1. How easy is it to be a good(moral)person in our contemporary world? What temptations do you face on a daily basis?

2. What has shaped your own moral code? Who are the greatest influences on your sense of morality?

3. Have you ever found yourself compromising yourself for;

a) a friendb) a family memberc) a person in authority

What are your thoughts?

4. Imagine the following scenario: Someone whom you love and respect asks you to act in a way which places you in conflict with your morals. What decision process will you follow (consider the magnitude of the act and its consequences for both you and your loved one)?

5. The scenario stated above introduces the issues of loyalty and of betrayal. At what point does loyalty to another person or cause become a betrayal itself? What importance do you place loyalty to yourself vs. loyalty to others?

6. We have all procrastinated about something important that we had to do, sometimes disappointing other people and often disappointing ourselves. Why do we procrastinate?

7. Disillusion is a common experience of growing up. We find that people in an adult world whom we once idealized are less than ideal, and that situation that we considered innocent are actually corrupt. How do young people encountering the ‘real world’ for the first time handle these discoveries?

8. What's the difference between taking revenge and getting justice?

9. Privacy is highly valued in our society. How would you feel if you found out that you were under surveillance at school, at your job, at home or among friends because of some change in your behaviour?

Gertrude(marries brother-in-law after husband's

death)

Gertrude(marries brother-in-law after husband's

death)

HamletHamlet

Claudius(Brother to King

Hamlet - Uncle to Hamlet)

Claudius(Brother to King

Hamlet - Uncle to Hamlet)

King HamletKing

Hamlet

DENMARKDENMARK

Polonius(Claudius' Advisor)

Polonius(Claudius' Advisor)

Ophelia(Daughter)Ophelia(Daughter)

Laertes(Son)

Laertes(Son)

Horatio(Hamlets

Best Friend)

Horatio(Hamlets

Best Friend)

NORWAYNORWAY

KingFortinbras

KingFortinbras

FortinbrasFortinbras

England

Norway

Denmark

France

Sweden

•Kronberg Castle

Poland

Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark

"A little more than kin, and less than kind". Hamlet (Act I, Scene II)

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” Guard (Act 1 Sc.2)

"This above all: to thine own self be true" Polonius (Act I, Sc. III)

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't." Polonius (Act II, Scene II). 

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" Hamlet (Act II, Sc. II)

"The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king". Hamlet (Act II, Scene II).

"To be, or not to be: that is the question". Hamlet (Act III, Sc. I).

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks". Gertrude (Act III, Sc. II). 

 

1.Why does Hamlet delay avenging the murder of this father by Claudius?

2.How much guilt does is mother, Gertrude, bear in this crime?

3.How trustworthy is the ghost of Hamlet’s father?

4.Is Hamlets madness feigned or true, a strategy masquerading as a reality or a reality masquerading as a strategy?

5.Does Hamlet who once loved Ophelia, continue to love her, in spite of her apparent cruelty ?

6.Hamlet is an enigma. As you read the play, watch how Hamlet – who starts by contemplating death – comes to terms with life, keeps his integrity, and strikes back successfully at what’s wrong around him.

Spontaneous rhythms of a mind in motion.

-“something” is in part the murderous design of the revenger but is also the philosophical meditation on life and death that haunts Hamlet.

“there’s something in his soul /O’er which his melancholy sits on brood” Claudius.” (3.1.163-4)

His blend of sarcasm, riddling and sly wordplay initially strikes those around him as folly but gives way to an uneasy awareness of hidden meanings.

An ordinary person looking at the futility and wrongs in life , asking the toughest questions and coming up with honest semi-answers.

The play is full of talk about death, dead bodies, murder, suicide, disease, graves etc. There is no traditional Christian comfort or promise of eventual justice or happiness but the message is ultimately one of HOPE.

The end message is, life is indeed worth living, even by imperfect people in an imperfect world.