3.
第三幕第一场
城堡中一室
HAMLET
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
（
that
照应
To be, or not to be
）
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrages 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
（
die
、
sleep
、
end
、和下文的
dream
是同一含义）
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
（重复
To die, to sleep
是一种含义上的递进）
To sleep
: perchance to dream: 1
）
ay, there’s the rub;
2
）
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: 3
）
there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
4
）
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
That 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 the unworthy takes
5
）
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? 6
）
Who would fardels bear
,
（重复
who would bear
表达更强烈的感情）
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
7
）
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from those 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?
8
）
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
9
）
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
10
）
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
这一段是哈姆雷特独白中最著名的，其中首句
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
（生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得考虑的问题）更是经典。哈姆雷特深知生存的意义，但并非不愿为着伟大的事业牺牲，然而他痛恨自己如同世人一般贪恋尘世，因此为自己的犹豫不决而懊恼。这段话展示了莎翁运用语言的天才，诸如
The slings and arrows of outrages fortune
（命运的暴虐的毒箭）
, a sea of troubles
（人世的无涯的苦难），
thousand natural shocks
（无数不能避免的打击），
mortal coil
（朽腐的皮囊）
, the whips and scorns of time
（人世的鞭挞和讥嘲）
, that oppressor’s wrong
（压迫者的凌辱）
, the proud man’s contumely
（傲慢者的冷眼）
, the pangs of despised love
（被轻蔑的爱情的惨痛）
, the law’s delay,
（法律的拖延）
the insolence of office and the spurns
（官吏的横暴），
that patient merit of the unworthy takes
（费尽辛勤换来的小人的鄙视），
the native hue of resolution
（决心的赤热的光彩），
enterprises of great pith and moment
（伟大的事业），既有形象的比喻，又有独特的刻画，文采令人叹服。几组排比句的使用，使得文章结构紧密有序，感情逐渐强烈，几个连接词（
or
、
and
、
for
、
when
、
but
）交替使用，使句子与句子间层次分明，逻辑关系明确。且看标有
1
）——
10
）的分句关系分析。
8
）表示忧心顾虑重重，甘心受苦被困的结果，为第一层次，整体表述如下：
//1
）转折
///2
）因果
////3
）因果
/////4
）转折
//////5
）条件
/////6
）并列
//////7
）假设
/8
）结果
//9
）并列
///10
）并列。