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To be, or not to be. " To be, or not to be " is a speech given by Prince Hamlet in the so-called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1). The speech is named for the opening phrase, itself among the most widely known and quoted lines in modern English literature, and has been referenced in many works of theatre ...
By the 1604 Second Quarto, the speech is essentially present but punctuated differently: What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god! Then, by the 1623 First Folio, it appeared as:
Hamlet. in common English. William Shakespeare's play Hamlet has contributed many phrases to common English, from the famous "To be, or not to be" to a few less known, but still in everyday English. Also, some occur elsewhere, such as the Bible, or are proverbial. A few, listed out (Note: all are second quarto except as noted): Act I, scene 1:
The Queen in "Hamlet" by Edwin Austin Abbey "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" is a line from the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare.It is spoken by Queen Gertrude in response to the insincere overacting of a character in the play within a play created by Prince Hamlet to elicit evidence of his uncle's guilt in the murder of his father, the King of Denmark.
Hoist with his own petard. " Hoist with his own petard " is a phrase from a speech in William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet that has become proverbial. The phrase's meaning is that a bomb-maker is blown ("hoist", the past tense of "hoise") off the ground by his own bomb ("petard"), and indicates an ironic reversal or poetic justice. [1]
Critical approaches to Hamlet. From its premiere at the turn of the 17th century, Hamlet has remained Shakespeare's best-known, most-imitated, and most-analyzed play. The character of Hamlet played a critical role in Sigmund Freud 's explanation of the Oedipus complex. [ 1 ]
Setting. Denmark. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, usually shortened to Hamlet (/ ˈhæmlɪt /), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered ...
Mortal coil. " Mortal coil " is a poetic term for the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world. It is used in the sense of a burden to be carried or abandoned. To "shuffle off this mortal coil" is to die, exemplified in the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy in Shakespeare 's Hamlet.