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It Really Should Read "Undiscovered Countries"
In one of the Star Trek canon of movies, Shakespeare quotes are a running gag. So, it seems, are the misinterpretations and misassignments of them.
In a key scene, after which the movie in question takes its name, the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon makes a toast to the "undiscovered country". Everyone looks at him quizzically, after which he quickly adds "the future". Relieved, the gathering at table smiles and drinks of the proferred Romulan Ale. (The effects of that elixir prove to be another gag.)
In truth, the Undiscovered Country of Shakespeare is not "the future", per se, but death. Let's visit Hamlet, Act III, Scene I...
It is not an obscure portion of the Bard's work...
To be, or not to be: that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer 64
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 68
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; 7 72
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffl’d off this mortal coil, 8
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life. 76
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of dispriz’d 9 love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns 80
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus 10 make
With a bare bodkin? 11 Who would fardels 12 bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 84
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn 13
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have 88
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, 14 92
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 96
Be all my sins rememb’red
Is it death, or not? That's Hamlet talking, in his typically fey mood, suggests - yep, it's death, alright. But Hamlet, bless his heart, is either a nut, or a nut for pretending so convincingly that he is a nut.
Either that or, being from Denmark, he is channeling a time traveler well versed in Christian existentialism.
'To be or not to be, indeed!'
He's drunk on Kierkegaard!
Perhaps if there is anything this particular play teaches, it is a lesson from a much later work of fiction:
We have no fate but what we make.
Which, as MKKendrick has just reminded me, is ironic, as ultimately Hamlet is so paralyzed with his own ruminations that he doesn't do much of anything. My view was he never takes a clear shot at moral action, and that dithering sets up the culmination of 'rottenness in Denmark.' To which my wife disagrees. She says, in the universe of the play, they were all pretty much doomed, locked in to their fates, all the way to the tragic cosmic bankshot of the final scene which answers the question of 'to be or not to be' decisively for a number of people.
I'll wrap up saying - Poor literary characters go where the pen tells them to. But we are not ink and image. We are real and soulful creatures, of heart and mind, feelings and flesh, thoughts and motives mixed and bright and dark all at once.
And the undiscovered country we should look to most closely is not death, which we cannot report back on, or the future, both of which we will see soon enough anyway, but rather the hard-won vistas of the soul - our own, and those of each other, where granted passage.
To be or not to be...explorers of each other's souls.
That's a question that could take a lifetime and more to answer.
I think...
It's a very good question to ask.
And now for the Top Comments Pix!
from guyermo
The headline by Democratic Tribune in WineRev's latest update is as hilarious as the mental image is disgusting!
from Lady Libertine
From Hunter's FP story re the McClathy report, (Bush Administration Pushed Torture In Attempt To Find Iraq-al Qaida Links) we have this spot-on remark from stunzeed.
It makes Watergate look like ripping the tag off a mattress.
from Angry Mouse
Great comment from gnikrnov regarding Hillary's testimony on the Hill today
from terrypinder
Mem in Somerville on why anti-science people exist among normally reality-based liberals as well as religious conservatives.
from benintn
kovie expresses some frustration at a talking point that got a bit out of hand in recent discussions.
from Superbowl XX
In my diary today where I lambasted Jim Carrey's editorial on the Huff Post for spreading lies about vaccines and autism, dedmonds strikes gold about what really causes autism.
It's quite the funny thread. :) - CSK
from phonegery
The question was, "Why would Dick Cheney lie?
I agree with mspicata as to when it would be cool.
As long as he's willing to say the same things under oath, without immunity, I'm totally down with Dick lying ;-)
from Interceptor7
SgtRocky1 remarks on the euphemisms used to describe crime in today's diary by occam's hatchet, titled We need a new reality show:"waterboarding with the stars.
Good threadage ensued. - CSK
Top Mojo - Exclusions Made
1 - obama does NOT want to sweep under rug.....Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse.....166
2 - The pressure is ramping up......AmbroseBurnside.....163
3 - I love Hillary in this role. I was elated when.....kate mckinnon.....144
4 - video embed.....SuperBowlXX.....127
5 - I think it's pretty refreshing to have a SOS.....grannyhelen.....123
6 - Just watched the interview.....Dallasdoc.....123
7 - totally enjoyed this even without the video........Julie Gulden.....104
8 - I had my doubts - but I was so wrong.....theKgirls.....95
9 - Exactly right......noweasels.....92
10 - Rachel's a very subtle interviewer.....Dallasdoc.....84
11 - There's a guy that KO.....Jeff Y.....84
12 - So, you in for CA-36?.....DemocraticLuntz.....84
13 - I hope so......noweasels.....83
14 - I think it's refreshing to have a SOS.....legalchic.....83
15 - Keith has.....mjd in florida.....82
16 - Honest, do Republicans know that 24 is "fiction"?.....bobdevo.....81
17 - Oh that's gonna leave a mark.....JML9999.....80
18 - Proud.....kestrel9000.....78
19 - HA! The guy who got 5 deferments to avoid........Ken in MN.....77
20 - Um........RichM.....74
21 - Thanks, zizi......gchaucer2.....74
22 - HRC is having the time of her life.....never forget 2000.....74
23 - Time to get over it. She's got teeth and should.....SallyCat.....74
24 - Our military and those who know things.....noweasels.....73
25 - Let's just get through this year, OK?.....number six.....71
26 - Doesn't matter if it works or not.....Dallasdoc.....67
27 - What's most enlightening.....Lisa Lockwood.....65
28 - i was skeptical, too...BUT i'm thrilled........liberaldemdave.....64
29 - It was a work of art......bottlerocketheart.....63
30 - Happy Hump Day.....Debbie in ME.....63
Top Mojo - No Exclusions!
1 - Tips to Hillary.....zizi.....877
2 - Tips.....bottlerocketheart.....608
3 - There are days when I do not recognize.....noweasels.....551
4 - TJ.....Jeffersonian Democrat.....527
5 - Tip jar.....The Termite.....434
6 - Hopefully other dissenters will come out as well......SeaTurtle.....354
7 - See, when YOU know what THEY knew........JeffLieber.....349
8 - offered in solidarity with all.....teacherken.....283
9 - Tip Jar for revving the VW......WineRev.....280
10 - Tip Jar.....Jesselyn Radack.....261
11 - tip jar n/t.....daveUSA.....213
12 - obama does NOT want to sweep under rug.....Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse.....166
13 - The pressure is ramping up......AmbroseBurnside.....163
14 - tip jar.....Vladislaw.....156
15 - I love Hillary in this role. I was elated when.....kate mckinnon.....144
16 - Tip jar.....occams hatchet.....143
17 - Tips/Flames.....TeddySanFran.....137
18 - If you read the article from the Times . . ......nyceve.....134
19 - video embed.....SuperBowlXX.....127
20 - I think it's pretty refreshing to have a SOS.....grannyhelen.....123
21 - Just watched the interview.....Dallasdoc.....123
22 - tips for science n/t.....SuperBowlXX.....107
23 - totally enjoyed this even without the video........Julie Gulden.....104
24 - I had my doubts - but I was so wrong.....theKgirls.....95
25 - Will the GOP concede.....QuietObserver.....95
26 - Exactly right......noweasels.....92
27 - Earth Day Cheers from California!!!!.....Predictor.....88
28 - There's a guy that KO.....Jeff Y.....84
29 - Rachel's a very subtle interviewer.....Dallasdoc.....84
30 - So, you in for CA-36?.....DemocraticLuntz.....84