Hamlet's Soliloquy In To Be Or Not To Be

Shakespeare’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy in Hamlet is possibly the most quoted passage of any of his works and even those who have never read the text of the play have likely at some point in their lives heard the famous words “to be or not to be”. While many are familiar with this opening line it is only when one is familiar of the context in which it is spoken that they realize its true meaning which may come as a shock. These lines are spoken in the context of the protagonist contemplating suicide.
Shakespeare likely wrote Hamlet’s soliloquy using inclusive language and philosophical concepts when discussing suicide because during the Elizabethan Era when the play was written, suicide was considered a mortal sin and the audience may have viewed Hamlet as a …show more content…
When Hamlet drops his guard and voices the thoughts that have been plaguing him and keeping him from taking any sort of action towards the goal he promised he would achieve, it brings the audience back to seeing him in a sympathetic light. While it is not necessary to have a sympathetic protagonist to tell a good story, as the anti-hero trope is quite popular, it is beneficial and it seems Shakespeare takes continuous steps back in this directions when his protagonists stray from the audience’s favor.
The broad philosophical approach of this passage is still celebrated today because as in Elizabethan times, many of us are still confronted with “the pangs of despised love”, “th’ oppressor’s wrong”, and “the law’s delay”, even if we have never experienced the situation of our uncle murdering our father then promptly marrying our mother, and our father’s ghost coming back to tell us to get revenge. Every reader can identify with at least one of the reasons Hamlet gives for why people choose to “bear the whips and scorns of