Problems in Hamlet

PROBLEMS IN HAMLET

You will be required to investigate a "problem" inHAMLETthat has occasioned critical controversy. In completing this project, you should be aware above all of the text.

You will need to...

1. take a position regarding how the problem ought to be resolved
2. locate at least three critics (of different lit theory perspectives) that have taken positions on the issue using books, articles, and on-line resources
3. analyze the primary source, integrate the critical material and present a position
4. complete a dialectical journal (two-column format: left side – critic’s paraphrased opinion and quotes (both critic’s and Hamlet); right side – your response to the critic’s opinions). Make sure to show how and why each critic reflects a certain lit theory.

5. write a paper that "decides" the issue from your point of view.

RESOURCES:

1. Dr. Nighan'sHamlet and the Daemons(an ebook: click here)

4. Print resources forHamletof course would fill volumes just to index. Some studies include:

·  Bradley'sShakespearean Tragedy

·  Wilson'sWhat Happens in Hamlet

·  Bloom'sShakespeare: The Invention of the Human

·  Prosser'sHamlet and Revenge

·  Greenblatt'sHamlet and Purgatory

·  Levin'sThe Queftion of Hamlet

·  The MLA International Bibliography, The Shakespeare Survey and Shakespeare Quarterly

Some problems:

1. is the ghost from heaven
2. is the ghost from hell
3. is the ghost from purgatory
4. Hamlet's relationship to Ophelia
5. Hamlet's relationship to his mother
6. the question of delay
7. the question of what humor seems to dominate the play
8. the problem of any one of the soliloquies
9. the meaning of "To be or not to be"
10. the dumb show
11. the ghost and "selective" appearances
12. what happened "before" the play opens
13. the question of Hamlet's sanity
14. the nature of the ghost's commands
15. the problem of who overhears whom and when
16. theories of literature within the play
17. Gertrude's relationship to her former husband
18. Gertrude's relationship to Claudius
19. what did Gertrude know and when did she know it?
20. the problem of Ophelia's sanity
21. the kind of king Claudius is
22. any motif
23 a topic of your own

Submit your findings in a paper accompanied by the research. Present an opinion in the thesis paragraph that your textual analysis and research substantiate.