Who Would Fardels Bear?

[SoDesuKa]

Here it is, from Hamlet:

To be, or not to be: that is the question: . . . . . .
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized 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 undiscovered 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? . . . . . (3.1.56)

"Fardels" - sometimes called "fartles" - are a plague to the poet and scientist alike. Shakespeare, himself a poet, probably had lots of experience with them. Thus his statement Who would fardels bear is a cry of the heart, an O God deliver me from these damn fardels!

The question remains, Who would bear them?

[intaglio]

1. Probably crusaders

as it likely comes from the Arabic "fardah" or load or bundle.

OMG!!!11!!1 This means that Shakespeare was a secret MUSLIN11!!11!!!!!