To Be (Conscious) or Not To Be

Jessie Chung

People are like onions. We often cause others to have tears; and just like an onion's scent lingers, our existence influences the lives of others that we come across. Most importantly though, we have layers. It's doubtful that anyone could fully understand themselves when they have more layers than they're even aware of. As for Hamlet, we see that while he is a trickster, he is also a thinker, which again showcases that he is not simply a one dimensional character. Now here's the question. The greatest soliloquy of all time, the great "To Be or Not To Be" speech, is Hamlet contemplating life or death or is he cleverly hinting at his potential murder of Claudius?

I think that Hamlet doesn’t know that he’s being watched, at least not when he gives the speech. The first clue for me is that during his speech he’s speaking in iambic pentameter while when he’s talking to Ophelia, he’s speaking in prose. I think that during this time, Hamlet is beginning to piece the puzzles together and realize that he is being watched. The line, “Where’s your/ father?” (III.i.130-131) further established this theory. I then looked back to act two scene two, where the same thing applied. While Hamlet is speaking in this scene (which takes place after it has been clarified that he’s been acting strange for some time), he is using prose. This leads me to believe that he speaks in prose when he’s putting on an act for others and in iambic pentameter when he doesn’t feel the need to. The fact that he’s using iambic pentameter throughout this speech encourages me to conclude that he in fact does not know he’s being watched.

Another thing that I’ve noticed that leads me to believe that Hamlet is unaware of the spectators is the fact that he ends off by saying, “Soft you now,/ The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons/ Be all my sins remember’d” (III.i.88-90). In my opinion, it seems like Hamlet’s hoping that she’ll forgive him from all the cruelty he’s about to unleash on her and the sins that he would eventually have to commit. If he knew someone was watching, why would he say that? It’s almost as if he’s asking for forgiveness in what he is about to do; and if that is the case, why would you willingly tell Claudius that? It’s the same thing as admitting that he’s going to regret the unnaturally cruel things he’s about to do. Tell me, if you were Hamlet, and you were about to break Ophelia’s heart as part of the plot to throw Claudius off, would you openly admit that you were going to regret hurting her when you know he’s right there listening? I for one think that is one of the stupidest of all stupid plans you could possibly have.

There’s also the idea that Hamlet has already said suicidal thoughts before earlier on in the play. Now I’m not saying that this soliloquy is proof that he is suicidal or the opposite where he is cleverly hinting at his intended murder of Claudius. I believe that even if he does think himself to be alone while he says this speech, that it could really go either way. Just because he thinks he’s alone doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s contemplating suicide. The same thing goes for if he does know he’s being watched, it isn’t set in stone that he is talking in regards to Claudius. In my opinion, this could really go either way; he doesn’t mention a specific subject through the whole speech. What I mean is that he never says “I”, “me”, “him” or “you”. When I read this, rather than it being directed to himself or to Claudius, I see it more as a reflection on life. But back to what I was saying earlier, Hamlet has had suicidal thoughts before as shown when he says, “O that this too too sullied flesh would melt,/ Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter.” (I.ii.129-132). If I were to think that this soliloquy was him pondering about life and death because of the seed that was planted earlier on in the play, it makes sense to me to say that he was too lost in thought about life or death to really know (or even care) that someone else might be listening in.

Now I truly believe that if Hamlet really did know that he was being watched (while adding another layer onto the scene in terms of word play), it would take away from the scene as well. I feel that if he were performing for an audience (Claudius and Polonius) the soliloquy would lose a lot of its raw emotion that we (as spectators to the play) would otherwise receive. It wouldn't be as emotional to us as we know that he is acting. In the midst of all this craziness it’s refreshing to see how he truly feels and what his true thoughts are in comparison to the thoughts of a character he has created for the sake of throwing Claudius off. I feel if this really was his internal struggle that it would be so much more compelling because he’s connecting with that struggle instead of merely acting it out. We all know that on one hand Hamlet is and actor (schemer) and on the other he’s a thinker. This speech (in my humble opinion) is probably the part in the play to show that Hamlet is a thinker rather than a trickster.

Comments

RE: RE: Abby

            This is a comment to a comment so it’s different but I like a good back and forth so here we go. Abby I totally agree with you with the fact that sometimes we don’t want to hurt others with what we’re saying and that we want to let them down easy as not to make then feel worse after breaking their spirits. However, I don’t agree with the fact that he is doing anything to let Ophelia down easy, in fact I would say it’s the opposite. He questions her chastity, calls her a slut and a whore and says he feels sorry for her future husband, as she is a cheat and liar. If one of my friends said that to me I would probably never talk to them again. If it was my boyfriend’s way of breaking up with me, I would probably lose my appetite for a few weeks over shock of my horrible taste in men. To me, instead of letting her down easy, I would argue that he is giving her as many stabs as he possibly could.

RE: Sam

            I see what your saying when you ask why Hamlet would walk around spilling his heart out if he was summoned, but I ask you the other side to the question. As throughout your entire post, you made it very clear that saying this speech was to his advantage in throwing Claudius off. With this in mind, since it works to his advantage anyways, is there any reason that he should have to keep his thoughts all bottled up inside of him? Would it really matter if someone was listening in or not? Think about it, if you were in a similar position and genuinely expressing your thoughts would help you with your plot, would you have any reason not to? 

RE: Rachel

Rachel I don’t know if you’re going to see this comment but I am in awe. While I still don't necessarily agree with everything you've said, I never even considered that through his soliloquy Hamlet might be feeding Claudius the idea of suicide. That is genius (can we say inception?). Sorry I’m freaking out in front of my laptop right now because in a way, even though we have opposing viewpoints, it still shows that he is a thinker (despite the fact that you seem to think he's more of a trickster). This thought reminds me of this line in the movie Inception which goes like this, “The dreamer can always remember the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake.” This line arose when they were talking about the idea of inception and planting an idea in someone else’s head. If we are following after the idea that Hamlet is planting a seed in his uncle’s head without him knowing, that’s genius in itself. Perhaps if that were the case that soliloquy would be the perfect thing to showcase both Hamlet's genius and his cunningness.

 

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