Amber, Denny, Jerry, Karah, Megan, Moses, Zak

Hamlet III.i.56-89

To be, or not to be? That is the question— 56

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— 60
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub, 65
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.
or who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 70
Th' oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised 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 75
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 undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will 80
And makes us rather bear 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, 85
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.—Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia!—Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered. 89
A. Modern Text
a. The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things
that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting an end to
them once and for all? Dying, sleeping—that’s all dying is—a sleep that ends all the
heartache and shocks that life on earth gives us—that’s an achievement to wish for. To die, to
sleep—to sleep, maybe to dream. Ah, but there’s the catch: in death’s sleep who knows what
kind of dreams might come, after we’ve put the noise and commotion of life behind us.
That’s certainly something to worry about. That’s the consideration that makes us stretch out
our sufferings so long. After all, who would put up with all life’s humiliations—the abuse
from superiors, the insults of arrogant men, the pangs of unrequited love, the inefficiency of
the legal system, the rudeness of people in office, and the mistreatment good people have to
take from bad—when you could simply take out your knife and call it quits? Who would
choose to grunt and sweat through an exhausting life, unless they were afraid of something
dreadful after death, the undiscovered country from which no visitor returns, which we
wonder about without getting any answers from and which makes us stick to the evils we
know rather than rush off to seek the ones we don’t? Fear of death makes us all cowards, and
our natural boldness becomes weak with too much thinking. Actions that should be carried
out at once get misdirected, and stop being actions at all. But shh, here comes the beautiful
Ophelia. Pretty lady, please remember me when you pray
- Sparknotes

B. Paraphrase
a. Hamlet is having suicidal thoughts. He can’t decide between fighting his troubles, or ending
them through death. He compares death with sleep and wonders what he would dream about
in death. Why would he have to endure his burdens if he could just end it with a knife? Why
would one suffer, unless they were afraid of never being able to come back if things didn’t
turn out well? Fear of death causes actions from going to completion. Ophelia comes in, and
Hamlet hides his suicidal thoughts.

C. Context & Subject Matter

a. Act III, Scene i

i. King Claudius and Gertude has been investigating the cause of Hamlet’s sadness and
insanity, using spies Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
ii. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern failed to get anything out of Hamlet
iii. King and Polonius decide to spy on Hamlet themselves, and they listen to Hamlet’s
“to be or not to be”
b. To be or not to be, that is the question
i. Hamlet questions himself whether he should put up with all the misery in his life, or
give up and suicide
ii. Refers back to Act I, when Hamlet complains about how God had made suicide a sin
“His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God, God” (I.ii.132)
c. Throughout the soliloquy, Hamlet discusses the unpleasant things that can happen to humans
in life
i. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

 Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay

d. Because of these, Hamlet seems to be leaning toward death as a feasible choice

i. When human beings die, or sleep, we experience no more of life’s torments, and
therefore “end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks”
e. Hamlet’s dilemma becomes even more complex when he looks at the negatives of dying
i. He is afraid of the things that might happen to him if he has chosen to die, the fears
of the afterlife
1. In such as deep sleep in the afterlife, he might be haunted by the frightening
dreams
2. Even worse, he describes the afterlife as the “undiscovered country”, which
no one knows about, and from where “no traveler returns”
f. By the end of the speech, although Hamlet tries to express his feelings, he does not speak in
first person (no I or me), but rather seems to be speaking for all humankind

D. Imagery
a. “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune”
a. Image of great opposition
b. “slings and arrows” belong grammatically to “outrageous misfortune” and make it seem
as though trouble is attacking the hypothetical life Hamlet is musing about
c. Shows how Hamlet views the problems in his life, really he sees himself assaulted by the
troubles around him.

“or to take arms against a sea of troubles.”

a. Portrays a struggle in
b. “sea” connotes vast, or large. The amount of trouble to the one man is
disproportionate.
c. Can be compared to how Hamlet views his own struggle with the problems in his
life.

“’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished”

a. The word “consummation,” (To bring to perfection or completion) connotes

fulfillment, and casts death in a positive light
b. Talking about the reprieve of death (or sleep)
a. Contrasts death with the perceived harshness of life of “the thousand
natural shocks that flesh is heir to!”
b. Death then seems a reprieve from this pain
c. Consummation in a religious sense could mean a consummation of the
relationship of the individual with god, also enforced by
a. Casts death in a positive light
d. “Devoutly” implies a level of faithfulness in this wish for death being beneficial

“To sleep – perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub” (

a. Likens death to the simpler, less negative idea of sleep

b. Instead of dying, he is simply going to sleep, getting a break from the struggles
of the day
c. To dream then, is to go to heaven, if it exists
 d. Saying that dreaming is the rub makes it seem bad, something not wished for.

“Who would fardels bare, to grunt and sweat under a weary life”

a. Image of hard, onerous work.

b. Life is compared to the

“And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought”

a. Visually, if something is sicklied over, that means that its natural shade is being
changed by another shade on top.
b. Similarly, man’s decisions, says Hamlet, are diluted by the thought that comes
afterward.
c. “sicklied” and “pale” both connote this disruption being a bad thing.

E. Diction
a. “outrageous misfortune”
i. Literal: Outrageous
1. grossly offensive to morality or human decency
2. horrific
ii. Connotative:
1. Suggests that the misfortunes that all at some point suffer are when measured
by human standards:
a. human decency and morality
2. “nobler in the mind”
a. Asking if it is believed to be nobler to live and fight or to die despite
“outrageous misfortune[s]”
b. “thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”
i. Literal: Heir
1. A beneficiary
2. Someone who inherits something
ii. Literal: Shock
1. (psychologically) Being stricken with a powerful sense of what is usually a
negative emotion
a. E.g. ‘he was shocked to hear she had murdered someone’
2. (physical) An electric jolt, usually very violent in nature
iii. Connotative: Shock
1. Brings to mind something fast, powerful, and violent. Possibly unexpected.
2. Things that life throws at you – disease, old age, injury, emotional trauma –
that are natural in a person’s life
iv. Refers to the psychological and physical suffering that mortals are prone to that is
inherent in being human
c. “’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished” – speaking of death
i. Literal: Consummation
1. To bring to completion or fruition
 a. (into existence/realisation)
ii. Literal: Devout
1. Earnest
d. “mortal coil”
i. Literal: Coil
1. An object that is wound in a continuous series of loops
ii. Connotative:
1. A mortal coil is suggestive of a person’s mortal flesh/physical wrapping,
constraining, or containing a person’s soul
2. Negative suggestion
a. one does not want to be held back by something previously
suggestive of causing suffering
e. “bare bodkin”
i. Literal: Bodkin
1. A slender dagger or knife
f. “Who would fardels bear”
i. Literal: Fardels
1. Burdens
g. “is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought”
i. Literal: Sicklied
1. Sallow, pale
2. Unhealthy looking
3. Ailing
ii. Connotative:
1. the resolution one has in the heat of the moment of something pales in
comparison to the frightening thought of the unknowns of death
2. conscience, logic, trumps resolution
h. “orisons”
i. Prayer
ii. “Reverent petition to a deity”

F. Motif
a. There are three main motifs in this section of the play. The first, and most prevalent is death.
Hamlet, as a whole is rife with allusions to death, and indeed, the story is truly about death
and the struggle against, and towards the ultimate sleep. In this particular passage, Hamlet
contemplates whether it is easier to die, than to face the struggles and burdens of life.

i. “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!”.....

ii. “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?”
 b. It is the earthly weariness of daily conversations, constant suspicion, and never-ending grief
that Hamlet wishes to be rid of forever. As he is considering the possible consequences and
rewards for death, we come to the next motif in this passage.
i. In Hamlet's eyes, dreaming and death are inexplicably intertwined. As he says,
1. “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.”

c. For what might arrive after death, in his words 'dreams', he gives pause. Whether he considers
heaven, hell or becoming a wandering spirit is unclear. What is important to notice is that
although he claims to be so discontent with life (including the death of his father, the adultery
of his mother, and the treason of his uncle) he never truly considers death as a viable option.
The motif of dreams, or perhaps haunting, is what stays Hamlet's hand. It is the possibility of
unknown horrors after death that frightens those desperate enough to consider suicide.

i. “Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'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?”

d. Now we arrive at the third motif, conscience warring with rash action:
i. “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 great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”

e. Although death is the most obvious theme, and 'dreams' the consequence of death, the ability
to die, briefly touched on, underlays both the decision, and the outcome. Hamlet states that
his thought makes him a coward, that the impulse to die by one's own hand is obscured, or
redirected by thought, into resigned life.

G. Tone
a. Certainty
- Beginning with the dreadful and painful thought of “to be or not to be.”
- Existence itself is up for debate.
- From the first line it can be determined that Hamlet is starting his soliloquy with great
certainty;

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

- The punctuation only adds to the tone in the way the very first line is expressed. The
colons provide a caesura, a pause in order to emphasise the depth of thought that would
take in order to encounter an answer to this dilemmatic question.
 “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?”

- He begins by posing rational and logical questions, but in the end, especially to the main
question of whether to be or not to be, he is unable to find an answer because life after
death is so uncertain. His tone of voice begins to struggle as the soliloquy proceeds.

b. Peacefulness
i. “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:”

 Calm and peaceful, simply like sleeping silently.

 Predicting what the afterlife would be like.

 Cherishing the freedom from all the miseries that people have to endure.

 The two colons in the last sentence are to emphasise caesuras showing the
simplicity and peacefulness of the afterlife. Specifically, the second colon is
a pause right before the state or Realization.

c. Realization
“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:”

- Tone is disappointing, he cannot believe that if he were to sleep he would not be able to
wake up and revive that peaceful dream.

d. Pain and Anger

- As Hamlet continues to describe the miseries and horrid loses that people get during the
hard life, like

“For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay”

- He uses a tone of anger for the harsh life and pain because he is also going through all
those miseries that he describes.
- Hamlet does not know which way to go, to live or to die. Both ways had their pros and
cons.
 - His painful and melancholy tone overtakes the angered tone as he finds a resolution
within the “bare bodkin”. A way to death.
- Hamlet’s tone returns to wonder and ponder on whether to take the chance of death.

e. Uncertainty
- After debating between life and death, Hamlet’s tone changes back to uncertainty
because he has still, even after all the wondering and debating life’s existence, had not
found an answer.
- The big contrast within the beginning of this soliloquy and the end is that Hamlets in the
beginning knows exactly what is he wondering about and how to answer it with a tone of
great certainty. In the end, he has reached absolutely no answer.

“With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.”

- Hamlet’s tone here is lost and uncertain. He is unable to understand which whether death
or life is better.

f. End
o It is ironic how Hamlet is unable to make up his mind, and in the end just leaves off
the audience with no answer on what it is that he would like to do!
o The tone can be absolutely the same throughout the whole soliloquy; I believe that it
is the emphasis on the words that give out a certain tone, which can be interpreted
differently by anyone.

H. Theme / Cool Things

a. Cowardice and indecisiveness
i. Throughout the play, Hamlet suffers from indecisiveness. He tries to turn his desire
for revenge into action, but mopes around.
ii. In this soliloquy, Hamlet is unhappy in his life, but won’t resolve to killing himself
because he’s afraid of what happens in death. He’s keeping himself alive out of
cowardice, and while alive, he is waiting and waiting to kill Claudius, also arguably
out of cowardice.
b. Reason over ranting
i. First soliloquy (Hamlet’s third in the play) where he uses reason instead of rants and
rambles
1. Rhetorical questions
2. Never uses I – he asks these questions on behalf of all mankind, just like the
philosophy student he is
ii. Not wallowing in self pity, for the first time in the play
iii. He’s depressed, and would like to end everything, but he’s scared of what’s to come,
and doesn’t know if it’s any better than what he’s going through right now
1. “I wish I were dead.” “No, wait, I wish everyone else were dead.”
iv. “To be or not to be?”
 1. An incredibly complex philosophical and theological question. He’s not just
contemplating suicide, he’s contemplating the pros and cons of ceasing to
exist, period.
c. Bafflement and the human condition
i. This play is incredibly confusing, long, contradictory, and just generally fails to make
easy sense. Some people (TS Eliot) say that this was a flaw of Shakespeare, others
(Maynard Mack) say this was done on purpose, to illustrate the crazy, jumbled up
times during which the play was written, when science and religion and discoveries
were all clashing together.
ii. If so, this soliloquy perfectly illustrates this play as one which builds mystery without
ever explaining it afterwards:
1. “And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?”
a. Hamlet poses questions which have no answer
b. The emphasis here is on the not knowing, which aids in Hamlet’s
indecisiveness
2. “That is the question”
a. Hamlet says that The Question is “to be or not to be”. But really, the
real question is: why is he asking the question in the first place?
b. If he wasn’t asking these questions in the first place, he’d have a lot
more time on his hands and would have gone and killed Claudius in
one or two acts, not five.
c. Irony: Humans spend a lot of time asking questions we don’t have
answers to that eventually make us more confused. We basically
blunder around in states of constant bafflement and confusion.
i. This soliloquy showcases Hamlet’s indecisiveness and is a
commentary on the human condition.

I. Critical Views
a. Robert Detobel
i. Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that
death is a good, for one of two things––either death is a state of nothingness and utter
unconsciousness; or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this
world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like
the sleep of him who is undisturbed even by the sight of dreams, death will be an
unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was
undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the other days and nights
of his life, and then were to tell us how many days and nights he had passed in the
course of his life better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that any man, I will
not say a private man, but even the great king, will not find many such days or nights,
when compared with the others. Now if death is like this, I say that to die is gain; for
eternity is then only a single night. But if death is the journey to another place, and
there, as men say, all the dead are, what good, O my friends and judges, can be
greater than this? If indeed when the pilgrim arrives in the world below, he is
delivered from the professors of justice in this world, and finds the true judges who
are said to give judgment there.