He has a choice to make, so he has to decide if living is worth living and if it is how he will deal with the situation that he has. Hamlet was conflicted he didn 't understand the value of his life in that exact moment. In Hamlets soliloquy the was thinking about the pro and cons of wether to end his life or deal with the problem that his dead father brought to him. He was starting to come to a decision when he’s thoughts were interrupted. This soliloquy brought to light the peoples that most people go through or think about.
To die- to sleep- No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heartache. ”(ACT III scene i) In this quote we see Hamlet debate his own life and consider whether dying would be better than to
Hamlet pushing away others causes his descent into madness. As he slowly loses his sanity, the idea of death looks more and more appealing. Shakespeare shows this idea through Hamlet’s soliloquy: “To be, or not to be: that is the question” (Shakespeare, line 57). The fact that Shakespeare used a soliloquy in this scene shows how much Hamlet’s solitude has affected how he views his life. His thoughts of suicide race as he finds himself alone, separating himself from the betrayal in his family.
When applied correctly, soliloquies successfully allow the reader to experience characters in their most vulnerable state: within their own minds. Hamlet is no exception to this principle, as Shakespeare’s mastery of rhetoric in establishing the main character’s inner conflict provides depth and rawness to his complex character. In this well-known soliloquy, Shakespeare employs logos to acknowledge that death can be both a relief and nightmare due to natural human emotions; accordingly, Hamlet personifies a severe case of teenage depression by simultaneously wishing for an end to suffering yet remaining hesitant to act on his own thoughts due to his fear of the unknown. Throughout this passage, Hamlet attempts to rationalize ending his life over continuing to endure the painful reality of his existence. The parallelism in this particular soliloquy serves several rhetorical purposes, including the development of an implicit contrast between Hamlet’s mental state and the actual organization of his thoughts.
“To be or not to be - that is the question:” (3.1.64) describes the mood in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the first part of Hamlet within the third act, the king and Polonius are spying on Hamlet to find the true meaning to his madness when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are unable because “he will by no means speak” (3.1.6). The quotation describes how Hamlet has conflict about whether he should commit suicide or not, but after a while, he realizes if he dies, then his uncertainty of where he will be in the afterlife kept him from committing suicide. The significance of this quotation shows the dilemma of Hamlet’s choice between life and death.
Hamlet starts the soliloquy with a question of “To be, or not to be.” The question uses parallel structure and repetition with the phrase “to be,” which emphasizes the impact of the answer to this question on Hamlet’s future. Hamlet then employs war imagery in order to highlight the consequences of choosing each path. In order to illuminate the suffering he undergoes by “being,” he uses the words “slings” and “arrows,” which provide an image of Hamlet being bombarded by pain from all sides. Meanwhile, he uses the word “arms” to describe what action he would have to take to conquer the “sea of troubles” that he faces in his daily life.
His depression is so great that he has thought of suicide, a huge cultural sin, as he knows. Hamlet’s thoughtfulness is also conveyed, taking six lines to delve into his emotions.
In this soliloquy, the talk of death and decay is prominent, with the occasional hint at suicide thrown in with it. However, hidden in this soliloquy is a familiar “call to arms”, as Hamlet struggles with the decision to fight or flee he gives this statement: “Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (3. 1. 58-60). Hamlet gives himself the option to fight back against Claudius, and his aggressiveness resembles that of Martin Luther, who gave himself the same option.
Throughout the play Hamlet, it is discovered that Hamlet goes through many ordeals in such a short period of time and these ordeals altered his perspective on life. In the play, we learn what Hamlet’s perspective is, how his perspective is formed, and how it affects the meaning of the play. To begin with, through Hamlet soliloquies, we learn what Hamlet’s perspective on life is. At the beginning of the play, it is revealed that Hamlet believes life is worthless. This is evident in his “to be or not to be” soliloquy.
Death is one of the most prominent themes in Hamlet, appearing in different forms. Shakespeare displays death through the suicide of Ophelia, Hamlet’s own thoughts and eventual suicide, and the murder of King Hamlet and Polonius. Hamlet displays suicidal tendencies throughout the play through his soliloquies. The first time that Hamlet contemplates committing suicide is when Gertrude and Claudius tell him that he has to stay in Denmark in Act one. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the famous "to be or not to be'' soliloquy captures Hamlet's complex attitude toward death. Shakespeare uses messages throughout the story to show the confusion that Hamlet faces in his life. Throughout the speech, it is obvious that Hamlet is over thinking and wavering between two different extremes: life and death. Hamlet considers the merits of both living and dying, ultimately deciding that the fear of the unknown afterlife makes people prefer to endure the sufferings of life. In William Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet, he uses metaphors, personification, and tone to convey Hamlet's struggle between life and death.
He maintains that his life has no value throughout the play and contemplates suicide. Hamlet's questioning thoughts on life's worth is further expressed the ten lines of 203-212 in act V scene i. which read ““No, faith, not a jot, but to follow him thither/ with modesty enough and likelihood to lead it:/ Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander retur-/ neth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make/ loam, and why of that loam whereto he was con-/ verted might they not stop a beer-barrel?/ Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,/ Might stop a hole to keep the wind away./ O that the earth which kept the world in awe/ Should patch a wall t' expel the winter's flaw!” Hamlet speaks these lines during an exchange with the gravediggers, one who was singing and juggling skulls while he worked. In these lines, Hamlet explains how no one's life is really worth anything because, in the end, we are all reduced to corpses, skulls, dust, and clay. By using Alexander and Caesar as examples, two influential and powerful leaders of
Fearing death and all that comes with it can cause major problems to a person, groups of people, or to a society. Sometimes the person fears what comes after death more than death itself. Death causes great anxiety to several characters in Hamlet. One such character is Hamlet himself. In Act three scene one, Hamlet questions whether he should continue living or if death would be better with the lines, “To be or not to be…”.
In his soliloquy, he is asking himself whether it is better to live or to die, which he is considering to commit suicide. Also, in the soliloquy, Hamlet states that “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 And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?” (3.1.84-90). He explains that no one would like to live in an exhausting life, unless they don’t know what is going to happen after they die because they are afraid of what their after life is going to be. Both these quotes prove that the death symbol is always surrounded by Hamlet and he has a hard time to choose between life and
Hamlet’s ability to overthink situations or decisions makes him conclude that committing suicide might be the easy way out of his indecisiveness. Hamlet overthinks every problem that is happening. He overthinks so much that he cannot make up his decision about what to do with the problem. The cluelessness that is going on within his mind makes him lose his mental status, life and the love of his life. Hamlets actions are hypnotized by his thoughts: “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 pitch and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action” (3.1.85-90).
