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HAMLET´S
SOLILOQUY
“To Be Or Not To Be”: Spoken by Hamlet, Act 3 Scene
1
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: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, 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 pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.–Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember’d. |
“To Be Or Not
To Be” Soliloquy Translation:
The question for him was whether to continue to exist or not – whether it was more noble to suffer the slings and arrows of an unbearable situation, or to declare war on the sea of troubles that afflict one, and by opposing them, end them. To die. He pondered the prospect. To sleep – as simple as that. And with that sleep we end the heartaches and the thousand natural miseries that human beings have to endure. It’s an end that we would all ardently hope for. To die. To sleep. To sleep. Perhaps to dream. Yes, that was the problem, because in that sleep of death the dreams we might have when we have shed this mortal body must make us pause. That’s the consideration that creates the calamity of such a long life. Because, who would tolerate the whips and scorns of time; the tyrant’s offences against us; the contempt of proud men; the pain of rejected love; the insolence of officious authority; and the advantage that the worst people take of the best, when one could just release oneself with a naked blade? Who would carry this load, sweating and grunting under the burden of a weary life if it weren’t for the dread of the after life – that unexplored country from whose border no traveler returns? That’s the thing that confounds us and makes us put up with those evils that we know rather than hurry to others that we don’t know about. So thinking about it makes cowards of us all, and it follows that the first impulse to end our life is obscured by reflecting on it. And great and important plans are diluted to the point where we don’t do anything.
The question for him was whether to continue to exist or not – whether it was more noble to suffer the slings and arrows of an unbearable situation, or to declare war on the sea of troubles that afflict one, and by opposing them, end them. To die. He pondered the prospect. To sleep – as simple as that. And with that sleep we end the heartaches and the thousand natural miseries that human beings have to endure. It’s an end that we would all ardently hope for. To die. To sleep. To sleep. Perhaps to dream. Yes, that was the problem, because in that sleep of death the dreams we might have when we have shed this mortal body must make us pause. That’s the consideration that creates the calamity of such a long life. Because, who would tolerate the whips and scorns of time; the tyrant’s offences against us; the contempt of proud men; the pain of rejected love; the insolence of officious authority; and the advantage that the worst people take of the best, when one could just release oneself with a naked blade? Who would carry this load, sweating and grunting under the burden of a weary life if it weren’t for the dread of the after life – that unexplored country from whose border no traveler returns? That’s the thing that confounds us and makes us put up with those evils that we know rather than hurry to others that we don’t know about. So thinking about it makes cowards of us all, and it follows that the first impulse to end our life is obscured by reflecting on it. And great and important plans are diluted to the point where we don’t do anything.
Ser o no
ser, esa es la cuestión. ¿Qué es más noble para el alma sufrir los golpes y las
flechas de la injusta fortuna o tomar las armas contra un mar de adversidades y
oponiéndose a ella, encontrar el fin? Morir, dormir… nada más; y con un sueño
poder decir que acabamos con el sufrimiento del corazón y los mil choques que
por naturaleza son herencia de la carne… Es un final piadosamente deseable.
Morir, dormir, dormir… quizá soñar. Ahí está la dificultad. Ya que en ese sueño
de muerte, los sueños que pueden venir cuando nos hayamos despojado de la
confusión de esta vida mortal, nos hace frenar el impulso. Ahí está el respeto
que hace de tan larga vida una calamidad. Pues quien soportaría los latigazos y
los insultos del tiempo, la injusticia del opresor, el desprecio del orgulloso,
el dolor penetrante de un amor despreciado, la tardanza de la ley, la
insolencia del poder, y los insultos que el mérito paciente recibe del indigno
cuando él mismo podría desquitarse de ellos con un puñal. Quejarse y sudar bajo
una vida cansada, por el temor a algo después de la muerte – El país sin
descubrir de cuya frontera ningún viajero vuelve- aturde la voluntad y nos hace
soportar los males que sentimos en vez de volar a otros que desconocemos. La
conciencia nos hace cobardes a todos. Y así el nativo color de la resolución
enferma por el hechizo pálido del pensamiento y empresas de gran importancia y
peso con lo que a esto se refiere, sus corrientes se desbordan y pierden el
nombre de acción.
