Soliloquy

Question

Soliloquy

Ask a Philosopher · Accepted Answer

To soliloquize or not to soliloquize, that is the question,
Whether 'tis nobler, in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous thoughts,
Or to take arms against this sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To soliloquize, to ponder,
No more; and by thus pondering, to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To soliloquize, to reflect,
To reflect, perchance to glimpse a truth profound;
Aye, there's the rub, for in that thoughtful pause
What truths may come, when we have shuffled off
The coil of daily life, must give us pause.
What consciousness may bring, once freed from tongue,
Must make us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the pangs and scorns of doubt,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
When he himself might his quietus make
With an inspired soliloquy? Who would fardels bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus soliloquy does give us pause,
And thus the native hue of introspection
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.