"To Be or Not to Be," Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Act 3 Scene 1

Introduction

Undoubtedly the most well-known name in English literature and poetry, William Shakespeare began his career as a poet. His sonnets are thick with kaleidoscopic imagery and subtle symbolic meaning. During his life he rose to prominence as a playwright, producing theatrical works in multiple genres that offer commentary on social and cultural conditions of his day. The opening line of this soliloquy (a monologue that externalizes a character's inner thoughts that other characters do not hear) is likely the most referenced line in all of literature. Drawn from Hamlet, a play about a young prince caught in the torture of discovering that his uncle has murdered his father in order to seize control of the throne and marry his mother. In this scene, Hamlet, emotionally and mentally unstable as a result of the devastating events he has discovered, considers the advantages and disadvantages of death. He puzzles over the nobility of enduring the challenges associated with mortality against the uncertainty of the conditions after death.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause—there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

Reflection Questions

In what ways does the "conscience make cowards of us all"?
What is Hamlet's justification for death? For life?
How does Hamlet use contrast to outline his arguments?

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