Hamlet says the famous line. The line “To be, or not to be, that is the question” is spoken by Prince Hamlet in Act III, Scene I of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, and it opens a soliloquy contemplating life, death, and what it means to endure suffering. The passage is widely analyzed as Hamlet weighing the nobility of enduring life’s pains against the unknowns of death and what comes after. Key details:
- Speaker: Hamlet, the prince of Denmark.
- Context: Hamlet delivers a contemplative soliloquy in the so-called “nunnery scene,” reflecting on whether it is nobler to suffer life’s slings and arrows or to oppose them and end them, potentially through death.
- Opening line: “To be, or not to be: that is the question”.
- Significance: The soliloquy is one of the most famous lines in English literature, commonly interpreted as an exploration of existence, choice, and the fear of the unknown after death.
If you’d like, I can provide a line-by-line analysis, discuss interpretations across different scholarly perspectives, or quote the full passage with context.
