Hamlet Translation Assignment

Hamlet Translation Assignment

The monologues in any Shakespeare play are very important, since they give us an intimate view into the mental workings of key characters. Often, too, they help us prepare for upcoming events in the play as we see the characters making critical decisions about their actions and interactions with other characters. The monologues in Hamlet are especially important, since the way we interpret them determines to a large extent the messages we take from the play about revenge, duty, persistence, and loyalty. The monologue reveals a great deal about the speaker and his world.

In order to help you get a thorough understanding of at least one monologue functions in the play or poem, your assignment is to do the following:

• Read through the entire play of Hamlet, preferably while listening to an audio version of the text or watching a film version.

• Choose one of the following monologues from the play to focus on for this assignment (page numbers are from The Seagull Reader):

• Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2, lines 1-39 (p. 61-63)
• Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2, lines 129-159 (p.65-66)
• Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3, lines 55-81 (p.72)
• Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, lines 527-584 (p.105-107)
• Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, lines 56-90 (p.109-110)
• Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2, lines 353-384 (p.115-116)
• Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3, lines 36-72 (p. 127-128)
• Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3, lines 73-96 (p,128-129)
• Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 4, lines 32-66 (p.142-143)

• Re-read the lines and think carefully about what the character is saying in each line.

• What do you notice? Make note of any lines or phrases that confuse you or that might have multiple interpretations.

• Write down your answers to the following questions:

• Is the character alone or with others when speaking these lines? In other words, does (s)he have an audience? How does that audience affect our interpretation of the lines?
• What is the main purpose of these lines? Is the character trying to communicate a message, make a decision, express an emotion, or something else?
• Does the message or main idea of the monologue change over the course of the passage? Once or more than once? Where do you see those changes happen?
• What different sections does the monologue divide into? If these were paragraphs, where would you start a new paragraph?

• Re-write the lines into modern English. Your translation should be roughly the same length as the original and should include all of the same information. You are welcome to use a specific kind of modern English (e.g. high school slang, rap, Southern dialect, etc), but your style should be consistent and should not change the essential meaning of the passage.
• At the end of your translation, write a short commentary (a paragraph or two) about what you learned from this exercise. What did you understand about the passage after translating it that you didn’t see before?
• Submit your assignment, including your answers to parts 3-6 above.