Understanding Shakspeare
My nieces and nephews are all of an age where they are just discovering shakespeare and mostly are not impressed. They find it difficult to understand and annoying to try and read. I felt the same at first. But at some point Shakespeare clicked for me and I came to really love it and realize how good the writing really is. In helping them come to that point, I sometimes read the plays with them and translated in my own voice what was happening. This is some of that work...
1. Hamlet - Summary: (In my opinion, this can be one of the harder plays to start with.) The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his teenaged son, Hamlet, that he was not killed at war as was thought but murdered by his brother so that his brother could take the throne. He tells Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle, who is by this point married to Hamlet's mother. Hamlet pretends to be crazy while he tries to figure out what to do. He does a lot of deep thinking about life and death, revenge and suicide and then decides to seek revenge. His Uncle, fearing for his life, plots to kill him. In the final scene, a duel, pretty much everyone is killed, including Hamlet, his mother and his Uncle, the king.
More Resources for Understanding Shakespeare
- Full Text Resource: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
- Shakespeare Summary Resource: https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-plays/hamlet/