William Shakespeare s Hamlet Essay - 1162 Words

â€Å"To be or not to be† (3.1.64)—not whether to live or to die, but the use of â€Å"to be† is an important question. Shakespeare uses the simple infinitive of â€Å"to be†, in the opening of the most famous soliloquy in Hamlet, or perhaps all of Shakespeare, as opposed to the more complex phrase, â€Å"to live or to die†. Before Hamlet, the speaker of this soliloquy, analyzes all of mankind’s reasoning behind the subject of life, something both painful and long, and death, something both inevitable and muddied in mystery, he uses the simplest and shortest of infinitives. Seemingly, a simple phrase cannot give justice to some of the more complex and mysterious questions human nature asks; finding answers to why humans suffer through life when they†¦show more content†¦People lose loved ones and are forced to endure sickness and poverty, which are much more prevalent problems in life, yet Hamlet says that life is painful due to the abuses of superiors, to the insults of the arrogant, and to the pains of a once-sided love. However, when Hamlet lists his problems, he is not referencing man’s universal pains but the pains he feels himself from King Claudius killing his father and verbally abusing Hamlet and the unrequited love he experiences from a girl named Ophelia. In this instance, and in every other instance within the play, Hamlet isn’t directly acknowledging the depression he faces, as he only hints at his sorrows, something also seen throughout the play when he pretends that his madness is part of his act of revenge on King Claudius. So, when Hamlet states that is ridiculous how people to live a life full of â€Å"slings and arrows† (3.1.64) and when one could simply â€Å"take arms against a sea of troubles† and die (3.1.67), he is, in actuality contemplating suicide, as he had referenced the troubles he, himself, faces, making his musings personal, without knowing it. Because of the fact that Hamlet never validates his emotions outright, it causes him to have unanswered questions about his feelings, and, as a result, it leads to the