Lesson One: Containing Multitudes
Do Now
As a group, students will brainstorm to define
identity
. Teacher will write students’ suggested words that they associate with identity on the board. After this brainstorming session, students will write in their journals to explain what identity means to them.
Activity 1: “Song of Myself”
The teacher will lead students in a guided reading and annotation of selections from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” As we read, we will explore the use of metaphor, hyperbole, and personification.
Activity 2: Socratic Circle
Students will hold a Socratic Circle discussion to investigate personal responses and connections to the poem. To do this, half of the class will sit in a wide circle in the middle of the room. The other half of the class will form an outer circle around their classmates. Students in the inner circle will hold a discussion for which the teacher acts as a facilitator, supplying questions to direct the conversation when necessary. Other than these guiding questions, however, the teacher will refrain from interjecting his or her own interpretation into this student-led discussion. Students in the outer circle will take notes on the conversation as it progresses and new ideas are proposed. After ten minutes, the inner circle and outer circle students will switch roles and a new discussion will begin.
Directing Questions:
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What does it mean to “contain multitudes?”
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How would the author define a “self”?
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“Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes)” - What do these lines suggest about the author and his view of identity?
Activity 3: Identity Map
In order to further explore the vast range of elements that construct the identity of an individual, students will identify the separate roles that they play. Students will first brainstorm a list of these different roles (at least five) and then map them out on a sheet of paper. Related roles should be grouped more closely together, and different roles should be positioned further apart. Around each role, students will note the particular qualities that are expected of them in each situation. The teacher will model this process. For example, the teacher might write “Parent” for one role, “Educator” for another, “Musician” for another, and so on. The teacher will then ask students to supply traits that they think are necessary for one of these roles, and will write these qualities under that title. For example, students might suggest that as a parent, the teacher would have to demonstrate love, patience, and honesty. Students will then begin brainstorming for their own maps, exploring the ways in which they “contain multitudes.”
Once this project is completed, students will have produced a visual sketch of their own multifaceted identities, on which the variation between the different qualities each individual demonstrates is depicted by physical distance on the map. Later in the unit, students will be required to complete the same activity using Hamlet as the subject for the map.
Lesson Two
Do Now
Students will free-write in their journals, describing the attributes they would expect a “hero” to have. Why are these characteristics necessary to be a heroic person? What people or characters can you think of that violate this classification?
Activity 1: Character Cards
Students will create a character card for one character from the play other than Hamlet (assigned by the teacher): Ophelia, Horatio, Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, Laertes. On these cards, students will list character traits and cite evidence from the text to explain why these specific traits may be used to define the character.
Activity 2: Home Groups
When character cards are finished, students will complete a “Jigsaw” activity to fill out a graphic organizer. “Home Groups” will form based on the characters that were assigned to each student. Together, the students will discuss what effects their characters have on Hamlet. What traits are elicited in Hamlet by his interaction with each character? Students will discuss and then write the results of their conversation on their graphic organizers, including specific evidence explaining where each character has such an effect. What role does Hamlet play in his interactions with each character?
Activity 3: Expert Groups
When “Home Groups” have finished their discussion of their characters, students will rotate into new “Expert Groups,” in which each member comes from a different “Home Group” and therefore has a different character. In “Expert Groups,” each group member will explain to the other students which character they investigated and what was revealed in their “Home Group” discussion. During each student’s turn explaining his or her character, other group members will fill out the corresponding section of the graphic organizer, so that each member will have a completed organizer by the end of the “Expert Group” discussion. Students will retain these organizers in their notebooks so they can be referenced later in the unit.
Lesson Three
Do Now: What Surprised Us?
For homework last week, students wrote their predictions for the next act of the play, which have been submitted to the teacher. On the board, the teacher will display some of these predictions that proved to be false. Students will choose one of these predictions and explain:
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Why did this prediction make sense at the time it was made?
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What happened instead?
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How did the actual events of the play defy our expectations?
Activity 1: Hamlet’s Contradictions
Students will receive a graphic organizer containing several character traits that may be applied to Hamlet at various points in the play: Impulsive, Calculating, Callous, Fatalistic, Autonomous, Cruel, Compassionate, Courageous, Weak-willed. They will also receive a list of specific scenes from the play. The students’ task will be to look at each scene and determine which character trait is revealed, and to cite specific lines from each scene that support these conclusions. Then, students will use this evidence to argue whether the quality described is part of Hamlet’s personality, or if he is assuming a role. If this is the case, what is his intention? Finally, the students will be required to explain what about each scene brings about the corresponding character trait. Is it an interaction with another character? Self-examination? This activity will reinforce for students the contrasting sides of Hamlet that are revealed through different methods throughout the play.
As an extension of this activity, students will have online access to a visual bank of movie clips from various adaptations of
Hamlet
. They may watch different adaptations of the same scenes side by side to examine how different portrayals of Hamlet may emphasize various qualities in the character over others.
Activity 2: Independent Reading Examination
After completing the character trait activity exploring the different sides of Hamlet, students will apply a similar examination to a character in their independent reading book. This time, students will generate a list of traits that may apply to the character they have chosen, and then find specific evidence from their book to illustrate how each trait is present. Students will then explain whether each trait is a constituent part of the character’s true nature and identity, or simply part of a role that that character plays. In order to illustrate this difference between ephemeral and more permanent qualities, students should find examples of both.
Activity 3: Soliloquy Study
To provide further evidence of the contrasts in Hamlet’s identity, students will select at least two of his seven soliloquies from the play. For each soliloquy chosen, students will identify what specific traits are revealed or reinforced by the speech, and explain whether each is a component of the prince’s true identity or a role that he has assumed. Students will be encouraged to question whether Hamlet’s soliloquies (or their own diaries) invariably speak true, and what it means to use persuasive language to deceive oneself as well as others. This investigation may be the basis of a formal written paper, to be revised and completed during this unit.
