Analytical Paragraph from “Hamlet”

This writing exercise was produced as an example for my senior English students, to demonstrate the use of quotations in an analytical text. I have modelled the use of short, one-to-five word quotations, showing how the reader should be able to move seamlessly between the analysis and Shakespeare’s words. The preferred method for interrupting a quotation – using square brackets to perhaps change tense or clarify meaning – is also illustrated. And finally, the appropriate formal tone of an analytical essay is adopted. This paragraph also models best practice in structuring a formal argument: a topic sentence which explains the main points to be discussed; the exploration of the arguments in chronological order and with textual support; a concluding sentence which restates the main points of the argument (or as I used to explain it to students, ‘Tell me what you’ll tell me, then tell me, then tell me what you’ve told me’.).

Laertes is a cautious, conventional young man who, on the murder of his father, abandons common sense and honour in a frantic, careless surge towards his own physical and spiritual destruction. In Acts I and II, Laertes is a polite young gentleman, uninvolved in the political machinations of his country, who cautions his sister to “be wary” (I.3:43) and rather pompously criticises the rebelliousness of his generation: “Youth to itself rebels, though none else near” (I.3:44), ironically foregrounding his later reckless behaviour. Polonius hints at his son’s potential instability by giving him very detailed advice before Laertes leaves for Paris and then sending Reynoldo to spy on him. In Act IV, Prince Hamlet “kills the unseen good old man” (IV.1:12), Polonius, and King Claudius disposes of the body with “no trophy, sword or hatchment o’er his bones, No noble rite or formal ostentation (IV.5:214-5). These events are the catalyst to Laertes’ destruction, as Ophelia seems to predict when she warns that “my brother shall know of it” (IV.5: 70). Immediately the counsellor’s son “in secret come[s] from France” (IV.5:89), listens to dangerous rumours, is “riotous” (IV.5:103) and heads “the rabble” (IV.5:104) in a rebellion. Laertes “dare[s] damnation” (IV.5:134) in his pursuit of revenge, and seeing his sister maddened by grief further motivates him. Although Claudius explains that he himself was Hamlet’s real target and assures Laertes that he has already arranged Hamlet’s murder, word of the prince’s return from England gives Laertes the opportunity he desires: to not only accuse Hamlet that “thus didest thou” (IV.7:56) but, encouraged and flattered by Claudius, to also stab and poison Hamlet with “an unction” (IV.7:140) that he has bought perhaps for that very purpose. Ophelia’s death and funeral interrupt these plans but not for long. Osric’s sycophantic praise of Laertes as “an absolute gentleman” (V.2:106) who is talented with both “rapier and dagger” (V.2:143) is, as Laertes is aware, part of Claudius’ plan to provoke Prince Hamlet into a fight he will not survive. When Hamlet publicly asks Laertes’ pardon, he is deceived; Laertes, with his murderous plans in place, assures the prince he “will not wrong [Hamlet’s] offered love” (V.2:245-6). Once the contest begins, he is infuriated by what he perceives as mockery from his unsuspecting opponent and relentlessly attacks Hamlet. Eventually despite it being “almost against my conscience” (V.2:290), Laertes succeeds in poisoning not only Hamlet but himself through his “foul practice” (V.2:311). He refuses to accept full responsibility for this, however, declaring “the King’s to blame” (V.2:314). Laertes’ final act is to offer a shameful truce to the dying Hamlet, granting the prince the forgiveness he pretended to grant previously if Hamlet is willing to pardon him. Thus, he forgives his father’s murderer, abandoning any claims to vengeance, in an effort to save himself from damnation. Throughout the play, Laertes degenerates from a noble, honourable young man to a manipulated fool, eager to dissemble, deceive and self-destruct.