The First Quarto appeared in 1603 but remained lost until a copy was discovered in 1823. This early version contains unique characteristics and oddities now considered derivative or pirated.
Claudius and Polonius have concealed themselves behind a curtain to listen to his words. This dramatic setting creates tension because the speech is almost universally regarded as a sincere soliloquy despite the hidden observers.
Malcolm X quoted the first few lines during an Oxford debate in 1963 to make a point about extremism in defense of liberty. The text remains entirely in an abstract somewhat academic register that accords with Hamlet's status as a recent student at Wittenberg University.
A plot point of the 1942 film comedy To Be or Not to Be involves the first line of the monologue. Charlie Chaplin recites the monologue in the shoes of the ambiguous King Shahdov in the 1957 comedy A King in New York.
The alphabetical numerical reformulation of Shakespeare's lines functions as the phone number for the Federal Bureau of Termination's assisted suicide request line. The narrative takes place in a dystopian future in which the United States government achieves a cure for both aging and overpopulation.