There are many different productions of Hamlet, no one can count how many. "What would real killers think about this? What would they see that we can't?" A man went to a jail and watched the men grow through the play. Men were inspired, half black and half white cast. They made it through the play, and this is the last production of Act 5. The men could not read as well as the kids in SLA, but the men were very talented. Agnes, the director, and her side kick, an inmate, are proud. They were nervous and didn't think they could make it through act 5 well. Jack Hitt says "I didn't think I would learn anything new, I've seen Hamlet many times... after I saw this play, I realized that I didn't know anything about Hamlet." A man of first degree assault  plays Hamlet. Hamlet was played by 4 people, Agnes did it so that everyone could get a chance to speak. All men that were in the play were troubled with horrid pasts. "If you were to walk past us on the track, you would hear old english dile speech." In a level 4, high security prison, the education level is no higher then high school. After Agnes cast the roll of Hamlets best friend, given to a man big hutch, in jail for 120 years."Jail is based on whales, killer whales, blue whales, minnows. I'm a blue whale, I can eat the killer whales, the guppies, the minnows, and the other blue whales." Guys have seen him act out Hamlet, where he brings out a whole new character that no one has ever seen. "Horatio is a chump." Big Hutch doesn't understand why Hamlet is taking so long to kill someone, "just do it!" he says. He believes that Hamlet is mental. If you're strong enough to believe it's a ghost, then your strong enough to believe what that ghost tells you. Hutch compares the prison yard to the men in the play. Big Hutch spoke for about 6 minutes of the podcast, relating things to life, comparing things to prison, putting down the characters personalities. 2 months after Jack's visit with Hutch, he revisits the rehearsal. Agnes had local professors to come in and speak and has the characters write essays on their people. The men have advanced so much, that they began to put "umph" and emphasis on the lines. Men would read and laugh, re-read, and then laugh again. Timmy Lance? plays Osrick, Hamlets friend and a "gay" King groupie. Alot of the cast doesn't like discussing their crimes, but they loved talking about how they got to know their character. Timmy watched different productions of Hamlet and got to really bond with Osrick. Their are gay prisoners, in and out of the closet... but then you have the straight ones that don't have sex at all. "Putting on a play in prison is different, there is always a last minute accident like when a Hamlet was assaulted and had to be placed in solitary for protection." says Jack. Agnes is alot like Mr. Chase and Ms. Weinraub, often stopping in the middle to make sure the men understand what they are reading. The prisoners have finally been exposed to something that they thought they would never see, and they are rather surprised about how they were. When the men return to rehearsal, it's just like our drama class with exercises to begin. Prison is humiliating, says one of the prisoners. "They don't make you feel human, but then we come to practice and feel like we should've been here for a while. It keeps us sane." All of the men had a reason and explanation for why they were in the play,  especially one man whos wife referred him to acting. "I've always wanted to be a con, and I've always wanted to be liked, but in my neighborhood it was better to be bad then to be like I was, a church guy. I had to act big, bad, and tough to make it by. When I went home at night, I would be scared to death because of the things I'd say to some of the men I knew." Laertes was originally played by an Amish pedophile, but then James stepped in and really gave a lasting impression... even Big Hutch was impacted. James was proud of himself, and couldn't believe that he was able to remember so many lines. Compliments came rolling in, people would say "you should continue this" and as James said, "it was one of the best feelings ever, almost as great as the day my daughter was born. If I apply my self, I can do pretty much whatever I want. It was like I was placed into a whole new world." Many of the men said that you could relate this play to the true life of a criminal. Criminals are cowards, and no one can change that. James replied, "I am Laertes, I am, I am." Jack watched the prisoners rehearse the final scene of Hamlet. Danny Waller took a mans life, and he felt that he was talking to him through death, that he wanted him to know what he put him through. He plays Claudius, and feels as though he can really relate to him. Hearing these men rehearse and go over the lines is impacting me because it is coming from a criminals point of view. I could not believe how moving this podcast was, I honestly didn't think that I'd be this interested in it, but I feel as though I'm addicted. I give props to Agnes, for being an amazing director and giving these men the thought that they could be someone. How these men go from a third grade to a high school reading level in a matter of a few months is amazing. Agnes was moved by Hamlet, and was inspired to have these men

In one episode of "This American Life", Jack Hitt visits a prison, where incarerated men are putting on Hamlet. He interviews many of them, but I found one comment from "Big Hutch" quite controversial. He said that Shakespeare made a huge mistake when writing Hamlet: the entire point of the tragedy is unrealistic. If Hamlet's father was truely murdered, he argued, Hamlet would never have spent so long deciding to kill Claudius. It would have been automatic. He puts himself in a version of Hamlet's dilemma. "I couldn't see somebody raping my daughter, and just sitting around. No, I gotta do you; you're done."

thought his take was very interesting. However, I felt that he missed a central point in the play. Hamlet was never that close with his father. Old Hamlet was always away from home, fighting a war or gathering tribute. Unlike Big Hutch and his daughter, Hamlet did not have a strong connection to his father. That's why it took him so long to decide if he should actually kill King Claudius. He had to decide if aveging his father was worth the consequences that would follow. I don't think Shakespeare made an error when writing Hamlet. The story depicts a true human dilemma that anyone in Hamlet's situation whould have faced.

This semester my ninth grade English class is reading the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare.  Every night we read a scene from the play, and the next day discuss it as a class with our teachers, Mr. Chase and Ms Weinraub.  As a class, we talk about things like themes, plot changes, and characters in Hamlet. 

I wonder if Shakespeare had any idea that 4,000 years after he wrote Hamlet, students would still be reading his play and finding it engaging. Like the Oddesey, the story of Hamlet has incredible vitality. It's ability to resonate with people so many years after its time shows how little human beings have changed, and makes us wonder what current texts will have the same longetivity.

When I began Hamlet, I expected it to be interesting- but not very engaging. I didn't expect to be reading ahead of the assigned pages. But despite the unfamiliar language, I find it relatively fast reading.

Hamlet is full of controversy and rage. Shakespeare portrayed characters in the book as some evil, some kind, some insane and some sneaky. In my opinion, Polonius was sneaky and evil, Queen Gertrude was sneaky, and Hamlet was insane! I enjoy reading shakespeare tragedies because it gives me a certain condolence. My leisure time is spent writing; stories, poems, or my thoughts. English class has bettered my writing and furthered my knowledge with a better understanding of grammer, puncuation, and the meaning behind my words. I look forward to reading more shakespeare. I find it interesting understanding old language. It's a struggle trying to translate Shakespeare's words into modern language, but it helps you understand the meaning behind the story better. As a writer, I wish to write poems or stories and be remembered for my work as Shakespeare has. It's every writiers dream to be gone but remembered for what they did best, and thats writing!

I really appreciate this class. One thing I have been learning throughout the year is how to take a piece of writing and really pull the meaning out of it. We study it, discuss it, think about it, ask questions about it, and really learn from it. For example, we're reading Hamlet right now, and we have been spending most of the class periods discussing it as a group so that we can ask questions and figure out the answers. I have found this skill of taking a piece of writing and finding the real meaning to be extremely useful in life in general, so I'm really thankful to be learning this.

Hamlet is full of controversy and rage. Shakespeare portrayed characters in the book as some evil, some kind, some insane and some sneaky. In my opinion, Polonius was sneaky and evil, Queen Gertrude was sneaky, and Hamlet was insane! I enjoy reading shakespeare tragedies because it gives me a certain condolence. My leisure time is spent writing; stories, poems, or my thoughts. English class has bettered my writing and furthered my knowledge with a better understanding of grammer, puncuation, and the meaning behind my words. I look forward to reading more shakespeare. I find it interesting understanding old language. It's a struggle trying to translate Shakespeare's words into modern language, but it helps you understand the meaning behind the story better. As a writer, I wish to write poems or stories and be remembered for my work as Shakespeare has. It's every writiers dream to be gone but remembered for what they did best, and thats writing!

So we, english 9 orange, have been reading Hamlet for a bit. It's quite interesting despite the difficult language. To help with understand the text, we each have a Hamlet audio playlist for listening, and we've been watching the movie in class. The movie has been helping the most. Unfortunately almost daily we take a quiz regarding what we were to read the night before. The quiz has about 3-4 quotes from the text, and asks us to translate the text into modern language, and then explain its significants. These quizzes haven't been adding anything to my learning nor have been enriching the text, in fact I find the book less enjoyable to read when I know I'm going to be tested on the matter the following day. In the end, I'll just be glad to be finished with Shakespeare.

 That in and of itself is basically all English class has been for the past few weeks. Reading Hamlet, talking about Hamlet, watching the movie Hamlet and taking quizzes on Hamlet. I wonder what'll we be doing next. I hope it'll be more enjoyable than this. For some reason, and I'm not the only one who thinks like this, reading a book for school, no matter what the book is, is so much less enjoyable than reading the same book on your own time. Its the idea of being forced to do something, anything, that takes so much away from reading and enjoying a book. 

-Aidan 

    Our class discussions on Hamlet so far have been extremely helpful in understanding the text.   We always find an interesting topic to debate.  It's usually a comfortable environment, and when I have question like "What were Hamlet's thoughts in this moment?", I'm able to ask it and have it answered.   The two films we've been watching are also very useful.  They're different from one another, so it's an interesting contrast.

    Surprisingly, I'm really enjoying Hamlet.  There are many smaller plots inside of the larger one.  The emotions and relationships in the play are constantly changing, which keeps me absored in the text.  In Act 4, it has become clear to me that Hamlet is actually a coward.  Even after being told of his father's murder and reminded, he still hasn't avenged it.  Laertes, on the other hand, within a few days of hearing of his father's death, was in the palace questioning the king and swearing to kill the murderer.  In the beginning of the play, I would have guessed that Hamlet would have killed Claudius by now, judging by his evident agression and madness.  However, it seems he has simmered down and is waiting to see how Polonius' murder will "play out."      

If you ask me what my favorite class is, I will tell you english. English class gives me a chance to express my feelings about literature and life without being judged. Never is there a class when my voice is not heard at least once, or when there's a student whose ideas aren't heard. During English class students are encouraged to ask questions and state their opinions. We have amazing class discussions that we leave the class still discussing and debating. Currently our class is reading Hamlet. Any other time I would have been confused from the beginning, but in this class I don't. We go over the scenes and acts in class and at home, have tools that help us like "No Fear Shakespeare" to help us understand the text as we read it at home, and we have amazing teachers that are constantly encouraging us to ask questions and look deeper than the obvious. In class I'm not afraid to ask a question or debate different answers with my classmates. We all have ideas about the text that we share with each other and debate. In English class I'm responsible for my own learning. Mr. Chase and Ms. Weinraub encourage all of us to put out our opinions,but it's up to us to do it or not. Reading Hamlet has been a wonderful experience. Not only do we read it at home, but we read it aloud in class (usually acting out important parts ourselves), and compare and contrast 2 Hamlet movies that portray Shakespeare's play in engaging and beautiful ways.