2 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2023
    1. Ay marry is’t; And to my mind, though I am native here, And to the manner born, it is a custom More honour’d in the breach than the observance. This heavy-headed revel east and west Makes us traduc’d and tax’d of other nations: They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase Soil our addition; and indeed it takes From our achievements, though perform’d at height, The pith and marrow of our attribute. So oft it chances in particular men That for some vicious mole of nature in them, As in their birth, wherein they are not guilty, Since nature cannot choose his origin, By their o’ergrowth of some complexion, Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason; Or by some habit, that too much o’erleavens The form of plausive manners;—that these men, Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, Being Nature’s livery or Fortune’s star,— His virtues else,—be they as pure as grace, As infinite as man may undergo, Shall in the general censure take corruption From that particular fault. The dram of evil Doth all the noble substance often doubt To his own scandal.

      During the time that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, there was a lot of uncertainty in England. With Elizabeth I reign coming to an end, and with no heir named, there was a lot of unease and uncertainty. “Claudius has hastily married the queen in order to secure his claim, and the old kings son, Hamlet, is openly unhappy about it” (Queen Elizabeths Decline). I think we can see this in the way that Hamlet speaks of the unrest of his kingdom after his uncle takes over the reign. “Queen Elizabeths Decline.”Sparknotes,Sparknotes,www.sparknotes.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/context/historical/queen-Elizabeth’s-decline/.

    1. I disunite, and taking hers to mine,

      Here, Seg had decided to take Estrella as his bride, and give Rosaura to Clotaldo, even though this was not his original desire. From the video, “be good to each other” (Crash Course History), is an important theme in this play. During this period in which this play is written, the Spanish Inquisition was killing thousands of Jews and Morrs in the name of Christian Orthidoxy. They were not being good to each other. I wonder if this was the what drove the author to write a play with this theme? Was this play very popular among the people?