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Hi!

I'm new here and I'm just wondering if there any of you out there who, like me, are studying Hamlet at school at the moment. I'd like to hear what your opinions are. Thanks! :)

It has been years since I have read the play, but I have read it a number of times, so I am certainly up for any questions or discussion ideas you may have!

Hamlet is a riveting story about REVENGE with a suspense.  The plot twists and turns like a country road. :)

I taugh AP English IV this semester, and we studied Macbeth; however, I allowed my students to watch the movie Hamlet for a comparison/contrast of a Shakespearian tradgedy.

I can tell you that my students were more enthrolled with Hamlet than Macbeth.  They were almost literally at the edge of their seats, and in spawned a lot of spontaneous conversation and dialogue.

Hamlet is a somewhat difficult story for most students to contend with. Generally for the most part, since it is his longest play, students tell me that many parts are boring, and some of the language is just too difficult to comprehend even with notes. I tend to stick with shorter plays, unless there is a request for the play in class.

I always introduced the play by telling my students a story about a young man who goes away to school, leaving his mother and father at home. While he's away at school, he finds out that his father is dead and his mother has suddenly married his father's brother! (By this time, I had their attention.) So he leaves school and goes home immediately. He has barely had time to deal with these blows when he finds out that not only is his father dead, he had been murdered in a really nasty way--by , guess who, his brother. And on top of that, his father had been the king, his mother the queen, and now his uncle is wearing his father's crown and sitting on his throne with Hamlet's mother beside him. Question: So, you're Hamlet. What would you do? And by the way, you are a deeply spiritual person. 

This introduction got everybody interested in the play, and off we would go. The text is difficult, and students can get lost in the subplots, but lots of class discussion and some board notes pulled them through any confusion. Following the unit, I would show Mel Gibson's Hamlet, always a big hit. The visuals made the story real to them. Despite its challenges, Hamlet afforded some great learning opportunities for my students.

In reply to #2: Hi, thanks for your post! Do you know where I can get a translation of Hamlet into modern English? I can understand it for the most part but the particularly long chunks of passages (especially in the middle of Act 1- Scene 1) are not really my thing, lol! :)

hippychix, I'm not #2, but this might help. I'm looking at a parallel text version of Hamlet, Shakespeare on the left page, modern English on the right page. It may be just what you are looking for. It is published by Perfection Learning Corp. of Logan, Iowa, as part of the Shakespeare Parallel Text Series, Third Edition. Copyright 2004. It also includes some excellent supplementary material as well. Perfection Learning  phone number 800-831-4190; fax 800-543-2745.

In reply to #7: Hi. Thanks for the post. Well, I searched enotes and I think I've found the page that your reading at the moment. (The url is: http://www.enotes.com/hamlet-text/act-i-scene-i) It's a clever idea, and it definetely helps. Thanks so much! :)

"Hamlet" is a play of questions and few answers.  When I teach it, I try to get my students to think about some of the questions and draw their own conclusions based on our interpretation. I've had several students tell me they really enjoyed "Hamlet".  If you are looking for an easily accessible side-by-side translation, you might try the "No Fear Shakespeare" series.  Good luck with your study of my favorite Shakespearean play.

In reply to #9: From what I've read of it so far it seems to be a good play but also quite ambiguous as you mentioned. Thanks for your tip and help! :)