In perhaps the most quoted line in all of literature, “To be or not to be” (3.1, line 64), Hamlet contemplates suicide. Hamlet wonders whether he should just put a quick end to the sorrows in his life, that is, commit suicide, or move on with his life and let fortune either ease these struggles or continue to add more sorrows. The last time we saw Hamlet, he cursed himself for his lack of determination and action. He saw an actor crying and wailing through the scene of grief for Hecuba, the fallen queen of Troy, with whom the actor had no connection. In the previous act, Hamlet's father appeared to him in the form of a ghost to tell Hamlet that Hamlet's uncle murdered his father and then married Hamlet's mother, thus taking Hamlet's right to the throne by as heir to Denmark. For this reason, Hamlet feels that he has a thousand times more right to be angry and vengeful than this actor. Yet Hamlet simply cannot muster the same anger as the actor, nor can he devise a plan that would avenge his fallen father. Additionally, Hamlet is also rather dubious about the ghost's claims. Despite his despondent behavior and uncertainty, at the end of his passionate diatribe against himself, Hamlet finally arrives at a plan to test the validity of the ghost's claims. He will stage a play with a plot that imitates the current situation; one way or another, a king will be assassinated by a close relative and that close relative will take the queen as his wife. Hamlet will observe Claudius' reaction and if Claudius shows any sign of grief, Hamlet's doubts will be relieved and he will murder Claudius. Hamlet, at the end of this soliloquy, says defiantly: "The play is the thing / In which I will catch the conscience of the king." » (Act 2. Sc 2. lines 633-634) Hamle...... middle of paper...... yet death is a permanent sleep. Hamlet believes that humans suffer in this life because they do not know what the next life has in store for them. Essentially, Hamlet realizes that the fear of death makes men cowards. Hamlet believes that men dwell on what will happen in the afterlife and, as a result, their sense of action is lost. In a way, Hamlet soothes death in this soliloquy. It gives the impression of an eternal sleep into which men are afraid to enter. Because men spend so much time thinking in their lives on earth about what this eternal sleep will be like, they waste the time they could have acted on. The purpose of this soliloquy is to make Hamlet realize that he should simply stop wondering what will happen in the afterlife and act now. This monologue makes Hamlet understand that he must become a man of action and determination, not a man who feels sorry for himself...