“To be or not to be” is by far the most quoted and famous line in world literature. I have quoted it as long as I can remember. It is the opening line of a soliloquy from the Shakespearean play Hamlet. The play was written around 1600, act three, scene one. 

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 heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. 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,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the 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 traveler 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 pith and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered. 

Hamlet in this play is on the stage by himself, speaking to himself like he is crazy or something. Everybody else has cut out with the king, Claudius and his wife Queen Gertrude. Hamlet is dealing with great internal conflict of whether to commit suicide because recent events have left him deeply depressed. Hamlet is simply trying to reason out if the unknown beyond death is any easier to deal with than life. Here, Hamlet realizes that he has failed to kill Claudius and has failed to take his own life. The speech further explores consequence. He is feeling like a coward. Hold on to your seats because here is my scholarly interpretation that will put me in the record books.

In the mind of Hamlet, if death were oblivion, it might be a desirable consequence; his fear that it may not be is what scares him most. There is only one way for Hamlet to find out and that decision would be irreversible.

Teach Griffin, Teach!

 In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”