Transcript Hamlet Dramatic Analysis - Miss MacQuarries's CBA Classes

Hamlet Dramatic
Analysis
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
Basic Requirements
• MLA formatted works cited entries
(www.knightcite.com)
• Introduction ending with a thesis
statement
• Conclusion beginning with a
restatement of thesis
• Sentence outline with sentences for
points
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).
• (3.1.64) for subsequent quotations
• Try to integrate your quotations.
• www.online-literature.com may be
helpful with this
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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
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.
Topic Suggestions
• Other suggestions at
http://cummingsstudyguides.net/xHaml
et.html#Questions
• Yours?