Select one of the following statements from the Anticipation Guide for Hamlet.
Take a position regarding the statement. Do you agree? Disagree? Strongly disagree? There is no right answer for these statements BUT you must defend your position with a strong argument. You may use examples from life and literature to support your reasoning.
Your response should be one solid paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting evidence.
When you post your comments, you must also include three pieces of information:
a. Your first name and last initial.
b. Your class and block.
c. Write out the statement you are responding to as your title.
Anticipation Guide Statements
1. Families generally have a member’s best interests in mind.
2. Having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honourable.
3. Power eventually corrupts the people who have it.
4. Revenge is the only way to gain true justice.
5. A person’s immoral choices can come back to haunt him/her
6. One must take a stand against injustice, even if the personal cost is great.
7. A person has to confront death in order to understand life’s meaning.
8. Moral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage.
9. Evil often spirals out of control.
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Logan S. English 12 D
ReplyDelete3. Power eventually corrupts the people who have it.
Stating that “power eventually corrupts the people who have it” is foolish since there is a great misassumption in it. In our modernized society, many people’s goal is to gain more power for various different personal reasons. Although power can be one of the elements that can possibly help corrupt a person, it is not the only factor that corrupts people. Varying from person to person, power can be used in many different ways. The only reason that corruption always seems to be following people with power is because people with power tend to stand out from all the other ordinary people. It is not a big deal in our world when a homeless person has a corrupted mind but it becomes a huge issue when a president is found corrupted. There are people who become corrupted as they gain power and try to hold on to it or seek for more. However, there are also people who humbly use their power and sacrifice their time and serve as a leader to find happiness for everyone. Just like there was Hitler who abused his power and became the most infamous corrupted leader, there is Bill Gates, the richest man on Earth who is now spending his most of his time and money through charity events.
Jaspreet Bajwa English 12D
ReplyDelete3. Power eventually corrupts the people who have it.
Human beings are susceptible to major flaws, and the inability to manage variable amounts of power is one of them. Different people handle their power uniquely, yet it all comes down to the same conclusion; eventually, even the best of the best lose control. If one takes the example of presidents throughout the world, majority of the countries only allow a specific leader to hold office for a maximum of two terms. Why? It is because the the power of the role will eventually lead to corrupting the person. A prime example of this would be Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. He single-handedly converted a democratic country into a dictatorship, solely for his own power-hungry ends. Another example would be in literature, Macbeth, to be exact. Macbeth is constantly searching for more and more power, to the point where he finally achieves his goal (becoming King of Scotland) and is hated by his people because of his corrupt actions as King.
Power itself is not corrupt, yet the people who search endlessly for it eventually corrupt themselves.
7. A person has to confront death in order to understand life's meaning.
ReplyDeleteA person has to confront death in order to understand life’s meaning. How a person comes close to is irrelevant. But I don’t think that coming close to death means that person would know life’s true meaning. If the person who had a close encounter to death was at the age of four, and was drowning, I don’t think he/she would know anymore about life than that water is scary and he/she may never go near it again. Some people ignore what happens to them in life and just lives another day not shaken by what close death confrontment that may have happened to them the day before. I don’t think that people gain a better understanding of life if they come closer to death by any means.
Emily A, 12D
ReplyDeleteMoral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage.
Though physical courage takes a great deal of perseverance and strength, I agree with this statement when it says that moral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage.
Physical courage, for good reason, is unmistakably looked upon as a great deed and is highly respected in society. I find moral courage to be a great deal more difficult because it is demonstrated through holding onto your value's and choosing to do what you believe is right, even when your up against an unfavorable outcome.
Brayden Eshuis
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12 D
Having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honorable.
At first glance this seems like a very respectable statement, but after looking at it under a different light I am sure you will understand it to be a uselessly wrong statement. This statement is an excellent one to argue with logic because it is an absolute statement. Essentially, the statement requires that ALL goals have the potential to be honorable as long as they have ambition to back them up. This is a ridiculous assumption! First of all, you should agree that there are things that are dishonorable, which if you did not agree with would defy every culture and society. For it is true that every society believes there are some things that are not honorable, whether or not they line up with every society or not. If there are dishonorable things, we can therefore surmise that if you have a goal towards this dishonorable thing, it is not an honorable goal (despite any ambition behind it). Though you might say, “honor is relative” there has to be dishonor for honor to really exist. Just like there must be shadows for you to have highlights. If you have honor you also have dishonor. If there is dishonor, then not every goal will be honorable. Finally, as a Christian, I believe that sin is dishonorable, therefore I strongly disagree that having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honorable.
Ajay K. English D
ReplyDelete1. Families generally have a member’s best interests in mind.
I think this is a very underrated statement. A lot of times we teenagers don't fully appreciate or respect guidance and advice from our families, especially our parents. Let alone all the Bible says about us obeying our parents, we should obey them and listen to them because they genuinely care for us and usually know what's best for us. I fully realize that there are exceptions, but I'm not going to talk about that because it's so obvious. A lot of the times we argue with our parents it is because of our sense of entitlement or stubbornness. We are in such a hurry to get to independence that we are willing to ignore our parents advice.
John A.
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12 D
"One must take a stand against injustice, even if the personal cost is great."
This statement is somewhat ambiguous in terms of what it means by "must". It could be referring to a number of different aspects, including morally/religiously, socially, or simply for survivability. For morally, it would depend on an individual's worldview. From a Christian perspective, the Bible tells its followers to be prepared to give up anything to follow Him, and it does discuss in great detail what a just character God is. With this in mind, one could conclude that Christians really are called to do this, no matter what the sacrifice required. From a social point of view, it also depends on the culture you are surrounded in. Traditional North American society tends to place a fairly high value on justice, though many modern cultures are different. Finally, from the point of view that this statement is referring to pure survivability, the answer would be a definite no. At no point does the law ever require you to do this, and if social and moral implications are of no issue to you, choosing to ignore injustice should not pose any major problems.
April Ngan
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12 D
2. Having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honorable.
Having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honorable. Is that true? Somehow I will say I am agreed with it. In my point of view, people with a clear goal and have ambition to achieve it is better than the people who don’t have any goal and directions to go. I am not saying without any goal is wrong and not honorable but at least having a goal to start with is better than nothing. For instance, if you want to become a fashion designer; you must to know how to achieve your goal, at first you must have a great interest on fashion design and most importantly is paying attentions on everyday’s fashion news and be able to follow the new trends. Once you have the clear direction in your mind then you will have better view to pursuit your goal. If you were only thinking about to become a fashion designer but never puts actions into your word then the goal won’t be easy to pursuit or maybe never. Overall, I am strongly believed that Having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honorable.
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ReplyDeleteCharissa Halpenny English 12D
ReplyDelete8. Moral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage.
If you were scared of heights, you can overcome that by going on something high. If you are in a relationship and the partner wants to go further then you feel comfortable going, it's much harder to say no. I strongly agree with this statement. With physical courage it isn't life or death, per se; it doesn't usually effect the rest of your life. Unless of course, it's physical courage in the sense of saving someones life. With moral courage, a lot of times it affects the rest of your life. If you don't stand up for yourself or if you don't know how to say no, things can haunt you for the rest of your life. A lot of different things can trigger those memories. It is harder to say, "no, I'm not going to do this", than to say, "oh, can you push me, then I'll go." With morals, as much as you want to keep them, you want to please the people who you hang out with. Maybe their morals are lower then yours; you don't agree with them, but you want to fit in. With your physical courage, you don't really need to please anyone.
Jessika Wiebe English 12 D
ReplyDelete6.One must take a stand against injustice, even if the personal cost is great.
You see, at first glance one's initial response is, "Yes! Of corse!" Which was my first inclination to this question as well. But, as I began to think of it, I thought,"Well, in every single circumstance, it it really necessary to put your own self aside and stand up for injustice." As I continued to ponder, I realized that in every circumstance in which you are faced with injustice, although I believe it is good to stand up for it, it is not always necessary to put yourself second. Sometime I feel we focus so much on selflessness, that we forget that we also are responsible for our own lives. And one may be able to argue that our lives are not for ourselves,which is also true. But I also think that we are responsible for our own lives, and if you are faced with numerous situations where you have to put someone infront of yourself, and put your personal costs aside, you may be going down a path where you have forgotten yourself which I think could be quite detremental, than heroic and courageous.
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ReplyDeleteNatasha Schlein 12D
ReplyDeleteMoral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage.
I agree that moral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage. Physical courage involves your mind overcoming physical fear that is in your nature, where as moral courage involves your mind as well as your conscience establishing morals and then standing firm in the morals which you yourself have established and have the power to change. A physical fear is something that your body automatically tells you could be dangerous or frightening and so physical courage is simply you pushing yourself to the point of ignoring the initial pang of fear and fallowing through with your task. Moral courage is not as straightforward. A person can subconsciously change their morals to avoid needing to have courage to stand up for them. Because there is more will power involved in such situations I believe that having moral courage in standing fast in what your true morals are is more difficult than physical courage.
Riana H. English 12D
ReplyDeleteOne must stand against injustice, even if the personal cost is great.
People who stood against injustice in the past are still regarded as heroes today. Without justice, would we be able to adjudicate fairly between what's right and wrong? Some of the heroic people have dedicated their entire lives to fight against causes that are considered discriminatory in our modern society. People, who have helped others to stand against authority, shape our history and the way we treat others with respect as well. Nobody who has achieved success from something like injustice had the easy way out. During a long period of time, one needs to overcome many hardships in order to see the results. Some leaders such as Martin Luther, a renowned activist for the civil rights movement and his "I have a dream" speech, did not live to see their works accomplished. The stress and pressure lead him to a weak heart condition which eventually affected his health. Another example of injustice is the Holocaaust. Because this was on an extreme level, it made many nations rise up against the Nazis and stop their cruel domination. As shown throughout these examples, injustice isn't a simple problem to solve. It may risk even a life, which only proves to show that injustice is unacceptable. When justice is made, we not only create history but also world unity.
Riana H. English 12D
ReplyDeleteOne must stand against injustice, even if the personal cost is great.
People who stood against injustice in the past are still regarded as heroes today. Without justice, would we be able to adjudicate fairly between what's right and wrong? Some of the heroic people have dedicated their entire lives to fight against causes that are considered discriminatory in our modern society. People, who have helped others to stand against authority, shape our history and the way we treat others with respect as well. Nobody who has achieved success from something like injustice had the easy way out. During a long period of time, one needs to overcome many hardships in order to see the results. Some leaders such as Martin Luther, a renowned activist for the civil rights movement and his "I have a dream" speech, did not live to see their works accomplished. The stress and pressure lead him to a weak heart condition which eventually affected his health. Another example of injustice is the Holocaaust. Because this was on an extreme level, it made many nations rise up against the Nazis and stop their cruel domination. As shown throughout these examples, injustice isn't a simple problem to solve. It may risk even a life, which only proves to show that injustice is unacceptable. When justice is made, we not only create history but also world unity.
Suemin D
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12 D
4. Revenge is the only way to gain true justice
I believe it is impossible for us to understand what true justice is. Laws do not necessarily lead us to true justice; their only role is to keep an order in a society, and to punish those who have harmed others (which is not justice – punishing is merely a way to satisfy ourselves by blaming others for an undesirable result). Put the statement in a biblical context. We should not judge others, and that would include their deeds as well. Revenge involves judging. Although revenge comes from someone else’s sin, revenge itself is a completely different sin too. Taking revenge seems to be an example of “eye for an eye,” but it really is a beginning of another sin.
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ReplyDeleteMichael Cho
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12D
Revenge is the only way to gain true justice
From what reference do we measure true justice? The true meaning of justice varies, and is directly correlated with what the person believes. From what I believe, which is the bible, I disagree that the revenge is the only way to gain true justice. What is revenge? Revenge is defined as something done in vengeance. Truly, revenge is something that has absolutely no positive incomes or outcomes. It is something that can only bring misfortune since the anger is the main source for the feeling of revenge. Therefore, it is best to avoid taking revenge. However, this is a very unrealistic. For example, if a murderer, who violently butchered one of your family members, was sentenced with only 20 years in jail, would you agree? No. You would do anything in order to take revenge on the murderer; however, this is not true justice. The true justice is forgiveness. It takes more effort and courage to forgive than to revenge. It is written in the bible that God will favour those who always forgive. Once the forgiving part has been completed, God will take care of everything. He will bring true justice in the afterlife; rewarding and punishing those who deserved it. Forgiveness and God’s judgement is the only way to true justice, not by revenge.
Stephen J.
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12 Block D Linear
Having a Clear Goal, and the Ambition to Achieve it, is Honourable
Yes, having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honourable. Let's say we have to different cultural/ethnic groups in faraway distant lands. They both have a meaningful ritual much like our funerals, as in they honour their deceased parents; from the Western perspective this would likely mean burying them or cremation. However, cultural relativity exists. As one of these groups may practice similar tradition to Westerners, they other group may eat their deceased elders in order to gain their wisdom. Remember that both are honouring according to their own culture, even as it the groups traditions may seem highly disrespectful to each other. This is to say honour is relative to culture.
So because of this demonstrated cultural relativity, I argue that having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve would be honourable within any cultural. If you disagree, is it then possible to not say laziness is honourable?
Tony J. English 12D
ReplyDelete3. Power eventually corrupts the people who have it.
Even though there have been some events which people with power corrupted, the concept of “power eventually corrupts the people who have it” is not always right. This statement seems like it came from all those power-hungry dictators, for example: Hitler, Stalin, Nero and Trotsky. But they were corrupted because they were flawed and dishonest and being in power just opened up their eyes to greed and sickness of getting more power. Power can be used differently depending who owns it. It is possible that people can be corrupted from the over dosage or greed to gain more. However, not all people with power are abusers. Some people use it as their opportunity to use it as a tool to help those who are in need or less-fortunate. Many people judge that people with power will eventually corrupt in the future. This is because they get all the attention of the media and the other people. On the other hand, we don’t hear a lot about those who use their power for others because the media is not interested in them as they are in the corrupted ones. With all these in respect, I cannot agree with this.
Robby M. English 12 D
ReplyDeleteHaving a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honourable.
Having a clear goal and the ambition to achieve it may be honourable in some cases but not all goals are honourable. This statement is saying that if you have the ambition to achieve a goal it is automatically an honourable goal which I believe is not true. There are obviously some goals in life that are considered not honourable by most of society and just because you have ambition behind this goal it’s not going to make your non-honourable goal honourable. From a Christian’s point of view this statement is especially untrue. If someone’s goal is to do something such as a sin and they have the ambition to achieve their goal, how can we as Christians find this goal honourable?
Emily H. Enlish 12D
ReplyDeleteMoral courage is more difficult to accomplish than physical courage.
It feels as though the world has led us to believe that having moral courage is difficult however, I find that physical courage is far more difficult. I don't think that I would find it difficult to tell the truth over jumping from a cliff with nothing but a stretchy rope attatched to me. Physical courage puts your life at risk where moral courage is a mental thing and far easier to achieve.
Ashley H. English 12D
ReplyDeleteA person has to confront death in order to understand life's meaning.
We as humans were not created to die. We were created to live our life with a purpose. That purpose being to serve the one, true God! If Adam and Eve didn't sin, people would know about God (we wouldn't have the other religions that exist today)-this world would have been a perfect place. However we can't change that. Yes, death is a part of life, but to a certain extent, I don't believe that we need to confront death in order to understand life (But that is my opinion based on whether you are a believer or not). We are called by God to speak through him so that one day, everyone will hear about God! With that said, no one will confront death until the time that God calls them to live with him. If people don't hear about God until they are before him, it may take them death to know about God and how they could have lived their lives.
"Stephen J.
ReplyDeleteEnglish 12 Block D Linear
Having a Clear Goal, and the Ambition to Achieve it, is Honourable
Yes, having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve it, is honourable. Let's say we have to different cultural/ethnic groups in faraway distant lands. They both have a meaningful ritual much like our funerals, as in they honour their deceased parents; from the Western perspective this would likely mean burying them or cremation. However, cultural relativity exists. As one of these groups may practice similar tradition to Westerners, they other group may eat their deceased elders in order to gain their wisdom. Remember that both are honouring according to their own culture, even as it the groups traditions may seem highly disrespectful to each other. This is to say honour is relative to culture.
So because of this demonstrated cultural relativity, I argue that having a clear goal, and the ambition to achieve would be honourable within any cultural. If you disagree, is it then possible to not say laziness is honourable?
May 19, 2010 11:21 PM "