Quick answer“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” is a famous quote by William Shakespeare. It comes from Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. It is widely quoted on life and wisdom. Hamlet opens his most famous speech with the question 'To be, or not to be, that is the question.
Hamlet opens his most famous speech with the question 'To be, or not to be, that is the question.' Shakespeare gives the line to the Prince of Denmark in Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet, written around 1600 and first printed in 1603.
Origin: Opening line of Hamlet's great soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, written around 1600-1601 and first printed in 1603. Hamlet speaks alone on stage, weighing whether to go on living or end his life.
Key facts
| Quote | “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” |
|---|---|
| Author | William Shakespeare |
| Source | Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 |
| Themes | life, wisdom |
| Language | English |
Overview
Hamlet has been ordered by his father's ghost to avenge his murder, and the task has left him paralysed. Alone on stage, he asks whether it is nobler to endure life's suffering or to end it, and works through the choice in a long speech: death would end the heartache, but the fear of what dreams may come in the sleep of death holds him back. That fear, he concludes, is what makes cowards of us all. The speech is the most quoted passage in English literature, and its opening line has become shorthand for any hard choice between living with a problem and escaping it.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'to be, or not to be' mean?
Hamlet is asking whether to live or to die: 'to be' means to go on living, 'not to be' means to end his life. The rest of the speech weighs the suffering of life against the fear of what might follow death.
Who says 'to be, or not to be' in Hamlet?
Prince Hamlet himself, alone on stage in Act 3, Scene 1. He has just learned from his father's ghost that his uncle murdered the old king, and he is torn between avenging his father and his fear of death itself.
When was Hamlet written?
Around 1600-1601. It was first printed in 1603 in a short, unreliable text known as the 'bad quarto'; the fuller text followed in 1604, and the play appeared again in the First Folio of 1623, Shakespeare's collected plays. The 'bad quarto' was probably assembled from memory by actors.
Why doesn't Hamlet kill himself?
Because he fears what comes after death. In the speech he says the dread of something after death, 'the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns', puzzles the will and makes us bear the ills we have. That fear, he says, makes cowards of us all.
Related quotes
- “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” — William Shakespeare
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- “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” — Isaac Newton
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Sources & last updated
- MIT — The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1)
- Wikipedia — To be, or not to be
Last updated: . Figures are shown with their year; where sources disagree, the value is left out rather than estimated.