Hamlet's soliloquy 3.1

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:/ Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles/ And by opposing end them." In this sentence, Hamlet contemplates if it is more meaningful to off one's self or to suffer their way through life. He wonders if a person's life means more if they find worth even though they have had to struggle through many hardships. His true question is : is it worth it?

"To die-to sleep,/ No more; and by a sleep to say we end/ The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation/ Devoutly to be wish'd." Here, Hamlet says that death is like a very peaceful sleep, one that will be the end of pain and suffering. He says that it may sound like a curse to die, but really it is a rest that should be sought after.

"To die, to sleep;/ To sleep perchance to dream- ay, there's the rub:/ For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,/ Must give us pause- there's the respect/ That makes calamity of so long life." Once again, Hamlet is speaking of the peace that he idealizes to come with death. He says that it annoys him that there should be such peace in death when there are such disasters and tragedies in life.

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,/ Th'opressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,/ The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,/ The insolence of office, and the spurns/ That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,/ When he himself might his quietus make/ With a bear bodkin?" Hamlet laments many of the things that he has suffered recently (unrequited love, his proud uncle, etc.) and even goes so far as to say that they are perhaps insignificant in the grand scheme of things (bodking=needle, meaning it is just a prickling nuisance rather than something that causes real pain).

"Who would the fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life,/ But that the dread of something after death,/ The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn/ No traveller returns, puzzles the will,/ And makes us rather bear those ills we have/ Than fly to others that we know not of?" Hamlet speaks of how many people have a fear of death. He says that they would rather face the suffering that is common in life than go on to something that they know nothing about because no one has returned from death.

"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,/ And thus the native hue of resolution/ Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,/ And enterprises of great pitch and moment/ With this regard their currents turn awry/ And lose the name of action." Hamlet says that everyone is held in place by their morals. He speaks of how many people's morals keep them from doing any action, and in this sense, he may be talking about his own inability to act on the revenge he must take.

"Soft you now,/ The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons/ Be all my sins remember'd." Shakespeare's placement of Ophelia at the end of this speech suggests at the part she plays in Hamlet's suffering. There is a hint that he really, truely does love her and it is only after she betrays him with lies that Hamlet realizes that he can't live wiht a woman so easily manipulated.

This whole speech serves as a reminder to the reader of the choices that Hamlet must make, as well as all of the hardships that he has had to endure. His lamentation about the things going on around him help to create an understanding of exactly how much Denmark is failing and the corruption that seems to be taking over. It is possible that this is where Hamlet begins to make the transition from acting to real madness. With his infatuation with death and the idea that with death comes peace, it is amazing that Hamlet isn't dead already.