Hamlet
Lesson plans and teaching ideas

60-Second Shakespeare
On this page, a tabloid-style summary of the play from the BBC. Follow links to learn how your students can produce something similar.

Anticipation Guide
Scroll down on the page for a model anticipation guide.

Cartoon Summary
The play in 48 cartoons.

Comparing Film Adaptations
Strategies for engaging students using clips from more than one film version. Includes a handout; Adobe Reader or compatible application required for access to the handout.

Enter Ophelia: Stage Directions, Promptbooks, and Film
This standards-based lesson focuses on 4.5.1-224. Students examine a variety of stagings of the scene using film and promptbooks (available at this site). They consider the causes and effects of the different versions.

Emulating Shakespeare: To Snooze or not to Snooze
Many artists study their craft by imitating the masters. In this lesson, students reproduce the pattern of one of Shakespeare's soliloquies, but use their own ideas and words to replace the character's. This "emulation" is not a paraphrase or parody, but a unique composition inspired by the form of the original.

Essay Topics on Hamlet
A variety of fairly traditional topics.

Folger on the Ramparts
Students use online resources to plan the staging of a scene.

Giving up the Ghost: Ways of Seeing the Ghost in Hamlet
Students examine artwork (available at the site) to help understand the nonverbal elements of the play. This activity is designed for elementary students.

The Great Shakespeare Experiment
Using the first 11 lines from Hamlet, students become comfortable with Shakespearean language and develop "an appreciation for the role of the actor in interpreting a text by making choices."

A Guilty Gertrude
In this lesson, students will examine Gertrude's behavior, lines and thoughts in a scene that is normally analyzed for what it reveals about Ophelia's madness. Students will have to synthesize what they know about Gertrude to perform her chraracter in a scene where she has some enigmatic lines and long silences.

Hamlet
Using a theme of "Grief, Guilt, and Revenge!" this site offers a summary, prereading and interdisciplinary activities, and links to suggestions for additional reading.

Hamlet
Plot summary, discussion of purgatory, themes, questions and essay topics, background, more.

Hamlet
This 24-page document addresses 161 vocabulary words drawn from the play. Adobe Reader or compatible application required for access.

Hamlet
Summary and 5 lessons. Access to this 64-page document requires Adobe Reader or compatible application.

Hamlet and the Pirates
Students will get a glimpse of what Hamlet encountered in the off-stage pirate attack, using 17th century primary sources and 21st century internet resources to get some context for Hamlet's adventures.

Hamlet — Executive Summary
PowerPoint summary of the plot.

Hamlet, Facebook News Feed style
A parody of the play done in social networking style.

Hamlet Haven
An annotated bibliography of some online scholarship.

Hamlet on the Ramparts
An evolving collection of texts, images, and film relevant to Hamlet’s first encounter with the ghost.

Hamlet: Word Pictures and Ghost Stories
This introduction to the play is designed for elementary students. As the teacher reads a passage, students draw what they hear.

Hamlet Works
An amazing repository of scholarly material on the play, including searchable texts and concordances.

Learning Guide: Hamlet
This guide from Teach With Movies is based on the Mel Gibson version but is very easily adaptable to reading and to other film versions. Summary, themes, extensive discussion questions, suggestions for activities, and links to related sites.

Like, Wow
This standards-based lesson focuses on 1.1 and introduces students to the concept of perception vs. reality in the play.

"Remember Me": Retribution and Reconciliation in Hamlet
This activity emphasize critical analysis, focusing on "the ways in which the Ghost's speech (lines 43-92) contribute to the themes of corruption, revenge, and forgiveness" (from the page).

See Hamlet Run
A decidedly irreverent take on the play.

Shakespeare in the Bush
Laura Bohannon's account of telling the story of Hamlet to the Tiv people of West Africa.

Shakespeare: Subject to Change
This outstanding site from Cable in the Classroom offers a multimedia look at background information about Shakespeare in general and Hamlet specifically.

Shakespearean Comedy on Film
Lesson 2, "Comedy in Tragedy," explores the gravediggers scene and the impact of comedy.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
This activity emphasizes critical analysis, focusing on the theme of the corrupting influence of evil.

Stick Figure Hamlet
As the title implies, the play is reproduced at this site in high quality stick figures. No lesson plans here, just a terrific resource for students who have trouble reading and for anyone who appreciates the play.

Studying Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
This very extensive page offers a wealth of discussion questions and insights into the play.

Teacher's Guide to Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Dealing with the language, journal prompts, prereading, during reading, and postreading activities with emphasis on theme and character. This extensive document requires Adobe Reader or equivalent application for access.

Teaching Hamlet
Resources from the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Test-Yourself Reading Quiz on Hamlet, Acts I & II and Acts III, IV, and V
Self-correcting interactive quizzes, great review material.

"Touching this vision": Imagery in Hamlet
This standards-based lesson focuses on Acts 1-3. Students write poetry informed by the imagery in the play.

The Tragedy of ?
Students explore the definition of tragedy and the tragic hero.

Who is Gertrude, Really?
Students form their own opinions about Gertrude by imaginatively creating entries for Gertrude's journal. Each journal entry will reveal much about Gertrude's character at pivotal moments in the play.

www.Hamlet
Students use an online concordance to explore the patterns of imagery in the play.

You Can't Go Home Again (or, If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother)
This standards-based lesson from the Folger Library focuses on Act 1, scene 2.

You Should not Have Believed Me: Multiple Readings of Hamlet
Is Hamlet truly mad or just feigning madness? Does Ophelia commit suicide or drown by accident? This lesson introduces students to the variety of interpretations offered by the text.