To Be or Not To Be

The Hamlet monologue from Act 3, Scene 1.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• hamlet
• shakespeare
• logic
• junkie
• david
• jack
• monologue
• soliloquy

[196323100]

BRAVO! for so with the sleep be a thousand injustice,Yeah that rips and tears at the mortal mind as if to prove the foul taste for the mortal coil

[TheLogicJunkie]

I'd actually like to do it, like an infomercial for an audience, or an on-the-scene exposee reporter.

[TheMorningwillCome]

ah, now THERE'S a concept i can agree with. i think he could give that diversity within the speech, not necessarily with ease, but i think he could definitely sell it. sell the entire concept, the feeling that hamlet is experiencing through this speech. i can see it now...

thank you for the conversation. i really think the two of us came to an agreeable comprimise =]

[TheLogicJunkie]

True, true... I wonder if Anthony Hopkins could deliver those parts with a dead, peaceful smile.

[TheMorningwillCome]

i can definitely see that, but also in the "to die, to sleep..." parts it seems to me that contemplation takes a more serious tone, while when he says "ay, there's the rub" its almost as if he's making a mockery out of life with that cynicism and mundaneness that you captured so well. it's not really complicated, but there is a certain depth to it, while there are definitely parts where he disregards humanity and life in a very critical way.

[TheLogicJunkie]

It's the kind of speech that I imagine would be given by 1) Bill Hicks or 2) Howard Beale from "Network" or 3) Heath Ledger's Joker...

[TheMorningwillCome]

understood, seeing as how it almost has a sneer to it. however, there are parts of it where i think "melodrama" is necessary, seeing as how there are several parts of it where he stops to seriously think about the upsides of being dead, as opposed to the rest of it where he brutally criticizes life. i dunno if its just me or if there's an actual difference or even if im making sense, but it almost seems necessary to give it that clash of melodrama and cynicism.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Thanks.

As I studied the speech, I tried to put aside the dramatic tradition of how it's supposed to be said, and discovered that it's a very matter-of-fact kind of cynical lecture to the audience. There's really no need for melodrama... in fact, I think it could be even more effectively delivered in the same manner as a mundane Powerpoint lecture.

[TheMorningwillCome]

this is very interesting. very different from what im used to, but definitely good. im used to it being very thoughtful, very slow, very deliberate, and somehow unnatural, while the way you speak it seems to bring a certain cynicism about the soliloquy. as i said, i like it. very different.

=]

[TheLogicJunkie]

Slaughterbaby.