ICC English

Hamlet Concept/Personal Experience Essay

One of the reasons Hamlet is perhaps Shakespeare’s most fascinating play is its exploration of a variety of complex concepts central to the human experience. I would like you to choose one of the following concepts explored in Hamlet -- loyalty, love, courage, revenge, power, depression, ambition, deceit (or something else you think would work well) -- and examine it in an essay.

To begin, you need to thoroughly define the concept (your own definition, not merely one from a dictionary), reveal the context in which the concept is explored in the play, and examine what the play reveals about it. Be sure to provide specific examples from the text of the play within your essay. (Do not simply discuss your concept in general terms.)

After explaining the concept and exploring its development in Hamlet, I would like you to examine this concept within the context of your own life. In the final portion of this essay, you will have the opportunity to reflect on an experience from your past (or present) in which this concept impacted your life. In no way do I intend for this portion of the essay to make you uncomfortable. As the Concise Guide to Writing reassuringly insists, "While (an autobiographical essay) requires self-presentation, it does not require you to make unwanted self-disclosures. You choose the event to write about and decide how you will portray yourself" (23).