Resources for Reading and Writing about Hamlet

Readers' Note: please move your cursor over identified links (light blue/gray text) for additional information abut a film, resource, or literary term.

Film Adaptations
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is the first of the great tragedies written by William Shakespeare. Since plays are meant to be seen as well as read, I encourage you to watch a version of the play. There have been many versions on the stage and screen, and many are available at video rental or retail stores, or can be rented through Netflix.

Contemporary film adaptations include the films listed below. Each title brings you to a link on The Internet Movie Database where you can view cast list, facts about the production, and pictures.

Hamlet (1991, starring Mel Gibson)

Hamlet (1996, starring and directed by Kenneth Branagh)

Hamlet (2000, starring Ethan Hawke)

Many key scenes from different film versions can also be found on YouTube.com . Check them out!

Reading Tips and Other Resources

Besides viewing a film version of the play and/or scenes to help your comprehension, be sure to use other available resources. As you complete your reading for each class period, be sure to review the questions for each act found at the end of the play in your textbook. The questions can be helpful in testing what you understood and upcoming events and ideas in the in the play.

Also you may find a study guide helpful, either to read before and/or after you have done your reading from the play. Study guides, of course do not replace actually reading the play and coming to class for the discussion; however, they can help you look for important ideas and events without getting lost, and they also provide reading comprehension questions.

Shakespeare writes in English, but the language can sometimes be difficult. He uses iambic pentameter (poetic form) for his noble characters' dialogue, and he uses Elizabethan English for all his characters. Reading and, yes, re-reading, especially after reviewing a summary can help you get the hang of the language.

The footnotes help, but they can be distracting if you look up every word or phrase footnoted. You may want to save studying the footnotes after you have read once. Occasionally, however, it is necessary to check the footnote for a word's meaning.

Check out this Hamlet study guide. Remember this does not replace reading the play!

You may also want to check out the web site for The Globe Theater where many of Shakespeare's plays were and still are performed.

Class Themes in Hamlet

Remember to review the following ideas and questions that lead to a variety of themes (and possible writing topics) from the play:

• The "war-like" state of Denmark, how is it influencing events and provide some characters opportunities? What does it represent about the characters?
• How is corruption in Elsinore/Denmark/The World represented--(images, similes, and metaphors of a garden "gone to seed" or things rotting and incest references)?
• Royal Succession--How would a British audience living under a monarchy view the fact that Claudius and not Hamlet is King? How might the idea of "divine right" being possibly interrupted show the kingdom out of order?
  
• Claudius and Gertrude's marriage--why is it incest according to the Elizabethan understanding of marriage?
• Theatrical language, masks, and hypocrisy, how do these fit symbols/metaphors/similes highlight Hamlet's struggle and the other characters' and their motivations?
• What do we know about gender relations? How are our expectations about men and women played out in Hamlet?
• The play Hamlet can be viewed as a forth-and-back power struggle between Hamlet and Claudius. How does each act show a shift in power?
• How are Hamlet's ideas about his father influencing his perspective and actions?
• What characters are foils for each other, particularly foils to Hamlet?
• What kind of person is Hamlet? What motivates him? What does not motivate him?
• How does each of Hamlet's soliloquies show his struggles, power, and ideas at certain points in the play?
  
• Challenge your assumption that a character is a "good guy" or "bad guy." By examining the character closely and his/hers interactions at a given moment in the play with other characters, you may not change your initial opinion but seeing Hamlet as less-than heroic or Claudius as maybe not so bad given circumstances might lead you to a more thoughtful and complex analysis of a character or a particular scene in the play.

Critical Approaches or Perspectives from which you may read to Hamlet

(Review class notes and Writing, Part 4.)

• Historical
• Sociological
• Gender
• Psychological
• Reader-response
• Formalist
• Biographical

You can combine many of these perspectives (e.g. reader-response/psychological/gender). Most "close-readings" are a combination of formalism (how a piece is put together and your own experiences (reader-response). Your own gender and your understanding of others' gender and its impact on a character's place, actions, how she/he is perceived by others, a character's psychology, and your own understanding of human nature (psychology) inform your reading and writing about literature. Being aware of these perspectives can make you a more careful reader and can give focus to your writing about (interpretation of) characters' actions and events.

Do not use a critical approach that require research for essay # 3. You only need research for essay #4.

Final Reading and Writing Tips

By keeping a writing journal and annotating your textbook when you read and in class, you start working toward the composition of your in-class Essay #3 (See blog syllabus for class date). If you get great ideas from working with Hamlet, you could also expand them in a research-based analysis (Essay #4).