Hamlet is one of the English playwright William Shakespeare’s most well-known plays. It was written likely between 1599 and 1601. The play centers on Prince Hamlet, who is distraught with grief around his father’s murder. The soliloquy “To Be, Or Not To Be” seems to frame the question increasingly inwards around Hamlet’s own desire to live or to die. From Calvin and Hobbes to Star Trek to The Simpsons, Hamlet’s soliloquy “To Be, or Not To Be” is one of the most commonly cited lines of Shakespeare.

Source: College Transitions