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
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 despis'd 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 these fardels
bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread
of something after death-
The undiscover'd 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.
（1601）
课文讲解:
To be or not to be：对这句话的理解众说纷纭。主要包括：“生还是死”、“生存还是死亡”（认为哈姆雷特此时在考虑是否要自杀的问题）和“是反抗还是屈从”（认为哈姆雷特此时在考虑要不要奋起反抗杀兄篡位的克劳迪斯的问题）。