A Meditation on Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” Soliloquy on page 66

This soliloquy well deals with inner conflicts that all the human beings would
encounter at some point of their life-conflicts between desire to give up one’s life or decision to
continue one’s life-. This is famous because not only it portrays Hamlet’s big motif, but also
describes how we live. The process of thinking to make a decision is well shown. People seek
for an alternative instead of struggling with problems that they face, but they can’t make a
decision right away because they are fearful of the unknown life after death.
Hamlet is having a difficult time because he can’t endure his situation anymore, so he
wants simply to end his pain by choosing death. Because of his tragic situations, he tends to
describe life as “sea of troubles.” He thinks continuing life would be ‘to suffer the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune,” and suffering can be resolved if people “take arms against sea of
troubles.” We have to take notes of Hamlet’s attitude towards suicide. He has a very positive
attitude towards suicide. This raises me a question. Because if I were him, I would say taking
arms against sea of troubles would be one’s efforts to overcome the hardships. From this, we
can see that Hamlet is not brave or mature enough to face reality and fight for his position or
father’s honor.
This lack of bravery to resist for righteousness answered my question which was “how
come Hamlet’s concern is on indecision between life and death rather than on his revenge on his
uncle, Claudius, for his father’s sake. In this soliloquy, Hamlet excludes the responsibility of
revenge for his father to some extent. He even seems to be forgetful about meeting the ghost of
his father. As he describes the fear for life after death, he describes life after death as “the
undiscover’d country, from whose bourn No traveler returns.” Unlike what he said, in the
beginning of the story, he actually met the ghost of his father who “returned” from
“undiscover’d country.” His father even mentions about the misery of hell and punishment that
he had to pay for after death. Hamlet’s complete neglect/oblivion of his duty can be a sign of his
madness or it also can mean that the very ultimate question and worry of life can outdo his duty.
In other words, Hamlet prioritizes the matter of life and death over the matter of accomplishing
his responsibility. That is very similar to our human nature when it comes to killing oneself-we
tend to magnify the problem that we have rather than thinking of loved ones who would be in
breakdown if notified of one’s death-. That similarity is what makes this quote worthwhile to
explore.
One of elements of life that this soliloquy deals with is fear of unknown. As I have
mentioned above, Hamlet has shown a very negative and sarcastic tone when he describes life
of people on earth. People are bound to experience humiliations such as “the abuse from
superiors, the insults of arrogant men, the pangs of unrequited love, the inefficiency of the legal
system, the rudeness of people in office, and the mistreatment good people have to take from
bad.”1 He insists people could simply end this suffering “with a bare bodkin” which means a
suicide with a dagger, but many of them do not choose the easy way to end their sufferings. He
thinks this “pause” for questioning about the life after death rises from the fear of unknown.
People are apprehensive of existence of an even worse life than the one in the earth. I think
Shakespeare did a good job on portraying the fundamental human nature, fear. The fear about
life after death stems from the sins. At the end of the soliloquy, he wants Ophelia to remember
his sins when she prays which means he wants the pardon of his guilt. Again, that desire for
exemption from guilt corresponds with the fear for death because many people believe they pay
for their sins in suffering after their death. This desire also explains the existence of religion like
Christianity. Christians believe in God hoping to be forgiven of their sins because they are
fearful of punishment they had to undergo after death.
As Hamlet describes humiliations of people and death for fear, he calls people who
choose to live instead suicide “cowards.” This raises another question to me. Are we all
considered as cowards because we don’t have courage to kill ourselves? From my perspective,
being courageous would be struggling to go against hardships and overcome difficulties.
However, Hamlet describes suicide as taking “arms against a sea of troubles.” From this, we can
see Hamlet’s weak nature to face the reality. Moreover, for me, another reason I would not call
suicide as courageous is because one of human nature is mortality. Everyone is bound to die in
the end. Demise is just a matter of time.
In conclusion, Hamlet’s soliloquy describes his confusion of the choice between life
and death, He thinks life is full of suffering, and death is a simple end to all sufferings.
However, people still decide to live their lives due to their fear of unknown. He calls people
who are fearful of unknown after death “cowards” He himself chooses to continue his life
taking revenge on his uncle-being a part of cowards-, but in the end of play,

Citation
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/385300.html
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/hamlet-to-be-or-not-to-be.htm
http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/not-that-question

1
Sparknotes, Ne Fear Shakespeare,
<http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/page_140.html>