To ? or not to ?

Taken from Google Images

 

On Monday we deconstructed Hamlet's soliloquy "To be, or not to be..." - you guys did a great job!  We have one journal prompt for this week, and it pertains to these famous lines.  You will have to work on it more than merely this period, and it is your blog grade for the week, so put forth some effort and make it stellar!

What I would like you to do is think about the soliloquy from another person's perspective; it can anyone's perspective - even your perspective.  Next, think about Hamlet: he feels as though he is stuck between life and death, action and inaction - "To be, or not to be?" 

Think about a situation in which someone has had to deliberate over something - to act and just do it, or to avoid the task at hand.  Then rewrite Hamlet's entire soliloquy from that person's perspective.

Last year I had a student write his soliloquy from the perspective of an old cowboy who was looking back on his life; he mentioned things like "kickin' up his ol' dusty boots" and "looking across the valley" that held his cows and his past life.  Another student chose to write hers from her own perspective, deliberating on whether or not to buy a pair of shoes: "To buy the shoes, or not to buy the shoes - that is the question."  And then she deliberated with herself within the soliloquy about all of the reasons she should - or should not - buy those shoes.

I advise you to choose something personal to you to write about; I also advise you to make this creative.  I want to be "wow"ed when I read these on Friday!