to be or not to be
Existence or nonexistence
A phrase from Hamlet's famous soliloquy, now shorthand for any fundamental dilemma or existential question.
The original contemplates whether existence is worthwhile given life's suffering.
In casual use, the structure parodies itself for trivial decisions: To eat the last slice or not to eat the last slice, that is the question.
- HamletDanish prince's revenge tragedy
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
- existenceState of being real
- deathCessation of life
life · question · doubt · suffer · slings · arrows · fortune · sleep · dream · undiscovered country · mortal · mortal coil · coil · conscience · contemplation · tragedy · skull · prince
- Shakespeare phraseset tu Brute, all the world's a stage, out damned spot, friends Romans countrymen, once more unto the breach
- classic excerptscall me Ishmael, once upon a time, nevermore, et tu Brute, all the world's a stage
- Famous Poetrynevermore, jabberwocky, daffodils, Kubla Khan, wasteland
- Literary Phrasescarpe diem, et tu Brute, call me Ishmael, once upon a time, happily ever after
- ShakespeareRomeo, Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello
- HamletHamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Polonius
decisiveness
to be or not to bethe die is cast
Irrevocable choice made
no turning back · damn the torpedoes · make up your mind · seize the day · carpe diem
literary/cultural resonance
to be or not to beall's well that ends well