Sample body paragraphs from research papers
Example #1 is from a paper on the Renaissance author Sir Thomas Browne, and the use of humor in his writing.
This paragraph focuses on Browne’s long essay on funeral and burial practices.
Not all of Browne’s subjects are obviously humorous. In an essay on Browne’s “Hydrotaphia,
Urn-Burial,” Michael Stanford asks why “of all the works of this essentially comic writer, a dark
meditation should prove the most famous and enduring” (414). This critic’s essay focuses on the
macabre aspect of the text, Browne’s revulsion at death, and his pity for humanity. Stanford
notes, “there are no jokes in the fifth chapter” (419) but does not otherwise address the humor in
“Hydrotaphia, Urn-Burial,” except to say that “Browne’s greatest effects arise when a profound
torment drives all the playfulness…from his style” (422). In an article on the same work,
Leonard Natheson more fully acknowledges Browne’s humor. He states, “Browne’s meditation
on mortality is suffused by a witty gravity and weighty exuberance [and is] even consciously
playful” (Natheson 458). Nevertheless, like Stanford and most other critics, Natheson discusses
the more serious aspects of the text almost exclusively. Browne’s essay has an important element
of humor, though, and understanding this element gives readers a deeper appreciation of the
essay’s religious message about mortality. Chapter One is full of puns and witty, ironic
statements. For example, he puns on “crept” (reminiscent of “crypt”) when discussing the
ancient Egyptians (Browne 352). In middle chapters, Browne points out the humor of stories
such as the ancient Roman one in which a woman complains that she is cold in the afterlife
because her cremation fire was not hot enough. The last chapters are then striking in their lack of
humor; they have a contrasting seriousness. The presence of humor earlier in his essay draws the
readers in from the beginning, emotionally as well as intellectually, luring the audience into
following him through the initially bitter and then sublime, hopeful end. He follows the
rhetorical tradition of making learning sweet as well as useful, using pleasure to make people
desire more knowledge. He uses the same strategy in other serious texts, as well.
Example 2 is from a paper which interprets the relationship between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Ophelia in from a
psychological perspective. This paragraph focuses on the stage history of Ophelia.
Whether or not the similarities between Ophelia and Hamlet are brought out in performance is
a choice made by directors and actors in each production. Portraying Ophelia as a full character
is a relatively recent development, however. Michael Rosenberg states, “in the two centuries
after Shakespeare, when the theater regularly deleted her offending language, Ophelia was made
a meek victim” (240). He notes that the part of Ophelia would not have been played by the
leading actresses in the Victorian era, but by less talented members of the theater companies
(241). Considering how strong a character Ophelia is in the text of the play, it is not surprising
that some actresses fought to keep her lines from being cut to try to restore her full role in
performances. Ophelia’s important relationship to Hamlet can also be emphasized using visual
cues not found in the dialogue or stage directions. For example, Elaine Showalter discusses
attempts by actresses such as Ellen Terry to deepen the portrayal of Ophelia by trying
(unsuccessfully) to convince the director of an 1878 production to allow her to wear black, as
Hamlet does (234). Twentieth-century productions have been more faithful to the textual
Ophelia. Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 film version wryly comments on the Victorian-era’s
romanticized “mad-damsel-in-distress” Ophelias by portraying her being given the real Victorian
treatment for the insane: small padded room, straightjacket, and blasts of cold water. In this and
other recent productions, the emphasis is on the similarities between Ophelia and Hamlet as
prisoners driven insane by circumstances beyond their control.