My paper will be on the greater overall symbolism and effect of the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius. My thesis statement will be something similar to: "As a playwright, Shakespeare loved to play with the meaning and effect of relationships on life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the coupling of Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, and Claudius, his uncle."
Overall, I will be analyzing the effect the relationship has on Hamlet and his emotions throughout the play. Specifically, I will be looking at scenes where Claudius and Gertrude interact, and scenes in which Hamlet mentions his mother as well as scenes wherein the two communicate.
Conor,
ReplyDeleteThis (short) post suggests an interesting approach to the play--but to what end? I hope that you can spend some time thinking about just what the "meaning and effect" of relationships in life are. That is, your thesis seems more descriptive than interpretive at this point. You need to figure out what larger meaning your approach will reveal, and my hope is that this might arise as you review the scenes you mention above.
Conor, this is a good and different approach to analyzing Hamlet. Its a possibility also to relate the relationship of Cladius and Gerturd to that of HAmlet and Ophelia or to the Queen's marriage with King Hamlet.
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