"To be, or not to be, that is the question", in which play do you find this Shakespearean quotation?

It is from the most quoted Shakespeare's soliloquy in English; Hamlet, Act III, scene 1. These lines from Hamlet comes when the young prince contemplates living or killing himself with his dagger. "To be, or not to be, that is the question....." - in other words, " To live or die, that is my problem....". Hamlet contemplates death and suicide bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse. To be or not to be means to live suffering the slings and arrows of life or to die. He is imagining what it would be like if he "shuffled off this mortal coil."

Why should he put up with "the whips and scorns of time," the " pangs of dispriz'd love," and other abuses, when he can end it all with "a bare bodkin" (a dagger)? Hamlet contemplates a journey to " the undiscovered country, from whose born no traveller returns."

In the end, though, he decides that it is the very mystery of death and what comes next that makes us " bear those ills we have" and " does make cowards of us all." However, Hamlet continues to waffle and equivocate in this manner for the next four hours (Shakespeare's longest play), until the end, when the entire cast shuffles off the mortal coil.

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16 Comments

Louise C.

I lived in an apartment which was 2b so we got a lot of comments on that one, I was pleased when I moved 😊

Larry Jones

Dislike for being too easy.

Peter Robertson

"Hamlet" has the best chance of being the answer to a Shakespearian question

jaime alzate

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS QUOTATIONS IN THE WORLD.

John W Shreve

i had a dream that I recited the graveyard scene in a Home Depot, holding a decorative ball up as the skull.

stevenbtabak

“To Be or Not to Be” It Was a Very Famous Movie Originally Done in the Late 30’s Then Remade by the Legendary Mel Brooks in the Early 80’s

Helga U. Williams

Easy question, but good commentary! 👍

Gary Ellis

Thank you for the question and the explanation.

Corey Taylor

Not the entire cast. Primary characters Fortinbras and Horatio, a soldier and a student, survive to tell the tale. The rest are silenced.

Richard D. Boyle

A great soliloquy. Probably the most well known in all of theater literature.

Joan Adams

The commentary is very good until the last line. The “entire cast” does not cast off the mortal coil and die. They are left to grieve Hamlet’s death, and to adjust to the new leader who is fast approaching.

Mic Fenst

I had fun teaching algebra and made the question so the answer was 2B. And I would state to them, "2B or not 2B, that is the question." I certainly made certain that no food was allowed in the classroom.

Kat

Robert Gumbleton, yes, it is about life or death. "Whether" is the 11th word, and that is by no means a key word. He is pondering whether it is better to die and put an end to all his problems, or to live and fight against any opposition. There is, however, a concern that death is not just sleep, but may include nightmarish consequences, and thus it would be better to live.