HAMLET VALUE OF LIFE

ACTIVITY 1 courtesy of me, Tiana
1. What prior experiences do you have reading plays?
As a freshman in high school, we were required to spend a whole unit, studying, understanding and reviewing The Odyssey. This helped understand how to read plays and be familiar with them.
2. What did you notice about the format and annotations?
The format of Hamlet was strict iambic pentameter. Shakespeare followed a certain form and continued throughout the play. The connotations were very hard to understand in present day English. Shakespeare used old English to convey his messages.
3.What did you notice about the texts structure?
The texts structure as I said above was based on iambic pentameter. He had a strict format of which he used throughout. His lines and/or sentenced seemed to run on. I think this had a purpose in the conveying his poetic style however. Lastly, his soliloquy is written in common play format.

ACTIVITY 5: courtesy of Alyssa Barajas

Term                                                                       Antonym
Oppression                                                              Contumely (contempt)
Action                                                                      Calamity (tragedy)
Endurance                                                                To die-to sleep
Mystery                                                                    "take arms against a sea of trouble"
Life                                                                          Quietus (death)

Term                                                                       Word Family
Action                                                                      take arms, opposing, shuffled off, bear the whips, to                                                                                     grunt and sweat,
Thought                                                                    question, mind to suffer, to be wish'd, perchance to                                                                                       dream, conscience
Suffering                                                                   suffer, bear the whips and scorns of time
Morality                                                                   sins remember'd, grunt and sweat, coil, calamity
Fear                                                                         quietus, bodkin, suffer, slings and arrows, take arms                                                                                     a

ACTIVITY 7: courtesy of Summer Morgan heart-ache, weary life,

1. Where does Hamlet ask the central question of his soliloquy?
Hamlet asks the central question, whether he should continue living or end his own life, at the very beginning  of his soliloquy.

2. Where does he restate this question in greater detail?
Hamlet restates his question of living in greater detail throughout the rest of his soliloquy. He goes deeper and deeper into his thoughts about what he should do, if he really could go on or if this was the end for him.

3. Does Hamlet ever answer this question?
Although throughout the whole speech Hamlet sounds melancholy causing you too think that, in the end, he will choose to give up on life instead of continuing it; he never really clearly states his answer to his own question.

4. Does he ask any other questions in this speech?
The whole speech is made up of smaller questions that coincide with his huge opening question. He starts his speech with the big question and the rest consists of smaller questions that lead into his first question of whether or not he wants to live.

5. Who or what interrupts Hamlet at the end of his soliloquy? Do you think he was finished talking?
Ophelia interrupts Hamlet at the end of his soliloquy, I don't think that he was finished talking, he just suddenly ended his thoughts and stopped speaking.

ACTIVITY 10 courtesy of me, Tiana
First, Hamlet clearly uses many strategies. One clear personification is this sentence:
"Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,"
Here, Hamlet personifies the sea by giving it troubles. All this line is saying is, "Should I fight against a these large amount of troubles."
"For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time,"
Here is another example of personification where Hamlet gives time, "life" by personifying it. This sentence is conveying "Who wants to deal with all life's struggles?". 
Shakespeare's stylistic ways make him the famous playwright that he is. In this speech alone, these strategies create a dramatic atmosphere at which a reader gets engulfed in and can feel a mood. A reader can become more involved in the reading and also understand the true, deeper feelings the character feels.
ACTIVITY 12 courtesy of Gabi:

1. the soliloquy appeals more through pathos rather than logos. this is apparent because the soliloquy is more or less the thoughts and emotions of that person put into a monologue, therefore pathos is a big part of it.

2. Yes, Shakespeare uses pathos to create an effect on the reader. By Hamlet expressing his confrontational problem and stylistically debating it causes a nostalgic response for readers. people are able to connect this with something that may have happened to them, has, or is in their near future. It helps the reader to feel a connection to Hamlet because the emotions of confliction are common place.

3. Shakespeare also uses logic, or logos, to help the reader with understanding Hamlet. When Hamlet starts debating life and death, and what is worth it and what not, he uses logic to create a contrast between them:

"Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer

The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,

Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles..."

4. When people are put in tight situations, the value of their life becomes clear to them because they tend to take a broader stance when the situation is. Hamlet defines this with his soliloquy. He seems to be talking about the quality of life in general, but alludes to his life because it is what he knows.

5. YES, Shakespeare's views and thoughts are definitely worth considering. He provides insight and a fresh point of view to concepts we can all relate to, but that haven't been found. He expresses them through stories and artistically through characters, so as you learn about concepts through the characters, it feels less like you're being taught, and more like you are being enlightened.

Activity 13: Hamlet

Title: Hamlet's Soliloquy
Author: Shakespeare
Genre: Dramatic Play

What is the text's big issue?
-People have this misconception of this speech, as Hamlet trying to kill himself. That is not the case. The real issue is, Hamlet's uncle just killed his father, and slept with his mother. Hamlet wants to escape from his newly ruined life. He contemplates killing his uncle, but the real issue for him is to sleep. "To dream." If he can escape from this nightmare of a situation, that is really his goal. If he can sleep, and dream, then he can dream himself into a different life. Preferably a life unlike his very own at the moment.

What claim does the text make?
-The claim made is to live or die. To continue living this lifestyle, or begin to live a new one through killing his uncle, or to sleep and dream. To continue to tolerate the whips and scorns of time, or the pain of rejected love. It claims to either stay in the world given to him, to life with the mistakes of his mother and the ghostly remembrances of his father, or to create a dream in which he can escape his awful life and start a fictional one.

What are examples or quotes from the text?
-"to be or not to be, that is the question"-to be what he knows or to be what his life truly has become
"...tis nobler in the mind of suffering"-what is better, to ruin even more of what has become, or to stand tall and not fight back with his uncle's decisions
"by sleep we say to end"-to sleep, to end all his sufferings and to escape to a land of his own
"To die, to sleep"-which does he choose, his life where he is, or his own life he makes up
"To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"-a chance to dream, to escape his tragedy and make his own world in which he designs the outline of his dreams

What do you think about the text's claims?
-The first couple times i read this text, I hated it. But now i actually kind of enjoy learning about new eras and texts from way back, Shakespeare time. I think this claim is far more elaborate and detailed than the naked eye can see. You really have to take a hold of the words given, and sort of read between the lines. I dont truly believe i have gotten a complete grasp on this Soliloquy yet, but in time i will, hopefully.


What are your examples from the text?
"Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,"
-this first section of Shakespeare's piece really stood out to me. This examples shows all the thoughts from Hamlet, from the death thoughts, to the dreaming contemplation