Figurative Language in RFK's Speech

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some -- some very sad news for all of you -- Could you lower those signs, please? -- I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget

falls drop by drop upon the heart,

until, in our own despair,

against our will,

comes wisdom

through the awful grace of God.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

And let's dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Thank you very much.

Hamlet Podcast

Act 2 Scene 1

Polonius : Yume

Reynaldo : Nattagan

Ophelia : Thitaphat

Click To Download "Act 2 Scene 1"

Act 2 Scene 2

King : Nattagan

Queen : Yume

Rosencrantz : Thitaphat

Click To Download "Act 2 Scene2"

Response for Hamlet

Response Journal for Act I, Scence 1 to Act I, Scence 3

1. How does the play make you feel at this point? Record your emotional response (s) in a few sentences and explore them for a few minutes, trying to figure out why you feel as you do.

       It made me feel sorry for Hamlet when Hamlet's father died and the mother Gertrude is marrying the uncle Claudius. Hamlet had to go over many sad events. If it was me, I would feel like Gertrude betrayed me and my father. I will be in a big disappointment. And it made me curious about father's death too. Like us gphe really killed by poison or not.


2. In what situations have you felt samiliar to the characters? What persons, places, or ideas from your own experiences came to your mind while you were reading this portion of the play? Try to list at least three associations, but don't worry about trying to figure out why they came to mind. Just accept that they occur.

         a. My feeling when I am stress because there are many tests and homeworks to review, but then I don't have enough time to review, and unlucky on that day my mother can't pick me up early piles up my stress and headache, it is similar to Hamlet's feeling when Hamlet's father died and Gertrude is going to marry Claudius. It's like I am stressed and sad with one thing already but other bad things keep on happening on that day, it makes me feel disappointed.

 

         b. My feeling when I see a scary dream is similar to the feeling when Horatio saw the ghost. I will be terrified and scared but other people cannot understand how I felt because they didn't see the dream that I saw.

          c. I had the similar feeling as Laertus when my sister was going back to Japan alone to study for university. Even though she is older than me I worry about her because she is going to live there alone which she never experienced. Laertus was also worried about his sister Ophelia when she was going back to France. 

3. What portions of Shakespear's language attracts your attention? These might be individual words, pharses, lines, scences, or images. Make note of whatever features draw your attention. Speculate for a few minutes about what you think they might mean.

          The word that attracted me in this story was " 'Tis ". I never saw this kind of word in other books and it made me feel that Hamlet is unique because it uses different style of words. Like Dar'd, design'd, in't, and seiz'd. I think the meaning of these words are it's , dared, designed, isn't and seized. 

4. Make note of any portion of the play, its language, or events that cause you problems. Note any questions that you might ask.

          From this story I want to ask Gertrude, why did she marry Claudius? I want to know that didn't she feel sad about her husband's death and feel guilty about him... It is like she betrayed her son and her old husband, and quickly have a new husband. It stuck in my mind, why did Gertrude acted in this way and chose to marry Claudius in just 2months after Hamlet's father's death.