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Augustine describes his past as being very lustful, having had many romantic partners. He places little value on eroticism except as being sinful and distracting from being a good Catholic. He compares reading fiction to sex in that it is distraction from being one with God.  However, there is some value to eroticism in his writing in that he is using the discussion of sex to reach out to young readers, who like him in his younger years, are caught up with the same temptations of the body. It is used as an appeal similar to the way he discusses the story of him stealing the fruits to appeal to everyone who has temptations for “forbidden fruit”

One of the ways that Shakespeare depicts the spread of corruption is through Claudius’s influence in his court. As he is the character who is the source of Hamlet’s agony and the ruler of all of Denmark, his influence is symbolic of the corruption in Denmark. To be sided with Claudius means to be an enemy of Hamlet. Not only is he able to control his chief counsellor, Polonius, who also controls his own family Laertes and Ophelia, he also manipulates Hamlet’s own childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to literally escort Hamlet on his way to death. Even Hamlet’s mother does not believe that Claudius is a guilty of any crime, and that Hamlet has gone mad instead. As all the characters in the play are Claudius’s puppets, there is no one to question or counteract his evil intentions. In the end, Claudius’s corruption has spread throughout the entire court, and Hamlet is the only one who challenges him.

Hamlet soliloquies play an important role throughout the duration of the play. The soliloquies serve as an important piece of dialogue that is only shared with the readers, or audience that isn’t shared with other characters or the play. For example, Hamlet’s famous “To be, or not to be. That is the question…” piece informs the audience that Hamlet is suffering an internal conflict. His famous soliloquy informs readers that his pondering life and death, which shows a sign of mental issues. This example informs us why soliloquies serves as a major turning point throughout the play of Hamlet

Since the very first words in The Confessions, Augustine addresses God: “Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised…”, and he keeps doing so throughout the end of his work which certainly means that God is his central audience. Then, there’s a reader who might already be Christian, but there’s also a reader who might be not and that’s the audience Augustine seems to be quite interested in. Maybe he just wants to atone for his sins, but it’s more likely that he tries to be relatable when opening up about stealing or having a rather adventurous sexual life in the past. This is Augustine’s way of implying that even if you are a sinner who enjoys the lower pleasures of life like sex or drinking you can still convert and become catholic.

We can learn from Augustine the importance of the real relationship with God and the necessity of the Church. Augustine was living in times when the world was becoming Christian. He became one of them after he realized he had no other hope and trust then in Jesus Christ. He learned to be a good Christian by being united with God as an individual in tradition, to have faith in him. He believed to be close to God you must have a conversation between two spirits and belong to the church.

We should establish a right relationship with God then everything even the bad things will be forgiven. Augustine was saying about love to God cannot exist on its own because is not a thing.  God can not be love unless there is something for him to love.  If we are to love ourselves, our neighbors, God we have to stick together like our minds possess memory, the intellect cannot be separated like evidence of our Creator and his creation. As well we can learn about the purpose of the Universe, why God created Adam and Eva, we can be confused but we can be confident that there is a purpose in God’s plan that will be revealed one day to us.

As a Christian’s we walk through our personal lives in a journey by faith. Augustine believed the relationship with God is not just seating and let the events happen but living own lives and including him in it on day to day basis.  Until today in Christianity we use the doctrine from the day you born to your death; every moment belongs to God, even if we are not believers.

 

I find Augustine’s allusions to his early education very interesting in the light that he was an educator himself and eventually a man of the church. After all, Christianity emphasizes the virtues of obedience, particularly of elders, tedious work, patience, and suffering. Knowing St. Augustine’s background, you would think that a man as learned as he was would praise strict discipline and rigorous education for children, but he seems to take the opposite view. He claims that he learned despite of himself and his tutors (due to divine guidance of sorts) and that his accomplishments can hardly be attributed to the formal education he received as a child. If anything, he still resents the harshness of his childhood punishments as recounts them decades later as a middle-aged man. His ideas are actually quite modern and more in line with current trends in psychology and pedagogy in that children should be allowed to play and enjoy childhood and that learning should be made interesting and relevant rather than be memorization of tedious material under a threat of corporal punishment.

 

What function do Hamlet’s soliloquies (or any one of them you’d like to analyze) serve in the play?

A soliloquy is an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers. The monologue of Hamlet is the essence of the play. That is key to understanding Hamlet as a tragic character. In the monologue, the reader realized that Hamlet was experiencing a huge emotional shock. His father’s mysterious and sudden death and his mother remarried so quickly.
‘O God, God, How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!’ (I.ii.) The monologue here shows that he is not only sad for his father and mother but also that he is bored with life itself. Shakespeare used character monologues to provide readers with information to understand Hamlet. Without this information, it will be difficult for readers to understand the character’s behavior. Through these monologues, we can learn about Hamlet’s character and experience pain with him.

What is the role of friendship in the play? Who are the most genuine friends, if there are any in the play?

The play Hamlet shows mostly the dark side of human nature. There are many betrayals happening in the play.  Even the so-called friends, from school,  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not loyal to Hamlet. The only genuine friendship that Hamlet holds is the one with Horatio. In Act 3, Scene 2, right before the play, Hamlet says to Horatio: “There is a play tonight before the king. One scene of it comes near the circumstance Which I have told thee of my father’s death.” Hamlet trusts Horatio enough to tell him how the new King kills the old King, and his plan to catch the new King off guard with the play-in-play. Horatio delivers his loyalty by not telling the king of Hamlet’s accusation and the plan.

Shakespeare uses the friendship between Hamlet and Horatio as a vehicle to tell the readers Hamlet’s true thoughts, plans and feelings. Horatio is the only true friend Hamlet has in the play.  Throughout the play, Horatio demonstrates his friendship and loyalty to Hamlet. He helps Hamlet with his plans and keeps his secrets. Horatio would have reported Hamlet for his accusations against Claudius if they were not friends. Moreover, Hamlet loves Horatio deeply and trusts him personally.  When Hamlet is dying, Horatio is the one who comforts him at his death.  Horatio is the only person who understands for certain that Hamlet madness is an act.  The reader learns Hamlet’s true character from the Horatio’s thoughts and words in the play.

Does Hamlet change throughout the play? If so, how? Why?

I believe Hamlet changes at the very beginning off the play. Hamlet changed as soon as he saw the ghost of his father. This event could make anyone change their perspective on life. Not only that, but then finding out that it was his uncle who killed him, and his mom helped him. This change Hamlet, he started focusing on revenge, and all he could think about was death. This led him to kill someone and not feel bad. Hamlet probably questioned everyone around him and didn’t trust anyone.