Reading Selections for this Module:

Jobs, Steve. Commencement Address. Stanford University
Commencement Weekend. Stanford, CA. 12 June 2005.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Act III, Sc. 1: Hamlet’s “To
be, or not to be” soliloquy.

Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Part I – My Father
Bleeds History. 1986. Print
Activity 1: Quickwrite

Getting ready to read: Quickwrite (5 min)
1. What does being alive mean to you? What
makes it worth living?
2. Why do you think it’s important to understand
what your value of life is?
3. Why do you think it’s important to understand
other people’s values of life?
As you contemplate your own perspective on the
value of life, consider your own life, how it’s going,
and where you’re taking it in your 3rd journal entry
on your senior website (activity 1a).
Activity 2: Journal Entry #3

With this reflection on yourself and what you consider to
be the most important parts of life, complete your 3rd
journal entry (due Jan 7th)

500 word minimum

Uploaded and published as blog on your website

Free of grammar and spelling errors
“Hamlet’s Soliloquy”
Activity 3: Surveying the Text

Our first text is the famous “To be or not to be” speech from
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The speech is a
soliloquy—a long speech that allows the audience to hear the
thoughts of a character when he or she is alone on stage.

Take a moment to look over the text and answer the following
questions under the heading “Activity 2:”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What prior experience have you had reading plays?
What did you notice about the page format and annotations?
What did you notice about the text’s structure (the way it’s
formatted on the page)?
What is a tragedy? What themes and outcomes would you
expect to find in a tragedy?
What do you know about the language in plays written by
Shakespeare?
Pre-Reading Info
BACKGROUND
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) who wrote at least 38 plays and 158
sonnets, is widely regarded as the greatest English writer of all time.
His insight into the human mind still influences literature today, as
does his creation of over 1,700 words (drugged, lowered, torture, and
swagger are just a few).
Keep in mind that Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is not only considered by
most scholars to be Shakespeare’s greatest play, but it is also thought
by many to be the greatest work of literature ever written. Period. In
addition to its thrilling storyline, the twisted inner thoughts of the hero,
Hamlet, draw us in with familiarity.
At this point in the play, Hamlet feels that he is in a crisis. His father
died a few months earlier under mysterious circumstances. Afterward,
his father’s ghost appears and tells him that he was secretly
murdered—by Hamlet’s uncle (the king’s own brother), Claudius.
Making things even worse, Claudius then marries Hamlet’s mother.
Hamlet does not know what to do about this knowledge. He wonders
whether he can trust anyone or if perhaps he really is going crazy.
Video Background
(Royal Shakespeare Co., 2010)

Act I, Scene 2 (watch 3:25 – 5:06): Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle) calls him “our
son,” a term that Hamlet doesn’t care for just yet. He is still grieving the loss
of his father, and is upset that his mother and uncle/stepfather seem to have
gotten over it so quickly.

Act I, Scene 4 (watch 2:15 – 3:45; 5 – 5:30): Hamlet and the night watchmen
see the king’s ghost. When Hamlet is alone with his ghostly father, the spirit
reveals that he has been murdered, and Hamlet (a man who isn’t normally a
big fan of violence) has been ordered to avenge his father’s death.

Act II, Scene 2 (0:00 – 1:48) Hamlet pretends he’s going crazy, to throw off
any suspicion as he investigates whether the new king (his uncle) really did
kill his father. Note: the steward speaks into the camera because he knows
that the king is studying the security cameras to see if Hamlet is a threat.

Act II, Scene 2 (0:00 – 1:15) Hamlet grows frustrated that he is pretending to
be crazy and passionate, yet he himself feels numb and empty inside,
unable to love or be loved with his life in such a miserable state. He speaks
about himself as “he” because he is referring to the man he is acting as.
Activity 4: Surveying Vocabulary

Read through the text once silently. This time, though, it is
just for vocabulary.

List any words you do not know, along with the line
number, in your activities template.

When you’re finished, I’ll help you define these words.
Activity 5: First Read-through

As you first read the text, focus on what you see as the “big
picture” Hamlet describes.

When you get stuck, try to connect what Hamlet is saying
to what he says before/after; if you’re still stuck, highlight
the text using Adobe to go back later.

Hamlet speaks in METAPHORS. He often says one thing to
describe something else.

Based on this first reading, respond to the following
questions in your activities template:
1.
2.
What does the question “to be, or not to be” refer to?
Would you say that Hamlet is an optimist or a pessimist? What
are your reasons for thinking so?
Activity 6: Decoding Hamlet

Still lost? That’s okay – it takes a while with Shakespeare. To help “crack the
code,” we’ll split up to try to unravel what he is saying by putting it into
everyday speech.

All group members should help, but have one member of your group write
down your lines’ modern version on a separate sheet of paper, with your names
and group #. Remember: put this into your OWN words! You should not be using
phrases from the original text. Avoid metaphors.

Group ONE: lines 1-5 (beginning – “end them”)


Group TWO: lines 5 – 9 (“To die...” – “to be wished”)


Whips and scorns of time (line 15): pains of life
Group FIVE: lines 21 – 27 (“Who would…” – “know not of?”)



Sleep here is a metaphor for death. So what are dreams, then ?
Group FOUR: lines 15 – 21 (“For who…” – “bodkin”)


“Flesh is heir to” (line 8): the physical body, according to fate, must experience
Group THREE: lines 9 – 14 (“To die…” – “long life”)


Hint: “outrageous fortune” – the pain that comes with bad luck/a bad life or fate
Undiscovered country (line 24): life after death
The will (line 25): willpower or desire
Group SIX: line 28 – end (“Thus conscience…” – end)


Sicklied (line 30) – made pale (a pale color is associated with cowards)
Name of action (line 33): decision to act
Activity 6: Decoding Hamlet
(Cont’d)

Now, we’ll bring those translations together to keep for
further reference when you go to write your final paper.

Write your copy of the decoded soliloquy under Activity 5
in your activities template
Activity 7: 2nd Read-through
and Ethos, Pathos, Logos

REVIEW the combined modern update that your class has made
for Hamlet’s speech.

Watch the performance of Hamlet’s speech. There are many
different versions available on Youtube – Ethan Hawke, Kenneth
Branagh, Mel Gibson…Each with his own interpretation.

After doing so, respond to the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the big issue in Hamlet’s soliloquy?
Does Hamlet have a positive or negative view about life? Give
at least 2 examples from the text to back up your answer.
What claim or argument about the value of life does Hamlet
make?
What do you think about Hamlet’s claim?
Activity 7: 2nd Read-through
and Ethos, Pathos, Logos
5.
Does Hamlet’s soliloquy use emotion (pathos) to create a specific
effect on the reader? If so, describe how emotion is used.
6.
Does Hamlet’s soliloquy use logic (logos) to create specific
effects on the reader? If so, describe how the logic is used.
7.
Which do you think he relies on more - pathos or logos? Explain.
8.
When Hamlet speaks, he is in a crisis. Does Hamlet seem to be
speaking about his life in particular or about the quality of life in
general?
9.
KEEP IN MIND! Hamlet is not really speaking, because he is a
character created by Shakespeare. Does Shakespeare seem like
someone whose opinions and attitudes are worth considering?
Why? This is examining the authority (ethos) of our source.
Activity 8: Survey the Text
Let’s answer these out loud
1.
What do you know about Steve Jobs? If you don’t know
anything, use your phone to do a quick internet search and
write down a fact or two here.
2.
What kind of writing—what genre—do you think this text
is?
3.
Do you think Jobs will be more of an optimist (positive
about life), or a pessimist (negative)? Explain.
Activity 9: Key Vocabulary
Jobs does an excellent job of defining words within his text,
but here are a few you may also not know. Let’s take a second
to go over them.
Naively (¶ 5): innocently Intuition (¶ 6):
(without experience)
instinct
Entrepreneur (¶ 12): an
innovator in business
Romantic (¶ 6): like a
movie/book; idealistic
Calligraphy (¶ 7): Baton (¶ 12): metaphorical;
the art of writing,
the baton passed in a relay
with a quill and ink race
Hare Krishna (¶ 6): a
religious movement
based in Hinduism
Serif (¶ 7): a type
font
Pancreas (¶ 19) : organ used
in digestion
Activity 10: Read for Understanding
As we hear Jobs speak, pay
attention to the way Jobs talks
about the value of life. As you
did with Hamlet, try to
determine whether Jobs
appears to be generally
pessimistic or optimistic in
this interview.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=asFUhS-eHfA
When finished, take a minute
to reflect on what you think
Jobs is trying to say about life,
in your activities template.
Activity 11: Considering Structure
Now, in your notes, answer the following questions. Be as
specific as possible.
1.
Consider where Jobs shifts from idea to idea. What kind of
“transition” words does Jobs use to indicate to his
audience when he is moving on to a new section of his
argument? Write a few of these words here.
2.
What is the purpose of the opening section of the speech?
3.
What is the purpose of the first story?
4.
What is the purpose of his second story?
5.
What is the purpose of his third story?
6.
What is the purpose of the concluding section?
Activity 12: 2nd Read-through
After reading the text through a second time, answer the
following questions in your activities template.
1.
What do you think is Jobs’s main claim in his speech?
2.
What do you think about this claim? Explain.
3.
What do you think he means by “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish
(¶ 25 – 26)?
4.
What might Hamlet have to say in response to Jobs’s
argument? What points would they agree on? What points
would they disagree about?
5.
Explain how Jobs’s experiences have shaped his value of
life (you should have a long answer for this one).
6.
Do you find Jobs’s claim convincing? Explain.
Activity 13: Ethos, Pathos, Logos
Answer the following questions regarding the effectiveness of
Jobs’s argument.
1.
Does Jobs use pathos (our emotions) to convince us?
Explain.
2.
Does Jobs ever use logic (facts, truths, etc.) in his
argument? Explain.
3.
(Ethos). Do the stories about his life that Jobs tells the
audience strengthen his argument? Explain.
ACTIVITY 20: SEI
With a better understanding of what you think are the most
valuable elements to life, and what we should be striving for,
now is the perfect time to finish (begin and finish?) your
senior exit interview. Its completion is due February 6th.
Remember, think outside the box! Get creative.
See the senior website for more info.
Activity 22: Checklist and
Reflection

Complete on your activities template before submitting
module for grading.