To Be Or Not To Be

This is the opening line of Hamlet's most famous soliloquy, delivered in Act III, Scene 1 of Hamlet (c. 1600–1601). Hamlet speaks while Claudius and Polonius hide behind an arras to spy on him, and Ophelia waits nearby as bait. The soliloquy weighs the suffering of life against the unknown terrors of death, using "sleep" as a metaphor for death and "dreams" for the afterlife. Scholars debate whether Hamlet knows he is being watched — which would cast the speech as a deliberate performance rather than private reflection.