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 off this mortal coil" from the "To be, or not to be" monologue in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Read more about Mortal Coil: Derivation, Schopenhauer's Speculation
Famous quotes containing the word mortal:
“I think I see her sitting bowed and black,
Stricken and seared with slavery’s mortal scars,
Reft of her children, lonely, anguished, yet
Still looking at the stars.”
—Jessie Fauset (20th century)
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