Download 2006 Essays

Reading and Writing: Spring 2006 (C period)
Shakespeare Hamlet
3/6/06
Essay 1 Carson Anderson
Action involving scheming, plotting, and/or entrapment controls much of what happens throughout the play. Focus
on such instances and explore what themes these attempts reinforce within the play as a whole. To begin, you might
consider Horatio’s final words regarding “purposes mistook,” the Player king’s speech, and Polonius.
Essay 2 Ally Baxter
Laertes and Fortinbras are often seen as literary foils to Hamlet. Making concrete references to the text, discuss the
roles played by these two characters and show how they help us to a fuller understanding of the “sweet prince.”
Essay 3 David St. Charles
Apply the following to Hamlet: “A Man who wished to make a profession of goodness in everything must
necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to
maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of
the case.” The Prince Machiavelli
Stoppard Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
3/9/06
Essay 4 John Casavant
Discuss the role of the Players in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. What issues seem to be particularly brought into
focus by the episodes in which they appear? You want somehow to articulate their centrality to the play as a whole.
Essay 5 Hunter Morgan
Tom Prideaux writes that “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern proves to be an apt expression of our dilemmas and
doubts. . . . Uncertainty is a sign not necessarily of a weak and wavering mind but often of a venturous mind prying
out truths not simple to assess.” Discuss this statement in relation to the play as a whole.
Essay 6 Rachna Patel
Discuss the following statement in relation to the play: “Man . . . is a minor character in a drama which he cannot
understand, dependant for recognition on people who do not even control their fate and forces which may not even
exist.”
Conrad Heart of Darkness
3/31/06
Essay 7 Devin Mathis
Many critics claim that Heart of Darkness has two competing heroes. Make the case for either Marlow or Kurtz as
the true “hero” of the book.
Essay 8 Ray Boaz
Discuss the framing story that structures Heart of Darkness. Why is it important to narrate Marlow in the act of
telling his story?
Essay 9 Michael Levine
Discuss the role or function of women in Heart of Darkness.
4/5/06
Essay 10 Devin Arp
From the very opening on the Thames in Heart of Darkness, when day mixes with night, Conrad uses images of
light and dark. Traditionally, light represents “good” and dark represents “bad.” What use does Conrad make of
these possible interpretations? What do his constant references to light and dark suggest about Marlow’s story?
Essay 11 Sara Watson
Kurtz’s dying words are a cryptic whisper: “The horror, the horror.” What “horror” could Kurtz have been talking
about? Is there more than one possibility? Why do you think Conrad made this scene so ambiguous?
Essay 12 Anushri Desai
Why does Marlow lie to Kurtz’s fiancée about Kurtz’s last words? Why not tell her the truth, or tell her that Kurtz
had no last words, rather than affirming her sentimental and mundane ideas?
Reading and Writing: Spring 2006 (F period)
Shakespeare Hamlet
3/6/06
Essay 1 Diana Villa
From his first interchange with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in which he contends that man is a
“quintessence of dust,” Hamlet grapples with what it means to be a “man” (see Iv.iv.33 ff.) Consider
these various grapplings and discuss their centrality to the play as a whole.
Essay 2 Kirk Vernegaard
Explore the various parallel and contrasting scenes in the play. By looking at the incidents and the
speeches that accompany them, explore the purpose they serve.
Stoppard Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
3/9/06
Essay 3 Kacey Weddle
Tom Stoppard has remarked on his own work, “I tend to write through a series of small, large, and
microscopic ambushes—which might consist of a body falling out of a cupboard, or simply an
unexpected word in a sentence.” Write a paper discussing this remark in relation to his practice in
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Can you identify different kinds of “ambushes” in this work?
Do the characters get “ambushed” as well as or in the same way as the audience?
Essay 4 Jessica Williams
Discuss the Player’s statement that every exit is an entrance somewhere else as a central theme in the
play.
Conrad Heart of Darkness
3/31/06
Essay 5 Caitlin Taber
Describe the use of “darkness” both in the book’s title and as a symbol throughout the text. What does
darkness represent? Is its meaning constant or does it change?
Essay 6 Matt Clemmer
Discuss the framing story that structures Heart of Darkness. Why is it important to narrate Marlow in the
act of telling his story?
4/5/06
Essay 7 Vihra Groueva
"What is so elusive about [Conrad] is that he is always promising to make some general philosophic
statement about the universe, and then refraining with a gruff disclaimer.... Is there not also a central
obscurity, something noble, heroic, beautiful, inspiring half-a-dozen great books, but obscure, obscure?...
[He] is misty in the middle as well as at the edges, ... the secret casket of his genius contains a vapour rather
than a jewel..." (E.M. Forster, Abinger Harvest)
Why might there be this obscurity? Assuming that the work is not a series of failures to make a profound
moral statement, explore it rather as a work which generates other ways of meaning?
Essay 8 Alex Prebul
Why does Marlow lie to Kurtz’s fiancée about Kurtz’s last words? Why not tell her the truth, or tell her
that Kurtz had no last words, rather than affirming her sentimental and mundane ideas?