Skip to Main Content

Lesson 3

We will read Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet and explore the play’s themes.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize points of connection between two speeches in Hamlet?

  • Can I determine and explain themes found in Hamlet?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Hamlet, William Shakespeare, Simon and Schuster, 2003
  • Multimedia
    • Hamlet: The Fully Dramatized Audio Edition, William Shakespeare, Folger Shakespeare Library, Simon and Schuster, 2014

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will read lines 1–66 of Act 5, Scene 1.

Read Lines 1–66 of Act 5, Scene 1. Use the following questions to guide your annotations:

  1. What are the gravediggers discussing?

  2. How does the tone of their verbal exchange contrast with the topic of their discussion?

Discuss your responses with your group.

Activity 2: Read

We will read lines 67–229 of Act 5, Scene 1.

Read and annotate Lines 67–229 of Act 5, Scene 1. Use the following question to guide your reading:

  1. What do these lines reveal about Hamlet’s views on life and death?

Activity 3: Read

We will reread selected lines from Act 5, Scene 1 and compare Hamlet’s ideas to those he expressed earlier in the “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy from Act 3, Scene 1.

Reread and annotate lines 64–96 from Act 3, Scene 1 and lines 90–95 and 190–198 of Act 5, Scene 1. In small groups, compare Hamlet’s perspectives on life and death between the two scenes.

Respond to the following questions:

  1. What are Hamlet’s views on life and death in Act 3, Scene 1? What evidence supports your interpretation?

  2. What are Hamlet’s views on life and death in Act 5, Scene 1? What evidence supports your interpretation?

  3. What do Hamlet’s views on death from Act 3 to Act 5 reveal about his state of mind?

  4. What themes about life and death have emerged throughout the play? What textual evidence supports your interpretation?

Activity 4: Discuss

We will share our group analysis of Hamlet’s views on life and death in a whole-class discussion.

Share your group’s analysis of Hamlet’s views on life and death in a whole-class discussion.

Be sure to do the following:

  • Elaborate and clarify your ideas.

  • Support your ideas with specific textual evidence from the play and details from the films.

  • Ask clarifying questions.

  • Build on or challenge the ideas of others.

  • Take notes on intriguing ideas.

Activity 5: Read

We will reread selected lines from Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 5, Scene 1 to compare Hamlet’s and the gravedigger’s use of wit.

Reread and annotate the selected lines from Act 2, Scene 2 and Act 5, Scene 1. Work in a small group to respond to the following questions on the Hamlet and Gravedigger’s Wit Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool.

  1. What puns are found in Hamlet’s and Polonius’s lines in Act 2, Scene 2? What effect do they have on the meaning of the scene?

  2. What puns are found in Hamlet’s and the Gravedigger’s lines in Act 5, Scene 1? What effect do they have on the meaning of the scene?

  3. How are Hamlet’s and the Gravedigger’s use of puns in the two scenes similar? How are they different? How are Polonius’s and Hamlet’s reactions similar? How are they different? What is ironic about the exchange between Hamlet and the Gravedigger?

Activity 6: Read

For homework, we will read lines 230–319 from Act 5, Scene 1.

For homework, read and annotate Lines 230–319 from Act 5, Scene 1. Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. Why is Laertes upset with the priest?

  2. How does Hamlet react when he finds out that Ophelia has died? Is his reaction believable? What does it reveal about his state of mind?

  3. How do Laertes and Gertrude react to Hamlet’s response?