Hamlet -- “To be or not to be” Soliloquy
When the Bard of Avon created Hamlet, he simultaneously created the famous soliloquy ever uttered by English-speaking men. Thus it is that literary critics rank Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy as the most notable ever penned. Let’s examine in this essay how such a high ranking is deserved, and what the soliloquy means.
In his essay “An Explication of the Player’s Speech,” Harry Levin refers to the fourth soliloquy as the most famous of them all:
Dwelling on gross details and imperfections of the flesh (“Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight”), Hamlet will admonish his mother that sense-perception is dulled by sensual indulgence. Here insensibility is communicated by a rhetorical assault upon the senses: primarily “the very faculties of eyes and ears,” but incidentally touch and even taste. Leaving the senseless Priam to the insensate Pyrrhus, after another hiatus of half a line (37), the speech addresses violent objurgations to the bitch-goddess Fortune, about whom Hamlet has lately cracked ribald jokes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; whose buffets and rewards he prizes Horatio for suffering with equanimity; against whom he will, in the most famous of all soliloquies [my italics], be tempted to take arms. (36)
Marchette Chute in “The Story Told in Hamlet” describes just how close the hero is to suicide while reciting his most famous soliloquy:
Hamlet enters, desperate enough by this time to be thinking of suicide. It seems to him that it would be such a sure way of escape from torment, just to cease existing, and he gives the famous speech on suicide that has never been worn thin by repetition. “To be, or not to be . . .” It would be easy to stop living.
To die, to sleep;
No more. And by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to . . .
But Hamlet has never succeeded in deceiving himself, and he cannot do so now. . . .
[He] will not . . . be able to kill himself. He has thought too much about it to be able to take any action. (39)
Considering the context of this most notable soliloquy, the speech appears to be a reaction from the determination which ended the “rogue and peasant slave” soliloquy. In fact, in the Quarto of 1603 the “To be” speech comes BEFORE the players’ scene and the nunnery scene – and is thus more logically positioned to show its emotional connection to the previous soliloquy (Nevo 46).
To continue on the subject of suicide, I will bring in some information from my last source, “Shakespeare’s Hamlet 1.2.35-38,” by Kathryn Walls. (Gather information from source and relate to the book).
Demographically Chipotle focuses the majority of its sales on individuals between 18 and 24 years old which is the same as Taco Bell (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013). This could potentially be correlated to the on the go, fast paced life styles that is typical for this age demographic. Chipotle offers a customizable menu that that appeals to the young adult that is constantly on the move and have a tighter budget. Chipotle’s marketing strategies appeal to the young adult through their social media platform campaigns that gain the attention of the young adult. Millennials have had a large influence on the growth of the company that has locations “located at various location types such as end of row shops, shops
Einstein, Stephen. & Kukoff, Lydia. (1989). Every Person's Guide to Judaism. New York: UAHC Press.
Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973.
The soliloquy that appears in Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is easily one of the most popular speeches in English literature. It has been referenced to in Star Trek, Calvin and Hobbes and A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, this speech was not intended to be a lighthearted reference as indicated by Hamlet’s contemplative, philosophical, and bitter tones he uses while questioning the nature of life and death in this soliloquy.
In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” there are four major soliloquies that reflect the character of Hamlet.
1.H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Harper Torchbooks, 1951), chap. 1.
Shakespeare uses soliloquies in his play as a means of communicating the thoughts of a character without revealing them to the other characters. I will investigate soliloquies because they are commonly found in literature, but not in every day speech; therefore, I want to have a better understanding of how a soliloquy can benefit the play’s plot rather than the use of conversation between two or more characters. The three plays that we can see the effect of Shakespeare’s soliloquies on the plot are Jacques in As You Like it, Hamlet in Hamlet, and Macbeth in Macbeth. In each of these plays, the subtopics that I will discuss are: how a specific soliloquy reveals the character’s inner thought, how these lines differ from the views society has
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is laden with tragedy from the start, and this adversity is reflected in the title character. Being informed of his father’s murder and the appalling circumstances surrounding the crime, Hamlet is given the emotionally taxing task of avenging his death. It is clear that having to complete this grim undertaking takes its toll on Hamlet emotionally. Beginning as a seemingly contemplative and sensitive character, we observe Hamlet grow increasingly depressed and deranged as the play wears on. Hamlet is so determined to make his father proud that he allows the job on hand to completely consume him. We realize that Hamlet has a tendency to mull and ponder excessively, which causes the notorious delays of action throughout the play. It is often during these periods of deep thought and reflection that we hear one of Hamlet’s famous soliloquies, which are obviously relative to Hamlet’s apprehensions and worries surrounding his current situation. The seven soliloquies throughout the play offer insight pertaining to the deteriorating mental state of Hamlet, and the circumstances which induce his decent into madness.
The Nazis herded the Jews into railroad freight cars to be taken to the camps. As
This paper will compare the concept of the Messiah within Judaism and the development of the messianic tradition within Christianity. Consideration will be given to Judaic thought on how this religion understands the concept of the Messiah. Defining how throughout history it shaped the foundation of this religion to distinguish its own individual identity. Analysis will focus on the abstraction of the Messiah and how Jewish believers interpret the coming of the Mashiach in connection with the prophecy of Isaiah. Discussing how eschatology is understood in this religion compared to Christianity, and how different Jewish groups define the Messiah prophecy from early history up until the modern day era. The paper will also discuss the development of the Messianic tradition within Christianity, focusing on the prophets, Jesus and how the messianic period is defined in Christian theology; in order to establish if the son of God has arrived in this world and fulfilled his promise through death and resurrection, or if the messiah and the messianic age is still yet to come as understood in Judaism.
Hamlet also shows that he is clever in this play. One way that Hamlet's cleverness is shown in this play is the way that he reacts after he sees his father's ghost for the first time. He makes Horatio and Marcellus swear that they did not see the ghost and to also swear that they will not reveal that Hamlet is only pretending to be insane. You can also see how Hamlet is clever in his plan to reveal Claudius as his father's murderer. In his plan the players that are visiting the castle will reenact the murder of Hamlet's father in the lines that Hamlet has written for them. This plan works because when Claudius sees the reenactment he runs out of the room in fright, revealing to Hamlet and everyone else that Claudius did indeed murder Hamlet I.
Hamlet’s anger and grief- primarily stemming from his mother’s marriage to Claudius- brings him to thoughts of suicide, which only subside as a result of it being a mortal and religious sin. The fact that he wants to take his own life demonstrates a weakness in his character; a sense of cowarness, his decision not to kill himself because of religious beliefs shows that this weakness is balanced with some sense of morality. Such an obvious paradox is only one example of the inner conflict and turmoil that will eventually lead to Hamlet’s downfall.
John P. Meier "How do we decide what comes from Jesus" in The Historical Jesus in Recent Research 2006 pages 132–136
Authors and playwrights often use many literary elements to help aid the audience in a further understanding of their play. An element used frequently in the play Hamlet is the soliloquy. Soliloquies hold a significant role in any play. A soliloquy can be defined when a character speaks to themselves, essentially the audience, revealing their thoughts. The function and purpose of these soliloquies in the play Hamlet is for the audience to develop a further understanding of a character’s thoughts, to advance the storyline and create a general mood for the play.