In today's class, we were talking about the solliloqy made by Hamlet in the "Nunnery Scene".
Hamlet starts this scene with one of the most remarkable and well-known lines of all William Shakespeare's plays: "To be or not to be, that is the question"
If someone asks you about one line of the huge variety of works that W.Shakespeare created, most people will start saying this line. But now, what Hamlet is trying to say in his solliloqy.
EXTRACT
"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferEXTRACT
"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
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;
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: 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;
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? 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?
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.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd."
(From; http://www.artofeurope.com/shakespeare/sha8.htm)
Now I will present you two short-analysis of what Hamlet was asking to himself.
In the first one, Hamlet is thinking about how we live our lifes, if our lifes are worth living or not. While in the second analysis, Hamlet is thinking about that we have the power to end our lifes, but at the same time his speech "is tinged with the Christian prohibition of suicide, although it isn't mentioned explicitly. The dread of something after death would have been well understood by a Tudor audience to mean the fires of Hell (From:http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/385300.html)
So what do you think about Hamlet's solliloqy? Do you believe that he is referring about to live or to die? In my opinion, I can say that Hamlet is trying to tell us that we have to start seizing the days because we don't know when death is going to take us with it. Do you agree with me or not?
In my opinion, I think that Hamlet is questioning if it is worthwhile to live a miserable life or if it is better to put an end to our existence. Because of all what he has suffered, he is in a kind of philosophical quest about life and death. “What is after death?” he seems to be asking (a question that all human beings have to face in one moment of our lives). Later, in Hamlet’s lasts lines of his soliloquy (“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all”) he implies that all people are aware of the conflicts between life and death. But since we don’t know what is like to be dead, we choose living (even if it is a miserable life) because we are aware of heaven and hell. On this account, if you kill yourself, you will go to hell. And we are fearful of that. For this reason, we choose living.
ResponderEliminarI totally agree with Antonella. Hamlet is pondering both options and feeling enormously attracted to death, but keeping in mind that maybe death is not about just sleeping and having a rest of all the troubles we have in our life. We are not certain about what's next, so even though we have the potential to control whether we keep alive or not, that uncertainty of the consequences of killing ourselves makes us choose the "safest" option, that is, to live. Also, we have to be aware of the fact that in Shakespeare's time, suicide was illegal and its consequences were terrible: if you were caught trying to commit suicide you would’ve been punished and, if you succeeded in killing yourself, you would’ve been considered a condemned soul and your body would’ve been buried outside the city limits, in disgrace.
ResponderEliminarI think that Hamlet’s consciousness about what each option implies gives us a clue about the fact that he is really faking his madness.
Reference:
http://hamletdramaturgy.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/suicide-in-elizabethan-england/