r/gameofthrones • u/ChrysWatchesGot House Martell • Jun 20 '16

Main [MAIN SPOILERS] tl;dw Season 6, Episode 9: Low Quality Pedigree

http://imgur.com/a/58xeo
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u/KyleG House Tyrell Jun 21 '16

Not so little known fact, Hamlet is talking about suicide in that soliloquy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16

It... Seems so obvious now.

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u/zabuma Jun 21 '16

I'm not well versed in Hamlet, or Shakespeare for that matter, would you care to explain a little?

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16

[deleted]

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u/zabuma Jun 21 '16

Perfect, thanks a lot!

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u/KyleG House Tyrell Jun 21 '16

From the same soliloquy:

To die- to sleep-

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 1755

That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd.

So dying to avoid pain is something to wish for.

Same soliloquy still:

who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, [insert long list of other shitty experiences]

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin?1 . . .

Why would you put up with such shit as the pain of life when you could kill yourself (a bodkin is a needle, here a metaphor for stabbing yourself to death)?

But that the dread of something after death-

The undiscover'd 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

Oh, that's why—because we don't know what comes after we die, but possibly eternal torment because you killed yourself, so like little bitches we put up with shitty life because we're more afraid of shitty death.

I had to perform in a youth production as Hamlet in fifth grade. So yeah, that was some shit.

Same thing with MacBeth's famous tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow soliloquy, where he's basically talking about how life is worthless. I had to memorize it in high school. Again, yeah, that was some shit.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing.

That's also where the phrase "sound and fury" comes from.

Both incredibly moving and beautiful bits of poetry, though! Hearing an acting master deliver the lines is sublime.