Write a 5-7 page literary analysis argument essay in response to one of the prompts below. If you want to design your own topic, please get it approved by your instructor
Essay 2: Writing about Hamlet
Write a 5-7 page literary analysis argument essay in response to one of the prompts below. If you
want to design your own topic, please get it approved by your instructor on or before the day the
topic choice and preliminary research are due.
1. Hamlet has been called the most self-conscious or inward-looking character ever created.
Discuss the representation of Hamlet’s self-consciousness and its significance.
2. Discuss the representation of education and educated men in Hamlet. Are educated men
represented as more capable or less capable than uneducated men? How do their
capabilities differ?
3. Does Hamlet love Ophelia? Why does he treat her the way he does?
4. Discuss the significance of spying and surveillance in Hamlet.
5. Hamlet pretends he is mad to disguise his true intentions. Is he ever actually mad?
Discuss the representation and significance of madness in Hamlet.
6. Discuss the representation and significance of the theater, theatricalism, and playacting in
Hamlet.
7. Discuss the representation and significance of jokes, joking, and play in Hamlet.
8. Interpret Hamlet from the point of view of the psychoanalytic school of criticism. You might
examine Hamlet’s relationship with his mother from a Freudian point of view.
Minimum Criteria (to earn a C or higher):
• Thesis statement. This should be a statement that clearly offers some argument regarding an
aspect the play (avoid merely summarizing the plot). Your thesis should come near the end
of the first paragraph. With this essay, make sure to move beyond the “list thesis” (i.e. the
listing of topics that will be discussed).
• Well organized argument with . . .
o Clear and logical paragraphing. This includes how the ideas are divided into
paragraphs, the order of the ideas, topic sentences and transitions. Each paragraph
should focus on just one idea, and the line of thought should be easy for a reader to
follow.
o Supporting quotes from the play. These quotations should be properly integrated
and cited, as discussed in the “Quotation, Citation, and Documentation” chapter, pp.
1276-1290, and illustrated in the sample research paper, pp. 1291-1302, of your
textbook The Norton Introduction to Literature.
o Analysis and interpretation of specific evidence from the text, including
supporting quotes. Your essay should not consist of a plot summary. You can
assume that the reader of your paper has read the play but is not an expert on the
play.
o Correct MLA in-text citation and Works Cited page. See the sample essays
referenced above.
English 102
Instructor:
o Support from at least two outside sources, specifically articles of literary
criticism (i.e. interpretation) from academic journals. These sources can be
from one of the library databases or from reliable Internet sites that publish
academic journal articles. Reviews, summaries, and study guides are not
acceptable sources. These sources should also be correctly documented using
MLA style in-text citations and a Works Cited page.
• MLA Style document formatting. See the sample student paper referenced above for
how the heading, title, line spacing, and page numbering should be set up. Please use a
12-pt font and 1” margins.
• Error Free sentences. At this stage in your writing, your sentences should be free from
errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Make sure you leave enough time to
proofread for typos as well.
Answer preview for Hamlet has been called the most self-conscious or inward-looking character ever created.Discuss the representation of Hamlet’s
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