In his famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (Act 3, Scene 1) in Hamlet, Prince Hamlet reflects on the nature of existence and whether it is better to endure life’s hardships or to end them through suicide. He opens with the line:

"To be, or not to be: that is the question,"
which essentially asks, to live or to die.

Throughout the speech, Hamlet compares the pain and suffering of life—which he calls "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"—with the uncertainty of death. He considers death as a sleep that might end all suffering but fears what "dreams may come / In that sleep of death."

This fear of the unknown afterlife, described as "the undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveller returns," ultimately makes him hesitate. It is this uncertainty that compels him, and by extension humans, to endure life’s burdens rather than seek the unknown through death.

Thus, the soliloquy is a philosophical meditation on the pros and cons of suicide as a response to human suffering.