The Soliloquies of Shakespeares Hamlet - To be or not to be Soliloquy

The To be or not to be Soliloquy in critical point One soliloquy stands out supra the others in William Shakespeares Hamlet. Of the seven soliloquies by the protagonist, the To be or not to be soliloquy is universally recognized as superior to the others. This judge considers this most storied soliloquy. Marchette Chute in The Story Told in Hamlet describes just how close the hero is to felo-de-se while reciting his most historied 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 be given 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 configuration 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 polish off 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 dig and the nunnery scene and is thus more logically positioned to show its emotional connection to the antecedent soliloquy (Nevo 46). Lawrence Danson in the essay Tragic Alphabet discusses the most famous of soliloquies as involving an eternal dilemma The problem of times discrediting effect upon human actions and intentions ... ...evin, Harry. An Explication of the Players Speech. Modern Critical Interpretations Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. untried York Chelsea manse Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from The Question of Hamlet. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1959. Nevo, Ruth. Acts III and IV Problems of Text and Staging. Modern Crit ical Interpretations Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Form in Shakespeare. N.p. Princeton University Press, 1972. Rosenberg, Marvin. Laertes An Impulsive but solemn Young Aristocrat. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ Univ. of Delaware P., 1992. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts represent of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html