To Be or Not to Be is Still the Question

This speech is not about suicide. It's something far more important. Here I present my own analysis and a broader interpretation.

Some Context

"To Be or Not to Be" appears in Act III, Scene 1 of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. I consider it one of Shakespeare's 'problem soliloquys' along with "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" from Macbeth Act V, Scene 5, as both possess nothing in particular to do with their plays at large. They are thematic: they do not advance the pl…