(Preface Pg. 7) – “NO GENERATION has surpassed ours in its sensitivity to injustice, cruelty, and suffering, demonstrated in the World Wars and in several lesser aggressions, in the attempted liquidation of races and nations, and in the callous oppression of minorities.” The first and most obvious literary technique I notice in the introduction of the preface is the capital letters. It assures the reader that what is said is just without a doubt. It then proceed to use many very strong trigger words to build up a sense of justice within the reader.
(Preface Pg. 7) – “But the problems we face are not new; they were common before Plato and Job, and out of them brilliant minds have developed interesting philosophies.” This sentence supports its statement by using an allusion and recognising Plato and Job, two famous philosophers who studied human ways of living and analyzed it’s behaviours, which include the repetitive pattern of Injustice and why.
(Preface Pg. 8) – “There have been millions of Hamlets, in different situations, to be sure, but with the same basic doubts and frustrations – wondering why people must suffer injustice and wrong, whether there is any standard of right and truth, or whether our concept of the Good is a mere mental mirage, asking what is the source and the destiny of that which we call Evil, and whether we are actually free souls or only blind puppets of circumstances.” This sentence uses figurative language such as “millions of Hamlets” (Frustrated individuals) and “mental mirage” (A mirage is a illusion in your mind that says there is water ahead but it’s just reality coming together to tell a lie). It also draws in the reader by relating us to Hamlet, because it is only normal to wonder on human mortality, as I have many times before.
(Chapter 1 Pg. 14) “But it is needless here to trace the avenues of philosophic thought to Shakespeare’s time.” In the mass of long and detailed sentences, this one is brief, but leaves a lingering blunt impression on the reader that the beliefs of the Renaissance period were craftily interwoven within each of Shakespeare’s plays.
(Chapter 1 Pg. 53) “”He hath much land and fertile,” (Hamlet) says of Orisric; “Let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king’s mess. ‘Tis a chough; but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.” So any fool raised to office, Hamlet observes, is immediately worshipped.” The Author includes quotes references from Shakespeare’s tragedy of “Hamlet” to help impose the idea that power is a matter of perspective and who set it there really has all the power.
(Chapter 1 Pg.66) “In the grave there is no distinction between good and the bad.” I can’t help but be curious of the statement. I guess another popular saying that could be related to this is “Dead men tell no tales” which implies that when the deed of death is done and absolute, there is no changing what was done in life and death closes the door to make any more choices.
(Chapter 2 Pg. 83) “They were alike, however, in holding that all values are matters of opinion, existing in the mind, but not necessarily in the external fact.” In other words, I believe that when they came to this agreement, they agreed unknowingly at the time that Evil does not lie within an external thing, but within the perception and opinion on the matter that makes it sin.
(Chapter 2 Pg. 111) “Shakespeare shows that few in either host are concerned with order and moral law.” The writer enlightens us on Shakespeare’s thought process at the time. He saw deeper into why people with much power sweep away reason and natural justice with ignorance and passion for their own selfish reasons.
