Hamlet


 * __//HAMLET// Discussion Topics__**


 * Directions:**

For your assigned discussion topic, research answers to your question(s) using both online and print resources (minimum 3 resources). Write up a formal response to your assigned question(s) that includes information gathered from your resources, citing information both parenthetically and in a works-cited page. Be sure to not only include paraphrases, summaries, and quotations from your resource materials, but your own commentary and analysis as well.

Prepare to lead a discussion on your assigned topic. Your discussion should include a handout from your group (due **before 7:45 am** on Monday, February 26) in some kind of fill-in-the-blank format (Not open question or multiple choice) along with a few focused, open-ended questions to ask during your discussion. Be sure to prepare notecards for yourselves for use during your discussion--//**do not read from your own webpage any more than is necessary to navigate the page. Know your information, know what you are presenting.**//


 * __The Topics__**


 * 1)** Conflict is essential to drama. Show that Hamlet presents both an outward and inward conflict.
 * 2)** How do Hamlet's seven soliloquies reveal his character?
 * 3)** Is Hamlet primarily a tragedy of revenge?
 * 4)** Discuss Hamlet's relationship with Gertrude.
 * 5)** How important is the general setting of Denmark to the overall play.
 * 6)** Of what significance is Ophelia to Hamlet? How truly was Hamlet in love with Ophelia??
 * 7)** The character Claudius has been compared to Macbeth. How similar are these two characters? In what ways are the similar?
 * 8)** Compare and contrast the characters of Hamlet and Horatio. How alike or dislike are they and why?
 * 9)** In Act V, scene 2, Hamlet remarks, "His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy." Explain Hamlet's motivation behind this comment and examine how true is his remark.
 * 10)** How important is the Ghost in the triangular relationship of Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius?
 * 11)** Although Hamlet ultimately rejects it at the end of the play, suicide is an ever-present solution to the problems in the drama. Discuss the play's suggestion of suicide and imagery of death.
 * 12)** Discuss the use of Comedy in Hamlet. Go beyond a simple discussion of "comic relief."