To Be or Not to Be

In this very famous speech Hamlet asks why man does not lose his will to live despite the obstacles he has to overcome.

Act III Scene I: A room in the cast

hamlet: To be, or not to be - that is the question.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows¹ of outrageous² fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die - to sleep – 5

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache³, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to⁴; 'tis a consummation⁵

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die - to sleep -

To sleep! perchance⁶ to dream. Ay, there's the rub⁷; 10

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off⁸ this mortal coil⁹,

Must give us pause. There's the respect¹⁰

That makes calamity of so long life".

For who would bear the whips and scorns¹² of time, 15

The oppressor's wrong¹³, the proud man's contumely¹⁴,

The pangs¹⁵ of despised¹⁶ love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns¹⁷

That patient merit of the unworthy takes¹⁸,

When he himself might his quietus make¹⁹ 20

With a bare bodkin²⁰? Who would these fardels bear,

To grunt²¹ and sweat²² under a weary²³ life,

But that the dread²⁴ of something after death –

The undiscovered country from whose bourn²⁵

No traveller returns - puzzles²⁶ the will, 25

And makes us rather bear those ills²⁷ we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue²⁸ of resolution

Is sicklied o'er²⁹ with the pale cast³⁰ of thought; 30

With this regard³² their currents turn awry³³,

And enterprises of great pitch and moment³¹,

And lose the name of action.

GLOSSARY

1. slings and arrows: (slings: pieces of cords with leather in the middle used to throw stones; arrows: thin pointed sticks that you shoot with a bow)

2. outrageous: adverse

3. heart-ache: pain

4. flesh is heir to: part of a human life

5. consummation: conclusion

6. perchance: perhaps

7. rub: impediment, obstacle

8. shuffled off: removed

9. coil: spiral loop (here: body)

10. respect: thought, consideration

11. of so long life: last so long

12. whips and scorns: (fig.) blows

13.wrong: unjust actions

14. contumely: offensive behaviour

15.pangs: sudden and sharp feelings of pain

16. despised: rejected

17. spurns: rejections

18. takes: receives from people of little value

19. his quietus make: write his own quittance (document stating that he is free from debt)

20. bare bodkin: naked dagger

21. grunt: emit the sound that pigs make

22. sweat: perspire

23. weary: tiresome

24. dread: fear

25. bourn: boundary, limit

26. puzzles: confounds

27. ills: adversities

28. native hue: natural colour

29. sicklied o'er: turned pale as if sick

30. cast: colour

31. pitch and moment: importance

32. With this regard: because of this

33. their currents turn awry: change direction

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