What Is Hamlet's Fourth Soliloquy

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Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy is the most famous one in the play. When Hamlet asks “to be or not to be” many scholars take one of two positions on what it is asking. One scholar group will say that Hamlet is debating taking his own life, while the other group thinks that Hamlet is pondering the rights and wrongs of the world. The separation of scholars is over one word in line 61 “opposing.” Some believe that opposing means to commit suicide and the others believe that it has the literal meaning to end the troubles of the world. Majority of scholars believe that Hamlet is speaking about committing suicide, but the argument that he is speaking about the wrongs in the world is loud enough that it cannot be ignored. If the soliloquy is about the

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