Using practical activities and/or images, it is great to start by encouraging your learners to think about key themes and ideas in the text before getting into analysis of the play. Below are some resources that can help you do this.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Still Images (Ask students to work together in groups to create an image or freeze frame in response to some key ideas from the play, opening up conversation. For example, you could ask them to make a 'happy family', a 'new king' or a 'court'. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5) 
• Gallery - Setting Images (Ask students to consider what the key features of the world of the play are, using images as stimulus. Particularly useful for Drama students)

Primary

• Activity - Still Images (As above. You might want to focus the images and themes you use. For example, you could ask them to make a 'king with a court', or 'two friends'.)

Before going into the text and key scenes, it can help students to approach the language if they know the outline of the story. Below are some resources that can help you do this.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - The Story in Five Acts (A practical exercise helping students to understand the plot. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
• Activity - Exploring the Opening (A series of practical exercises designed to consider backstory and the state of Denmark before the play opens. Particularly useful for Drama students)
• Discussion - Key Decisions to make (A section of the Shakespeare Learning Zone introducing key questions directors need to answer about the play any time it is staged, including 'The Monarchy' which is interesting to explore when looking at the opening of the play. Particularly useful for Drama students)
• Independent Activity - Test Yourself on the Plot

Primary

• Activity - The Story in Images (An opportunity to explore the plot practically)
• Independent Activity - Test Yourself on the Plot (A quick quiz on ten simple plot points)

After introducing the story it is really useful to think about the different ways in which students could interpret the story, telling it in different ways or highlighting different themes.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Whose Story? (The scene by scene from the Shakespeare Learning Zone can be used for students to re-write the play from different points of view, exploring what happens to each character in each step in the timeline. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
• Activity - Understanding the Myths (A practical exercise introducing some of the traditional myths and stories referred to in the play. Particularly useful for Drama students)

Primary

• Activity - Whose Story? (The scene by scene from the Shakespeare Learning Zone can be used for students to re-write one act from the play from different points of view, as in the activity above)

Discuss with students how the themes and ideas they explored initially come through in the story.

• Discussion - What's it about? (Ask students to finish the sentence: 'This is a story about...' to help them consolidate their understanding)

After exploring the story and its structure it can be useful to reflect on what students have deduced about individual characters and to explore their initial responses and reactions. Below are some resources and ideas to help you do this.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Who's Who? (An exercise exploring the characters using descriptors and text, creating images of their character. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
• Gallery - Character Galleries (Using one or more of the character galleries, found by clicking on each character icon, ask students to create a list of impressions based on how they have been presented in past productions. Particularly useful for Drama students)

Primary

• Activity - Character Traits (An adapted version of the above activity, introducing key characters in the play.)

Building on the work they have done creating impressions of characters, using lines from the text and factual information, it can help students to look at how these characters work together. This includes exploring their loyalties, histories and connections. Below are some resources to help you do this.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Who's Who? (The second part of the above activity, developing their investigation by looking at the wider photographs and connections between characters and groups. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)

Hamlet, like most of Shakespeare’s tragedies, is a play with a big setting! Hamlet’s father has died and the kingdom is in turmoil. Hamlet’s mother has remarried ‘within a month’, and the man she has married is Hamlet’s Uncle – her own brother in law. Below are some resources and ideas to help you explore both the state of the kingdom and Hamlet’s emotional state at the start of the play.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Exploring the Opening (A practical way to explore the opening scene, considering the situation at court. Drama students may have already completed this activity in exploring the story.)
• Video - Hamlet's Soliloquy (Ask students to watch the video, found in 'Analysing Hamlet's Language', exploring this Act 1 Scene 2 soliloquy. Below are some suggested approaches. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
  • Watch Paapa Essiedu talking about the context for this soliloquy and performing an extract from it and pause at 2:07. When they listen to him speaking in this speech, what are the things that are most on his mind?
  • Play the video as Paapa begins to explore the speech with Assistant Director Anna Girvan, looking at punctuation, line endings and sounds. You can either ask students to annotate as they watch and pause to explore each strategy, or you could ask them to try each exercise as he does it, pausing to allow them to walk around the room or identify vowel sounds and read the last words of each line together. What conclusions can they draw about Hamlet as a character?

Primary

• Activity - Things to think about (An opportunity to think about what Hamlet is coming home to, discussing some of the key questions in this activity)

To consolidate what students have explored around Hamlet’s first soliloquy and the opening scene, it is useful to then reflect on what they think Hamlet’s actions will be. Before he sees the ghost, is it clear what Hamlet wants or feels? This play is about his journey, and it really helps to establish his starting point together.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Video - Act 1 Scene 2 (Ask students to watch this video of Jonathan Slinger performing Hamlet's Act 1 Scene 2 soliloquy, found in 'Analysing Hamlet's Language' beneath the previous video. Below are some suggested approaches. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
  • Watch the speech again in a different performance. Write down in one sentence how Hamlet seems to feel about his father’s death and Claudius’ newly found leadership, then three things that he talks about the most. For example, the nature of women.
  • Create a collective image of Hamlet. You could do this using a large outline of him on the wall, filling it with quotes and/or impressions from the group, or on a slide or document you can return to later.
• Activity - Hot-seating (Ask students to explore their conclusions practically, after seeing the performances of Hamlet's soliloquy, by questioning one another in role. An additional layer of challenge can be added by asking students to use key words and lines from the soliloquy. Particularly useful for Drama students)

Primary

• Activity - Hot-seating (As above. Ask students to develop the conversations they had in 'Things to think about' by asking them to question you/a volunteer in role as Hamlet)

Having explored the story as an overview, it can be great to ask students to explore key scenes and respond to them creatively as well as analysing text and using the language to develop their personal responses. It is in exploring scenes that students will also be able to find evidence to talk about changing relationships, character dynamics and the tools characters use to get what they want. Below are some resources and ideas for approaching some different key scenes, organised by theme.

• Revenge

Activity - The Closet Scene

Gallery - Hamlet and Gertrude

• Mortality

Gallery and Video - Claudius' Cofession

Activity - Hamlet's Dilemna

Gallery and Video - To be or not to be

Activity - The Gravedigger

• 'Madness'

Gallery and Video - The Nunnery Scene

Writing - Analysing Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship

Gallery - Polonius and Ophelia

Gallery - Hamlet confronts Rozencrantz and Guildenstern

Activity - Exploring Rozencrantz and Guildenstern

Activity - Changes in Hamlet (Suitable for Primary)

• Supernatural

Activity - Summoning a Ghost

Gallery - The First appearance of the ghost

Activity - Hamlet and the Ghost (Suitable for Primary)

Using a physical timeline or drawing them out can often help students to gather evidence of how characters have changed and developed, identifying the events and moments that spark change in them. Below are some ideas that can help you do this.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Writing - Play Timeline (Ask students to create a timeline of the play. The Timeline from the Shakespeare Learning Zone may help them to structure this into 5 acts. Along the top of the timeline encourage students to note the events of the play and the action that takes place. Along the bottom, ask them to chart the internal journey of Hamlet. How is he feeling at each stage and how strong are his relationships with allies like Horatio and Ophelia? If students completed the work on rewriting the story from different points of view, it would be great to revisit the Hamlet versions. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
• Gallery - BBC Visual Timeline (Ask students to consider how different elements of Hamlet's journey have been staged in the past. Students might even complete the above task as a collage or collection of visuals which offer an interpretation: is Hamlet driven 'mad' by grief or is he calculated and exacting revenge? Particularly useful for Drama students)

Primary

• Activity - Changes in Hamlet (Ask students to explore the ways in which Hamlet and some of his language has changed after seeing the ghost of his father, beginning to consider the questions around his motivation)

With characters like Hamlet, it can be really crucial to explore the different choices they make and consider their motivation, particularly as Hamlet’s plan for revenge develops and Claudius’ guilt becomes clearer. Below are some ideas and resources to help you do this.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Hamlet's Dilemma (Ask students to consider the choices Hamlet makes when he is finally faced with the opportunity to exact his revenge on Claudius, but doesn't take it. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)

Primary

• Activity - Hamlet's Dilemmas (An adapted version of the above activity)

Storytelling and performing are incredibly important throughout Hamlet. There are lots of references to myths and legends, and Hamlet uses a story in performance to prove Claudius’ guilt and trap him and Gertrude, as well as confusing Ophelia and even admitting to ‘putting on’ an ‘antic disposition’ and pretending to be ‘mad’. In every version of Hamlet the actor and director will have to decide how much of Hamlet’s change is a performance and how much is a true change in his character.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Video - Is Hamlet really mad? (Watch Paapa Essiedu discuss his response to a Homework Help question: Is Hamlet really mad? After listening, ask students to consider reasons why he might be and reasons why he might not. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
• Video - O What a rogue and peasant slave (Here David Tennant talks about the journey Hamlet goes on within this speech, as he makes his decision to use theatre and performance to catch Claudius and prove his guilt. As you listen to him explain this journey from ‘someone who has nowhere to go and has no tools at his command to make his situation any better’ to someone who is ‘full of energy, full of motive’. Think about how you might stage this thought process. How would you break down the soliloquy itself and how would you demonstrate his journey physically in performing the speech. Particularly useful for Drama Students)
• Activity - Exploring the role of the players (An opportunity to look at why and how Shakespeare introduces the players and the moment of Hamlet's decision. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)
• Activity - Why stories matter (A practical activity exploring the play within the play. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5)

Primary

• Activity - The play within the play (Students can design their own room and stage for the players' play, exploring where characters might sit and what happens in the play.)

Provide students with an image of Hamlet and ask them to place him in the centre of a 4 box grid. Around the edge, encourage students to complete the four boxes looking at:

• What Gertrude sees
• What Ophelia sees
• What Horatio sees
• What Claudius sees

In Hamlet, Shakespeare ends the play with almost everyone dead. The only survivors are Horatio and Young Fortinbras. Fortinbras and Young Fortinbras are father and son, and they very much mirror Hamlet and Old King Hamlet. Both fathers ruled their kingdoms and have died, and we see how their sons respond in revenge. There are also parallels between Hamlet and Laertes, with Hamlet killing Laertes’ father during the play. Below are some links to help students explore these characters and their connections and some ideas for how to use these.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Relationship Map (Ask students to use the Shakespeare Learning Zone's interactive character map to position each of the characters and create their own map of how they connect. This can be printed and labelled with quotes or explanations. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5) 

Primary

• Discussion - Telling Hamlet's Story (Ask students to think about who they would want to tell their story if it couldn't be them. Who would you trust? Discuss with them why they think it is important that Horatio is still there at the end of the play.)

Consider with students the ending of the play and the choices Shakespeare makes in the final moments of the action, setting Hamlet and Laertes against one another and allowing Horatio to survive his best friend. The following ideas and activities will help you to explore the relationship between Hamlet and Horatio and pose the question of why and how Shakespeare uses Horatio as an outside voice in this story.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Activity - Should Hamlet fight? (Ask students to think about why Hamlet agrees to a fight he doesn't really want, considering the reasons why he should and shouldn't fight Laertes. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5) 
• Activity - Exploring the final scene (Ask students to consider how they would stage the final scene, with so little dialogue, no stage directions and so much action. Particularly useful for Drama students.)

Primary

• Activity - Exploring Hamlet's relationship with Horatio (Ask students to consider what a best friend is, before thinking about how much Hamlet relies on Horatio and why)

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, and characters meet tragic ends throughout the play in different ways. Hamlet is responsible for the majority of these deaths. The following suggestions might help students to bring all of these together and to begin analysing the extent to which Hamlet is responsible.

Secondary - English and Drama

• Discussion - A tragic hero? (Ask students to research and consider the definition of a tragedy and a tragic hero before comparing Hamlet to these definitions. In what ways is he a tragic hero and what is his flaw? Particularly useful for Drama students to consider) 
• Activity - Tragic storyboard (Ask students to create a storyboard for the play, using each box to represent a different death from the play. This should include unseen deaths as well, like Ophelia, Old Hamlet, Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, as well as those that happen on stage like Polonius. Encourage students to then write a short caption for each one using words from the text, explaining how far Hamlet is responsible. Suitable for Drama and English students KS3-5) .

Primary

• Discussion - A tragic hero? (Ask students to consider what makes someone a hero and whether Hamlet is one before looking at what it means to be a 'tragic hero')