Scheduling Note:
This class can be requested as a once OR twice a week class. 

William Shakespeare's Hamlet has so permeated every corner of our culture that in some ways, it’s become nearly invisible. Many people are aware that it’s the source of The Lion King and is repeatedly referenced (and argued about) in the Star Trek universe. Maybe fewer people are aware of the Hamlet references in SpongeBob SquarePants, The Empire Strikes Back, Coraline, and Witcher 3 (the game). But that’s just the tip of an endlessly growing iceberg. Once exposed to Hamlet, students will never stop catching the references. 
So what’s it all about? How has this 400-year-old play taken such hold?
  
Among other topics, we will explore these questions:

What does this play have to teach us about family, love, loyalty, grief, and even mental health?
What does the ghost reveal about politics, relationships, and religion in Renaissance England? 
What are some of the possible historical and literary sources the playwright may have utilized?
Why has Shakespeare been translated into over 100 languages?
How did Shakespeare contribute to the English language?
What is O.P. and why have I never heard of it?
And what's the big deal about Shakespeare, anyway?

While I feel it's important to create an academic experience for my students, I believe it's equally important to have fun while doing it. Students will gain confidence in their knowledge of Shakespeare as we read the play together, and it is my hope that they enjoy this highly interactive class as much as I do.

Class time will be spent reading and discussing the play, as well as reading and viewing supplementary materials. This is the sort of class where everyone will be expected to read aloud, but fear not! My classroom is a safe and easy-going place.  

Homework might include watching clips online and writing responses to (not summaries of) the work we've done in class. A final project will be chosen by each student (in consultation with the teacher) and might include writing, performance, artwork, parody, music, etc.

No background in Shakespeare is required, though several of my other Shakespeare offerings would provide a shorter and easier introduction. Please message me if you have any questions about this.

The entire play will be read aloud in class. I never require students to read alone, unguided and in silence, but they are encouraged to read ahead if they wish to be better prepared for the live reading. 

About Shakespeare’s Hamlet
By Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine
Editors of the Folger Shakespeare Library Editions

Hamlet is the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays for readers and theater audiences, and it is also one of the most puzzling. Many questions about the play continue to fascinate readers and playgoers, making Hamlet not only a revenge tragedy but also very much a mystery. What is this Ghost that appears to Hamlet? Is it Hamlet’s murdered father returned from the everlasting fire to demand justice upon his murderer? Is it a “goblin damned”—that is, a demon bent on claiming Hamlet’s soul by tempting him to assassinate his king? Or is the Ghost “a spirit of health,” an angelic messenger revealing to Hamlet that the young man’s mission in life is to cleanse the kingdom of Denmark of its corrupt king?

And what happens to Hamlet after the Ghost commands that the throne of Denmark be cleansed? Does Hamlet actually go mad, becoming unhinged by the accusation that his uncle murdered his father or by the ugly picture the Ghost paints of Hamlet’s lustful mother? Or does Hamlet merely pretend to be mad, pretend so well that he makes us wonder if we can tell the difference between sanity and madness? Why is he so hostile to women, both to his mother and to the woman whom he once courted and whom he claims to have loved dearly? Why does he wait so long to confirm the guilt of the king after the Ghost has accused the king of murder? And once he is convinced that the king is a murderer, why does Hamlet not act immediately?

And what about Gertrude? Was she unfaithful to her husband during his lifetime? Was she complicit in his murder? What does she come to believe about Hamlet’s madness? And about her new husband?

Beyond such questions about the play and its characters lie deeper issues about the rightness of revenge, about how to achieve an ethical life, and about how to live in a world where tears of sorrow, loving smiles, and friendly words are all suspect because all are “actions that a man might play.” Hamlet’s world is bleak and cold because almost no one and nothing can be trusted. But his world, and Hamlet himself, continue to draw us to them, speaking to every generation of its own problems and its own yearnings. It is a play that seems particularly pertinent today—just as it has seemed particularly pertinent to any number of generations before us.

https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/about-shakespeares-hamlet/


Photo credit:Reference ID : 51065