StudySync Lesson Plan
Hamlet
Objectives
1.
Engage students in the plot, characters, themes, setting, and language of William
Shakespeare’s Hamlet so that they are prepared to discuss and write about the excerpt
and/or the entire play.
2. Practice and reinforce the following Grades 11-12 ELA Common Core Standards for
reading literature, writing, and speaking and listening:
READING: LITERATURE – RL.11-12.1-5, 7, 10
WRITING – W.11-12.1-10
SPEAKING AND LISTENING – SL.11-12.1-6
Time
145 minutes (with up to an additional 250 minutes of extension possibilities)
Materials
SyncTV Premium Lesson on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The full text is also available through
StudySync.
Overview
These excerpts, taken from Acts 1, 2, and 3 of Hamlet, contain three of Hamlet’s major and most
famous soliloquies. In these speeches, Prince Hamlet debates the course of action to take in the
wake of the murder of his father, the old King of Denmark, and the marriage of Prince Hamlet’s
mother, Queen Gertrude, to Prince Hamlet’s uncle, the new King Claudius. These scenes
establish the dramatic action, themes, and some of the most enduring language of the play.
Close examination of these excerpts will prepare students to read the entire play and to write
thoughtful, informed, and textually-rooted responses, consistent with the ELA Common Core
Standards for grades 11-12.
studysync.com
Page 1
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
Background (10 minutes)
1.
Watch the Preview (SL.11-12.1-2). As a group, watch the video preview of the premium
lesson. After viewing, use the following questions to spur a discussion:
a. Shakespeare based the story of Hamlet on a variety of legends and actual events,
but it also contains supernatural elements, as we learn in the preview. What do
you make of this mix of the natural and the supernatural? Knowing this about
Hamlet, what else can we infer about the tone and genre of the play?
b. As we can tell from the preview, the themes of power and vengeance play an
important role in Hamlet. What do these two ideas mean to you? What kinds of
things will people do to attain them?
c. Based on what we’ve learned about the general setting (a castle) and social caste
(royalty) of the story, what can we infer will happen over the course of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet? What impressions do you have about the setting and
characters?
Extension (additional 60 minutes)
d. Discuss (ELL). What does the narration’s phrase “internal landscape” suggest to
you? What sort of views or associations does it attach to human consciousness?
Does it seem like an accurate or effective way to describe human consciousness?
e. Research and Write (W.11-12.4, 7-9). Either in class or as a brief homework
assignment, have students research the traditional characteristics of the hero in
Shakespearean tragedies and write a one- or two-paragraph response describing
this archetype, with examples. Generally speaking, what do all these heroes have
in common? Do you think this kind of character portrayal is true-to-life? Can you
think of examples of real-life “tragic heroes”?
f.
Write and Record (W.11-12.3-4 and SL.11-12.1, 4-6). In pairs, have students write and
record a radio interview with Prince Hamlet in which the young prince expresses
his fears, desires and frustrations. If desired, record the interview as a podcast and
share the students’ interviews online using podcast apps. (A list of available apps
can be found here: http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/podcast-apps)
Engaging the Text (140 minutes)
2. Read the Text (40 minutes)
a. Read and Annotate (RL.11-12.1– 5, 10). Have students read the introduction and the
excerpts from Acts 1, 2, and 3 of Hamlet. Give students ample time to read the text
and annotate it properly. Go ahead and give the students any planned writing
assignments before they begin their annotating, so the prompt can guide their
notes. If the classroom has a projector, you can model good note-taking skills by
demonstrating the first one or two annotations as a class. Shakespeare uses
difficult language at times, so pointing out the use of the annotation tool to mark
unfamiliar vocabulary, names, and references is helpful. For annotations, it can
also be helpful to suggest that students write a question, make a prediction,
define a word, or paraphrase something they read—these are useful
comprehension tools. If they are completing this as homework, have them ask any
questions they have in their annotations. These will be visible to you using the
“Mimic” function before they submit their writing assignments or any time after
studysync.com
Page 2
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
they submit. Additionally, you can prompt students to write at least three
questions of their own as a prompt for discussion.
b. Discuss (SL.11-12.1, 3). Have students get into small groups or pairs and briefly
discuss the questions and inferences they had while reading. Pay attention to any
important passages students may be struggling with. Consistently ask questions
about the language and phrasing.
Extension (additional 30 minutes)
c. Listen (RL.11-12.1–4 and SL.11-12.1-2). As a class, listen to the audio reading of the
text. Ask students to use context clues to define key terms such as
consummation. As a group, work to define any other unclear terms or ideas. This
also serves as a good model for how students should use the audio supplement
on their own or in conjunction with note-taking strategies mentioned above.
d. Comprehend (RL.11-12.1-4). Either distribute the multiple-choice questions (from the
lesson extension) or read them aloud to the class. As a class, reread and discuss
any passages of the text about which students remain unclear.
e. Blast! (W.11-12.2, 4, 9). Finally, as a Blast! Assignment, have every student write a
log-line for each soliloquy: a one-sentence summary describing the thoughts and
emotions Prince Hamlet is expressing in his remarks. Share these summaries as a
class.
3. Watch SyncTV (30 minutes)
a. Watch. Either watch the SyncTV discussion as a class or ask students to watch it
on their individual computers.
b. Focus (RL.11-12.2 and SL.11-12.1–3). Use the portion of the SyncTV discussion from
0:43-2:53 as a model (despite divergences) for the class of how to discuss the
questions raised by a writing prompt (Prompt 1). Have students follow the SyncTV
students as they develop ideas about the meanings of concepts like soliloquies
and Hamlet’s angst.
c. Focus (RL.11-12.2 and SL.11-12.1–3). Approach the SyncTV discussion from 4:555:15 where the students raise the issue of the whether Hamlet’s staging of the
play within Hamlet, The Murder of Gonzago, is a clever ruse to prove Claudius’s
guilt or another way for Hamlet to delay taking vengeance. Have the students
discuss this point in the larger frame of how the soliloquies either show the
development of Hamlet’s character or his stagnation into inaction.
d. Focus (RL.11-12.4 and SL.11-12.1-3). Finally, focus on the portion from 7:00-8:05, as
the SyncTV students do a close reading of three particular lines in this excerpt
from Hamlet. Model how the students carefully break down the meaning of these
three lines and consider the ideas and implications of Prince Hamlet’s words.
e. Discuss (SL.11-12.1-4 and RL.11-12.1-5, 10). After watching the model discussion,
have a conversation with the class about the ideas discussed in the SyncTV
episode. What new thoughts do they have after hearing the students' discussion?
Next, divide students into small groups (3-4 students). Move around the room
monitoring groups as students follow the SyncTV episode as a model to discuss
some of the following questions:
i. Why do you think Hamlet is so deeply mired in inaction, despondency, and
suicidal thoughts? How does he give voice to these feelings, and why
studysync.com
Page 3
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
does he express them in so many variations?
ii. What do you think of the political context of the play? Should Hamlet defer
vengeance against Claudius for reasons of political stability, respect for
the person of the current King, or familial considerations?
iii. How do characters like Claudius (calling Hamlet’s grief “unmanly”) and
Hamlet (“Frailty, thy name is woman!”) express ideas about and
associations with gender?
iv. Discuss why you think Shakespeare chose to have his characters
frequently soliloquize in poetic language and what effect might these
choices have on the overall play.
v. The SyncTV students discuss Hamlet’s idea that the ghost might be a trick
from the devil. Where in Hamlet’s speeches is evidence for this? Can this
fear be another source for Hamlet’s inaction? How does the play present
the influence of the supernatural?
vi. What does Hamlet mean when he says, “Conscience does make cowards
of us all”? Do you agree or disagree with this sentiment? Why or why not?
Why is this quote an important window into the mind of Prince Hamlet?
Extension (additional 60 minutes)
f.
Write (RL.11-12.1, 4 and W.11-12.1-2, 4, 9). The third soliloquy presented in this
excerpt (“To be or not to be, that is the question”) is one of the very most famous
speeches in all of English literature. That said, what is this question? In an essay
response of at least 250 words, paraphrase the meaning and significance of this
question Hamlet is positing. What is he contemplating? What are the two choices?
Why is one outcome usually chosen over the other? Finally, why do you think this
speech has become so famous?
g. Blast! (W.11-12.1-2, 4, 9). After researching the tenets of a tragic hero (Background:
Extension E) have students complete a Blast! Assignment answering the following
question: What do you think is Hamlet’s “tragic flaw”? How might this tragic flaw
play a role in the outcome of the story? Share these responses as a class.
h. Perform (SL.11-12.4-6). Have students perform creative, dramatic readings of these
three soliloquies and record them either as podcasts (see earlier link) or use
iMovie (or similar multimedia tool) to create and edit a filmed version of students’
performances. Share these performances, once completed, online, if desired.
4. Think (10 minutes)
a. Respond (W.11-12.1, 4). Ask students to read the “Think” questions, watch the
corresponding video clips, and respond to the questions, either in class or for
homework.
5. Write (60 minutes)
a. Discuss (SL.11-12.1). Read the prompt you have chosen for students, and then
solicit questions regarding the prompt or the assignment expectations. Whichever
prompt you have chosen, make sure you are clear about the assignment
expectations and the rubric by which you and the other students will be evaluating
them.
studysync.com
Page 4
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
b. Organize (RL.11-12.1-5, 10 and W.11-12.1-2, 5). Ask students to go back and annotate
the text with the prompt in mind. They should be organizing their thoughts and the
points they’ll address in their writing as they make annotations. If you’ve worked
on outlining or other organizational tools for writing, this is a good place to apply
them.
c. Write (W.11-12.1-2, 4-6, 8-10). Have students go through the writing process of
planning, revising, editing, and publishing their writing responses.
d. Review (W.11-12.4-6). Use the StudySync “Review” feature to have students
complete one to two evaluations of their peers’ work based on your chosen
review rubric. Have the students look at and reflect upon the peer evaluations of
their own writing. What might you do differently in a revision? How might you
strengthen the writing and the ideas?
Extension (additional 100 minutes)
e. Prepare (W.11-12.4–6). Using one of the writing prompts that you did not assign (or
developing one of your own) and the StudySync rubric labeled “Basic Essay
Structure – CCS W8.1”, as a class, outline an essay on Hamlet. Walk students
through the expectations of basic 5-paragraph essay writing.
i. First, have students individually develop thesis statement ideas.
Then ask several students to share these ideas.
ii.
Choose a solid idea that does not yet make an argument, and then
as a class develop that idea into an argumentative thesis. The
following link provides strong examples of this if needed:
http://www.slideshare.net/ctomlins/strong-thesis-statements
iii. Break the students into small groups (2-3 students each) and ask
them to develop supporting points for the class’s thesis.
iv. Have the groups list 1-2 examples from the text and 1-2 examples
from their own experiences that could bolster each point. Ask them
to rank their supporting evidence from strongest to weakest and
eliminate the weakest 2 ideas for each point.
v. Lastly, bring the whole class together again to discuss good
conclusions. Go through the criteria given in the rubric for a good
conclusion. Ask students to write their own concluding sentences.
vi. By the end of the exercise, each student should have his/her own
essay outline template.
f.
Write (W.11-12.1-2, 4-6, 9-10). Now that their outline templates are complete, have
students write an essay using one of the prompts you did not chose to do in class.
Students should publish their responses online.
g. Write Creatively (W.11-12.3-4, 9 and SL.11-12.4, 6). For a fun, creative assignment,
have students write their own soliloquies in the style of Prince Hamlet’s. Student
soliloquies should express an inner thought or conflict and should be composed
in verse similar to Shakespeare’s (it is not necessary for students to mimic the
more antiquated language of Hamlet, though that is at the teacher’s discretion).
Share the finished soliloquies with the class and perform them, if desired. If
students are reluctant to share, you might consider composing and performing
one of your own.
studysync.com
Page 5
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
h. Self-Assess (W.11-12.4-6). Use the StudySync assignment creation tool to create a
“Writing” assignment that asks students to address the following prompt: Reread
your essay and the reviews of your essay on Hamlet. After reading these reviews,
what do you believe were the biggest strengths of your essay? What were the
biggest weaknesses? If you were to go back and write this essay again, what
would you change about your writing process? How has writing this essay made
you a better writer?
studysync.com
Page 6
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Key Vocabulary
1.
chamberlain (n.) – An official charged with the maintenance of a royal or noble household
2. vailed (adj.) – Sunken, lowered, closed
3. obsequious (adj.) – Servile, deferential, cowed, obedient, dutiful, solicitous
4. jocund (adj.) – Cheerful, happy, merry, joyful, jolly, glad
5. bruit (n.) – Noise, din, clamor; or, rumor, report, murmur
6. beteem (v.) – To give, to grant, to consent, to allow, to permit
7. offal (n.) – The parts of the butchered animal that humans consider inedible, carrion,
viscera
8. melancholy (n.) – A gloomy, depressed, or pensive state of mind that ancient medicine
attributes to the accumulation of too much black bile in the human body
9. bodkin (n.) – Different forms of a small instrument used to make holes in fabric, fasten up
hair, or draw lengths of cords; or a small dagger or stiletto
10. fardel (n.) – A bundle or burden
Reading Comprehension Questions
1.
Where did Hamlet attend school?
a. Oxford
b. Paris
c. Wittenberg
d. Harvard
2. In the first soliloquy, why does Hamlet reject suicide?
a. He’s concerned about what will happen to his mother when he’s gone.
b. He fears he would be wasting his rhapsody skills.
c. He remains unsure about what happens after death.
d. God’s laws forbid it.
3. Whose mourning does Hamlet compare unfavorably to that of “a beast that wants
discourse of reason”?
a. Claudius
b. Gertrude
c. Yorick
d. both a and b
4. Hamlet asks if who is a coward?
a. Claudius
b. himself
c. his father, old Hamlet
d. Fortinbras
studysync.com
Page 7
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
5. What does Hamlet mean in these lines: “For murther, though it have no tongue, will speak
/ With most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players / Play something like the murther of
my father / Before mine uncle”?
a. Murder will become personified in the play and attack Claudius.
b. Hamlet will enlist the actors to win Claudius’s confidence and ferret from Claudius
the secret of his guilt.
c. Murders are always revealed, and staging a play with a similar murder to old
Hamlet’s for Claudius will reveal his guilt.
d. Plays are the moral equivalent for and give voice to murder.
6. Which of the following could be considered themes of these excerpts?
a. suicide
b. duty
c. self-loathing
d. all of the above
7. From where do Claudius and Polonius hope Hamlet’s madness spring?
a. a surfeit of black bile
b. grief for old Hamlet
c. incestuous love for Gertrude
d. love for Ophelia
8. What does Hamlet call what waits for people after death?
a. heaven
b. hell
c. the great, abyssal void
d. the undiscovered country
9. According to Hamlet, what “make[s]cowards of us all”?
a. conscience
b. something unattainable
c. inactions
d. none of the above
10. What supernatural entity gives Hamlet information that he fears may be unreliable?
a. a ghost
b. a Norse god
c. a leprechaun
d. both b and c
Answer Key
1. C
2. D
3. B
4. B
5. C
6. D
7. D
8. D
9. A
10. A
studysync.com
Page 8
Lesson Plan: Hamlet
Further Assignments
1.
Have the students view the excerpted soliloquies (or the entire film) from one or more of
the following performances: Laurence Olivier in 1948, Mel Gibson in 1990, Kenneth
Branagh in 1996, or Ethan Hawke in 2000. Have the student discuss and write about how
the performance(s) differed from their mental image of the character of Hamlet while first
reading the excerpts or the play, what the physical motion of the actor adds to the role,
and how the set and staging creates, enhances, or alters the themes of the play. (RL.1112.1-3, 7, 10)
2. Have students research the Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatic genre of revenge
tragedies. Have the students write on how Hamlet embodies, subverts, or revises the
history and conventions of this genre. (RL.11-12.1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and W.11-12.1-2, 4, 6-9)
3. After reading the play, have students conduct an organized or an informal debate.
Possible questions could include: whether or not Hamlet was mad, whether or not Hamlet
should have killed Claudius immediately, whether or not Hamlet was heroic, or whether or
not Hamlet’s actions could be justified in a contemporary political context. (SL.11-12.1, 3-4,
6)
4. After reading the play, present the students with French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s
challenging and intriguing passage about the ghost in Hamlet:
“As in Hamlet, the Prince of a rotten State, everything begins by the apparition of
a specter. More precisely by the waiting for this apparition. The anticipation is at
once impatient, anxious, and fascinated: this, the thing (‘this thing’) will end up
coming. The revenant is going to come. It won’t be long. But how long it is taking.
Still more precisely, everything begins in the imminence of a re-apparition, but a
reapparition of the specter as apparition for the first time in the play. The spirit of
the father is going to come back and will soon say to him ‘I am thy Fathers Spirit’ (I,
iv), but here, at the beginning of the play, he comes back, so to speak, for the first
time. It is a first, the first time on stage.”
Have the students discuss why Derrida fixates on the ghost’s inevitable doubleness as a
revenant or a re-apparition, why the wait for the ghost is thematically significant, and why
it provides an appropriate starting place for Hamlet as a play. (RL.11-12.1-6, 10 and SL.1112.1, 3)
5. Have the students view a subsequent work that adapts or incorporates the plot of Hamlet.
Possibilities include Eugène Delacroix’s French series of paintings and lithographs of
scenes from Hamlet (1838-1853), John Everett Millais’s English painting Ophelia (1852),
Edgar Ulmer’s Austro-American film noir Strange Illusion (1945), Kurosawa Akira’s
Japanese corporate drama The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Tom Stoppard’s film adaption of
his English absurdist play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), the African-set
Disney animated film The Lion King (1994), or Xiaogang Feng’s Chinese martial arts
fantasy Legend of the Black Scorpion (2006). The students should discuss and write
about how the works of art or film adapt Hamlet and how cultural and historical
differences inform that adaptation. (RL.11-12.1-3, 5,7 and W.11-12.1-2, 4, 9, 10)
6. Ask students to rewrite a soliloquy scene in Hamlet in a more contemporary verbal style.
Have students focus on the grammar and punctuation as well as the word choice. Pair
students up and have them read their speeches together, focusing on the way that the
word choice affects meaning as well as what qualities in the original give Shakespeare’s
speech its difficulties and richness. (ELL)
studysync.com
Page 9
Lesson Plan: Hamlet