Shakespeare: Hamlet- Drama, Dialogue, and Performance

Instructor: Amber Bell Grade Level: Middle & High School

Materials: Shakespeare: Hamlet

• A copy of *Hamlet* (the * No Fear Shakespeare* edition is highly recommend for those new to Shakespeare)
• Families may be asked to assist with simple costumes or set pieces for the final performance (many will already be provided)

Course Description: In this semester-long deep dive into one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, students will explore Hamlet not just as literature but as a work rich with spiritual tension, moral complexity, an timeless questions. We’ll examine Hamlet as both a dramatic masterpiece and a theological conversation, one that draws from the Christian worldview while also challenging and twisting it in thought-provoking ways.

Over the first nine weeks, students will listen to the acclaimed Ark Angel audio production of Hamlet, discuss major themes and characters, and engage in creative activities that bring Shakespeare’s language to life. We’ll pay special attention to how the play reflects and distorts biblical truths about sin, justice, vengeance, repentance, the afterlife, and the nature of man. In our discussions, we’ll highlight where Shakespeare’s portrayal of these truths aligns with Scripture and where it veers off course.

In the final six weeks, students will rehearse and perform a condensed, kid-produced stage version using the Playing with Plays adaptation of Hamlet. Weekly classes will include dramatic readings, worldview analysis, interactive projects, and the memorization of short excerpts, including Sonnet 18 and key monologues from the play.

This course invites students to think deeply and speak boldly, to consider how stories shape belief, and to experience Shakespeare not just as a writer of great plays, but as a man writing within and wrestling with the Christian heritage of his time.