Final Hamlet essay topics

Choose a Hamlet final activity essay topic from those listed below.

In addition to the essay requirement for each grade level, stay tuned for the other required activites.

All essays must be submitted to Turn-it-in.com

Characters (Choose one of the following groups and compare the characters to each other in terms of their role in furthering [adding to] the action of the play):

• Laertes, Fortinbras, and Horatio (Grade "A" level)
• Claudius and his brother, Old King Hamlet (Grade "B" level)
• Hamlet and Ophelia (Grade "C" level)
• Polonius and Horatio (Grade "B" level)
• Claudius and Hamlet (Grade "C" level)

Imagery (Take one of the following images that recur throughout the text, locate as many of its appearances as possible [Trace the image from its first appearance].Show how Shakespeare develops and enriches the image by varying it until it has an overall meaning for the play):

• poison in the ear (C)
• a mirror ("glass") (B)
• disease and rot (C)
• the sun (B)
• acting and hypocrisy (A)
• madness (B)

A possible topic that does not fall into any of the categories is the following:

Prove that Hamlet is or is not insane. ("B" or "C" level)

Take one of these decisive moments in Hamlet's story and analyze it in terms of Hamlet's own philosophic view, in terms of his goal of revenge, and in terms of today's moral standards. (These aspects will comprise the three body paragraphs of a five-paragraph essay). Discuss whether his action is justifiable and practical by each set of terms. All essays must feature specific support details from the text, so research how one correctly cites text in blank verse. All "A" level.

• the confrontation with Ophelia (the "nunnery scene")
• his behavior during the play scene
• the killing of Polonius
• his treatment of Gertrude in the closed scene
• his argument with Laertes at the graveyard
• the killing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern