Shakespeare

Hamlet — Act 3 Scene 1 To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep, No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause—there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life. Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of Hamlet's state of mind in this extract.

Hamlet Discuss the view that Hamlet is 'a play about the impossibility of certainty'. In your answer you should consider different interpretations and relevant contexts.

Richard III — Act 1 Scene 1 Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barded steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of Richard in this opening soliloquy.

Richard III 'Richard's charm makes the audience complicit in his crimes.' How far do you agree? In your answer you should consider different interpretations and relevant contexts.

The Tempest — Act 4 Scene 1 Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of illusion and transience in this extract.

The Tempest 'Prospero is less a wise magician than a controlling tyrant.' How far do you agree? In your answer you should consider different interpretations and relevant contexts.

Twelfth Night — Act 1 Scene 1 If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more: 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou, That, notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, Of what validity and pitch soe'er, But falls into abatement and low price, Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical. Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of Orsino's attitude to love in this extract.

Twelfth Night 'In Twelfth Night, love is shown to be a form of madness.' How far do you agree? In your answer you should consider different interpretations and relevant contexts.

Measure for Measure — Act 2 Scene 2 Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, For every pelting, petty officer Would use his heaven for thunder; Nothing but thunder! Merciful Heaven, Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assured, His glassy essence, like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As make the angels weep; Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of Isabella's argument against Angelo's use of power in this extract.

Measure for Measure 'Measure for Measure shows that no one is fit to judge others.' How far do you agree? In your answer you should consider different interpretations and relevant contexts.