Paraphrase hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy. What two interpretations are suggested because “to be” can mean “to act” in Elizabethan English? Why does hamlet fail to kill Claudius in the chapel, when the king is alone and hamlet armed? Why is hamlet’s inaction ironic? How does the “play within a play” change the king’s course of action? Why does hamlet stab through the arras (curtain) in Gertrude’s room? How does Polonius get killed? Who stops hamlet from doing violence to Gertrude?

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Prince Hamlet contemplates suicide and death He laments the unfai... View the full answer