HAMLET ALPHABET BOOK

Eric Kroetsch

INSTRUCTIONS
2. Compose a Hamlet alphabet book complete with illustrations. Example A is for the anger that Hamlet feels towards his mother and his uncle Claudius.

A
A is for Avenge Hamlet feels a responsibility to avenge his fathers murder by his uncle Claudius, but Claudius is now the king and well protected.

B
B is for Betrayal Prince Hamlet was not only devastated by his fathers death; but also betrayed by his mothers marriage.

C
C is for Claudius As a main character in Hamlet, Claudius is shrewd, lustful, conniving king that was married to Hamlets mother, Gertrude.

D
D is for Death The aftermath of his fathers murder, Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of death. The Ghost in the play symbolizes the spiritual consequences of death. William Shakespeare wrote, Death is a fearful thing.

E
E is for Elsinore Castle in Denmark where the play is set.

F
F is for Fortinbras Fortinbras is the young Prince of Norway, whose father the king was killed by Hamlets father. He wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his fathers honor.

G
G is for Gertrude Gertrude is the beautiful Queen of Denmark and Hamlets mother. She was married to Claudius. In my opinion, Gertrude was a selfish mother, even though she loved Hamlet very much.

H
H is for Hamlet Hamlet is most famous for his quote, To Be or Not to Be, that is the question. He is the main character in Hamlet.

I
I is for Impossibility of Certainty What separates Hamlet from other revenge plays is that the action we expect to see is constantly put off as Hamlet tries to achieve more certain knowledge about what he is doing.

J
J is for Justice In the end, justice reaches its conclusion in the moment when Hamlet finally kills Claudius.

K
K is for Killing In the final scene, characters are killed one after the other, poisoned, stabbed, and executed.

L
L is for Laertes Laertes is Poloniuss son and Ophelias brother.

M
M is for Marcellus and Bernardo Marcellus and Bernardo are the officers who first see the ghost walking through Elsinore Castle.

N
N is for Nunnery Hamlet told Ophelia "get thee to a nunnery.

O
O is for Ophelia, the love of Hamlet. Ophelia is the most innocent of all; dying for no reason.

P
P is for Polonius Polonius is the Lord Chamberlain of Claudiuss court, a pompous, conniving old man. He is the father of Laertes and Ophelia.

Q
Q is for Queen Elizabeth, Hamlet was written around the year 1600 in the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing. is a quote from

the Queen.

R
R is for Revenge In Hamlet, virtually all of the action is centered on the concept of revenge.

S Sweets to the Sweet,

farewell!
Gertrudes most famous line. It was said to Ophelia at

her burial, she was scattering

flowers on her.

T
T is for the To be or not to be Soliloquy that stands the test of time; almost all English-language people know this line.

U
U is for Under the Stairs, that is where Hamlet hid Polonius' body.

V is for Vengeance

Hamlet spends much of the play contemplating his vengeance against his
father's murder.

W
W is for William Shakespeare, famous playwright and poet. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest writer in the English language.

X
X is for Xanthocomic Xanthocomic equals yellow-haired. Hamlet is usually portrayed as yellow-haired, although nothing in the play indicates that.

Y
Y is for Yoricks Skull Yoricks Skull symbolizes the physical consequences of death.

Z
Z is for Zzz, aka Sleep The three Zs refer to Hamlets speech. To die to sleep no more; by a sleep, to say we end this heartache.

THE END