Hamlet's Soliloquy "To Be Or Not To Be"

The purpose of this research is to examine the philosophy articulated in Hamlet's III.i soliloquy "To be or not to be" and apply it in depth to the metaphysics of Plato and Descartes. The plan of the research will be to set forth in general terms the metaphysics articulated in this soliloquy in particular and in Hamlet as a whole and then to discuss in more detail ways in which Hamlet's conceptualization of what is real--containing as it does an interpretation of being-itself (ontology) as well as a philosophical interpretation of the place of the individual in the universe (cosmology)--may intersect with, interpret, or differ from comprehensive world views articulated by Plato and Descartes.

The III.i soliloquy is Hamlet's core articulation of a Weltanschauung of irony as the fundamental fact of the human condition. Caught in a situation repugnant to him and not of his making, paralyzed, as it seems, by contemplation of the consequences of resolving that situation in one way or another, yet at the same time psychologically impelled toward behaving in some way that will effect a resolution of the situation, Hamlet tries in III.i to sort out the reality of his predicament, with a view toward figuring out what to do next. But "To be or not to be" is not merely about whether Hamlet should avenge the death of his father. Hamlet's agony of indecision regarding Claudius is a metaphor of dramatic action embedded within the aesthetic metaphor of tragic action, which is itself a mecha

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dition of cosmic bewilderment, yet an equal impulse toward placing a rational construction in the way of that bewilderment. As a further complication, in I.ii, contemplating the seeming depth of the Players' emotion, he doubts whether even in the midst of his grief his own feelings are genuine: "I, / A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, / Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, / And can say nothing; no, not for a king, / Upon whose property and most dear life / A damn'd defeat was made" (II.ii.4-9). He is disgusted with himself, calling himself a rogue, peasant slave, and ass, for not responding sufficiently to the prompts of heaven and hell in the matter of revenge. This does not prevent him from being pushed to despair, plagued by doubt and conscience, which means that "enterprises of great pitch and moment / With this regard their currents turn awry, / And lose the name of action" (III.i.85-88). In III.i, Hamlet clearly understands that the conditions of action inform its integrity, even though arriving at clarity about those conditions is something that "puzzles the will" (III.i.80). The complexity of this world view has ironic consequences, as for example when Hamlet refrains from killing Claudius at prayer so as not t

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