The Tragedy of Hamlet: A Primer 4/19/2019

The Tragedy of Hamlet: A Primer Standards Addressed Within This

 Unit Topic: Hamlet
Lecture Content
RL.11-12.3: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how
 English IV to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story
is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced
 Grade 12 and developed).
 Prepared by: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.R.11-12.3: Analyze how and why individuals,
events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
Jacob Fitterer

Renaissance Concepts
The Great Chain of Being
King as:
A great wheel
A microcosm

What do you think happened in this scene?

Let’s go one step further: what can we infer from the props utilized in this scene and the
costume design?

Does the depiction of Hamlet here reflect modern day? How do you deal with your
sadness/grief?

Jacob Fitterer 1
The Tragedy of Hamlet: A Primer 4/19/2019

The Great Chain of Being Definitions

(Simplified)  Asidefrom the themes we will
explore today, here are other
important elements to keep in mind:
Tragic hero
Tragic flaw
Tragedy
Comedy

Three Plot Threads Setting of Denmark & Elsinore

King= microcosm of Denmark
GhostStory Denmark as prison
Detective Story World as garden of Eden
Revenge Story

Jacob Fitterer 2
The Tragedy of Hamlet: A Primer 4/19/2019

Major Themes Now You Try!

Justice vs Revenge
Name at least two major
Illusion vs Reality
themes in Shakespeare’s
Ghost or Devil Hamlet.
King or murderer What personal
connection allowed you
to recall those themes?

Honest Man in Corrupt Society Death

 “To be or not to be…”
Father Son  All fathers must die
Archetype  Worm food imagery

Ghost and Hamlet  Gravedigger’s scene and

Yorick
Past and Present
 Final scene and poisonings
 A play completely about
death

Jacob Fitterer 3
The Tragedy of Hamlet: A Primer 4/19/2019

Now You Try! Hamlet

Renaissance man
IN WHAT WAYS DOES HAMLET
EXPLORE THE THEME OF DEATH? Madness?
Tragic flaw
Philosophical
Noble heart

Imagery Now You Try!

Garden Imagery WHAT FORMS OF IMAGERY DO WE SEE
Disease, contagion, IN HAMLET? WHAT THEMES ARE
poison ENRICHED BY THE IMAGERY UTILIZED BY
SHAKESPEARE?
Death imagery

Jacob Fitterer 4
The Tragedy of Hamlet: A Primer 4/19/2019

Hamlet in Popular Media Not just Lion

King, but also
other
contemporary
stories!

Hamlet truly is
timeless.

Now You Try! Now You Try!

 Break out into groups and complete a concept/definition map for
 Turn to a student near you and partner up. one of the following themes (assigned by the teacher):
Ambition, Fate, Guilt, Indecisiveness, Mortality, Revenge
 What other stories are you familiar with that


follow a tragic hero?

 How did that story resonate with you?

You may be called on to share your

partner’s answer!

Jacob Fitterer 5