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The Value of Life. Please take out 6 pieces of paper and title it “The Value of Life” – you will need it to respond to the following quickwrite and other questions in this unit. Adapted from CSU ERWC Material. Life is only valuable if you have a family .
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The Value of Life Please take out 6 pieces of paper and title it “The Value of Life” – you will need it to respond to the following quickwrite and other questions in this unit Adapted from CSU ERWC Material
Life is only valuable if you have a family. • Jot down whether you agree or disagree with this statement and WHY! • Philosophical Chairs: Move to sides/duke it out.
10-minute Quickwrite: Now that we’ve discussed all of this, answer the question: What is the value of life?* How do you measure the value of your own life? * What makes it worth living? * What gives life meaning?* Note: Respond as thoroughly as you can to this prompt. You will continue to add notes and responses to this page, so don’t lose it!
Create a Concept Map like this in your notes: • Concept: Life • Example sentence: • Synonyms: Contexts: • Examples: Non-examples:
Here are some examples to get you started; add as many more examples as you can come up with • Concept: Life • Example sentence: It is difficult to place a precise value on human life • Synonyms: Contexts: Vitality Medical Energy Economic • Examples: Non-examples: Lifestyle Death Life’s Work Inactivity
Concept Map -- Life • Synonyms: Contexts: Living Legal/penal Viability Religious Human being Personal/private Existence Professional/public Presence Autobiography • Examples: Non-examples: Life partner Inanimate objects The good life Afterlife The meaning of lifeNothingness Eternal life Non-existence Life sentence Sterility Life story Absence
Hamlet Soliloquy – Surveying the Text. Continue adding to your notes: • Soliloquy: a convention used by playwrights to allow an audience to hear the thoughts of a character • What prior experiences have you had reading plays? • What do you notice about the text structure?
Hamlet Soliloquy -- Predictions • Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragedy that was published in 1604. What is a tragedy? What themes and outcomes do you expect to find in a tragedy? • What do you know about the language in plays written by Shakespeare? What have you done in the past to help yourself read Shakespeare effectively?
Hamlet Soliloquy -- Predictions • The soliloquy here begins with a famous quotation: "To be, or not to be--that is the question." • Make a prediction: What do you think "the question" is that Hamlet is asking? How do you think he might answer it? • Think about the primary meaning of the verb “be”
Polar Opposites • An important rhetorical device Shakespeare uses in Hamlet’s soliloquy is antithesis, or a balance of opposites. Hamlet explores a series of oppositional relationships in his speech, beginning with the question of “to be, or not to be.”
Polar Opposites • Brainstorm antonyms for the terms listed below Term Antonym 1. Oppression 2. Action 3. Endurance 4. Mystery 5. Life
Polar Opposites • Brainstorm antonyms for the terms listed below Term Antonym Examples 1. Oppression Freedom, ease, democracy 2. Action Idleness, inactivity, apathy 3. Endurance Weakness, limitations 4. Mystery Certainty, sureness 5. Life Death, loss, mortality
Hamlet – Key VocabularyCreate a Vocabulary Chart (C-Note style) with the following terms • fortune – noun: Fate; destiny or luck • opposition – noun: • oppression – noun: • mortality – noun: • dread – verb: • resolution – noun: • antithesis – noun: • pessimism – noun: • optimism – noun:
Hamlet – Key VocabularyCheck your Vocabulary Chart to make sure definitions match these: • fortune – noun: Fate; destiny or luck • opposition – noun: resistance; hostility • oppression – noun: repression; domination • mortality – noun: subject to death • dread – verb: terror; fear • resolution – noun: decision or promise • antithesis – noun: exact opposite or contrast • pessimism – noun: cynicism or negative outlook • optimism – noun: hopefulness or positive outlook
Hamlet Background • At this point in the play, Hamlet feels that he is in a crisis. His father died a few months earlier under mysterious circumstances. Hamlet discovers that his father was secretly murdered—by Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. Making things even worse, Claudius then married Hamlet's mother. Hamlet doesn't know what to do about this knowledge. He wonders if he can trust anyone, or if perhaps he's going crazy.
First Reading • As you first read the text, focus on what you see as the "big picture" that Hamlet describes. • Based on this first reading, would you say that Hamlet is an optimist or a pessimist? What evidence do you have to support your opinion?
Second Reading – with a highlighter • Partners: Using a highlighter, mark the places in the text where Hamlet describes what it means to be alive. • Example: In lines 2-3, he describes life as "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," so you could highlight that phrase as an example of what Hamlet thinks it means "to be."
Share with your Team Take a look at the parts of the soliloquy that you highlighted, and compare them with your teammates’ markings.
Paraphrase • Choose 3 of your highlighted quotations and paraphrase them (one from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end). • For the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" example, a paraphrase might sound something like this: "Hamlet compares being alive to having destiny shoot arrows at him." • Consider the difference between having Hamlet say that life is like "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and having him just say "life is unpleasant." • What are the effects of Shakespeare's stylistic choices as a writer?
Reflect • Reflect again on the question asked earlier: From the evidence in the soliloquy, does Hamlet seem optimistic or a pessimistic? • Imagine you get a chance to meet and talk with Hamlet. What do you think about him? What would you say to him? Be descriptive.
Reflect • He is most definitely pessimistic, isn’t he? • In the soliloquy, Hamlet is speaking thoughtfully and agonizingly to himself about the question of whether to commit suicide to end the pain of experience: “To be, or not to be: that is the question” (1). He says that the miseries of life are such that no one would willingly bear them, except that they are afraid of “something after death” (23). Because we do not know what to expect in the afterlife, we would rather “bear those ills we have,” Hamlet says, “than fly to others that we know not of” (26-27).
Rhetorical Appeals • How does Hamlet's soliloquy use pathos, or emotional appeals, to create a specific effect on the reader? Where is pathos used in the soliloquy?
Rhetorical Appeals • How does Hamlet's soliloquy use logos, or logic, to create a specific effect on the reader? Where is logos used in the soliloquy? (Identify the line numbers) • When Hamlet speaks his soliloquy, he is in crisis. How do his circumstances position Hamlet to speak with authority (ethos) about the value of life? Does Hamlet seem to be speaking about his own life in particular or about the quality of life in general?
Legit! http://www.mybigcampus.com/library/127538 • Funny! http://www.mybigcampus.com/library/144063
Surveying and Predicting 1. What, if anything, do you know about Roger Ebert? Take a look at the picture below for clues.
Surveying the Text The second text is an excerpt from an interview with famous film critic Roger Ebert after he lost his lower jawbone and the ability to speak eat, and drink as a result of his battle with cancer. The article, written by Chris Jones for Esquire, describes the joy and suffering Ebert experienced in his post surgery life. Roger Ebert died on April 4, 2013 at the age of 70.
Background Clip http://www.mybigcampus.com/library/384367
Surveying and Predicting Now that you have viewed the video, how do you think this text will connect to the idea of the Value of Life? Do you think Ebert’s views will be similar or dissimilar to Hamlet’s?
Key Vocabulary ritual (¶ 2): a rite or repeated practice survival (¶ 5): endurance, life, or existence radiates (¶ 6): glows or exudes savoring (¶ 7): relishing or enjoying cinematic (¶ 9): grand or dramatic; like a film feverishly (¶ 10): excitedly or enthusiastically
Key Vocabulary (continued) rudimentary (¶ 11): basic or crude mandible (¶ 12): jaw tracheostomy (¶ 12): a surgical procedure to create an opening through the neck into the trachea or windpipe monologue (¶ 15): a speech presenting the thoughts of a single person argument (¶ 15): an attempt to persuade someone of something facsimile (¶ 15): a copy or reproduction
First Read 1. Read the article by Chris Jones. As you read, pay attention to the way Ebert talks about the value of life. As you did with Hamlet, try to determine whether Ebert appears to be generally pessimistic or optimistic in this interview. 2. In addition, answer this question: Does Ebert also present an argument about the value of death? Be sure to distinguish Jones’s words from Ebert’s words.
Read with a pencil As you did with the Shakespeare text, you will mark Jones’s interview with Roger Ebert. This time, underline the sentences, phrases, or words Ebert uses to describe what he thinks it means to be alive. Remember that most of Ebert’s direct quotations will be in italics.
Pair Share Compare what you have selected with the choices a classmate has made. Then, working with your partner, mark some of the commonly underlined parts with a “+” or “–” sign to indicate whether each quote shows a generally positive or negative outlook on life. Discuss the results with your partner, answer this question about Ebert’s outlook on life: Was he an optimist or a pessimist?
Read with a pencil…AGAIN Second Reading: Go through the text once more. Imagine that you are reading Ebert’s statements from Hamlet’s perspective. Circle any passages that Hamlet would find particularly interesting or compelling. Some of these may be the same words you have already highlighted while others will be new.
