Hamlet soliloquy starts with the famous sentence “to be or not to be: that is the question”.

As for structure and style Hamlet uses a lot of infinitive forms which give his speech a reflective mood.

In lines 1-5 he draws upon some images such as “the sling and arrows of outrageous fortune” and “arms” taken to fight against a “sea of troubles”. He uses the verbs "suffer" and "take arms". To suffer misfortunes is to put up with it; to take arms, by contrast, is to become a warrior.

In lines 5-10 an alternative is introduced, to die and therefore to sleep and put an end to suffering. But there is an obstacle which prevents man from committing suicide and this obstacle is the fear of what might happen after death. In particularly in lines 8-9 Hamlet views death as something to be welcomed because of its freeing power and considers it as a liberation of the soul from the “mortal coil”.

In lines 15-19, Hamlet lists the injustices and miseries inflicted on humanity, that is the passing of the time, political oppression, social discrimination, unreturned love, the delays of justice, insolence, and ingratitude. The fear of something after death, which is expressed in the image of the unknown country from where no traveller comes back (lines 24-25) which paralyses the will and prevents self-destruction.

At the end of his soliloquy Hamlet deprecates his lack of action and his cowardice. Actually, the effect of the whole passage taken from Hamlet, involving Hamlet’s soliloquy, is to make the audience consider what the meaning of “cowardice” is. The question arousing from his words is whether it is brave to kill oneself or to stay alive.

The text revolves around the idea of death by suicide which is considered in an unconventional manner. Hamlet reverses the traditional idea about suicide seen as an act of weakness, of cowardice, a form of defeat. A person who commits suicide is unable to face problems, difficulties, losses, and decides to escape from troubles through death. To Hamlet, instead, suicide requires courage because it means facing the unknown reality of the after-death. Only few people are bold enough to go towards the unknown, because mystery generates fear; the majority of people prefer to continue to live without conviction or participation, rather than face “ the undicover’d country”.