Students read texts, view film and video and conduct research in an analysis and comparison of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and the Kabuki piece "Chushingura". They focus their analysis on the theme of revenge.

Students determine the meaning of a soliloquy and examine the themes in Shakespeare's, Hamlet. In this literature lesson, students read Hamlet's soliloquy and watch a Photo Story 3 text model of such. They write a personal soliloquy...

Students discover how Shakespeare's play interprets Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge, as reflected in the structure of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy, one of the most popular forms of drama of that era. Students perform certain...

Students explore the first act of Hamlet. In this Shakespeare lesson, students pantomime important events from Hamlet in a pre-reading activity. Classmates observe the performances and write reviews.

Students review different film versions of the play, Hamlet, and compare what was presented to the actual stage directions given in the original Shakespearean version.

Students examine Gertrude's (in Hamlet) behavior, lines and thoughts for what it reveals about Ophelia's madness. They synthesize what they know about Gertrude to perform her character in a scene. They write stage directions and discuss...

Students write words that describe the Ghost in Hamlet and act out scenes to grab the audience's attention. In this Hamlet lesson plan, students use language to interpret feeling and grab the audience's attention.

Young thespians can try their hand at writing a script and acting out a scene, while gaining a deeper understanding of the universal topics presented in Shakespeare's wide array of plays. Begin the lesson plan by conducting a compare and...

Students reproduce the pattern of one of Shakespeare's soliloquies, but use their own ideas and words to replace the character's. They replace each word with a word of their own that serves the same purpose.They discuss the speaker in a...

High schoolers read a scene from Hamlet, without stage directions. They recreate the scene using their own stage directions as they see fit for the scene.

Identify their feelings about Shakespeare's plays, addressing their readability and relevance to their lives. 2. Explore the effects of remaking Shakespeare plays in a modern context, as well as differences that emerge when a play is...

Students discover the "dumb show," a scene that enacts a story silently while focusing on an example from Hamlet. Divided into groups, they act out the silent scene from the play. Again, in groups, they create a "dumb show" from Julius...

High schoolers read Hamlet. They read again and hunt for a word that appears 4 times. They identify the word "like" and define it. Volunteers act out the scene and they discuss the uses of the word like. They discuss the senses and...

I can't wait to try this activity with my class. It's versatile and could be modified to fit any character analysis lesson. To analyze characters thoroughly, learners create life boxes. Each box will pertain to a character from any...

Students examine the function of exposition in play structure. They will be able to develop multiple interpretations and visual and aural production choices for Shakespearean scenes and choose those that are most interesting.

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

Students investigate soliloquies. In this performing arts lesson, students discuss figurative language within soliloquies and then perform a soliloquy to the rest of the class.

High schoolers explore monologues of Shakespeare and the structure of the Globe Theatre. They participate in a Shakespeare phrase guessing game, examine a diagram of the Globe Theatre, and read and discuss monologues from Shakespeare.

This Stratford Study Guide has a history of the Stratford Shakespeare Theatre and its productions of Hamlet, a biography of Shakespeare, a timeline of his playwriting, a synopsis of the play, classroom activities, and a bibliography.