The Great Shakespeare

Researching the author can be very beneficial when learning about Hamlet. Learning about Shakespeare can help us further understand the play. These websites are a great timeline of Shakespeare's life. On the first site, there is a list of time periods and key events in Shakespeare's life that can be clicked on and information will pop up. This site is more in-depth while the second site is more of a general overview of Shakespeare's life and the most important events in his life. By learning about his life, writing style and motivations the play can be further understood. Shakespeare was a very influential writer, proven by the fact that his plays are still read and studied today, and learning about the life of such an influential writer is essential to completely understanding a play.

http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/timeline.htm

http://www.bardweb.net/man.html

Ophelia's Flowers

There are two websites that I found to be the best for understanding Ophelia's flower speech.

"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts. There's fennel for you, and columbines. -There's rue for you, and here's some for me. We may call it 'herb of grace' o' Sundays. -Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference. -There's a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died."

Both of these sites give good explanations of the symbolism behind the flowers she was talking about. The first site is from a teacher who created an outline all about Ophelia's flowers and the second is a newsletter article. The newsletter article also discusses the reasoning behind Ophelia using flowers in her speech. The article states that her reasoning was that she could speak out and make the King and Queen feel regret and guilt without actually accusing them of anything, because in that time period, people were afraid and cautious of what they said because they could be put to death for it.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:q5vsgnWrltgJ:www.athensacademy.org/teachers/asweetapple/Sample%2520Outline.doc+www.athensacademy.org+ophelias+flowers&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg_J0nd4fQur-q9k-JEDTRUZXADjmnB5O-ndpeM4QWa3kM_PvwL8CzafCMcxymoIUSVKO6-VCmCBeskRjNzeZPU_QBIzHL36azpwsBaoL_ak6C2xWFtF7kEtxLLGX1HFPMi8aBf&sig=AHIEtbSuH9n_ZEUnCqJZsXsbMUyhXlDETA

http://www.huntingtonbotanical.org/Rose/Subrosa/Subrosa14.pdf

Hamlet on Trial

A court case was held in Washington DC trying Hamlet for the murder he committed. In this article, it is debated whether Hamlet was really mad or was pretending to be insane. The judge who came up with the concept of a trial for Hamlet was hoping to gain the publics interest in Shakespeare. He also stated "It shows you how difficult these questions are. If you can't make up your mind about Hamlet, and he's a fictional person, what about a real person?" In the end, the jury was split, six thought he was sane and just pretending to be insane, and six thought he was truly mad. This proves that the matter of Hamlet's sanity is all up to the reader and their perception of Hamlet's actions and motivations.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june07/hamlet_03-29.html

Themes, Symbolism, and Background Information

The website LitCharts.com offers much information about Hamlet. It discusses themes such as appearance vs. reality, action and inaction, revenge and many more. These are central themes in the play and understanding them is essential to understanding the play. It also offers background information such as information about William Shakespeare as well as key facts about the play such as setting, genre, protagonist, and antagonist. A brief plot and character summary is included as well as summary and analysis of each act and scene and the most memorable quotes. The symbol of Yorick's skull is discussed as being the only easily distinguished symbol in the play. Overall, this website is very helpful and informative on the different literary elements of theme and symbolism, background information, and summary of each part.

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/hamlet/themes

Hamlet Timeline and Character Analysis

This website is great for basics of Hamlet. The plot overview is simple and easy to understand and it runs accurate to the plot line of the play. It provides the most important parts of each act somewhat similar to a timeline. It is a great reference for looking back at the specific order of events. The commentary is somewhat like a modern translation. It provides a more in-depth look at the specifics of each act and provides the lines where each event can be found in the original text. The character section provides an explanation of all the character's roles in the plays and explains the character's actions and motivation. There is also 2 essays on the website, one by William Hazlitt, a Shakespeare expert, on the characters in the play, and one by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This site holds a wealth of general information about Hamlet, mostly about the chronological events and the characters in the play.

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/hamlet/hamlet.htm 

"To be or not to be..."

These two cartoons use the most famous Hamlet line of all time, "To be or not to be, that is the question."

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/Pretzel/

No Fear Shakespeare

No Fear Shakespeare on Sparknotes is one of the greatest resources to use if you are having difficulty understanding the old English that Shakespeare used. It offers a side-by-side version of Hamlet where the original text is right next to a modern version of the play. This side-by-side format is great for understanding the language that is no longer used today. While it is a very useful site, it is important that you read the original version first, because you will pick up on details and specific word choice that is not used in the modern text. This is a great site to supplement Hamlet's original text.

http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/

Sassy Gay Friend... Hamlet Version

This video was requested by everyone in my AP English class, but unfortunately it wouldn't play because youtube is blocked by the schools server. It really doesn't teach you anything about Hamlet but it is quite funny to watch.