The Folger Guide to Teaching Hamlet

Created by experts from the world’s largest and most well-respected Shakespeare archive, The Folger Guide to Teaching Hamlet provides an innovative approach to teaching and understanding one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays.

Hamlet follows the form of a revenge tragedy, in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against the man he learns is his father’s murderer--his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of its fascination, however, lies in its mysteries. Among them: Should Hamlet believe a ghost? What roles do Ophelia and her family play in Hamlet’s attempts to know the truth? Was his mother, Gertrude, unfaithful to her husband or complicit in his murder, or both? How do the visiting actors cause the truth to begin to reveal itself?

The Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare series is created by the experts at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the nation’s largest archive of Shakespeare material and a leading center for both the latest scholarship and education on all things Shakespeare. Based on the proven Folger Method of teaching and informed by the wit, wisdom, and experiences of classroom teachers across the country, the guides offer a lively, interactive approach to teaching and learning Shakespeare, offering students and readers of all backgrounds and abilities a pathway to discovering the richness and diversity of Shakespeare’s world.

Filled with surprising facts about Shakespeare, insightful essays by scholars, and a day-by-day, five-week teaching plan, these guides are an invaluable resource for teachers, students, and Shakespeare fans alike.

Dr. Peggy O’Brien was named the Folger’s director of education in May 2013. A former Folger educator, she established the Library’s education philosophy and the bulk of its programs in the 1980s and led the department until 1994, when she left to become director of education programs for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her long and distinguished career has brought her numerous awards and honors, including Doctor of Laws honoris causa from Trinity University, Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Georgetown University, the Public Humanities Award from the DC Community Humanities Council, and the Folger Shakespeare Library’s 2008 Shakespeare Steward Award. Prior to her first appointment at the Folger, she spent a number of years teaching high school English in the DC Public Schools, and since then has taught undergraduate courses at Georgetown University.