Your essay will examine an idea or theme, which runs throughout the text of Hamlet and relates to the class focus on gender.
Ideally, you can build upon work from your last homework (but, if you need to refocus, then that’s fine, too!).
You will closely analyze moments when your chosen idea appears and consider the idea’s importance to the work as a whole. Your thesis will make an argument about the significance of your idea or theme to the play overall and/or its audience.
Answering these questions will help develop your ideas:
What is Shakespeare telling us about his play and our lives through your chosen theme? What is he trying to tell his readers through it and his play?
A good thesis is arguable, supportable, interesting, and organized. Your essay must do more than summarize the play. It should also have evidence that you have read the play carefully.
In the end, you will have a 5-6 page essay with an introduction (which includes a thesis), 3+ body paragraphs, a conclusion, and a Work Cited or Works Cited page. All body paragraphs should have at least one direct quotation that has been properly integrated and analyzed. In your conclusion, briefly recap your argument and then say something new about why this play’s messages matter to people today.
