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English 220
Spring 2015
Final Essay Assignment

The final writing project for our course will be a research paper of 5-7 pages (1800-2000 words).
Along with textual interpretation of Hamlet, your paper must use at least two scholarly sources (see
below for guidelines for the two scholarly sources) that speak to/engage with your interpretive
thesis. You must focus on passages from Hamlet that you did not write about in your second essay
(though it is perfectly acceptable to refer to those passages in your analysis). You may choose from
these topics:

1) “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”

Many critics have interpreted Hamlet to be an investigation into human cognition instead of a play
about revenge. In this essay explore the ways in which human cognition takes priority over human
action in the play through close readings of significant moments in the play and through your
analysis of two secondary sources. The central question for you to consider in this essay is: Does the
character Hamlet transform the seemingly passive activity of thought into a form of heroic action in
this play? Can we think of Hamlet as a philosophic superhero?

2) “There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”

When we see King Hamlet’s Ghost, Claudius praying for forgiveness, or Ophelia’s burial scene we
enter the religious world of Hamlet, which in many ways seems very far removed from our own
world. In your essay, attempt to inhabit to travel back to the religious world of Hamlet by closely
reading scenes or speeches that address religious themes (heaven, hell, death, life, rebirth,
forgiveness, murder) while using your analysis of two secondary sources to inform your close
readings. The central question for you to consider in this essay is: How does the religious context of
Hamlet help us gain deeper insight into the play?

3) “Let us go in together”
Hamlet is a play not just about the young prince’s troubled mind but a play about relationships,
family relationships (father-son, daughter-father and etc.), romantic relationships
(Gertrude/Claudius, Hamlet/Ophelia) and friendships (Hamlet and Horatio). Analyze one of these
relationships in the play through close readings of speeches or scenes and through your analysis of
two secondary sources, noting in as much detail as possible the hazards and benefits of this
relationship and how it connects with the broader themes of the play. The central question for you
to consider in this essay is: How can close interpretation of one relationship in Hamlet help us better
understand the play as a whole?

The following are important dates and assignments pertinent to your final research essay:

-After choosing your topic and at least one source you plan to use, you will write one précis of a
source (approximately 500 words). A précis articulates an objective summary of the reading and
should only convey what the author states in the article without including your opinions,
conjectures, or critiques. Due date: April 13th

-After your précis, you will write a one-paragraph proposal for your essay that includes your
preliminary thesis and a summary of the argument you intend to make. Your thesis and argument
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may very well change as you write your draft—think of this as your working thesis statement. Due
date: April 23rd

-Your first draft will be due on April 30th. Consider this your first attempt to incorporate your
sources and make a cohesive argument. It can be as short as 3 pages or as long as you want it to be.

-Peer review will be on May 4th (peer review forms will be due on Dec. 4th as well).

-Final draft will be due on May 14th.

As always, your essay must:

-Have your name, class title, my name, and date on the upper left-hand side of the first page.
-Be 5-7 pages long. Pages must be numbered.
-Be typed, double-spaced, and in 12 point Times New Roman font.
-Use MLA style for all in-text citations.
-Have no typographical errors.
-Have a title, an introduction with an arguable thesis statement, body paragraphs with citation
and analysis of your evidence, and a conclusion that connects your analysis to a broader theme
that you address in the essay.
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Approved Sources (All Posted on Blackboard and the blog)

You have two options for how you choose your secondary sources.
1) You may choose both of your sources from this list.
2) You may use one source from this list and find your other source through your first source. This
means following the author of your first source’s citation trail (looking at the works cited list at the
end of the essay or at the footnotes) towards another source that interests you. For example, at the
beginning of “Hamlet’s Introspection,” J.K Harner refers to a 1953 essay in Shakespeare Quarterly
about the history of the phrase “mind’s-eye.” If you were interested in learning more about the
history of the phrase “mind’s-eye,” you could find this essay using the library’s research tools and
use it as your other secondary source.

Question 1
1) Alan Ackerman, “Visualizing Hamlet’s Ghost: The Spirit of Modern Subjectivity” (2001)
2) J.K. Harmer, “Hamlet’s Introspection” (2011)
3) John De Carlo, “Hamlet and the Ghost: A Joint Sense of Time” (2013)

Question 2
4) Miriam Joseph, “Hamlet: A Christian Tragedy” (1962)
5) Stephen Greenblatt, Hamlet in Purgatory, Chapter 5 (pages 229-244 are most important in this
chapter) (2001)
6) Richard McCoy, “A Wedding and Four Funerals: Conjunction and Commemoration in Hamlet”
(2001)

Question 3
7) Ernest Jones, “A Psycho-analytic Study on Hamlet” (1922)*
8) Janet Adelman, Suffocating Mothers, Chapter 2 (1993)
9) Robert Evans, “Friendship in Hamlet” (1999)

All Questions
10) Maynard Mack, “The World of Hamlet” (1952)

*Excerpted from Hamlet. Publisher: Norton (New York). 2011.