Posted: May 4th, 2014

Exploring Shakespeare Hamlet

Answer ONE of the following questions in an essay of at least 1,500 words that analyzes the character or facet of the play that the question describes. Use quotations from the play itself and refer to other sources when putting together your paper.
1. In Act 1, Scene 1, the ghost first appears. Analyze how Shakespeare uses the ghost throughout the play. Pay attention to how characters react to the ghost and how the ghost affects Hamlet during his various appearances. When the ghost appears for the final time, analyze the effect on Hamlet and how Hamlet’s reaction is interpreted by Queen Gertrude.
2. The new king, Claudius, is a villain. Explore his character. What does he do that is good? Explore his increasing anxiety over Hamlet’s behavior. What causes that anxiety? What does he mean when he says: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, Words without thoughts never to heaven go. (III, iii, 100-101)
3. Explore the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. Think about the following: Does he love her then stop loving her? What is revealed about Hamlet by the encounters we see between Ophelia and him? What is revealed about Ophelia? What is revealed about Hamlet and Ophelia in Ophelia’s descriptions of encounters we don’t see? Do Hamlet and Ophelia have sex? In what way, if any, does Hamlet’s being sent to England and his responsibility for Polonius’ death have to do with Ophelia’s drowning? For example, in Act 3, Scene1, Hamlet denies ever having given Ophelia anything and treats her shabbily. Shakespeare gives Ophelia a soliloquy, “O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown” (III, i). Explore the meaning of this speech and what it tells us about Ophelia’s feelings for Hamlet.

4. Explore the madness of Ophelia in Act 4. What do her speeches mean? What is she talking about when she sings odd songs and behaves in such a crazy way?
5. Shakespeare often uses the soliloquy, a speech in which a character speaks his thoughts aloud. In Act 1, Scene 2, just before Horatio enters, Hamlet’s soliloquy begins: “Oh that this too, too sullied flesh should melt….” The most famous soliloquy is “To be or not to be…” in Act 3, Scene 1. Explore these and other soliloquies of Hamlet and explain how they help us understand the character of Hamlet. What is he feeling? What is his attitude towards the marriage of Gertrude and Claudius? What is his memory of the relationship between his father and his mother? What is his attitude towards death? Towards life?
Hamlet Writing Assignment Wray Comp & Lit 2 Page 2 of 2
Think about the circumstances surrounding the soliloquies – what evokes them from Hamlet.
6. Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia form a family. Explore the importance of this family to the plot of the play and the character of Hamlet.
7. Explore the way Shakespeare uses the company of actors who come to Elsinore ready to entertain.
8. Explore Hamlet’s relationship with his mother. What is his attitude? Consider Act 3, Scene 4 and think about some of the following: What do we discover about Hamlet? What do we discover about his mother? What happens to Polonius in this scene and what is Hamlet’s reaction to it? What does Hamlet say to his mother? The ghost of the father appears. Why? Explain what he tells Hamlet. How does this scene relate to what the ghost tells Hamlet in Act 1, Scene 4?
9. Why does Hamlet delay so long in avenging his father’s murder? He is late to act. He does not seek immediate revenge after seeing the ghost; he does not kill Claudius when he sees Claudius attempting to pray. When he does act, the consequences are dreadful – the death of Polonius, for example.
10. Laertes, Horatio, and Fortinbras are foils for Hamlet – that is, they contrast with him or show his character to advantage in some way. Compare and contrast these characters with Hamlet.
11. Come up with your own topic to explore and write about. Talk to me about what you’re thinking of writing about; I may have suggestions.