Hamlet Debreif

Since we are now ending our Hamlet unit for this blog I think I just want to debrief on all my ideas and theories that used to analyze the “To be or not to be” soliloquy for our timed writing today.  In my opinion “To be or not to be” are the most important words said in the book, because they unravel so many more themes. The whole “umbrella theme” that I believe that these words could be alluding to would be Hamlet’s internal conflict of having to decide on whether to take action or be passive and let life trample all over him. This is where “To be or not to be” expands into a huge web of connections because action versus inaction can mean almost anything in the book. For this particular scene I think Hamlet is making a judgment on whether or not his fate is worth changing, because morally every option that he has ends up with him being damned after he dies. Pretty much through this soliloquy Hamlet is questioning life, which is infinite, and this is why I believe there are so many connecting themes that this soliloquy addresses. Most simply seen in this soliloquy is that Hamlet is questioning whether or not it is better to live and suffer through life or die which will free him from a life of responsibility and hardship. If Hamlet chooses to live he has two options; he can kill Claudius, avenge his father’s death and maintain his dignity, but he is committing a sin which morally is disappointing. The other options are for Hamlet to wimp and suffer through the pain created by his shame for not avenging his father’s death. If he chooses to commit suicide he is tempting with the power of God and he won’t die a Christian death. Hamlet compares death to sleep and thinks to end the suffering and pain is to end it completely. At the end of the soliloquy Hamlet decides that the uncertainty of death is to frightening than the worst the life can throw at him. “’Tis nobler in the mind to suffer” in life than deal with the uncertainty that death brings.

In addition to its crucial thematic content, this speech is also important for what it reveals about Hamlet’s mental health. He is totally not in a state of madness because everything he says is still accurate and makes sense. His deeply passionate nature is paired with his keen logical judgment, to come up with a way to satisfy his life. He has turned to religion and found it inadequate to help him either kill himself or solution to kill Claudius. Here, he turns to a logical philosophical dilemma and finds it equally frustrating. Hamlet takes his morality a little far when he begins to judge everyone else on their sins, because he is in no state to be judging other people morally. This soliloquy is the moral key to the entire play and meaning of the play.