To be, or not to be, that is the question: 1

Whether 'tis nobler in the minde to fuffer

The flings and arrowes of outragious fortune,

Or to take armes againft a fea of troubles

And by oppofing end them. To die to fleepe,

No more; and by a fleepe to fay we end

The hart-ake and the thoufand naturall fhocks

That flefh is heire to: 'tis a confummation

Deuoutly to be wifht to die to fleepe;

To fleepe, perchance to dreame, I there's the rub: 10

For in that fleepe of death what dreames may come?

When we haue fhuffled off this mortall coyle,

Muft giue vs paufe, there's the respect

That makes calamity of fo long life:

For who would beare the whips and fcornes of time,

When he himself might his quietus make 20

The spelling of the words is most important when trying to translate a piece of literary as although variations help to signify when the changes came about, the reader is not always sure of the meaning of the word when placed in different contexts. This notion of correctness was only beginning to come about during Shakespeare's time. In line 33 the word 'lose' could also be spelt 'loose' ,as it may have been in the first folio, yet they mean the same unlike in today's society where the different spellings signify the different meanings. This is similar to many words of Elizabethan times were the sound of the word often contributed to the spelling regardless of the meaning as we know it today. This is a problem for the modern reader as the importance of the piece may be lost. The use of the -e in such words as 'sleepe' and 'dreame' came about in middle English as it signified the differences in pronunciation but it was lost at the end of the 14th Century. The use of the -e became more sporadic in modern English and finally in present day English it has been dropped entirely and this helps us to put the piece into chronological order. The spelling of the word 'giue' or 'deuoutly' in the text is following a middle English rule were the letters 'u' and 'v' could be used to represent either a consonant or a vowel respectively whereas this changed to the modern day format in the early 17th century. It is through this rule that we can date this particular piece of literary as one of Shakespeare's earliest pieces rather than his later such as The Tempest. The word 'whether' meaning which of the two is no longer used as much in the present day but it was very common in Shakespeare's time and is indicative of his work. Another problem of the above piece is the use of the letter 'f' in place of the letter 's' as if the reader is not aware of this change then the translation will be incorrect and the meaning is also changed. The word 'fling', for example, should actually say 'sling' and means something different to the present day reader.

Some common words found in the essay are:
English Elizabethan, Arden Shakespeare, French Latin, English English, Shakespeare Grammar, , Ophelia Nymph, modern reader, English Literature, modern english, own personal, personal style, die fleepe fleepe, modern day, die fleepe, intended meaning, spelling pronunciation, reader age, fleepe fleepe, own personal style,
Approximate Word count = 1724
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)