1. Hamlet Dramatic Analysis

2. 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

3. Basic Requirements
MLA formatted works cited entries (
Introduction ending with a thesis statement
Conclusion beginning with a restatement of thesis
Sentence outline with sentences for points

4. 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) for subsequent quotations
Try to integrate your quotations.
may be helpful with this

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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?

8. 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?

9. 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.

10. 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?

11. 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?

12. 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?

13. 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?

14. 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?

15. 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?

16. 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?

17. 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?

18. 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?

19. 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?

20. 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

21. 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.

22. Topic Suggestions
Other suggestions at
Yours?