Hamlet Teaching Resources
Hamlet Art and Design Key Stage 4
How can you show the inner emotions and turmoil of characters like Hamlet and Ophelia?
Ask students to compare the painting by Muntean & Rosenblum, Untitled (We are afraid…) 2012 and John Everett Millais, Ophelia (1851–1852).
- Produce a brief biographical fact file on each painter and then ask students to focus on comparing similarities and differences in the process of how they were painted, the subject (particularly the character, Ophelia) and context; how young women are portrayed in different centuries.
- Students could then make a modern Ophelia wearing modern clothes in the same pose using a photo montage of magazine images and paint in Millais’ style.
Students could investigate how artists show inner emotion and fragile mental states, taking inspiration from the character Hamlet who progressively breaks down during the opera
- Alban Grosdidier’s drowning images would link well with the Millais painting of Ophelia as they both use water to show how the subject is trapped; with Millais it is more literal, with Grosdidier’s photographs it shows the psychological state of the subjects.
- Students could make a series of photographs in black and white in a bath at home, showing a variety of expressions and emotions. If this is difficult, they could photograph a partner through a glass door or window at school, the subject can distort their facial expressions in the glass to show the variety of emotions.
Homework
Recreate this iconic painting of Ophelia or make it Hamlet by setting up the scene in a bath using fake or real flowers, costumes and wigs and taking a selfie on a smartphone. Use free apps such as Prisma, or any others that have filters, to make the photo look like a Pre-Raphaelite painting.