Act One Reading Guide to Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Scene: Original
or Summary?
Scene One
Mon, Feb 2, 2015
In-class:
Read for
exposition and
discuss EQ’s and
literary elements.
Watch film version
of this scene.
Notes in NB and
class participation
are graded
Essential Questions/Big Ideas
Literary
Techniques/Terms to
identify and Relevant
Vocabulary
Exposition: Setting, Background information, Atmosphere,
Introduction to the major characters

Character Analysis:
Horatio Fortinbras Ghost of King Hamlet

EQ’s for Reflection:
1. How does beginning the drama with the presence of the ghost of
King Hamlet set the tone for the rest of the play?
2. What might be the significance of beginning the play with the
phrase, “Who is there?”?



Symbolism/allusi
on: the cock
crows
Subplot
(Fortinbras and
the King of
Norway)
Foreshadowing
Tone/mood
Alliteration
Supplementary
text(s)
n/a
portentous (121)
harbinger (134)
hallowed (179)
Scene Two
In-class Close
Read: Claudius’
Speech—focus on
diction; and
Hamlet’s—focus
on figurative
language, allusion
and imagery
Character Analysis:
King Claudius
Queen Gertrude

Prince Hamlet
Horatio
Key Quotes (pay close attention to diction):
“our sometime sister” (I, ii, 8)
“A little more than kin and less than kind” (I, ii, 67)
“How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” (I, ii, 68)
“Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun.” (I, ii, 69)
“'Seems', madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems.'” (I, ii, 79)
“’Tis unmanly grief” (I, ii, 98)
“Frailty thy name is woman!” (I, ii, 150)
HW: Character
“He was a man. Take him, for all in all,/I shall not look upon his like
Analysis (lit circle again” (I, ii, 195)
work) of
“I doubt some foul play” (I, ii, 278)
Gertrude, Hamlet




Monologue
(Claudius 90-120)
Aside
Pun (69, 76)
Soliloquy
(Hamlet, 133164)
Imagery and
allusion:
“Hyperion to a
satyr” (144) “Like
Niobe” (153) “No
more like my
father/Than I to
Images of a
Hyperion, a
satyr and
Hercules
Act One Reading Guide to Shakespeare’s Hamlet
or Claudius—see
handout
Plus answer 2-3
EQ’s, esp. those
related to your
character
Scene iii
Wed, Feb 5, 2015
In-class:
Read and analyze
this scene with
particular attention
to character
relationships.
Watch Branagh
version of this
scene. (27'-35')
Related
assignment: AP
Q1 comparative
poetry prompt:
Students will
independently
decipher the
prompt, read and
EQ’s:
1. What is Hamlet’s attitude towards his mother’s marriage? Why?
2. How does he feel about his uncle? Again, why does he feel this
way?
3. What strikes you in how King Claudius and Gertrude talk to
Hamlet? Pay attention to their diction, and therefore their implied
tone. How does their treatment of Hamlet’s mourning compare to
your expectations of how a mother and uncle should react?
4. How does Horatio describe the King’s ghost and his countenance?
What does this suggest/foreshadow about the ghost’s purpose?
5. How would you describe Hamlet’s relationship with Horatio? How
do the two men compare?
6. What does Hamlet surmise is the purpose of the ghost’s visit?
Character Analysis:
Laertes
Ophelia
Polonius
Key Quotes:
“This above all: to thine own self be true, /And it must follow, as the
night the day,/ Thou canst not be false to any man.” (I, iii, 85)
“For Lord Hamlet/Believe so much that he is young,/And with a larger
tether may he walk/ Than may be given you” (I, iii, 132-135)
Questions for comprehension and Analysis:
1. What is the purpose of Laertes’ advice to Ophelia? What does
it suggest about her relationship with Hamlet?
2. How does Ophelia counter Laertes’ advice?
3. What is the point of Polonius’ speech? What is the advice he
gives his son?
Hercules”(156157)
Emerging theme:
Family Ties
Pun: “tenders” “fool”
Metonymy
Synecdoche
Virgin-whore
dichotomy
“If” by Rudyard
Kipling—
comparison
essay prompt
Act One Reading Guide to Shakespeare’s Hamlet
annotate the texts,
and devise a thesis
in 15 minutes.
HW: complete the
essay (time
yourself). Read the
summary of
Chapter 4.
4. What are Polonius’ concerns for his daughter? Are these
concerns justified?
5. What liberties does Branagh (the film director) take with
interpreting the text as it is presented to us?
6. How would you describe the relationship between Ophelia and
the men in her life? How would you feel if you received the
lectures that she receives in this scene?
7. How does this scene play into the virgin-whore dichotomy?
EQ: What is the purpose of this scene? Why would Shakespeare
devote a scene to this nuclear family and all their advice to one
another?
Scene Four-summary
Scene v
Fri, Feb 7, 2015
In-class:
Complete review
and discussion of
the poetry essay.
Reflect, revise,
turn-in.
Key Quote:
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I, iv, 100)
Character Analysis:
Hamlet The Ghost of King Hamlet Horatio
Emerging Theme:
Revenge
Key Quotes:
“Revenge this foul and most unnatural murder.” (I, v, 31)
Symbol/allusion:
serpent
“But howsomever thou pursues this act,/ Taint not thy mind, nor let
thy soul contrive/ Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven/ And
to those thorns that in her bosom lodge/ To prick and sting her.” (I, v,
91-95)
Foil
Watch 38'-45',
read, discuss and
analyze. Final
synthesis: Class
discussion
synthesis and EQ
response in NB.
Horatio: “But this is wondrous strange” (185)
Hamlet: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, /Than
are dreamt of in your philosophy” (187-188)
Questions for Comprehension and Analysis:
1. How does King Hamlet’s Ghost claim he died?
2. What does King Hamlet’s Ghost bid Hamlet to do (and not to
do)?
Motif
n/a
Act One Reading Guide to Shakespeare’s Hamlet
3. Why was the King’s murder “unnatural”?
EQ: Why must Horatio and Hamlet’s friends swear not to reveal what
they heard from the ghost that evening?