Aim: What motivates Hamlet to finally act?Do Now: Refer to the beginning of Act 5 Scene 2. How does Hamlet seal the

fates of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? What does this show about him?

Why doesn’t Hamlet feel bad for sending

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern off to their deaths?

Did they deserve what they got?

“They are not near my conscience…”

“But I am very sorry, good Horatio, / That to

Laertes I forgot myself; / For by the image of my cause I see / The portraiture of his.” What does Hamlet realize about Laertes? Is this a sign of Hamlet’s maturity?

Laertes as Mirror Image

Notice how Hamlet speaks of himself in third

person when addressing Laertes. How does Hamlet’s rhetorical style mimic his

content? OR How does his way of speaking mimic what he’s actually talking about?

“I’ll be your foil, Laertes” Indeed! Again with the word play!

“The readiness is all.”

Why does Hamlet request that Fortinbras take

over the throne? What does Fortinbras offer the throne?

Legitimacy Decisiveness Strength

Fortinbras as King

“The rest is silence.”

How do the following die?

Gertrude Laertes Hamlet Claudius

Let’s not forget Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Ophelia and Polonius.

The Body Count

Hamlet famously asks his dear friend, Horatio,

to tell his story. Therein lies a recurring motif of Shakespeare’s – that when contemplating life, death and meaning, the to be or not to be, the realization is that ultimately what is written is what will last.

Tell my story

Pick a scene from Hamlet. Retell it! You can pick a

famous scene or a minor scene. In your retelling… Choose your format – would it be a staged scene, filmed

scene, musical piece, paraphrased by chickens, etc? How would it be different from the original?

Choose a cast – Who would you cast as the characters? Create a vision – Describe in detail how the scene would

proceed. Would you use the original language, change the language, modernize it?

This will be collected.

You tell the story…