Gigantic Hamlet Paper

AP English Paper
Hamlet


1. I want you to write a 3-4 page paper on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This paper must be typed. It should have the following:

*title clearly explaining its subject

*thesis in the first paragraph explaining the subject explored in the paper

*citations from the text itself supporting all general statements

*parentheses citing act, scene, and line, ie, (4.2.122-115)

Additionally:

*your paper will be graded on the quality of your analysis as well as the logical presentation and defense of the thesis

*if you write a summary of the play, your grade will be very low

*if your analysis is superficial, your grade will be low


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2. Possible Topics:

a. Hamlet and Purgatory
b. Hamlet’s character/personality/temperament
c. The metaphor of the body politic
d. Soliloquies in Hamlet: Purpose and Dramatic Design
e. Horatio’s role as confidante
f. The Fortinbras Frame: Keep or Drop?
g. Hamlet’s Relationship to Ophelia
h. Doubling in Hamlet
i. Why does Hamlet delay?
j. Hamlet’s Madness and its Consequences
k. The tone of suspicion in Hamlet
l. Hamlet’s collapse of the social hierarchy
m. The metaphor of “play” in Hamlet
n. The nature of Hamlet’s transformation in Act Five
o. Hamlet as Revenge Play
p. Is Gertrude in on the Murder of her husband?
q. Hamlet’s view of Death
r. Hamlet as Tragic Hero
s. Do we admire Hamlet? Why? Why not?