The challenge was to write an essay incorporating at least 20 phrases from Shakespeare's plays, poems or sonnets in under 400 words. Hannah will attend the award ceremony in Wellington. Here is a copy of her essay:

“FAREWELL, FAIR CRUELTY”

Word count: 393

The scream was gut-wrenching and horrifying. It took me a moment to realise it was coming from my own mouth. “This above all, to thine own self be true!” I immediately regretted speaking. My captor stared at me in shock, muttering, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now,” Pain shot through my body as fear swam through my brain. “Let no such man be trusted,” I thought. Despite my efforts to stay awake, darkness overcame me.

“Love is too young to know what conscience is.” I dreamt of my ex-boyfriend, who used me for his own good. I then thought of my current fiancé. “The course of true love never did run smooth.” I dreamt of my best friend. “I would not wish any companion in the world but you.” I remembered she had always teased me for being short. “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” My dreams moved on. “Scars remind us that the past was real.” My emotional scars were many, and I was reminded of them every day. “Poor and content is rich, and rich enough.” I sighed. “O, had I but followed the arts! Be who you are, not who the world wants you to be. We know what we are, but not what we may be.” A burning pain began to creep its way up my side, and I started to regain consciousness. A last thought flashed through my head. “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”

The cold metal blade flashed in the light as a bloodied hand raised it and thrust it down into my side. I knew that I was going to die. “Death is a fearful thing,” I told myself. However, the stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch, which hurts and is desired. I did desire to die, that was true. I was ready to venture into the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns. I felt that I was fulfilling my destiny by allowing myself to be killed. It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. Staring up at my captor’s face, I held his gaze unwaveringly. As I passed from this world, one last thought blinked into existence. “To be, or not to be, that is the question. Farewell, fair cruelty.”