Hamlet Act I—non-traditional Greeting Cards
Greeting cards. You can find them in drug stores, specialty shops, supermarkets, and even
convenience stores, just waiting to express our every emotion at any occasion—but do they
really fit any situation?
GOAL:
Design a perfect greeting card for an imperfect situation from Hamlet
ROLE :
Greeting Card Designer (you may work individually or with a partner)
AUDIENCE:
The POD
SITUATION:
You are top greeting card designers—being issued a challenge by some complicated yet important
people! Choose one of the following clients and design a perfect card for his/her situation
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G e r t r u d e to Hamlet on the occasion of her wedding (before the play starts)
L a e r t e s to Ophelia (the first card he sends her from France after I.iii)
O p h e l i a to Hamlet after I.iii (she’s telling him she can’t see him as much)
G h o s t to Hamlet after Act I (following their conversation)
H a m l e t to Gertrude and/or Claudius after Act I
PRODUCT:
A greeting card that fits the situation with strong layout/design. You will find the perfect, creative way
for a character from Hamlet to really express his/her emotions
STANDARDS:
 Creative and well-crafted product (handmade is awesome, computer designed is acceptable)
 Front effectively sets the mood of the card with the use of graphic(s) and possibly text
 Inside flap contains message that conveys your client’s emotions
 Back cover has the name of the creator(s) and the date created
 At least one quote from the play (Act I) is included
 Colors and layout support purpose
Hamlet Act II – Creative piece
We will start many creative “seeds” in class after we read Act II.
You will develop one of them into a revised creative piece (poem, story, song, diary entry,
etc.).
GOAL:
Expand a writing “seed” to more fully imagine one or
more of the characters from Hamlet.
ROLE :
Author
AUDIENCE:
The class
SITUATION:
You are an author interested in Hamlet’s characters,
and you are working to write a piece that lets you
show more of the characters than is clearly present
in the play.
PRODUCT:
A revised creative piece that is true to
Shakespeare’s text but deepens a character’s
emotional life.
STANDARDS:
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Typed final draft
Correct conventions
True to Shakespeare’s text
Indicates your own strong inferences/creativity
regarding one or more characters.
Act III Activity—Who/When?
The setting of Hamlet is far in location and time from Shakespeare’s life—but what happens
to the story when it is set somewhere else with different characters? Choose III.i, III.ii, or III.iv
and change the setting and characters, but retain the basic plot structure.
GOAL:
Rewrite III.i, III.ii, or III.iv in a drastically different setting with characters that are appropriate to that setting
while retaining Shakespeare’s basic plot structure and the characters’ emotions.
ROLE:
Playwright (you may work individually or with a partner)
AUDIENCE:
The class
SITUATION:
You are a playwright who wants to bring the situations of Hamlet alive in a new way by showing how
Hamlet is about human issues/relationships rather than being limited to a specific time and place.
PRODUCT:
A typed script that re-envisions one of the scene choices from Act III.
STANDARDS:
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Typed with excellent conventions
Maintains basic plot/emotional situations in the scene
Establishes new setting and characters
Shared by reading in front of the class—you should have a copy of the script for each “actor”
Act IV Activity—Oh Noes!
Ophelia’s in trouble—the King and Queen of Denmark don’t know what to do!
Who do they call?
YOU!!
Use the evidence below (most of Ophelia’s lines from IV.v) as the basis of your analysis. Do not make the
mistake of just thinking her words are raving and do not mean anything—as an analyst your job is to dig
beneath the surface and work to figure out what deeper things her crazy seeming words indicate.
GOAL
ROLE
AUDIENCE
Help decipher what is wrong with Ophelia and how she can be helped based on
what she says in IV.v
Royal Danish Therapist
Gertrude, Claudius, and Laertes
You are the highly renowned therapist to the Royal Court of Denmark. You have
been called in by Claudius and Gertrude who are very worried about Ophelia, who
seems to have gone mad
A written analysis of the causes of Ophelia’s emotional issues and
PRODUCT
recommendations for how she can be helped
STANDARDS Final analysis should effectively and insightfully take apart Ophelia’s words,
demonstrating a deep consideration of how her words reveal her problems.
The proposed treatment should address her issues and be possible (meaning we
can’t reanimate Polonius or do things like that)
SITUATION
He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
White his shroud as the mountain snow,-To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.
I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I
cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him
i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of it:
and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my
coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies;
good night, good night.
They bore him barefaced on the bier;
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;
And in his grave rain'd many a tear:-Fare you well, my dove!
You must sing a-down a-down,
An you call him a-down-a.
O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false
steward, that stole his master's daughter.
There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray,
love, remember: and there is pansies. that's for thoughts.
There's fennel for you, and columbines: there's rue
for you; and here's some for me: we may call it
herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with
a difference. There's a daisy: I would give you
some violets, but they withered all when my father
died: they say he made a good end,--
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead:
Go to thy death-bed:
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow,
All flaxen was his poll:
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan:
God ha' mercy on his soul!
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi' ye.
Act V Activity—Test!
After we finish Act V you will have a test covering the entire play and all of our vocab.