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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 phrase occurs in Hamlet act 3, scene 4, [6] as a part of one of Hamlet's speeches in the Closet Scene. [ a ] Hamlet has been acting mad to throw off suspicion that he is aware that his uncle, Claudius , has murdered his father and married his mother, Queen Gertrude , in order to usurp the throne.
Accordingly, the meaning might be: 'when we have unwound and worked off this coil of mortality.' In this way, the length of our life is metaphorically the length of thread that is coiled on a spool, a metaphor related to the ancient Greek mythological figures of the Fates .
A soliloquy (/ s ə ˈ l ɪ l. ə. k w i, s oʊ ˈ l ɪ l. oʊ-/, from Latin solo "to oneself" + loquor "I talk", [1] [a] plural soliloquies) is a monologue addressed to oneself, thoughts spoken out loud without addressing another person. [2] [3] Soliloquies are used as a device in drama. In a soliloquy, a character typically is alone on a ...
[3] J. Dover Wilson , in his notes in the New Shakespeare edition, observed that the Folio text "involves two grave difficulties", namely that according to Elizabethan thought angels could apprehend but not act, making "in action how like an angel" nonsensical, and that "express" (which as an adjective means "direct and purposive") makes sense ...
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 It has been analyzed as a historical document for clues about the nature of early modern acting practices and it has also been used as a contemporary ...
(Hamlet's dying request to Horatio)... The rest is silence. (Hamlet's last words) Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest....so shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
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.