Namangan davlat universiteti ingliz filologiyasi fakulteti amaliy ingliz tili kafedrasi

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 wish’d. 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 despis’d 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 these fardels bear, 
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death - 
The undiscover’d 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 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 enterprises of great pith and moment 
With this regard their currents turn away 
And lose the name of action. …
( Act 3, Scene 1.) 
Shakespeare’s Comedies 
Shakespeare’s comedies did not establish a lasting tradition in the theatre, as did those 
written by Ben Jonson. Jonson’s plays portray the everyday life of their time with the exaggerated 
satirical characters. Shakespeare’s comedies are composed on opposite principles. The scenes of his 
comedies are usually set in some imaginary country, and the action is based on stories that are 
almost fairy-tails. But the characters placed in these non-realistic settings and plots, are true-to-life 
and are depicted with the deep knowledge of human psychology for which Shakespeare is famous. 
Each comedy has a main plot and one or two sub-plots, and sometimes sub-plots attract even more 
attention than the main plots. The comic characters of these plays always have English colouring, 
even if the scene is laid in other countries. 
All these plays are written in easy-flowing verse and light, tripping prose. The text is full of 
jokes and puns, but some of the texts contain topical allusions, which are hard to understand for the 
readers of our time. All the comedies tell of love and harmony, at first disturbed, and finally 
restored. In them Shakespeare supports the right of a human being to free choice in love, despite the 

---

existing conventions and customs. More often Shakespeare embodies this tendency in female 
characters. His typical comedy heroines are brave, noble, free in speech, and enthusiastic. 
Another motif stressed in the comedies is the contrast between appearance and reality. 
Shakespeare makes his readers understand the importance of self-knowledge. In the complicated 
plots of Shakesperian comedies the heroes and heroines often select wrong partners because they 
have formed wrong opinions about their own characters, that is they do not know or understand 
their own self and feelings. But their mistakes are treated good-humourdly and the comedies end 
happily, because at the end of the plays the characters understand themselves and those they love.