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Why is Hamlet considered Shakespeare’s greatest play? Why has it been translated into 90 different languages and performed in eight countries? This course aims to make Hamlet more accessible and understandable, and to demonstrate its relevance to our own lives and times. We will analyze the many- faceted, chameleon-like personality of Hamlet and the motives of the other principal characters: his mother, Gertrude; his stepfather, Claudius; his girlfriend, Ophelia; and her father, Polonius.

Insights from psychoanalysis and contemporary social psychology will be introduced. The class will consider the many meanings of Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be.” Because Shakespeare’s plays come across best when they can be heard and seen, we will use the text but will also compare very different interpretations of the title role by actors like Kenneth Branagh, Christopher Plummer, Mel Gibson, David Tennant, and Lawrence Olivier. The class will also meet an accomplished actor who has played the role of Hamlet.