Hamlet's soliloquy made simple Hamlet's soliloquy? You know it. Your English teacher spoke about it one day. But there are all these loooong words and these weird figures of speech... they give you headaches. Don't worry anymore. Here is this monster of English literature, made simple, just for you. Your little grey cell(s?) will thank us.
« To be, or not to be – that is the question: Should I just bear my pain, of fight to stop it? Which one is better? To die, to sleep No more; when you sleep, at least you don't suffer. Yeah, good idea! It must be the best pleasure, To die, or to sleep. But how about nightmares? It would be terrible to have one forever, And to never wake up! That's a pity: Because of that we must suffer so long! Who would accept to become old and weak, To be bullied, scorned by snobs, turned down by girls, To wait for justice, to work like a slave, When you can simply take a knife and die? But I know why: you are frightened By death, as nobody comes back to tell us What it looks like after! What if it was even worse? Because of that, even the brave Are stopped and prefer their present pain To the unknown. In other words, thinking too much Makes chickens of us all. »
Jeanne BERTAUD - TL1
HAMLET’S SOLILOQUY MADE SIMPLE Hi! Do you like Hamlet? You know “To be or not to be blablablablabla “! You don’t?! Wait a minute and listen to me!.... If you are too stupid to understand Shakespeare’s version, I suggest you MY version which is better, you can believe me!
To be or not to be, that is the question: Do I suicide myself or do I live with my pain? Is it braver to stand my destiny or to rebel against it? Is it better to sleep or to die to escape from my sorrow? But if I sleep, I will be haunted by nightmares and remorse! There are lots of injustices in this life: Old age, inequality, disdain, unrequited love … Life is full of hardships and it is paradoxical: People want to live and die. People are afraid of the after death. So it prevents them from acting. And as they always hesitate, They never really live!
Lucie COQUISART et Augustin BORDET
HAMLET’S SOLILOQUY MADE SIMPLE
Or again:
To be or not to be, that is the question. Should I avenge my father, and be a murderer Should I stay pure, and suffer, To die, to sleep, nothing more, What I am supposed to do? The more I live, the more I grieve, Life is not worth living Is not death a better way? Who would stand an unjust life, Made of pain and calamities? What a burden is that fear of death, Which, all our sad lives long, Prevents us from being free, and Could even pursue us into death! Of us all, death makes cowardly, And inert.
By Fouan LĂŠo and Sara Martin
Hamlet for kids (and dummies) You, who find Hamlet by W. Shakespeare so hard and so long. You have an alternative, easier and funnier with a lot of illustrations: Shakespeare tales for kids (or for you), revisited by Charles and Mary Lamb. Before reading, you must understand who these crazy and specific authors were.
At the end of the 18th century, a brother and a sister were born in London. They were still children but Charles and Mary took care of their parents. So they became the mum and the dad of their parents. Mary, who had really enough to take charge of her mum, eventually stabbed her with a dagger and hurt her dad. So she was confined to psychiatric hospital. Mary was under the care of her brother, they had become inseparable except during Mary’s other crisis, so she was again in psychiatric hospital for some days. They did a duet in literature. Books were created first for kids because, in that century, just boys had the right to go to school and so have access to Shakespeare’s works. Charles taught all his knowledge to his sister. Charles wrote tragedies because it was too hard for the health of Mary. We can deduce that is Charles who revisited Hamlet. Moreover, he wrote other well known articles and books that made him famous during his lifetime. Yet, we just remember their tales nowadays. After the death of her brother, Mary finished completely mad and crazy, like Hamlet in this tale.
BEAUDOIN Emma, DECH Pauline, FLUCHER Robin
A glossary of literary terms. You don’t know your literary terms? Maybe you can help you…or not! Well… if you want become more intelligent, just read this lexicon!
A play: It is not the verb “play” but here, it is a sort of story which shows characters who converse. A dialogue: It is a conversation between characters. A soliloquy: it is a long lyrical speech which is said by one character and when this one is alone. A stage-direction: It gives an indication about a character’s state-mind or how he/she must act. An act: It is similar to a chapter in a novel. It is composed of many scenes. A scene: It is a part of an act. A scene is different when the place or characters change. Prose: it is common language Verse: It’s a sentence with rhymes. Rhyme: We can find it in the end of a verse, it contains similar sounds.
….Now you know your literary terms about a play!
Bonvalet Melissa Dumetz Marie
Shakespeare’s Biography
William Shakespeare (and not shake spear) was probably born on the 23rd April of 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He died on the 23rd April of 1616 in the same place at the age of 52 years. He was an English poet, playwright and writer known for his mastery of the poetic and literary forms. His poems deal with human nature aspects. He learned at school, because, yes, he did go to school! (Latin, calligraphy and Catholicism) What? A Catholic writer in England whereas it’s a mostly protestant country? To top it all, he was baptized on the 26th April of 1564. At the age of 18(in 1582), he married Anna Hathaway. No, he did not spend all his time writing pretty poems and plays, he did have a wife, sorry ladies! With his wife, he got 3 children: a daughter and twins, poor him! After a long period, he disappeared from the literary history, this period of 7 years is called: “lost years” (not for everybody, trust me ;) ) He wrote plenty of plays which are really famous nowadays. No need to give examples, you already know them, don’t you?... Ok I will tell you some! Romeo and Juliet in 1595 (I’m sure you knew it!) Julius Caesar 1599
Pourrier Madeline Huget Maëlle
Hamlet on screen If you love family stories you must watch Hamlet on screen released in 1948 by Laurence Olivier. For the moment we will present you a very important moment of the play
“The soliloquy of Hamlet” –To be or not to beThe Film-maker chose to do the movie in black and white, it shows us the sadness of this play and now you will understand that is a tragic story. That’s why you will love and be interested in the dilemma of Hamlet. The producer uses a stressful music and sometimes there are peaks of stressful music. In some moments, he uses tragic music to show the feeling of the actor through the music. We can see him on a cliff in the middle of the ocean that’s why we hear the sound of the waves which are crashing against the cliff. So he is really in a high cliff and we can suppose that he is in the sky. At the beginning of the scene, there is a gloomy atmosphere. There is a lot of mist, which represents the sadness and the state of mind of the actor. This actor is Hamlet: he is the main character of the play, he has blond hair and he is a tall man. In his soliloquy Hamlet is wearing old clothes. Due to his way of dressing he seems to be a poor man, he looks so fragile. In his hand he has a dagger. When he begins to speak we can notice that his voice is calm most of the time and sometimes it is stressed. When he speaks he closes his eyes maybe to feel his words, sometimes he stops speaking as if he was acting a part on stage. At the beginning, he is sitting and at the end, he is standing, he goes away, and turns his back to the camera. Contrary to the beginning which shows his face. He is in this state of mind because he is the victim of a dilemma; will he kill Claudius or support him as his step father and new king? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ks-NbCHUns
PIERRET AMELIE BORSANI AURELIA
Hamlet on stage YOU WANNA BE COOL? YOU WANNA LOOK CLEVER? SO YOU MUST KNOW HAMLET! BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM, YOU ARE LAZY! SO WE HAVE A SOLUTION FOR YOU, WATCH THE PLAY OF HAMLET!!!!!!!
Hamlet is an English book adapted by John Gielgud, and produced by Alexander H. Cohen in 1964. But if you are very lazy the climax of the story is the soliloquy that is to say when a person speaks alone on the stage. The soliloquy illustrates Hamlet‘s dilemma because it allows Hamlet to express his feelings and his state of mind. We must remind you that you are truly lazy so watch Hamlet’s soliloquy acted by Richard Burton. The setting is empty; it is morose and gloomy because it is dark. There are no props just a bench and a stairway. You know the setting is not filled with decoration so your brain will focus on the soliloquy; consequently it's perfect for a lazy guy. Moreover, the actor is wearing black clothes; he looks not too young but he is a good embodiment of the character of Hamlet when he does his soliloquy. Sometimes, when he conveys his sorrow, his pain, he speaks louder than when he conveys his doubts. What's more, sometimes, he speaks fast and sometime slow. He conveys his doubts, his sorrow, the injustices of life, the tragedy of his family.
NOW , YOU ARE ALMOST CLEVER BUT IF YOU WANNA BE PERFECTLY CLEVER READ THE BOOK AND WATCHED ALL THE PLAY!!!!
DHOIFIR Toianti CARLIER Laura
Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Age So, you don’t know anything about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Age? Don’t worry; we are going to explain everything you need to know! First, let’s talk about Elizabeth:
Elizabeth was born on September, 7th 1533 in England and died in March, 24th 1603. She reigned since January, 15th 1559. She was a powerful and admired woman. Moreover she was very smart because she spoke 6 different languages. Elizabeth succeeded to the throne that’s why some see Elizabeth’s 45 year reign as a golden age of English history but she was also very religious because she helped create a Church of England that, although Protestant, allowed some of the old Catholic traditions to continue. During the Elizabethan Age, people believed in the old conception of the universe: earth in the middle of the universe, indeed the population was not receptive to the new inventions and discoveries of the Renaissance. However, it was also Shakespeare’s point of view and he showed that in his plays. During the Elizabethan Age, there were theatres which played short religious plays acted in churches then in open airs inspired by the Bible. After that, plays were developed into Morality plays in which Good and Evil fought in order to possess people’s souls. However in the second part of the fifteenth century, there were no longer plays linked with God and religion, there were history plays and revenge tragedies. Most of them influenced by Seneca, these plays showed bloody deaths and the need of revenge just like Hamlet, a play by Shakespeare.
Cammarata Hélène and Hoxhaj Xhensila
HAMLET, A TRAGEDY OF REVENGE..?
Let's talk about Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, published in 1601. First Hamlet is a tragedy because at the end, everybody is dead. Murdered, more exactly, just because of a ghost! The main thing is this play is revenge. No revenge = no Hamlet. Why? It's simple; at the beginning of the story, a ghost appears to Hamlet (the Prince of Denmark) and tells him to avenge his father (the former King of Denmark)n who was poisoned by Claudius, who is Hamlet's uncle and the new King of Denmark. Now, Hamlet has a mission: he has to kill Claudius! But Hamlet doesn't want to become a criminal, he wants to stay pure, so this mission depresses him. However, Hamlet has a pride, and a strong affection for his father, so he will the most as possible to avenge him? Moreover, Hamlet loathes Claudius, because he took the place of his father, even in Gertrude's - his mother, the Queen of Denmark - bed... So, if you want a story like Young and the restless, but with more blood and more violence, Hamlet is for you!!
By: Charlie Adèle
Prose and verse in Shakespeare You don't know what's prose and what's verse ? You really need us to understand ? Fine. FINE ! We will explain you.
Prose and verse are two different ways to write and speak in literature. They're both used by W. Shakespeare. Prose is the same way that you speak. You speak prose (Did you know it?). You know, prose is just a word for normal... For example, ordinary people speak in prose but Kings and Queens spoke in verse (too pretentious). There are rules but they are not as obvious and formal as the rules that you find in poetry. When you write in prose there is not any layout. When you speak in verse, it is different (unfortunately). Verse is poetry that has been given a particular rhythm. You use the same words in prose and in verse but you break the speech up into lines to make verses. At the beginning of each line the first letter is capitalised, and not just at the beginning of the sentence. But some modern poems don't respect this rule (OK, it is not as easy as it seemed)... But in Shakespeare's ones it is like that! Shakespeare used techniques to make his texts "pretty" (even if it doesn't seem to be...) Sometimes it makes it more dramatic (or not...). Shakespeare used verses to emphasize a very important part of the story. Much of Shakespeare's work is written in verse because he wanted his actors to speak in rhythmical poetry.
Bigetti Lorine and Denivet Camille
The Globe Theatre The Globe Theater is the beginning of a new planet, put your f***ing glasses because you can’t believe your eyes, it’s a world for a crazy man, for you! You can watch this video, it’s a proof. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcMA1Z7Shxk The Globe Theatre is a famous place built in 1599 in Southwark on the south bank of London’s River Thames by Richard Burbage. This Theatre was fully built in wood. It’s a parallel universe with a lot of traps on the floor and on the roof.
Source : nosweatshakespear.com
The Globe Theater burnt in 1613 and it was rebuilt in 1614. Come as you are! Winer and Lana TL1