I have posed the following topics in the form of a question because your response to the question will be the thesis statement. You would then find three points in the play that support your argument and develop those within the body of the essay.

• Does Hamlet's inability to act and tendency toward melancholy reflect a tragic flaw that leads to his demise?

• How does Horatio's steadfastness and loyalty contrast with Hamlet's variability and excitability, although they both love learning, reason, and thought? Does this help define Hamlet's personality for good or bad?

• How does Claudius' lack of morals and ruthless ambition contrast against Hamlet's always searching for the moral high ground before ever reacting to a situation? Would Hamlet's moral character help make him a better king?

• Throughout the play, Hamlet claims to be feigning madness, but his portrayals of a madman is so intense and so convincing that many readers believe that Hamlet actually slips into insanity at certain moments in the play. Do you think this is true, or is Hamlet merely play-acting insanity?

• Think about Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia. Is he justified in his ill treatment of her? Does he love her? Does he stop loving her? Did he ever love her? What evidence can you find in the play to support your opinion?

• How does Hamlet's friendship with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern compare to his friendship with Horatio

• Analyze the use of descriptions and images in Hamlet. How does Shakespeare use descriptive language to enhance the visual possibilities of a stage production? How does he use imagery to create a mood of tension, suspense, fear, and despair?

• Analyze the use of comedy in Hamlet, paying particular attention to the gravediggers, Osric, and Polonius. Does comedy serve merely to relieve the tension of the tragedy, or do the comic scenes serve a more serious thematic purpose as well?

• Death is a constant presence in this play. Does Hamlet's speech to Yorick's skull represent a philosophy of death? How does his attitude toward death differ from that of the gravediggers?

• Does the text hold up to a Freudian reading of Hamlet's relationship with his mother? How does Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia support, complicate or work against an Oedipal interpretation of the play?

• "To be or not to be" is the famous question that Hamlet poses in Act Three, Scene One. Explore this speech. What does he mean by this famous question? What events of the play prompt this speech?

• Can a healthy state be presided over by a corrupt ruler? Shakespeare draws frequent comparisons between the moral legitimacy of a leader and the health of a state. Is Denmark's monarchy responsible for the demise of the state in this play?

• Compare and contrast the characters of Hamlet and Fortinbras. Is Fortinbras a valuable character in his own right or does he serve only to highlight aspects of Hamlet's personality? Will he be a better king than either Claudius or Hamlet?