there's the rub
US /ðɛrz ðə rʌb/
・UK /ðeəz ðə rʌb/
C2
idm.Indicates the main difficulty or obstacle in a situation.
He wants to help, but there's the rub; he lacks time to do so.
Video subtitles
What If English Were Phonetically Consistent?
- To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
Hamlet Act3, Scene1 Soliloquy
- and, by a sleep, to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to bewish: to die, to sleep, to sleep, per chance to dream—ay, there's the rub.
and, by a sleep, to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to bewish: to die, to sleep, to sleep, per chance to dream—ay, there's the rub.