- Mortal coil
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For other uses, see Mortal coil (disambiguation).
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 Shakespeare's Hamlet. (For more context of the phrase, see To be, or not to be.)
Contents
Derivation
Derived from 16th Century English, "coil" refers to tumults or troubles. Used idiomatically, the phrase means "the bustle and turmoil of this mortal life." [1] "Coil" has an unusual etymological history. It was coined repeatedly; at one time people used it as a verb to mean "to cull," "to thrash," "to lay in rings or spirals," "to turn," "to mound hay" and "to stir." As a noun it has meant "a selection," "a spiral," "the breech of a gun," "a mound of hay", "a pen for hens", and "noisy disturbance, fuss, ado."[1] It is in this last sense, which became popular in the 16th century, that Shakespeare used the word.
"Mortal coil"—along with "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," "to sleep, perchance to dream" and "ay, there’s the rub"—is part of Hamlet’s famous "To be or not to be" speech. "Coil" is no longer used as a synonym for "disturbance."
Schopenhauer's speculation
Arthur Schopenhauer, in his Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume 2, § 232a, conjectured that this phrase might have been involved in a typesetter's error or a slip of the author's pen.
Should there not have been originally 'shuttled off'? This verb itself no longer exists but 'shuttle' is an implement used in weaving. Accordingly, the meaning might be: 'when we have unwound and worked off this coil of mortality.'
In this way, the length of our life is metaphorically the length of thread that is coiled on a spool, a metaphor related to the ancient Greek mythological figures of the Fates. As we live, the thread is unwound from the coil by the shuttle of the loom of time.
Cultural references
Literature
"Mortal Coil" is the name of a short story by D. H. Lawrence (1917).
"Mortal Coils" is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by Aldous Huxley in 1922.
"Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil" is the fifth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy (2010).
The expression is frequently used by the narrator, Saleem Sinai, in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight's Children (1981), for example in this quote from page 481:
"... because otherwise I should have to introduce at this point some fantastic explanation of my continued presence in this 'mortal coil'".
In the Richard Dawkins book The Selfish Gene, one chapter on DNA is headed 'Immortal Coil.'
Television
Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch reaches its zenith with: "'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! This is an ex-parrot!"
In the L Word, Season 3 "Lone Star" Alice says, "I did I did! I threw it away, since you released me from my...mortal coils."
"Mortal Coil" is a fourth season episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
"This Mortal Coil" is a fourth season episode of Stargate Atlantis.
In the Futurama episode "Lethal Inspection", when Bender learns of a flaw in his design that means he is not immortal, he is referred to as a "mortal coil".
The Season 2 finale of Adventure Time is titled "Mortal Recoil."
Radio
The Mortal Coil is the title of a two-part episode of the Christian children's radio broadcast Adventures in Odyssey, exploring the issue of life after death.
Music
This Mortal Coil was a dream pop band headed up by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British 4AD Records label.
A song from the Carcass album Heartwork is called "This Mortal Coil".
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine in their song "Everytime a Churchbell Rings", sing:
Well I remember Micky Doyle
he shuffled off this mortal coil
with no message for "that special girl"
just thank you and goodbye cruel world
then for the sake of Auld Lang Syne
he put his head on the railway line
looked up at the morning sun
and waited for the train to comeThe first stanza of Tom Waits's song "Jesus Gonna Be Here" contains the verse:
I'm gonna get myself unfurled from this mortal coiled up world
The chorus of Duran Duran's hit song "Breath after Breath" also contains this expression:
From where I stand the truth isn't black and white
Alone we live and die, we love and fight
Breath after breath we carry this mortal coil
Safe for tomorrowThe Crowded House hit song "It's only natural" starts with this expression:
Ice will melt, water will boil
you and I, shake off this mortal coilThe first line in Elbow's song "Switching Off" is:
Last of the men in hats hops off the coil,
Referring to a man dying.
Nightwish's Wanderlust reads:
I want to love by the blue lagoon,
kiss under waning moon.
Straying, claiming my place in this mortal coil!
Riding the dolphins, asking the mountains,
dreaming Alaska,
the Earth can have but Earth.Used in the song "Something Diabolical" by the Bloodhound Gang from their album Hefty Fine.
In the song "Dream within a dream" by Spirit, one of the phrases used is: Stepping off this mortal coil will be my pleasure.
The song "Endless Grey" by Young Guns contains the lyrics "So unwind this mortal coil with me,'cause your darkness is a light to me."
Mastodon in their song entitiled "This Mortal Soil" may be an allusion or reference to the concept of a 'mortal coil'.
Kevin Max's song "Existence" contains the following verse:
"Another morning, it comes running up your bedpost with the wind.
You face yourself just like you always do time and time again;
The mortal coil of image, inner peace and satisfaction."Video Games
In the Online MUD game 'Afterlife', a card game is named Mortal Coil. When played, the game can alter the character dramatically in a good or bad way.
In the game Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the second chapter is entitled This Vortal Coil.
In the game BlazeBlue: Continuum Shift, Rachel mentions "shuffling off the mortal coil", referring to Ragna in his gag ending.
In the Online MMO game World of Warcraft, High Priest Venoxis says "The mortal coil unwindsss..." when killing a player.
See also
References
Categories:- Poetry stubs
- Shakespearean phrases
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