How does Hamlet’s speech reflect the ideals of Renaissance humanism?

He explores the purpose of living and places a high value on reason.

Explanation:

William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" tells the story of how a young son/ prince avenged the death of his father on the hands of his own uncle. Claudius had not only murdered the former king but also taken his wife, Queen Gertrude to be his own wife.

The passage / speech of Hamlet is based off the scene from Act IV scene iv, when everyone had left and only Hamlet was left on the stage. He is saying that man and animals are alike, if only men does not use his reasoning and thinking capacity. Since he's been planning on how and when to do the deed, he claims that men are supposed to use their reasoning skills everyday, or that wouldn't have made them no different to the animals. This importance of reason and thinking was one of the more important issues that Renaissance humanism emphasizes, thus reflected in this scene.

*meditation

*music

*reading

*playing games

*going out to eat

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)