one of the only ones left that he could. This is a huge push off the side of his sanity, he has lost everyone; his father, mother, his uncle, his friends, and now Ophelia.

7. What thinly veiled threat to Claudius does Hamlet voice, after he becomes of his hidden presence? (lines 148-150)

Hamlet warns Claudius that his marriage will be destroyed because Hamlet will kill him, and his mother will live. "Those that are married already-all but one -shall live; the rest shall keep as they are." Everyone else’s marriages will be left alone… also, except for Ophelia’s who he condemned to end up in a nunnery.

8. At the end of this scene, what does the King decide to do with Hamlet?

The king decides to send Hamlet to England to collect tribute and get his head back on straight. He wants something to distract him and keep him from going any madder. He is also afraid of what Hamlet may know, and what he could do to him and the kingdom.

Scene 2:

9. What qualities in Horatio cause Hamlet to enlist his assistance?

Horatio is a good friend, smart, reasonable, and loyal. He accepts everything in life in a calmly manner, and is grateful for both the good and bad. He thinks that Horatio can fully control his emotions. He is the only person he has left to trust.

10. What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do?

Hamlet asks Horatio to spy on Claudius during the opening scene of Mousetrap to see how he reacts to it. He wants to figure out if he has been going crazy for nothing and just wasting his time. He needs a second opinion.

11. Summarize what happens in the play-within-a-play.

In the play-within-a-play, a man is poisoned and his lover marries the killer. The killer’s nephew then says he’s going to seek revenge against the murderer. Hamlet as obscene and attracts attention by being loud. Claudius gets upset and embarrassed so he leaves.

12. Why, in line 233, does Hamlet refer to the play-within-a-play as "The Mouse-trap"?

It’s a mousetrap because he’s going to CATCH Cladius, eh hem, a mouse... or more probable in this case, a RAT, in his unholy deed! He wants the play to make Claudius react in a way that proves that he actually did kill his father.

13. What is the King's reaction to the play?

The king comes across very guilty and uneasy during the play, and then he eventually storms out of the theater because he ‘needs air’……. riiiigggghhhhtt!


14. In lines 354-363, to what object does Hamlet compare himself? Why?

He compares himself to a recorder or a flute. He asks Guildenstern to play it, but he doesn’t know how or how to find the rhythm to play it. Hamlet compares the way his friends play him to how simple it is to play a flute – they were able to know exactly how to play him, but they couldn’t produce music from a small instrument. He asked them if they thought he was easier to manipulate than a pipe. Hamlet says that they can’t play him like a flute because he’s too smart.

15. As Hamlet goes to his mother at the end of this scene, what does he admonish himself to do?

“I will speak daggers to her but use none. “ He wants to be cruel, but not inhuman. He doesn’t want to be like Nero who killed his mother, even though he does hate his mother very much. He just wants to hurt her by using words.

Hamlet Act 2 Sections

SCENE 1. 

Pgs. 36-40.

     The start of Act II starts off with Polonius and Reynaldo. Polonius asks Reynaldo to go spread rumors about his son, Laertes, so he knows what he’s up to. Polonius is selfish and worries too much about his status in the kingdom that could be disrupted by his son’s doings in France. Polonius thinks he is being very wise even though Reynaldo knows otherwise.
     After Reynaldo leaves, Ophelia enters and tells her father about her frightening encounter with Hamlet. He held her, shook her, stared at her in silence, and then left. Polonius believes that Hamlet may be going crazy because he’s in love with his daughter. PERHAPS Hamlet acted out in such a way towards Ophelia so that she would tell Polonius and prove that he was actually going insane.

SCENE 2.

Part 1. Pgs. 41-44 ( → Ln 86)

      Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are set up to spy on Hamlet for the king. The king wanted Hamlet’s friends to try to help him by finding out what was wrong or by making him have some fun. Claudius knew that they grew up together so they knew his personality and would be much more helpful than anyone else.

Part 2. Pgs. 45-48 (→Ln. 216)

       Polonius tries to make it seem like he actually has something important to say to the queen. He says, “I will be brief,” yet he drags out what he’s actually trying to say which irritates Gertrude. Polonius believes that Hamlet’s madness is out of love for his daughter because Hamlet showed up at Ophelia’s room half naked and ragged, also, because of the letters he sent her. The letter could be questioned as to whether or not Hamlet actually wrote it, or maybe that he did intending it to be read by Polonius so he would tell Claudius. The king, queen, and Polonius all believe that he’s going insane because he’s in love with Ophelia but has been forbidden to see him.
      Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger, aka a pimp. He sort of knows that Polonius told Ophelia to stay away from him, making it seemed like he actually cares for the well being of his daughter. His actions are for his own personal gain, and he doesn’t care about his daughter’s happiness – just his status to the king.
     Hamlet asks Polonius whether or not he has a daughter, even though he obviously knows that he does. He’s compares Ophelia to a dead dog that breeds maggots in the sun – he’s trying to say that the sun can bring about bad things as well as good. He’s criticizing Polonius and trying to make it seem like he’s crazy.

Part 3. Pgs. 49-54 (→ 358)

     Hamlet tries to explain to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Denmark is one of the worst prisons. He says that things in general are pretty neutral and that nothing is really good or bad in itself. Hamlet thinks that you make things a specific way by the way you think of them.
     Hamlet asks why his friends came to Elsinore. They say it was to simply visit him, but Hamlet knows better than that and calls them out. He asks them to be honest because he knows that they were sent for. He believes that their past and their friendship should give them a good enough reason to tell the truth.
     Hamlet’s monologue is between himself in two different ways: the humanist scholar who loves theatre and the son of the king. He can’t figure out who he is or what he should do, he’s realizing that acting on his plans is rather difficult. 
     Rosencrantz tells Hamlet that he saw the actors on their way to Elsinore.

Part 4. Pgs. 55-63 (→592)

     The players show up at Elsinore, and Polonius comes to tell Hamlet that they have arrived. Hamlet tells Guildenstern and Rosencrantz that Polonius is a baby, and then pretends to care and carry on a conversation with Polonius.
    Hamlet asks the players to recite the speech where Aeneas told Dido about Priam’s murder. Like Pyrrus, Hamlet is trapped in an unwanted situation. Hamlet is questioning himself on whether or not killing his uncle is the right decision.
    Later, he asks them to recite The Murder of Gonzago which he asks to add another 12-16 lines to. He wants a play that will make his uncle/father react to or one that will make him admit to killing King Hamlet.
     Hamlet’s soliloquy is the first time he feels he may actually be going crazy. He is trying to understand what he’s doing; his father has been murdered, and he’s been asked to seek revenge by heaven and hell (one or the other or perhaps both) and all he is doing is cursing in the streets like a whore. He’s all talk but hasn’t had any action.

DIBS! =D

One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” But Emily Dickinson wrote
Much madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye-
Novelists and playwrights have often seen madness with a “discerning Eye.” Select a novel or play in which a character’s apparent madness or irrational behavior plays an important role. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain what this delusion or eccentric behavior consists of and how it might be judged reasonable. Explain the significance of the “madness” to the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Act 2

1) What is does Polonius tell Reynaldo in the opening of Act II? How does he plan to trap his son?

Polonius wants Reynaldo to trap his son by spreading rumors about him. If he spreads rumors and people react to them in a way that confirms that rumors, then he’ll know what his son is up to. This is Polonius’s way of spying on his son while he’s away in France. 

2) What does this say about Polonius?

Polonius really only cares about himself – if he finds out that his son is doing something that will disgrace himself and his family, he would freak out. Polonius doesn’t want to lose his position in the kingdom, especially because of his son.

3) What particularly in Act II scene 1 has disturbed Ophelia?

Hamlet showed up in Ophelia’s room looking ragged and pale. He didn’t say anything and instead just stood there and stared at her… for a long time. Hamlet shook her arm a little, moved his head up and down, sighed, and then left without looking back at her or saying anything.

4) Why have Rosencrantez and Guildenstern been sent to Denmark?

They were sent for by Claudius because Hamlet had started to act crazy and he believed that he was losing it. Claudius knew that they had all grown up together and knew each other’s personalities so well so he wanted them to stay at the castle for a while and try to figure out what was bothering him. He wanted them to try to make Hamlet have some fun, and fix whatever that was wrong.

5) What does Hamlet ask the players to recite? How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?

He wanted them to recite the speech when Aeneas told Dido about Priam’s murder. Like Pyrrus, Hamlet is trapped in an unwanted situation. He doesn’t know what to do about the ghost and what it has asked of him – he’s not sure if killing his uncle is going to be the right decision.

Later, he asks them to recite The Murder of Gonzago which he would add another 12-16 more lines for. He wants a play that will make his uncle/father react to or one that will make him admit to killing King Hamlet.
 

Identify the following speaker of the following lines and discuss to whom the lines are being delivered, and what do the lines mean?

6) “No, my lord, but as you did command/ I did repel his letter, and denied his access to me”

Ophelia is talking to her father Polonius. She’s telling him that she did what she was told; she sent back Hamlet’s letters and didn’t allow him to come and visit her.
 

7) “More matter less art”

The queen, Gertrude, is talking to Polonius. She knows that he’s crazy, and he wants to tell her something but he won’t just get to the point, so he says, ‘more matter less art’. Say something relevant and stop trying to over exaggerate what’s not needed to be. 
 

8) “That I, the son of a dear father murdered,/ Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell/ Must like a whore unpack my heart with words,

Hamlet is by talking to himself (soliloquy). This is the first time he feels he may actually be going crazy. He is trying to understand what he’s doing; his father has been murdered, and he’s been asked to seek revenge by heaven and hell (one or the other or perhaps both) and all is doing is cursing in the streets like a whore. He’s all talk but hasn’t had any action.

9) “Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth/ And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,/ with windlasses and with assays of bias,/ By directions find directions out.”

Polonius is speaking to Reynaldo about his mission to spy on his son, Laertes. He wants Reynaldo to spread lies about Laertes so they either confirm or straighten out the lies that he’s telling.

10) “For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”

Hamlet is asking Polonius whether or not he has a daughter, even though he obviously knows that he does. He’s saying that the sun can bring about bad things as well as good. He’s criticizing Polonius and trying to act a little crazy himself.

11) List three metaphors (1 direct, 1 implied, 1 extended) from the play.

Direct: Denmark is a prison!
Implied: Hamlet uses ‘Fishmonger’ for Polonius
Extended: Lies are poison

12) What proof does Polonius have that he believe indicates Hamlet’s love for Ophelia?

Polonius’s evidence is when Hamlet went to Ophelia half-naked. He believes that it’s because he loves her and because she told him what happened (staring at her, lightly shaking her, acting crazy) made him believe it and that Hamlet was going mad.

13) Explain the quote, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” How does this relate to Hamlet.

Hamlet is telling Guildenstern and Rosencrantz that Denmark is one of the worst prisons. Rosencrantz disagreed with him saying that he didn’t believe it was. The quote, means that everything is pretty neutral, nothing is really good or bad in itself. You make things a specific way by the way you think of them, and Hamlet thinks that Denmark is a prison.

14) What is a fishmonger?

A fishmonger is pretty much a pimp. Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger because he has the intuition that he forced Ophelia to leave him alone. His actions are for his own personal gain, and he doesn’t care about his daughters happiness – just his status to the king.

15) Who was Jephthah?

Jephthah was a man who loved his daughter very much. Hamlet compares him to Polonius in a way that would insult him. It could be seen in the way that Polonius is too overprotective of Ophelia and that he does love her, or that he doesn’t love her enough and is indeed a ‘fishmonger’.

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 4

8) In scene 4, what is Hamlet talking about in lines 13-38?

Hamlet is talking about the tradition his kingdom has with partying. Even though people look down on their country because of it, they continue to do it because it's a custom. He says that people think of them more for their drunkenness than their achievements as a country. It has affected their reputation.

This could be bad for their country because it could make other countries to consider them weak and attack them.

9) Why doesn’t Horatio want Hamlet to follow the ghost?

Horatio, told Hamlet that he didn't want him to follow the ghost because, "what if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord" he thinks that the ghost will drive him to insanity. He compares the depths of the sea to confusion. The ghost has the ability to confuse Hamlet and make him go crazy.

10) What is Hamlet’s command to the three guards?

Hamlet knows that the ghost isn't going to speak if him and the ghost aren't alone so he told the guards to let them go even though they didn't want him to. He said that his soul is immortal as the ghost so he doesn't mind if it brings any harm to him. He wants to know what the ghost has to say. 

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3

1) What is Laertes advice to Ophelia?

Laertes doesn't believe that Hamlet is being honest about his feelings for Ophelia so he warns her and tells her to be careful. Hamlet is the prince and has a duty to put the people before himself - he doesn't have control over who he can love or marry. 


2) How does “The canker galls the infants of the spring/ too oft before their buttons be disclos’d” fit into the ideology of the decaying garden?

The sentence means that worms ruin flowers before they bloom; the worm meaning Hamlet and the flower meaning Ophelia. If the 'worm' were to ruin the 'flower', Laertes meaning that Hamlet would take Ophelia's virginity, she would end up either at a horehouse or a nunnery. The garden alludes to the the Garden of Eden. 


3) What analogy does Ophelia give to her brother as an answer to his advice? What does she mean?

"But, good my brother, do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads and recks not his own rede." (47-51) 

Ophelia thinks it's funny that her brother is giving her advice - she tells him to stop being a hypocrite and to take some of his own advice. Laertes earlier asked to go to France, and she hints here, at knowing the reason why.

4) List five of the “few precepts” that Polonius gives to Laertes.

Don’t say what you’re thinking, and don’t be too quick to act on what you think. 
Be friendly to people but don’t overdo it.
If you find good and trustworthy friends, keep them - but don't waste you're time shaking other mans hands you meet. 
Don't be quick to pick a fight, but if you do, you're in it so hold your own and fight. 
Listen to people, but talk to few - hear people's opinion but hold your own judgement. 
Spend as much money as you can on clothes, but buy for their quality, not there flashiness. 
Don't borrow money and don't lend it. 
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF. 


5) In lines 105-109, what is the metaphor that Polonius uses to describe Hamlet’s words of love?

Polonius, Ophelia's father is being protective of his daughter and is saying that Hamlet's words are 'tenders' or coins but that they are not sterling silver. He's comparing the fake coins to the fake love Hamlet has for Ophelia. 


6) List and explain one metaphor found in the lines 115-135.

"When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter, giving more light than heat, extinct in both, even in their promise as it is a-making."

Polonius is trying to tell his daughter that Hamlet is more after her body than anything. The 'blood' is his sexual desire for her that will allow him to say anything to fulfill it. Polonius says that when a hearts on fire it gives out more light than heat, and the heat for Ophelia will be out before he finishes making his promises to her. 


7) What is Polonius’ command to Ophelia?

To stop seeing Hamlet.