The Haunted Boy: Another Blog

This is actually another person's blog, not an actual site. It was made by a teacher for a class discussion, much like the way we do discussion blogs over the summer. However, this blog has phenomenal questions. Not only does the blogger ask things that really make you think, but things that we haven't really discussed in class. He asks things that I, personally, never would have thought about. For example, the blogger asks why Gertrude disobeys her husband and drinks the wine anyway and if she has ever disobeyed him before. This is something I wouldn't think of as being something significant, but after thinking about it more, maybe it could be. Another question that was asked that I found very interesting was "Why does this scene begin with two clowns trading jokes? Do their jokes make any sense in the context of the play?" Again, this isn't something we touched on in class and I think it is very interesting to read about what other people found important.

URL: http://thehauntedenglishteacher.blogspot.com/

Searching Shakespeare!

This post will be a little different from the other posts on this blog. While the other sites blogged about on this blog have had information on Hamlet, this site is unique. The site is called Shakespeare Searched and although it doesn't give any insight to underlying themes, or study questions, it is to be used for a very specific purpose. The site is set up to search the entire text of the play for a specific word, phrase, or character. For example, if you were to search "young Fortinbras," the site will list all the times in the text where Fortinbras is mentioned. It may not be incredibly intellectual or provide deeper meaning to the play, but sometimes the simplest sites can be the most helpful. I can think of multiple times where I could have used a site like this for a book I was writing an essay on that I needed a specific quote on.

Here's the URL: http://shakespeare.yippy.com/search?v%3aproject=billy&&v:frame=form&frontpage=1

Prince of Denmark

This site is actually for students that are following a specific curriculum, however, I definitely found information that could be helpful for any student studying Hamlet in any English class. It has information about every aspect of Shakespeare's play. From summaries to characters and relationships to specifics about Hamlet's revenge, this site has it all, as well as questions that go along with the information and the opinions the author gives. It offers even more ways of looking at multiple problems and themes within Hamlet.

The URL: http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/shakespeare/hamlet.htm#intro

Soliloquies:)

This website has even more study guide questions, but the unique element of this site is that it focuses mostly on literary devices in the play. Also, a portion of it is devoted only to soliloquies. However, it doesn't just focus on Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" speech, it gives a lengthy of some of the less-known soliloquies in the play. It also gives a definition of a soliloquy and explains blank verse.

URL: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/hamlet.html

The English Zone!

This site is great for wanting to go deeper into Hamlet. The wonderful aspect to this website is the fact that it doesn't give many answers, but mostly questions. It really forces the readers to think instead of feeding the answers to them. There are questions specific to hamlet's flaw, delay and famous soliloquy "to be, or not to be." It also has general discussion questions on the play as a whole. One other helpful feature of this site is that it has a link to another site that translates Hamlet text into modern language. If there is a passage that the reader doesn't understand, this site is very helpful. However, it does summarize, so it should never be used as a replacement for the book. Important details could be missed!

Here's the URL:

http://web.archive.org/web/20001204011600/www.glen-net.ca/english/hamlet.html