Hamlet -- “To be or not to be” Soliloquy
When the Bard of Avon created Hamlet, he simultaneously created the famous soliloquy ever uttered by English-speaking men. Thus it is that literary critics rank Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy as the most notable ever penned. Let’s examine in this essay how such a high ranking is deserved, and what the soliloquy means.
In his essay “An Explication of the Player’s Speech,” Harry Levin refers to the fourth soliloquy as the most famous of them all:
Dwelling on gross details and imperfections of the flesh (“Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight”), Hamlet will admonish his mother that sense-perception is dulled by sensual indulgence. Here insensibility is communicated by a rhetorical assault upon the senses: primarily “the very faculties of eyes and ears,” but incidentally touch and even taste. Leaving the senseless Priam to the insensate Pyrrhus, after another hiatus of half a line (37), the speech addresses violent objurgations to the bitch-goddess Fortune, about whom Hamlet has lately cracked ribald jokes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; whose buffets and rewards he prizes Horatio for suffering with equanimity; against whom he will, in the most famous of all soliloquies [my italics], be tempted to take arms. (36)
Marchette Chute in “The Story Told in Hamlet” describes just how close the hero is to suicide while reciting his most famous soliloquy:
Hamlet enters, desperate enough by this time to be thinking of suicide. It seems to him that it would be such a sure way of escape from torment, just to cease existing, and he gives the famous speech on suicide that has never been worn thin by repetition. “To be, or not to be . . .” It would be easy to stop living.
To die, to sleep;
No more. And by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to . . .
But Hamlet has never succeeded in deceiving himself, and he cannot do so now. . . .
[He] will not . . . be able to kill himself. He has thought too much about it to be able to take any action. (39)
Considering the context of this most notable soliloquy, the speech appears to be a reaction from the determination which ended the “rogue and peasant slave” soliloquy. In fact, in the Quarto of 1603 the “To be” speech comes BEFORE the players’ scene and the nunnery scene – and is thus more logically positioned to show its emotional connection to the previous soliloquy (Nevo 46).
Demographically Chipotle focuses the majority of its sales on individuals between 18 and 24 years old which is the same as Taco Bell (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013). This could potentially be correlated to the on the go, fast paced life styles that is typical for this age demographic. Chipotle offers a customizable menu that that appeals to the young adult that is constantly on the move and have a tighter budget. Chipotle’s marketing strategies appeal to the young adult through their social media platform campaigns that gain the attention of the young adult. Millennials have had a large influence on the growth of the company that has locations “located at various location types such as end of row shops, shops
Einstein, Stephen. & Kukoff, Lydia. (1989). Every Person's Guide to Judaism. New York: UAHC Press.
Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973.
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, protagonist Hamlet, experiences many rises and falls throughout the play that have a major impact on his mentality decline. The way in which readers interpret the character, Hamlet, can vary in many ways. For instance, Hamlet delivers many soliloquies throughout the work, giving readers a better insight of his state of mind. Additionally, two significant soliloquies in both Acts II and III show a clear view of Hamlet’s mental and emotional state.
1.H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Harper Torchbooks, 1951), chap. 1.
The key to Hamlet's flaw, the stuckness that has puzzled so many readers, is lodged, not in the beginning, but in the end--the place of maximum emphasis--of the "to be or not to be" soliloquy, the most famous dramatic monologue...
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The soliloquy that appears in Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is easily one of the most popular speeches in English literature. It has been referenced to in Star Trek, Calvin and Hobbes and A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, this speech was not intended to be a lighthearted reference as indicated by Hamlet’s contemplative, philosophical, and bitter tones he uses while questioning the nature of life and death in this soliloquy.
In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” there are four major soliloquies that reflect the character of Hamlet.
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Hamlet’s anger and grief- primarily stemming from his mother’s marriage to Claudius- brings him to thoughts of suicide, which only subside as a result of it being a mortal and religious sin. The fact that he wants to take his own life demonstrates a weakness in his character; a sense of cowarness, his decision not to kill himself because of religious beliefs shows that this weakness is balanced with some sense of morality. Such an obvious paradox is only one example of the inner conflict and turmoil that will eventually lead to Hamlet’s downfall.
This paper will compare the concept of the Messiah within Judaism and the development of the messianic tradition within Christianity. Consideration will be given to Judaic thought on how this religion understands the concept of the Messiah. Defining how throughout history it shaped the foundation of this religion to distinguish its own individual identity. Analysis will focus on the abstraction of the Messiah and how Jewish believers interpret the coming of the Mashiach in connection with the prophecy of Isaiah. Discussing how eschatology is understood in this religion compared to Christianity, and how different Jewish groups define the Messiah prophecy from early history up until the modern day era. The paper will also discuss the development of the Messianic tradition within Christianity, focusing on the prophets, Jesus and how the messianic period is defined in Christian theology; in order to establish if the son of God has arrived in this world and fulfilled his promise through death and resurrection, or if the messiah and the messianic age is still yet to come as understood in Judaism.
John P. Meier "How do we decide what comes from Jesus" in The Historical Jesus in Recent Research 2006 pages 132–136