Hamlet’s soliloquy reveals the anguish of a young man in the midst of great turmoil and shows the hard road to self-discovery and full realization of one’s duty. From soliloquy to soliloquy we witness the young prince’s spiritual growth up to the point where he finally understands that he will have to die to purge his world:

“Not a whit, we defy augury: there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is’t to leave betimes?” (Act 5, Scene 2)

This is why he is considered as a Christ-like figure. Now compare and contrast the 2 texts (the original and the Mauritian version) and comment on the power of the Mauritian language to say what Shakespeare had to say.

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

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe 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. (Act 3 Scene 1)

Version Morisien

Monolog Hamlet li montré tourman enn zenn dimoun ki pe fer fas enn tablisman lamerdman e li dir ki kantité li difisil pou konn nou prop profon e dekouver ki nou bizen fer. Monolog apré monolog nou swiv sa zenn prens la so devlopman spiritiel ziska ki li dekouver ki lamor parfwa neseser pou pirifié lemonn.

“Non Horasio. Siperstision, ezitasion kapon pa pou blok mo lelan. Ena lamé Bondié ladan. Si ena pou tonbé aster va tonbé aster. Mo swiv mo desten. Personn pa koné ki lamor eté. Kifer nou per?” (Ak 5 Senn 2) Ala kifer ena kritik dir ki li resanblé Zezikri. Etidié ek konpar sa de tex la (version orizinal ek version Morisien) e dir seki ou pansé. Eski lang Morisien ena lafors pou dir seki Shakespeare ti dir.

Hamlet: Viv ou aret viv, samem gran kestion -

Eski li meyer fer fas bann maler,

Manz ar tourman, traka ek tourdisman

Ziska ki zot fonn. Ferm lizié, dormi -

Samem tou; servi somey pou efas

Fristrasion, lapenn, bann mizer anvrak

Ki kraz nou kor - ki pli zoli ki sa?

Enn kout sek tou tengn. Ferm lizié, dormi -

Dormi e kikfwa revé. Ayaya!

Samem douk la. Ler lamor finn pran nou

Ki kalité rev vinn fer nou letour?

Sa papa, ki veritab manzer krann.

Akoz samem nou tini-tini mem

Malgré ki toufann chom nou par lagorz;

Nou manz nou margoz, aksepté soufrans

Kan li telman fasil tengn lalimier.

Kifer nou renté, fer fas kriz lor kriz?

Parski personn pa koné ki ena

Lot koté brizan lavi lor later;

Tansion sap dan karay tom dan difé,

Nou bostait, pil anplas. Laverité

Se ki nou kraké. Plis nou reflesi

Plis nou gagn tarrtarri e bann gran plan

Anpandan lor lakord.

(Ak 3 Senn 1)