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Wed 2 Mar, 2011 06:48 am
recently,i have read some literaure books about shakespeare .now i am really confused of his words.for example ,i can not understand this one :to be or not to be that is a question.so if you can understand it please help me .remeber that :i am a chinese ,not a neative english speaker,so try to use some easy words to explain it ,do not relate to the abstract words .thanks a lot!
@atlas783508760,
I think the quote is "to be or not to be, that is THE question" (rather than "a" question).
To be: Alive. The state of being.
Not to be: Dead. Unbeing.
Hamlet is beginning his famous soliloquy (monologue) where he is debating whether he should kill himself.
@atlas783508760,
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
the easiest explanation, Hamlet is considering the benefits of living over dying
@sozobe,
thank you for helping me .but this sentence whethere has the special meaning in our daily life?
@atlas783508760,
in day to day (daily) life, it's the question, do i keep going (living with the hardships life might put in my way) or do i give up (stop living, commit suicide)
it might not be a day to day question,hamlet was deeply troubled when he made the speech that begins with these lines
@atlas783508760,
This is a guess
If you decide "to be" (to live) instead of "not to be" (to kill yourself) then there are things you must do.
That's an important principle to follow in our daily life.
@atlas783508760,
atlas783508760 wrote:
thank you for helping me .but this sentence whethere has the special meaning in our daily life?
I don't believe Shakespeare was writing this about daily life, unless you question every day whether or not to kill yourself.
The opening line to this soliloquy must be taken in context with the rest...
He's questioning whether to stand up to his life, or give up. But, he fears what will happen when he dies.
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? 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. 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;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would 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?
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 pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
"a quietus would make with bare bodkin" means to kill oneself (quietus) with a dagger (bodkin).
"for who would fardels bear" means who would carry burdens (real or figurative)--fardels comes from the old French word for a burden or a load.
@Setanta,
I'm going to say this once....sometimes you make it worth logging on here. I have always wondered about the translation of that Shakespearean soliloquy into modern English. I never sought out the translation/interpretation, even when I was a English major in late '60s, much to my shame.
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