"To Be or Not to Be"

To be or not to be? Perhaps one of the most famous lines from the Skakespearean times. Hamlet gives his soliloquy, as it appears to me, in a depressed suicidal mood. He mentions things such as “mind to suffer” and “to die to sleep” is in a way mentioning that he does not see the point in suffering in this world anymore. “That flesh is heir to?” He questions himself and later mentions “for who would bear the whips and scorns of time”. The scorns could represent the bad sins that occurred in Hamlets life. By whips he might mean that he will take revenge on his uncle and get him back for killing his dear father.

As soon as Ophelia comes in, she acts cold and returns the “remembrances” to Hamlet. He then switches his mood around and tells her that he never loved her, in attempt to make her mad. She tries to pretend that she does not care, because her father is watching her, but deep down she is heartbroken. At this point the audience is not sure whether Hamlet knows that he was being watched or if he doesn’t. He does ask “where is your father?”, but maybe he only does it to be sarcastic, or perhaps he really is curious. According to my group’s version, he is not aware at all and therefore does ask with a mere concern. Later, Ophelia sort of has a soliloquy in a way as she expresses her own thoughts in a sad depressed manner. Perhaps Ophelia is so depressed because she has been used by almost everybody. Hamlet might use her to make her look bad in front of her own father so that her father would get mad. Her father might use her to “do her duty”, but in reality he is only trying to make Hamlet suffer. What will become of Ophelia? Will she commit suicide herself or was her speech just a cover up in front of her father to make him feel sorry for her, because Hamlet insulted her so that way her father would get even madder at Hamlet and perhaps kill him. Now what will become of Hamlet? Will he eventually take revenge or will he just end up killing himself? Is his “to be or not to be” speech a sign of revenge or a sign of suicide? He could act or not act, as in take revenge or not take revenge. Will we not find out until the very last scene because this is honestly killing me!?