The Hurdle of Analyzing Shakespeare’s Language Translation vs. Interpretation

Sample 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. ( )

Summary or Analysis?Summary or Analysis? Hamlet begins by asking himself whether he should live or die. This is the “question” that the soliloquy will attempt to answer. He then goes on to elaborate on the question. He asks whether it is “nobler” to “suffer” the “slings and arrows” of life. Hamlet wonders if it is a good, or “noble” thing, to endure the traumas of life. The other option is to “take arms” and “end them,” or in other words, kill himself instead of simply suffering. Essentially, Hamlet is depressed and is questioning his next steps.

Summary! What makes it summary?

Summary or Analysis?Summary or Analysis? Hamlet begins by asking himself whether he should live or die, but the use of the verb “to be,” a broad term that gets at the essence of existence, turns this question from simply personal to universal. He then goes on to elaborate by wondering if it is “nobler” to endure “the slings and arrows” of life. This language is militaristic, creating a metaphor of a battle: to Hamlet, life is a battle in which one option is to simply suffer. The other option is to “take arms” to “end” the battle, presumably by killing himself. Here, though, Hamlet mixes his metaphors: the opposing army is a “sea of troubles.” A sea is an impossible entity to fight with swords. The implication of this mixed metaphor suggests the futility of taking action in life.

Analysis! What makes it analysis?

How about this?How about this? For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. ( )

Summary or Analysis?Summary or Analysis? Here Hamlet creates the metaphor of death as a “sleep.” He continues by describing life as “mortal coil,” which he must “shuffle off.” His realization that “dreams” may happen in the “sleep of death” is what stops him, or all people (“us”), from acting.

Summary! What makes it summary?

Summary or Analysis?Summary or Analysis? Here Hamlet creates the metaphor of death as a “sleep.” He continues by describing life as “mortal coil,” suggesting that life is a trap of some kind, which he must “shuffle off. The use of the word “shuffle” suggest that life ultimately may be easy to escape if it only takes a little shuffling to get rid of it. However, he realizes that if death is indeed like a sleep, then there must be an analogy to “dreams,” and it’s this realization that keeps Hamlet from ending his life, and by extension all of “us” from acting.

Any Questions?Any Questions?