Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University

English Literature

William Shakespeare's "Hamlet": My understanding of Hamlet’s

Soliloque (“To be or not to be”)

Zakharchuk Daryna
Second-year student (subgroup 3),
Foreign Philology Department

Contents
1.Introduction
2. Hamlet's soliloque: the form and the message
3. The impact of Hamlet's traits of character on the contents of the
soliloquy
4. Conclusions
5.References

Introduction
The “Tragical History Of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, or, as it’s more simply
known, “Hamlet”, is a play that holds immense importance in English literature.
William Shakespeare, the author of the play, is one of the most significant
personalities of the world culture.

William Shakespeare, byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, was born on 23

April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, administrative and
historic county of central England. William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616.

The Renaissance was a period when William Shakespeare wrote his most famous
and important playwrights, such as "King Lear", "Macbeth" and, certainly,
"Hamlet". In fact, in Act III, Scene II of “Hamlet”, Hamlet expressed the sentiment
of Renaissance theatre:”Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with
this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for any thing
so o'erdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now,
was and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature…”. Needless to say that
Shakespeare's plays left a distinct imprint not only on the Renaissance period, but
also on the entire theatrical world.

Hamlet's soliloque: the form and the message

The theme "thought vs. action" represents the final of Shakespeare’s idea that the
best approach to life strikes a balance between thought and action. Actually,
therefore Hamlet's most famous soliloquy in Act III, Scene I, lines 35-45 is about
his decision to act or not act.

Hamlet's mogul reveals such topics as:

1. Fault;
2. honor;
3. mortality;
4. truth against deception;
5. reality against appearance;
6. madness;
7. revenge;
8. opinion against action.

Hamlet’s soliloquies help readers to reveal internal or external conflicts the

character is facing, because they serve as private words to the self. Usually, it is an
internal conflict that often shows a darker side of the character. As a result,
understanding of them helps to penetrate the aspects of Hamlet’s character
introduced in this essay.

The monologue «To Be or Not to Be» is the culmination of Hamlet's doubts. He

expresses the mood of the hero at the moment of the highest decomposition of his
consciousness, because not one question asked by him, he does not receive an
answer.

In the monologue "To be or not to be ..." different interpretations are evoked by the
initial metaphorical image: what is valiant for a person is "to be", that is, to endure
misfortune, or not to be, that is, to interrupt one's mental suffering by suicide. The
idea of suicide is clothed in the metaphor: "to raise arms against a sea of unrest" is
precisely what it means to "die." The origins of this allegory go back to Celtic
customs: to prove prowess, the ancient Celts, fully armed with naked swords and
raised darts, threw themselves into the stormy sea and fought with the waves.

In the tragedy, the image is used as an illustration of the idea of suicide - to put an
end to internal unrest, anxiety, anxiety with weapons. This original meaning
remains in the shadows, there is an idea of armed struggle against evil, hence the
duality of metaphor and all the reasoning of the hero.
The comparison of death with sleep, one of the most famous since ancient times, in
Hamlet's monologue is supplemented by a metaphor that originated in the era of
geographical discoveries.
The impact of Hamlet's traits of character on the contents of the
soliloquy
In the play, Hamlet goes through a major change from the beginning of the play to
the end.

The soliloquy “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” is a crux of the drama.
This soliloquy reveals insights about individual character of Hamlet. He drives
himself insane with this internal conflict.

Hamlet’s character in the soliloquy “to be or not to be”

1. Hamlet is a doubting person when asking, “To be or not to be, that is the
question”, because he decides “to live, or to die”.
2. The agony of life, specifically Hamlet’s own struggles with life and death are
represented in the line «to take arms against a sea of troubles».
3. Hamlet’s belief in fortune is explored in the line “the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune”. Here “slings and arrows” are weapons, methods of attack,
which “outrageous fortune” (actually cruel fate) is flingting at you. He is using
"slings and arrows" metaphorically. He choose between do nothing and spend a
life suffering "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". Take revenge and
be damned for doing it or kill himself and be damned for doing it. Hamlet
realises he can “take arms against a sea of troubles”, that is he can take a
weapon of some kind and kill himself.
4. Anguish and sorrow, «The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks». This
line serves as poetic elaboration of the «sea of troubles» to which Hamlet refers
earlier.
5. Hamlet infers that if death is sleep intensified, then the possible dreams in death
are likely to be intensified as well, «For in that sleep of death what dreams may
come».
6. Hamlet is aware of injustices in the world in the line «The pangs of disprized
love, the law's delay». The «disprized love» may refer to his relationship with
Ophelia. The «law’s delay» refers to Claudius lack of punishment for killing
King Hamlet. Hamlet lists these examples to show how life can be unfair and
painful.
7. Hamlet’s fearfulness is explored in the line «But that the dread of something
after death». The point is that fear of the unknown is possibly the only thing
keeping man from killing himself to end his troubles.
8. Hamlet is contemplating death “The undiscover'd country from whose bourn no
traveller returns”. Here the death to Hamlet is an "undiscovered country".
9. In next line Hamlet is determined and decisive, «And thus the native hue of
resolution».This line sets up the contrast between resolution and thought.
Native is used in its sense of «natural»; native hue implies a bold, healthy color
symbolizing determination.

Conclusions
After the analysis of Hamlet’s Soliloquy I can surmise that the protagonist has the
following characteristics:

1. Agonized over every decision;

2. Hesitant;
3. Weakly indecisive;
4. Doubtful;
5. Conscious and brooding (he is a man of thought);
6. Intelligent in both philosophy and psychology;
7. Reflective and thoughtful;
8. Pensive;
9. Fearful;
10. Coward;
11. Afraid of death;
12. Decisive.
To conclude:
1.   “Hamlet” is an important play as well as Hamlet, as the main character,
really gives significance to the plot and to the major themes.
2. The soliloquies of Shakespeare can increasingly expand imaginations and
help to penetrate a key aspects of character’s personality.
3. Hamlet is suffering his fate, which targets him and other characters as
well, and is not able to be saved from the hands of destiny.
4. Hamlet’s tragic flaw made him to commit the fatal mistake of
procrastinating because of his indecisiveness which lead to his
personality downfall.
References:

http://reshebniki-online.com/node/90182
https://ukr.school-essay.ru/monolog-gamleta-buti-chi-ne-buti/
https://info-shkola.ru/analiz-monologa-gamleta-byt-ili-ne-byt/
http://www.relga.ru/Environ/WebObjects/tgu-www.woa/wa/Main?
textid=5593&level1=main&level2=articles
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82
https://www.ukrlib.com.ua/referats-zl/printit.php?tid=7820