Assessment Task 4 Notification
Date of Notification: Monday 26th August
Due Date: Monday 9th September
Critical Response to a Soliloquy
Outcomes
1. Responds to and composes texts for understanding, interpretation, critical
analysis and pleasure
4. Uses and describes language forms and features, and structures of texts
appropriate to different purposes, audiences and contexts.
5. A student makes informed language choices to shape meaning with
accuracy, clarity and coherence.
9. Demonstrates understanding that texts express views of their broadening
world and their relationships within it.
Language modes: Reading and speaking
Key learning ideas
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The craft and artistry of Shakespeare’s language, stories and
characters.
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How language features convey tone, attitudes, ideas and feelings and shape
dramatic delivery.
Nature of activity
We have been examining a range of soliloquies in class, now it is your turn to demonstrate
knowledge and understanding of ONE of these soliloquies.
You will need to discuss the following:
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The content of the soliloquy – what is being said
The tone of the soliloquy – how the character is feeling
The main ideas and message of the soliloquy
The language features: word choice, figurative language, sentence structure, and so
on and how these features help to convey how the character is feeling and shape the
way the soliloquy is delivered – how it is meant to be delivered
Your personal response to the soliloquy
You will be assessed on how well you:
§ Demonstrate understanding of the key ideas of the soliloquies
§ Compose a coherent and clear critical response
§ Demonstrate appreciation of the language features and forms
Suggested Scaffold
You do not need to use this. It is only a suggested approach.
Paragraph 1:
Introduce the soliloquy and its focus, and state why you selected it.
Paragraphs 2-3:
Discuss the content and ideas of the soliloquy and what motivated the
character to say these words. Refer to the language features that convey the
ideas. E.g. In Macbeth’s soliloquy he has just heard of the death of his wife.
He realises that by giving into vaulting ambition he has lost so much: love,
friends and respect. The fleeting nature of life is represented by the metaphor
of the candle.
Paragraph 4:
State how the character feels about what her or she is discussing, and refer to
the word choice and language features that convey these feelings. E.g.
Hamlet in his soliloquy has been told by his father’s ghost to avenge his
death. In this soliloquy he contemplates his own death and expresses
concern and fear about what taking his own life would mean. The absence of
knowledge about what comes after death creates fear and doubt.
Paragraph 5:
Discuss what the soliloquy reveals about the character. In your discussion
refer to examples and language features that reveal his or her motives and
personality.
Paragraph 6:
Conclude by stating your opinion of the soliloquy and what it reveals about
human nature.
Marking Guidelines
Performance Descriptor
17-20
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13-16
Composes an effective, coherent and
thoughtful critical response
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Thoughtful understanding of the
key ideas of the soliloquy
Thoughtful appreciation of the
language features
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Composes a sound critical response
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Sound understanding of the key
ideas of the soliloquy
Sound appreciation of the
language features
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5-9
Perceptive understanding of the
key ideas of the soliloquy
Perceptive appreciation of the
language features
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9-12
Marking Guidelines
Composes a skilful, coherent and
perceptive critical response
§
Composes a limited and descriptive
response
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Limited understanding of the of
the soliloquy
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1-4
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Limited reference to the
language features
Elementary response
Elementary description of the
content
Elementary or no reference to
the language features
Shakespeare’s Soliloquies
The Soliloquy
All of us at times reflect on our actions, relationships with others, past deeds
and future possibilities. When a character delivers a soliloquy during a
production on stage – solo talk – they are expressing aloud for an audience
the workings of their inner mind.
Villains like Iago in Othello and Macbeth frequently share their thoughts with
the audience, even to the extent of making us co-conspirators.
The character can boast about their actions, or ponder their failings or even
contemplate committing evil. He or she could address:
§ the audience
§ an object such as a dagger
§ the self
§ nature.
The soliloquy is delivered in blank verse that is lyrical and powerful, and
written in iambic pentameter. This reflects the rhythm of our heart beat and
the natural rise and fall of our speech. This beat consisted of ten syllables in
each line, with five stressed and five unstressed syllables. Each pair of
syllables is called an iambus. E.g. in Twelfth Night:
If mu- / -sic be / the food / of love, / play on
Is this / a dag- / -ger I / see be- / fore me?
Shakespeare often broke the pattern to give colour and feeling to his
character’s speeches, and to indicate that something was not right. He also
inverted the order of the stresses in some iambi to help emphasise certain
words or ideas, as in Hamlet:
To be, / or not / to be: / that is / the ques- / -tion
Shakespeare's use of punctuation was very different – he used it to signal
how each line should be delivered. Punctuation forces the actor to pause and
slows down the pace of the text. Lines without punctuation naturally seem to
gather momentum and emotional energy.
Commas can cause a line to gather in emotional intensity. When words are
chunked together and separated by commas this build the tension and
emphasises key words, such as in King Lear:
... No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’it come no more;
Never, never, never, never, never.
Macbeth
Macbeth’s wife has just taken her own life by jumping from the castle walls. He
is about to fight a battle that could signal the end of his bloody reign as King
of Scotland. - http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=LAi4qzNHtwY&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=4SiF9Hfkt68&feature=related
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word,
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (5.5.16)
Questions
1. What are two different ways that the first line could be said
by an actor and how does the meaning changed?
2. What is iambic pentameter and how does it impact on the
way it is performed by an actor?
3. Identify the underlined figurative devices in the soliloquy, and
explain what they mean and what they say about how
Macbeth is feeling.
4. Why has Macbeth used the extended metaphor comparing
life to a poor actor?
5. Provide another extended metaphor for life rather than a
player on the stage.
6. How does Macbeth feel after hearing of his wife’s death?
7. Identify two main ideas that are conveyed by the soliloquy.
Hamlet
Hamlet has returned from university to discover that his father is dead and his mother
has married his uncle. The ghost of his father has told him that his uncle murdered
him and that Hamlet must avenge his death. He is not a hardened soldier of war but a
renaissance, new age man who has spent his youth studying. In this soliloquy he
contemplates death and the afterlife. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YHMYkUrV7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=-JD6gOrARk4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=fwFzvg3L2Qg&feature=related
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;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons1
Be all my sins remember'd. Act III, Scene i
Questions
1. Why is repetition used so frequently in the soliloquy?
1
prayers
2. Identify the underlined figurative devices in the soliloquy, and explain
what they mean and what they say about how Hamlet feels about
death.
3. In pairs rehearse how the first ten lines could be performed.
4. Re-write the first ten lines in modern English.
5. Identify the five most significant key words in these ten lines and state
why they are important.
6. Identify two main ideas that are conveyed by the soliloquy.
7. How do you respond personally to Hamlet after reading his soliloquy?
Provide a justification.
Othello
Othello believes that his new wife Desdemona has been unfaithful with his
Lieutenant Cassio because of the lies of the evil Iago. In this scene he has
decided to kill his wife. (animated overview of the play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=NjGoDoo5Juc&feature=related )
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,-Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!-It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light:
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean2 heat
That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again.
It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree.
Kissing her
Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. One more, and this the last:
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes. (5.2)
Questions
1. Othello repeatedly used the imperative voice, disjunction and repetition.
Find an example of each one and explain what the use of these three
language features reveals about Othello’s state of mind and decision to
kill his wife.
2. Why does he refer to her murder as the ‘cause’?
3. Identify the underlined figurative devices and language features in the
soliloquy, and explain what they mean and what they say about how
Othello feels about killing his wife.
4. View the YouTube clip of this soliloquy and discuss as a class the
impact of words and the delivery of the lines.
2
Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to mortals
Romeo & Juliet
Romeo has seen Juliet at the party of his family’s enemy – the Capulets.
In this scene he is looking up at her balcony willing her to come out,
and reflecting on her beauty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=XLWPg3SCYH4&feature=related
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady; O, it is my love!
O that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheeks would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!
Questions
1. How does Romeo feel about Juliet? To justify your response provide
three examples of language and figurative devices that convey his
feelings.
2. He varies his syntax (sentence structure). He uses simple, complex
and truncated sentences. Find an example of each one and explain
why such a variety of sentences are used by Romeo.
3. Identify the underlined figurative devices and language features in the
soliloquy, and explain what they mean and what they convey about
Romeo’s feelings for Juliet.
4. What does this soliloquy say about young love?
Richard III
Richard III is a flawed man who was prepared to lie and murder to
become King of England. This is the opening of the play where Richard
who is a hardened soldier and ugly with a hunchback does not enjoy a
time of peace. Ian McKellan describes the meaning of the soliloquy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=v_WJSHy_szE&feature=related. Three
versions of the soliloquy: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=GumLGIKTAk&feature=related
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our bruisèd arms hung up for monuments,
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinklèd front,
And now, instead of mounting barbèd 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;
I, that am rudely stamped, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them-Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to see my shadow in the sun
And descant [1] on mine own deformity.
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other;
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up
About a prophecy which says that G
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down into my soul -- here Clarence comes!
Questions
1. Identify the underlined figurative devices and language features in the
soliloquy, and explain what they mean and what they convey about
how Richard is feeling?
2. Richard uses emotive language in his soliloquy. Find examples and
explain why he has used them.
3. What is Richard planning to do?
4. How do you feel about Richard? Justify your response.