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"To be, or not to be" is a speech given by Prince Hamlet in the so-called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1). The speech is named for the opening phrase, itself among the most widely known and quoted lines in modern English literature, and has been referenced in many works of theatre, literature and music.
The monologue, spoken in the play by Prince Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II, Scene 2, follows in its entirety. Rather than appearing in blank verse, the typical mode of composition of Shakespeare's plays, the speech appears in straight prose:
Fortissimo French horns play the variant of Hamlet's Promise (the King's Ô mortelle offense!) which began the septet that closed act 2. The music becomes more agitated, reflecting Hamlet's highly conflicted state of mind. The trumpets sound mutated snippets of the royal court's Danish march. [1] 13. Monologue. Hamlet is alone and seated on a ...
In it, Hamlet offers directions and advice to a group of actors whom he has enlisted to play for the court of Denmark. The speech itself has played two important roles independent of the play. It has been analyzed as a historical document for clues about the nature of early modern acting practices and it has also been used as a contemporary ...
At the end of the act, the characters realise that they forgot to perform Coriolanus which Adam refuses due to the vulgarity of the title, and also Hamlet, Shakespeare's epitome. Adam becomes nervous and petulant about performing the famous and difficult play, so he runs around the theatre and out the door chased by Jess.
It starred Martin Sheen as Hamlet, and Sheen delivered the monologues either in Spanish or with a Spanish accent, as Hamlet's alter-ego, a Puerto Rican janitor named Ramon. [ 220 ] Other New York portrayals of Hamlet of note include that of Ralph Fiennes 's in 1995 (for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor)—which ran, from first preview ...
"This is that Hamlet the Dane, whom we read of in our youth". [77] One might say, he observes, that Hamlet is just a character in a play: "Hamlet is a name; his speeches and sayings but the idle coinage of the poet's brain." [78] Yet Shakespeare gives those sayings a reality in the mind of the reader, making them "as real as our own thoughts." [78]
The production took place because of a lighthearted agreement between Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole while they were filming Becket.O’Toole decreed that they should each play Hamlet afterwards under the direction of John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier in either London or New York City, with a coin toss deciding who would be assigned which director and which city.