Natalie Falemaka

9/17/15
A3
To be or not to be: that is the question
"Alright students, you have until the end of class to write your essay about Hamlet." "Oh
great, I wonder what impressive topic I can come up with this time." Since the beginning of time,
by that I mean 6th grade, I have always had a passion for writing. The first essay I have ever
written scored a 24/30 on the English assessment. In 8th grade, I scored a 30, a perfect score, on
the State's writing assessment for junior high students. In short, I wasn't bad at writing, at least
that's what I thought. My sophomore English class had me think otherwise. I did well with my
scores in the beginning of the school year. However, as the year progressed, I discovered I wasn't
getting better. In fact, my scoring was gradually going down. By the second semester, I had
already received my lowest writing grade, a C. Even now of just thinking about it, gives me
goose bumps. When school started this fall, I wasn't expecting much from my writing. My
passion ceased to exist. However, I told myself I would do my best nonetheless. Hamlet wasn't
the easiest to read. In fact, I highly doubted I would get a good score on this essay. "Okay. You
can begin now students." "Well," I thought. "Let's just get this over with." What would make this
essay any different from last year?
"The controversy of Hamlet and his father, Hamlet's relationship to women, the role of
power, and is Hamlet insane?" These topics were ideas Ms Freestone, the English 11 teacher,
gave for the students to write about in their essay. In my opinion, they were just as terrible as my
low writing score. "I can't write about these things," I thought. What do I do now? Hamlet, a
literature written by Shakespeare, was written in very old English. Reading it was very difficult.

It was like me trying to eat fifty corn dogs under a minute, complicated and stupid. I had to think
of another topic to write about or I would add another essay to my "disappointing writing list by
Natalie Falemaka." I had to think. What was something I understood about Hamlet? My thinking
made my brain fried. I couldn't think of any topic I understood from the reading. "I agree. The
women in the play were highly mistreated." "Gertrude and Ophelia were not my favorite female
characters." "I still do not understand why Hamlet's mother married her brother-in-law." Other
students were discussing amongst each other about their paper. "That's it!" They all had a theme
in their discussions. I didn't know why I hadnt realized it before. It was probably the only topic I
fully grasped from Hamlet. "What are you going to write about Nate?" my friend Sarah asked.
"The roles of women," I simply replied.
"Like many books, many of the characters gender play a prior role to what the
author is trying to say to audiences. In the book Jane Eyre, the author uses the female character
Jane to show audiences that not all female servants fall under the low education category and not
all females express the typical damsel in distress that is portrayed in other female characters such
as Rapunzel." This was wonderful! I finally chose a topic to write about in my essay. How could
I forget the role of women in the reading? It was the one of the things that stood out to me in
Hamlet. In class, we discussed women during Shakespeare's times. Women were told what to do
and were not seen as an equal to men in those times. They were obligated to be a mother and
wife. Powerful women such as Queen Elizabeth even found it difficult to converse with men. I
took those things in account of my thesis. "These females roles in the play are to emphasize
obedience to males, help strengthen the trait of male characters, and advertise the stereotypical
role of a mother and wife for females." I couldn't help but think women back then are similar in

some ways to women today. As I was writing evidences and claims about my thesis, I couldn't
help but compare it to my everyday life as a female.
"In this case, because Gertrude didnt follow her husband the Kings order, she couldnt
be protected of the poisonous cup, leaving Queen Gertrude in danger and then death. This is
clear to show readers that the female role in Hamlet is to not disobey or theyll die." I
remembered watching a movie that had a similar outcome. A daughter was told by her father not
to marry the man of her life. Towards the end, the woman dies of a high fever and her husband
remarried. Growing up, I've always told myself that I will not let anyone tell me how I should
live my life. My choices were mine to make and no one else's. Hamlet opened my eyes to the
reality that women then and now may not be given that opportunity to choose for themselves.
This created an inner strength of my belief as a female. I will not let that happen to me. I
included these points in my conclusion. Hamlet by Shakespeare has the women to listen and
obey or else. It discourages females in the world to explore outside of the home and to voice and
act out the unexpected. This purpose however has only strengthened women to do the opposite.
Email it to my address when you are done, yelled Ms. Freestone. I was reading my
essay over and over to make sure I was satisfied with what I had written. Well, Im satisfied. A
few weeks later, my class got our essays back graded. I scored a 14/15. Ms. Freestone
commented Well written. Nice topic! I thought If it was well written, then why didnt I
receive a perfect score? I was okay with my score though. It sure was higher than what my
expectation was. In fact, I was beyond okay. I was happy. I felt a familiar feeling for writing
again when I saw my score. What was it? It was passion I believe. My essay showed a bit of
hope for my shamed writing career.

Hamlet was the first play I had read and finished. It was probably the one literature I had
ever read in high school that changed my life. Theres a well-known quote in Hamlet. To be or
not to be: that is the question. Writing about the female characters in Hamlet had me realized
the importance of women fighting for their equal rights in todays society. To be like women in
the past, allowing men to control their life or not to be like them and take charge for my own
life, that was the question I had to answer for myself. After Hamlet, I took an oath with myself
not to be. I will live life the way I want to. Hamlet perhaps made me a feminist in the making.