Robert Aaron
Professor Zachary Burks
ENC 1102
20 April 2015
A Close Reading of Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 58-91 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…show more content… Taking from Hamlet’s first two soliloquies his third and most well know speech is taken by him reasoning with himself and not by a crazy emotion like his previous two. Hamlet, slowing realizing that he cannot do much but let time pass for his plan of catching the guilt of the king, starts a internal debate with himself on the positives and negatives of existing. The lines in this soliloquy show his internal struggle with himself about the true meanings of life and death. Hamlet asks said questions about life and death for all the soiuls during this particular sequence of the play. Hamlet asks is it noble to live a horrible existence and end your own life without any repercussions (60). Hamlet asks the question of what is death. Hamlet thinks of death as it is going to be a dreamless sleep once one reaches said death. The only thing that Hamlet is fearful of is what is to come after death (86). Hamlet says that death itself comes easy but what is to come after death is what we need to…show more content… Although at this moment he realizes that people may chose life over death due to this inability to know what happens after we die. The sequence remains a deep contemplation about the nature and reasons for