Question

Read the excerpt from Act III of Hamlet. . . . 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. What does this part of the soliloquy reveal about Hamlet?

a. He is distraught and unsure.

b. He is decisive and confident.

c. He is ready to move forward.

d. He is about to kill Claudius.

Answer 1

The answer is A: He is distraught and unsure.

In this famous passage from Shakespeare´s Hamlet, perhaps the most renowned soliloquy in the history of drama, Hamlet ponders death by one´s own hand, wondering if it would bring solace to a troubled soul, like his, or whether it would bring further suffering, this time, in a very original interpretation of death as sleep, a form of sleep who no one knows what kind of dreams it will bring, what possible horrors could it present to the one who, dead, can´t ever scape his dreams.

Answer 2

Answer: a. He is distraught and unsure.

In this excerpt, Hamlet is distraught and feels desperate. He begins to wonder whether it would be better to die, as dying is only to sleep forever. He thinks this would end his heartache, and all the pain he is subject to. However, as he continues talking, he wonders if maybe the sleep of death comes with dreams, and whether those dreams might be nightmares. This worries him, and makes him more unsure as to what choice to make.