To Be or Not to Be

To Be or Not to Be

“To be, or not to be, that is the question” is arguably Shakespeare’s most famous line, perhaps the most famous in all of the English language. That it endures reveals something essential about the human mind—our preoccupation with the nature of existence itself. Hamlet, the tragic prince of Denmark, whose father—the former king—has been killed by his own uncle, wrestles with this question of life and death. He continues in his soliloquy: “Whet…