Portal:Writing Lab/How to tackle it(Complete Article)

  • SO..HERE it is! The one gem you can never seem to find from the bottomless sea of research that you gather!The thesis for this paper is well structured. It is a claim and not a question and is also a narrow focus.The author's thesis is:"The distinction between Hamlet's pretense of acting as a madman and the acting of the professionals performing 'Murder of Gonzago' in Hamlet is Shakespeare's response to the condemnation of acting as hypocrisy by 16th Century Elizabethan Puritans such as Phillip Stubbes.This is drawn to show the hypocrisy of a real man (the protagonist in this case) and the essential truth brought to light by the actual actors of Gonzago."This makes for an excellent thesis statement because it is a claim and a claim which is being fleshed out as well.
  • Fleshing out is very important. This is because the claim needs an introduction being built up before it is made.However it is very important to avoid the following error while fleshing out
  • Do NOT flesh out too much. This paper gives it's introduction leading to the thesis like this:
Topic: "The Compass of a Lye: The Treatment of Deceit in Hamlet"

Introduction:"If you will learn falsehood..;if you will learn to deceive;if you will learn to play the Hypocrite, to cogge,lie,and falsify...you need to go to no other school, for all these good examples may you see painted before your eyes in the interludes and plays."Stubbes,Phillip(qtd. in Corum36) Phillip Stubbes, a conservative ELizabethan Puritan, wrote this scathing condemnation of London drama in 1583.He was not alone in his views-the city fathers wrote to the Privy Council in 1597 that "neither in polity nor in religion [are theatres] to be suffered in a Christian Commonwealth"(qtd.in Corum 38)...............


  • After fleshing out this fact by giving examples of other such people against acting/theatre the author then cites a critics point of view on this to corroborate her point further.
  • It is always an excellent tactic to give competing or corroborating critic's views in the introduction to the thesis itself.It demonstrates the ability to form a solid argument

based on adequate analysis of sources. At times it is necessary to carry out a Literature Review as well.After fleshing out for 2 more paragraphs the thesis emerges:

"The central figure of the play,Prince Hamlet himself,is a consummate actor.From the moment he tells Horatio and the guardsmen that he is going to put on an "antic disposition"(i.v.180),till the end,he plays this role.His madness is an elaborate charade played to achieve vengeance upon Claudius."The distinction between Hamlet's pretense of acting as a madman and the acting of the professionals performing 'Murder of Gonzago' in Hamlet is Shakespeare's response to the condemnation of acting as hypocrisy by 16th Century Elizabethan Puritans such as Phillip Stubbes.This is drawn to show the hypocrisy of a real man (the protagonist in this case) and the essential truth brought to light by the actual actors of Gonzago."

  • In an earlier draft of this essay, the introduction to the thesis itself was very long.Its always good to have it hit home hard when the momentum has built up rather than delaying it!
  • Okay! So you have your topic, thesis and your entire introduction out of the way! Whew! Whats next!The next level is the body of your essay.All parts of the body should be coherent.
  • The body of the essay should always be divided into proper paragraphs. You can discuss a new idea(related to your thesis ofcourse!) every two paragraphs if you want to.
  • It is not good writing practise to introduce an entirely different perspective right at the end or before the concluding paragraphs because that is where you are reitering,summing up or

affirming your stated thesis.All parts of your paper's body should be interrelated and not divergences!

  • An example from this essay follows:

"There is a direct relation between Hamlet's imposture and his moral breakdown. As he plays his role, it seems to twist him. The longer his hypocrisy continues, his character seems to get progressively perverted, sot that he finds himself capable of even cold-blooded homicide. His proxy murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a strong indicative of how his character is corrupted both by the nature of his hypocrisy, and it's necessities.When he first meets the pair, he spends a great deal of time testing their loyalties,probing for their allegiance,concluding finally that they are against him.In the end,however,he signs their death warrant, a punishment that certainly does not fit their apparent crimes. Dismissively,he punished the lackeys for their master's crime,saying"Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes/Between the pass and fell incensed points/Of mighty opposites"(V.ii.60-62)"

  • This is a great example of a well written paragraph. Note how the idea is introduced and developed with textual proof.Where textual proof is not available, cite critics or other sources.The idea

is related to the thesis itself and yet also, novel.Moving onto the next paragraph we see this:

"It is thus evident that Hamlet's acting causes a progressive degradation in his character which reaches a nadir after the mousetrap scene(111.ii), and in the meeting with Gertrude.Even has he soliloquizes..

  • The 'even' clause introduces a new idea of the solilquy, further developing it in the following two paragraphs.
  • Now, for the most important part! The grand finale to your research essay. This author, in an earlier draft, introduced a contemporary satirical writer during Shakespeare's time,Ben Jonson

at the very end. This was not good writing practice and hence, revised later on. It is essential that the conclusion re-affirms your thesis.That is essentially what you've been trying since the very beginning-to make a case for yourself! This paper concludes in the following manner:

"The Elizabethan theatre thus found an articulate defender in Shakespeare. By clearly delineating the distinction between the hypocrisy of the detractors and their objections to the stage, Shakespeare questioned the right of the officials of London and Puritans of the time to cast stones , as it were, for a sin they themselves were guilty of.Indeed,after the interregnum of the Commonwealth,Shakespeare,unlike the forgotten detractors,is still read and debated even five centuries later and regarded as amongst those few able to articulate truth though the medium of their craft. His truth reaches down through centuries to worlds and peoples neither he nor his detractors could have conceived of in Elizabethan England and serve to entertain,chastise and inform."

  • There you have it! A perfect conclusion which can be lengthened if you want, but should try and sum of the crux of your paper once again. Perhaps, generalization as this author as done towards the end, is also a good tactic too!