Literature Circles, Quarter 1: Explication of one KEY Passage

Literature Circle Explication Exercise:



 Choose one key quote from your first quarter reading selection and then explicate it in the following manner:


         a. Type the quote out using MLA guidelines. Include the title of the book, the author, and page number.
         b. Under the quote, write out your explication of the quote. Please include the context of the quote, its significance to the story, and why it matters to the story as a whole. Please space and label all elements of the explication appropriately so that it is easy for the reader to distinguish what you are doing.


You will need to respond to at least 2 other students' explications. 


NOTE the QUALITY AND DEPTH of this sample response.

SAMPLE NUMBER 1:

Hamlet - Quote Explication 10/8/14posted Oct 06, 2014 by nikkiwang321
Quote: "King: Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard. / Delay it not. I'll have him hence tonight. / Away, for everything is sealed and done / That else leans on th' affair. Pray you, make haste. / [All] / And England, if my love thou hold'st at aught / (As my great power thereof may give thee sense, / Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red / After the Danish sword, and thy free awe / Pays homage to us), thou mayst not coldly set / Our sovereign process, which imports at full, / By letters congruing to that effect, / The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England, / For like the hectic in my blood he rages, / And though must cur me. Till I know 'tis done, / Howe'er my haps, my joys <were ne'er begun.>" (Shakespeare, 199) 

Context: After Hamlet kills Polonius while guilting his mother the Queen into admitting her sins, Hamlet drags Polonius' body elsewhere and the Queen informs the King of Hamlet's deeds. To this, the King has sentenced Hamlet to England as punishment for killing the innocent man. 

Significance:Due to Hamlet killing Polonius thinking that he was the King, Hamlet has done a horrible deed and has been sentenced to go to England by the King, which works in the favor of both the King and Hamlet. It works in the favor of Hamlet because he gets to leave Elsinore and be rid of his uncle and his mother, who he thinks betrayed his father King Hamlet. Hamlet being sent away also works in King Claudius' favor as explained by the quote. While sending Hamlet to England, the King hopes that England will help him kill Hamlet, as expressed himself, "The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England... Till I know 'tis done, / Howe'er my haps, my joys <were ne'er begun.>" (Shakespeare, 199). This expresses the King's wishes to have Hamlet killed. The king wishes Hamlet dead because if Hamlet is alive, then there is someone who knows of his deeds in killing the previous king, his brother, which Hamlet confirmed during the play. Hamlet confirmed his suspicions of his uncle killing his father when King Claudius rises and stops the play when Lucianus pours poison into Gonzago's ear to obtain Gonzago's estate and eventually marries his wife. All in all, King Claudius uses the death of Polonius as a reason to rid himself of the threat, which is Hamlet.




SAMPLE #2


Paradise Lost 10/8/2014posted Oct 06, 2014 by EstherLaw
Quote: "To whom thus Adam cleerd of doubt, repli'd/ How fully hast thou satisfi'd mee, pure/ Intelligence of Heav'n, Angel serene/ And freed from intricacies, taught to live/ The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts/ To interrupt the sweet of Life, from which/ God hath bid dwell farr off all anxious cares" (Milton 159). 

Context: After the angel Raphael tells Adam about how the world was created, how Satan fell from Heaven, and how the astrological bodies move, Adam thanks the angel for giving him the information. Adam claims to be happy with what he has learned and praises God for not giving him many worries to think about. 

Significance: In this scene, Adam's curiosity is satisfied by what Raphael tells him. Adam exalts the importance of knowledge, praising both Raphael's and Heaven's intelligence. This shows that Adam likes to have knowledge, and that if he has questions about something, he will be curious to know the answer. In this way, Adam is in danger of being tempted by Satan, for he knows that eating the Forbidden Fruit will give him some degree of knowledge.