Pratique du Shadowing: Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 1-5 Summary and Analysis: Piper's Paraphrases - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

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Do you smell that?

I think something's rotten.

In the state of Denmark!

Welcome to Piper's Paraphrases.

I'm Professor Pipes, and in case you couldn't tell, I'm here to talk about Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Hamlet.

Specifically, Act 1.

So get ready for a ghost story.

Let's start by talking about the players.

First we have the titular

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

He's the son of King Hamlet, who is now dead and a ghost.

Hamlet is extremely thoughtful.

Not so much in the buys you flowers just because kind of way,

and more so in the should I avenge my father's death and should I even exist kind of way.

He took that think -before -you -act advice maybe a bit too seriously.

Hamlet's mom is Gertrude, Queen of Denmark.

Though she seems nice and protective, to be honest, she's mostly just a plot point, existing to provide motive.

Speaking of motive, Claudius is the Motivated.

He's Ghost Hamlet's brother and murderer, which makes him main character

Hamlet's uncle and stepdad.

That's right, Claudius moved in on Gertrude quickly after her husband's death, so he's now

King of Denmark.

Claudius' main advisor is Polonius.

He's basically one part pompous and one part conniving.

He's the kind of old man to say things like, back in my day, without a shred of irony,

and then give some unsolicited advice that he himself wouldn't follow.

Polonius' son is Laertes, who eventually serves as a bit of a foil to Hamlet, and his daughter is Ophelia,

who happens to be Hamlet's sweet and innocent love interest.

Horatio is Hamlet's wise, kind, and loyal friend.

Kinda boring, but a good guy!

Hamlet also has a couple of old school friends named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but we'll learn about them later.

Lastly, Fortinbras is the Prince of Norway, and like Hamlet, he also has a dead dad who shares his name.

So we've got two Hamlets and two Fortinbras.

What, did you run out of names, Shakespeare?

Scene 1 begins at midnight with a changing of the guard.

Horatio and some guards talk about a thing that has been seen twice already.

But Horatio is skeptical.

Just as one of the guards tries to convince him of what he saw, it arrives.

The ghost of King Hamlet, dressed in armor.

The other guards encourage Horatio to talk to the ghost, but as soon as he asks, What are you?

The ghost disappears.

Spooky.

The guards start wondering what the apparition could mean, and also why the castle seems to be preparing for war.

Luckily, Horatio has answers for both he states that

King Hamlet was wearing that armor when he killed

King Fortinbras, the King of Norway, thus obtaining his lands.

Unfortunately, Fortinbras's son, the new Fortinbras,

has gathered his own army and plans to attack Denmark in order to avenge his father's death and win back the land.

Horatio wonders if the ghost's appearance is a warning about upcoming war, much like all the omens before Julius Caesar's death.

Easter egg of another Shakespeare play.

Just then, the ghost reappears, and Horatio asks why it has come.

Before it can answer, a rooster crows, and the ghost disappears again.

Clearly not a fan of chickens.

The scene ends at dawn, as Horatio plans to tell the alive

Hamlet what they saw.

In scene two, we're introduced to most of the cast, as Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes enter.

Claudius is explaining why he and Gertrude got married so quickly after

King Hamlet's death.

The country needed to seem strong, not sad, since Fortinbras is planning to attack. So romantic.

He then sends a couple of ambassadors to Norway with a note to Fortinbras' uncle, encouraging him to stop his nephew.

Laertes asks Claudius for permission to return to France, and he consents.

Claudius then points out that

Hamlet's appearance seems sad and cloudy.

To which Hamlet replies that he's actually too much in the sun.

Get it?

Because he's now

Hamlet's and Claudius' son?

Anyway, Claudius and Gertrude tell

Hamlet that he should stop looking so sad.

After all, all that lives must die.

Claudius even tells

Hamlet that his grief makes him seem weak and stupid.

Hmm, that's a weird way to say I'm sorry for your loss.

Gertrude asks Hamlet not to return to school and he agrees, so everybody heads off except Hamlet.

And in case you were wondering just how sad

Hamlet is, he gives a speech saying that his father's death

and his mother's remarriage have made him wish he could kill himself.

But it goes against his religion.

Horatio and crew then arrive, and Hamlet mentions he'll never see a man as good as his father again.

Which is a perfect segue for Horatio to tell him that maybe he will, since Horatio saw his ghost last night.

Hamlet vows to meet Horatio tonight so he can speak with the ghost.

Scene 3 gives us some sibling time with Laertes and Ophelia, saying goodbye before Laertes heads back to Paris.

Laertes offers his sister some advice about Hamlet, saying that the prince is immature, and his affection for her won't last long.

Good advice, but still, rude.

Laertes reminds her that, as a prince, Hamlet will have to marry someone who will be good for the kingdom.

Therefore, she'd better be afraid, be very afraid, and reject his advances to protect her honor.

Polonius comes in and gives Laertes a bunch of advice about how precisely and carefully he should behave in every possible situation.

What to do, what not to do, how he should spend his time and money,

before concluding with a reminder to just be himself as long as himself is exactly who his father wants him to be.

When Laertes leaves, Polonius gives his daughter a long lecture about how stupid she is for believing

Hamlet's words of love.

Aw, father of the year.

Like lots of parents, Polonius warns Ophelia that

Hamlet only wants one thing, so she'd better stay away from him.

And like the good daughter that she is, Ophelia agrees, but likely doesn't want to.

For scene four, we fast forward to just after midnight, night, and Hamlet has joined Horatio and the guard Marcellus in hopes of seeing the ghost.

When some trumpets sound, Hamlet comments that

King Claudius must be drinking again and is clearly annoyed by such partying.

Whoops.

100

Since it gives the country a bad reputation as a bunch of drunks.

101

Just then, the ghost arrives.

102

Hamlet immediately recognizes it as his father and asks why it has come.

103

Instead of answering, the ghost beckons him to follow.

104

And despite his friend's warnings and literal attempts to hold him back, Hamlet follows.

105

Marcellus and Horatio decide to go after him.

106

Yeah, let's all follow a ghost into the dark in the middle of the night.

107

What could go wrong?

108

In scene 5, once they're alone, the ghost tells

109

Hamlet to AVENGE MEEEEEE!

110

And Hamlet agrees before he even hears the story.

111

Here it is anyways.

112

The whole country has heard that a snake bit old

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King Hamlet, and that's what killed him.

114

Revenge on a snake?

115

Oh, actually the snake is Claudius.

116

He seduced Gertrude, and when King Hamlet was sleeping in an orchard, as one does, Claudius poured poison in his ear,

117

killing him and sending him to purgatory, where he now lives.

118

Well, unlives?

119

He again tells

120

Hamlet to seek revenge, but also to leave his mom out of it.

121

The ghost disappears, and Hamlet is big mad at both his mom and Claudius, and he vows to get revenge!

122

Horatio and Marcellus catch up to Hamlet, who makes them swear a bunch of times that they won't say anything about what they saw tonight.

123

And then he makes them swear some more, for good measure, because he keeps hearing the ghost of his father call out to swear.

124

He eventually tells them that, no matter how strangely he acts in the future, since he might need to act a bit crazy,

125

they must not give any sort of clue to anyone that they know what happened tonight.

126

And let's be real here, they really don't.

127

As Hamlet curses the fact that he now has to fix everything, Act 1 ends.

128

Many of the themes and motifs revolve around the idea of appearance versus reality.

129

In fact, the idea of questioning our own reality comes up in the very first scene, when Horatio says of the ghost,

130

I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes.

131

This suggests that seeing is believing, but we all know that this isn't always the case.

132

After all, both Laertes and Polonius warn Ophelia that she can't believe everything she sees and hears from Hamlet, since his affections are forward,

133

not permanent, sweet, not lasting.

134

And even though Ophelia says that

135

Hamlet has always been honorable, Polonius says, do not believe his vows, since he might act all honorable and perfect,

136

the better to beguile, and trick her into sleeping with him.

137

Which is interesting, since Polonius' advice to Laertes is pretty much to do exactly what he faults

138

Hamlet for doing.

139

He tells Laertes to give every man thy ear, but few thy voice, meaning that he should listen to other people,

140

but not reveal his own opinions, thus making his appearance untrustworthy.

141

He even tells Laertes how to dress, since the apparel oft proclaims the man.

142

Polonius knows that people tend to believe what they see, so he wants Laertes to use this to his advantage.

143

Ironically, he finishes up this advice with the oft -quoted, to thine own self be true.

144

Great advice, but from a rather untrue source.

145

Along the lines of appearance versus reality, we've already started to see one of the main motifs of the play.

146

Performance.

147

Not like the performance of the play, but rather the ways in which people are performative, acting, in their normal lives.

148

For instance, when talking about Hamlet's grief, Gertrude asks, why seems it so particular with thee?

149

To which Hamlet replies, seems, madam, nay it is.

150

He continues, saying that anyone can put on the appearance of grief, wear the clothing, act sad,

151

since these indeed seem, for they are actions that a man might play.

152

Hamlet, on the other hand, has that within which passeth show, these but the trappings and the suits of woe.

153

Meaning that his outward appearance is a true reflection of his grief, not an act.

154

Ironically, in scene 5, Hamlet talks about his own performance,

155

saying that he might have to put an antic disposition on or act mad in order to avenge his father.

156

And that in itself should make the audience question

157

Hamlet in the future.

158

If he won't reveal when he's acting mad, how are we to know whether it's appearance or reality?

159

In fact, while some interpretations of the play suggest he is mentally sound and he wears madness like a costume,

160

others suggest that his desire for revenge actually drives him to madness.

161

In other words, we as the audience might not be able to trust his appearance.

162

And to bring it full circle, how we view his mental state ultimately comes down to the actor's performance.

163

Speaking of appearances, let's discuss the ghost.

164

Obviously, we know that the Others can see it, so it is there.

165

We also know that it looks like

166

Old King Hamlet.

167

But the characters question what exactly it is, even calling it a thing in Scene 1 rather than a ghost.

168

They also question why it is there and where it comes from, with Hamlet wondering, Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned?

169

Bring with the heirs from heaven or blasts from hell?

170

Be thy intents wicked or charitable?

171

However, Hamlet immediately decides to believe everything it says.

172

Perhaps because it says exactly what he wants to hear, that Gertrude's relationship is incestuous and wrong, and that Claudius is evil.

173

But we should keep in mind that

174

Hamlet's the only one the ghost tells this to, since it disappears when Horatio and Marcellus arrive,

175

and he's also the only one to see or interact with the ghost in all of scene 5.

176

In fact, when the ghost keeps saying, swear.

177

Hamlet is the only one to reference this, and when Hamlet continues to speak to the absent ghost, Horatio points out, oh, day and night,

178

but this is wondrous strange.

179

Is he talking about hearing the ghost or Hamlet's strange behavior?

180

Ultimately, it's up to the performers.

181

And while they could choose to physically react to the ominous swear, they could also choose to ignore it,

182

making the audience further wonder what we should believe.

183

Another important theme is the complexity of morality.

184

Throughout the play, Hamlet often questions what is right, struggling against the morals he's been taught.

185

In fact, in his first appearance,

186

Hamlet is so overwhelmed by the death of his father and the incestuous behavior of his mother that he is contemplating suicide.

187

He wishes that he could just disappear or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon against self -slaughter.

188

In other words, Hamlet says that the only thing stopping him is his religious belief that suicide is a mortal sin.

189

He continues to discuss religion when he talks to the ghost, and so does the ghost.

190

He says that the most horrible part of his murder is

191

that he was cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,

192

no reckoning made, but sent to my account with all my imperfections on my head.

193

In other words, he wasn't able to repent for his sins or receive last rites, which landed him in purgatory.

194

Despite this, the ghost urges

195

Hamlet to sin by killing Claudius.

196

Do two wrongs make a right?

197

Hamlet has to decide which is the lesser of two evils, murder or failing to honor his father and avenge his death.

198

Clearly Fortinbras picked a side.

199

He's basically in the same boat as Hamlet,

200

and he immediately takes action to try to win back the lands his father lost when he was killed.

201

And Claudius uses Fortinbras and morality to justify his behavior, saying that marrying Gertrude so quickly was the right thing to do,

202

since Fortinpros is holding a weak supposal of our worth,

203

or thinking by our late dear brother's death our state to be disjoint and out of frame.

204

We can't have him thinking our country is weak, or missing a ruler, so he had to marry Gertrude.

205

Sure.

206

As Marcellus says, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and apparently Hamlet was born to set it right.

207

Good luck with that.

208

Finally, I can't leave without pointing out the pretty messed up beliefs related to gender.

209

Of course we have the classic line from Claudius that

210

Hamlet's grief is unmanly.

211

Apparently men shouldn't care that their dad died.

212

Right.

213

And then with women, their honor is clearly tied to, well, their sex lives.

214

Hamlet and Ghost Hamlet both refer to Gertrude's relationship with Claudius as incestuous, and to be honest, Hamlet kinda seems more mad at his mom than,

215

you know, the killer, saying, oh most pernicious woman, oh villain, villain, smiling, damned villain.

216

Meanwhile, Polonius and Laertes keep awkwardly talking about Ophelia's virginity.

217

Laertes warns her not to listen to Hamlet, or else lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open, to his unmastered importunity.

218

Polonius takes it further, saying that her behavior with Hamlet will tender me a fool.

219

In other words, Ophelia's behavior would dishonor not only herself, but also her family.

220

Oh, how times have.

221

Not really changed.

222

Before we finish

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Act 1, it's time for me to leave you with some food for thought.

224

First, what is the significance of the ghost appearing in the very first scene?

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How does its appearance set the tone for the rest of the play?

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Second, both Hamlet and Claudius talk a lot about how Denmark is perceived by other countries.

227

In what ways does this add to the conflict in the play, and how does it relate to the idea of appearance versus reality?

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Third, look back at Polonius' advice to his kids.

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How does this advice reflect Polonius' character and his views on honor, duty, and family?

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Fourth, what do you think is the purpose of Fortinbras?

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Why might Shakespeare have established this political turmoil?

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And or why does he give Fortinbras such a similar backstory to Hamlet's?

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Finally, where do you currently stand in terms of Hamlet's mental state?

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So far, what evidence suggests a mental break and what evidence opposes it?

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Thanks for watching this episode of Piper's Paraphrases.

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Now go forth, read a bunch, and be good people who don't kill their brothers.

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If this video was helpful, don't forget to like and subscribe, and check out the other videos in this series.

238

If there are any books that you might like covered in future episodes, leave a comment.

239

To see all the books and stories I've covered so far, plus some useful literary knowledge and teacher tips,

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you can visit my website or find me on social media.

241

Links are right down there.

242

Thanks again from me and Cooper.

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Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon

Cette leçon d’expression orale s’appuie sur la vidéo « Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 1-5 Summary and Analysis: Piper's Paraphrases ». Les mots qui reviennent le plus souvent : Hamlet, ghost, Claudius, Horatio, Laertes. Cette vidéo contient 242 phrases et 2883 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 16:13. Le locuteur parle à un rythme naturel d’environ 178 mots par minute, proche d’une conversation courante. Seuls 79 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais, le vocabulaire est donc exigeant.

Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo

15 mots de la vidéo à retenir, avec leur prononciation et leur sens :

Mot	Prononciation	Sens
ghost nom	/ɡoʊst/	fantôme, spectre
disappear verbe	/dɪsəˈpɪɹ/	disparaître
grief nom	/ɡɹiːf/	douleur, peine
arrive verbe	/əˈɹaɪv/	arriver
revenge nom	/ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/	vengeance, revanche
marry verbe	/ˈmæɹi/	se marier, épouser
versus	/ˈvɝsəs/	contre, face à
snake nom	/sneɪk/	serpent
warn verbe	/woɹn/	avertir, alerter
villain nom	/ˈvɪl.ən/	scélérat
vow nom	/vaʊ/	voeu, vœu
belief nom	/bɪˈliːf/	croyance
encourage verbe	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	encourager
uncle nom	/ˈʌŋ.kl̩/	oncle, tonton
reveal verbe	/ɹɪˈviːl/	révéler

Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez

Mot	Prononciation	Sens
point out verbe		pointer
check out verbe		mater, regarder
cut off verbe	/ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf]	tailler, couper
finish up verbe		fignoler
mess up verbe		gâcher

Des phrases à répéter

Des phrases courtes et complètes de la vidéo, à réutiliser dans la conversation de tous les jours :

Do you smell that?
Let's start by talking about the players.
Speaking of appearances, let's discuss the ghost.

La grammaire de cette vidéo

Les structures que le locuteur utilise le plus, avec les mots exacts de la vidéo :

Structure	Dans la vidéo
Present perfect have/has + participe passé — une action passée qui compte encore maintenant	has been seen · has gathered · has come
Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le fait	has been seen · been taught · was cut
Propositions relatives who / which + proposition — une précision sur une personne ou une chose	murderer, which makes · someone who will · people who don

Prononciation à surveiller

Le locuteur utilise 29 contractions et formes réduites, comme can't, don't, I'm. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.

Les sons « th »: clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/
Les sons « sh » et « zh »: affection /əˈfɛk.ʃən/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, interpretation /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, treasure /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/
Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: morality /məˈɹælɪti/, ironically /aɪˈɹɑnɪkli/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, ambassador /æmˈbæs.ə.dɚ/, literary /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/

Les sons difficiles pour les francophones :

/h/ — il se souffle, il n’est pas muet: horrible /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/, helpful /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/, behave /bɪˈheɪv/
/tʃ/ et /dʒ/ — à ne pas adoucir en « ch » et « j »: revenge /ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, encourage /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/, justify /ˈd͡ʒʌstɪfaɪ/, lecture /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/, tragedy /ˈtɹæd͡ʒ.ɪ.di/
/r/ anglais — langue recourbée, sans frotter la gorge: disappear /dɪsəˈpɪɹ/, grief /ɡɹiːf/, arrive /əˈɹaɪv/, revenge /ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, marry /ˈmæɹi/

Comment s’entraîner avec cette vidéo

Écoutez la vidéo en entier une fois sans parler et notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas.
Commencez à la vitesse 0,75×, répétez phrase par phrase, puis revenez à la vitesse normale quand cela devient facile.
Enregistrez-vous et comparez avec l’original, en faisant attention à des mots comme ghost, disappear, grief.

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.

Technique du shadowing : lire le guide complet étape par étape →

Pratique du Shadowing: Hamlet Act 1 Scenes 1-5 Summary and Analysis: Piper's Paraphrases - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

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