To be, or not to be

This version preserves most of the First Folio text with updated spelling, punctuation, and five common emendations introduced from the Second ("Good") Quarto (italicised).

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, [F: poore] The pangs of despised Love, the law’s delay, [F: dispriz’d] 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?

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, [F: pith] With this regard their Currents turn awry, [F: away] And lose the name of Action.

The widow being oppressed, the orphan wrong'd, The taste of hunger, or a tyrants reign, And thousand more calamities besides, To grunt and sweat under this weary life, When that he may his full Quietus make, With a bare bodkin, who would this endure, But for a hope of something after death?

[6] To be, or not to be, that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outragious 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 heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir too; tis a consumation Devoutly to be wish'd to die to sleep, To sleep, perhance to dream, ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we haue shuffled off this mortal coil Muſt giue vs pauſe, there's the reſpect That makes calamitie of ſo long life: For who would beare the whips and ſcorns of time, Th'oppreſſors wrong, the proude mans contumly, The pangs of deſpiz'd loue, the lawes delay, The inſolence of office, and the ſpurnes That patient merrit of the'vnworthy takes, When he himſelfe might his quietas make With a bare bodkin; who would fardels beare, To grunt and ſweat vnder a wearie life, But that the dread of ſomething after death, The vndiſcouer'd country, from whose borne No trauiler returnes, puzzels the will, And makes vs rather beare thoſe ills we haue, Then flie to others we know not of.

Thus conſcience dooes make cowards, And thus the natiue hiew of reſolution Is ſickled ore with the pale caſt of thought, And enterpriſes of great pitch and moment, With this regard theyr currents turne awry, And loose the name of action.

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, published by Isaac Jaggard and Ed Blount in 1623 and better known as the "First Folio", includes an edition of Hamlet largely similar to the Second Quarto.

There's the respect That makes Calamity of ſo long life: For who would beare the Whips and Scornes of time, The Oppreſſors wrong, the poore mans Contumely, The pangs of diſpriz’d Loue, the Lawes delay, The inſolence of Office, and the Spurnes That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himſelfe might his Quietus make With a bare Bodkin?

Thus Conſcience does make Cowards of vs all, And thus the Natiue hew of Resolution Is ſicklied o’re, with the pale caſt of Thought, And enterprizes of great pith and moment, With this regard their Currants turne away, And looſe the name of Action.

The narrative takes place in a dystopian future in which the United States government, through scientific advancement, has achieved a "cure" for both aging and overpopulation.

[9][citation needed] In 1963 at a debate in Oxford, Black liberation leader Malcolm X quoted the first few lines of the speech to make a point about "extremism in defense of liberty.

"[11] Star Trek's sixth film, The Undiscovered Country (1991) was named for the line from this speech, albeit the Klingon interpretation in which the title refers to the future and not death.

[citation needed] The virtuoso soliloquy in Carl Michael Bellman's Fredman's Epistles, "Ack du min moder", was described by the poet and literary historian Oscar Levertin as "the to-be-or-not-to-be of Swedish literature".