How to Teach Hamlet

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, so it is a great choice to include in a high school English class or in a college level Shakespeare course. Whether you have never taught a Shakespeare play before or you have taught several, teaching Hamlet may be a new challenge for you. The play deals with difficult themes, such as death and insanity. The play also has a wide range of characters and a complex plot. Familiarize yourself with Hamlet as best you can, and then begin planning your approach to teaching this famous revenge tragedy.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Encouraging Close Reading

1
Give an overview of Hamlet using PowerPoint or Prezi. Before you dive into reading Hamlet with your students, it might be helpful to give them an overview of the play, its author, and the time period in which it was written. Doing this may help your students to engage with the material and get more out of reading Hamlet.^{[1]XResearch source}
- Make sure to include important details about Hamlet and Shakespeare, such as that Hamlet is a revenge tragedy. You might also give a brief overview of the monarchy.^{[2]XResearch source}
- Also, include any special information and context for any aspect of the play that you want to cover in class. For example, if you would like to cover Elizabethan culture, then include some information on this subject in your overview.
2
Include a unit on Shakespeare’s language. Many of the words and phrases Shakespeare uses may be confusing for your students, so it is a good idea to prepare them with a unit on Shakespeare’s language. Doing so may help them to feel more confident about reading Shakespeare and enhance their comprehension of the material as well.^{[3]XResearch source}
- Shakespeare wrote Early Modern English, which you can read without special training, unlike Old English or Middle English.^{[4]XResearch source} However, this also means that Shakespeare's writing includes some words that most people no longer use and some other words that have different meanings now, such as "bodkin" (dagger) and "fardel" (bundle). Shakespeare also include pronouns such as "thou," which are no longer commonly used.^{[5]XResearch source}
- One way you can help your students get comfortable with the language is to take a sample of text from 1 of Shakespeare's plays and work through the meaning of the text together. You could work through each sentence as a class, or have your students act out the text to help them better understand it.
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3
Read through the character list together. Taking time to read through the character list with your students is a helpful way for them to preview the play. There are lots of characters in Hamlet and the relationships between these characters may be a little confusing to students without taking time to review the list.
- You may want to have students complete a character map to ensure that they understand who each character is and how they are all related to each other.
- To create a character map, have your students start by writing each character’s name on a piece of paper with a note about who they are and then connect the names with lines to show how these characters are related to each other.^{[6]XResearch source}
4
Provide questions for students to answer before, during, and after reading. Instead of asking students to read Hamlet without an objective, give them a list of questions to help guide their readings.^{[7]XResearch source}
- For example, before reading Hamlet, you might ask, “How do you expect someone to behave when they are insane?” “What are you wondering about Hamlet after getting an overview of what happens in this play?” “Does this story seem like something that could happen in real life?"
- Then, after students have read the play, you might ask, “Do you think Hamlet was really in love with Ophelia? Why or why not?” “What do you think of the ending? Was it a good ending? Why or why not?” “Why did Ophelia go insane?”
- You should also ask students questions while they're reading the play to gauge their understanding of the material. When your students reach certain parts of the play, you can ask them to reflect on what they've read so far.
Reading out loud is essential whenever you teach a play. These texts are meant to be read aloud, not in silence. Set aside some time in each class to read at least a few key passages aloud. Make sure to involve the whole class in these readings, such as by calling on students or by doing round-robin readings, which is when you go around the room in order to have each student read a line or passage.^{[8]XResearch source}
6
Ask students to underline confusing words, phrases, or passages. It is important to encourage your students to ask questions and investigate meanings as they read Hamlet. Tell them to underline or highlight any unfamiliar words or phrases, and to try to find the meaning on their own first.
- However, encourage students to ask you if they cannot find an answer.
- It's also helpful if you have students break up into groups of 2 to 4 and work through difficult parts of the text together.^{[9]XResearch source}
- Try setting aside some time near the beginning of each class where students can ask questions about the reading. You can invite other students to provide answers if they think they know what a word, phrase, or passage means, or assign each question to a group and then have them report back. This will help to involve the whole class in the Q & A session.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using In-Class Activities

1
Provide writing prompts. Including a writing prompt in some or all of your classes is a great way to get students thinking about the text. Try starting or ending class with the writing prompt to help you assess what students are getting out of the play, and to identify any confusion or areas to work on.^{[10]XResearch source}
- For example, you might ask students to write a letter to Hamlet from the perspective of Ophelia after she has gone insane, or have them write a letter from Hamlet to Ophelia after she has killed herself.
- Look for opportunities to use writing as a way to enhance your students’ understanding of the text.
- Don't make the writing prompts too long. They should be quick exercises to help you gauge how well students are understanding the material. Give students about 7 to 10 minutes to write.
2
Have students investigate the meanings behind words and passages. If there are certain sections of Hamlet that you expect your students to feel challenged by, then you may want to plan on spending some time in class focusing on those areas. You could even designate groups before you start reading Hamlet so that students will know who they are working with each time you ask them to do one of these activities in class.^{[11]XResearch source}
- For example, you may want to have your students split into groups of 2 to 4 and spend some extra time on Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech.
- Students could be tasked with looking up the meaning of words and phrases, and breaking the section down. Then, each group could present their findings to the rest of the class.
3
Ask students to write stage gestures and actions to go with a line or passage. Writing stage directions to a line or passage in Hamlet is a great way to get students to think about the meaning behind a line or passage. Ask students to make some notes about what the character should be doing as they speak a line or set of lines. You could ask students to do this individually or in groups.^{[12]XResearch source}
- For example, you might ask students to provide stage directions for one of Ophelia’s songs. Students could describe a hand gesture or body position she should assume to go with each line or even to coincide with specific words and phrases.
4
Quiz students on what they read. Quizzes are a helpful way to evaluate your students’ participation and reading comprehension. Starting with a quiz and going over the answers together can also be a great way to get students warmed up and ready to discuss the material.
- You can write quizzes that are multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer, essay, or a combination of these styles.
- Tell your students about the quizzes in advance, so that they can prepare.
- Involve students in grading the quizzes, such as by having them pass their quizzes to a neighbor or redistributing them at random for grading. Then, collect the quizzes to check the grades.
5
Show videos in class to provide background for important scenes. Videos help to keep students interested by introducing material using a different medium. Showing a video also gives students the opportunity to hear from someone who is an expert on Shakespeare and/or Hamlet. Try including 1 or more short videos to enhance your lessons.^{[13]XResearch source}
- For example, you could show the Folger Library’s Ophelia and Madness video to provide students with some context for Ophelia’s behavior before your students read this section of Hamlet. This video includes perspectives by a scholar, an actress, and a director on Ophelia’s madness in Hamlet.^{[14]XResearch source}
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Performance and Videos

1
Invite students to plan and put on a performance. A common but fun way to teach Hamlet is to have students put on a partial or full performance of the play. You can break students into small groups and have them select a scene to perform, or you can assign scenes to the groups yourself.
- For example, one group might be in charge of Act 1 Scene 1, while another group might be in charge of Act 2 scene 1.
- Provide some class time each week for students to work on their scene, but also make sure that they are working on the scene outside of class, such as by rehearsing their lines and talking to each other to develop stage directions.
- At the end of the unit on Shakespeare, have students perform their scenes. You might even book the auditorium at your school so that students can invite friends and family to come and see them perform.
2
Take students to see a live performance of' Hamlet after reading it. If there is a theater in your area that will be performing Hamlet around the time you will be teaching it, then you may want to arrange a field trip for your students to go see it. Plan to go to a performance after your students finish reading Hamlet”. Check with theaters in nearby cities to find a performance.
- If you take students to see a performance, you may want to connect it with an assignment, such as a paper on the experience of seeing a live performance of Hamlet.
3
Watch a recorded performance in class after reading Hamlet. If going to see Hamlet live in a theater is not an option for your class, then you can always show them a recording of a live performance after you finish reading the text. Be sure to check the rating of any movies yu plan to show in class to ensure that it will be appropriate for your students. There are many recordings to choose from, such as:^{[15]XResearch source}
- Hamlet (1948) directed by Lawrence Olivier
- Richard Burton’s Hamlet (1964)
- Hamlet (1990) directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Mel Gibson
- Hamlet (1996) directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh
- Hamlet (2000) directed by Michael Almereyda and starring Ethan Hawke
4
Show students another similar film for comparison. Another fun way to get students thinking about Hamlet is to have them watch a film that has strong similarities to Hamlet after they finish reading it. This will give students a different context for Hamlet and may help them to notice things that they did not notice before. Make sure to check the film's rating before you decide to show it in class. There are several to choose from, such as:^{[16]XResearch source}
- The Lion King (1994)
- The Animated Shakespeare: Hamlet (1992)
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
- The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
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Question
What was the problem of making moral choices in Hamlet?
Kathy5421
Community Answer
The problem was the moral task of revenge by killing whomever murdered the elder, Hamlet.
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