ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Hamlet says he will go to her in a moment and asks for a moment alone. He steels himself to speak to his mother, resolving to be brutally honest with her but not to lose control of himself: “I will speak daggers to her, but use none” (III. ii. 366).

Detailed explanation-2: -Hamlet is enraged by knowing that his mother has married his uncle Claudius after the decease of his father. Being piqued and vexed he is in that traumatic situation where he could not even kill her mother or harm her because of the feelings of love for her hence he says, “I’ll speak daggers to her, but use none".

Detailed explanation-3: -Hamlet tries desperately to convince Gertrude that he is not mad but has merely feigned madness all along, and he urges her to forsake Claudius and regain her good conscience. He urges her as well not to reveal to Claudius that his madness has been an act.

Detailed explanation-4: -In this part of Act 3 Scene 1, Ophelia goes to return the gifts Hamlet gave to her in the past. He confuses her with mixed messages. One moment he says ‘I did love you once’, the next ‘I loved you not’. He goes on to insult Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery.

Detailed explanation-5: -It has since become a standard English proverb. To be, or not to be, that is the question. Spoken by Hamlet during his soliloquy in the nunnery scene. It remains one of Shakespeare’s most famous quotes.