The essay should compare and contrast one of the four foil characters (Ophelia) in Hamlet to Hamlet himself, showing an understanding of the foil character (Ophelia) and his or her motivations and how he or she contributes to the play. You should not only summarize or respond to the text; instead, you should make a claim that must be argued. Your title should be interesting and point to the main point of the essay. Place your thesis statement in your introduction paragraph, and clearly state the main point of your essay. Each of your main points should support or lead up to the proving of the thesis statement. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, and support that topic sentence throughout the paragraph. Stay on topic throughout the paragraph, and do not jump back and forth between topics. Each sentence should lead logically to the next sentence. Develop your paragraphs by giving examples from the play, citing the play, and explaining those citations. Each idea you present should be supported by textual evidence (correctly cited). Conclude by reinforcing your thesis statement and by answering “so what?” The final page of your essay (not counting toward the page requirement) should be a work cited page.
MLA format (no title page)
3rd person only (No 1st Person (I) or 2nd Person (you)
2 full pages
1 inch margins
12 point Times New Roman
Double-spaced
Separate paragraphs (the entire essay shouldn’t be one paragraph)
A title such as…
Emily Grierson: A Victim of the Old South
The title should not be bold, italicized, or placed in quotations. (simply center it on the top line before the introduction.)
A work cited page
