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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:
In this work, the title character is chastised by his uncle (and new stepfather), Claudius, for grieving his father so much, calling it unmanly. 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]
It is in this last sense, which became popular in the 16th century, that Shakespeare used the word. "Mortal coil"—along with "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", "to sleep, perchance to dream" and "ay, there’s the rub"—is part of Hamlet ’s famous " To be, or not to be " speech.
King Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet , second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet .
Hamlet: Peter Verstegen Amsterdam: 2018 9789025370527, 9025370527 1079229341 Estonian Taani Prints Hamlet: A.F. Tombach-Kaljuvald Tartu: 1930 924373442 Finnish Hamlet: Paavo Cajanderin Charleston: 2014 9781502465009 German Hamlet: Norbert Greiner Tübingen: 2006 9783860575673 214348716 Haitian Creole Hamlèt (Prens Denmak) Nicole Titus ...
William Shakespeare's play Hamlet has contributed many phrases to common English, from the famous "To be, or not to be" to a few less known, but still in everyday English. Some also occur elsewhere (e.g. in the Bible) or are proverbial. All quotations are second quarto except as noted:
David P. Gontar in his book Hamlet Made Simple proposes that Hamlet's delay is best explained by conceiving of Prince Hamlet as the son of Claudius, not Hamlet the Dane. Noting that Hamlet is suicidal in the first soliloquy well before he meets the Ghost, Gontar reasons that his depression is a result of having been passed over for the Danish ...