An essay on an obscure word used by William Shakespeare, “directitude,” has won a Kansas University student a national prize.

Garth Kimbrell, an English major from Wichita, has received the 2006 North Scholar’s Prize for his essay on Shakespeare’s play “Coriolanus.”

The award has a $2,500 prize and goes annually to an outstanding undergraduate essay on a literary topic. Some 200 students entered this year’s contest. Kimbrell wrote the essay for an assignment designed to look critically at a Shakespeare play that had not been discussed in class.

Kimbrell said he chose “Coriolanus,” which focuses on the legendary Roman leader. As he researched the play, he ran across the word “directitude,” looked it up and couldn’t find any other use of the word.

Kimbrell’s essay is titled “‘Directitude? What’s that?’: A Verbal Blunder and Unstable Identity in Coriolanus.”