Fever Chart Assignment

Hamlet: The Fever Chart

The purpose of the fever chart assignment is to allow you to do a close reading of the text, which will lead to an essay that supplies evidence for the idea you are developing. The basic idea of the fever chart is that you are tracking Hamlet’s psychological state through the course of the play, using your own created (sanity-insanity) scale as the “Y-AXIS” and using direct quotes from the play as the “X-AXIS.” A careful look at the fever chart will allow you to draw conclusions.

You can choose to do Hamlet alone or you can have several lines for several different characters. Some traditional questions/issues have been Hamlet’s outer v. his inner life, Polonius’s observation that “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it,” and the theme of appearance versus reality. You do not have to focus on Hamlet, however, but might want to consider the characters of Claudius, Ophelia, or Gertrude and their respective psychological and emotional plights. If you are brave, you might also consider a topic/chart that combines Hamlet and Moby-Dick.

Sample Fever Chart Scoring Rubric:

Originality of Format (20 pts.)
Use of the Text: # of citations (40 pts.)
Presentation: Art, Construction, Neatness (20 pts.)
Clarity and Demonstration of Thesis (20 pts.)

Total _________

Comments:

Week 31

We will spend the week reading and discussing Hamlet. You will need to bring your copy of the play to class everyday. Tuesday 3/31 will be a reading day. You should be through Act II by Wednesday and finished witht he play by Friday.

You will also need to be working on your Hamlet Fever Chart. We will discuss this assignment (which is due next Wednesday 4/8) in class, but the links below will be helpful.

http://mtsnetworks.net/ngeorge/
http://casgex.tripod.com/index.html

Assignment for Monday 3/30

Read Act I, Scenes I and II of Hamlet and post responses to the following questions. These will be recorded as homework grades...15 pts. each if you do them reasonable well, 0 if you have not posted by the beginning of class Monday.

1. What portents appear in Act I Scene I? What does Horatio think these signs mean? What portents appeared in Moby-Dick? Do you think Shakespeare influneced Melville in this regard? Why or why not?

2. In his soliloquy, Hamlet uses the image of an unweeded garden. What is Hamlet comparing to a garden? What are the weeds? Who is responsible for tending the garden? If Hamlet were the chief gardener, how do you think he would go about restoring the garden?

Week 29

Reading: Perrine's The Elements of Drama, Ch 1. pp 1027-1030; Ch. 3 pp. 1209-1216; Oedipus Rex through Scene 1 (pp. 1216-1231)

M: MC Practcie

T - Th: Watch Moby-Dick, discuss reading

F: CPS Quiz on reading (15 pts.)

HW: finish Oedipus Rex

Week 28

Papers due Friday!

M & T - MC Practice

Tues. HW: Review Ahab and Starbuck quotes/charatcer analyses from blog.

W - AP Prompt Essay (in library comp lab. e-mail to me when done.)

Th - Essay Day...I will BRIEFLY read over and comment on any drafts brought to class.

F - Papers Due; AP Prompt Samples

Week 27

Papers will be due WEDNESDAY 3/11 instead of Monday 3/9...hopefully this will give you more time to revise and re-write!

Notecard Assignment (you will have the rest of the week to work on this assignment and/or your paper!)

Each of you will need to post three "notecards" on the blog by the end of the period Friday. Individual assignments are below, but each of you need to do one character card for Ahab that includes:

1. A one-paragraph character analysis.
2. A list of adjectives describing Ahab.
3. At least three quotes from Ishmael (or Bildad or Peleg or Starbuck) that reveal Ahab's unique character and fate.
4. At least three quotes from Ahab himself that reveal his "monomania" and his complex/ambiguous personality.

You also each need to do a symbol card (be prepared to do a symbol encyclopedia of you choose the White Whale!) that includes:

1. A one-paragraph analysis of the symbol and its role in the novel.
2. At least one quote by Ishmael refering to the symbols and its importance.
3. At least one quote by another character refering to the symbol and its importance.


Individual character card assignments are below. These need to follow the same format as the Ahab cards, but you need only use two quotes from your character and two from Ishmael or Ahab.

Tatum - Queequeg
Kyle - Father Mapple
Emily - Elijah
Whitmore - Bildad
Megan - Peleg
Julia Bambla - Starbuck
Sammy - Stubb
Luke - Flask
Colleen - Pip
Sarah - The Carpenter
Kailtyn - Steelkilt
Jessica - Fedallah
Kelsey - Ishmael (you won't find any quotes about him, so use four quotes by him.)