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

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

. (For more context of the phrase, see To be, or not to be

To be, or not to be

"To be, or not to be" is the opening phrase of a soliloquy from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet , Act III, Scene 1. It is the best-known quotation from the play and probably the most famous in world literature but there is disagreement on its meaning, as there is of the whole speech.- Text :This...

.)

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.

"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

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

’s famous "To be or not to be

To Be or Not to Be

To Be or Not to Be can refer to:* To be, or not to be, the soliloquy from Hamlet* To Be or Not to Be , directed by Ernst Lubitsch* To Be or Not to Be , a remake produced by Mel Brooks...

" speech. "Coil" is no longer used as a synonym for "disturbance."

Schopenhauer's speculation

Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...

, in his Parerga and Paralipomena

Parerga and Paralipomena

Parerga and Paralipomena is a collection of philosophical reflections by Arthur Schopenhauer published in 1851...

, 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'

Shuttle (weaving)

A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store weft yarn while weaving. Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed, between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft....

 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

Moirae

The Moirae, Moerae or Moirai , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed incarnations of destiny . Their number became fixed at three...

. As we live, the thread is unwound from the coil by the shuttle of the loom of time.

Literature

"Mortal Coil

Mortal coil

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...

" is the name of a short story by D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...

 (1917).

"Mortal Coils

Mortal Coils

Mortal Coils is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by Aldous Huxley in 1922.The title uses a phrase from Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:...

" is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

 in 1922.

"Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil

Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil

Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil is the fifth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, released on the 1st of September 2010. After some discussion, the final title was confirmed to be "Mortal Coil"...

" is the fifth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant is the debut novel of Irish playwright Derek Landy, published in 2007. It is the first of the Skulduggery Pleasant novels...

 series by Derek Landy

Derek Landy

Derek Landy is an Irish author and screenwriter, famous for the Skulduggery Pleasant series of children's books.thumb|Derek Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011...

 (2010).

The expression is frequently used by the narrator, Saleem Sinai

Saleem Sinai

Saleem Sinai is the fictional main character in the Booker Prize winning novel Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. His life is closely intertwined with the events that take place in his homeland on the subcontinent of pre- and post-colonial India, Pakistan and newly liberated Bangladesh...

, in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children is a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie about India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism...

(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

Richard Dawkins

Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...

 book The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene is a book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976. It builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's first book Adaptation and Natural Selection. Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the...

, 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

Mortal Coil (Star Trek: Voyager)

"Mortal Coil" is the 12th episode of the fourth season of the television series Star Trek: Voyager, and deals with a starring character's death, resurrection, and crisis of faith. Produced by Kenneth Biller and Joe Menosky, and directed by Allan Kroeker, "Mortal Coil" received mediocre-to-positive...

" is a fourth season episode of Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

.

"This Mortal Coil" is a fourth season episode of Stargate Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...

.

In the Futurama

Futurama

Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...

 episode "Lethal Inspection

Lethal Inspection

"Lethal Inspection" is the sixth episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom, Futurama, and originally aired on July 22, 2010 on Comedy Central. In the episode Bender learns that he suffers from a terminal manufacturing defect, effectively rendering him mortal...

", 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

Adventure Time

Adventure Time was a local children's television show on WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1959 to 1975. It was hosted by the late Paul Shannon, with guitarist Joe Negri and puppeteer Jim Martin...

 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

Adventures in Odyssey

Adventures in Odyssey , or simply Odyssey, is an Evangelical Christian-themed radio drama/comedy series created by Focus on the Family in 1987. The show's daily audience averages around 1.2 million within North America. The Odyssey series also includes several spin-off items, including a home-video...

, exploring the issue of life after death.

Music

This Mortal Coil

This Mortal Coil

This Mortal Coil was a gothic dream pop supergroup led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were technically the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of supporting artists, many of whom...

 was a dream pop band headed up by Ivo Watts-Russell

Ivo Watts-Russell

Ivo Watts-Russell was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the English indie record label 4AD. He has also produced several records, himself preferring to use the term "musical director" to explain his role in the creation....

, founder of the British 4AD

4AD

4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...

 Records label.

A song from the Carcass

Carcass (band)

Carcass are an extreme metal band from England, who formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1995. A reunion was enacted in 2008 without one of its original members, drummer Ken Owen, due to health reasons....

 album Heartwork

Heartwork

Heartwork is the fourth album by metal band Carcass, released through Earache Records in 1993. The album was recorded at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool between May 18 and June 21, 1993....

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 come

The 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

Duran Duran

Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

'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 Crowded House

Crowded House

Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...

 hit song "It's only natural" starts with this expression:

Ice will melt, water will boil

you and I, shake off this mortal coil

The first line in Elbow

Elbow (band)

Elbow are an English rock band. They have played together since 1990 and recorded five studio albums, the most recent of which is Build a Rocket Boys!, released in March 2011...

's song "Switching Off" is:

Last of the men in hats hops off the coil,

Referring to a man dying.

Nightwish

Nightwish

Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...

'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

Bloodhound Gang

Bloodhound Gang is a Collegeville, Pennsylvania-based American comedy band, although it began as a rap group and gradually changed its genre throughout the years...

 from their album Hefty Fine

Hefty Fine

Hefty Fine has been critically panned by music critics. The review aggregator website Metacritic gave the album an average score of 28% from ten reviews, making it the second worst reviewed album tallied.-Chart performance:...

.

In the song "Dream within a dream" by Spirit

Spirit (band)

Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California.- The original lineup :...

, one of the phrases used is: Stepping off this mortal coil will be my pleasure.

The song "Endless Grey" by Young Guns

Young Guns (band)

Young Guns are an English alternative rock band from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. On 22 June 2009 they released their debut EP Mirrors, and their debut album All Our Kings Are Dead was released a year later on 12 July 2010, peaking at #43 in the UK Albums Chart, and #3 in both the UK Rock and...

 contains the lyrics "So unwind this mortal coil with me,'cause your darkness is a light to me."

Mastodon

Mastodon (band)

Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...

 in their song entitiled "This Mortal Soil" may be an allusion or reference to the concept of a 'mortal coil'.

Kevin Max

Kevin Max

Kevin Max Smith is an American singer, songwriter, and poet. He is best known for being a member of the Christian pop group dc Talk...

'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.