"To be, or not to be" Analysis of Form--Hamlet Blog #3

Uncertainty of death: 

• "to take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing end them?" (3.1.59-60)--Hamlet is asking himself whether he should 'end them' or not.
• "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1.66)--Can we dream in our death?
• "To grunt and sweat under a weary life/But that the dread of something after death" (3.1.77-78)--Hamlet ponders if life is truly worth all the pain and hardship.

Negative experiences of life:

• "The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks" (3.1.62)
• "The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay/The insolence of office and the spurns/That patient merit of th' unworthy takes" (3.1.72-74)
• "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sickled o'er with the pale cast of thought" (3.1.84-85)

Appeals:

• Pathos: "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,/Must give us pause: there's the respect/That makes calamity of so long life" (3.1.67-69)--introduces the 'we' and talks about the the 'mortal coil' in the world of a 'long life.'
• Logos: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" (3.1.70)--it is logical to think that this world seems to not be worth living if all of the 'whips and scorns' outweigh the good things.

Literary devices:

• Paradox: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1.66)--implies that dying may be as peaceful as sleeping, but we know that dying is not the same as sleeping, we cannot dream in death.
• Parallelism: "Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep" (3.1.64)--adds to the complexity and flow of the speech, propels it forward to the next part.
• Infinitive: "To die: to sleep" (3.1.60)--creates more emphasis on the verb.
• Tone and diction make Hamlet's soliloquy more emotional and reveals the struggle he is dealing with currently.
• Two primary metaphors: sleep is a metaphor/symbol for death, also 'weary life.'

Comparisons: 

• Life on earth: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" (3.1.70)
• Afterlife: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (3.1.66)
• Death: "No more; and by a sleep to say we end/The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks" (3.1.61-62)
• Humans: "Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely" (3.1.71)
• Thinking: "And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" (3.1.84-85)

Oppositions:

1. "To grunt and sweat under a weary life/But that the dread of something after death" (3.1.77-78)
2. "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles/And by opposing end them?" (3.1.59-60)
3. "And enterprises of great pitch and moment/WIth this regard their currents turn awry" (3.1.86-87)

Eternal Philosophical Questions:

• "And makes us rather bear those ills we have/Than fly to others that we know not of?" (3.1.81-82)
• "And by opposing end them?" (3.1.60)
• "When he himself might his quietus make/With a bare bodkin?" (3.1.75-76)

Conclusions:

• Hamlet decides that he cannot "lose the name of action" (3.1. 87), and he must continue on to avenge the death of his father.
• "Conscience does make cowards of us all" (3.1.83)