Need help with HUM 111 Humanities Week 10 Discussion 1

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Week 10 Discussion Option A

“Shakespeare” Please respond to the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:

  • Discuss your reaction to the character of Hamlet in the two (2) soliloquies from the text. Consider the extent to which you sympathize with him and / or think he is self-absorbed. Explain the manner in which the literary form of soliloquy shapes your view of Hamlet. Identify one (1) or two (2) lines (except “To be, or not to be”) that you find interesting or favor, and explain your choice. Pretend you are a modern leader or celebrity facing personal crisis, such as Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Mandela, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Beyoncé, or some other; write a few lines of soliloquy, thinking aloud in front of the audience. (No need to sound Shakespearean).

Explore

Shakespeare

  • Chapter 19 (pp. 650-656), selections 19.11a and 19.11b. Soliloquy defined on p. 653; review Week 10 Music Folder
  1.    Fyre and Lightning (by Thomas Morley) (Chap. 19, p. 650)

Read carefully pp. 650-1 in chap. 19 before listening to this. Then, listen for the two voices copying each other in rapid succession. Morley wrote this secular madrigal around 1595 AD.

  1. Verily, verily, I say unto you (by Thomas Tallis) (chap. 19, pp. 650-651)

Read pp. 650-1 in chap. 19, and then give this a listen. This was composed by Thomas Tallis in the mid to late 1500s AD. This is an example of a verse anthem written for the Anglican Communion Service. 

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  1.  Missa Papae Marcelli, Credo (Palestrina) (chap. 20, pp. 665-667)

Read pp. 665-7 in chap. 20 carefully, then give this a listen. Missa Papae Marcelli means “Mass for Pope Marcellus” and was composed by Palestrina in 1567. The YouTube selection above shows a setting in Rome’s St. Peters Basilicas. Palestrina composed many works for Catholic masses; this polyphonic mass example fits very well the Counter-Reformation mandates of the Council of Trent. The Credo (=creed) is one section of the mass, and the words are based on the ancient Nicene Creed, a profession of faith.

  1. Super Flumina Babylonis (Palestrina) (chap. 20, pp. 665-667) (based on a Psalm; see the Latin text with English translation of the Psalm athttp://www.latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=21&c=136)

Read pp. 665-667 in chap. 20 carefully, then give this a listen. Super Flumina Babylonis means “By the Rivers of Babylon”, derived from Psalm 137 (=Psalm 136 in some versions of the Bible). This polyphonic motet was (and is) sung during Catholic worship. Palestrina composed it in 1581.