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Jun 23, 2020 · What Does Mortal Coil Mean? As you’ll discover in a moment, the expression mortal coil comes from perhaps the most famous soliloquy (a monologue spoken to oneself) in all of Shakespeare’s plays. Every word and phrase in this soliloquy has been analyzed endlessly by literary scholars.
The phrase “shuffle off this mortal coil” was first used by William Shakespeare in his play Hamlet. The exact line reads: “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.”
Noun. mortal coil ( pl. mortal coils) The chaos and confusion of life. The physical body of man (containing the spirit inside). 1871, “T. A.”, “Polyxenes”, in J. E. Taylor et al. (editors), Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip for 1872, Robert Hardwicke (1873), page 32:
What's the origin of the phrase 'Shuffle off this mortal coil'? From Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech in Shakespeare’s Hamlet , 1602: “What dreames may come, When we haue shufflel’d off this mortall coile, Must giue vs pawse.”
4 days ago · The phrase ‘mortal coil’ refers to the struggles and stresses that we face in our daily lives. Origin of this helpful idiom. The term ‘mortal coil’ first found its origins in the play called Hamlet by William Shakespeare where it was used in the term ‘to shuffle off this mortal coil.’.
The phrase shuffle off this mortal coil literally means to die or exit life, originating from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Figuratively, it is often used to describe the release from all earthly woes, problems, and sufferings, symbolizing transcendence from the physical world.
Mortal coil is a poetic term that means the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world. It is used in the sense of a burden to be carried or abandoned, most famously in the phrase "shuffle [d] off this mortal coil" from the "To be, or not to be" monologue in Shakespeare 's Hamlet . [ edit] Derivation.
