Your final research paper (5-7 pages in length) is due on 5/16 at 3:00 pm in my email mailbox. You can submit to. Late papers will not be accepted. You must include four secondary source materials. Your sources must come from either an academic book or an academic journal (JStor, Project Muse, or Literature Online). You are not to use commercial web sources. Remember every source you cite in your works cited page must appear in the body of your essay. Please remember that academic dishonesty is a very serious offence, and results in failure.
Your prompt is what is wrong with Hamlet. Your essay should reflect a well-developed thesis that demonstrates your understanding of Hamlet’s personality. Is Hamlet’s problem that he cannot take action, that he overthinks things? Or, is it that he is overly fixated on his mother’s sexuality? Is madness his problem, for in feigning madness has Hamlet in fact gone mad? Or, is religion the problem: how does the play dramatize Hamlet’s fears of heaven and hell? Is the problem that he is an artist, an actor, and therefore, more suited to a theatrical life than to the political life he was born into? In answering these questions, you should not summarize the events of the play, but rather pay specific attention to Shakespeare’s language. Remember that in writing about Shakespeare, you are required to explain the text before he or she explicates it. Good Luck!
Another option is to write an essay explaining one scene from either Shakespearean play we have read and detail how an actor might play the part. You will need to cite four critical sources.
