Poetry: Hamlet by William Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 1 ‖ Tom Hiddleston ‖ The Dragon Book of Verse

In 2017, Tom contributed to the "Dragon School Book of Verse" audio CD with two Shakespeare readings: Prospero's Farewell to his Magic (The Tempest) and Hamlet's Soliloquy (Hamlet).
(Note: the cover picture is a promotional photo from the play by Johan Persson)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 1
"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 heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, 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,
The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's Contumely,
The pangs of disprized Love, the Law’s delay,
The insolence of Office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his Quietus make
With a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose 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.
Thus conscience doth 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 pitch and moment,
With this regard their Currents turn awry,
And lose the name of Action."
• ────────────────────────────────── •
Hamlet monológja (fordította Arany János)
Lenni vagy nem lenni: az itt a kérdés.
Akkor nemesb-e a lélek, ha tűri
Balsorsa minden nyűgét s nyilait;
Vagy ha kiszáll tenger fájdalma ellen,
S fegyvert ragadva véget vet neki?
Meghalni - elszunnyadni - semmi több;
S egy álom által elvégezni mind
A szív keservét, a test eredendő,
Természetes rázkódtatásait
Oly cél, minőt óhajthat a kegyes.
Meghalni - elszunnyadni - és alunni!
Talán álmodni: ez a bökkenő;
Mert hogy mi álmok jőnek a halálban,
Ha majd leráztuk mind e földi bajt,
Ez visszadöbbent. E meggondolás az,
Mi a nyomort oly hosszan élteti
Mert ki viselné a kor gúny-csapásit,
Zsarnok bosszúját, gőgös ember dölyfét,
Útált szerelme kínját, pör-halasztást,
A hivatalnak packázásait,
S mind a rugást, mellyel méltatlanok
Bántalmazzák a tűrő érdemet
Ha nyúgalomba küldhetné magát
Egy puszta tőrrel? - Ki hordaná e terheket,
Izzadva, nyögve élte fáradalmin,
Ha rettegésünk egy halál utáni
Valamitől - a nem ismert tartomány,
Melyből nem tér meg utazó - le nem
Lohasztja kedvünk, inkább tűrni a
Jelen gonoszt, mint ismeretlenek
Felé sietni? - Ekképp az öntudat
Belőlünk mind gyávát csinál,
S az elszántság természetes szinét
A gondolat halványra betegíti;
Ily kétkedés által sok nagyszerű,
Fontos merény kifordul medriből
S elveszti »tett« nevét.
• ────────────────────────────────── •
Audio/credit: From the celebratory Audio CD recorded exclusively for the 2017 Dragon Sale to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Dragon Book of Verse.
• ────────────────────────────────── •
Tom reads more poems in the Love Book App which you can buy here: apps.apple.com...
(Note: unfortunately it is not available on Android, only iOS)
• ────────────────────────────────── •
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-monetized channel. No copyright infringement intended. I created/edited this video for entertainment and educational purpose only. I do not own nor claim to own anything in this video. The videos/audios/photos are property of their rightful owners. All credit goes to the owners of all the materials used in this video. #poetry #poem #actorsreadingpoetry

[@marie-louisepennings2672]

Tom Hiddleston was born to speak Shakespeare’s words. Just a magic combination.

[@FreakCanal]

@@Ben-pd2bx Shakespeare's english sounded completely different.

[@dianagr4992]

Or, was Shakespeare born to write words for Tom???

[@damarh]

Tom is one out of a thousand Shakespeare students who managed to become popular against all odds.

[@katherinetorres8110]

No cuz that's my dream too 😂

[@mariangelafasciani7082]

this man is capable of making even shakespeare sound hot.

[@krisss79]

I will not be surprised if someday we discover that Shakespeare has reborn as Tom Hiddleston. Tom's voice is angelic.

[@dianagr4992]

He could make a mash potato recipe sound fascinating

[@rlvarady]

would it be creepy if I say, "I just want to listen to him read Shakespeare as I comb my fingers through his hair?"

[@alisonhalerich]

Not At All!! Very understandable.

[@faithblack7921]

Nope, totally get that. Or lie my head in his lap as he ran his fingers through my hair

[@PriyaCreationsFun]

@@faithblack7921 whose fingers ?

[@karrylady]

Absolutely feel you. I would literally give my first born to do just that😆

[@ainaubedaharo3313]

I want that too

[@sydneyshermanna]

You had me at "to be or not to be"

[@positivelypetpartners]

Only Shakespeare can make poetry of a man deciding whether or not to commit suicide and only Tom can execute it so beautifully. #tomhiddleston

[@habebagamal4553]

His voice is weirdly magical and comfortable😇

[@ayaglas]

His voice is heaven

[@sandie321]

Never too late to appreciate Shakespeare once again. Thanks Tom.

[@mckenzierunsick3080]

He had me when he just started talking.

[@britischenadligen3760]

One of my dearest British actors reciting my favorite Shakespearean play? This might just be the peak of my anglophilic existence ❤🇬🇧

[@gilangsetyawibawa185]

What If Season 2's Loki Variant brought me here!

[@rainbowinbeigeboots6190]

same!!

[@sanatabassum6814]

Shakespeare & Tom are synonyms of each other.....his voice beyond words....the magic it creates....omggggggg

[@m0her_2]

Take a look at Only Lovers Left Alive, by J. Jarmush... It's an other masterpiece that may interest you as well ! ;)

[@mckenzierunsick3080]

The man could be teaching me math! And I would love it!!

[@p-isforpoetry]

You're welcome 😊 kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5WnopukaZiNj7M 💚

[@PriyaCreationsFun]

But he himself said that he is bad at maths.

[@LeuchtendeMotte]

I don't understand anything (bc native language isn't English) but his voice makes it magical and that's all I need! ♡

[@sbnwnc]

Just read it and listen to it at the same time. 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 heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, 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, The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's Contumely, The pangs of dispised Love, the Law’s delay, The insolence of Office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his Quietus make With a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardels bear, [F: these Fardels] To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country, from whose 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. 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 pitch and moment, [F: pith] With this regard their Currents turn awry, [F: away] And lose the name of Action.

[@marvineo.c.1591]

@@sbnwnc I love you

[@jeanhill5406]

What a glorious voice!! I can imagine Shakespeare himself requesting his works be read only by Tom Hiddleston...

[@krisss79]

Absolutely 👍

[@patstocker3658]

After Laurence Olivier of course? Nobody does it better than his lordship. Beautiful both in voice and diction

[@ame8710]

I read Shakespeare during my teenage years. I didn't really understand much but I enjoyed reading them so much. Now, in my thirties, watching your video while looking at the lines you had posted along with it, I understand. And, they are beautiful. Thank you.

[@okaminess]

Same. I majored in English but didn’t necessarily love Shakespeare. I’m coming around to it...

[@judybc46]

My favourite Shakespeare soliloquy recited by one of my favourite actors? I'll take 10 please.

[@Ketoko77]

So calming. My troubled soul has been healed

[@okaminess]

It sounds good, but it’s lovely to be able to see it too.

[@michelleregis6181]

Tom hae a lovely voice for reading poetry, soft yet dramatic ive always admired his diction and pacing 👏👏👏

[@Buffpork]

AAAAA HE READ THIS SOLILOQUY IN WHAT IF S2

[@poemsbystephanie1]

I could listen to him for hours on end and still it wouldn’t be enough ❤❤❤

[@wildelove13]

The way your voice executed this was beautiful🖤

[@Jen999]

Beautifully done .. the ethereal voice of Tom Hiddleston is what dreams are made of .. his beautiful voice transports you there .. where he is .. listening in awe .. Tom is eloquent and emotional as he speaks .. and hearing him ., you wish only that you could listen forever .. And this man is way beyond beautiful ❣ Jen999💙

[@julian3620]

I used this video and others for sleeping. Thanks Tom, you helped me :D

[@ainaubedaharo3313]

Can he just make an audiobook of Hamlet and all shekspeare pls

[@lucreziamagistris5112]

Pleaseeeee😭😭

[@zombiehoe]

I swooned & died

[@LuckyL0ki]

this has gotta be the best thing on youtube

[@adihaim1083]

Perfection. This question is soo valuable to me.. and the way he reads it helps me connect even deeper to the text

[@manuelzarzar2257]

The best, I ever heard.

[@walternyc]

I like the pause and "... end them" clearly enunciated. The Sir Laurence Olivier way and undoubtedly the way that William intended

[@patstocker3658]

Absolutely. Perfection. His interpretation is soo insightful and poignant. His spirit and soul are wrought open by the death of his father. Magnificent just magnificent

[@clancycreations]

Thank you as I remember one of the most beautiful teachers I had in hs decades ago. He never saw me but many or all of us saw him. Thank you, Mr. Culver, for all that you offered Puyallup 💜

[@alexandrajordan1889]

about to go feral

[@bikassanyal6971]

Such a beautiful voice.

[@elzbietabonthrone6584]

Oh,my God, my love...

[@kevinmarron5231]

"To be, "! OF COURSE! 👍

[@gbfrota6739]

Perfect!

[@Anicius_]

"For-tiune"

[@marissasifre9026]

Mmmmmmm ima sleep well tonight.

[@hughmanatee7657]

This is not about suicide. This is about “taking arms against a sea of troubles,” even at the risk of death.

[@winningsince1992]

No its about being to scaree to commit sucide because of PTSD dreams

[@wildpoetryproject]

Magic. Conscience does make cowards of us all

[@etme1000]

fantastic

[@katehealy1473]

Where was this during the leaving cert in 6th year?! I could listen to this morning noon and night

[@abigailwillis2592]

Alright, he makes me hate shakespeare a little bit less.

[@MagnusOfStheerinus]

Only got half a day to memorize this shit fucking hate my life

[@br4insp1tt]

Me asffff

[@luiseduardo7ho]

hahahahahah

[@claudiamanta1943]

It cannot compare with the Ancient Egyptian Dispute of a Man with His Soul. ‘Death is in my sight today, like a man’s longing to see home after he has spent many years in captivity’.

[@beatrizhayashi7125]

Ser ou não ser?? Eis a questão

[@jamlife919]

Hamlet doesn’t hold yorvik during this soliloquy

[@pawejerzymigdalski]

What the f... Yorick's scull is doing here? There' no such a scene in Hamlet's soliloquy!

[@SoniaJbrt]

Just one question: Could someone please explain this speech in length to me? As in College level analises please? I understand what it's about. Would just like to hear others analises on this. Thank you.

[@chrisshannon1125]

Life sucks and we're all going to die, mother nature is a bitch for giving us a conscious awareness of our own mortality

[@patstocker3658]

He is contemplating suicide. He feels despondent at the shallowness of people, the court etc. live is meaningless. Despairing at the speed of his mother remarriage to his uncle and how quickly she seems to forgot the memory of his father. So basically life has few attractions for him. BUT the uncertainty of death, what does it hold? What terrors abide there in that ‘ uncertain country.’ And so he concludes it’s better staying with those you know than to go into an unknown world. Phew. Hope that’s of some help.

[@nesaalli8778]

I love sleeping you do not think of any thing all problems gone xx but lovely dream .

[@Happyheart146]

Heartbreaking.

[@pauldockree9915]

Tom Hiddleston read Philip Larkin's The Mower to me (just JUST me) via this KZbin. A Hedgehog's misfortune when unobserved is slain by well someone presumably mowing (sic) grass. The poem ends thus Killed. It had been in the long grass. I had seen it before, and even fed it, once. Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world Unmendably. Burial was no help: Next morning I got up and it did not. The first day after a death, the new absence Is always the same; we should be careful Of each other, we should be kind While there is still time.

[@AtomTwain]

To be?or not to be¿ The answer is IAM 🙏😇

[@shadowinversion]

This is just dictation, his performance in What If was brilliant

[@neilbruce2624]

What's he talking about? The longer I listen the more convinced I become he doesn't know either.

[@ha1k1k88]

Wow

[@b.savage8953]

Excellent read 💯 ❤😊

[@dizzydino1]

Hmmm, nice

[@haydaliswhitehead2579]

Amore mio

[@user-cb9up5er2z]

❤❤❤

[@haileyswift5485]

0:07

[@dara_1989]

a few words when modernised ... make sense 😘❤️

[@amvolounge]

1:17

[@chuckufarley1343]

Sorry, this is not very good. Yes he has a nice voice, but it sounds like he’s just reading it off a page. In the play Hamlet is contemplating suicide during this soliloquy. Check out David Tennant’s version. He’s someone who can actually act.

[@emavarga835]

Well, the name of the video itself says Tom was reading it, not acting.

[@amandahds8164]

@@Ben-pd2bx Have you seen his Coriolanus ?

[@laurendorman9440]

@@Ben-pd2bx he puts his everything into his Shakespeare performances; you can see clearly his passion and wonderment for the playwright’s work, so I personally disagree with you

[@theaterpup3466]

@@Ben-pd2bx Could not disagree more. But hey at least you got to feel smug on the Internet.

[@theaterpup3466]

@@Ben-pd2bx Lol so go feel bad, dude. Have fun with that.

[@juliannoel5715]

So.... this is a man contemplating suicide? Methinks not my leige...

[@TonyBittner-Collins]

More than suicide, I think Hamlet's conflicted about the ethics and morality behind seeking revenge (and his possible death) or doing nothing about it. He ponders the fear of the unknown after dying or the miserable life he'd continue having by his inaction. It all comes down to consequences.

[@juliannoel5715]

Flat. No inner life.

[@johnvcorbett6528]

Also awful. Just awful.

[@ManuelDornbusch]

remarkably awful and quite surprising so, isn't it? He can do better. Here is his Henry V kzbin.info/www/bejne/iV7Vo6yCfpmppqM but this here, this Hamlet, shockingly flat Here is how you do it. Branagh kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZvYi6RjbbWIrZI