BRAINSTORM QUESTIONS
1. How did the character affect Hamlet? How was the character affected by Hamlet?
2. In each scene where your character appears, what is his or her motivation and objective? (Sometimes this will be difficult or impossible to determine, so you talk about the various possibilities of what he or she could want.)
3. What do other characters say about your character and how do they react to him or her? How does your character feel about other characters?
4. What questions are raised by your character’s words and/or behavior?
THE “SKELETON” OF YOUR PAPER
Paragraph 1: a description of the character
Paragraph 2: an explanation of the character’s significance in the play
Paragraph 3: your opinion about the character’s changes during the play and the importance of the changes
Paragraph 4: a comparison of your character Hamlet
We will write the actual paper when we return from Regents Exam week. Upon return, the following items must be complete:
1)Brainstorm questions above
2)Skeleton of your paper (4 paragraphs detailed above)
3)Your mini-lesson for the part of speech you were assigned. In depth details for this will follow in an upcoming post.
* All together, that’s 8 paragraphs and a page or two of writing to prepare to teach your lesson. We will watch Act V of Hamlet together in class. Some interesting films to watch clips of (or the film in full, if you can are as follows.)
-Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke (this is what we have been watching)
-Hamlet starring and directed by Mel Gibson
-Hamlet starring Lawrence Olivier (it’s the token black and white film… funny old-time costumes)
-Hamlet cartoon (youtube it)
-This American Life (podcast, so you have to listen to it… there’s no video…) presented a -Hamlet version of Act five, acted out by actual prisoners. It’s amazing. (Those of you who were here the day before winter break got to hear parts of this… the entire podcast is amazing)
I love everything Hamlet, so if you are interested in other recs, let me know!
