He suggests that what keeps people from killing themselves is fear of what happens after death. He compares the body to a "coil" that is "shuffl'd off" at death
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He is not afraid of death, but is afraid of what would happen to him in the afterlife.
He is not afraid of death, but is afraid of what would happen to him in the afterlife.
An apparition
'Midnight's children' was not written by Shakespeare. 'As You Like It' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' are both comedies and 'Julius Ceaser' is a tragedy.
The quote does not appear in any Shakespeare play.
As Hamlet is contemplating suicide, he equates sleep with death. But then he imagines what death is like, and worries that if there are dreams or something after, it would be bad: "To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come..."
Hamlet says it in Act 3, Scene 1 of the play Hamlet. It begins what must surely be the most famous speech in Shakespeare: 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 heartache, 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, Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would these 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.
Shakespeare may have shown his true feelings in private conversations with his wife, his children and his friends. Since nobody ever wrote down those conversations, we can never know. Some people think that Shakespeare was showing his feelings in his sonnets, although we cannot be sure of that, and do not know to whom the sonnets were addressed. Some also believe that Shakespeare occasionally put his own words into the mouths of characters in his plays (especially the "advice to the players" in Hamlet and the "we are such stuff as dreams are made on" speech from the Tempest.) but this is very shaky ground indeed, since it makes more sense to believe that those words were intended to tell us about the character rather than the author. Besides we choose such passages based on wishful thinking--nobody suggests that Iago or Richard III or Aaron the Moor show Shakespeare's true feelings because we don't want to believe that Shakespeare thought that way.
Hamlet, in the play of the same name, by William Shakespeare.He is trying to decide whether or not to kill himself.It was Hamlet's Third Soliloquy in the play HamletThe full soliloquy is as follows:"To be, or not to be, that is the question;Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe Slings and Arrows of outrageous FortuneOr 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 endThe heart-ache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to - 'tis a consummationDevoutly 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 respectThat makes calamity of so long life,For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,The insolence of office, and the spurnsThat patient merit of th'unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscovered country from whose bournNo traveller returns, puzzles the will,And makes us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to others that we know not of?Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pitch and momentWith this regard their currents turn away,And lose the name of actio"
William Shakespeare left no diaries or personal letters to posterity, so it is totally impossible to know what dreams he had or which of them might be his favourite.
Richard III. Richard dreams of the ghosts of the people he has murdered. The ghosts in Hamlet and Julius Caesar appear to people who are awake.
A rub is a difficulty.The origin is unknown and it is most known for Shakespeare's use of it in Hamlet...."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;"In Shakespeare's time a rub was an area of rough, or uneven ground, one might encounter while attempting to play a game of bowls (a popular game in the Elizabethan era, as the famous account of Sir Francis Drake's game of bowls confirms).A rub was a problematic patch of turf that would sabotage or deflect ones attempt to roll the bowl with accuracy. Thus in Shakespeare's usage in Hamlet's soliloquy it means, the centre or source of the problem, that knotty or disagreeable fact or reality, that makes a problem a problem.In the speech Hamlet is contemplating suicide. And he is inclined to take his own life, due to the sleep -- the eternal rest from his suffering -- that doing so would grant him. But what "dreams" will come to him in such a sleep? i.e. Might there be an afterlife that will have to be encountered if he kills himself, and if so, what is its character?The thought of this possibility stays his hand from taking his life, it is the source of the problem that is preventing him from going down a route his will initially wanted to take him. Hence, "ay there's the rub."
'Midnight's children' was not written by Shakespeare. 'As You Like It' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' are both comedies and 'Julius Ceaser' is a tragedy.
We do not know what his dreams were, nor what his parents thought about them. For all we know, they said, "Will, we know that you dream of being a soldier, but it's too darn dangerous. Why don't you go into the theatre instead?"
Yes, it can be.What is most commonly a pronoun, as in 'What did you say?'.But what can also be used, colloquially, as an alternative interrogative adjective to which, as in 'What horse do you think will win the race?'.What was famously used by Shakespeare in Hamlet as a relative adjective: 'What dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.' This usage is still valid, though it is not very common. For example:'What behaviour you get from your children will depend on the example you set them.'That is not incorrect, but it is less idiomatic than 'The behaviour that you get from your children will depend ...'What is also an interjection: 'What? I don't believe you!'
The quote does not appear in any Shakespeare play.
As Hamlet is contemplating suicide, he equates sleep with death. But then he imagines what death is like, and worries that if there are dreams or something after, it would be bad: "To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come..."
Naoe Takei has written: 'Shakespeare and the early literature of dreams'
William J. Subash has written: 'The dreams of Matthew 1:18-2:23' -- subject(s): Bible, Ancient Literature, Criticism, interpretation, History and criticism, Dreams in the Bible, Dreams in literature
William Kirkland Finley has written: 'William Blake, dreamer of dreams' -- subject(s): Exhibitions