At Barstow, students in middle and upper school read one of Shakespeare’s plays. While sixth graders read aloud A Midsummer Night’s Dream and ninth-graders enjoy Othello, juniors study what many consider to be Shakespeare’s best play, Hamlet. Along with reading the play, juniors were tasked with a creative assignment that connected to a theme, symbol, motif, or character. Options for this assignment ranged from songs to a blank verse poem, but most students chose to create a work of art.
Sarah Khan (‘23) said, “I really liked combining art with this play. I think those two things mesh well together. There were a lot of scenes in Hamlet where I could definitely picture turning into a painting or something.”
Ahna Chang (‘23) painted a portrait of Ophelia, a character, and her struggle with her father and brother.
Photo Credit: Charlotte Park (’23)
Chang says (‘23), “I put [Ophelia] in chains to symbolize how Laertes and Polonius trap her in their own judgments and how they think Ophelia should act, especially regarding her feelings for Hamlet. I also incorporated her white dress to show her innocence and a skull key symbolizing her death. I purposefully left the key next to her on the ground so the viewer of the painting could decide whether she used death to free herself through suicide or if someone did it for her. I wanted to make it ambiguous because that is how her death is portrayed within the play, as her cause of death is never truly confirmed.”
Similarly, Anita Mohan (‘23) created a painting that focused on Ophelia’s psyche and the theme of madness in the play.
Photo Credit: Charlotte Park (’23)
She describes the process of making the painting as “I knew I wanted the theme to revolve around the madness of Hamlet and Ophelia and how both of those interacted. So I thought the hand would symbolize Ophelia in her death. The quote is about Hamlet…I hand-painted it with acrylic paint and then outlined the water ripples in Sharpie.”
Some people used other mediums in their projects, such as sculptures.
Ethan Eurich (‘23) constructed a coffin-shaped box and filled it with pictures and quotes from characters that demonstrated their view of death.
Photo Credit: Ethan Eurich (’23)
He explains that “The piece is meant to show how while everyone is affected by death in the same way in the literal sense that everyone will eventually die, the meaning of death and the ways that people die are unique to the individual.”
These projects are a testament to the creativity of juniors and how English class allows them to express such imagination. The projects are displayed around junior English teacher Marina Ganter’s room, and Students are encouraged to stop by her class to appreciate the juniors’ stunning projects.
