Unit 4: Action and Inaction, Appearance vs. Reality
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
- What is the difference between appearance and reality? How can we discern it?
- How do power, ambition, and revenge drive our lives?
- How do the decisions we make or not make affect our lives? What are the effects of indecision?
- How does fate control our lives? Do we have free will?
Full text of the play from MIT
Full text of the play from Folger
No Fear Shakespeare parallel text (with modern English translations)
Audio Version of the Play (free)
Audio Version of the Play ($13.75 but better quality--we will use this one in class)
Listen to the actors read the play while you follow along in your book. It will give meaning to the words on the page. Try it!
Hamlet Character List
What Would You Do? Hamlet Scenarios
Revenge Quotations
Hamlet Vocabulary
Pre-reading Vocabulary (goes with character list above)
Act 1 Vocabulary
Act 2 Vocabulary
Act 3 Vocabulary
(The lists below were not covered in 2016)
"cide" words (Write a summary of Hamlet thus far using at least seven (7) words from this list. Extra points for apt use of other words on the list.)
Act 4 Vocabulary
Act 5 Vocabulary
The Log
You must make an entry in your log every time you read the play. I will check these logs in class and sometimes I will collect them. Your grade will be based on the thoroughness of your responses. Follow the format from "The Log" handout. Note that you must write on THREE (3) components for every entry. Those three (3) components could include:
1. Summarize the action of the scene.
2. Comment in one sentence on what you think is the significance of the scene. What would the play be like without it?
3. Ask questions about the scene. Has anything in the scene caused you confusion? Ask one of the characters in the scene a question--or ask me a question.https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/1614350
4. Quote lines from the scene that you enjoyed and comment on them.
5. Describe your reactions to a character, action, or idea you confronted in the scene.
6. Talk about the relationships characters have to one another, quoting specific words or phrases to give evidence for your opinion.
7. Pretend you are an actor playing one of the characters in the scene. Get inside that character's mind. Tell how the character feels about herself, about other characters, about the situation of the scene.
(See the handout for examples of each component listed here.)
Physicalizing Hamlet
Click on the link for the sample video of "To be or not to be" speech. Note the number of props, gestures, images, mimes, sound effects, etc. these guys are able to cram into a two-minute soliloquy. Impressive!
Hamlet Movies
Many of these versions are available on demand for free through Netflix, Amazon, and cable providers like Comcast & Verizon:
http://petergalenmassey.com/2012/06/29/9-best-hamlet-movies-shakespeare/
The Royal Shakespeare Company's 2009 adaptation can be viewed online via PBS.org:
http://video.pbs.org/video/1473795626/
Mansplaining: "Men Explain Things to Me" by Rebecca Solnit
Extra credit: How might this term "mansplaining" relate to 1.3 with Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius? Write your answer in your log. Use evidence from the play.
Discussion Questions:
2.1: Ophelia describes Hamlet to Polonius
2.2: Hamlet's "O, what a rogue" soliloquy
Two versions of Hamlet's "O, what a rogue" soliloquy on film: Kenneth Branagh & David Tennant
Hamlet Soliloquy Writing Assignment
Student Examples
Subtext & Objective
subtext - content underneath the words; the character's motivations; what the character really thinks/believes
objective - a goal; what a character wants/is trying to do
"Friends vs. More Than Friends" video
Hamlet 3.1 group activity (link coming soon)
Hamlet survey