Hamlet Essay Prompts

A.      What is the meaning of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy? Which does Hamlet choose? Which characters choose to be?  Which choose not to be?

B.      Explore the acting motif in the play.  How does Hamlet’s acting “hold a mirror up to nature”?  Which characters are acting?  How does their acting reveal and/or conceal the truth?  What is the significance of the play-within-the-play? How do the final scenes of the play, including the funeral services for Hamlet and Horatio’s implied storytelling, relate to the acting motif?

C.      What is the play saying about madness?  What is the significance of Polonius’s seemingly absurd comments to the King about Hamlet’s madness?  Who is mad in the play?  Compare and contrast Hamlet and Ophelia’s madness.  What is the relationship between madness and truth in the play?

D.      Explore the idea that ultimately, Hamlet is a meditation on death.  What does the play say about death?  What does it say about life and human nature?  What do Hamlet’s soliloquies say about the topic?

E.       Explore the character of Hamlet.  Why would many literary critics consider him the most brilliant mind in all of literature? Is he flawed?  Is he cruel? Is he likable or pitiable?  Is he a hero?  How does he compare with the other sons in the play, Laertes and Fortinbras?  Why does he favor the election of Fortinbras to be the next king of Denmark?

F.       What does Hamlet say about love?  What is the relationship between love and obedience? Did Hamlet love Ophelia?  Did Gertrude love Claudius? Which characters truly loved each other?  Did Hamlet love Horatio?