hamlet's soliloquy

Image source: Stratford Festival

Hamlet's soliloquy contains what is probably the most-quoted line in all of Shakespeare:  'to be or not to be.' TIME's compilation of the top fifteen Shakespeare quotes put information technology at the height of their list. It'southward likely that you lot accept heard, read, or said the famous opening words of the speech: 'to be or non to be.'

There's more to it, of class, than "to be or not to exist." Here are some features the spoken language that y'all may not have been aware of.

Commencement, hither is Hamlet's soliloquy in its entirety.

To exist, or not to exist? That is the question—

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to have artillery against a bounding main of troubles,

And, by opposing, cease them? To die, to sleep—

No more than—and past a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to—'tis a consummation

Devoutly to exist wished! To die, to sleep.

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

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we accept shuffled off this mortal curlicue,

Must give us break. There's the respect

That makes calamity of and then long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

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

The pangs of despised love, the law'due south 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,

Just that the dread of something later decease,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveler returns, puzzles the will

And makes united states of america rather acquit those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does 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 swell pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action. —Soft you at present,

The fair Ophelia! —Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remembered.

A mod English language translation of Hamlet's soliloquy

The voice communication is a stunning work of art and the most-studied of all of Shakespeare'south plays. It is best untampered. However, a modern English rendering can untangle some of the puzzling lines and Elizabethan turns of phrase.

Ben Florman, LitCharts'due south co-founder, wrote the following modern English translation of Village'south soliloquy:

To live, or to dice? That is the question.

Is it nobler to suffer through all the terrible things

fate throws at you, or to fight off your troubles,

and, in doing so, end them completely?

To die, to sleep—because that's all dying is—

and past a sleep I mean an end to all the heartache

and the thousand injuries that we are vulnerable to—

that's an end to be wished for!

To die, to sleep. To slumber, perhaps to dream—yeah,

but there's at that place'due south the catch. Because the kinds of

dreams that might come in that sleep of death—

after you accept left behind your mortal torso—

are something to brand you broken-hearted.

That's the consideration that makes us suffer

the calamities of life for and so long.

Considering who would deport all the trials and tribulations of fourth dimension—

the oppression of the powerful, the insults from big-headed men,

the pangs of unrequited love, the slowness of justice,

the boldness of people in office,

and the general corruption of good people past bad—

when you could just settle all your debts

using naught more than an unsheathed dagger?

Who would bear his burdens, and grunt

and sweat through a tiring life, if they weren't frightened

of what might happen after death—

that undiscovered country from which no visitor returns,

which we wonder well-nigh and which makes us

prefer the troubles nosotros know rather than fly off

to face the ones we don't? Thus, the fright of

expiry makes u.s.a. all cowards, and our natural

willingness to human action is made weak by too much thinking.

Actions of great urgency and importance

get thrown off course because of this sort of thinking,

and they cease to be actions at all.

But wait, hither is the beautiful Ophelia!

[To OPHELIA] Dazzler, may yous forgive all my sins in your prayers.

Village's soliloquy contains other famous Shakespeare quotes.

In the soliloquy there is more than just the famous line "to be or not to be."  You may have heard these Shakespearean quotes as well.

  • Whether 'tis nobler in the heed to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.
  • To die, to sleep. / To sleep, perchance to dream
  • Ay, in that location's the rub,
  • Shuffled off this mortal curl
  • The pangs of despised dear
  • To grunt and sweat under a weary life
  • Thus conscience does brand cowards of us all
  • All my sins remembered.

Understanding Hamlet'south Soliloquy, and the meaning of 'To be or not to exist'

What is the meaning of Village'southward soliloquy? Here'due south a brief explanation of the meaning and themes, fatigued from LitCharts's comprehensive literary guide to Hamlet.

While Polonius and Claudius hibernate and eavesdrop, Hamlet breaks into this most famous soliloquy, perhaps the best-known spoken language in the English. Hamlet returns to the question of suicide, wondering if it would be preferable to finish his life or not.

Though Hamlet's language has grown more than directly from its earlier references to "dew," it still speaks to his passivity in the face of agony. He phrases the question of death in the abstract with the infinitive verb forms "to be, or non to be"—and makes it "the question" of humanity, equally opposed to a personal matter. These choices imply that the decision whether or not to exist is a constant struggle for each person, a struggle that Village tries to mediate through the metric of what is "nobler in the mind." This phrase implies that death is evaluated based on the perceived correctness or social value, every bit opposed to, say, a universal ethical system.

For the two options themselves, Hamlet chooses evocative images: "To be" is put in relatively more passive terms every bit a continuous process of "suffering" an onslaught of external attacks from "outrageous fortune"—that is to say, the constant influx of events that cannot be shifted in ane'due south destiny. Suicide, on the other hand, is presented equally an agile fight that wages war on "a sea of troubles" and, indeed, is successful in the attempt. The phrase "by opposing end them" seems noble or glorious, but what information technology literally means is to beat out one's "outrageous fortune" by catastrophe one's life. Thus Hamlet presents his lack of suicide not every bit the event of bereft desperation, but rather his apathy from wishing to have on such a fight. Life becomes, for him, a constant determination of whether he will finally make it at sufficient motivation to shift course and end his and/or Claudius'due south life.

12 Facts well-nigh Hamlet's Famous 'To be or non to be' Soliloquy

  • Hamlet wasn't alone while he uttered his soliloquy. According to the definition of soliloquy, "usually, no other characters are present." In Hamlet's case, Ophelia is positioned nearby, while Claudius and Polonius are hiding.
  • The scene, Act III, Scene I, in which Hamlet delivers his soliloquy is often called the "nunnery scene." Hamlet vituperates confronting Ophelia by telling her to "get thee to a nunnery."
  • According to legend, Hamlet is being performed somewhere in the world every minute of every day. (I'1000 unaware of where this bit of trivia originated, but its veracity is dubious.)
  • The play, set up in Denmark, is set, more specifically, in the Kronborg Castle of Helsingør. And, yes, you tin rent the castle.
  • The 'to be or non to be' soliloquy is 33 lines long and consists of 262 words.
  • The King of beasts King is the closest a pop Disney movie has come to adapting a Shakespeare play, in this case, Village. Other literary works that borrow Hamlet themes are Great Expectations (Charles Dickens), Ulysses (James Joyce) and Tom Jones (Henry Fielding).
  • Desire to read Hamlet in Klingon? Yous tin. Hamlet is i of two Shakespearean plays that have been translated into the language of Star Trek's Klingons. How do you lot say "To be or not to exist" in Klingon? "taH pagh taHbe'!
  • Village's soliloquy takes upward to four minutes to perform.
  • Every bit far as historians can ascertain, the first Village performance was in 1600 or 1601. The acting troupe was the King's Men, and the venue was, of grade, the Globe.
  • Hamlet, at four,042 lines, is the longest Shakespearean play. Performances usually last 4-5 hours.
  • The spoken communication is written in iambic pentameter, and many of the lines have a feminine ending (11 syllables with the ultimate syllable unstressed). Students of Hamlet theorize that the irregularity of the feminine ending lines represents stress or turbulence, which Hamlet is plainly experiencing as he soliloquizes.
  • The starting time person to perform Village's soliloquy was the actor Richard Burbage. Burbage was one of the about sensational actors always to grace the Globe. He and Shakespeare were close friends.
  • Shakespeare had a son named Hamnet who died at age xi. It is possible that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet every bit a response to this personal tragedy.

Watch these famous recitations of the soliloquy.

Mel Gibson as Hamlet performs the soliloquy.

Here is David Tennant, former Doc Who, and award-winning Shakespearean actor in his critically acclaimed functioning.

This is Kenneth Branagh in his performance of the soliloquy.

And, true to form, Benedict Cumberbatch, seizes the audience with his interpretation.