ANALYSIS OF HAMLETS SOLILOQUY TO BE OR NOT

ANALYSIS OF HAMLET’S SOLILOQUY TO BE OR NOT TO BE MATTIA PAULUZZI

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Born in 1564 and dead in 1616; The most important playwright of all times;

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE He was the most important playwright of all times because: 1. The variety of the material he produced; 2. He invented new words for the English vocabulary; 3. His viewing public were rich and poor.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE Act II Scene II, lines 23, 24, 25 “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? ”

SEMANTIC MEANING After posing this complex question (to be or not to be) and wondering about the nature of the great sleep, Hamlet goes on to list many sufferings men have to face in the course of life, which makes it seem as though he is moving towards death again.

LOGICAL ANALYSIS Metaphor ( «The undiscover’d country from whose bourn no traveller returns» ); Metaphor is a resemblance of two different objects based on a single or some common characteristics.

LOGICAL ANALYSIS In this metaphor the two elements that are compared are: Something after death The undiscover’d country.

SHAKESPEARE’S THEMES Shakespeare’s themes in this question are: Internal pressure of the Hero; The paradox of life; The audience develops sympathy for the hero.

The audience develops sympathy for the hero Hamlet tries to give an answer to a frequent inner question.