Hamlet Thematic Essay
Your task is to write a 750 word essay that identifies and explores one key theme ofthe
play. This assignment will be worth 10% of your final grade.
Step One: Using your Hamlet text and a concordance, do a keyword analysis of the play (we did this in class). Select a word, or related set of three words, that are essential to an interpretation of the play. Don't forget to search for related words like
marry, marries, married, marriage.
You may wish to group your words by central themes like Biblical/Mythological, Astrological/Elemental, Psycho-Analytical (Jungian), Spiritual, Body Politic/Anatomy of Melancholy, Dystopia, Animal Imagery, and Sexual (Freudian).
Example: Blood (29) or
Bleed (2) appears 31 times in
Hamlet. Something related to
blood must be a key theme within the play.
Example #2: Madness is expressed in multiple ways like
Lunacy (2),
Distemper (4) and
ecstacy (5). Each represents a different aspect of
madness (like the three sides of a triangle).
Step Two: Look at the entire list of quotations that contain your word and try to generalize the treatment of the topic. In other words, begin to generate a thesis. Select the three best quotations that exemplify this thesis and it is best if you choose quotations that appear throughout the play with one early (I, II), one middle (II, III, IV), and one late (IV, V).
If you are struggling with generating a thesis, go back and brainstorm your word. Check an etymological dictionary, consider what that word means to Elizabethans in contrast to what it means to us today. Consider how that word is used in
hamlet as opposed to other Shakespearean plays or works of literature. You can even use the
Virtual library to see if someone else has written on the topic – just don’t plagiarize and also be sure to include a reference in your works consulted.
Example: Shakespeare mentions Hercules three times in
Hamlet, which is relatively significant because Shakespeare only uses the word 36 times in all of his works.
O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer-married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to
Hercules
Ay, that they do, my lord;
Hercules and his
load too.
Let
Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew and dog will have his day.
Step Three: Do a little research on Hercules and his family.
Alcmene was the mother of Hercules and the wife of Amphitryon, but the night she conceived Hercules and his twin brother Iphicles, Alcmene mated with both Zeus, who had disguised himself as her husband, and Amphitryon. As a result, Zeus was Hercules' father, but Amphitryon was the father of Iphicles.
Begin to note the parallels between Alcmene, Amphitryon,& Zeus and Gertrude, King Hamlet, & Claudius! We also know that Hercules goes mad (Hera interferes) and kills
his wife and and children. For that, he is punished with the Twelve Labours (also-mentioned
in the play).
My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the
Neamean lion’s nerve
Still am I call 'd.
Is Shakespeare telling us that hamlet is a form of Hercules even though hamlet himself appears to be denying it? Don’t just start that Hercules is a symbol of hamlet – explain how a full understanding of the quotations is essential to our understanding of the thematic “world view” of the play.
If we need to share some of this information, we may wish to write a "parameters paragraph" that would appear between the introduction and the first body paragraph.
Step Four: Now that you have selected a word, found three Quotations and done some research, develop a
three point balanced thesis statement. Make sure that you have a full and complete understanding of what you are arguing before you begin to write. Write an introduction that is error free so that the teacher is impressed from the start
Write your body paragraphs using the structure learned in class. Whenever you get lost or go off on a tangent, refer to your quotation and your thesis statement. Do not retell the story or write a book report! Tack on your conclusion at the end.
Step Five: Let somebody else read your essay (parent, older sibling, email it to a friend). Let it sit 24-48 hours before rereading it. Do a final draft. Include your MLA title row, proper parenthetical referencing of quotations, and works cited or works consulted.
Step Six: Submit to Mr. Krys, January 4 2010
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