Q2 of 20 Page 91

Read the following extracts and answer the questions:

a) 'Or to take arms against a sea of troubles


And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep…'


(i) Identify the figure of speech in the first line


(ii) What, according to Hamlet, is the solution to the problems that engulf us?


(iii) ‘Sleep’ here, refers to ________________. What figure of speech is it?


b) 'For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,


Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,


The pangs of despised love.'


i) What are the situations mentioned here that force one to end one's life?


ii) Identify the figure of speech in the first line and explain.

a) (i) In the first line ‘Or to take arms against a sea of troubles’, the speaker is comparing his troubles and suffering to the waters of the sea and he is trying to indicate that his sufferings are endless like the sea. In the given line, the speaker suggests to rise and fight against his troubles. The figure of speech being used here is a metaphor as the speaker’s troubles are compared to the sea.


(ii) Hamlet, in the famous soliloquy ‘to be or not to be’ of which the given extract is a part of is shown to be overwhelmed by his troubles. He is in a very troubled state of mind and then he wants to end his sufferings by committing suicide. According to Hamlet, death is the ultimate solution for all the problems that engulf us. He expresses that once a person would fall asleep forever, all the troubles and sufferings in his minds would come to an end.


(iii) ’Sleep’ here refers to putting an end to the sufferings and troubles that Hamlet feels in his mind and heart. He wants to calm the different emotions that are rising inside him by committing suicide and falling into a deep sleep where he feels nothing at all, he believes he will find peace that way.


The word ‘sleep’ is being compared to death and it is a use of a metaphor.


b) (i) In the given extract, several situations have been mentioned which ca force one to end one’s life. Such situations include being humiliated by superiors or by arrogant men; the heartache one suffers due to unrequited love; the inefficiency of laws; the mistreatment of good people at the hands of bad people etc. A person can bear this insults and injustices only up to a certain extent after which one would finally breakdown under the intense pain and would thus try to put an end to all trouble’s by ending his life.


(ii) The figure of speech used in the first line is that of a metaphor. Hamlet compares the problems and humiliation one faces in life to ‘whips and scorns of time’. In the first line Hamlet speculates as to who would be able to withstand the sufferings of life; the sufferings only increase with time.


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3

Given below are a few statements about the soliloquy. Are they true or false?

a) A long speech spoken by a single character that reveals inner thoughts.


b) The character reveals inner thoughts, and puzzles out personal problems


c) Only the male character renders a soliloquy


c) Only the male character renders a soliloquy


d) It's a part of a dialogue with other characters


e) It is rendered in the final scene.

 1

Complete the summary based on your understanding

Hamlet was in a deep dilemma. He wondered if he should ___________________ to live or die. His mental conflict centered around ___________________ possibilities. He asks if - it is nobler to ___________________ the slings and arrows of an unbearable situation than to fight against the sea of ___________________ that afflicts one and by opposing them, end them. He pondered over the prospect of dying because with death we _______________ the heartaches and the innumerable natural ___________________ that human beings have to endure. It is an end that we all hope for -to sleep ___________________.


There is a problem in this solution also .In the sleep of death we might have ___________________ and these dreams add more ___________________.


Despite the calamity, the dreams usher, death is ___________________ because none can tolerate the whips and scorns of time. In such traumatic situations, a ____________person would choose to make the final settlement by ending his life with a sharp knife.


A weak-minded person is unable to bear the ___________________ of life and so chooses to end his life. But what prevents him from embracing this option is he dreads the ___________________after death. No ___________________man has come back to share his post- death experience. Luckily this makes the meek, cowardly to put up with the travails of life and not ___________________to the thought of committing suicide. There is a general belief that those who commit suicide have a guaranteed place in hell. This belief, fortunately, ___________________one from putting an end to one's life. According to Hamlet, too much thinking ___________________ one’s action.

 3

'The undiscovered country from whose bourn' No traveler returns, puzzles the will’.

i) Who is a traveler here?


ii) Why is it called an 'undiscovered country'?

 4

'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'


i) How does our conscience influence us?


ii) Identify the contradiction in the first two lines and explain.