Which of the following paraphrases Hamlet's main points in the "To be or not to be"
soliloque?
A) He questions whether love is worth all of the pain it causes
B) He questions whether peace of mind is a good substitute for material wealth
C) He ponders whether a miserable life if better than the unknown of death.

The correct answer is C: He ponders whether a miserable life if better than the unknown of death.

Explanation:

In his To be or not to be soliloquy, Hamlet questions whether it is better to accept a miserable life, with all of its problems and complications, like poverty, diseases, and aging, or choose death over life. He says that life is a lack of power, at the mercy of fortune and he realizes that if he chooses to live he would have to accept all of its obstacles, but if he chooses death, his decision would be irrevocable and he would suffer in hell because it is against the Catholic religion to commit such a crime against himself.  

This is an existential speech, where Hamlet contemplates about the sense of life and asks himself if it is better to be alive or to be dead. Although he is talking about death, he doesn't intend to die, but to describe how people are afraid of many things just because those things are unknown to them.

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)