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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:
The king is not without redeeming virtues, though. He is seen to be an able monarch (notwithstanding the unfavourable comparison to his murdered predecessor in Hamlet's first soliloquy) as well as a smart thinker and smooth talker, who in Act IV, Scene 5 converts Laertes from rebel to accomplice. [4]
In his resultant soliloquy, Hamlet denounces his mother's swift remarriage with the statement, "Frailty, thy name is woman." [1] He thus describes all of womankind as frail and weak in character. [2] The phrase is recognized as one of the "memorable expressions" from the play to become "proverbial". [3]
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell the Queen that they will have Hamlet play a leading part in some court theatricals to distract him. Hamlet enters, and she begs them to prevent him from soliloquising. Hamlet begins, "To be – or not to be," but they interrupt him, turning the soliloquy into a trio, and urging him to commit suicide.
"Caviar to the general" Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 431–440 ...brevity is the soul of wit, Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't, There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.
Under their referencing system, 3.1.55 means act 3, scene 1, line 55. References to the First Quarto and First Folio are marked Hamlet Q1 and Hamlet F1, respectively, and are taken from the Arden Shakespeare Hamlet: the texts of 1603 and 1623. [54] Their referencing system for Q1 has no act breaks, so 7.115 means scene 7, line 115.
Hamlet stabs Polonius through the curtain he is hiding behind as Queen Gertrude looks on, as part of The Closet Scene in Hamlet act 3, scene 4. [5]The phrase occurs in Hamlet act 3, scene 4, [6] as a part of one of Hamlet's speeches in the Closet Scene.