Shakespere 3

So we have began to look at a hamlet speech "to be or not to be"

"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? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause."

First here was my line by line analysis
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"To be, or not to be: that is the question"

The opening line scans fairly normally, and makes sense he is simply questioning himself.

"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? To die: to sleep"

These lines tell me he is contemplating suicide but he is debating weather or not as he could be seen as a coward taking an easy way out, as if he doesn't there is a lot of trouble waiting for him. In this line I really stressed the O's in these lines to show the emotional pain almost like a long ow what you say when you wave damaged yourself. I think it also says that he sees death as a long sleep.


"When we have shuffled off this mortal coil"

This tells me that Hamlet feels mortality traps him and the only way to be released from the mortal coil is to take his life.

in our performance we showed a fighting aggressive hamlet willing to confront his fears and a Hamlet that was cowardly and floaty of witch I played however I did incorporate some punch rhythm speaking as well as a general float that was carried all the way through. There was also a sleeping hamlet in the middle repeating key words.

We also displayed the performance in thrust spacing making the audience drawn into hamlets dream. This really made the performance effective as it broke the 4th wall by making theme so close and addressing the audience with the lines.

I have couled my lines red and my fellow piers blue.