Honour and Certainty?


Hint: consider the focus questions for this course.

30-1

“Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at the stake.” (Act 4 Scene 4, from Hamlet’s “How all occasions do inform against me” soliloquy)

Discuss the ideas developed by William Shakespeare in Hamlet about the ways in which individuals struggle to restore honour and certainty.

In your planning and writing, consider the following instructions:
• Carefully consider your controlling idea(thesis) and how you will create a strong unifying effect in your response.
• As you develop your ideas, support them with appropriate, relevant, and meaningful examples.
• Organize your discussion so that your ideas are clearly and effectively presented.
Grapple with the intricacies of the human condition and the fundamentals of human existence, quibble about ideas related to certainty(vs doubt) and honour(vs character).

30-2
Write a short story about a character who has lost a close family member and seeks revenge but is unable to because of some sort of doubt.

In your planning and writing, consider the following instructions:
• Carefully consider your setting, characters, and main conflict.
• Add more conflict when things appear too easily solved, but don’t solve the main conflict.
• Have your character change how they feel about the idea of revenge they held early in your story.
• End your story with tragedy.
• Connect to the ideas developed by William Shakespeare in Hamlet and your own ideas and experiences.

30-4
Reflect on a moment when you received some unexpected news and thought, “This news will change my life?” As you think back, to what extent did it change your life?

In your planning and writing, consider the following instructions:
• Carefully consider how you will create a strong unifying effect in your response.
• As you develop your ideas, support them with appropriate, relevant, and meaningful examples.
• Organize your discussion so that your ideas are clearly and effectively presented.
• Connect to your own interests, experiences, values ideas. Share personal anecdotes.