Teachers' Notes - plays, themes and characters  To accompany the website, ICT Advanced Skills Teacher Paul Sibson has written a set of Teacher's Notes.
Here's a list of key themes in major Shakespeare plays to help in exploring Shakespeare's work in the classroom.
Some key themes from famous Shakespeare plays
Ask the students to think about How these themes could be explored as modern day plays? How these themes could be condensed into just 60 seconds?
Hamlet
Hesitation
Corruption
Revenge
Deception
Ambition
Loyalty
Serendipity
Madness
As You Like It
Love is life's greatest joy and greatest healer.
Love is a many-splintered thing.
Fortune and Nature often work at odds.
Nature heals.
All is not what it seems.
Henry V
A noble cause with noble warriors can win the day against overwhelming odds.
Foreign war quells domestic strife.
A just cause can transform disunity into unity.
Julius Caesar
Idealism
Ambition
Deceit
Recognize and heed warnings.
King Lear
Suffering can transform a contemptible human being into a good person.
All things are not as they appear.
Greed and lust
Fate. Power
Twelfth Night
Love
Disguise
Macbeth
Ambition
Lust for power
Appearance vs. reality
Temptation
Guilt haunts the evildoer.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Love ultimately triumphs in the end.
Appearance vs reality
Father does not always know best
Dream the impossible dream.
Much Ado about Nothing
The road to marriage is often lined with pitfalls and impediments.
Appearance vs reality
All is not what it seems.
Love
Othello
Appearance vs reality
All things are not what they seem.
Jealousy
Hatred
True love
Richard III
Ambition
Appearance vs reality
All things are not as they seem.
Where there is pure evil, there is no conscience.
I am what I am.
Romeo and Juliet
Love
Tragedy
Judgement
Conflict
Fate
Taming of the Shrew
Role of women - submissiveness
Love
Money makes the man
The Tempest
Forgive and forget.
Repent your sins.
Exploration and mistreatment of native populations.
The storms of life are followed by peace and calm.
Friendship
Freedom
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