Hamlet: A Happening

Ben Franklin once said, "Originality is the art of concealing your sources."

By the way, I, uh, just plucked that from the top of my head and definitely didn't steal it from the quote of the week in my planner. Ben would be proud of me, I'm sure.

Whenever I sit down to write a paper, I always have to sort out all of the ideas in my head; or, convince myself that I have ideas about a subject when I really, in actuality, do not. Once I do finally sit down to write, however, I sometimes wonder just how original my thoughts are. Did I just summarize something my professor said? Didn't some other scholar think of this before me? Did I just take an established theory and change one small detail to make it sound hip and groovy? The thought of it all can be paralyzing.

I think I'm going to start writing papers like this:

"Hamlet: A Happening

Hamlet was a wild play! The story begins with the sighting of a ghost. Naturally, this leads the characters to engage in page after page of dialogue (a hallmark of Shakespeare's work; characters that is). Hamlet does a lot of wild shit primarily to mess with people out of sheer boredom. Alternative theories suggest he did it to avenge his father's death, but what is this, 'The Lion King?' In conclusion, no one really needed to die, but they all did anyway. Denmark was confused, but glad the play was over."

I only hope I concealed my sources well enough.