To be, or not to be

The phrase "to be, or not to be" comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act III, scene I, and it is often used in reference to the whole speech the line opens. It is arguably one of the most famous quotes in world literature . The soliloquy, spoken in the play by the eponymous character, follows in its entirety:

To be or not to be, that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life,
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.

In the popular imagination the speaking of this soliloquy is often conflated with the action of Hamlet thoughtfully holding a skull (Yorick's), although the two actions are nowhere near each other in the play. It is also important to note that Hamlet is not alone on the stage (which is the standard for a soliloquy): Ophelia is onstage (editors and various productions disagree about whether Hamlet sees her or not), while Polonius and the King are hidden behind an arras.

Interpretations

German philosopher Schopenhauer said:

The essential purport of the world-famous monologue in Hamlet is, in condensed form, that our state is so wretched that complete non-existence would be decidedly preferable to it. Now if suicide actually offered us this, so that the alternative "to be or not to be" lay before us in the full sense of the words, it could be chosen unconditionally as a highly desirable termination ("a consummation devoutly to be wish'd" [Act III, Sc. I.]). There is something in us, however, which tells us that this is not so, that this is not the end of things, that death is not an absolute annihilation.

Thus, the lines "whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" is the to be option, and "to take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing end them" is the not to be option. The possibly paradoxical concept of equating taking arms with not being is usually explained by that taking arms against an irresistible sea of troubles is suicidal — our troubles, resisted rather than borne, will destroy us. Another take on these lines is that the only way to take arms against an ungovernable tide is by the "constructive act of suicide". But both of these contemporary views of that passage recognize that one's own death is the result of taking arms.

Although the "conscience" that "does make cowards of us all" is often linked to the excerpt that follows and interpreted as an odd use of the word to mean "consciousness of the possibly bad unknown that awaits", it can be also understood as the sense of right and wrong. Indeed, E. Prosser said that "This soliloquy is a meditation on the central theme of the duties and temptations of a noble mind in an evil world". By that interpretation, it's the moral injunction against suicide that would be ultimately decisive, rather than the "dread of something after death", which only symbolizes the usual fires of Hell.

However, the next five lines (starting with "and thus the native hue of resolution...") do not refer any longer to moral judgements, but are saying that in a similar way anything (not just suicide) can become problematical from too much thinking about it.

This (along with Hamlet's indecisiveness and uncertainty of knowledge being major themes throughout the play) inspired many commentators to read the choice between the life of action ("to be") and life of silent acceptance ("not to be") as a primary focus of Hamlet's dilemma. According to that interpretation, "whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" would get associated with not to be alternative, while "to take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing end them" with the to be.

In this take, the Prince's further pondering the nature of death can be seen in yet a different light (in addition to the aforementioned two proposals, ie. the inevitable failure to win the fight against the "sea of troubles" or the only way to actually defeat it). Namely, death could be considered as a third option - the route which allows to avoid choosing between to be and not to be altogether.

Regardless of whether the focus is placed on "life vs. death" or "action vs. no action", the themes tackled by the soliloquy (and by Shakespeare's play in general) led to the character of Danish Prince often getting compared to existentialists after the term was introduced in the twentieth century.

References in later works of fiction and music

See also: References to Hamlet

There have been several films entitled To Be or Not to Be. Other films taking their titles from this speech include Outrageous Fortune, What Dreams May Come and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country which has a number of references to the works of Shakespeare. As Hamlet has been translated into "original" Klingon, the Klingon translation of the term is taH pagh taHbe'. Additionally, the original title for the classic sci-fi/horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers was "Sleep No More." A Boston-based band, Stray Bullets, had a CD titled The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune.

In the Reduced Shakespeare Company's production The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), the speech is omitted from the Hamlet portion of the production, not for time constraints, or because the speech is so well known, but because the group states that they dislike the speech for momentum and motivation reasons. The What a piece of work is a man speech is delivered in its stead.

• On The Transformed Man, released in 1968, William Shatner recites the soliloquy in its entirety on track 3 "Hamlet/It Was A Very Good Year."
• In Billy Madison, Billy Madison mockingly recites part of the "To Be or Not To Be" speech in the drama competition with Eric, and the audience applauds him.
• In the Hamlet musical from the Gilligan's Island episode, "The Producer", Gilligan, as Hamlet, sings a variation of the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy to the tune of Habanera from Bizet's Carmen.
• The 1969 film The Magic Christian includes a scene where Guy Grand (Peter Sellers) has bribed a famous actor to perform "To be or not to be ..." as a strip-tease.
• René (Robert Lepage) quotes part of the "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy during his portion of The Passion Play in the 1989 film Jésus de Montréal. The film also refers to Hamlet in its trailer.
• In Asterix and the Great Crossing Hamlet is referenced in two quotes by Danish Vikings. One says: "There is something rotten in my kingdom", while holding a skull in his hand. Another one wonders whether he is a discoverer or not and thus says: "To be or not to be; that's the question."
• A King in New York (1957), directed by Charlie Chaplin, includes a scene in which Chaplin recites the "to be or not to be" speech, and is arguably on a par with other famous renditions.
• In the Pebbles song Girlfriend, the line"to be or not to be, that is the question," is the opening line of the chorus.
• In Eternal Darkness, one of the horrors includes the character's head falling off. When it is picked up, it recites "to be or not to be ...."
• In Marathon 2: Durandal, "Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune" is the name of the game's 2nd stage.[1]
• In an episode of the American TV series ER titled "Secrets and Lies," Dr. Kovac mentions that he played Hamlet while attending college in Croatia. When he was asked if he performed it in English or Croatian, he replied, "Croatian. Why would I perform it in English?" Dr. Carter then says he played Horatio and starts reciting the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy. When he starts to get the lines wrong, Kovac corrects him, first in English and then continues reciting the lines in Croatian.
• The "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy is used in the RTS game Age of Empires III, created by Ensemble Studios.
• In a Sunday strip of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin is having a disgusting looking (at least to him) dinner, that suddenly springs to life before his very eyes and recites the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy. Then it turns lifeless for a second, and then springs back to life again singing "Feelings".
• Gogo Dodo recited the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy in a humorous manner as his audition for Tiny Toon Adventures in its pilot, The Looney Beginning: "Two bees or not 2-B (Apt. 2-B)...
• A band is named This Mortal Coil.
• Beyoncé Knowles uses "To be, or Not to Be," as the first line in her song Freakum Dress on her 2006 album 'B'day'
• In Last Action Hero (1993) Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hamlet quotes "To be or not to be....not to be" before setting off a series of explosions.
• In What Dreams May Come, released in 1998. The title and some of the plot refers to the line "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come."
• In The Fairly Oddparents (2004), The fictional actor Arnold Schwarzeneggerman states, "To be, or not to be... annihilated!" during a parodied version of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. Schwarzeneggerman also says, "I'll be back... with weapons," referring to the real actor in Terminator.
• Toward the end of the Bugs Bunny cartoon, A Witch's Tangled Hare, Sam Crubish tells Witch Hazel he would have liked to meet her but had the wrong apartment number: Apartment 2-B. They have a bit of banter over who made the mistake of saying Apartment 2-B, to which Bugs comments, in a pun on the first line of the soliloquy: "2-B orrrrr not 2-B; that is the question."
• In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World(1932), the protagonist, John is faced with the decision of suicide, in what he sees as a meaningless, cold futuristic society.
• "In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten" is a relevant anagram of the first three lines, discovered in 1996 by Cory Calhoun.
• In Chain, Season 8's Episode is called 'To be, or not to be' in which Taurus commits suicide, not knowing that his power reserve is still in hand.
• Patrick Stewart performed a spoof of the soliloquy called "A B...or not a B?" on Sesame Street.
• Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short story titled 2BR02B, the title of which is a play on the famous phrase.
• In the 6th stanza of Wislawa Szymborska's poem, "Children of Our Age," an allusion is made to the first line of the soliloquy.
• In the Doctor Who episode City of Death, the Doctor comes across an original manuscript of Hamlet and recognizes the handwriting as his own -- as Shakespeare had sprained his own wrist writing sonnets. The Doctor decries "to take arms against a sea of troubles" as a mixed metaphor.
• In The Interpretation of Murder Dr. Stratham Younger is a Psychoanalyst who is like Hamlet. He mentions this dialogue and associates "to be" with "pretending" and "not to be" with "being himself and acting".
• Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki's 1999 single "TO BE" is believed to be inspired by the soliloquy. The quote is as popular in Japan as it is in the west. In the song she writes that man who discovered her, Max Matsuura, sealed her fate. Making her career the 'BE' in 'To be or not to be'.

Translating the key phrase into Danish, Hamlet's language, it becomes at være, eller ikke at være.

References

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Philip Edwards, ed., updated edition 2003. (New Cambridge Shakespeare)
• Hamlet. Harold Jenkins, ed., 1982. (The Arden Shakespeare)
• Lewis, C.S., Studies in Words. Cambridge UP, 1960 (reprinted 2002).
• Schopenhauer, Arthur, The World as Will and Representation, Volume I. E.F.J. Payne, tr. Falcon Wing's Press, 1958. Reprinted by Dover, 1969.