ap lit hamlet essay

William Shakespeare

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's Hamlet . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Hamlet: Introduction

Hamlet: plot summary, hamlet: detailed summary & analysis, hamlet: themes, hamlet: quotes, hamlet: characters, hamlet: symbols, hamlet: literary devices, hamlet: quizzes, hamlet: theme wheel, brief biography of william shakespeare.

Historical Context of Hamlet

Other books related to hamlet.

Full Title: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
When Written: Likely between 1599 and 1602
Where Written: Stratford-upon-Avon or London, England
When Published: First Quarto printed 1603; Second Quarto printed 1604; First Folio printed 1623
Literary Period: Renaissance
Genre: Tragic play; revenge play
Setting: Elsinore Castle, Denmark, during the late Middle Ages
Climax: After seeing Claudius’s emotional reaction to a play Hamlet has had staged in order to make Claudius face a fictionalized version of his own murder plot against the former king, Hamlet resolves to kill the Claudius without guilt.
Antagonist: Claudius
Point of View: Dramatic

Extra Credit for Hamlet

The Role of a Lifetime. The role of Hamlet is often considered one of the most challenging theatrical roles ever written, and has been widely interpreted on stage and screen by famous actors throughout history. Shakespeare is rumored to have originally written the role for John Burbage, one of the most well-known actors of the Elizabethan era. Since Shakespeare’s time, actors John Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Ian McKellen, Jude Law, Kenneth Branagh, and Ethan Hawke are just a few actors who have tried their hand at playing the Dane. When Daniel Day-Lewis took to the stage as Hamlet in London in 1989, he left the stage mid-performance one night after reportedly seeing the ghost of his real father, the poet Cecil Day-Lewis, and has not acted in a single live theater production since.

Shakespeare or Not? There are some who believe Shakespeare did not actually write many—or any—of the plays attributed to him. The most common “Anti-Stratfordian” theory is that Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and used Shakespeare as a front man, as aristocrats were not supposed to write plays. Others claim Shakespeare’s contemporaries such as Thomas Kyd or Christopher Marlowe may have authored his works. Most contemporary scholarship, however, supports the idea that the Bard really did compose the numerous plays and poems which have established him, in the eyes of many, as the greatest writer in history.

AP English Literature and Composition

Put words under a magnifier.

Announcement- Holiday Assignments

1. Read three articles of literary criticism on Hamlet from the anthology I created for the class. Read one on Hamlet, one on Gertrude and one on Ophelia.

2. Watch youtube or PBS video clips on the following scenes-

Ophelia and Hamlet ( Ophelia was sent to spy on Hamlet)
Hamlet in Gertrude’s chamber
Hamlet’s dueling with Laertes
Be sure to observe the details in each scene.

3. Complete the AP Exam and turn it in the complete exam( including the three essays) on Jan. 6, 2014.

4. We’ll study Hamlet’s final two soliloquy on Thursday. Be prepared.

Hamlet E-Text

Hamlet Audio

Reading Quiz

Reading Quiz on Hamlet (Acts I & II)

Acts III, IV, and V

Pre-Reading Lessons

Objectives: Students will answer the question: why do we still read Hamlet? How relevant is the character to our life?

Aim; Why is Hamlet still relevant?

Materials: the Video Clip from PBS Shakespeare uncovered

Assessment: Quick Write: How do we see ourselves in the character of Hamlet?

Watch the video
Students use their notes to share their perceptions on Hamlet
Respond to the Quick Write

Learning Sequence

Why Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Based on our reading about the play, why do you think are we still drawn to this tragedy? Do Think-Pair-Share activity.
Watch the video clip and listen to David Tennant’s interviews and narration about why he is fascinated by the role. Take notes when necessary.
Discuss our notes.

Quick Write: How do we see ourselves in the character of Hamlet?

Homework: Visit the site about Elizabethan England . Read about the Elizabethan time and have a true understanding of Shakespearean period’s audience. Be ready to share your notes in class for the next lesson.

Lesson 1-4 Based on Act I

Lesson 1 Act 1 Scene 1

Objectives:Students will identify the elements in the beginning scene of the play and discuss the effect of them.

Aim: What is the mood of the opening scene? What are the implications and complications set in motion by the ghost scene?

Folger Edition Hamlet
Hamlet with David Tennant
Full Video of Hamlet by Shakespeare Royal Theater
Death and Dying in Hamlet and Macbeth
Timeline of Shakespeare’s Plays

Which Shakespeare character are you? Take a survey.

What are some of the effects of setting a play in motion by having a ghost appear? How would an audience be affected today? How might Elizabethan audiences have been stirred? Why?

Visit the site about Elizabethan England . Read about the Elizabethan time and have a true understanding of Shakespearean period’s audience.

Procedures:

Listen to Act I, Scene 1. See Folgers’ text of Hamlet
How does Shakespeare set a mood, explain to the reader what has gone before, build suspense, and also foreshadow things to come?
As the play opens, what is Bernardo’s state of mind when he asks ,”Who is there?” What are we told immediately about the time, place, and atmosphere of scene 1?
Who is Horatio? How does the encounter with the Ghost help to characterize Horatio?
Describe the appearance, identity, and actions of the Ghost.
What background information do we learn from Horatio?
Upon the Ghost’s second appearance, what three possibilities does Horatio suggest for the appearance of spirits? Why does the Ghost disappear? What do we learn here about the superstitious beliefs of the times?
What future events in the play are foreshadowed at the end of the scene?

Homework Assignment #1

1.Answer questions 4-8 in the lesson. Provide textual evidence for your responses.

2.In the 1 st scene of a play a playwright often tries to:

Set the mood of the play
Fill in the past for the reader or audience
Introduce the main themes
Create interest by building suspense.
Introduce the main characters
Foreshadow future events.

How well has Shakespeare fulfilled these tasks in the 1 st scene of Hamlet ? To what extent would you agree that the 1 st scene is the “embryo” of the play’s later development?

Lesson 2 Act I Scene 2 See Folgers’ text of Hamlet

Objectives: Students will identify Hamlet’s character based on the his attitude toward his mother, Gertrude’s remarriage.

Aim: How does the event of Gertrude’s remarriage shed light on the character of Hamlet?

Do Now: Journal #2

What reactions would the American people have had if Jacqueline Kennedy had remarried soon after the death of President Kennedy in 1963? What is considered ” a decent period of mourning” in your culture? And in America today?

I. Review: From the opening scene, what predictions can we make about the future events ?

II. Listen to Act 1 scene 2 . Did you come across any situation in scene1&2 that could cause problems for Prince Hamlet?

III. Discuss the following questions:

How does Claudius’ initial speech reveal his character?
use of royal “we”
Antithesis-the balancing of two contrasting ideas, words, phrases, or sentences in parallel grammatical form, i.e.”with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage”. What feelings do these juxtapositions evoke?
Choice of words : why does Claudius remember old Hamlet with “wisest sorrow” rather than “deep sorrow”?
Order of ideas he presents: Although Hamlet’s mourning is of major concern to Claudius., why does he justify his marriage to Gertrude, deal with Norway’s impending invasion, and respond to Laertes’ petition before he address Hamlet?

2.. Addressing the court, Claudius uses the expression, “With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage”, what does this line of contrasts mean beyond his own situation?

3. Why was Claudius not Hamlet made king after the death of Old King Hamlet? Where had Hamlet been at the time of his father’s death?

4. What is meant by the word incest ? How has the connotation of the word changed?

5. In his first formal address, how does Claudius justify his present situation? When he turns to affairs of state, how competent an executive does he prove himself to be?

6. Who is Laertes?

7. Explain the two puns made by Hamlet. What do they show about Hamlet’s state of mind.

What is the double meaning in Hamlet’s response to his mother,”Ay, madam, it is common?” Why does Hamlet scornfully list all of the usual signs of mourning ? What comfort does Claudius offer Hamlet for the death of his father? Is it natural for men to be as objective as Claudius would have us act?
What is Claudius’ answer to Hamlet’s request to return to Wittenburg? Why does Gertrude intercede? How is Hamlet’s rude reply accepted by Claudius? Why?
When Hamlet is left alone after the departure of the rest of the court, how must he feel?
Read Hamlet’s 1 st soliloquy. What action is Hamlet contemplating? Why? What does this show about his character? What holds him back from acting out his desire? How does Hamlet explain Gertrude’s great ” sin and crime”? What does he mean by “Frailty, thy name is women”? Why must he hold his tongue?
Find lines in the soliloquy that show feelings of despair, grief, bitterness, anger, and resignation; or any word that gives clues to Hamlet’s innermost thoughts.
Why does Hamlet insist on knowing the details of the Ghost’s appearance and actions?
Where does Hamlet show determination?
Characterize the young Hamlet. How has his mood changed throughout his part of the scene? Could such a prince make a successful sovereign? Explain.

IV. Visualize the soliloquy. Discuss “what is really bothering Hamlet?”

Homework Assignment #2

1. Analyze Claudius ‘ speech by considering the following-

2. Write a micro essay on Hamlet’s 1st soliloquy. How does Shakespeare use diction, figures of speech and tone to reveal Hamlet’s state of mind.

Lesson 3 Act I Scene 3 See Folgers’ text of Hamlet

Objectives: Students will examine the child-parent relationship describes in this scene within Polonius’s family based on the textual evidence.

Aim: What is the child-parent relationship describes in this scene within Polonius’s family?

Do now: Journal #3

The complaint is often voiced today that the younger generation is out of control and that is the parents who are to blame. How true is the statement? Should love or obedience to parents’ wishes prevail when a conflict between the two develops? Comment on it.

At the end of Scene 2, what do you expect to happen next in the play? Why does Shakespeare shift the attention to the development of minor characters?
What are the feelings that exist between Hamlet and Ophelia?
What advice does the departing Laertes give to his sister about Hamlet? What does this advice reveal about Hamlet, and Laertes himself? Why does he not trust Hamlet?
How does Ophelia receive her brother’s advice?
In your opinion, how worthy of serious consideration are the words of Polonius to his son? How do you interpret the three lines beginning, “This above all…”? What ideas are especially meaningful for our time? Which precept has great values for adolescents? Why?
How do you react to the suggestion that these lines “are not at all idealistic but merely practical considerations for worldly success”?
How do you react to the suggestion that these line are “empty, pompous words delivered by a bumbling old man”?
How appropriate is Polonius’s supervision of his children? How might the apparent absence of a mother for his children alter his role?
Paraphrase the language of Polonius’ advice in colloquial English and make up a paralle situation in which the words make sense.
What can we infer about Polonius from his choice of words? What do Polonius’ words reveal about his belief, philosophy, and values?
How does the suspicious nature of Polonius show itself soon after Laertes leaves?
By modern standards, how wise is Polonius in his advice to his daughter?
When Ophelia says to her father: “I shall obey.” Should we expect her to keep her word? What is your understanding of a dutiful child of current time?
Characterize Ophelia from what you have observed in this scene.
What is the relationship like in Polonius’ family? What does each of the family members want?

Homework Assignment #3

Write a micro essay on how Shakespeare uses diction and structure to reveal Polonious character as a father.

Lesson 4 The Time is Out of Joint (Act I, scene 4 & scene 5 ) See Folgers’ text of Hamlet

Objectives: Students will analyze Hamlet’s character through his initial reaction to the ghost’s tale.

Aim: What decision should Hamlet make in facing such a revelation by the ghost? What’s more added to Hamlet’s problem?

Do now: Journal Writing:

Who is or might be a tragic hero in this play based on your knowledge of a tragic hero. Do inner or outer forces work to make the tragedy? Can an intellectual-like Hamlet- be a tragic hero?

Read scene 4 & 5
Before you come to any conclusions about Hamlet’s reactions to the Ghost, read this document of “Ghosts and Spirits”. It is an extract from Of Ghosts and Spirits Walking by Night , translated into English in 1572. Note, though, that it presents a Protestant view of the subject, while Hamlet’s Denmark is Catholic.
Discuss the following questions after finishing reading the two scenes.
How does Shakespeare repeat his device for surprising the audience at the entrance of the Ghost?
Some critics have seen Hamlet’s speech about drinking as a restatement of Aristotle’s idea of the importance of the hamartia , or tragic flaw, in drama. In which lines does Hamlet express the Aristotelian concept of tragic flaw?
How does Hamlet’s first speech to the Ghost show the doubts that exist in his mind about the nature of his apparition?
How does Hamlet respond to the attempts of Horatio to stop him from following the Ghost? How do these actions deny the idea that Hamlet is little more than a dreamer?
The Ghost is evidently in purgatory. What does this mean?
What does Hamlet say “O my prophetic soul”?
What further shocking disclosure does he Ghost make to Hamlet?
Why does Shakespeare have the Ghost go into such detail about the murder itself?
What demand does the Ghost make upon Hamlet about Claudius? About Gertrude? What effect does the Ghost’s revelation have on Hamlet?
Why does not Hamlet immediately tell all to Horatio? How can you explain Hamlet’s odd, almost farcical, behavior towards the end of the scene?
Examine Hamlet’s language after he sees the Ghost and during his conversation with Horatio and Marcellus. What assumptions can we make about Hamlet’s state of mind from the words he uses and the way he speaks to his companions at this point of the play? Speculate on why Hamlet decides to put on an “antic disposition”.

Quick Write: What’s your first impression of Hamlet’s character through his initial reaction to the ghost’s tale?

Homework Assignment #4:

Hamlet concludes the scene with the rhyme tag: The time is out of the joint. O cursed spite/ That ever I was born to see it right. What feelings are expressed in these lines? Why is the task before Hamlet not an easy one? How well is Hamlet suited by his temperament and character to fulfilling the Ghost’s wish? What do you expect him to do next? Do you think Hamlet will take revenge? Before you make any decision, read Francis Bacon’s short essay that provides a marvelous insight into the attitudes of intellectuals during Shakespeare’s time towards revenge. The essay is slightly cut here. What is particularly interesting is the attitude it takes towards natural feelings, which strongly contrast the ghost’s.

Lesson 5 “What A Rogue, Peasant Slave am I” Soliloquy Act 2 Scene 2

Objectives: Students will examine Hamlet’s self-perception by analyzing the diction, figures of speech and syntax of the soliloquy.

Aim: How does Hamlet perceive himself? How does Shakespeare use language to reveal it?

Materials: a hard copy of the soliloquy; online dictionary access; an Analysis Tool; audio recording of Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2 ( http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/94/hamlet/1673/act-2-scene-2/ )

Assessment: Students will write a micro essay to analyze Hamlet’s self-perception through diction, imagery and syntax.

Do Now : Journal writing- From the first two acts we have read, what is your impression of Hamlet’s character? Write for about 4 minutes to describe Hamlet’s character.

Learning Sequence:

We’ll use Think-Pair-Share activity to share our understanding of the speech- Read around in pairs line by line of the soliloquy. Read around by the period or exclamation marks, or question marks.
Think to yourself after reading. Use the annotations you have made. What is Hamlet talking about? What words or phrase or lines stand out the most or show hamlet’s feelings or thoughts? Why? Write freely in your notebook your initial understanding of the speech.
Share with a partner your writing. Talk to each other about the speech using ideas from your free writing. Jot down new ideas you have gained from the pair –share.
We’ll unpack the meaning by discussing the following Text-Based Questions-
What examples of diction paint a vivid picture of Hamlet?
Who is Priam? Hecuba? What book is Aeneid? What’s it about?
How does Hamlet comment on the player’s acting of the speech from Aeneid?
How does the player express Hecuba’s feelings and reactions to her husband, Priam’s murder?
How, according to Hamlet, will the player act like if the player knows Hamlet’s feelings towards his father’s murder?
Make a list of names that he called himself in the soliloquy.
Quick Write: How does Hamlet characterize himself at this point
How accurate a description is it of his character (second section)? Find lines and phrases that explain why Hamlet thinks himself a coward. Do you think he is a coward, or is he acting by looking for external evidence to prove Claudius’ guilt?
At what line does Hamlet’s self-castigation reach its peak?
Why is “O vengeance!” a line by itself? How does this line deflate Hamlet’s pent-up emotions?
What plan does Hamlet reveal to the audience at the end of this soliloquy.

Assessment: write a micro essay to analyze Hamlet’s self-perception through diction, imagery and syntax.

Homework Assignment: Finish the micro essay to analyze Hamlet’s self-perception through diction, imagery and syntax.

Analysis Tool

Lesson 6 Hamlet and Ophelia Act III, scene 1

To study and understand Hamlet’s desperate feelings as expressed in the “To be or not to be” soliloquy
To experience the heartbreak of renunciation scene in terms of Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s expression of their feelings and attitudes

Aim: How does Shakespeare use language to show Hamlet’s question about his existence?

Materials: copies of Soliloquy, master reading of “To Be or Not To Be” ( http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/94/hamlet/1674/act-3-scene-1/ ), analysis tool

Listen to the recording ( http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/94/hamlet/1674/act-3-scene-1/ ). Annotate while listening.
Hamlet on Hamlet: Introspective Action(To be or not to be soliloquy) Convert the Soliloquy to an argument: Select two students with contrasting voices and ask them to read the selected “to be or not to be script”. HAMLET

Reader1: To be, or not to be: that is the question: Reader 2: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Read 1: Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? Reader 2: To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, Reader 1: ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. Reader 2: To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: Reader 1:there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life; Reader 2: For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Reader 1:The oppressor’s wrong, Reader2: the proud man’s contumely, Reader 1: The pangs of despised love, Reader 2: the law’s delay, Reader 1:The insolence of office Reader2: and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Reader 1: who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, Reader 2: But that the dread of something after death, Reader 1: The undiscover’d country from whose bourn No traveller returns, Reader 2: puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Reader 1: Than fly to others that we know not of? Reader 1 and 2 : Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.–Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember’d.

Had Hamlet revealed such desperate feelings that he thought of suicide? When? (refer to the1st soliloquy)
How has Hamlet reason to be more despondent than he was earlier?
Some critics view this speech as a general philosophical discussion. Can you justify this point of view?
What view of death does Hamlet have in this speech? How does it compare with his view of life in the same speech?
What are some of the things that he says make a long life calamity?
How personal does he intend these slings and arrows to be? What would a modern life’s ills include?
Why does Hamlet reject the idea of suicide at last?
How reasonable is his implication that to live is cowardly, to die courageous? What unfinished business may play a part in Hamlet’s decision to live?
When Ophelia appears, why does Hamlet say,” Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remembered’?

Part B: Hamlet and Ophelia

How much Ophelia feel, knowing that she is performing for an audience and the King? How genuine are the emotions she expresses?
What beautiful poetic lines can you find in Ophelia’s utterances?
What’s the double meaning of Hamlet’s word honest ? In what respects has Ophelia been honest with him?
Why does Hamlet tell her to enter a nunnery? Is his self characterization in this speech a valid one? Discuss.
Argue: Hamlet knows from the very beginning of the scene that Polonius and Claudius are watching him ; Hamlet does not know until later in the scene that he is being watched; Hamlet is unaware that he is being watched throughout the nunnery scene.
For each interpretation, what is Hamlet’s objective? What specific gestures, inflections, movements, or pause could an actor use to show this objective? How does the objective affect the subtext?
What is the “calumny” to which Hamlet refers? Explain Hamlet’s strange use of the word monstrous .
When Hamlet castigates Ophelia for the falseness and deceitfulness of women, is he thinking of her, of his mother, or of women in general?
In her final speech, what picture does Ophelia paint of the Hamlet that once was? How deep was her love for him? How much love still remains?

10. Assessment: Quick Write – In this scene, Hamlet’s actions are viewed from several angles. Is he acting from a grand plan? Yes? No? Why? What reasons must Hamlet have had in his renunciation of Ophelia ? How might he have been trying to protect her?

11. What are the full implications in Claudius’ closing line: “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go”? Does Claudius actually believe that Hamlet is mad?

Homework Assignment: Use the Analysis Tool to help you read closely of “To Be or Not To Be” Soliloquy. Write a micro essay to discuss Hamlet’s state of mind through diction, figures of speech and syntax.

The Queen’s Closet Act III Scene 4

Objectives 1. Students will analyze how Shakespeare uses diction, tone and extended metaphor to reveal Hamlet’s relationship to his mother. 2. To explore a possible basis for understanding Hamlet’s action in this scene

Aim: How does Shakespeare uses diction, tone and extended metaphor to reveal Hamlet’s relationship to his mother? What’s the possible basis for Hamlet’s action?

“ Introductory Lecture on Shakespeare’s Hamlet “
Ernest Jones’s Hamlet and Oedipus ( http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/jones/ )
Text ( The Queen’s Closet Act III Scene 4 )
Norman Holland and Psychoanalysis

Do Now : Journal Writing Some critics interpret use the “Oedipus complex” theory to interpret Hamlet’s actions throughout the play. “Oedipus complex” is a subconscious sexual attachment to his mother, remaining from his earlier childhood. Critics usually cite the words of Act III, scene 4 as evidence for this interpretation. What is your reaction to a psychoanalytical interpretation of a work of literature that was written hundreds of years before Freud outlined his theories of human behavior?

Activities Part 1 Before the Killing of Polonius 1. Polonius has decided once more to resort to spying as a method of gaining information. When has he done so before? 2. How does Gertrude interpret Hamlet’s state of extreme agitation? 3. How important is Hamlet’s behavior toward his mother in the beginning of this scene? 4. When Hamlet hears Polonius call out from behind the arras, he immediately stabs through the arras and kills him. Why was this act so uncharacteristic of Hamlet? How do you explain his sudden rashness of spirit? 5. What lines show us that Hamlet thought that he was stabbing the king? 6. How do you explain Hamlet’s lack of remorse over the death of Polonius?

Part II After the Killing of Polonius 1. What accusations does Hamlet make against his mother? How does she react at first? 2. What evidence is there that Gertrude had no knowledge of the murder of King Hamlet? 3. How does Hamlet compare his father and his uncle? 4. How does he explain his mother’s actions in marrying Claudius? 5. What finally touches the conscience of the Queen? What word “enter like daggers” into her ears? 6. Where does Hamlet once again show that he considers Claudius a usurper? 7. Why does the Ghost appear at this point?How is his appearance different from his earlier appearance? 8. How do you explain that this time only Hamlet sees the Ghost when all who were present saw him on his other appearances? 9. How does Gertrude explain Hamlet’s conversation with the Ghost? To what extent does she seem to accept Hamlet’s denial of madness? 10. How do you explain Hamlet’s insistence that Gertrude “go not to my uncle’s bed”? 11. Hamlet says “Good night” to his mother four times before he finally leaves. Why does he linger each time? 12.What danger does Hamlet anticipate in England? What foreshadowing of his own plans does he provide us with? 13. The scene ends with a serious of puns after a coarse remark about “lugging the guts” out of the room. How can you explain this mixture of humor with the horror of the scene? 14. Both mother and son have ambivalent feelings about each other. Show how this is true for each. Hamlet said he is being cruel only to be kind. How much kindness is there in his treatment of his mother?

Homework Assignment: 1. Write a micro essay on how Shakespeare uses diction, tone and extended metaphor to reveal Hamlet’s relationship to his mother.

2. Read “ Introductory Lecture on Shakespeare’s Hamlet ” and find different interpretations of Hamlet’s problems. Keep a “Doubting and Believing ” journal to criticize the lecture.

3.Read excerpts from Ernest Jones’s Hamlet and Oedipus ( http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/jones/ )

4. Read Norman Holland’s Shakespeare and Psychoanalysis ( page 59) http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00002277/00001/67j

To become aware of a changed Hamlet in decline, being acted upon rather than acting
To analyze Hamlet as a personality in contrast to Fortinbras

Do now: Journal Writing-Sometimes we see a color more clearly when it is contrasted with another color. Why can we often see our own situation more clearly when we compare it with some other person’s? Can you illustrate this from you own experience?

New Concept-Fortinbras may be seen as a contrast to Hamlet. In drama we often call such a person a “foil “(read about the origin of foil ). Although his problems are some what similar, his manner of dealing with them is much different. Notice how Hamlet himself sees the parallel between himself and Fortinbras

HAMLET VIS-A-VIS FORTINBRAS

Fortinbras, until this point only talked about, finally appears on the scene in this act. What kind of man is he? What is the meaning of his name?
How does Fortinbras happen to be traveling through Denmark at this time? (Check out the map of Denmark )(Also check out the map of Norway ).
What is the Captain’s attitude towards the battle he is about to engage in? Does Shakespeare expect us to look upon the expedition of Fortinbras with admiration or with irony? How might he have looked upon it had this incident occured early in Act I?
Before the reading of the soliloquy, ask: What part of this speech presents the theme or underlying idea? Which part points up the startling contrast between Hamlet and Fortinbras?
How is Hamlet’s soliloquy’s, beginning on line 34, similar to the soliloquy delivered after he heard the First Player recite the lines about Hecuba? What triggered each train of thought? How does Hamlet compare himself with another in each of these speeches? How does each conclude?
Where does Hamlet once again hint that he is coward? What is Hamlet’s attitude towards Fortinbras’s expedition? What would a modern opinion be of such a war? Under what conditions is “honor” worth the loss of life?

HW. Analyze Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act IV Scene 4( the turning point of Hamlet’s character”). How does Shakespeare use imagery, tone and diction to reveal the dramatic changes in Hamlet.

Lesson 9 Ophelia’s Madness Act IV, scenes 5 . 6 . 7 .

To understand possible reasons for Ophelia’s madness and death
To compare the character of Laertes with that of Hamlet

Journal response- Formative Assessment

a. How would you define true madness? How does it differ from Hamlet’s feigned insanity? b. What severe strains has Ophelia been subjected to that might explain her loss of reality? What kind of person might she be originally? What evidence can we find from the play to show that she might very well be susceptible to a mental breakdown?

Learning Activities:

Ophelia’s Madness

1. How do the two verses sung by Ophelia at first give an explanation of her breakdown? How do you explain Ophelia’s singing of a song like “Tommorrow is St. Valentine’s Day”?

2. How appropriate is Laertes’s epithet “Rose of May” to Ophelia?

3. When Ophelia distributes flowers to the King, Queen, and Laertes, each flower is meant to have symbolic meaning. What does each flower represent, and who should be given each flower?

How to Use Hamlet For Everything

Table of contents, ap english literature & composition how to use hamlet for everything.

Section 4: The Essays: Lecture 5 | 21:15 min

In this lesson, our instructor Rebekah Hendershot, teaches you How to Use Hamlet for (Almost) Everything. You’ll learn why Hamlet is a great text to use to just about any essay and where to find the questions use in this lesson. Rebekah uses Hamlet and The Search for Justice, Hamlet and the Illuminating Incident, Hamlet and the Symbol, and Hamlet and the Social Justice Issuse to teach different ways of tackling essay prompts. The lesson concludes with when you shouldn’t use Hamlet and then the Ultimate Essay Secret.

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Study Guides

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Lecture Slides are screen-captured images of important points in the lecture. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture.

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Lesson Overview 0:10
Why Hamlet Works for Everything (Almost) 1:16
Considered one of the greatest works of English literature
It's long enough to be broken down
Rich range of male and female characters
Variety of interpretations
Elements of many genres
It's public domain
Where to Find the Questions 3:18
2011: Hamlet and the Search for Justice 4:18
“Life is a search for justice”
What are you being asked to analyze?
How to Answer 5:06
How does Hamlet understand justice?
Is his search for justice successful?
2011B: Hamlet and the Illuminating Incident 7:10
A work of fiction uses the “illuminating incident“ as a ”magic casement”
What are you being asked to explain?
How to Answer 8:08
The play Hamlet puts on before Claudius
Literal summary and window into the soul
Focus on Claudius's prayer
2009: Hamlet and the Symbol 9:40
The definition of a symbol
What are you being asked to focus on and analyze?
How to Answer 10:24
Yorick's skull
How does it function in the work?
What does it reveal about the characters or themes?
2009B: Hamlet and the Social Issue 12:14
What are you being asked to do?
How to Answer 12:52
Uh-oh! Hamlet isn't very socially or politically conscious
Class conflict in the play
Gender in the play
How to Answer, cont. 14:02
What literary elements does Shakespeare use to explore this issue?
How does this contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?
Don't Just Use Hamlet 16:37
How about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and racism?
Remember you are writing under a time limit
Don't use Hamlet if you haven't read it
The Ultimate Essay Secret 18:03

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Hamlet Research Paper & Essay Examples

When you have to write an essay on Hamlet by Shakespeare, you may need an example to follow. In this article, our team collected numerous samples for this exact purpose. Here you’ll see Hamlet essay and research paper examples that can inspire you and show how to structure your writing.

✍ Hamlet: Essay Samples

What Makes Hamlet such a Complex Character? Genre: Essay Words: 560 Focused on: Hamlet’s insanity and changes in the character Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia
Shakespeare versus Olivier: A Depiction of ‘Hamlet’ Genre: Essay Words: 2683 Focused on: Comparison of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Laurence Olivier’s adaptation Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude
Drama Analysis of Hamlet by Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 1635 Focused on: Literary devices used in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia
Hamlet’s Renaissance Culture Conflict Genre: Critical Essay Words: 1459 Focused on: Hamlet’s and Renaissance perspective on death Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Horatio
Father-Son Relationships in Hamlet – Hamlet’s Loyalty to His Father Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 1137 Focused on: Obedience in the relationship between fathers and sons in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius, Fortinbras, Polonius, the Ghost, Claudius
A Play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 1026 Focused on: Hamlet’s personality and themes of the play Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Polonius
Characterization of Hamlet Genre: Analytical Essay Words: 876 Focused on: Hamlet’s indecision and other faults Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, the Ghost, Gertrude
Hamlet’s Relationship with His Mother Gertrude Genre: Research Paper Words: 1383 Focused on: Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude and Ophelia Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Gertrude, Ophelia, Claudius, Polonius
The Theme of Revenge in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Genre: Research Paper Words: 1081 Focused on: Revenge in Hamlet and how it affects characters Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, the Ghost
Canonical Status of Hamlet by William Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 1972 Focused on: Literary Canon and interpretations of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Horatio, Claudius
A Critical Analysis of Hamlet’s Constant Procrastination in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1141 Focused on: Reasons for Hamlet’s procrastination and its consequences Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius
Role of Women in Twelfth Night and Hamlet by Shakespeare Genre: Research Paper Words: 2527 Focused on: Women in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Hamlet Characters mentioned: Ophelia, Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, Polonius
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Genre: Essay Words: 849 Focused on: Key ideas and themes of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes
Shakespeare: Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1446 Focused on: The graveyard scene analysis Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius
Oedipus Rex and Hamlet Compare and Contrast Genre: Term Paper Words: 998 Focused on: Comparison of King Oedipus and Hamlet from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet . Characters mentioned: Hamlet
The Play “Hamlet Prince of Denmark” by W.Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 824 Focused on: How Hamlet treats Ophelia and the consequences of his behavior Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes
Hamlet by William Shakespeare Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 635 Focused on: Key themes of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Fortinbras
Hamlet’s Choice of Fortinbras as His Successor Genre: Essay Words: 948 Focused on: Why Hamlet chose Fortinbras as his successor Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Fortinbras, Claudius
Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras: Avenging the Death of their Father Compare and Contrast Genre: Compare and Contrast Essay Words: 759 Focused on: Paths and revenge of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras, Claudius
Oedipus the King and Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 920 Focused on: Comparison of Oedipus and King Claudius Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude
Hamlet Genre: Term Paper Words: 1905 Focused on: Character of Gertrude and her transformation Characters mentioned: Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, the Ghost, Polonius
Compare Laertes and Hamlet: Both React to their Fathers’ Killing/Murder Compare and Contrast Genre: Compare and Contrast Essay Words: 1188 Focused on: Tension between Hamlet and Laertes and their revenge Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude
Recurring Theme of Revenge in Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1123 Focused on: The theme of revenge in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia
The Function of the Soliloquies in Hamlet Genre: Research Paper Words: 2055 Focused on: Why Shakespeare incorporated soliloquies in the play Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude
The Hamlet’s Emotional Feelings in the Shakespearean Tragedy Genre: Essay Words: 813 Focused on: What Hamlet feels and why Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius
Blindness in Oedipus Rex & Hamlet Genre: Research Paper Words: 2476 Focused on: How blindness reveals itself in Oedipus Rex and Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Horatio, the Ghost
“Hamlet” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” Genre: Essay Words: 550 Focused on: Comparison of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern
The Role of Queen Gertrude in Play “Hamlet” Genre: Essay Words: 886 Focused on: Gertrude’s role in Hamlet and her involvement in King Hamlet’s murder Characters mentioned: Gertrude, Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Polonius
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 276 Focused on: The role and destiny of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Hamlet, Claudius
Passing through nature into eternity Genre: Term Paper Words: 2900 Focused on: Comparison of Because I Could Not Stop for Death, and I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce by Emily Dickinson with Shakespeare’s Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Gertrude
When the Truth Comes into the Open: Claudius’s Revelation Genre: Essay Words: 801 Focused on: Claudius’ confession and secret Characters mentioned: Claudius, Hamlet
Shakespeare Authorship Question: Thorough Analysis of Style, Context, and Violence in the Plays Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night Genre: Term Paper Words: 1326 Focused on: Whether Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night Characters mentioned: Hamlet
Measuring the Depth of Despair: When There Is no Point in Living Genre: Essay Words: 1165 Focused on: Despair in Hamlet and Macbeth Characters mentioned: Hamlet
Violence of Shakespeare Genre: Term Paper Words: 1701 Focused on: Violence in different Shakespeare’s plays Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Horatio, Claudius, Gertrude, Palonius, Laertes,
Act II of Hamlet by William Shakespeare Genre: Report Words: 1129 Focused on: Analysis of Act 2 of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Polonius, Ronaldo, Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, First Player, Claudius
The Value of Source Study of Hamlet by Shakespeare Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 4187 Focused on: How Shakespeare adapted Saxo Grammaticus’s Danish legend on Amleth and altered the key characters Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, the Ghost, Fortinbras, Horatio, Laertes, Polonius
Ophelia and Hamlet’s Dialogue in Shakespeare’s Play Genre: Essay Words: 210 Focused on: What the dialogue in Act 3 Scene 1 reveals about Hamlet and Ophelia Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia
Lying, Acting, Hypocrisy in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” Genre: Essay Words: 1313 Focused on: The theme of deception in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia
Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s Behavior in Act III Genre: Report Words: 1554 Focused on: Behavior of different characters in Act 3 of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius
The Masks of William Shakespeare’s Play “Hamlet” Genre: Research Paper Words: 1827 Focused on: Hamlet’s attitude towards death and revenge Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost
Ghosts and Revenge in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 895 Focused on: The figure of the Ghost and his relationship with Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Gertrude, Claudius
Macbeth and Hamlet Characters Comparison Genre: Essay Words: 1791 Focused on: Comparison of Gertrude in Hamlet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth Characters mentioned: Gertrude, Claudius, Hamlet
Depression and Melancholia Expressed by Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 3319 Focused on: Hamlet’s mental issues and his symptoms Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes, the Ghost, Polonius
Meditative and Passionate Responses in the Play “Hamlet” Genre: Essay Words: 1377 Focused on: Character of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play and Zaffirelli’s adaptation Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius
Portrayal of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Play and Zaffirelli’s Film Genre: Essay Words: 554 Focused on: Character of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play and Zaffirelli’s adaptation Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia
Hamlet in the Film and the Play: Comparing and Contrasting Genre: Essay Words: 562 Focused on: Comparison of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Zeffirelli’s version of the character Characters mentioned: Hamlet
Literary Analysis of “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 837 Focused on: Symbols, images, and characters of the play Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia
Psychiatric Analysis of Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1899 Focused on: Hamlet’s mental state and sanity in particular Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius
Hamlet and King Oedipus Literature Comparison Genre: Essay Words: 587 Focused on: Comparison of Hamlet and Oedipus Characters mentioned: Hamlet

Thanks for checking the samples! Don’t forget to open the pages with Hamlet essays that you’ve found interesting. For more information about the play, consider the articles below.

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Jeffrey R. Wilson

Essays on hamlet.

Written as the author taught Hamlet every semester for a decade, these lightning essays ask big conceptual questions about the play with the urgency of a Shakespeare lover, and answer them with the rigor of a Shakespeare scholar. In doing so, Hamlet becomes a lens for life today, generating insights on everything from xenophobia, American fraternities, and religious fundamentalism to structural misogyny, suicide contagion, and toxic love.

Prioritizing close reading over historical context, these explorations are highly textual and highly theoretical, often philosophical, ethical, social, and political. Readers see King Hamlet as a pre-modern villain, King Claudius as a modern villain, and Prince Hamlet as a post-modern villain. Hamlet’s feigned madness becomes a window into failed insanity defenses in legal trials. He knows he’s being watched in “To be or not to be”: the soliloquy is a satire of philosophy. Horatio emerges as Shakespeare’s authorial avatar for meta-theatrical commentary, Fortinbras as the hero of the play. Fate becomes a viable concept for modern life, and honor a source of tragedy. The metaphor of music in the play makes Ophelia Hamlet’s instrument. Shakespeare, like the modern corporation, stands against sexism, yet perpetuates it unknowingly. We hear his thoughts on single parenting, sending children off to college, and the working class, plus his advice on acting and writing, and his claims to be the next Homer or Virgil. In the context of four centuries of Hamlet hate, we hear how the text draws audiences in, how it became so famous, and why it continues to captivate audiences.

At a time when the humanities are said to be in crisis, these essays are concrete examples of the mind-altering power of literature and literary studies, unravelling the ongoing implications of the English language’s most significant artistic object of the past millennium.

Publications

Why is Hamlet the most famous English artwork of the past millennium? Is it a sexist text? Why does Hamlet speak in prose? Why must he die? Does Hamlet depict revenge, or justice? How did the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, transform into a story about a son dealing with the death of a father? Did Shakespeare know Aristotle’s theory of tragedy? How did our literary icon, Shakespeare, see his literary icons, Homer and Virgil? Why is there so much comedy in Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy? Why is love a force of evil in the play? Did Shakespeare believe there’s a divinity that shapes our ends? How did he define virtue? What did he think about psychology? politics? philosophy? What was Shakespeare’s image of himself as an author? What can he, arguably the greatest writer of all time, teach us about our own writing? What was his theory of literature? Why do people like Hamlet ? How do the Hamlet haters of today compare to those of yesteryears? Is it dangerous for our children to read a play that’s all about suicide?

These are some of the questions asked in this book, a collection of essays on Shakespeare’s Hamlet stemming from my time teaching the play every semester in my Why Shakespeare? course at Harvard University. During this time, I saw a series of bright young minds from wildly diverse backgrounds find their footing in Hamlet, and it taught me a lot about how Shakespeare’s tragedy works, and why it remains with us in the modern world. Beyond ghosts, revenge, and tragedy, Hamlet is a play about being in college, being in love, gender, misogyny, friendship, theater, philosophy, theology, injustice, loss, comedy, depression, death, self-doubt, mental illness, white privilege, overbearing parents, existential angst, international politics, the classics, the afterlife, and the meaning of it all.

These essays grow from the central paradox of the play: it helps us understand the world we live in, yet we don't really understand the text itself very well. For all the attention given to Hamlet , there’s no consensus on the big questions—how it works, why it grips people so fiercely, what it’s about. These essays pose first-order questions about what happens in Hamlet and why, mobilizing answers for reflections on life, making the essays both highly textual and highly theoretical.

Each semester that I taught the play, I would write a new essay about Hamlet . They were meant to be models for students, the sort of essay that undergrads read and write – more rigorous than the puff pieces in the popular press, but riskier than the scholarship in most academic journals. While I later added scholarly outerwear, these pieces all began just like the essays I was assigning to students – as short close readings with a reader and a text and a desire to determine meaning when faced with a puzzling question or problem.

The turn from text to context in recent scholarly books about Hamlet is quizzical since we still don’t have a strong sense of, to quote the title of John Dover Wilson’s 1935 book, What Happens in Hamlet. Is the ghost real? Is Hamlet mad, or just faking? Why does he delay? These are the kinds of questions students love to ask, but they haven’t been – can’t be – answered by reading the play in the context of its sources (recently addressed in Laurie Johnson’s The Tain of Hamlet [2013]), its multiple texts (analyzed by Paul Menzer in The Hamlets [2008] and Zachary Lesser in Hamlet after Q1 [2015]), the Protestant reformation (the focus of Stephen Greenblatt’s Hamlet in Purgatory [2001] and John E. Curran, Jr.’s Hamlet, Protestantism, and the Mourning of Contingency [2006]), Renaissance humanism (see Rhodri Lewis, Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness [2017]), Elizabethan political theory (see Margreta de Grazia, Hamlet without Hamlet [2007]), the play’s reception history (see David Bevington, Murder Most Foul: Hamlet through the Ages [2011]), its appropriation by modern philosophers (covered in Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster’s The Hamlet Doctrine [2013] and Andrew Cutrofello’s All for Nothing: Hamlet’s Negativity [2014]), or its recent global travels (addressed, for example, in Margaret Latvian’s Hamlet’s Arab Journey [2011] and Dominic Dromgoole’s Hamlet Globe to Globe [2017]).

Considering the context and afterlives of Hamlet is a worthy pursuit. I certainly consulted the above books for my essays, yet the confidence that comes from introducing context obscures the sharp panic we feel when confronting Shakespeare’s text itself. Even as the excellent recent book from Sonya Freeman Loftis, Allison Kellar, and Lisa Ulevich announces Hamlet has entered “an age of textual exhaustion,” there’s an odd tendency to avoid the text of Hamlet —to grasp for something more firm—when writing about it. There is a need to return to the text in a more immediate way to understand how Hamlet operates as a literary work, and how it can help us understand the world in which we live.

That latter goal, yes, clings nostalgically to the notion that literature can help us understand life. Questions about life send us to literature in search of answers. Those of us who love literature learn to ask and answer questions about it as we become professional literary scholars. But often our answers to the questions scholars ask of literature do not connect back up with the questions about life that sent us to literature in the first place—which are often philosophical, ethical, social, and political. Those first-order questions are diluted and avoided in the minutia of much scholarship, left unanswered. Thus, my goal was to pose questions about Hamlet with the urgency of a Shakespeare lover and to answer them with the rigor of a Shakespeare scholar.

In doing so, these essays challenge the conventional relationship between literature and theory. They pursue a kind of criticism where literature is not merely the recipient of philosophical ideas in the service of exegesis. Instead, the creative risks of literature provide exemplars to be theorized outward to help us understand on-going issues in life today. Beyond an occasion for the demonstration of existing theory, literature is a source for the creation of new theory.

Chapter One How Hamlet Works

Whether you love or hate Hamlet , you can acknowledge its massive popularity. So how does Hamlet work? How does it create audience enjoyment? Why is it so appealing, and to whom? Of all the available options, why Hamlet ? This chapter entertains three possible explanations for why the play is so popular in the modern world: the literary answer (as the English language’s best artwork about death—one of the very few universal human experiences in a modern world increasingly marked by cultural differences— Hamlet is timeless); the theatrical answer (with its mixture of tragedy and comedy, the role of Hamlet requires the best actor of each age, and the play’s popularity derives from the celebrity of its stars); and the philosophical answer (the play invites, encourages, facilitates, and sustains philosophical introspection and conversation from people who do not usually do such things, who find themselves doing those things with Hamlet , who sometimes feel embarrassed about doing those things, but who ultimately find the experience of having done them rewarding).

Chapter Two “It Started Like a Guilty Thing”: The Beginning of Hamlet and the Beginning of Modern Politics

King Hamlet is a tyrant and King Claudius a traitor but, because Shakespeare asked us to experience the events in Hamlet from the perspective of the young Prince Hamlet, we are much more inclined to detect and detest King Claudius’s political failings than King Hamlet’s. If so, then Shakespeare’s play Hamlet , so often seen as the birth of modern psychology, might also tell us a little bit about the beginnings of modern politics as well.

Chapter Three Horatio as Author: Storytelling and Stoic Tragedy

This chapter addresses Horatio’s emotionlessness in light of his role as a narrator, using this discussion to think about Shakespeare’s motives for writing tragedy in the wake of his son’s death. By rationalizing pain and suffering as tragedy, both Horatio and Shakespeare were able to avoid the self-destruction entailed in Hamlet’s emotional response to life’s hardships and injustices. Thus, the stoic Horatio, rather than the passionate Hamlet who repeatedly interrupts ‘The Mousetrap’, is the best authorial avatar for a Shakespeare who strategically wrote himself and his own voice out of his works. This argument then expands into a theory of ‘authorial catharsis’ and the suggestion that we can conceive of Shakespeare as a ‘poet of reason’ in contrast to a ‘poet of emotion’.

Chapter Four “To thine own self be true”: What Shakespeare Says about Sending Our Children Off to College

What does “To thine own self be true” actually mean? Be yourself? Don’t change who you are? Follow your own convictions? Don’t lie to yourself? This chapter argues that, if we understand meaning as intent, then “To thine own self be true” means, paradoxically, that “the self” does not exist. Or, more accurately, Shakespeare’s Hamlet implies that “the self” exists only as a rhetorical, philosophical, and psychological construct that we use to make sense of our experiences and actions in the world, not as anything real. If this is so, then this passage may offer us a way of thinking about Shakespeare as not just a playwright but also a moral philosopher, one who did his ethics in drama.

Chapter Five In Defense of Polonius

Your wife dies. You raise two children by yourself. You build a great career to provide for your family. You send your son off to college in another country, though you know he’s not ready. Now the prince wants to marry your daughter—that’s not easy to navigate. Then—get this—while you’re trying to save the queen’s life, the prince murders you. Your death destroys your kids. They die tragically. And what do you get for your efforts? Centuries of Shakespeare scholars dumping on you. If we see Polonius not through the eyes of his enemy, Prince Hamlet—the point of view Shakespeare’s play asks audiences to adopt—but in analogy to the common challenges of twenty-first-century parenting, Polonius is a single father struggling with work-life balance who sadly choses his career over his daughter’s well-being.

Chapter Six Sigma Alpha Elsinore: The Culture of Drunkenness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Claudius likes to party—a bit too much. He frequently binge drinks, is arguably an alcoholic, but not an aberration. Hamlet says Denmark is internationally known for heavy drinking. That’s what Shakespeare would have heard in the sixteenth century. By the seventeenth, English writers feared Denmark had taught their nation its drinking habits. Synthesizing criticism on alcoholism as an individual problem in Shakespeare’s texts and times with scholarship on national drinking habits in the early-modern age, this essay asks what the tragedy of alcoholism looks like when located not on the level of the individual, but on the level of a culture, as Shakespeare depicted in Hamlet. One window into these early-modern cultures of drunkenness is sociological studies of American college fraternities, especially the social-learning theories that explain how one person—one culture—teaches another its habits. For Claudius’s alcoholism is both culturally learned and culturally significant. And, as in fraternities, alcoholism in Hamlet is bound up with wealth, privilege, toxic masculinity, and tragedy. Thus, alcohol imagistically reappears in the vial of “cursed hebona,” Ophelia’s liquid death, and the poisoned cup in the final scene—moments that stand out in recent performances and adaptations with alcoholic Claudiuses and Gertrudes.

Chapter Seven Tragic Foundationalism

This chapter puts the modern philosopher Alain Badiou’s theory of foundationalism into dialogue with the early-modern playwright William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet . Doing so allows us to identify a new candidate for Hamlet’s traditionally hard-to-define hamartia – i.e., his “tragic mistake” – but it also allows us to consider the possibility of foundationalism as hamartia. Tragic foundationalism is the notion that fidelity to a single and substantive truth at the expense of an openness to evidence, reason, and change is an acute mistake which can lead to miscalculations of fact and virtue that create conflict and can end up in catastrophic destruction and the downfall of otherwise strong and noble people.

Chapter Eight “As a stranger give it welcome”: Shakespeare’s Advice for First-Year College Students

Encountering a new idea can be like meeting a strange person for the first time. Similarly, we dismiss new ideas before we get to know them. There is an answer to the problem of the human antipathy to strangeness in a somewhat strange place: a single line usually overlooked in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet . If the ghost is “wondrous strange,” Hamlet says, invoking the ancient ethics of hospitality, “Therefore as a stranger give it welcome.” In this word, strange, and the social conventions attached to it, is both the instinctual, animalistic fear and aggression toward what is new and different (the problem) and a cultivated, humane response in hospitality and curiosity (the solution). Intellectual xenia is the answer to intellectual xenophobia.

Chapter Nine Parallels in Hamlet

Hamlet is more parallely than other texts. Fortinbras, Hamlet, and Laertes have their fathers murdered, then seek revenge. Brothers King Hamlet and King Claudius mirror brothers Old Norway and Old Fortinbras. Hamlet and Ophelia both lose their fathers, go mad, but there’s a method in their madness, and become suicidal. King Hamlet and Polonius are both domineering fathers. Hamlet and Polonius are both scholars, actors, verbose, pedantic, detectives using indirection, spying upon others, “by indirections find directions out." King Hamlet and King Claudius are both kings who are killed. Claudius using Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet mirrors Polonius using Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. Reynaldo and Hamlet both pretend to be something other than what they are in order to spy on and detect foes. Young Fortinbras and Prince Hamlet both have their forward momentum “arrest[ed].” Pyrrhus and Hamlet are son seeking revenge but paused a “neutral to his will.” The main plot of Hamlet reappears in the play-within-the-play. The Act I duel between King Hamlet and Old Fortinbras echoes in the Act V duel between Hamlet and Laertes. Claudius and Hamlet are both king killers. Sheesh—why are there so many dang parallels in Hamlet ? Is there some detectable reason why the story of Hamlet would call for the literary device of parallelism?

Chapter Ten Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Why Hamlet Has Two Childhood Friends, Not Just One

Why have two of Hamlet’s childhood friends rather than just one? Do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have individuated personalities? First of all, by increasing the number of friends who visit Hamlet, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of being outnumbered, of multiple enemies encroaching upon Hamlet, of Hamlet feeling that the world is against him. Second, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not interchangeable, as commonly thought. Shakespeare gave each an individuated personality. Guildenstern is friendlier with Hamlet, and their friendship collapses, while Rosencrantz is more distant and devious—a frenemy.

Chapter Eleven Shakespeare on the Classics, Shakespeare as a Classic: A Reading of Aeneas’s Tale to Dido

Of all the stories Shakespeare might have chosen, why have Hamlet ask the players to recite Aeneas’ tale to Dido of Pyrrhus’s slaughter of Priam? In this story, which comes not from Homer’s Iliad but from Virgil’s Aeneid and had already been adapted for the Elizabethan stage in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Dido, Pyrrhus – more commonly known as Neoptolemus, the son of the famous Greek warrior Achilles – savagely slays Priam, the king of the Trojans and the father of Paris, who killed Pyrrhus’s father, Achilles, who killed Paris’s brother, Hector, who killed Achilles’s comrade, Patroclus. Clearly, the theme of revenge at work in this story would have appealed to Shakespeare as he was writing what would become the greatest revenge tragedy of all time. Moreover, Aeneas’s tale to Dido supplied Shakespeare with all of the connections he sought to make at this crucial point in his play and his career – connections between himself and Marlowe, between the start of Hamlet and the end, between Prince Hamlet and King Claudius, between epic poetry and tragic drama, and between the classical literature Shakespeare was still reading hundreds of years later and his own potential as a classic who might (and would) be read hundreds of years into the future.

Chapter Twelve How Theater Works, according to Hamlet

According to Hamlet, people who are guilty of a crime will, when seeing that crime represented on stage, “proclaim [their] malefactions”—but that simply isn’t how theater works. Guilty people sit though shows that depict their crimes all the time without being prompted to public confession. Why did Shakespeare—a remarkably observant student of theater—write this demonstrably false theory of drama into his protagonist? And why did Shakespeare then write the plot of the play to affirm that obviously inaccurate vision of theater? For Claudius is indeed stirred to confession by the play-within-the-play. Perhaps Hamlet’s theory of people proclaiming malefactions upon seeing their crimes represented onstage is not as outlandish as it first appears. Perhaps four centuries of obsession with Hamlet is the English-speaking world proclaiming its malefactions upon seeing them represented dramatically.

Chapter Thirteen “To be, or not to be”: Shakespeare Against Philosophy

This chapter hazards a new reading of the most famous passage in Western literature: “To be, or not to be” from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet . With this line, Hamlet poses his personal struggle, a question of life and death, as a metaphysical problem, as a question of existence and nothingness. However, “To be, or not to be” is not what it seems to be. It seems to be a representation of tragic angst, yet a consideration of the context of the speech reveals that “To be, or not to be” is actually a satire of philosophy and Shakespeare’s representation of the theatricality of everyday life. In this chapter, a close reading of the context and meaning of this passage leads into an attempt to formulate a Shakespearean image of philosophy.

Chapter Fourteen Contagious Suicide in and Around Hamlet

As in society today, suicide is contagious in Hamlet , at least in the example of Ophelia, the only death by suicide in the play, because she only becomes suicidal after hearing Hamlet talk about his own suicidal thoughts in “To be, or not to be.” Just as there are media guidelines for reporting on suicide, there are better and worse ways of handling Hamlet . Careful suicide coverage can change public misperceptions and reduce suicide contagion. Is the same true for careful literary criticism and classroom discussion of suicide texts? How can teachers and literary critics reduce suicide contagion and increase help-seeking behavior?

Chapter Fifteen Is Hamlet a Sexist Text? Overt Misogyny vs. Unconscious Bias

Students and fans of Shakespeare’s Hamlet persistently ask a question scholars and critics of the play have not yet definitively answered: is it a sexist text? The author of this text has been described as everything from a male chauvinist pig to a trailblazing proto-feminist, but recent work on the science behind discrimination and prejudice offers a new, better vocabulary in the notion of unconscious bias. More pervasive and slippery than explicit bigotry, unconscious bias involves the subtle, often unintentional words and actions which indicate the presence of biases we may not be aware of, ones we may even fight against. The Shakespeare who wrote Hamlet exhibited an unconscious bias against women, I argue, even as he sought to critique the mistreatment of women in a patriarchal society. The evidence for this unconscious bias is not to be found in the misogynistic statements made by the characters in the play. It exists, instead, in the demonstrable preference Shakespeare showed for men over women when deciding where to deploy his literary talents. Thus, Shakespeare's Hamlet is a powerful literary example – one which speaks to, say, the modern corporation – showing that deliberate efforts for egalitarianism do not insulate one from the effects of structural inequalities that both stem from and create unconscious bias.

Chapter Sixteen Style and Purpose in Acting and Writing

Purpose and style are connected in academic writing. To answer the question of style ( How should we write academic papers? ) we must first answer the question of purpose ( Why do we write academic papers? ). We can answer these questions, I suggest, by turning to an unexpected style guide that’s more than 400 years old: the famous passage on “the purpose of playing” in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet . In both acting and writing, a high style often accompanies an expressive purpose attempting to impress an elite audience yet actually alienating intellectual people, while a low style and mimetic purpose effectively engage an intellectual audience.

Chapter Seventeen 13 Ways of Looking at a Ghost

Why doesn’t Gertrude see the Ghost of King Hamlet in Act III, even though Horatio, Bernardo, Francisco, Marcellus, and Prince Hamlet all saw it in Act I? It’s a bit embarrassing that Shakespeare scholars don’t have a widely agreed-upon consensus that explains this really basic question that puzzles a lot of people who read or see Hamlet .

Chapter Eighteen The Tragedy of Love in Hamlet

The word “love” appears 84 times in Shakespeare’s Hamlet . “Father” only appears 73 times, “play” 60, “think” 55, “mother” 46, “mad” 44, “soul” 40, “God" 39, “death” 38, “life” 34, “nothing” 28, “son” 26, “honor” 21, “spirit” 19, “kill” 18, “revenge” 14, and “action” 12. Love isn’t the first theme that comes to mind when we think of Hamlet , but is surprisingly prominent. But love is tragic in Hamlet . The bloody catastrophe at the end of that play is principally driven not by hatred or a longing for revenge, but by love.

Chapter Nineteen Ophelia’s Songs: Moral Agency, Manipulation, and the Metaphor of Music in Hamlet

This chapter reads Ophelia’s songs in Act IV of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the context of the meaning of music established elsewhere in the play. While the songs are usually seen as a marker of Ophelia’s madness (as a result of the death of her father) or freedom (from the constraints of patriarchy), they come – when read in light of the metaphor of music as manipulation – to symbolize her role as a pawn in Hamlet’s efforts to deceive his family. Thus, music was Shakespeare’s platform for connecting Ophelia’s story to one of the central questions in Hamlet : Do we have control over our own actions (like the musician), or are we controlled by others (like the instrument)?

Chapter Twenty A Quantitative Study of Prose and Verse in Hamlet

Why does Hamlet have so much prose? Did Shakespeare deliberately shift from verse to prose to signal something to his audiences? How would actors have handled the shifts from verse to prose? Would audiences have detected shifts from verse to prose? Is there an overarching principle that governs Shakespeare’s decision to use prose—a coherent principle that says, “If X, then use prose?”

Chapter Twenty-One The Fortunes of Fate in Hamlet : Divine Providence and Social Determinism

In Hamlet , fate is attacked from both sides: “fortune” presents a world of random happenstance, “will” a theory of efficacious human action. On this backdrop, this essay considers—irrespective of what the characters say and believe—what the structure and imagery Shakespeare wrote into Hamlet say about the possibility that some version of fate is at work in the play. I contend the world of Hamlet is governed by neither fate nor fortune, nor even the Christianized version of fate called “providence.” Yet there is a modern, secular, disenchanted form of fate at work in Hamlet—what is sometimes called “social determinism”—which calls into question the freedom of the individual will. As such, Shakespeare’s Hamlet both commented on the transformation of pagan fate into Christian providence that happened in the centuries leading up to the play, and anticipated the further transformation of fate from a theological to a sociological idea, which occurred in the centuries following Hamlet .

Chapter Twenty-Two The Working Class in Hamlet

There’s a lot for working-class folks to hate about Hamlet —not just because it’s old, dusty, difficult to understand, crammed down our throats in school, and filled with frills, tights, and those weird lace neck thingies that are just socially awkward to think about. Peak Renaissance weirdness. Claustrophobicly cloistered inside the castle of Elsinore, quaintly angsty over royal family problems, Hamlet feels like the literary epitome of elitism. “Lawless resolutes” is how the Wittenberg scholar Horatio describes the soldiers who join Fortinbras’s army in exchange “for food.” The Prince Hamlet who has never worked a day in his life denigrates Polonius as a “fishmonger”: quite the insult for a royal advisor to be called a working man. And King Claudius complains of the simplicity of "the distracted multitude.” But, in Hamlet , Shakespeare juxtaposed the nobles’ denigrations of the working class as readily available metaphors for all-things-awful with the rather valuable behavior of working-class characters themselves. When allowed to represent themselves, the working class in Hamlet are characterized as makers of things—of material goods and services like ships, graves, and plays, but also of ethical and political virtues like security, education, justice, and democracy. Meanwhile, Elsinore has a bad case of affluenza, the make-believe disease invented by an American lawyer who argued that his client's social privilege was so great that it created an obliviousness to law. While social elites rot society through the twin corrosives of political corruption and scholarly detachment, the working class keeps the machine running. They build the ships, plays, and graves society needs to function, and monitor the nuts-and-bolts of the ideals—like education and justice—that we aspire to uphold.

Chapter Twenty-Three The Honor Code at Harvard and in Hamlet

Students at Harvard College are asked, when they first join the school and several times during their years there, to affirm their awareness of and commitment to the school’s honor code. But instead of “the foundation of our community” that it is at Harvard, honor is tragic in Hamlet —a source of anxiety, blunder, and catastrophe. As this chapter shows, looking at Hamlet from our place at Harvard can bring us to see what a tangled knot honor can be, and we can start to theorize the difference between heroic and tragic honor.

Chapter Twenty-Four The Meaning of Death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

By connecting the ways characters live their lives in Hamlet to the ways they die – on-stage or off, poisoned or stabbed, etc. – Shakespeare symbolized hamartia in catastrophe. In advancing this argument, this chapter develops two supporting ideas. First, the dissemination of tragic necessity: Shakespeare distributed the Aristotelian notion of tragic necessity – a causal relationship between a character’s hamartia (fault or error) and the catastrophe at the end of the play – from the protagonist to the other characters, such that, in Hamlet , those who are guilty must die, and those who die are guilty. Second, the spectacularity of death: there exists in Hamlet a positive correlation between the severity of a character’s hamartia (error or flaw) and the “spectacularity” of his or her death – that is, the extent to which it is presented as a visible and visceral spectacle on-stage.

Chapter Twenty-Five Tragic Excess in Hamlet

In Hamlet , Shakespeare paralleled the situations of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras (the father of each is killed, and each then seeks revenge) to promote the virtue of moderation: Hamlet moves too slowly, Laertes too swiftly – and they both die at the end of the play – but Fortinbras represents a golden mean which marries the slowness of Hamlet with the swiftness of Laertes. As argued in this essay, Shakespeare endorsed the virtue of balance by allowing Fortinbras to be one of the very few survivors of the play. In other words, excess is tragic in Hamlet .

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How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples

March 30, 2024

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Board’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people don’t encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.

What is the AP Lit Free Response testing?

In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, “to analyze” literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When we’re performing literary analysis, we’re breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.

So, for example, let’s say you’re presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, you’ll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. You’ll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)

But what’s the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?

Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that you’re also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, you’re using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then you’re taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.

So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call “sophistication,” but they’re looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.

This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicine—whatever pursuit, you name it—utilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.

Practice Makes Perfect

Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, it’s also something you can do on your own, if you’re interested in further developing your skills.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples

Let’s take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.

In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled “Autumn,” which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.

The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.

Example Essay

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary’s idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn’s coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who “from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.” Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to “slip” and “stray through stubble fields.” Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer, conveying the speaker’s reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.

Summer, “she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour”, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summer’s character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of change—the yellow leaves—by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, “old tunes”. “She lies on pillows” creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain “old tunes.” According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary’s idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. “Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd”, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight’s “clip” and the subject, “the days,” are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall—emphasizing the Speaker’s perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.

She says “the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost”. Implying pride and defeat, and the word “witched,” the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker’s perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall–a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape—is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well?

When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that it’s important to “stand out” or “be creative” in your writing. However, aside from concerns about “sophistication,” which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isn’t entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.

So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?

First: The Thesis

On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, “The essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,” which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you don’t need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentences—or go right into your thesis.

What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:

Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
Is specific and precise in its use of language
Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts

If you’re sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: don’t.

The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: they’re just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.

Second: Write your essay from the inside out

While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.

My best advice goes like this:

Choose your evidence first
Develop your commentary about the evidence
Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.

It will seem a little counterintuitive: like you’re writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Don’t come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.

Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary

Once you’ve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence you’ll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?

A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:

Romantic imagery

Portrayal of summer

Woman who “from her golden collar… moans aloud”
Summer as bounty

Contrast with Autumn

Autumn dismantles Summer
“Stray through stubble fields”
Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless

Recognition of change in a positive light

Summer “lies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunes”
Bright imagery/fallen leaves
Attempt to maintain old practices fails: “old tunes”
But! There is sympathy: “lies on pillows”

Speaker recognizes: she can’t prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time

By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.

Then, the speaker would take the conclusions they’ve drawn and write a “mini claim” that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isn’t the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.

Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that you’ve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.

Fourth: Draft your thesis

Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to “stand back” and see what you’ve drafted. You’ll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery “illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,” ultimately illuminating the poet’s idea “that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.”

This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that “convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.” Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.

Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.

Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph

In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is “romantic imagery” and the second is “hyperbolic imagery.” The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.

This is why it’s important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really don’t have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.

Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a “mini claim” that makes an argument about what it is you’ll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.

Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.

Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion

Finally, you’ll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.

In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, “Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.” This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, you’ll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!

Seventh: Sophistication

A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls “sophistication.” This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which we’ve already covered in the steps above.

There are some things to avoid, however:

Sweeping generalizations, such as, “From the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,” or “Everyone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.”
Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
Oversimplifying your interpretation
Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.

Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.

If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Board’s website .

Brittany Borghi

After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, she’s held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittany’s work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.

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