Hamlet’s Mind Assignment Due Date: TBD

Assignment Overview After reading each act you will create a ‘map’ of Hamlet’s mind for use in the final Mind Assignment I will be giving you a focus for each act You may do your map any way you like: paragraph, mind map, table, chart, graph, illustration, etc., but be sure you have enough information so you will remember in a few weeks what he was like in Act I Your final assignment will include 5 specific maps, one from each Act Written comparison of Hamlet at the beginning & at the end Brief explanation of how he got there (focusing on mental change)

Questions to ask each Act What has happened to Hamlet this act? What has happened around him? How has that affected him? How does he respond to things? What are some of the significant things he says? What are some of the things he does?

Act 1: Questions Essentially for this act you will be answering the following question: What can we learn about Hamlet’s mind from the questions he asks?

Act 1: Questions The focus for this act are the questions Hamlet asks Find all of the questions in Act 1 that Hamlet asks Pick 5 that you think are very important What do they tell you about Hamlet, about what’s going through his mind? Do they give you clues about what he will do? Include those quotes/questions in your map and what they show about his mind.

Act 2: Relationships Here are some things to consider when mapping out Hamlet’s mind based on relationship: What are his most important relationships? How does he interact with the people that are introduced this act? What do we see and or learn about Hamlet by looking at his interactions with people? Map out his mind based on his relationships, and please use quotes to support your analysis.

Act 3: Hamlet’s Decisions Here are some things to consider when looking at Hamlet’s decisions. What does the Play within a Play show about Hamlet’s mind? What decisions does he make in act 3? How do those decisions affect him? His family? His future? What is the most impactful decision Hamlet makes in this act? Whom does it impact the most? Map out his mind based on his decisions, and please use quotes to support your analysis.

Act 4: Hamlet’s Madness For Act 4, please discuss Hamlet’s mind and the theme of madness throughout the play (include more than just Act 4) Is he really mad or is he pretending? If he is pretending, what does he hope to achieve? How does his madness manifest/how does he act? How does his madness affect others? How does he then respond to that? Map out his mind based on his madness, and please use quotes to support your analysis.

Act 5: The End Look at the last two scenes of the play. What happens? How does Hamlet react? Does Hamlet do anything unexpected? What is his general mental status at this point? What is he thinking? Does he act on his feelings or his thoughts? Are they the same? Map out his mind based on how the play ends, and please use quotes to support your analysis.

FINISH Please hand in, with all 5 act analyses, your two paragraphs: Paragraph 1: Comparison of Hamlet at the beginning of the play and the end Paragraph 2: Quick explanation of what Hamlet’s mind went through throughout the play While you may use quotes, that is not necessary for this part of the assignment.