Act Four Closure/Act Five Opening

Close your eyes and imagine you are Claudius. Think about all you have done, and all of the outcomes of your actions thus far. Really picture it.

Visualize King Hamlet as you poison him. Feel your desire for the throne and power. Imagine whether or not you truly love Gertrude. Enjoy your ability to control the fates of those around you, such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and even Laertes. Immerse yourself in your fear of and loathing toward Hamlet. Decide if you feel any remorse at all over the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia, or R & G.

Now… What would YOU (Claudius) do at this point? What would you do to resolve your conflict with Hamlet without alienating the Danish people?

Take three minutes and write your thoughts as if you were Claudius. What is your plan and how will you carry it out?

Now we’ll pair share and have a whole class discussion on your resolutions.

Let’s contemplate how the character’s actions are leading toward an inevitable ending.

Edwin Booth as Hamlet, 1870

By the end of the period you should have a stronger understanding of, and be able to write about, the CAUSES AND EFFECTS of the decisions made by these characters (WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT COMMITTING MURDER COULD HAVE CONSEQUENCES?) and how those decisions INEVITABLY INFLUENCE (DUH!) the outcome of the play.

Act III

Act IVProblems spiral out of control

and grow wildly more complex and difficult

to overcome

Act II

Act I Act VThe characters who made poor choices in act three

now die as a result of those decisions.

Ophelia Laertes

Polonius

Horatio

Hamlet

GertrudeClaudius

Rosencrantz& Guildenstern

Add

Ophelia’s Earlier Problems1. Her brother Laertes is going away to Paris.2. Her brother wants to control her behavior, and she playfully

tries to control his.3. Her father Polonius has forbidden her from seeing her

boyfriend Hamlet.4. Her boyfriend, Hamlet, is acting as if he is insane.

My Sample Act IV Update: Because Ophelia _____________, she was left fatherless and loveless. As a result, Ophelia ____________. This is critical to the plot because ____________________________.

Ophelia’s Earlier Problems1. Her brother Laertes is going away to Paris.2. Her brother wants to control her behavior, and she playfully

tries to control his.3. Her father Polonius has forbidden her from seeing her

boyfriend Hamlet.4. Her boyfriend, Hamlet, is acting as if he is insane.

My Sample Act IV Update: Because Ophelia followed her brother’s and father’s advice and refused Hamlet’s attentions, Hamlet, feeling highly isolated by all who supposedly loved him, spiraled further out of control and killed Polonius. Left fatherless and loveless, Ophelia devolves into madness and drowns in a likely suicide. Her death is critical to the plot because it solidifies Laertes’ need for revenge; all of the remaining key characters come together in grief, rage, and treachery at her funeral.

With your partner, analyze how Polonius’ problems have spiraled out of control by Act IV:

Polonius’ Earlier Problems

1.He tries to control the actions of his son as he departs for France (and even sends Reynaldo to spy on him in Act II).2.He forbids his daughter Ophelia from seeing Hamlet and later decides that love is driving Hamlet to act mad.3.Polonius sets an “accidental meeting” between Hamlet and Ophelia while he and Claudius spy on them.4.He decides to again spy as Gertrude speaks with Hamlet after the play.

If it helps, you may use this Sentence Frame instead, which follows the same format:

Because Polonius is a character driven by __________, he puts himself into situations where ______________. As a result, _________. This outcome strikes fear into the heart of ___________, who worries that __________, and it is pivotal to the plot because ___________.

Act IV Update: Because Polonius is a character driven by the need to meddle into others’ business, he puts himself into situations where he can overhear their discussions. As a result, he is killed by Hamlet while eavesdropping on his conversation with Gertrude. This outcome strikes fear into the heart of Claudius, who worries that he is next, and it is pivotal to the plot because it creates urgency on the part of Claudius to get rid of Hamlet.

Ticket out the door: Write a cause and effect statement for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (you may treat them as one character for this activity). I will give you a handout for this.

For further practice (HW) write cause and effect statements for each of the following characters: Laertes Hamlet Gertrude Claudius

Closure: Why is this important?

Examining how cause and effect drives a plot forward will help you to understand why the play HAS to end the way it does.

With practice, these writing strategies and academic language will become second nature as we continue to prepare for the AP Lit exam.