[Tiresias]

Hamlet: Act III, Scene i
William Shakespeare

HAMLET
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? 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 dispriz'd 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 these 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

Do you think Hamlet is talking about suicide? This is what most people assume. This is what I assumed. But—interestingly—almost every academic in every preface to every edition of Hamlet will have you believe he's actually talking about the problem of choosing between a life of action or of thought, and asking whether it is better to roll with the punches or to jump into the affray which is—(as anyone who has read the play will know)—the essence of Hamlet's predicament.

MacNNers, please to weigh in on the most famous passage in all literature.

[rickey939]

I stopped reading in the middle. Damn!

[Dakar²]

I've never 'gotten' Shakespeare. Fighting through what essentially is a different language was a little too much work for me.

Oh, and to defile the thread, I thought Mel Gibson's Hamlet was ok.

[Nicko]

I agree, its basically about making choices.

[lpkmckenna]

It seems to be about suicide to me.

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna

It seems to be about suicide to me.

But there is a problem with the simple (and therefore tempting) suicide interpretation. It's these lines:

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?

...

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 ...

No reasonable mind could accept that he's talking about suicide there. How is taking arms against a sea of troubles like committing suicide? It's not.

Still, ordinary mortals, like myself, feel sure it's about suicide. But Shakespeare scholars ignore this pedestrian interpretation, prefering to discant on the problem of reconciling the intellect and the will: In plain English, they argue that Hamlet's problem is that he analyses things so much he becomes incapable of resolute action; and his speech is about the temptation, under these conditions, to shrink from action altogether and just let sh*t happen instead of taking the bull by the horns and living assertively.

The most important lines in the English language, and no one can agree on what they mean.

[Tiresias]

Anyway, here's the point.

Hamlet is talking about suicide, and asserting one's will. That is, not suicide in the sense of knocking one's self off. What he means is: Trying to oppose the crude forces of nature and fate that oppose our will and happiness ("taking arms against a sea of troubles") that is suicide because we don't stand a hope in hell of winning. So, we compromise on our dreams and live miserable, frightened lives because we are afraid of opposing fate. We would rather see our best plans "turn awry", than annihilate ourselves trying to realise them.

Well, maybe.

Your thoughts.

[ghporter]

Duh!! OF COURSE he's talking about suicide. He's messed up, bored, confused, and even sex doesn't interest him (see his other soliloquy to Rozencrantz and Guildenstern: "Man delights me not, nor woman either, though by your smiling you seem to say so.")

But as Nicko says, it's about choices, and ONE of his choices IS to end his life. It's a sign that he's deranged-but not nearly as deranged as his mom! But he's also demonstrating his emotional inertia; he cannot decide WHAT to do, even whether he wants to live or not. Old Will was pretty shrewd about noting the symptoms of depression because most shrinks will tell you Hamlet is indeed badly depressed by the middle of Act I.

[Macfreak7]

Originally Posted by Tiresias 

Anyway, here's the point.

Hamlet is talking about suicide, and asserting one's will. That is, not suicide in the sense of knocking one's self off. What he means is: Trying to oppose the crude forces of nature and fate that oppose our will and happiness ("taking arms against a sea of troubles") that is suicide because we don't stand a hope in hell of winning. So, we compromise on our dreams and live miserable, frightened lives because we are afraid of opposing fate. We would rather see our best plans "turn awry", than annihilate ourselves trying to realise them.

Well, maybe.

Your thoughts.

I haven't read the entire play, but just from reading that passage, I'd agree with that. In the sense that it is a predicament between living only in thought and living in action guided by "right" thought. Of course these words can further be dissected and discussed but you can only really know for sure whether or not it is suicide after you actually make the choice/decision.. to be or not to be.

p.s. great thread.

[turtle777]

Why is this not a poll ?

-t

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by Tiresias 

The most important lines in the English language, and no one can agree on what they mean.

Huh? Why are these words important? All of humanity could exist without ever knowing them.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Macfreak7 

p.s. great thread.

Agreed.

I had always read the play under the impression that Hamlet is indeed talking about suicide, but a similar discussion a while back has me believing in the action/inaction interpretation. I've had two English professors who both believe differently.

This makes me want to study up on this as soon as finals are over.

[Doofy]

This makes me think about whether the song "Don't Fear The Reaper" is actually about suicide. I've long held the opinion that it isn't.

I'm so confused!



I actually read that Hamlet passage as "Should I step up the plate or not? Stepping up to the plate is a hassle, 'coz people are idiots". Then again, I'm currently contemplating a similar question myself.