Etre Ou N'Etre Pas?

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 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,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised 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 undiscover'd 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 pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

~~~~~

Ah yes, the very famous Hamlet soliloquy.

I had to illustrate it. I blame the stick figure Hamlet on my whiteboard. That's what set off my newest Hamlet fetish. Not that I never had it to begin with - it was just laying low for the moment.

Hamlet is my favorite character from the play. He's also my favorite character from any of Shakespeare's pieces. The Fool from King Lear comes in at a close second.

Title meant to say: Être Ou N'Être Pas?

Yes, I put in the stereotypical skull that everyone seems to associate with this scene. And yes, he's holding a dagger. Yes, I realize this soliloquy has NOTHING to do with Hamlet comtemplating suicide, but it's what everyone thought he was thinking, so why not play along with it?

Now for more technical and self-berating things: yes, his right (our left) hand is wonky. Beware of the lobster claw! Muhahahahahaha! And it's really hard to draw starting from the hand. Yes, I drew his left hand first, and then went down from there. As hard as it sounds.

Credits: Thanks to for the crotch shots references (LOL), to for making a wonderful tutorial, and to for such helpful lineart suggestions.