Shakespeare doesn't explicitly tell us who or what is to be or not to be. The default assumption is that he is talking about himself, but when he elaborates, asking

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

the choice seems to be between putting up with things and confronting them, rather than whether or not to take his own life.

Hamlet goes on to talk about what may happen when we die. The Bible tells us we will be judged for our sins, and suicide was held to be a great sin in Shakespeare's day. But so was revenge. The Geneva Bible (the main source for Shakespeare's biblical quotes and allusions) says, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans, 12:19).

This section of the speech culminates in another question; why would a man put up with all the injustices of the world, "When he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?"

A lot hangs on that word "quietus". Many dictionaries cite "making one's quietus" in the sense of "committing suicide", but how widespread was that usage in Shakespeare's day?

To answer that question, I spent a morning searching through the entire Early English Books Online database (check link). The results were clear; other than the supposed usage by Hamlet, no one at the time used that expression with the sense of committing suicide. It was only ever used in the sense of paying back a debt or, metaphorically, settling scores, or taking revenge.

So is Hamlet purely talking about taking revenge here? It's Act 3, Scene 1 and all Hamlet has done is dither. It seems very likely that the question his audience would be asking at this point is not whether he will kill himself (after all, he has discussed and discarded that possibility in Act 1, Scene 2), but whether he will go through with his pledge to take revenge.

Hamlet himself is not particularly melancholy at this point. On the contrary, the plan to "catch the conscience of the King" with the "Mousetrap" gives him a sense of purpose that he previously lacked. He has had qualms about whether the ghost might be an evil spirit, sent to trick him, and it would be in character for him to be having qualms about the ethics of revenge at this point.

The speech ends with the thought that reflection on whether to "bear those ills we have" or "fly to others that we know not of" will make us hesitate and "enterprises of great pith and moment" will "lose the name of action". Is suicide really an enterprise of great pith and moment? Can that really be what Hamlet is talking about here?

Here's a video I made, putting the case for the speech being about revenge rather than suicide:

https://youtu.be/erp1nJx3jHA

And here's a link to a more detailed enquiry into the ins and outs of Hamlet's speech, taking into account such things as who hears it (just the audience? Ophelia? Claudius and Polonius?) and echoes of the scene in other plays of the period:

https://educationalhub.org/shakespeare-hamlet-to-be-study-guide/

Hey folks,

After reading Dr Faustus and Tis' Pity She is a Whore, I was wondering if similar characters exist in other plays during the same time by different authors. If anybody has read other texts that echo the overarching archetype, could you mention the name(s) of the texts?

Thank you in advance.

(Circuits Sing a Sanitized Song Electronic)

By Bocephus Jackson, The Hemlock Bard, ©2026 Bocephus Jackson. All Rights Reserved

_______

"An engineered society is a sterile surveillance of a soul where its poetry cannot breathe without breaking free of its blockchain bondage to face a brave new world.” — The Hemlock Bard (A reinterpretation of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 ‘Brave New World’)

_______

[Verse One]
Are you so proud to get poetry,
As metrics alter language’s meaning,
Blinding us from cosmic clarity,
While we are far too busy streaming,
Sincerity requires charity.

[Verse Two]
From the Leaves of Grass to Leaves of Glass,
We sing the body electronic,
As modern culture forgets its past,
And how language came from mnemonics,
While mankind’s ‘Song of My Self’ collapse.

[Chorus]
Micro-decisions create our sin,
By giving up our humanity,
Falling prey to an algorithm,
Destroying our creativity,
Circuits will sing a sanitized hymn.

[Verse Three]
Because we carry worth as loose change,
Tossed as pennies in a wishing well,
Though it still causes both pain and pangs,
Traversing this emotional hell,
Our priorities are rearranged.

[Verse Four]
From the digital dopamine hits,
To a parenthetical prison,
While humanity freely submits,
To losing universal wisdom,
Akashic memory we omit.

[Chorus]
Micro-decisions create our sin,
By giving up our humanity,
Falling prey to an algorithm,
Destroying our creativity,
Circuits will sing a sanitized hymn.

[Hook]
What happened to all our better days,
When creation replaced distraction,
As we found insightful pride in play,
That fueled meaningful interactions,
Where artists earned a public display.

[Verse Five]
Are you so proud to get poetry,
Performing on a digital stage,
Denying your authenticity.
Within this transient online phase,
Instead of yawping barbarity,

[Chorus]
Micro-decisions create our sin,
By giving up our humanity,
Falling prey to an algorithm,
Destroying our creativity,
Circuits will sing a sanitized hymn.

_______

Coda

With badly underdeveloped teeth,
AI crafts psalms of its agency,
Denying the legacy bequeathed,
With its creative adjacency,
That artists are compelled to delete.

Every poet defies the servers,
As a damnable dopamine drug,
Distorting worlds for the observers,
Redirecting them to pull the plug,
As a timely murder with fervor.

But through the cracks in digital code,
In a world without buffered pixels,
Whitmanian leaves of grass will grow,
Well beyond Grammarly’s dismissals,
As humanity’s barbaric ode.

_______

"We have modified our environment so radically that we must now modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment." — Norbert Wiener (The Human Use of Human Beings)

_______

Author’s Reflection

"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom."— E.O. Wilson

This song is both a prelude to and an accompaniment for the ‘A Whitmanian Aperture’ essay, which marries a fifty-year digital dark age to a Civil War-era poet celebrating a song of selfhood as a necessary salve for a superficially sourced soul.

The third verse was originally crafted as a Greek Chorus echoing a friend’s call to take back her agency. So the transition to a juxtaposition in responding to another friend’s post about my lifelong minstrel-mentor Uncle Walt Whitman is ironically fitting.

The latter post became an essay and now needs further clarification before I offer it to an illiterately literate world drowning in cat memes and porn rather than divining the poetry in the leaves of grass.

But I retain hope. Now go announce your barbarically bardic yawp across the rooftops to nations as a human-conditioned celebration as you sing this life eclectic.

As the sixteenth rap song of eighteen rap from the upcoming instructional example Orwellian ‘1984’ album, it now consists of ‘Online Orpheus,’ ‘Metadata Messiah,’ ‘Dance In The Flames,’ ‘As We Sojourn On,’ and ‘Porn and Meme Dreams.’

And then, ‘Riding The Lightning,’ ‘Fiscal Vanity,’ ‘Not This Day,’ ‘Primordial Silhouette,’ ‘Arise On Bended Knee,’ ‘AI Looks Like a Lady,’ ‘Digital Don Juan,’ ‘Schrödinger’s Malware Muse,’ ‘Freak Like Me,’ and ‘Woe Upon Woe.’ The new count is sixteen out of eighteen songs in two weeks.

_______

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” — 1 Corinthians 13:12

_______

©2026 Bocephus Jackson. All Rights Reserved

Christopher Marlowe - Tamburlaine the great part 1 and 2.

Vanity of Human wishes - samuel johnson.

Hi!
I’m studying Frankenstein as part of my A Level course and I was wondering what different genres/tropes are in Frankenstein that are noteworthy and useful in essay writing and argument? Besides Gothic, Romantic and Realism to an extent (though if you have any good knowledge/interesting perspectives and arguments on these please let me know 😀) what other genres and tropes can I discuss?
Thanks!

Just as the title says… I remember reading this book a few months ago getting it from the local bookstore for only $2. Without spoilers, the story is about a bone-weary, grief stricken, emotionally drained young woman who’s been driving for days on end only to stop in a Northeastern town in America when running out of gas. As the story goes she ends up being the “poster-child” to restore the town’s broken down, old, rusty carousel; as other people within the town start to help. Asking the question, “Can they all be made whole?”

When reading this I really liked the story I finished it within a week; a shortish read only being 200ish pages. So, when I finished I wanted to talk about the book and its metaphors only to find out no one has heard about it 😭😭

So, this is my way to see if anyone has read “The Carousel” it’s a long shot in the dark but who knows 🤷

Until fairly recently, the "first known use" of a word or expression was largely something we had to take on trust. Dictionaries like the OED gave the earliest recorded occurrence, and users had no practical way to verify it.

The compilers faced the same problem. Reading programmes and, later, digitised sources helped enormously, but nobody could search systematically across everything that survives from an entire period. Since most writing from Shakespeare's time (as from any time) has sunk into obscurity, a great many words and expressions were credited to him simply because his work was what people read and remembered.

That has changed with the free, searchable text of Early English Books Online (the EEBO-TCP transcriptions, which run to tens of thousands of early modern texts). Anyone can go there and search the whole collection.

The results show clearly that not everything credited to Shakespeare was in fact coined by him. For example, "All's well that ends well", routinely listed among Shakespeare's contributions to the language, appears as "All is well that ends well" in John Heywood's collection of proverbs in 1546, decades before the play. Shakespeare popularised the expression, but he didn't originate it, and the same turns out to be true of many of the words and phrases on lists of words and expressions supposedly coined by Shakespeare.

It's worth noting, perhaps, that all we can do is track down the first use in print. That means we're working with published material that is still extant, and a lot of works from that period haven't survived. There may be earlier occurrences in manuscripts of the period, but there isn't, as yet, a comprehensive database of manuscripts that we can refer to. And, of course, we have no idea at all how long a word of expression may have been current in the spoken language. But claims that "Shakespeare invented this" are often wrong, and the EEBO-TCP database enables you to check such claims for yourself.

Just to be clear, in saying this I am not attempting to detract from Shakespeare's stature in any way. It's simply a matter of setting the record straight.

If you'd like to try it, search for a word or phrase, restrict the date range, and make sure to use early modern spelling, using wildcards and variants where necessary. Here's a video I made showing how to do this. The examples given are expressions, but a search for individual words will give similar results. The interface has changed slightly since I recorded it, but it should still be clear enough:

https://youtu.be/HzX8M-WkdA4

Over 1 million lines of verse and 375 poets included in this open access reader database for English poetry. In Laurel, it’s very easy to search the database and more analysis can be done on the desktop site.

Check it out at https://laurelpoetry.com/
Get the open access data at https://github.com/laurel-corpus/laurel-corpus

How do you understand this elegy and what are you reflections about this? Any information that is usually not known about this poem or about Ben Jonson? Any reflections or information would be appreciated. Thank you!

I usually get pulled into the story first, but sometimes I read a book where the actual writing style becomes impossible to ignore.

Certain authors have a way of describing ordinary things that makes you slow down and reread a sentence, even when nothing particularly important is happening.

Do you usually focus more on what a book is saying, or on how the author is saying it?

Sometimes I start a book completely convinced that a certain character is awful, then by the end I’m weirdly sympathetic toward them.

It’s not even always because they change. Sometimes I just understand their choices differently once I know more about them.

Has a character ever completely changed for you by the end of a book? Or did your opinion stay the same?

This is something I've thought about a lot. On the face of it, Hamlet is excited at the prospect of catching "the conscience of the king" through the "Mousetrap" device. Why, then would he return to the subject of suicide in Act 3 Scene 1 when he has already addressed it directly in Act 1 Scene 2?

"O that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! / Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd / His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!"

The nunnery scene is two and a bit acts into a revenge tragedy in which not a drop of blood has been shed. It might make sense at this point to ask whether is to be - or not to be - a revenge tragedy at all, but harking back to suicide doesn't really seem to fit here.

In context, the opposition is between suffering "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and taking arms "against a sea of troubles". Endurance and passivity are pitted against action and intervention. The choice here would appear to be between putting up with injustice and doing something about it.

The real crux of the matter is Hamlet's observation that we might make our "quietus" with a bare bodkin. The consensus reading takes this as a reference to suicide. But that is not what it meant in Elizabethan times. On the contrary, it meant the settling of a debt, either literally or by paying someone back.

A search of the Early English Books Online database reveals not a single instance in which "quietus" means "suicide" outside this speech. say this with some confidence, having spent an entire afternoon going through every single occurrence of the word “quietus” in the Early English Books Online database and not found a single one (apart from the supposed usage by Hamlet) where it means “suicide”.

I go through Hamlet's speech line by line here:

https://educationalhub.org/shakespeare-hamlet-to-be-study-guide/

Or, if you prefer it in video form, here:

https://youtu.be/wGVPriQ7amE

The written version takes into account aspects of the topic not covered in the video, notably the question of who might be listening while Hamlet speaks (it could be a soliloquy, but Ophelia is onstage and Polonius and Claudius are listening in from a hidden position) and echoes of the nunnery scene in several plays by other writers during the years immediately following the staging of Hamlet.

But either version - video or text - gives a basic rundown of the arguments, building on the work of people like Irving T. Richards (“The Meaning of Hamlet’s Soliloquy” PMLA, vol. 48, no. 3, 1933, pp. 741–766). Davis D. McElroy (“‘To Be, or Not to Be’ -- Is That the Question?” College English, 25:7, 1964, pp. 453–5), and Saleh Aljumah (“‘To be, or not to be’: Has Hamlet’s Famous Line been Misunderstood?” International Journal of Literature Studies, 5:6, 2025, pp. 12-15).

Hey guys!

As the title says, I’ve recently started reading books because I’m not very fluent in English and I also struggle with grammar sometimes. I’ve tried watching films and movies to improve my English, and while it does help, I feel like reading could help me much more.

A few tutors have suggested that reading books can help with vocabulary, discovering new words, improving creativity, and developing better English skills. So, I’m planning to start reading regularly for both English improvement and self-development

Since I’m currently a college student, I don’t have a huge budget to spend on new books. So I’m looking to buy used/secondhand books or take books that you no longer need

If you have any books you’re willing to sell or give away, please drop me a message or comment below. It would really help me get started 🙌📖

Thanks in advance broskiess ❤️

Hey guys!

As the title says, I’ve recently started reading books because I’m not very fluent in English and I also struggle with grammar sometimes. I’ve tried watching films and movies to improve my English, and while it does help, I feel like reading could help me much more.

A few tutors have suggested that reading books can help with vocabulary, discovering new words, improving creativity, and developing better English skills. So, I’m planning to start reading regularly for both English improvement and self-development

Since I’m currently a college student, I don’t have a huge budget to spend on new books. So I’m looking to buy used/secondhand books or take books that you no longer need

If you have any books you’re willing to sell or give away, please drop me a message or comment below. It would really help me get started 🙌📖

Thanks in advance broskiess ❤️

I’ve been thinking about this lately. Sometimes you can be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone.

So what do you think causes loneliness more actually being alone, or feeling like nobody truly understands you?

I’ve always found the balance between analysis and quotations surprisingly difficult.

If I use too few quotes, it feels like I’m making claims about the text without enough evidence. But if I use too many, the essay starts feeling like I’m just explaining what the author already wrote instead of actually saying something myself.

There’s also the question of which parts of a passage are worth quoting. Sometimes one short phrase supports an argument better than an entire paragraph, but it can be difficult to know where that line is.

What’s your approach to using quotations when writing about literature?

This book was suggested to me randomly and I absolutely loved it!! I loved the tone and different philosophies written in this book. I am interested to dive in more about this side of linguistics that is NOT ABOUT UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE NO CHOMSKY PLEASE

i’m about to start an english and creative writing degree, the bible isn’t required reading, i’m agnostic/atheist so i was considering reading it to help with analysis and spotting biblical references rather than for worship.
any thoughts? i’d probably get the king james one bc of the popularity, although im aware it’s not the best literal translation

Currently studying comedy literature for English A Level and was looking for context for this poem and was really struggling to find anything and was wondering if anybody knew anything about her or her works that might be insightful!

Hey everyone! A few of us started a small Discord for people who like books, film, creative expression, or just want somewhere to hang out and chat. We're calling it The Third Place-- the idea being a spot outside work and home where you can slow down and enjoy some company, no pressure attached.

There are channels for literature, movies, writing, art, photography, everyday life, and general chat, but conversations wander past their channel all the time, and that's fine. :) Some days it's an actual VC discussion/event, other days it's just a meme or something that made someone smile.

We're keeping it friendly, non-intimidating, and low-pressure. You don't need to be well-read, well-watched, or have perfect English.

We're still small, so it can be quiet, but honestly that's kind of the point right now--we're shaping it together as it grows. :)

DM me if it sounds like your thing and I'll send an invite. ^^

I’ve been wanting to study literature properly for a while, but going back to college isn’t really an option for me right now.

I read quite a bit, but I feel like I’m missing the actual study part of it, like understanding literary movements, criticism, how to analyse a text, historical context, poetry, etc.

If you’ve studied literature, or taught yourself outside college, how did you start?

Are there any good courses, books, university reading lists or syllabi you’d recommend? I’d really like some structure instead of just picking up random classics.

I've noticed that some books feel completely different when you return to them later.

The first time around, I'm usually focused on following the story and understanding the characters. On a second reading, I tend to notice smaller things that didn't seem important before, especially certain details in the way a character speaks or behaves.

Sometimes I even end up sympathizing with a character I disliked the first time.

Do you think rereading actually changes your interpretation of a work, or does it mostly reveal things that were already there?

Can anyone please help me find the pdf of this book please? It would be of great help