Essays and Research Papers on Hamlet

A 5 page paper which considers why Ophelia’s brother and father advise her to be wary of Hamlet’s attentions and affections. It examines how Laertes and Polonius perceive Hamlet, and discusses whether they are simply being protective or offer reasons for offering such a warning. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 5 page paper which examines how modern feminism might react to or interpret the playwright’s portrayal of the characters and specifically considers their interaction with each other and the male characters, and whether they serve as catalysts that explain or otherwise move the drama toward its inevitable conclusion. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 3 page paper which examines how much Gertrude, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, knew about her husband’s death and the extent of her guilt in the murder. Bibliography lists 3 additional sources.

This 5 page report discusses one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays and best-known characters. One of the single most striking characteristics of the part of Hamlet is his manic behaviors. Hamlet is introduced to the audience as a great man, generous, even brilliant. But what the audience sees is a man who is unsure of ...

A 5 page paper which examines how the way in which Ophelia is manipulated represents a destruction of innocence and how her death is the unfortunate consequence of everyone else’s chaotic and corrupted lives. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

This 5 page report explores the idea that “Hamlet” was what literary critic Northrup Frye described as the “central and most significant play, because it dramatized a central preoccupation of the age of Romanticism: the conflict of consciousness and action...No other play has explored the paradoxes of action and thinking about action so deeply.” ...

A 4 page paper which analyzes the play structure of Hamlet and the role each characters played in telling the story. No additional sources are used.

A five page paper looking at this minor character in William Shakespeare's play. The paper traces Laertes' behavior and motivations throughout the play, and analyzes the way he shows up Hamlet's weaknesses and accentuates his virtues. No additional sources.

A five page paper analyzing the quality of heroism in William Shakespeare's play. The paper discusses the extent to which Old Hamlet, Claudius, Fortinbras, and young Hamlet could be considered heroic. No additional sources.

This is a 7 page critical analysis of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” (1601) is considered one of his most popular, psychologically driven and dark tragedies. An analysis of the elements within the play show that Hamlet as the central and pivotal character reveals his inner most thoughts ...

6 pages in length. The striking resemblance between William Shakespeare's play Hamlet and the movie version starring Kenneth Branagh have separated this particular film adaptation apart from all others. Sir Laurence Olivier has been bestowed accolades for his screen performance, and Mel Gibson's rendition rendered him as an accomplished Shakespearean actor; however, none ...

This 4 page paper provides documentation to support a thesis that Shakespeare did not possess the skills to write a satisfactory ending for Hamlet. No additional sources cited.

A 3 page paper which compares and contrasts Prince Hamlet and Walter Younger to determine whether their experiences qualify them as tragic hero. No additional sources are used.

A 5 page paper which examines the revenge theme from a subjective perspective, as interpreted by this writer and five literary critics. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 6 page paper which examines the search for truth in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” and Willa Cather’s “The Professor’s House.” No additional sources cited.

6 pages in length. The entire reason that literature exists is to present an image through the written word. Thus, imagery is a critical element to literary verse. Words represent virtually everything in a play, including inanimate objects, concepts, emotions, activity, mental conditions and senses. Truly, one takes in such a production ...

An 8 page paper which analyzes Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s 'Hamlet,' to define her character’s role within the play’s structure, considers Ophelia’s mental state from the beginning to the end of her life, and examines how she was mistreated by the other characters. Bibliography lists 10 sources.

A 4 page paper which examines the final scene in Shakespeare’s Hamlet as it involves the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, and as it involves Shakespeare’s presentation of the body politic. No additional sources cited.

In seven pages, this paper compares and contrasts the relationships between Shakespeare’s Gertrude and Hamlet and Williams’ Amanda and Tom Wingfield to determine which is the more controlling of the two mothers. Six sources are listed in the bibliography.

A five page paper showing how the philosophy of Aristotle, Plato, and St. Augustine influenced Shakespeare in his characterization of Hamlet. The paper argues that over the course of the play, Hamlet moves from the position of a Platonist to an Augustinian to an Aristotelian. Bibliography lists four sources.

An 8 page paper which compares and contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of these young men, and explains to what degree they succeed or fail as they confront the difficulties of the worlds that surround them. Bibliography lists 10 sources.

A 5 page critical analysis that examines how New Historicist criticism works to assist the understanding of the scene; considers whether or not there are aspects that don’t fit; how the work reflects the period it in which it was written and the period it is supposed to represent; the literary or historical influences that ...

A 5 page (4 pp. + 1 pg. outline) which compares Hamlet’s avenging of his father’s death with contemporary times, specifically considering Hamlet’s relationships with his stepfather/uncle King Claudius and his mother Queen Gertrude, his fiancée Ophelia, friends Horatio and Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, his father’s ghosts, and his last wishes. The Franco Zeffirelli ...

A 4 page paper which argues how Ophelia is a pawn in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Bibliography lists 1 additional source.

A 3 page paper which discusses the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Bibliography lists 2 sources.