A few weeks ago, I started a new series to help you find the perfect short texts to pair with common traditional texts that we teach in our High School English Classes. First up was Frankenstein. And today, I am taking on Hamlet (by request—feel free to make that same request of other texts). Hamlet themes are the perfect way to ground your choice of supplemental texts for your next set of Hamlet lesson plans.
In addition to the themes, I have included essential questions that you can use to help determine which supplemental texts will work best for you and help you to make your best Hamlet lesson plans.
What are the Major Themes of Hamlet?
There are a number of themes in The Tragedy of Hamlet. A theme is a short statement that is a universal truth. I always tell my students that it is the thing that the author wants the audiences to understand about humans and humanity.
So the big themes in The Tragedy of Hamlet are:
- Sons and Daughters owe a duty to their fathers.
- Revenge can be all consuming.
- Death comes with grief and confusion.
- Madness is ambiguous.
- Appearance are not what they seem. (Appearance vs. Reality)
Supplemental Texts for your next Hamlet Unit Plan
It is good practice to plan your units around the final assessment and skills you need to address through themes and essential questions.
Need help planning your Hamlet Unit Plan, check out this free Hamlet Unit Plan pdf to get you started. It included additional essential questions, theme statements, supplemental text pairing, essential skills and standards list and a workbook to help you plan your own unit.
Hamlet Theme: Fathers and the duty of their children
Essential Question: To what extent does the death of a parent impact the living children?
There are three “fathers” in the text: Hamlet’s real father, Old Hamlet; Hamlet’s stepfather and uncle, Claudius; and Laertes and Ophelia’s father, Polonius. The two biological fathers end up being the source of much conflict for their children. These poems pair nicely for those conflicts.
“Father replays the funeral in Dream #28” Margo Tamez.
Use this poem either with Act 1 Scene 2 after Hamlet’s first soliloquy or with Ophelia’s madness in Act 4 after the death of Polonius. The poem is about a woman who’s father is speaking to her in a dream from beyond the grave. It appears that he has died as the result of a botched amputation. The speaker mentions both her own grief and the grief of her mother who is lacks “momentum” as a result.
This would be an excellent companion piece for Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 1, scene 2 where he is expressing his own grief and not understanding his mother’s grief or lack thereof. Additionally, because this poem is about a father and daughter, it would also work well as Ophelia is unable to appropriately express her grief after the murder of her father.
“Father and Son” Stanley Kunitz
Use this poem with Act 1 scene 5 of Hamlet after the ghost has presented himself to Hamlet. In this poem the son/speaker is trying to communicate with his dead father about their life after his passing. Your Hamlet lesson plan could include a comparison of the sons and their relationships with their dead fathers or as a thematic dive into the Hamlet theme of death with the pain an untimely deaths cause.
Hamlet Theme: Revenge can be All Consuming
Essential Question: Is revenge moral?
Revenge in Hamlet centers around Hamlet’s desire to avenge his father’s death at the hands of his uncle, Claudius. Additionally, after Hamlet has killed Polonius, Laertes seeks revenge on Hamlet.
Pieces that work well for the Hamlet theme of revenge are:
“Of Revenge” by Francis Bacon.
Act Three is a perfect time to discuss revenge and its effects. I love to use the essay “Of Revenge” by Shakespearean contemporary, Francis Bacon. Bacon wrote a series of essay on moral dilemmas and because he and Shakespeare lived at about the same time, any Shakespeare play that I read with my students includes a Bacon essay.
With this essay, we focus on the characteristics of revenge as Bacon defines them and then how Hamlet exhibits each one. I have the students read the essay and then we follow up with a full class discussion.
You could also use this essay in Act 4, once Laertes is also seeking revenge. At that point, you could do a comparison of the two characters as foils of one another.
Ready to use:
Francis Bacon and Hamlet: “Of Revenge”
Hamlet Theme: Death comes with both grief and confusion.
Essential Question: How does the death of a loved one impact the lives of the living?
Death introduces itself in the very first scene of Hamlet when Horatio and friends encounter the ghost of Old Hamlet for the first time. And it continues as Hamlet begins his contemplation of death in his first soliloquy where he ponders his own death. But of course, it doesn’t end there. Most of the characters in this play actually do end up dead. So here a few texts that pair nicely.
“On Death” Kahlil Gibran
This is a great poem to use with the beginning of the play. Both Hamlet and Gibran consider the interconnectedness of life, death and nature.
Ophelia Art Work
There are dozens of paintings that are of Ophelia’s death scene. Choose a few. And then use them in conjunction with a close reading on the description of her death.
“When Death Comes” Mary Oliver
A number of years ago, one of the mentor teachers in my district turned me on to using “When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver with Hamlet. I am sure that I use it very differently than she did, however. We begin by reading and annotating the poem for what Oliver is saying about death. And then we use lines from the poem to create epigraphs for each character’s gravestone.
For a ready to use activity with “When Death Comes,” check this out.
“Elegy of Fortinbras” Zbigniew Herbert
Another poem that is perfect for use with end of the play. It proposes an alternate ending where Fortinbras considers the dead Hamlet.
Hamlet Themes: Madness is ambiguous.
Essential Question: What does it mean to be mad?
I always tell my students that you can spend the entire play questioning whether Hamlet is acting mad or is actually mad. Emily Dickinson’s poem is a great place to begin a discussion of madness in the play.
“Much Madness Divinest Sense” Emily Dickinson
This is a great poem to use with “To be or not to be;” however, it really can be used at any point to discuss the idea of madness, whether Hamlet is indeed mad, and Ophelia’s state of mind in Act 4. This would be a great place to use collaborative annotations.
Another way to use this would be to pair it with this Ophelia Four Corners Activity.
Hamlet: Reality vs. Appearance
Essential Question: How are appearances different from reality?
Both of these poems ponder the question of repentance and the inability to truly do so. One is very tongue in cheek, the other more in keeping with Claudius’s own questions: does repenting hold value?
“This is Just to Say” William Carlos Willams
If you need something to lighten up your Hamlet Unit Plan, this poem is the perfect. Read the poem and discuss the concept of repentance and then have the students write their own parodies from the perspective of Claudius. The ones my students wrote were brilliant.
“Repentance” Ameen Rhiani
This takes a more serious look at the question of repentance. This poem echos many of the sentiments in Claudius’s Act 3 soliloquy where he desires to ask for forgiveness but just can’t (because he is not really sorry). Have students do close readings on both to pull out similar ideas and images.
“Gertrude Talks Back” Margaret Atwood
In this short story, Margaret Atwood give Gertrude a voice. There is so much about Gertrude that we can only infer. Use this to do a feminist reading of the play. You could also use it as a mentor text and have students write from the voice of other characters like Horatio, Ophelia and Laertes.
Some Other Poems about Hamlet
Here are some other poems that make connections to Hamlet that are fun to pair with the play:
“They All Wanted to Play Hamlet” Carl Sandburg (1922)
“At the Trial of Hamlet, Chicago, 1994” Sherman Alexie
Create your Hamlet Unit Plan
It is best practice to plan your unit based on the final assessment and the skills needed to accomplish that task. Then use essential questions based on Hamlet themes to ground the unit. To make a Hamlet unit plan using this technique, grab this free Hamlet Unit Plan PDF. This will help you to plan lesson plans which meets all the needs of your students.
Related Resources
How Ophelia is Represented in Nineteenth Century Art (Folger)
Collaborative Annotations for High School English
Frankenstein Lesson Plans: 11 Amazing Paired Texts
Why Using Quote Walls in an Incredible Tool (A Better Way to Teach)
Introducing Shakespeare Plays with Poetry (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
Introducing Shakespeare with Thematic Poetry Pairings (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
Poetry for Romeo and Juliet (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
Request a Paired Text Unit Plan
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Hamlet and “Of Revenge” by Francis Bacon
Hamlet Theme Death—Supplemental Text “When Death Come”
One Response
There is a new book about “Hamlet” : “Philosophy in Hamlet” by Jasminka Maric. Read it and reveal it!