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Hamlet Soliloquy

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Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy from the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare is perhaps the most famous line in all of Shakespeare. The entire soliloquy, beginning with these six, famed words describe just how desperate Hamlet is feeling about life. Before this particular soliloquy, Hamlet’s emotions have been tossed all over the place. He was terrified when his father’s ghost appeared. He was also probably scared and angry when his mother married his uncle. All of these emotions come to a head and leave Hamlet feeling incredibly desperate and questioning life itself; thus the “to be or not to be” soliloquy.
Shakespeare uses several literary techniques to give the reader insight into the feelings and thoughts of Hamlet as he thinks …show more content…

Colons and semicolons are used in such a manner that they draw the reader to certain phrases and areas of the soliloquy. “To die: to sleep; no more” and “To die: to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream”(3.1.60-61). These are short phrases, separated by a semicolons and colons. The reader has a feeling that Hamlet is thinking erratically and cannot really string thoughts together smoothly, or even that Hamlet's thoughts are weighing him down so much that he can only grunt out these two and three word phrases. The reader, because of the punctuation, can almost literally feel the weight on Hamlet and the intense emotion, which is why this soliloquy has so much importance in Hamlet; it’s as if it is Hamlet’s tipping point in the play. Hamlet’s doubts are characterized by the diction of the play. The place that we travel to after death is called the “undiscovered country,”(3.1.79). Something familiar, like sleep, isn’t scary, but actually comforting. Something that is unknown, like an undiscovered country, is fearful. Hamlet uses words like fardels, ills, and calamity when describing life, which, obviously, shows his low opinion of life as he is

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