中文可以这样翻译.但在英文中这只是表示肯定与否定这一对立问题,要根据语境来看.
这句出自第三幕.其时哈姆雷特为复仇装疯,对一切产生怀疑,却又优柔寡断,矛盾重重
哈: {自言自语}
生存或毁灭, 这是个必答之问题:
是否应默默的忍受坎苛命运之无情打击,
还是应与深如大海之无涯苦难奋然为敌,
并将其克服。
此二抉择, 就竟是哪个较崇高?
死即睡眠, 它不过如此!
倘若一眠能了结心灵之苦楚与肉体之百患,
那么, 此结局是可盼的!
死去, 睡去...
但在睡眠中可能有梦, 啊, 这就是个阻碍:
当我们摆脱了此垂死之皮囊,
在死之长眠中会有何梦来临?
它令我们踌躇,
使我们心甘情愿的承受长年之灾,
否则谁肯容忍人间之百般折磨,
如暴君之政、骄者之傲、失恋之痛、法章之慢、贪官之侮、或庸民之辱,
假如他能简单的一刃了之?
还有谁会肯去做牛做马, 终生疲於操劳,
默默的忍受其苦其难, 而不远走高飞, 飘於渺茫之境,
倘若他不是因恐惧身后之事而使他犹豫不前?
此境乃无人知晓之邦, 自古无返者。
Hamlet: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 heartache, 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,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would these 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 pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.
生存还是毁灭,那是问题。
莎士比亚的名句