1. Hamlet
Journal Prompts

2. Directions
At the beginning of class each day, I will give you some time to respond to this prompt.
After we have finished Hamlet, you will need to type all of your responses and turn them in on turnitin.com
Each needs to be one page typed
At least one direct quote from the text using proper citation
MLA heading in upper left margin

3. Prompt #1
Knowing what you know about Shakespeare’s time and the theatre, would you consider being a theatre-goer at that time? Why or why not? Consider the lives of typical people in the late 1500s/early 1600s.

4. Prompt #2
Does Hamlet believe he has a purpose in life? If so, what is it? If not, what is the reasoning? (You may have to look in I.5 for this)

5. Prompt #3
From what you know about the characters, which character is the most important in Hamlet’s life? Most irritating? Why? Analyze their relationships to Hamlet.

6. Prompt #4
Let’s say that you were to stage a play to “catch” someone (as Hamlet does Claudius). Who would you catch, why, and what would you do about it?

7. Prompt#5 (End of Play)
Reflect back on Polonius’s advice to Laertes in I.3: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Choose one character from the play and explore how he or she does not follow this advice, and how that impacts what happens to that character.