Works Cited

Due to time constraints, you do not need to cite a scholarly source in your essay; however, if you do use any other sources of information, they must be cited.

You do need to have a Works Cited page for your essay, even if the only text you use is our Hamlet text. You do not need to make the Works Cited page on its own page (although that is standard procedure).

Link to sample page is here. My sample is here.

Please submit your essay by sharing via Google Docs and upload on Turn It In.

Bring a Rough Draft Next Class

Sit down with Hamlet open and read and write fast and furious for an hour. Don't worry about citing or even correct grammar stuff. Just read and write and connect ideas and see where you end up. Turn off your phone; don't check your instagram...just write.

You will be happy you have that hour of work next class.

Preparing to Write Your Essay

There will be study sessions after school Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday this week. If you are struggling with this assignment at all, please find time to attend. I can address overall structural issues, quote flow, thesis construction and defense, or anything else that students tend to struggle with.

For your next class, please be sure you have completed the following:

Finished reading Hamlet
Read "Hamlet: A Modern Perspective" by Michael Neill (307-326)
Decided on a prompt or focus issue you will address in your essay
Have ready to use three quotes from the text that directly relate to the essay you will write

The essay attempts to clarify meaning and examine how it is generated.
The text itself is where meaning begins.
Thus, your essay must use the text extensively to make the particular point your essay focuses on. That is, you must close read and quote a whole bunch. Your thesis should arise from the text; your point should be supported by the text; your essay should document through paraphrase and many quotations that the text suggests what you claim it does.

You are going to need a thesis.

Hamlet (present tense verb) ____________ by/through _______________.

Consider:

Shakespeare used Saxo's story of Hamlet's pretended madness and delayed revenge to explore the brutal facts about survival in an authoritarian state. 

This is Neill's thesis for the section of his essay dealing with surveillance.

Paraphrased to fit the format I offer above:

Hamlet explores the tragic consequences of spying through Hamlet's inability to navigate the web of surveillance that dominates Claudius's regime.

This is the sort of statement you should be looking to define as you respond to any of the prompts you pursue an issue of personal interest.

A final offering on an issue we have discussed little:

Hamlet uses humorous, clever wordplay in an attempt to deal with the overwhelming emotions he feels.