Day 1 In Othello Iago loathes Othello with

- Day 1 In Othello, Iago loathes Othello with every particle of his being, even though he admits that Othello is “Of a constant, loving, noble nature” (II, I, 83). Critics have never agreed about why Iago hates Othello so much. Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously said that “motiveless malignity” drives Iago – that is, Iago detests Othello for no reason in particular. Have you ever disliked someone for no real reason? Why or why not? Explain.

Shakespeare - Day 2 In Macbeth, the witches brew a potion in their cauldron, naming the ingredients as they add them. ALL: Double, double, toil and trouble Fire burn and cauldron bubble SECOND WITCH: Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake. Eye of newt and toe of frog Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork ad blind worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. (IV, I, 10 -19) They also add, among other ingredients, a wolf’s tooth, a witch’s mummified flesh, a nose, lips, and the finger of a baby that was strangled as its prostitute mother gave birth to it. What would you include in a heinous witches’ brew? Write your ingredients in rhyming verse form, as Shakespeare does

Shakespeare – Day 3 In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena is desperately in love with Demetrius, who loves Hermia. Helena confesses that the worse Demetrius treats her, the more she loves him. She tells him that she is his “spaniel” and begs him, “spurn me, strike me, / Neglect me, lose me” (II, I, 204 -205) Do you know people who feel the way Helena does, who can’t help but love people who treat them badly? Write about one such person’s attraction to bad boys or bad girls.

Shakespeare – Day 4 In Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius, fearing something is wrong with Hamlet, enlist his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to cheer him up. Hamlet, still depressed asks how Guildenstern came to be trapped in this “prison”: GUILDENSTERN: Prison, my lord? HAMLET: Denmark’s a prison. GUILDENSTERN: Then is the world one. HAMLET: A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ the worst. (II, ii, 240 -244) Have you ever felt metaphorically imprisoned? Write about that feeling.

Shakespeare – Day 5 In the second act of Julius Caesar, Brutus has almost decided to kill Caesar. He says that from the moment you decide to do something horrible until the moment you actually do it, everything feels like a bad dream: BRUTUS: Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasm or a hideous dream. (II, I, 63 -65) Have you ever had this feeling? Have you ever decided to do something bad and then waited nervously and guiltily until the moment came to do it? Write a paragraph about what you decided to do and how you felt at the time.

Shakespeare – Day 6 In Much Ado About Nothing, after Claudio leaves Hero at the altar, the friar advises Hero’s family to pretend that she’s died of a broken heart. This way, he says, Claudio will come to regret what he did, The friar says we only appreciate what we have after we’ve lost it: FRIAR FRANCIS: What we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost, Why then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours. (IV. i. 217 -221) Write a paragraph about something you appreciated only after you lost it.

Shakespeare – Day 7 “a tower of strength”: KING RICHARD: …the King’s name is a tower of strength, Which they upon the adverse faction want (V, iii, 1314) Write about someone in your life whom you consider a tower of strength.

Shakespeare – Day 8 Shakespeare coined the phrase…“my heart on my sleeve” IAGO: “But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. I am not what I am. ” (I. i. 66 -67) Iago suggests that baring your emotions – wearing your heart on your sleeve – is a dangerous move. If you expose your heart, you weaken yourself, thus leaving yourself open to attack. Metaphorically, birds will pick at an exposed heart just as they would a literal heart. In your opinion, is it better to show or to hide your true feelings? Explain.

Shakespeare – Day 9 After Romeo is banished, Juliet’s father, who knows nothing of his daughter’s marriage, tells Juliet that she must marry Paris right away. When she protests, he says he’ll throw her out of the house to starve if she disobeys him. Lady Capulet refuses to take Juliet’s side. After her parents leave, Juliet asks for her nurse’s opinion. The nurse, who facilitated Juliet’s marriage to Romeo, suggests that Juliet should marry Paris. After all, she says, Romeo isn’t around, so Juliet can’t enjoy him and Paris is a handsome man. Juliet, horrified by this advice, decides she can never confide in her nurse again. Have you ever abruptly lost faith in an adult as Juliet loses faith in her nurse? Write about the experience.

Shakespeare – Day 10 Sonnet 29 – an excerpt: Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate. For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. When he feels depressed, the speaker thinks of his beloved and remembers that he wouldn’t change places even with a king. Who or what do you think about when you’re depressed? How does this person or things make you feel – better or worse? Explain.