Mortal coil

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.)

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." "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." It is in this last sense, which became popular in the 16th century, that Shakespeare used the word.

In fact, "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

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

Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch reaches its zenith with: "'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! This is an ex-parrot!"

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.

The computer game Half Life 2 alludes to the phrase, in the chapter "This Vortal Coil," describing the tribulations of humanity after an alien invasion.

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 come

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 tomorrow

The first line in Elbow's song "Switching Off" is:

Last of the men in hats hops off the coil,

Referring to a man dying.

Used in the song Something Diabolical by the Bloodhound Gang from their album Hefty Find

In Magic: The Gathering, one of the preconstructed decks from the Shadowmoor expansion is called Mortal Coil

See also

• Vale of tears
• To be, or not to be