Hamlet shouldn’t have spooked the well-versed Leaving Cert students

The daunting experience of a second English exam came and passed for this year’s Leaving Certificate students yesterday afternoon.

A discussion of descriptions of Hamlet as “a disturbing psychological thriller” might have spooked some Shakespeare students, but teacher Kate Barry felt those who knew the play well should have done fine with it.

As Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) spokesperson, she said this and another on the dramatic functions of Laertes and Horatio were not the kind of questions which students could answer with pre- prepared answers.