Academic Tutorial Providing You With Essay Topics On Hamlet
Coming up with an essay topic for Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be both simple and tricky at the same time. There are many facets to the characters in the play, and the relationships can be rather complex. There are unanswered questions each reader may have after reading the play, but the answers may be difficult to elaborate on. For beginners, consider the following steps to developing some essay topics for this play.
- Consider the relationship between each 2 people in the play. Choose one of these relationships. For example, Hamlet and Ophelia. Start generating some questions about this relationship. Some of these questions might include:
- Does Hamlet love Ophelia? Does he stop loving Ophelia? In the beginning, did he really ever love her? What evidence can be found in the play to support your side?
- What roles do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play in Hamlet?
- What relationship do they have with the other characters?
- Why did Shakespeare create them and include them?
- Does Hamlet treat them in an acceptable way?
- What is the relationship between Hamlet and Horatio?
- How are they alike or opposite?
- What purpose does their relationship serve?
- Analyze Shakespeare’s use of images and descriptions in the play. How does he use descriptive language to lay the groundwork for a stage production? How does he use imagery and words to create mood? To create fear, suspense, despair and tension?
- Shakespeare uses comedy in a genius way. Consider the gravediggers, Osric and Polonius. Does their comedy serve to warn the reader of tragedy or to relieve the tension of tragedy?
Some suggested topics may include:
- How important is the setting of Denmark to the play, Hamlet?
- Some have compared the character of Claudius to Macbeth. How are they similar and in what ways?
- In what ways does the play, Hamlet, show both outward and inward conflict?
- How does Hamlet’s philosophy of death differ from that of Osric and Polonius?
- Consider the famous question posed in Act 3, Scene 1: To be or not to be? What events prompted this speech? What does Hamlet mean by this question?
- Shakespeare expertly uses a combination of tragedy and comic. Hamlet is defined as a tragedy yet actually employs a tragicomic mix. Discuss 2 farcical or comical elements in Hamlet.
- There are three revenge plots in this play. Identify each and explain why all are important contributions to the development of the play.