Dear vacationers,
I wonder if anyone is reading these posts during the snow and the hazy daze of Christmas. Maybe…but maybe not.
Well, just in case you are -- or if, after Christmas, you begin to want to move forward with your essay but still feel stuck, please use this posting to ask questions of anyone, including me. I'll be checking it even if no one else does. And if anyone has an insight to share or a solution to a thorny problem, your comments above all are welcome here.
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25 comments:
I saw they were there and read/skimmed a few, but didn't feel compelled to comment. I have to get back to wrapping gifts because, heh, there was some procrastination on account of the snow. Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays!
Wow I really wish people would post here because my theses are not very good right now.
Hey its me and I have this thesis. What do you think. You to JD
As the play went on Hamlet fell from being an honest man, to becoming a devious man, to becoming a mad man, to finally becoming a dead man. Hamlet’s goal remained the same; he just lost more and more control over his situation as his past actions began weighing more and more on his future actions until Hamlet lived almost completely in the moment with very little control over life, then finally lost it all in death.
how long do essays need to be? i just finished my first draft but its only a little over four pages... should i try to extend?
What is our schedule supposed to be after winter break? Since we lost a week's worth of time, are we going to cram all the hamlet soliloquies and the objective test? I was confused, because we still have Crime and Punishment and that's a really big story to get through.
P.S. Sorry its not an essay question or comment. I was curious. I will add to this topic later.
Hayden, could you possibly be trying to say that the ethics and reasons for Hamlet's actions mirrored how others acted and what was happening to him in regard to things unrelated to the revenge plot? Because I see that as an interesting topic. As Hamlet loses his path and is drawn deeper and deeper into the hole he has dug himself, other things (Fortinbras) start happening.
Help!
I need some help with my paper. I'm trying to write it about the suicide theme, but i think I need something to prove. I now there's a thesis there somewhere.
any thoughts? I'm stuck.
A few comments directed at those who asked questions:
Hayden, your thesis idea as written is too much like a summary of what happens to Hamlet, although I think you imply that that he commits to the wrong path and becomes hemmed in by his own actions. Try re-writing it with more evident purpose.
Krista, the specified essay length is 4-6 pages to keep people from writing essays that are too short and superficial. You must be the judge of completeness, however -- though you could show the essay to a few classmates for feeback. A four page rough doesn't sound bad.
Camden, I'm not sure you saw my specific response to your essay idea, so I mailed it to you -- and it's also posted here by your name in the Hamlet Essay Ideas column.
Sam, what do you mean by "other things (Fortinbras) start happening"? How does Fortinbras "happen?"
Meiying, all I can say is we've got to do the soliloquies. It's an experience we can't pass up. But we'll start Crime and Punishment within the first few days of class.
This is JD siging off…
Sorry for the improper articulation JD. It seems that Fortinbras's appearance occurs almost in line where Hamlet deserves a reprimand. Maybe not one so harsh but he deserves one all the same. Perhaps Laertes is a better example. I don't know if I am the only one who sees Laertes's actions with regards to revenge against Hamlet as nobler than Hamlet's by the end and find it hard to feel the emotional tragedy of his plot to kill Hamlet.
JD, ( or anyone else who cares to respond )
How about this for a procrastinated thesis statement;
Looking for an affirmation of his hate towards Claudius and Gertrude's hasty marriage, Hamlet readily accepts and carries out the Ghost's demand for revenge.
Sam,
When comparing Hamlet to Fortinbras or Laertes, you should look very closely at their actions and motivations before you jump to any conclusions about the protagonist. Hamlet reprimands himself immediately upon the sight of Fortinbras & co. traversing Denmark to fight in Poland, so he's already well aware of his failure to act.
Read again what the captain says about the nature and provocation that has led to the impending conflict. Also consider that the war in Poland is a consolation prize for backing away from Denmark. We can guess that Fortinbras's uncle, the present king of Norway (just as is Hamlet's!) sent the boy off in that direction so he could blow off some steam.
And if you are impressed by the son of Polonius, consider how quickly Laertes decides he must dispatch Claudius for the murder of Polonius, without acquainting himself with any of the facts. And then take note of the deal that he makes with Claudius to use yet more poison and cheat in a duel with Hamlet.
These young men have strong attributes, it is true, but they are foils for Hamlet, not the other way around.
Austin, your thesis is little more than a restatement of the premise of the play, although I should point out that Hamlet does not readily carry out the act of revenge. Much of the argument of the play involves his various ploys and plans to find out the truth and to determine his action. It's true that the word of the Ghost do affirm Hamlet's instinctive dislike for his uncle and his deep dismay over his mother's remarriage.
You need a thesis with conflict in it. You could, for example, argue that the cost of the revenge that Hamlet ultimately takes is far too great, outweighing his uncle's crime and jeopardizing the welfare of the state in the bargain. Sam could also keep that in mind if he takes the viewpoint that a Fortinbras would proceed along a path of revenge that would indeed be swift and, perhaps, less destructive.
J.D.- I was reprimanded in my last essay for ending with a quote, but i have a really really short William Shakespeare quote i am currently finishing with, should i take it out?
Thanks for the insight and corrections JD. It prompted me to finally write out a rough draft.
Is it kosher to start an essay with a rhetorical question?
Krista: So reprimanded you, eh? Well, I don't think a writer should let the last word in an essay belong to someone else, even Shakespeare. If the quote is valuable to your essay, use it -- just conclude in your own words, even if only in a parting line.
Now I'm going to post a note I wrote to Hari about quotations from Hamlet in your essays:
JD:
I'm having some trouble citing from the text, since I'm not quite sure of the format you'd like for our quotations. Should we separate them from the rest of our paragraphs? Or should we leave them embedded and then use a / to indicate a new line within the dialogue? Let me know! I'd like to finish this essay soon. Also, let me know if it would be possible for me to perform my own soliloquy on Monday or whenever it is that we first have class.
Thanks so much! And Happy New Year!
- Hari.
Hari,
If the quotation is in verse and just a few lines of it, embed it and use the slash mark as you described. If it's prose, that won't be necessary. In parentheses following the quote, cite the act and scene thusly: IV, iv (if, say, you are quoting from Act IV Scene 4). You can also cite the lines, though they will vary from edition to edition.
Longer quotes (4 lines & over) are traditionally set apart and indented.
I think I'll post this reply on the blogspot as well.
Yours,
JD
I'll add to this one thing: I prefer extended quotations to be single-spaced and indented.
Re rhetorical questions:
All I can say in answer, Sam is -- it depends. Anything used well is effective. Any tired out old gambit used routinely announces to the reader, "Dead on arrival." Show your intro to someone whose opinion you trust and ask, "Does this sound fresh and relevant, or stale and generic?"
Is there going to be any buffer for discussion once shcool starts again? I am already feeling my topic start to scurry under a different argument.
In the last couple of hours as we all frantically work on perfecting our essays, I thought I'd ask if anyone would be interested in swapping papers for a bit of last minute editing?
lovefromanna@yahoo.com <-- let me know.
I would but I would get it back to you rather late I am afraid. Lots of other stuff to do. I'll send you mine anyway but its really only half an essay. I scrapped so much, because I really am not sure how to best wrap up my argument.
I'd be happy to look at yours anyway Sam, even if you can't get back to me. It'd help me to see other people's ideas as well -- I've been thinking about my own so much that my head might explode soon.
Ok I think I emailed it. Tell me if you don't get it. And I agree. It's been hard. I just started getting ideas this past week.
I got it, but I'm going to take a Hamlet break, since I just finishing editing my own. Then I'll look at it with a fresher mind. How late will you be up?
late...
Why is it that we never like to reveal the time we think we will go to sleep? I gave Anna the same answer, "late", to that question when we were about to submit our GE essays.
I didn't because I have zero progress. The third and fourth pages of my essay are still blank abysses that I find myself staring into.
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