Who am I? Am I a teacher? A mother? A wife? A columnist? Where does one identity begin and theother end? We ask ourselves similar questions over and over, often surprising ourselves with our conclusions.

My seniors ask this question when they write soliloquies just before we begin reading “Hamlet,” Shakespeare’s most introspective play. “Who’s there?” are its first words, and from that moment the play is all about a search for identity, much as a student’s senior year is about finding a direction for the future.