在英国文学的璀璨星空中，威廉·莎士比亚无疑是最耀眼的一颗明星。他的作品不仅影响了英语文学的发展，还深刻地塑造了世界戏剧的历史。莎士比亚的许多作品至今仍被广泛研究和表演，其中最著名的当属他的悲剧《哈姆雷特》。

“To be, or not to be: that is the question”——这是《哈姆雷特》第三幕第一场中哈姆雷特王子的一句独白。这句话在英语世界里几乎家喻户晓，甚至成为了哲学思考和人生抉择的象征。然而，许多人可能并不清楚这句话的完整上下文，以及它在原剧中所处的具体情境。

在这段独白中，哈姆雷特正在思考生命的意义和存在的价值。他面临着内心的挣扎与矛盾，一方面渴望摆脱痛苦和困扰，另一方面又对未知的世界充满恐惧。这种深刻的自我反省和对生死的探讨，使得这段台词成为了莎士比亚笔下最具哲理性的篇章之一。

原文如下：

```plaintext

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous 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 to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: 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,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

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

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remember'd.

```

这段文字不仅仅是语言上的杰作，更是对人性深层次的剖析。哈姆雷特的困惑和挣扎反映了人类共同的情感体验，使每一个读者都能从中找到共鸣。通过这段独白，莎士比亚展示了他卓越的艺术才华和深邃的思想深度，也让《哈姆雷特》成为了一部不朽的经典之作。