William Shakespeare's Hamlet

The importance of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet can hardly be overstated. First performed in 1603, Hamlet presents one of the most complex dramas ever to be produced. Queen Elizabeth's beloved playwright, William Shakespeare, combined death, life, hope, and suicide in his famous play. A study of tragedies is incomplete without Hamlet. To be sure, the importance of Shakespeare's Hamlet lies in its depth and sheer complexity. Endlessly reproduced yet not so easily understood, Hamlet stands as the notable source of many Shakespeare's most quotable quotes.

As a class, we would read the play aloud, assigning parts (Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge).
For visual learners, I would show the 1992 production of Hamlet starring Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, and Alan Bates. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, this reproduction follows Shakespeare's play with a moving closeness (Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge).
The students would be assigned particular scenes which they would have to summarize in short essay (Bloom's Taxonomy:comprehension).
Students would be assigned parts of scenes which they would then translate from Shakespeare's early modern English to present day spoken English (Bloom's Taxonomy: application).

Check out the additional Resources on Page Two!

Jordan Alexandria DeLoach

deloachjordan@hotmail.com

Image Citations

Picture 1: www.ineractivitiesink.com/catalogue.html

Picture 2: www.charitsplace.com/review/review_hamlet.htm

Picture 3: www.inkpot.com/classical/sibtempest.html

Picture 4: www.weriesam.com/oscar.htm

Picture 5: www.ggff.r.pg.pl/galerie/grafiki/assets/hamlet.gif

Last Updated: 10.8.03