English 621
Examination Essay Topics - Hamlet
The final examination in this course will require you to prepare an essay to be written during the examination period. Since the study of English encourages students to plan and prepare good work, each student is
REQUIRED to prepare a FORMAL OUTLINE for ONE of the following essays below (there are thirty-five <35> choices). The outline must follow the rules laid out during the research process. The topics:
1
Although Hamlet ultimately rejects it at the end of the play, suicide is an ever-present solution to the problems in the drama. Discuss the play's suggestion of suicide and imagery of death, with particular
attention to Hamlet's two important statements about suicide: the "O that this too, too solid flesh would melt" soliloquy and the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy. Why did Ophelia commit suicide? What
was the reason behind this deed?
2
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?
3
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? Explain, using textual evidence.
4
Analyze Hamlet’s "To be or not to be" soliloquy (or any of his other soliloquies in the play).
5
Aristotle said that consistency and probability are the two most important elements in the drama. Does Shakespeare, in creating the characters in Hamlet, follow or ignore this idea? You may consider
both major and minor characters.
6
Choose a woman in the play and explain her significance in the story.
7
Compare and contrast the characters of Hamlet and Horatio. How alike or dislike are they and why?
8
Conflict is essential to drama. Show that Hamlet presents both an outward and inward conflict.
9
Consider Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's role in Hamlet. 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?
10
Did Hamlet obtain justice or revenge at the end of the play?
11
Discuss the importance of appearance and reality in Hamlet (strong hint: Why is Hamlet so interested in the players?).
12
Discuss Hamlet's treatment of and ideas about women. How might these help to clarify some of the interpretative issues of the play? You might want to consider carefully the way he talks about
sexuality.
13
Discuss the importance in Hamlet of one of the following: (a) Ophelia, (b) Rozencrantz and Guildenstern, (c) the ghost of Hamlet senior, (d) Polonius, (e) Fortinbras, (f) Gertrude. Do not just write about
what these people do. Discuss how an attention to them illuminates issues of central importance to the play as a whole (i.e., deal with matters of importance to the thematic or character development
in the play, not with matters of the plot).
14
Does Hamlet live and die by making free choices, or are his choices all controlled by forces larger than himself?
15
Does Hamlet act in accordance with Polonius's advice to Laertes? (Hamlet didn't necessarily hear the advice, but he may share this courtly value system anyway, having been raised to defend himself
against plots and conniving so he could rule after his father.)
16
Examine the conflict between planning to do something and actually doing it in Hamlet.
17
Explain the effect Hamlet’s ideas of sin and salvation have on the development of his character and the movement of the plot.
18
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
19
How do Hamlet's seven soliloquies reveal his character? Provide evidence to support your claims from EACH of his soliloquies.
20
Identify the three revenge plots in Hamlet, and explain why each is important to the development of the play.
21
Is something rotten in the state of Denmark? If so, what precisely is it? Is anyone in particular responsible or is the rottenness simply a condition of life?
22
Is Hamlet primarily a tragedy of revenge?
23
Look through the text and find five questions that drive the theme, characters, or plot of the play. Explain why the questions are important and why Shakespeare poses them as questions and not as
answers.
24
Many critics take a deterministic view of Hamlet’s plot, arguing that the prince’s inability to act and tendency toward melancholy reflection is a “tragic flaw” that leads inevitably to his demise. Is this an
accurate way of understanding the play? Why or why not? Given Hamlet’s character and situation, would another outcome of the play have been possible?
25
Mel Gibson (who also plays Hamlet in a film version of the play) says that all of the deaths during the play result from Hamlet's decision not to kill Claudius while he is praying. Agree or disagree and
explain why.
26
Polonius is an interesting character in Hamlet. Discuss.
27
Reveal the philosophy of Hamlet by his affectionate love of the theater.
28
Select a particular scene in Hamlet (preferably a short one) and discuss its importance in the play. How does this particular part of the action contribute significantly to our response to what is going on?
What might be missing if a director decided to cut this scene (e.g., Claudius at prayer, the scene between Polonius and Reynaldo, the gravedigger scene).
29
Select one of Hamlet’s soliloquies and by a detailed attention to the poetry discuss the nature of Hamlet's feelings as they reveal themselves in this speech. What insights might this speech provide into
the prince's elusive character? Confine your attention strictly to the soliloquy you have selected.
30
Shakespeare includes characters in Hamlet who are obvious foils for Hamlet, including, most obviously, Horatio, Fortinbras, Claudius, and Laertes. Compare and contrast Hamlet with each of these
characters. How are they alike? How are they different? How does each respond to the crises with which he is faced? When necessary - and it will be - provide textual evidence to support claims.
31
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?
32
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?
33
Throughout the play, Hamlet claims to be feigning madness, but his portrayal of a madman is so intense and so convincing that many readers believe that Hamlet actually slips into insanity at certain
moments in the play. Do you think this is true, or is Hamlet merely play-acting insanity? What evidence can you cite for either claim?
34
To what extent are the female characters in this drama pivotal to the story's structure? (That is, try defending or modifying this thesis statement: Everything that happens in this play occurs because of a
woman.) [Hint: What are Claudius's motives for killing his brother? What finally moves Hamlet to kill Claudius?]
35
Weigh each of Hamlet's soliloquies to consider whether he seems willful, purposeful, or driven by madness or fate. Here a list by act, scene, and lines:
I, ii, 129-59
I, iii, 254-258
I, v, 92-132
II, ii, 525-580
III, I, 56-69
III, ii, 365-370
IV, iv, 32-66
English 621 Tutorial - Writing a Literary Essay
What Makes It Good?
- An Argument,
- A Debatable Thesis Statement,
Which Topics Are Good Ones?
If the topics provided don’t do it for you, then you are more than welcome to come up with your own (Coffin approval required, of course).
If that’s your plan, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- The best topics are ones that originate out of your own reading of a work of literature, but here are some common approaches to consider:
- A discussion of a work’s characters: are they realistic, symbolic, historically-based?
- A comparison/contrast of the choices different authors or characters make in the work.
- A reading of a work based on an outside philosophical perspective (Ex. how would a feminist read Much Ado?)
More Considerations:
- A study of the sources or historical events that occasioned a particular work (Ex. comparing Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to actual history.)
- An analysis of a specific image occurring in several works (Ex. the use of food imagery in certain plays, poems, novels)
- A "deconstruction" of a particular work (Ex. unfolding an underlying racist world view in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness)
- A reading from a political perspective (Ex. how would a Marxist read William Blake’s London?)
Literary Terms to Remember
Many literary terms describe how an author communicates his or her ideas. Look through the text and try to identify some of methods Shakespeare uses to convey the patterns of ideas you are most interested in. The
following terms will help you express the methods you see:
Characterization:
the author's expression of a character's personality through the use of action, dialogue, thought, or commentary by the author or another character.
Conflict:
the struggle within the story. Character divided against self, character against character, character against society, character against nature, character against God.
Without it, there is no story.
Dialogue:
vocal exchange between two or more characters. One of the ways in which plot, character, action, etc. are developed.
Imagery:
the collection of images within a literary work. Used to evoke atmosphere, mood, tension. For example, images of crowded, steaming sidewalks flanking streets choked
with lines of shimmering, smoking cars suggests oppressive heat and all the psychological tensions that go with it.
Point of View:
the vantage point from which the author presents action of the story. Who is telling the story? An all-knowing author? A voice limited to the views of one character?
The voice and thoughts of one character? Does the author change point of view in the story? Why? Point of view is often considered the technical aspect of fiction
which leads the critic most readily into the problems and meanings of the story.
Symbol:
related to imagery. It is something which is itself yet stands for or means something else. It tends to be more singular, a bit more fixed than imagery. For example, in
Lessing's "A Woman on a Roof," the brief red sun suit seems to symbolize the woman's freedom and independence from externally imposed standards of behavior.
Tone:
suggests an attitude toward the subject which is communicated by the words the author chooses. Part of the range of tone includes playful, sombre, serious, casual,
formal, ironic. Tone is important because it designates the mood and effect of a work.