Ruta graveolens the isolation of the furanocoumarin chalepensin. The essential oil of "R. graveolens" contains two main constituents, undecan-2-one (46.8%) and nonan-2-one (18.8%). The bitter taste of its leaves led to rue being associated with the (etymologically unrelated) verb "rue" "to regret". Rue is well known for its symbolic meaning of regret and it has sometimes been called "herb-of-grace" in literary works. It is one of the flowers distributed by the mad Ophelia in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (IV.5): It was planted by the gardener in "Richard II" to mark the spot where the Queen wept upon hearing news of Richard's capture (III.4.104–105):
To be, or not to be du min moder" was described by the poet and literary historian Oscar Levertin as "the to-be-or-not-to-be of Swedish literature". To be, or not to be "To be, or not to be" is the opening phrase of a soliloquy spoken by Prince Hamlet in the so-called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet". Act III, Scene I. In the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide, bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse. This version preserves most of the First Folio text with updated spelling and five common emendations introduced from the Second ("Good")