Hamlet Dramatic Analysis

Basic Requirements• MLA format• MLA heading• 12 pt. Times New Roman font• At least 3 pages long• Primary source- Hamlet• May have up to three other sources,

but not necessary• Due Monday, 11/25/13

Basic Requirements• MLA formatted works cited entries (

www.knightcite.com)• Introduction ending with a thesis

statement• Conclusion beginning with a

restatement of thesis• Sentence outline with sentences for

points

Basic Requirements• Quotations to prove your points• Cite using the following format: “To be,

or not to be, that is the question" (Ham. 3.1.64).

• (3.1.64) for subsequent quotations• Try to integrate your quotations.• www.online-literature.com may be

helpful with this

Suggestions• Pick your topic before you read the

play.• Take notes as you read the play. Use

these notes to write your analyses.• Pay attention in class. I might say

something that might help you write your paper.

Suggestions• Do not leave this to the last minute.

You might have to read ahead in the play so you can start working on your essay.

• I have read the play; you do not need to retell the story.

Topic Suggestions• Analyze a theme and show how it

works itself out in the story.• Analyze a character, perhaps compare

and/or contrast it with another character.

• Who was the normative character? Why do you think this?

Topic Suggestions• Many declare Hamlet is

Shakespeare’s greatest play. Do you agree? Why or why not?

• Which character do you pity the most? Explain your pity and give reasons for this pity.

• Is Hamlet insane, or was he just pretending? When did he go insane?

Topic Suggestions• Was/were the character(s) justly

punished? Why or why not?• Why did the play have to end

tragically?• Analyze the leadership of Claudius. Is

he effective? Consider his responses to Hamlet.

Topic Suggestions• How should you interpret Hamlet’s

character?– As a victim of circumstances?– As a victim of excessive melancholy?– As a sentimental dreamer?– As motivated by ambition?– As misled by the ghost?

Topic Suggestions• Hamlet shows the destruction of what

two families. Compare and/or contrast these “destructions.”

• Describe Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship. Why are Laertes and Polonius concerned about it?

• Compare and/or contrast Ophelia to Juliet. Do you think that Juliet would act differently with Hamlet?

Topic Suggestions• Compare and contrast Laertes and

Hamlet, especially considering their roles as sons.

• “To thine own self be true.” This line is most likely the most ironic in the play. Who among the major characters in the play actually remains true to himself/herself throughout the course of the action? Who does not?

Topic Suggestions• Discuss a relationship or several

relationships in the play.– Parent-child– Brother-sister– Husband-wife– Friend-friend– Lover-lover– Which relations are based on illusions? Deceit?– Which relationships are healthy? Unhealthy?– Which relationships end happily? Or do any of

them?

Topic Suggestions• Describe a foil relationship from the play.

Why is it important to the play?• What is Hamlet’s tragic flaw? How does this

flaw inevitably lead to his destruction?• Think about Hamlet’s relationship with

Ophelia. Does he love her? Does he stop loving her? Did he ever love her? What evidence can you find in the play to support your opinion?

Topic Suggestions• Consider Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s

role in the play. Why might Shakespeare have created characters like this? Are they there for comic relief, or do they serve a more serious purpose? Why does the news of their deaths come only after the deaths of the royal family in Act V, as if this news were not anticlimactic? Is it acceptable for Hamlet to treat them as he does? Why or why not?

Topic Suggestions• Analyze the use of descriptions and

images in Hamlet. How does Shakespeare use descriptive language to enhance the visual possibilities of a stage production? How does he use imagery to create a mood of tension, suspense, fear, and despair?

Topic Suggestions• Analyze the use of comedy in Hamlet,

paying particular attention to the gravediggers, Osric, and Polonius. Does comedy serve merely to relieve the tension of the tragedy, or do the comic scenes serve a more serious thematic purpose as well?

Topic Suggestions• Suicide is an important theme in Hamlet.

Discuss how the play treats the idea of suicide morally, religiously, and aesthetically, with particular attention to Hamlet’s two important statements about suicide: the “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy (I.ii.129–158) and the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy (III.i.56–88). Why does Hamlet believe that, although capable of suicide, most human beings choose to live, despite the cruelty, pain, and injustice of the world?

Topic Suggestions• What kind of a King is Claudius? What

evidence shows the kind of monarch he is and the kind of man he is? Is this his appearance, or is it his true character?

• What is Hamlet's conflict over the Ghost's existence? Why does he continue to doubt the "honesty" of the Ghost even after Claudius confesses his guilt?

Topic Suggestions• Find examples of Hamlet's voices as

he speaks as– The avenger– The philosopher, unemotional reasoner– The actor, self-critical and self-directed– The ironic observer– The disgusted observer, bemoaning the

hopelessness of the human condition– The indecisive man desperate to be decisive

Topic Suggestions• Explain the effect Hamlet's ideas of sin

and salvation have on the development of his character and the movement of the plot.

• Identify the three revenge plots in Hamlet, and explain why each is important to the development of the play.

Topic Suggestions• Other suggestions at

http://cummingsstudyguides.net/xHamlet.html#Questions

• Yours?