More Specific Instructions for Writing a Paper on Hamlet
Read the General Paper Guidelines Before Reading These.
First of all, do not write a paper on the same passage that you analyzed in your workshop! Remember, you are not just to re-present the workshop. The workshop provides a model for the thinking process you should go through before writing your own paper. I would like you to 1) choose a different passage (suggestions below), 2) treat it as you did the passage in the workshop first (note: this is preparation for your paper, not the paper itself!), and 3) write a paper around the argument that you come up with in your new Argue step. The Argue step is meant to help provide the main thesis of your paper, the central claim you are arguing. Remember, although you are arguing for the interpretation of just one passage, there should be no question in my mind that you have read the whole play.
Review the general guidelines about other requirements for the paper, such as, not only using quotes from the play for support, but also quoting at least one scholarly source other than your text. What does scholarly mean? You should draw on what you learned in English 101 to determine this, but a brief, and limited review of what sources not to use in a college level paper that is meant to be scholarly include common knowledge sources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias (you can assume that an intelligent reader knows the basic meanings of things and common facts), most .com sources including student aids such as schmoop.com, SparkNotes, and Cliffs Notes, biography.com, quotes.com, and so on. These sources are too general, offer information that should be commonly known instead of scholarly arguments, and are often dubious in their authority or credibility.
Where can you find scholarly sources then? The TTC Databases are a great place to find scholarly essays presenting arguments on the works that we are reading, and you can access them online. Again, you can draw on what you should have learned in your Library orientation in English 101. If you need a refresher or help, contact the TTC library online at or reach out to the Writing Center.
The Writing Center has its own web page. Students and instructors can access an excellent set of links to aid in helping students write various types of assignments.
Final Note: remember that, according to MLA citation rules, we cite plays according to Act, Scene, and line, rather than page #. Review all MLA rules at Purdue OWL here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
Act I, Scene 2, ll. 64 – 86: Hamlet’s introduction and the following conversation with Claudius and Gertrude. It begins with “But now, my cousin Hamlet,” and ends with, “These but the trappings and suits of woe.”
Act I, Scene 2, ll. 129 – 159: Hamlet’s first soliloquy. It begins “O, that this too solid flesh” and ends with “for I must hold my tongue.”
Act I, Scene 4, ll. 1 – 38: This transitional passage is an important description of the literary “tragic hero” (which is not the same as a heroic person who dies tragically, so look it up!). It begins, “The air bites shrewdly” and ends, “To his own scandal.”
Act II, Scene 2, ll. 288 – 312: This is the first of Hamlet’s efforts to define what humanity is. It begins “My Lord, we were sent for” and ends, coming to offer you service.”
Act III, Scene 1, ll. 56 – 88a: This is the famous suicide soliloquy that begins, “To be or not to be” and ends, “And lose the name of action.”
Act III, Scene 1, ll. 88b – 140: Hamlet’s “break-up” with Ophelia. He makes some comments about women that could lend to some good arguments. It begins right where the soliloquy leaves of with “Soft you now” and ends, “Farewell.”
Act III, Scene 2, ll. 1 – 42: This is Hamlet’s advice to the players, which may contain Shakespeare’s own idea of what plays are for. It begins, “Speak the speech, I pray you” and ends, “Go, make you ready.” (Notice that it is in prose, rather than poetry.)
Act IV, Scene 5, ll. 32 – 66: This is the second of Hamlet’s efforts to define humanity. It begins, “How all Occasions do inform against me” and ends with the end of the Scene.
Act IV, Scene 7, ll. 164 – 195: This is the description of Ophelia’s death, and it is not only sad and beautiful, it raises some good questions for an essay. It begins “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel” and ends “Therefore let’s follow.”
Act V, Scene 1, ll. 171 – 196: This is the famous scene with the skull so emblematic of the play and its meditations on mortality. It begins, “Alas, poor Yorick!” and ends, “Should patch a wall t’expel the winter’s flaw!”
Act V, Scene 2, ll. 195 – 209 and ll. 293 -350: These two passages go well together; the first is before the sword fight and the second is just after, as Hamlet is dying. The first begins, “You will lose this wager, my lord” and ends “Let be.” The second begins, “Look to the queen there, ho!” and ends, “And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
There are many more passages that would make great essays! Hamlet’s plan to “catch the conscience of the king with a play within a play for instance, and Hamlet’s conversation with his mother containing the line “hoist with his own petard” which became a clich, believe it or not! If you would rather write about one of these, you may. Just remember discussions of any of these passages should reflect a familiarity with the whole play.
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