(Advanced) Hamlet's monologue

Vocab:




24 words






sling






heir








perchance









shuffle










mortal coil









consummation









calamity









scorn









contumely









pang








insolence








to spurn








quietus






fardels








bodkin








bare









the will









hue








awry








pitch








Nymph







orisons








Quiz:

Some lines from the monologue


HAMLET: 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 wished. 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 despised 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 fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered 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 enterprise of great pitch 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 remembered.

To Be Or Not To Be




Translation into modern prose - add the words into the right place

burden              diluted              border               problem                afflict             ardently           pondered          naked           long            follows            stop and think

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 _____ one, and by opposing them, end them. To die. He _______ 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 ______ hope for. To die. To sleep. To sleep. Perhaps to dream. Yes, that was the _______, because in that sleep of death the dreams we might have when we have shed this mortal body must make us _______. That’s the consideration that creates the calamity of such a  _____ 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 ______ blade? Who would carry this load, sweating and grunting under the _____ of a weary life if it weren’t for the dread of the after life – that unexplored country from whose ______ no traveller 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 us all cowards, and it ______ that the first impulse to end our life is obscured by reflecting on it. And great and important plans are _____ to the point where we don’t do anything.”

Which parts of the original had you not understood until reading the modern prose version?


Cloze

HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question:
______ 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
______ 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
______ flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, ______ the rub,
______ in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. _______ the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
______ who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, ______ the spurns
That patient merit of th' 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 undiscovered country, from ______ bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
______ fly to others that we know not of?
______ 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 enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
______ lose the name of action.