Literary Essay REVIEW

1. Literary Essay REVIEW Body Paragraph Focus

3. Tips for Literary Essays • STEP 1 • Be 100% sure you understand the topic • Use the dictionary to help you break down the topic question • Remember to think of context when determining which definition best suits the topic question. Many times, essay topics deal with the human condition and/or experience. • Before you ask me for help, I need to see evidence that you have attempted to understand the question ON YOUR OWN

4. Tips for Literary Essays • STEP 2 • Develop your thesis and blueprint • Remember that the thesis MUST answer the question specifically & explicitly • Consider double checking your thesis with me BEFORE you plan the rest of your essay

5. Tips for Literary Essays • STEP 3 • Plan the body paragraphs • Think of points/examples to prove your thesis • Look for quotations to support your claims • Think about the possible implications you can address or make regarding the reasons WHY characters act a certain way • Think about possible symbols/literary devices that the author uses to help supplement or emphasize certain aspects

6. Introduction

7. Introduction • The introduction of a literary essay has three sections to it. This paragraph is responsible for introducing the topic of the essay, the specific details the essay will develop and the thesis, or central idea the essay will focus on.

9. The Body Paragraphs

11. Ophelia initially clings to the hope that Hamlet’s noble mind is not compromised.She sees and has faith in Hamlet’s honour. “My lord, he hath importuned me with love/In honourable fashion...and hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,/ With almost all the holy vows of heaven.”(I.iii.115-119) Where Laertes and Polonius have doubts in Hamlet’s sincerity, Ophelia defends his advances as honest and good intentioned. Ophelia particularly emphasises the coupling of Hamlet’s vows of love with “holy vows of heaven.” To her, deception is not possible in the face of God. Her view may be naive, but it reveals her confidence in the truth and purity of life.Later, when Ophelia is confronted with Hamlet’s mad act, she appeals to the heavens to return him, to erase the blemishes from his mind. “O heavenly powers, restore him!” (III.i.153) At this point, she still believes in justice, the ability to right wrongs and save the noble at heart. Hope remains in her mind because of her faith in the inherent goodness of heaven and earth.By the end of Ophelia and Hamlet’s exchange, her resolve begins to show signs of wear. “And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,/That sucked the honey of his music vows,/Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,/Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh,/That unmatched form and feature of blown youth/Blasted with ecstasy.”(III.i.168-172)This is the beginning of Ophelia’s crisis of faith. The contrasting images of the “sweet bells” with their discordant song and the “noble and most sovereign reason” suddenly “blasted with ecstasy” juxtapose Hamlet’s dark madness with Ophelia’s pure perception. Ophelia finds it difficult to accept Hamlet’s fall from grace, but neither can she believe that he would deceive her. Fissures of doubt begin their spider-like spread through her mind as she tries to reconcile her beliefs with “reality”.

12. Conclusion

13. Conclusion

14. REQUIREMENTS • a) no slang • b) no contractions • c) present tense • d) quotations and paraphrasing • e) effective title • f) required paragraph number and structure