Summer Reading

So your summer is winding down.  What better way to exercise your brain in preparation for the coming year and enrich your literary knowledge than reading a Shakespearean play.

In debate, we use a lot of the Greek myths as introductions for extemp./impromptu speeches.  But to give your speech more depth (and show off what you know), consider connecting it to a theme in a Shakespearean play.  Shakespeare borrowed heavily from the Greeks in his plays.  At this point in your academic career you're probably familiar with Romeo & Juliet (which you'll read in 9th grade).  But I would recommend reading the following plays to give you something to build a speech around:

Macbeth - play about seizing power at all costs
Julius Caesar - play about ending tyranny only to be corrupted by power
Hamlet - revenge
Richard III - play about an all-around bad guy

These are some heavy reading, but if you get a good version with notes, like "No-Fear Shakespeare" it shouldn't be too difficult.  And, or course, there are always the film versions to supplement and clarify what you didn't quite catch when you read it the first time.