“… 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.” (Hamlet act 3 sc. 1)
Tips for Use. Shakespeare quotations are found everywhere, in literature, history and essays, English and foreign. Often the quotes are included while his name is omitted. Why? For many reasons Shakespeare’s lines, once read or heard, come to rest in a shadowy corner of the mind, away from consciousness. But they leave a mark in the reader (or the listener) when he reads or hears them again. The Shakespeare-laced message lingers longer, like the sounds of a well known symphony. The voice of poetry is never silent.
“A consummation devoutly to be wished” is but one example. It is extracted from the famous monologue “To be or not to be”.
“It is a consummation devoutly to be wished.” Such could be your answer when your opinion is asked (or you make a statement) about the suitability of an agreement, the beginning of a project, or even a wedding between a pair of well matched (or unmatched) friends. If you agree or are in favor quote the original. Otherwise interject the small modification, “It is a consummation devoutly to be unwished.” Either way your opinion, your position or your conclusion will be remembered.
In the play. Hamlet is ‘Hamletic’ because he is forever torn about what to do next. He is not alone and that is perhaps one reason for having become so famous not only in English but in all the world languages. Here he meditates on the state of man prior to meeting with Ophelia who could not possibly imagine why Hamlet has become so strange.
Painting in image is “Consummation” by Padmakar Kappangatula