What are your thoughts?
1. How easy is it to be a good(moral)person in our
contemporary world? What temptations do you face
on a daily basis?
2. What has shaped your own moral code? Who are the
greatest influences on your sense of morality?
3. Have you ever found yourself compromising yourself
for;
a) a friend
b) a family member
c) a person in authority
4. Imagine the following scenario: Someone whom you
love and respect asks you to act in a way which places
you in conflict with your morals. What decision
process will you follow (consider the magnitude of the
act and its consequences for both you and your loved
one)?
5. The scenario stated above introduces the issues of
loyalty and of betrayal. At what point does loyalty to
another person or cause become a betrayal itself? What
importance do you place loyalty to yourself vs. loyalty
to others?
6. We have all procrastinated about something important that we
had to do, sometimes disappointing other people and often
disappointing ourselves. Why do we procrastinate?
7. Disillusion is a common experience of growing up. We
find that people in an adult world whom we once
idealized are less than ideal, and that situation that we
considered innocent are actually corrupt. How do
young people encountering the ‘real world’ for the first
time handle these discoveries?
8. What's the difference between taking revenge
and getting justice?
9. Privacy is highly valued in our society. How would
you feel if you found out that you were under
surveillance at school, at your job, at home or among
friends because of some change in your behaviour?
DENMARK
King
Hamlet
Claudius
Gertrude
(Brother to King
Hamlet - Uncle to
Hamlet)
(marries brother-inlaw after husband's
death)
Polonius
Hamlet
(Claudius'
Advisor)
Horatio
(Hamlets
Best Friend)
Ophelia
Laertes
(Daughter)
(Son)
NORWAY
King
Fortinbras
Fortinbras
Norway
Sweden
•Kronberg
Castle
Denmark
England
France
Poland
Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark
"A little more than kin, and less than kind". Hamlet (Act I, Scene II)
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” Guard (Act 1 Sc.2)
"This above all: to thine own self be true" Polonius (Act I, Sc. III)
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't." Polonius (Act II, Scene II).
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" Hamlet (Act II, Sc. II)
"The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king". Hamlet (Act II,
Scene II).
"To be, or not to be: that is the question". Hamlet (Act III, Sc. I).
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks". Gertrude (Act III, Sc. II).
1.
Why does Hamlet delay avenging the murder of this father by
Claudius?
2.
How much guilt does is mother, Gertrude, bear in this crime?
3.
How trustworthy is the ghost of Hamlet’s father?
4.
Is Hamlets madness feigned or true, a strategy masquerading as a
reality or a reality masquerading as a strategy?
5.
Does Hamlet who once loved Ophelia, continue to love her, in
spite of her apparent cruelty ?
6.
Hamlet is an enigma. As you read the play, watch how Hamlet –
who starts by contemplating death – comes to terms with life,
keeps his integrity, and strikes back successfully at what’s wrong
around him.
Spontaneous rhythms of a mind in motion.
His blend of sarcasm, riddling and sly wordplay initially
strikes those around him as folly but gives way to an
uneasy awareness of hidden meanings.
“there’s something in his soul /O’er which his
melancholy sits on brood” Claudius.” (3.1.1634)
-“something” is in part the murderous design
of the revenger but is also the philosophical
meditation on life and death that haunts
Hamlet.
An ordinary person looking at the futility and wrongs in life , asking the toughest
questions and coming up with honest semi-answers.
The end message is, life is indeed worth living, even by imperfect people
in an imperfect world.
The play is full of talk about death, dead bodies, murder, suicide,
disease, graves etc. There is no traditional Christian comfort or promise
of eventual justice or happiness but the message is ultimately one of
HOPE.