Essay Instructions: This essay will explore some facet of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The model essay will be at least 1200 words, and this one will also focus on your opinion about a topic within the play (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare). There are a few choices at the bottom of these guidelines, which you can choose as your topic. One of these topics must be used!
In your introduction, name the play (underline it), briefly summarize that facet of the play you are focusing on (no more than three or four sentences), and create a thesis statement about that topic. This thesis should not be a summary of something that happens in the play. Rather, it should be your interpretation of the meaning behind the events.
Focus on a character from the play who best supports your thesis. Analyze that character according to his or her motives, goals, values, etc. Of course, you'll have to mention other characters, but for the sake of unity, confine yourself to one character. Use quotations from the play to prove your points. Document your quotations as follows: "the play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king" (2.2.556-557). The virgule ( / ) indicates the end of one line and the beginning of another. The numbers in parenthesis indicate Act II, scene ii, lines 556-557. The above documentation would be from the Bedford Introduction to Literature, because that is the book from which the poem is contained.
Four sources must be used for this essay, that is works cited as support. Of these 4, one must be the Bedford Introduction to Literature, which basically contains the play. So 3 more sources need to be found.
One of these topics must be used for the model paper.
1. The Elizabethan world was in transition from medieval thought to modern thought. Shakespeare seems to capture this transition by having the ghost of King Hamlet ask that young Hamlet avenge his father's death. This practice--an eye-for-eye justice--would have been expected (and accepted) in the medieval world. Yet the modern world would have advocated allowing the state to render justice, not the individual's taking justice into his own hands, creating chaos within the state. How is Shakespeare able to reconcile these two choices in Hamlet?
2. It has often been said that Shakespeare's villains believe in free will (In Othello, for instance, Iago is a proponent of free will), while his heroes tend to believe in fate. Discuss what you believe Hamlet's views are about free will and fate. Does he fit the pattern of the hero's resigning himself to the forces of fate? And if he does or doesn't, is he any less or more tragic as a result of his views?
3. In the closet scene between Hamlet and his mother, Shakespeare shows us that Gertrude experiences great discomfort after Hamlet holds a "mirror" up to her. What exactly is Shakespeare suggesting here? Has Gertrude been engaged in an adulterous relationship with Claudius while King Hamlet was still alive? Was Gertrude aware of Claudius' plot to kill King Hamlet? Was she in complicity with it? How far can one logically take this closet scene and incriminate Gertrude? Create a reasonable argument to support your conclusions.
4. In the sixteenth century, revenge tragedies (of which many critics say Hamlet is an example) were fairly common. Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy is an example of this genre. In the normal course of such a play, the central figure seeks his revenge, a revenge that at first seems justifiable. However, as the play progresses, the character becomes obsessive, and his perception of reality is distorted. As a result, innocent persons suffer. Usually the central figure dies in disgrace as punishment for the havoc he has created. Certainly Hamlet dies at the end of Shakespeare's tragedy, yet Shakespeare has Hamlet taken from the stage and granted military honors, as if he were indeed the hero of the story rather than the misguided character who seeks vengeance on one man and ultimately ruins many others in achieving that vengeance. What is your view about Shakespeare's honoring Hamlet's taking revenge into his own hands? Is Hamlet a hero? Or is he a misguided man, whose obsession wreaks havoc on his world?
