1. Introduction

It is the aim of this study to analyse the possibilities of using films based on Shakespeare’s work in order to teach English literature, and more precisely Shakespeare’s work. This paper will focus on students whose mother tongue is Spanish and are willing to learn English literature as well as English as a second language.

A considerable amount of Shakespeare’s work has been adapted for the cinema. Well-known tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, or King Lear can be found in several cinematographic versions or have inspired other Hollywood millionaire blockbusters (Shakespeare in Love, for instance). There can be found over twenty-five films having “Hamlet” as the title; they might not be faithful reproductions of Shakespeare’s tragedy, but somehow the title sets expectancy at the potential viewers.

Many universities (Colorado College, Denison University or Kenion College, just to mention some) are doing research in how to teach Shakespeare through films, and putting it into practice with actual courses. The attempt here presented is similar although not as ambitious. Had it been chosen a version of Hamlet with an English soundtrack the teaching process might have comprised two parts: on the one hand, the learning of literature; and on the other, learning lexis and pronunciation. This twofold objective might have been fulfilled by using the subtitles in Spanish for beginner and intermediate students, or in English for advanced students. Despite this interesting proposal, this paper will concentrate on the acquisition of some notions of Shakespeare’s work through the film version.

This study will take Kozintsev’s version of Hamlet (1964) and it will focus on the relevance of the Spanish subtitles, although it will also take into account the other issues mentioned above. It is important to mention the fact that the film has not been dubbed; therefore this version can only be found in Russian with Spanish subtitles.

teapor@alumni.uv.es