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Soliloquy
Explanation and Analysis:
The most famous lines in Hamlet come from his soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, when he reflects on the struggle of balancing his weariness of life and his fear of death. The soliloquy begins:
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.
The presence of this soliloquy in between scenes with multiple characters gives the audience a chance to understand how worn down Hamlet is feeling. His desire to rest is tempered by his fear of death, and the moment of reflection he takes is full of the tension between his fear and longing. His speech flirts with madness: at this point in the play, most of the other characters believe that Hamlet is beginning to lose his mind. The cadence of his language therefore changes drastically depending on who he is talking to. The fact that he is alone in this scene may lead the audience to believe that this is his truest self, the most direct communication he has. This soliloquy primarily concerns the question of suicide, and of the morality of opting out of the rest of his life. The way that Hamlet speaks takes on the cadence of a rant, as Hamlet asks himself questions and then attempts to answer them. It is as though Hamlet is conversing with himself, which emphasizes the sense that he is torn between these two choices. These are his most interior thoughts, and they are plagued by indecision, paranoia, and the feeling of being stuck.
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