To be, or not to be?

Analysis of Hamlet's most famous speech.

Hamlet’s Soliloquy- “To be, or not to be- That is the question” Analysis

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is the most frequently performed play around the world, which is calculated that one begins somewhere in the world every minute of every day. The most famous quote by Shakespeare, “To be, or not to be?” is from this book, made by Hamlet. First performed around 1600 and 1601, Hamlet is a story about a prince, whose will to avenge his father’s death to his uncle puts him in many philosophical problems that he cannot solve. Hamlet has a famous soliloquy made by the main character, Hamlet, “To be, or not to be? That is the question-”. That quote is the most searched for ‘Shakespeare Quotes’ on the internet, many more times than all other Hamlet quotes. Hamlet is trying to value life and contemplate death in this soliloquy as seen in many parts in the soliloquy.
The beginning of Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy wildly contemplates the contrast of the value of life and death in six words. That is “To be, or not to be?”(Shakespeare 138). These six words mention the contrast between life and death. This sentence is about Hamlet trying to choose between living and dying, which can be connected to two things: a will to avenge his father's death and Hamlet’s mad love to Ophelia.
Firstly, the connection is revenge for his father. Hamlet was very eager to take revenge for his father’s death, by killing his uncle in Act 1. However, in later scenes, when Hamlet shows the king and the queen a play to confirm what the ghost said. The ghost says that Hamlet’s zealousness has been lower, and it is because Hamlet contemplated life and death in this part. This part affected Hamlet to think again about killing for revenge. So, the ghost says Hamlet had not much eagerness. There may be much more things that caused Hamlet to be like this, but this is the most likely, because Hamlet had to listen to the ghost, but Hamlet had the mental conflicts after meeting Ophelia. Hamlet had to listen to the ghost because in that time Hamlet’s shock about his father’s death was still there. Hamlet then was very desperate because he was having grief, bargaining, anger… all 5 emotions in the 5 states of grief, and wanted to take revenge, because Hamlet Senior was dead not long ago, and Hamlet knew, more than anyone, because of the fact that his father had been killed. Also, Hamlet knew that the people were not knowing it right, and he would’ve probably known that the people judge mostly by appearance. So, Hamlet thought that he would not be punished a lot even if he killed a person. So, Hamlet would have thought that getting revenge on his uncle, who killed his father, is his top priority.
The second connection is the effect on Ophelia: Ophelia has made Hamlet think about deep things like contemplating life and death. Also, Hamlet is in mad love with Ophelia. This mad love would have made Hamlet not think about other things. (There is an old saying: Love makes people blind) Hamlet’s love was mad- he couldn’t do anything but love Ophelia more and more. Naturally, Hamlet’s thoughts about revenge will be lower and lower, and that was the state when Hamlet does not have a lot of will for revenge. When one loves one another, one has a high chance to forget other things, even though that is an important thing. In stories, many people who love are written like a person that forgets things. Hamlet’s thoughts were natural, if people love people, they tend to keep thinking about the person they love like Hamlet, who loves Ophelia.
Also, “that is the question” values life too. Hamlet had very much pain after his father died, and Hamlet’s internal conflicts made Hamlet value life and death.

The section in first is:

“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? (138)

This is Hamlet trying to identify his problems. Hamlet is trying to describe life; in this statement Hamlet is discussing the dark sides of life. For example, in “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, Hamlet is trying to discuss how life has conflicts. ‘Outrageous fortune’ means something unexpected also unwanted- and what Hamlet is trying to discuss in the first line of the soliloquy is: “Whether it is nobler to suffer the damages of unexpected and unwanted consequences in life”. There is a lot of unwanted and unexpected things in life. Especially, in Hamlet, Hamlet lost his father, and when Hamlet was in grief, Hamlet’s father’s ghost suddenly came and asked Hamlet for revenge. Hamlet, in grief, says yes. These could have been the most complicated things Hamlet experienced, and it would have triggered Hamlet to have internal conflicts. The next lines are: Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them? Here, ‘sea of troubles’ means a lot of troubles. Hamlet, in the last line, is saying that all problems can end when you oppose it. Hamlet, in this sentence, puts a question mark at the end. Here, Hamlet is not sure, and questions that all problems will end when he opposes it. Here, what Hamlet says ‘opposing’ really means ‘death’. It is because Hamlet values life and death in the first sentence, and Hamlet is questioning the possibility of problems ending when one dies. People have a natural thought that if there is a conflict, they want to end it by dying. Here, Hamlet also must have had an internal conflict, Hamlet must have been painful about the conflict. The source of Hamlet’s internal conflict will be very diverse, from his father’s death to mad love to Ophelia. So, the translation of the first part of the monologue would be:
“Whether it is nobler for one’s mind to suffer the painful damages of unwanted, and unexpected consequences by fortune, or to fight against a lot of troubles… would death end the problems?

Then, the next part is:


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. (138)


Hamlet is discussing death. “To sleep” here is Hamlet describing death, as he sees it. Hamlet would know how ‘death’ works. However, because Hamlet once experienced death, Hamlet is referring to ‘death’ as another word. Hamlet experienced the death of his father, and Hamlet is sensitive in terms of discussion of death. Hamlet, here, thinks that death is sleeping, although one who dies does not wake up. Due to Hamlet seeing his father’s death, Hamlet here is trying to describe death as positively as possible. That is also why Hamlet says ‘No more’ in this soliloquy, Hamlet is saying that dying contains no more but sleeping. Once again, Hamlet is trying to address death as possible as he can. Then, Hamlet says “The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd.” Hamlet here is describing ‘death’ itself. In this context, Hamlet is describing death can end pain. Death can end pain because if a person dies, that person no longer affects anything, like how death stops a person completely and that person does not have to feel any good, or feel any pain. Hamlet views death as not only a negative thing, but actually a positive thing since Hamlet wants to get away from the philosophical problems he had met. Furthermore, Hamlet is describing death as heartache and a thousand natural shocks, Hamlet is trying to look most optimistically to death, since his father had died lately and Hamlet Also, in “ ‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wished!”, Hamlet is saying that death is a consummation by a transcendental being, like the god. People, who think death as an apocalyptic phenomenon, are definite to think death was by a transcendental being. So, by this section of the soliloquy, Hamlet is describing death directly, and in this section, Hamlet is describing the death of a person’s effects on other people, as pain and shocks, and how death is formed. Hamlet may still have shock left due to his father’s death. What Hamlet is saying in this part is:
Dying… is- sleeping- not anything more than that- and sleep ends the pain from life- death is a transcendental phenomenon by a god, and nobody can oppose that.


Then, Hamlet says:


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. (138)


Here, Hamlet is describing death as the last section. Hamlet, in the first sentence, “To die, to sleep, perchance to dream, —ay, there’s the rub:” Hamlet is connecting death to something else. ‘Perchance’ means perhaps. Hamlet in this sentence means: “To die, to sleep, perhaps to dream”. Hamlet has mentioned death as sleeping, because Hamlet wants to think optimistically about his dead father. Then, Hamlet says: “perchance to dream”. Hamlet thinks that his father will be dreaming, perhaps because Hamlet thinks that death can make people dream something because sleeping can make someone dream something. Hamlet bumps into many philosophical conflicts, and this makes Hamlet think like this. Then, Hamlet says “Ay, there’s the rub”. Hamlet refers to “Yes, I think I am right”. ‘Rub’ means ‘obstacle’. Hamlet here thinks he is right, and because of the point he referred to that talk as an obstacle, Hamlet wants to talk more about that here. So, he talks more about how death can be dreaming. Hamlet then says: “There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life!” Hamlet is saying here that making in obstacle in death is a calamity(disaster) of so long life. So, what Hamlet is saying is that one should go when one would go, and disrespecting death makes a disaster of one who is dying.


Then, Hamlet says:


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? (139)



Hamlet explains what life may contain nasty and unfortunate things, and what they could be. These things include: The emotional damage of despised love, the flaws of the law, the insolence of the royal family, and more. Hamlet here thinks about these things. Hamlet is saying no to oppressors and wants to be a proud standing man. What he next says about is what Hamlet himself should not have, emotional damage of love, delay of law, which means Hamlet should not break the rules, and the paitent merit of unworthy takes, which is Hamlet trying to think that he should not take and spend time on something unnecessary. Then, Hamlet talks about how he would die. Hamlet has mentioned that death is perhaps dreaming. And, Hamlet thought that he was right. Hamlet says that death is going to an undiscovered country, which a voyager never returns. Then, Hamlet says ‘questions the will’. Here, Hamlet questions the voyager’s will to come back to life. Hamlet, in the first part of the soliloquy, questioned that death can solve some problems. Here, Hamlet tries to think death as optimistically as possible. So, he questions the will of the voyager to come back. Also, Hamlet questions the will to go there. Most people fear death and think death as something ‘pejorative’ and ‘pessimistic’. And, here Hamlet was also fearing death. Why would Hamlet try to contemplate death? It would be because, Hamlet could kill himself (because of his philosophical problems), but Hamlet fears so he stops himself and questions the will. So, ‘death’ Hamlet mentions is a phenomenon that people don’t will to go, but when they go, they don’t have the will to come back and they can’t.


The last part of Hamlet’s soliloquy is


“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.” (139)


Here, what Hamlet is mentioning is the resolution, when people die. When people die, people are in grief and they often get afraid of death as well. Being afraid of death is a natural thing, and here Hamlet mentions those people ‘cowards’. Then, all the next part is about ‘how people die’. The native hue of resolution refers to an end of a person’s life, because all people die someday and death is an end of life, putting a period in life. Then, the pale cast of thought and enterprises of great pith of moment are the last moments before death. In the last moment of life, people think too. And, because Hamlet believes that death is a trancendental phenomenon, Hamlet mentions great pity and all the moments. Then, the last part when Hamlet says ‘With this regard their currents turn awry and lost the name of action’ Hamlet (not directly) refers to death itself. When people die, their heartbeat stops and things stop. Hamlet was mentioning that. The currents, which HAmlet uses, is the things in the body of a person, which is things like blood and people’s organs. Death, makes things like heart, lungs, and brain stop, and that is turning awry. People’s organs turn in a bad way when they die, and thus death can be a transcendental phenomenon. Then, Hamlet says ‘lose the name of action’ and that is the final moment of one person dying, one life coming to an end, and an end of everything the person had.


Therefore, Hamlet values life and death in this soliloquy. Due to these sections- first, which Hamlet compares/contrasts life & death, and Hamlet describes death, which is the middle section, and then, the last part which Hamlet mentions the process of death. Hamlet should have mentioned more, Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy ended in a vague way, by Ophelia coming, and Hamlet stopping the deep and wild contemplation of life and death because of love.



Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, and John C. Crowther. No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet. SparkNotes, 2003.
“Hamlet.” Sparknotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/. Accessed 21 Aug. 2023.