2005. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess “That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet self doubt and moral corruption lead to a tragic outcome. The main character Hamlet has to either choose between avenging his father or trust that god will punish his father's murderer. This question that Hamlet has to overcome leads to many events in the play and almost leads to Hamlet completely usurping gods power.
The question that Hamlet is dealing with inwardly is the ultimate decision, the decision to usurp gods power to avenge his father or to almost abandon is father and trust god. Hamlet's father came back as a ghost to tell him that Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, murdered Hamlets father. The fact that Hamlet actually talked to his father after death is part of the reason he wants to avenge him and kill Claudius. By killing Claudius however he will be taking power from god because he will choose when Claudius should die, this is a sin and could have serious consequences. The situation around him and the people around him also have an influence on his inward struggle.
Hamlet is having trouble deciding if he should kill Claudius for various reasons. The most important reason is that Claudius killed his father, but then he also married Hamlet's mother quickly after. When Hamlet was trying to handle everything he pulls away from his love Ophelia from anger and also has to deal with this. He also finds out his two childhood friends Rozencratz and Guildenstern are sent to kill him. All the outside influence has made Hamlet want to avenge his father even more. At point in the play Claudius is on his knees praying and Hamlet goes to strike him, at the last minute he changes his mind, that scene illustrates just how close Hamlet was to usurping Gods power. Hamlet would have had a much easier decision if his life around him was not spiraling out of control.
As the play gets closer to the end, Hamlet has to make a decision, he was to seal his fate one way or another. Torn between his father and trusting god the tragedy starts, at the end of the play everyone dies except for Horatio. Hamlet kills Leartes, and Claudius in the final battle but not exactly in cold blood. It is more the battle than a plan for murder. The struggle is finally over, Hamlet didn't have to choose and fate took it tole. His inward and outward conflicts are now resolved.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteYour thesis paragraph starts out well and stays on the topic of Hamlet. You do a good job in recognizing the tension faced by Hamlet, but your thesis is not clear on how it contributes to the meaning of the play overall. Some of your phrasing is vague in your thesis too, like when you say “leads to many events”.
Again, you explain Hamlet’s struggle well, but you do not delve into the meaning of the play and the effect Hamlet’s struggle has. This will probably be easier to focus on with a clearer thesis.
Also, there are some grammatical mistakes you make a few times, like leaving “God” with a lower case “G”. You also switch between talking about Hamlet in the present and past tense. I know it is hard to notice that with such a short period of time to write the essay.
A clearer thesis will make the whole essay easier to write. Good luck!
Kate,
ReplyDeleteYour practice essay intro paragraphs seemed really strong, so I would go back and look at this essay and see how the intro paragraph does answer the verbs in the prompt. Because of this your main body paragraphs lack a driving force and kinda meander about the plot, bringing up excellent points, but not directly answering the prompt. The best way to fix this would be to rewrite your intro so that you one concisely “identify a character,” “analyze” the tension between internal and external forces, show how this “contributes” to the meaning of the work. THen use that to format your essay. You also verge on just summarizing the plot a bit to much, so I would also keep the question of “why am I including this detail” present in your mind when you are writing.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteYour introduction was pretty well written, and you did a good job of addressing what the prompt said to discuss, but you might want to make each of you points clearer so that, like Ms. Holmes said, the essay will "write itself." I think you made good points in your body paragraphs about how Hamlet inwardly questions himself about killing Claudius and avenging his father's death, but I think they could have been developed further. I was under the impression that we were supposed to have three body paragraphs, one for every part of the prompt, but looking at other student's essays it looks like a lot of people do not so I may be wrong about that! I think you are well on your way to doing great on the essay portion of the AP test.