ANALYSIS TO BE OR NOT TO BE

The "To be or not to be" soliloquy appears in Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In
this scene, often called the "nunnery scene," Prince Hamlet thinks about life, death, and
suicide. Specifically, he wonders whether it might be preferable to commit suicide to end
one's suffering and to leave behind the pain and agony associated with living.
Though he believes he is alone when he speaks, King Claudius (his uncle) and Polonius
(the king’s councilor) are both in hiding, eavesdropping.
The first line and the most famous of the soliloquy raises the overarching question of the
speech: "To be, or not to be," that is, "To live, or to die."
Interestingly, Hamlet poses this as a question for all of humanity rather than for only
himself. He begins by asking whether it is better to passively put up with life’s pains ("the
slings and arrows") or actively end it via suicide ("take arms against a sea of troubles, /
And by opposing end them?").
Hamlet initially argues that death would indeed be preferable: he compares the act of
dying to a peaceful sleep: "And by a sleep to say we end / The heart-ache and the thousand
natural shocks / That flesh is heir to."
However, he quickly changes his tune when he considers that nobody knows for sure what
happens after death, namely whether there is an afterlife and whether this afterlife might
be even worse than life. This realization is what ultimately gives Hamlet (and others, he
reasons) "pause" when it comes to taking action (i.e., committing suicide).
In this sense, humans are so fearful of what comes after death and the possibility that it
might be more miserable than life that they (including Hamlet) are rendered immobile.
Theme 1: Doubt and Uncertainty
Doubt and uncertainty play a huge role in Hamlet’s "To be or not to be" soliloquy. By this
point in the play, we know that Hamlet has struggled to decide whether he should kill
Claudius and avenge his father’s death.
It is this general feeling of doubt that also plagues his fears of the afterlife, which Hamlet
speaks on at length in his "To be or not to be" soliloquy. The uncertainty of what comes
after death is, to him, the main reason most people do not commit suicide; it’s also the
reason Hamlet himself hesitates to kill himself and is inexplicably frozen in place.
Theme 2: Life and Death
As the opening line tells us, "To be or not to be" revolves around complex notions of life
and death (and the afterlife).
Up until this point in the play, Hamlet has continued to debate with himself whether he
should kill Claudius to avenge his father. He also wonders whether it might be preferable
to kill himself—this would allow him to escape his own "sea of troubles" and the "slings
and arrows" of life.
But like so many others, Hamlet fears the uncertainty dying brings and is tormented by the
possibility of ending up in Hell—a place even more miserable than life. He is heavily
plagued by this realization that the only way to find out if death is better than life is to go
ahead and end it, a permanent decision one cannot take back.
Despite Hamlet's attempts to logically understand the world and death, there are some
things he will simply never know until he himself dies, further fueling his ambivalence
Theme 3: Madness
The entirety of Hamlet can be said to revolve around the theme of madness and whether
Hamlet has been feigning madness or has truly gone mad (or both). Though the idea of
madness doesn’t necessarily come to the forefront of "To be or not to be," it still plays a
crucial role in how Hamlet behaves in this scene.
Before Hamlet begins his soliloquy, Claudius and Polonius are revealed to be hiding in an
attempt to eavesdrop on Hamlet (and later Ophelia when she enters the scene). Now, what
the audience doesn’t know is whether Hamlet knows he is being listened to.
If he is unaware, as most might assume he is, then we could view his "To be or not to be"
soliloquy as the simple musings of a highly stressed-out, possibly "mad" man, who has no
idea what to think anymore when it comes to life, death, and religion as a whole.
However, if we believe that Hamlet is aware he's being spied on, the soliloquy takes on an
entirely new meaning: Hamlet could actually be feigning madness as he bemoans the
burdens of life in an effort to perplex Claudius and Polonius and/or make them believe he
is overwhelmed with grief for his recently deceased father.
Whatever the case, it’s clear that Hamlet is an intelligent man who is attempting to grapple
with a difficult decision. Whether or not he is truly "mad" here or later in the play is up to
you to decide