Question

What is a good thesis statement for Hamlet's famous soliloquy: To be or not to be, and main points?! D;

Answer 1

I have to write a short essay (1-1.5 pages, double-spaced) and it has to be a close analysis of Hamlet's solil., paying attention to his thoughts, attitudes and feelings, and the reasons for them at this point in the play. Also to identify and explain thought patterns, style, and technique but not summarizing.

So can my thesis be simply: "In the famous soliloquy, Hamlet makes a universal notion about life and death, though in the end makes a conclusion that thinking individuals who think too much can destroy themselves."



Eep, I need help making a thesis and the main points! D; I'm terrible at writing essays!

Answer 2

In terms simply of the phrasing, he cannot "make a notion" nor ought he really to "make" a conclusion. And "thinking individuals who think too much"? That's redundant.

You arrive at a thesis -- a statement that defines a position you will take -- by first reading (and rereading, as many times as it takes) and thinking about whatever it is your topic is, in this case Hamlet's soliloquy. It helps also to read what others have said, and to incorporate that into your paper, citing your sources of course.

Only you can come up with this thesis statement: it has to represent something YOU see in the speech that perhaps no one else does. It represents your unique angle on it.

Have you spent time reading and thinking about the speech? About how it fits into the play at that particular point? (What has just happened before it, to prompt it? What happens afterwards?) Have you gone line by line and analyzed his throughs, his attitudes, his feelings? You need to do that work in order to arrive at a thesis.

Although the thesis is presented to your readers at the beginning of your essay, you yourself do not arrive at it until after a good deal of work. In the process of arriving at a thesis, the thesis comes to you more as a conclusion. It is the conclusion you draw after working through the material yourself. Then you flip that work around and present it in reverse order, see what I mean?

During the reading and thinking portion of the pre-writing --

work work work work ----> thesis statement

But in your paper --

intro + thesis statement ---- and then, evidence, evidence, evidence

That "evidence" is all the work you did initially, repackaged now as supporting statements for your thesis.