Intensive study of an important topic or period in drama. Close analysis of major plays, enriched by critical readings and attention to historical and theatrical contexts. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Topic for Fall: Renaissance Drama.

Students will create a visual character map examining connections between characters and developing inferences about character motivation in Shakespeare's . The resource contains links to the Folger edition of  as well as the handout on Constructing Character Connections.

Students further develop close reading skills as they
examine Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The
tragedy of Hamlet develops many
central ideas, including revenge, mortality, madness, and the tension between
action and inaction. Students analyze the play through the close study of
Hamlet’s soliloquies and other key scenes to determine how Shakespeare’s
language and choices about how to structure the play impact character
development and central ideas. The showing of a filmed version of the play in
select lessons supplements students’ understanding of plot and background
points and encourages them to consider actors’ interpretations of the text.

Show Me by SCC English is a site that offers close reading/annotating of passages from classic literature including The Great Gatsby; MacBeth; King Lear; Hamlet; Pride and Prejudice. 
This resource is useful for modeling annotating a text for deeper meaning.

This three-day lesson plan leads students through a close reading and analysis of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy. Students will analyze Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 3.1 by completing a close reading which will focus on word meaning and etymology.  Students will analyze two film versions of the soliloquy and track actor choices throughout using two column note-taking. Finally, students will write an argument analysis on the soliloquy.

The Folger Shakespeare Library provides the full searchable text of "Hamlet" to read online or download as a PDF. All of the lines are numbered sequentially to make it easier and more convenient to find any line.