Comprehension:

>> How does Hamlet describe life?
Hamlet describes life as to be, slings and arrows, outrageous fortune, sea of troubles, hearth-ache and thousand natural shocks.

>> How does he describe death?
He describes death as not to be, to sleep and a way to end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks.

>> What is troubling Hamlet at the idea of dying?
Hamlet is troubling at the idea of dying because dreams may come after death and so people prefer to live.

>> What exactly are the torments of life?
The torments of life are: the whips and scorns of time, the tyrannical oppression, the proud man's contumely, pains of despised love, the law's delay and the insolence of power and authority.

>> Why do we choose to go on living, according to Hamlet? Choose two quotations to
illustrate it.
We chose to go on living because of life after-death: nobody came back after dying and
there are no witnesses of what the death implies people are scared of. That is the
reason why only somebody commits suicide.
Quotations:

>> What conclusions does Hamlet reach?
Hamlet thinks that that the conscience and the cowardice stop people from suicide and from the action.

>> What is Hamlet's mood in this soliloquy?
Hamlet in this soliloquy is very doubtful: he wants to understand what is the best to do between dying and existing. In addition he shows a pessimistic view of life.

Interpretation:

>>Hamlet may be considering his personal situation and a more general one at the same
time. This complexity is what Shakespeare often achieves by creating multiple levels of
meaning.

>> Write a short commentary on the soliloquy
"To be or not to be" is the beginning of the most famous Hamlet's soliloquy (act III, scene I). A soliloquy is a long speech said by a person who is alone and it has the aim to express character's inner feelings.
In this case Hamlet is alone on the stage and he is thinking about the existence: he wants to understand what is better to do and find an answer to his doubts: to exist or to die. (These doubts created after his decision of staging a scene that remembers his father's murder in order to check Claudius' guilt). Already from the first line: "To be, or not to be: that is the question" it is possible to understand his question. In this case "To be" suggests the idea of existing that adds something more to the meaning of living. As a matter of fact the second one merely means that somebody limited to natural aspects, such as to eat and to sleep. Whereas "to be" implies to have a consciousness of what life provides.
Not to be instead means to deny the possibility of existing, that is to cancel himself, so not to have the capacity of thinking, making choices and being free.
After that Hamlet points out the pros and cons of being or not: to exist includes especially woes, difficulties and a lot of abuses... and by dying it is possible to stop them. But so everybody would kill himself, indeed nobody wants to suffer.
Instead through Hamlet's reflection we can understand the reason of why only somebody commits suicide: people are afraid of after death. As a matter of fact they can't have witnesses of what the death implies, so the conscience and the cowardice check themselves.
To me his thoughts are not only focused on him; they are addressed to everybody in a way that everyone can reflect on it and people don't surround after each hardship.