For this assignment, you are expected to do some limited research on your topic to see what other literary critics have to say about the issue.  You need to read and utilize two critical articles in the process of writing this paper. The articles need to be from legitimate sources, preferably from databases available at the library. The main ideas of the two articles should be summarized in a paragraph that follows the introduction. You should use these ideas to support your analysis throughout your essay. The purpose of the requirement is to develop your ability to utilize and integrate relevant ideas to further and support your own interpretation of a literary work.  The essay must express an independent opinion of your own; reference to secondary criticism should only be used to reinforce, not to pre-empt your voice. The format, citation, and documentation of the essay should follow the MLA style. For specific information on the guidelines, refer to any writer’s handbook or the MLA handbook.

 

1. The final essay should be on Shakespeare’s Hamlet . The essay should pose a specific question or problem about the play. The consideration of such an issue is expressed in a thesis statement that shapes the form and development of the entire essay.
2. The discussion of the issue should be well organized and hinged upon analysis of specific textual details. For each major point you make, you should support and illuminate it through short or long quotes from the text to give the reader an informed and critical context of discussion.
3. At least two sources of secondary criticism should be referred to and integrated into your discussion of the issue to form a comparison or contrast with your own perspective or argument. The scholarship, or what other critics have said about the work, should be used selectively and critically to give the reader the context of understanding, and it should not become the dominant view that pre-empts your own voice.
4. The essay should demonstrate the knowledge and appropriate use of basic literary terms we’ve discussed in class.
5. The MLA style of in-text citation and documentation should be followed in writing this essay.

 

Guidelines for drafting the essay:

 

Title (center spaced with proper capitalization)

1. Introduction

 

1. Opening statement: You should start your essay with an interesting statement that is attention grabbing and relevant to the story you are about to analyze. For example, you could start your essay on “A&P,” and “Where…Where.” by stating, “Young people are always fascinated and lured by the mysterious and the unknown force lurking near what’s close to home…”
2. Follow the opening statement with your thesis that clearly introduces the                           author, title of the work, the claim you make about the story, and the key                    literary elements to be analyzed.

 

II-IV.   Body Paragraphs

 

There should be a separate paragraph that includes a summary of the two articles you researched on.  The summary should be brief (including no more than three main ideas from each source) and there should be a transition phrase or sentence in between the summary of the articles.

 

Each of the three body paragraphs that develop your own analysis should start with a topic sentence that states the claim that you want to prove and the literary element you analyze. For example, your topic sentence can be, “The dark forest, the setting of the story where the main action, the murder of the entire family, takes place, provides the gothic backdrop for O’Connor’s deeply unsettling story.”

 

 

 

Each of the body paragraphs should follow the following steps:

 

1. Topic sentence that states your claim on a key literary element is used to advance your main argument
2. Introduction of text detail
3. Analysis of text detail (with your comments and primary source quotations)
4. Introduction of a quotation or paraphrase from a secondary course
5. Explanation of the meaning of the quotation and how it backs up your claim
6. Concluding sentence that reinforces your claim

 

Each body paragraph should include at least two ONE detail from the primary source and ONE quotation from the secondary source.   All quotations must be introduced and cited according to the MLA format.

 

You should use formal, analytical language and literary terms in your discussion of the stories. Make sure you use appropriate literary terms when necessary.  Key literary terms we’ve learned include: point of view, plot, characters, theme, setting, symbolism, irony, protagonist, antagonist, round character, flat character, first person narrator, limited omniscient point of view, epiphany, and allusion.

 

1. Conclusion

 

Recap, not repeat the purpose of your comparison.  Choose slightly different expressions to sum up why the attention to the points of comparison supports your understanding of the stories.

 

1. Works Cited

 

Prepare a list of works cited at the end of your essay according to the MLA format.

 

 

Suggested Topics:

 

1. What roles do Gertrude and Ophelia play in Hamlet? Do these feminine characters merely fulfill the gender roles in the play, or do they also add to our understanding of Hamlet’s character? How do Hamlet’s attacks on these characters and on women in general affect your response to the play?
2. A formalist reading of Hamlet requires close attention to the use of formal devices, such as irony, paradox, metaphors, symbols, characterization, and soliloquy, to understand the meaning of the play.  Study closely some of the key soliloquies by Hamlet and Claudius to see how they reveal their character and inner conflicts.
3. The plot in Hamlet, like that in any play or novel, is fraught with numerous conflicts? Write an essay in which you analyze three major conflicts that help advance the plot, such as the one between Claudius and Hamlet, Denmark and Norway, Hamlet and Laertes?  Explain in detail the cause, progression, and resolution of these conflicts.
4. Reader-response criticism places much emphasis on the literary experience of individual readers not only as interpreters of texts but as producers of meanings. Each individual’s encounter with a play such as Hamlet is different. Choose some issues, scenes, and characters in the play that challenge, baffle, or even threaten your own understanding and beliefs, and in return, how your own experience affects your reading of the play?
5. In a tragedy, all main characters have their own weaknesses, known as hamartia. Write an essay in which you examine the fatal flaws in Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude.
6. In usurping the throne and marrying Gertrude, Claudius assumes onto himself new roles and identities that go on to affect his relationship with other characters. Write an essay in which you examine three main characters whose identities and relationships are seriously altered because of what Claudius has done in the play.
7. Although Hamlet is a very complicated play, it is essentially a story of revenge. A king who is murdered by his own brother is eventually to be avenged by his son.  The play is not simply about revenge, but also about dealing with the internal conflict Hamlet feels about his obligation as a son and his own aspiration as an individual.  Focus on three key moments or scenes where such tension is most palpable.
8. As a protagonist, Hamlet combines in himself many complicated and even contradictory attributes. He may appear emotional and cynical, or methodical and determined.  Write an essay in which you draw a profile of Hamlet focusing on three of his notable traits.
9. Hamlet decides to use the players to reenact the murder scene in front of Claudius to observe his reaction. This reenactment is known as the “play within a play.”  Write an essay in which you analyze the design, the performance, and the effect of the play inside a play.
10. Is Hamlet really insane or does he merely pretend to be so? Write an essay in which you argue for either belief.  What are the three causes of his presumed insanity? Or, what are the three advantages for Hamlet to act insane?