Preview

Hamlet Famous Speech

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
102 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hamlet Famous Speech
"To be, or not to be? That is the question-." One of Shakespeare's most remembered and famous quotes. This speech can be read in act 3, scene 1 of Hamlet. Hamlet recites this famous speech as he is strolling into one of the castle rooms, right before he speaks to Ophelia. Many people believe it has no significance to the play at all. This could be one reason as to why it is so famous. It could also be in part of the topic he is speaking of. Either way, the speech not only demands readers attention, but piques their interest

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Hamlet has just fought with Gertrude and Claudius, and has decided to stay home, as opposed to going to college. Claudius told Hamlet he was not allowed to go, and Hamlet decided to stay for his mother. The, “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt…” soliloquy reveals the first thoughts of death that Hamlet has within the play. Not much has happened, but the King and Queen are married, and the ghost has been seen. As the first soliloquy, this is the first insight into Hamlet’s state of mind that the audience has.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within the passage from Hamlet, Shakespeare uses diction, Imagery and metaphors in order to gravely convey the Ghost and Hamlet’s contempt for Claudius and the Queen.…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If I were to choose one of the characters from Hamlet it would be the main character, Hamlet. For centuries he continues to amaze and fascinate its readers, perhaps because of the mysteriousness of his character, as well as the relevance of the topics covered in his monologues. His famous monologue beginning with "to be or not to be ...", is probably the most cited page in the history of literature. Hamlet is an enigmatic character, and even the most astute reader may say that he/she hasn’t really understood the character, and the reasons for which it acts .the speeches and actions of Hamlet lend themselves to numerous interpretations.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Translation: You may not believe that the stars shine or that the sun comes up in the morning, but you must believe that I love. The fact that I love is more certain than the most certain things in the universe.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “To be or not to be: that is the question.” This is one of Shakespeare’s most remembered quotes from Hamlet, but it also brings forth the question; was Shakespeare really Shakespeare? Many have argued that Shakespeare in fact was an imposter or a pen name for someone else. The quote above could be read as the real Shakespeare trying to tell the world that not everything is what it seems or it could be interpreted as Shakespeare telling the world simply to believe in what you want to and not what you are meant to believe.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Soliloquy Speeches

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In general, while Hamlet’s famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy questions the righteousness of life over death in moral terms, as much of the speech’s emphasis is on the subject of death. However the significance of this quote to me is different because I did resort to extreme thoughts like Hamlet. I look at this famous line as it is up to you to be the best you can be, and life may knock you down a. I started high school with no confidence in myself, which led me to pretty much sleep through the first first semester—and if you don't believe me just ask Mrs. Todd, she remembers. The point I am trying to make is once I started believing in myself, and others did so with me, I was able to look past the things that brought me down in life and I hope you guys learn that as well, I let the negative things in life like my disability and my schooling situation bring me down like Hamlet and it has been because of this school I was able start fresh. Today I am very proud of all that I have accomplished and the changes I've gone through to lead me on the right path as I am now eligible for university this year— something I did not see myself being able to achieve. Hamlet was very important in teaching me what I wanted to be and what I did not want to…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. In the beginning of the act, Hamlets asks himself a question. “To be, or not to be—that is the question.” What Hamlet is actually asking is considering if he wants to live or kill himself.…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Murder Quotes

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    While Hamlet delays in killing Claudius, it is not because he is incapable of murder. To the contrary, his callousness is displayed when he brutally stabs Polonius hidden behind the arras and “when he deliberately, and even craftily, with complete unscrupulousness of a prince” (Freud 86) orders the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet shows no remorse for the murders. Prior to the fencing match, Hamlet describes the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Horatio, stating:…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Quotes for Hamlet

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Other than Sophocles there were 2 other notable writers that lived during the same years as Sophocles. They are contemporaries to Sophocles. The older contemporary was Aeschylus and the younger contemporary of Sophocles was Euripides. They wrote the same genre but incorporated there own styles and unique ideas with in their brilliant plays. They have all impacted to days theatre in their own ways creating diverse genres that today’s authors may choose to use.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hamlet's Soliloquy

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    HAMLET: 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…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jacob Grimm once wrote “I’m Death and I make sure everyone is equal.” There has long been this idea that death brings everyone to a common ground, and while one might not think of Hamlet’s message as one regarding the powerful equalizing effect of death, this line of reasoning is prevalent throughout the play. Death in Hamlet, is presented as a cycle, one that levels humanity. In a play where most of the characters die, death itself is therefore an underlying theme throughout the play, but some of the most interesting reflections on death happen in the scenes we least expect them to. In Hamlet’s discussion with the King after Polonius’s death, and in Hamlet’s conversation with the skull of the court jester, death and what happens after death,…

    • 1379 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “To be or not to be” is one of the most famous lines in Hamlet, and used very frequently in the modern world. Although people use it out of direct context, they use it to compare two very big choices. The fact that it is used so frequently is evidence to prove that Hamlet was so expertly written that a lot of themes of the play are still applicable in today's society. Themes like the impossibility of certainty, the complexity of action, the mystery of death, and the nation as a diseased body are very prevalent in modern society – prevalent enough to be recognized by pop culture and many educated scholars.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Fortinbras, my peers, my friends… This day is not a day which brings happiness, it is not a day which warms the heart. We gather here today in the finest of Elsinore’s cathedrals, and the finest of company to remember Hamlet. The very name conveys so much to many… Hamlet was honourable, loyal, respectful… And he will be remembered as a prince, a scholar, a crusader. But above all, he was a friend.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare is one of the world's most famous playwrights and is most famous for the line “to be or not to be.” This line comes from the play Hamlet in which Hamlet questions whether to live or to die. Overtime several film renditions have been created with different interpretations of this scene. In a 1996 film production directed by Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet is played by the same actor. In this rendition, Hamlet recites the soliloquy in front of a mirror. Another 1990 film production directed by Franco Zeffirelli with Mel Gibson acting as Hamlet, Hamlet paces through a family crypt. Although Gibson's rendition features the use of motifs of light and darkness and pans toward skeletons and tombstones, Brangh portrays a more powerful version by…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of Death In Hamlet

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “To be or not to be, that is the question,” is a famous quote from Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy called Hamlet. Detailing the prospects surrounding Prince Hamlet, this play portrays Hamlets return home and disappointment with his mother for marrying his Uncle Claudius. Shakespearean writing comes alive in this play about friends and foes while developing several elements in the play. The essence of act ii scene ii lines 352-580 take into the consideration of the development of the theme, plot, characters and of Hamlet as a whole.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays