He knows that if he were to end his life, he will be remembered in a very cowardly way. He knows that he could stand up and give himself a reason to live but he also knows doing that means having a struggle with himself, which is a huge existential dilemma Mahdipour confirms with "the "central claim" of existentialism is that "we human beings exist without justification in a world into which we are thrown.""(136) Hamlet then goes on to say, "And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep, no more, and by a sleep to say we end The heartache 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" (III, 1, 61-66). In this passage Hamlet is still talking about that death he wishes to impose on himself. McCoy also says "Living is, in effect, a kind of slow death, a submission to fortune's power" (1). When Hamlet is saying "to sleep" he means in eternal slumber, one of no return. The heartache and thousand natural shocks he speaks of is the misfortune he is entitled to with the struggle that is life. Hamlet hopes that the afterlife is a peaceful existence. When he says dream he hopes that death is a good place a place of happiness. Hamlet knows that death couldn't possibly worse than the burden of life. .
He then continues with, "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."(III, 1, 67-70). Hamlet is pondering what dreams he may have in his afterlife. When Hamlet says, "shuffled off this mortal coil", he is saying he want to get rid of the pains he has on his shoulders, the agony of his father's death. When he is talking about the respect of calamity of so long life, he is saying that life sucks and it goes on forever.
