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Question: To be!.!.!. or not to be!.!.!. !?
Is that even a question!?
Or is it a statement on one man's perception of reality!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
He may have meant, to be living life fully present in Communion with everything or merely surviving, running towards tomorrow, towards the future, towards death!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

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!. 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!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

But what was the question!?

I always though the premise behind that scene was, 'is it better to live or die!?'

So, Hamlet was a little bummed when he said that!.

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!.


I suppose next you're going to tell me that life is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

to be, will you be true to yourself!?
shakespeares own quote " to thine own self be true"
will you DO!?
it is a highly thought provoking question and statement (this is possible because of the sheer brilliance of shakespeare)
OR NOT TO BE!? because you are afraid!. fear!. whatever!.
think about it, you'll find what you needWww@QuestionHome@Com

"To be is to do!."
--Aristotole!.

"To do is to be!."
--Descartes!.

"Do be do be do!.!.!."
--Sinatra


Sorry!.!.!.!.I just had to!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It's just a question!. Hamlet was pondering his own suicide and it basically ends there!. Shakespeare wasn't getting that deep!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hamlet was considering suicide!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It's meant both ways!. It is a question!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Shakespeare meant it to be both!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They are two sides of the same coin!.!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'd say be!. Not to be is a downer!.Www@QuestionHome@Com