To be, or not to be

The phrase "to be, or not to be" originates from a famous Shakespearean soliloquy by the main protagonist Prince Hamlet from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in the first scene of Act Three. The soliloquy in full form is as follows:

Related Topics:
Shakespearean - Soliloquy - The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 ' which has a number of references to the works of Shakespeare.

Related Topics:
To Be or Not to Be - Outrageous Fortune - What Dreams May Come

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The English composer Ivor Novello wrote a musical called Perchance to Dream.

Related Topics:
Ivor Novello - Perchance to Dream

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first three lines are an anagram of "In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten". Hamlet reveals that his self-doubt and inability to avenge his father?s death have led him to the brink of suicide.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of the clearest summaries of this soliloquy was provided by Schopenhauer :

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:'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" ). 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.' http://www.friesian.com/notes/hamlet.htm

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Note: In the line And enterprises of great pith and moment, we use pith although some use pitch. Pitch comes from the Harold Jenkins edit while pith is believed to be the original text.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~