Home › Reading schedules › Hamlet

Reading schedule · Grades 8–12

Hamlet in 5 Weeks: A Reading Schedule

A five-week plan for reading Shakespeare's Hamlet, one act a week. Each week gives the reading, a short summary of what happens, three discussion questions and the escape room that goes with it. For grades 8–12, in class or at home.

Pacing

One act a week suits most high school classes. Read the act across the first part of the week, in class or at home and ideally with some of it read aloud, then use the questions for discussion or a short written response and finish the week with the escape room. Acts vary in length, so give a long act an extra lesson if it needs one: nothing is lost by stretching a week.

Each week ends with an escape room on that week's reading: seven self-checking locks that run in any browser, with no logins, and progress is saved, so a room can be finished another day. Every room has free taster locks to try, and members can open them all.

Print this schedule Escape rooms on Hamlet

Week 1: Act 1

Read: Act 1

On the battlements of Elsinore the guards and Horatio see the Ghost of the dead king. At court Claudius, now king and married to Hamlet's mother, rebukes Hamlet's grief, while Polonius advises Laertes and warns Ophelia off Hamlet; the Ghost tells Hamlet he was murdered by Claudius, and Hamlet swears revenge.

Discussion questions

1. Why is Hamlet so troubled even before he meets the Ghost?
2. What does Polonius's advice show about him as a father?
3. Can Hamlet trust the Ghost, and what does he decide to do?

Escape room: The Midnight Ghost (lockedlessons.com/rooms/hamlet-act-1/)

Week 2: Act 2

Read: Act 2

Polonius sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris, and Ophelia reports a frightening visit from Hamlet, which Polonius takes for the madness of love. Claudius sets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to watch Hamlet, players arrive at court, and Hamlet plans a play to test the king's guilt.

Discussion questions

1. Is Hamlet's madness real or put on, and how can we tell?
2. How does Hamlet treat Rosencrantz and Guildenstern once he sees why they have come?
3. Why does Hamlet need the play before he acts?

Escape room: Method in Madness (lockedlessons.com/rooms/hamlet-act-2/)

Week 3: Act 3

Read: Act 3

Claudius and Polonius spy on Hamlet's meeting with Ophelia. Hamlet coaches the players and their play exposes the king's guilt; Hamlet spares Claudius at prayer, then kills Polonius, who is hiding in his mother's room, where the Ghost appears again.

Discussion questions

1. Why does Hamlet treat Ophelia so harshly?
2. Why does Hamlet not kill Claudius at prayer, and is his reason convincing?
3. What does the killing of Polonius change for Hamlet?

Escape room: The Mousetrap (lockedlessons.com/rooms/hamlet-act-3/)

Week 4: Act 4

Read: Act 4

Hamlet hides Polonius's body and is sent to England, and he sees Fortinbras's army marching to fight over a scrap of land. Ophelia goes mad with grief and Laertes returns demanding revenge; Hamlet escapes by way of pirates, and Claudius and Laertes plot a fencing match with a poisoned sword as news comes of Ophelia's death.

Discussion questions

1. How does Fortinbras's march make Hamlet judge himself?
2. Compare Laertes and Hamlet as sons seeking revenge.
3. What do Ophelia's songs and flowers reveal?

Escape room: Rosemary for Remembrance (lockedlessons.com/rooms/hamlet-act-4/)

Week 5: Act 5

Read: Act 5

Hamlet talks with the gravediggers and holds the skull of Yorick, then sees Ophelia's burial and struggles with Laertes in her grave. He tells Horatio how he changed the letters that would have had him killed, accepts Osric's challenge, and in the fencing match the queen, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet all die before Fortinbras arrives.

Discussion questions

1. What does the graveyard scene show about Hamlet's thoughts on death?
2. Has Hamlet changed by Act 5, and if so how?
3. Is the ending a just one?

Escape room: Alas, Poor Yorick (lockedlessons.com/rooms/hamlet-act-5/)