a) What do you know about Hamlet, the "Melancholy Dane"?
It's such a coincidence that one of my friends shared a video about the summary and analysis of Hamlet. I watched that video because I knew we were going to study Hamlet. I now know the basic summary of it but I'm not sure how credible the source (video) was for analysis, so I do not know the deeper meaning, the purpose, of Hamlet and also don't have enough information to characterize the characters.
b) What do you know about Shakespeare?
I don't have too much information about Shakespeare but I know very general and broad information. I know he wrote plays, I also know one of his themes has political aspect and another has social aspect to it, almost always. Freshman year, I read Romeo and Juliet and Sophomore year, I read Julius Caesar. Both of the plays had puns, irony, monologue, soliloquy, etc. as literary devices.
c) Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?
So many students, me included, frown hearing Shakespeare's name and I think it's because Shakespeare's writing has an edge to it. The way he writes, with twists in plots, complicated characters, all the different literary devices, diction and syntax, and most importantly the deeper meaning behind every single character and plot twist tends to confuse the students. It's hard to understand what Shakespeare wants his readers to get out of his work.
d) What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?
To understand Shakespeare better, I would like to do something completely different (not at all essays and assignments). For example, In Mrs. Byrne's class, while reading Dante's Inferno, we did a project where we somehow demonstrated the nine circles of hell that Dante created. There were no requirements except show the nine circles and your understanding. People burned CDs with music, made videos, games, posters, etc. and I think it helped me understand Dante more than any other literary piece that I read.
It's such a coincidence that one of my friends shared a video about the summary and analysis of Hamlet. I watched that video because I knew we were going to study Hamlet. I now know the basic summary of it but I'm not sure how credible the source (video) was for analysis, so I do not know the deeper meaning, the purpose, of Hamlet and also don't have enough information to characterize the characters.
b) What do you know about Shakespeare?
I don't have too much information about Shakespeare but I know very general and broad information. I know he wrote plays, I also know one of his themes has political aspect and another has social aspect to it, almost always. Freshman year, I read Romeo and Juliet and Sophomore year, I read Julius Caesar. Both of the plays had puns, irony, monologue, soliloquy, etc. as literary devices.
c) Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?
So many students, me included, frown hearing Shakespeare's name and I think it's because Shakespeare's writing has an edge to it. The way he writes, with twists in plots, complicated characters, all the different literary devices, diction and syntax, and most importantly the deeper meaning behind every single character and plot twist tends to confuse the students. It's hard to understand what Shakespeare wants his readers to get out of his work.
d) What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?
To understand Shakespeare better, I would like to do something completely different (not at all essays and assignments). For example, In Mrs. Byrne's class, while reading Dante's Inferno, we did a project where we somehow demonstrated the nine circles of hell that Dante created. There were no requirements except show the nine circles and your understanding. People burned CDs with music, made videos, games, posters, etc. and I think it helped me understand Dante more than any other literary piece that I read.
No comments:
Post a Comment