Essay One

INTRODUCTION

William Shakespeare’s Senecan revenge tragedy, Hamlet, presents to its audience a confronting exploration of the disparities of a decaying world.¹ Though shaped by Shakespeare’s socio-political Elizabethan context, Hamlet has been appreciated across centuries due to its compassionate evaluation of uncomfortable truths² in human behaviour, misogyny, the inquisitive human temperament, and the meaning of life itself. These universally engaging elements have been re-interpreted by critics and audiences over several centuries, since “reality is in the reader’s mind” (W. Hazlitt, 1817),³ thus ultimately facilitating the textual integrity of Hamlet.

1. Note this quick summary of the play. This is all you really need to address in terms of the play’s content, rather than retelling the whole story. You can add some more plot context as you analyse the play in your body paragraphs.

2. It is important to use the key words of the prompt in your introduction to ensure your marker can see the overt relevance of your essay (as well as the more covert links you make to the ideas in the prompt).

3. Though not always required, incorporating academic quotes can help to enhance your argument (provided you don’t let them do all the talking for you).

PARAGRAPH 1

Human curiousity is a universal trait that is, though in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it is shown to unearth various inconvenient truths.⁴ The metatheatrical nature of Hamlet allows for the immediate investigation into such behaviour, as the play begins in medias res.⁵ This contrived chaos is exacerbated with Bernardo’s rhetorical dialogue, “Who’s there?”, which cleverly foreshadows the motivic diseased disorder within the “rotten. . . state of Denmark.” Hamlet’s first soliloquy further⁶ exposes his innermost thoughts, while presenting an insight into his physical synecdochical⁷ “sallied flesh” with which audiences can empathise. His frequent negation – “nay, not so much, not two” – demonstrates his internal anguish; uncertainty is attached to his father’s death and his widowed mother’s hasty conjugation, leading to Hamlet’s uncomfortable discovery regarding the fallibility of human memory. The difficulty of determining truth within an ambiguous society is carefully constructed within all of Hamlet’s soliloquies,⁸ with “some sublime passages. . . of the greatest genius.” (Voltaire, 1748)⁹ Thus, the integral characters of Hamlet create a meta-fictional dimension that allows audiences to appreciate the value of humanity empathetically.

4. This topic sentence attacks the question, while conveying to the marker that we intend to explore a key theme of the play in this paragraph.

5. Seamless use of metalanguage helps show your assessor that you can write fluently about the text’s structural features.

6. Note how this paragraph has already smoothly transitioned between quotes and analysis? This is typical of high-range pieces, so emulating this in your own work is almost guaranteed to improve your marks!

7. Synecdoche: a figure of speech in which one part of a whole is used to represent the entire concept.

8. This short reference to the dramatic structure helps to broaden the type of analysis, beyond language techniques.

9. Adding a couple of critical quotes in your essay can be useful, but make sure that you are maintaining your own opinion above all else.

PARAGRAPH 2

Furthermore, the raw volatility of human emotion in Hamlet has been reinterpreted to suit alternative readings, which expose somewhat uncomfortable truths. For instance, the duality¹⁰ of appearance and reality is enhanced through the motif of ears and imagery of the “leperous distilment” in the “porches of [King Hamlet’s] ear,” symbolising Claudius’ powerful words poisoning King Hamlet’s mind and instigating Hamlet’s corruption. This quote performed as part of a monologue allows audiences to empathise with the characters, in particular Hamlet, and there are several hints to his emotional state that compound our sympathy for him. Hamlet’s delay of Claudius’ murder, for one, can be read through the lens of an Oedipus Complex, accentuated by the miseen- abyme¹¹ of The Mousetrap. However, Ernest Jones posed that Hamlet’s regularly identified “paralysis of doubt” only arises “in the matter of revenge”, making him a “pseudo-procrastinator” (1949)¹². His inadequate repression of his desire for maternal possession, as well as his subjective Renaissance Humanist tendencies¹³, forces an emotional alignment to Claudius as his mother’s new spouse that prevents Hamlet from acting out in clear conscience. Laurence Olivier’s 1948 intensely incestuous enactment¹⁴ promotes this uncomfortable version of truth, which heavily sexualises Hamlet and Gertrude’s complex filial relationship, further highlighting the integral enduring form of Hamlet. This Freudian analysis is pivotal in Hamlet’s argument with his mother, with the juxtaposed virtues of his dead “Hyperion,” with the reigning regicidal “satyr.” Hence, the essence of human guilt has been represented and appreciated by different audiences, since “there are more Hamlets than actors to play them.” (H. Bloom, 1998) – modern individuals are able to continually reinterpret and empathise with Hamlet’s delay as his hamartia.¹⁵

10. Duality: dividing a singular concept into two contrasting ideas.

11. Mise-en-abyme: placing a copy of an image or text within itself, giving the illusion of an infinitely recurring sequence.

12. Reference to literary theory and analysis.

13. There are several links to context in this paragraph, which demonstrates thorough research.

14. Including new interpretations of Hamlet highlights its integrity.

15. Hamartia: a fatal flaw in character that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero/heroine.

PARAGRAPH 3

The misogyny perpetuated throughout Hamlet highlights a rigid, socially prescribed relationship between Elizabethan males and females and as such exposes an uncomfortable societal truth. Shakespeare’s social hierarchy indicated an intense patriarchal paternalism;¹⁶ in particular, Ophelia epitomizes the archetypal womanly values of silence, chastity, and obedience, and thus “suffers a series of patriarchal oppressions” (E. Hamana, 1988), reflecting the empathetic perspective of second-wave feminism. This is juxtaposed by Hamlet’s perception of moral corruption and female subordination, manifested through the extended metaphor, “frailty thy name is woman” and the repetitive dysphemism¹⁷ of Gertrude as “A rat! A rat!” Hence, through Hamlet, Shakespeare depicts women as being the biblical root of all corruption; Gertrude is symbolic of Eve in devising contracts with the Devil to obtain a higher status in society, and Hamlet commanding Ophelia to “get thee to a nunnery” dualistically presents him as wanting to protect her from moral corruption whilst also degrading her sexually. A modern feminist reading emphasises Ophelia’s helpless and eventual “mad” disposition – depicted through her fluctuation between prose and verse¹⁸ in Act 4 – as a result of Hamlet’s distrust of women. Thus, Hamlet enables various audiences to understand the harsh truths of human rhythms and relationships.

16. Patriarchal paternalism: a society in which a male-controlled government or organisation limits a particular minority’s liberty and autonomy (specifically women).

17. Dysphemism: a derogatory term with negative connotations.

18. Once again, this analysis of the structural and dramatic features of Hamlet goes beyond the typical metaphor/symbolism/simile/personification analysis. It develops the sophistication of your writing.

PARAGRAPH 4

Hamlet’s existential anxieties ultimately exacerbate human isolation and the power of the mind as a sanctuary of thought. Shakespeare’s representation of these ideas through literature allows audiences to connect and empathise with life’s unpleasant actualities. The fourth soliloquy depicts Hamlet’s continuous pondering within his mind – “to be, or not to be” – alluding to the fundamental question of life and death. Such ramifications of mortality are reflected to the audience through collective pronouns, “and makes us rather bear those ills we have.” Furthermore, an even greater understanding of human existence is reached in the graveyard where Hamlet contemplates Yorick’s personified skull and alludes to Alexander the Great, who “returneth into dust.” In doing so, Hamlet cathartically¹⁹ confronts the symbolic face of death, and his emotional façade is lifted to expose his foreshadowed “antic disposition.” Once Hamlet finds the purpose of individual fulfilment, – "What is a man / if his chief good and market of his time / be but to sleep and feed?" – his ensuing actions demonstrate an unfortunate abandonment of self-identity; the employment of third person narrative is a bizarre subversion of a character previously obsessed with “I”.²⁰ Therefore, the play’s deep exploration into human mortality is critical factor in allowing audiences to appreciate Hamlet with empathy.

19. Catharsis: releasing strong or repressed emotions, which ultimately provides relief

20. These sentences have examined three or four small but significant techniques (symbolism, foreshadowing, pronouns) which together form a holistic analysis of Hamlet’s trajectory towards the end of the play.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately²¹, the abstruse definition of human nature allows Shakespeare’s Hamlet to be appreciated in distinctive ways across differing zeitgeists.²² That the protagonists have such tragic self-awareness of this uncertainty makes Hamlet an alluring play that has allowed us as modern responders to draw our own conclusions of eternal uncomfortable truths. Shakespeare’s challenging but invaluable reflection of humanity as a victim of the chaos of its world, unable to attain any certainty of its experiences, facilities the contemporary extraction of individual meaning, because after all, “It is we who are Hamlet” (Hazlitt, 1817).²³

21. The conclusion should serve a few purposes: summarise your arguments, reiterate your contention, and leave a final good impression on your marker.

22. Zeitgeist: the defining mood of a particular historical period, shaped by the prominent ideas and beliefs.

23. As with all critical quotes, don’t let them do all of the work for you. It can often be better to avoid ever ending a paragraph with a quote (from the text or otherwise) as this at least forces you to put your final point in your own words, but provided your paragraph has made its thesis clear, a quote can be a nice, resonant way to conclude.