“To be, or not to be, that is the question”: meaning and origin of Hamlet’s line

“To be, or not to be, that is the question” is the most famous line from Hamlet’s soliloquy in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. It is a serious question about life and death, and in Ukrainian it is usually translated as «Бути чи не бути — ось у чім питання».

What does “To be, or not to be…” mean?

Word for word, the line asks whether it is better “to be” (to exist, to live) or “not to be” (to stop existing, to die). But Hamlet is not asking a general philosophical question. He is thinking about a real choice: should he keep living through his suffering, or end his life?

Readers usually give the speech three meanings:

• Literal: to live or to die.
• Emotional: to endure suffering or to end it. “To be” means carrying on through the troubles; “not to be” means ending them, which Hamlet calls “sleep”.
• Fear: people keep living because they are afraid of what comes after death. Hamlet says that this kind of thinking makes cowards of us all.

• to beto exist, to live. In this speech: to keep on living.
• not to beto stop existing; to die.
• ’Tis nobler in the mind’Tis is an old form of “it is”; nobler means “more honourable”.
• outrageous fortunecruel, unbearable bad luck; outrageous here means extreme or unjust.
• take arms against a sea of troublesfight back against huge problems; take arms is an old way of saying “take up weapons”.
• to shuffle off this mortal coilto die; mortal coil means earthly life with all its troubles.
• there’s the rubthat’s the problem, the obstacle.

Where does the line come from?

The line opens Hamlet’s famous soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s tragedy, written around 1600. Hamlet is alone on stage, speaking his thoughts aloud. His father has died, and his mother has married his uncle Claudius, who is now king. Hamlet feels that the world is broken, and he is thinking about suicide.

Different editions of the play print slightly different wording, so you may see small variations. The bigger mistake is the meaning: many people treat the line as a general question about the meaning of life. In fact, it is one man’s inner struggle in a specific situation, which is why it sounds so personal.

How people use it today

Today the line works in two ways. Seriously, it describes a painful, important choice. Playfully, it is a template for any small decision:

• To buy or not to buy, that is the question. — a joke about shopping.
• To go or not to go, that is the question. — a joke about whether to go to a party.

Many people know the line from the cinema: To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 comedy by Ernst Lubitsch, remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks. Don’t joke with the line when someone is really struggling, because its original tone is very dark. If you like quotes about thinking and existence, read our post on Je pense, donc je suis.

Pronunciation: question is /ˈkwestʃən/ — the ending “-tion” sounds like “-chun”, not “-tee-on”. In fast speech, “to be” often sounds like “tə bee”, with a weak “to”.

Check yourself

If you want to read and speak English with confidence, not just recognise famous lines, start with our free English resources, then book a free trial lesson at Slay School. We will work through how English sounds in real conversation.