Getting Started with Hamlet (pre-writing, pre-reading, pre-thinking, pre-talking)

Here's what we have done so far.
1. In a Google doc entitled "Hamlet Odds & Ends" or on paper, we've written what we would feel and do if we were in Hamlet's situation. (Hamlet's father has died. Hamlet's mother has remarried soon after the death. Hamlet's mother married his father's (her husband's) brother. Soon thereafter Hamlet's beloved is forbidden to see him. Then, Hamlet's friend (and a couple guards) tell him they have seen the ghost of his father several nights in a row. They invite Hamlet to see the ghost that night.)

2. In class we discussed our responses in the context of the big question for this play: How do different people respond to traumatic loss and tragedy? How do people respond to uncertainty, mystery, and doubt? How do people respond to wrongdoing and corruption? What do these responses have to do with inner character and inner consciousness, with social pressures and external influences, with gender and age, with power and lack of power? 

3. We've read some of the introductory material at the beginning of the the Folger's edition of Hamlet: Reading Shakespeare's Language and An Introduction to This Text. (Don't worry about reading Shakespeare's Life, Shakespeare's Theater, and the Publication of Shakespeare's Plays unless those topics interest you.)
 
4. While reading write (in a Google doc or on paper) ten (10) details that seem important to know about the play, the language, and the text. (Ten total not ten each.) We shared these details in class. Details from the introductory reading will be assessed as part of the test you take after reading and studying the play.

Here's what we were supposed to get to today but didn't.
5. Before you started reading I was supposed to assign you a Hamlet motif (or thread) to track through the book.

Concrete motifs
Water (in its many forms) & other fluids [Julia H]
Ears & hearing [Gina C]
Songs, tunes, music [Josh C]
Eyes & seeing [Caitlin C]
Flowers, plants, & weeds [Alex E]
Animals [Sara F]
Rot & decay [Matt G]
Disease & sickness [Gage L]
Food & appetite [Greer V]
Acting, playing, theatre [Madison S]
 
Conceptual motifs
Men & male roles [Ariel M]
Women & female roles [Erin T]
Appearances (what seems to be) & truth (what is) [Natilia W]
Action & inaction [Matlida G]
Madness & sanity [Mikayla H]
Death, afterlife, ghosts, spirits [Emily R]
Fate & fortune [Karina K]
Responses to authority (obeying & dissenting) [Liam C]
Sleep & dreams [Lukas S]

Here's Friday's work:
Add responses to these prompts to the document in which you already responded to Hamlet's situation (i.e. father dies, mother remarries quickly, mother remarries father's brother, significant other can no longer see you, friends tell you your father's ghost has appeared).
 
* In the "Hamlet Odds & Ends" Google doc or on paper, write down your thoughts about the motif you have been assigned. (See above.) Write about your personal feelings, experiences, observations, and knowledge of the motif. Also, speculate about how the motif might be significant in the play based on what you already know about the play.
 

* In the "Hamlet Odds & Ends" Google doc or on paper, respond to the essential questions that we'll explore while reading the play: How do different people respond to traumatic loss and tragedy? How do people respond to uncertainty, mystery, and doubt? How do people respond to wrongdoing and corruption? What do these responses have to do with inner character and inner consciousness, with social pressures and external influences, with gender and age, with power and lack of power? 
Respond based on your experiences, observation, and/or studies. (I'd rather you respond deeply to a single question than superficially to all of them, but you're also free to respond to all, most, or some. Whatever you do respond deeply.)

* For class on Friday you were supposed to have read act one scene one (1.1). How does Shakespeare throw the audience into mystery, uncertainty, and doubt in the first scene (before we even meet Hamlet the protagonist)? Your response should show that you understand some of what you read in 1.1 in relation to the key theme in the question.