In 1908 an English professor named Horace Furness claimed that "in the catalogue of a library very dear to [him], there are four hundred books about Hamlet. " In a tone of mock disgust directed at the seemingly infinite number of texts about the Danish prince, Furness continues, "If I were told that my closest friend was lying at the point of death, and that his life could be saved by permitting him to divulge his theory of Hamlet, I would instantly say, 'Let him die! Let him die! Let him die!'"

Furness's comic objections notwithstanding, Hamlet prompts wonderfully thoughtful responses from secondary school students. As Dr. Dwight Raulston's students agreed, "It's relevant no matter who or where you are; it brings up philosophical issues; it's about life, death, and love; and, it has high entertainment value!"

For the first time last year, all incoming English IV students at St. John's read Hamlet in preparation for their fall elective. At a department meeting several years ago, we agreed that this was the text we most wished all of our graduates had read and pondered. The only problem–not an insurmountable one, as it turned out–was that our seniors are enrolled in a wide variety of courses. While Hamlet fit perfectly into some classes (Drama and, of course, Shakespeare [!]), we wondered how to make it relevant to, say, Contemporary Satire or Nonfiction and Memoir. The more we talked about the task at hand, the more we realized that Hamlet fits comfortably within the confines of all classes. Dynamic and intertextual–and, I'm tempted to say, chameleonic–the play showed how well it could meet the pedagogical objectives of the various teachers.

In Satire, Mr. David Nathan focused on the presence of clowning in the tragedy; he looked at the ways in which the drama was, in fact, enlarged by the humorous repartee among characters. He also shared with his class a parody– "Hello, Hamlet " by former Houston Comptroller George Greanias–that has long been performed by Wiess House at Rice University. (During his famous advice-giving segment, Polonius breaks into song, "Ford ev'ry mountain, Climb ev'ry tree, / Neither a borrower, Nor a lender be. / Ford ev'ry mountain, Swim ev'ry lake, Never let a sucker have an evening break.")

Mrs. Carol George, who teaches Creative Writing, asked students to scan the play for effective images and then to blend them into their own artistic palettes. Students built brief, original works around memorable moments from Shakespeare's work.

Ms. Kem Kemp, who teaches the course on Memoir, postulated that one of Hamlet 's key ideas is that "one's state of mind can have a significant influence on the decisions one makes." It's an idea borne out by a number of the contemporary works in her elective, including Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , which students also read during their summer break. Ms. Kemp asked students to write on the ways in which the texts (and their depictions of "consciousness under siege") intersect with one another and with the students' experiences of the world.

Increasingly these days, English teachers at SJS ask students to write analyses that contain an introspective dimension. And, after all, if you're looking for a tutor in the art of introspection, Prince Hamlet is your man.

Bart Thornton holds a Ph.D. in English from The University at Texas and currently chair the English Department at Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia.

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