The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks.
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation.
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,.
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, 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. There's the respect.
That makes Calamity of so long life:.
For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time,.
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn.
No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will,.
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,.
Than fly to others that we know not of?.
Thus Conscience does make Cowards of us all,.
And thus the Native hue of Resolution.
Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought,.
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,.
With this regard their Currents turn awry,.
And lose the name of action. Soft you now,.
The faire Ophelia, Nymph in thy orisons.
Be all my sins remembered.
This entire soliloquy has arisen due to Hamlet's internal conflict and questioning life over death. The unknown truthfulness of Hamlet's madness is exemplified throughout this soliloquy through the verisimilitude that is apparent as he detaches from his antic-disposition. The rhetorical question stated through antithesis, "To be or not to be, that is the question", emphasizes human frailty and the agonizing decision to end his life or to fulfill his religious obligations. Hamlet queries "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." In doing so Shakespeare uses a metaphor of being attacked by slings and arrows to refer to his own existence in the midst of his suffering. Interestingly, the weapons described by Shakespeare are long-range weapons, symbolizing the unseen qualities and hidden natures of Hamlet's foes, specifically that of Claudius, who is subtle and cunning in his attacks. .
Hamlet unveils an inclination to perceive lasciviousness as intrinsically corrupted in his statement that "The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.