: Pack 2

Hamlet’s parents are King and Queen of Denmark. Hamlet’s dad has recently died and his mum, , immediately marries his uncle, Claudius (dad’s brother). Hamlet is rather uncomfortable with this. Hamlet sees his dad’s on the castle walls, who tells him he was killed by Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet wants to get revenge but is paralysed by indecision. Some travelling actors arrive and he gets them to perform a play called ‘The Mousetrap’ which he hopes will prick Claudius’ guilty conscience. Hamlet is angry with everyone and loses his temper with his girlfriend , pushing her away and being cruel to her. He kills Ophelia’s dad in a fit of temper. Ophelia goes mad and drowns herself with grief at losing her Dad and her partner. Ophelia’s brother () challenges Hamlet to a fencing duel. Laertes and Claudius plot to poison Hamlet – preparing a poisoned chalice of wine and putting poison on the tip of a fencing foil - but the plan all goes wrong, Gertrude drinks the poison, Hamlet and Laertes both get injured with a poisoned fencing foil and Hamlet then stabs Claudius with the same foil.

ACTIVITIES

How would it feel growing up as a prince or princess do you think? What was Hamlet’s childhood like?

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie

What would you write in your diary/journal if you were Hamlet and your father had died and very soon afterwards your Mother married your uncle?

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie

What would you write when you have seen the ghost of your father and he tells you that Claudius killed him?

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie

‘To be or not to be that is the question’ is perhaps the most famous line of Shakespeare….can you think of any others that you might know? Here are a few to get you started…..

Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo? Alas poor I knew him All that glitters is not gold The course of true love never did run smooth

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie

Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and is very hurt when he loses his temper with her. What would she say if she called her best friend for a chat?

Below is how Hamlet tells the actors to perform the play – can you take each line and convert it into a symbol or picture? What is he trying to tell them and how can you show it in images rather than words?

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie ORIGINAL TEXT MODERN TEXT Enter HAMLET and PLAYERS HAMLET and the PLAYERS enter.

HAMLET Perform the speech just as I taught you, musically and smoothly. If you HAMLET exaggerate the words the way some Speak the speech, I pray you, as I actors do, I might as well have some pronounced it to you, trippingly on the newscaster read the lines. Don’t use tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of too many hand gestures; just do a your players do, I had as lief the town crier few, gently, like this. When you get spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too into a whirlwind of passion on stage, much with your hand thus, but use all remember to keep the emotion gently, for in the very torrent, tempest, and moderate and smooth. I hate it when I (as I may say) whirlwind of passion, you hear a blustery actor in a wig tear a must acquire and beget a temperance that passion to shreds, bursting may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me everyone’s eardrums so as to impress to the soul to hear a robustious periwig- the audience on the lower levels of pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to the playhouse, who for the most part very rags, to split the ears of the can only appreciate loud noises and groundlings, who for the most part are pantomime shows. I would whip a capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb- guy for making a tyrant sound too shows and noise. I would have such a tyrannical. That’s as bad as those old fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant. It plays in which King Herod ranted. out-Herods Herod. Pray you, avoid it. Please avoid doing that.

FIRST PLAYER FIRST PLAYER I warrant your honor. I will, sir.

HAMLET Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this HAMLET special observance that you o'erstep not But don’t be too tame, either—let the modesty of nature. For anything so your good sense guide you. Fit the overdone is from the purpose of playing, action to the word and the word to whose end, both at the first and now, was the action. Act natural at all costs. and is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to Exaggeration has no place in the nature, to show virtue her own feature, theater, where the purpose is to scorn her own image, and the very age and represent reality, holding a mirror up body of the time his form and pressure. to virtue, to vice, and to the spirit of Now this overdone or come tardy off, the times. If you handle this badly, it though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot just makes ignorant people laugh but make the judicious grieve, the censure while regular theater-goers are of the which one must in your allowance miserable—and they’re the ones you o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. should be keeping happy.

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie

Shakespeare UnBard Rowan Mackenzie