Hamlet Soliloquy
HAMLET: To be, or not to be–that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep–
No more–and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep–
To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
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,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. — Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.
Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son”
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.
Seven years tho’ wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon ‘scap’d world’s and flesh’s rage,
And if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say, “Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.”
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.
My first comparison when looking at these two pieces of writing is the context of both pieces, both are about people coping with the death of a loved one with Hamlet’s Soliloquy being Hamlet’s father and Ben Jonson’s poem being centred on the death of his child. It’s also build a comparison between the two writers ages, with Hamlet being a teenager and Ben Jonson being an adult, Hamlet’s tone and attitude is quite juvenile and potentially over the top as he is constantly trying to blame himself for his father’s death and asking questions like if he should even exist or not. Whilst Ben Jonson’s attitude is quite mature for a lack of better words as he treats his son’s death as more of a good thing than a bad thing, this is seen in the line “To have so soon ‘scap’d world’s and flesh’s rage,” which is him saying that whilst his son’s death was tragic, at least now he can rest in peace and escape the world’s rage and anger. This along with the rest of the poem is a fitting addition as the rest of the poem centres on him feeling more regret for the fact that he wanted too much from his son and he never loved him enough which is seen in the line “As what he loves may never like too much” He also treats his gift of his son’s life in quite a positive way because many people would view somebody being a father as quite a good thing and even if it only last seven years, it still a gift rather than a curse like Hamlet seems to believe his father’s death is. This comparison shows the difference in attitude to certain things that come with age as Ben Jonson who is more mature than Hamlet who is quite childish in his attitude towards his father death.
The line centering on the world rage is also present in both pieces of writing with Hamlet’s version being ” The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them.” and Ben Jonson’s version being “To have so soon ‘scap’d world’s and flesh’s rage,” which are both quite negative views on the world with Hamlet’s being about his fortune and come to grips with them and overcoming them and Ben Jonson claiming the world is a rageful place and that his son’s death was the way of getting away from the world anger and rage, which to sounds like he has much more experience of the world’s unfairness than Hamlet does.
However one contrast between these two pieces of writing is that Hamlet not only lost his father, but his uncle who was the one who killed his father but also married his mother making him not only his uncle but also his father aswell just because Claudius wanted to be on the throne.
Another point to note is that Ben Jonson’s poem is in a tone that the audience can make the assumption that Ben Jonson’s son died of natural causes because in the poem Ben Jonson is quite mature in his reaction to his son’s death as it is more of him expressing his guilt that he expected to much of his son and how he never loved his son as much as he could instead of the angry tone which would come if he was murdered or died from an unfair cause like cancer.
In conclusion it is fair to say that both Hamlet’s Soliloquy and Ben Jonson’s poem are both comparable but unique in their own ways.
React!