<P> Though it is called a soliloquy Hamlet is not alone when he makes this speech because Ophelia is on stage pretending to read while waiting for Hamlet to notice her , and Claudius and Polonius , who have placed Ophelia in Hamlet 's way in order to overhear their conversation and find out if Hamlet is really mad or only pretending , have concealed themselves . Even so , Hamlet seems to consider himself alone and there is no indication that the others on stage hear him before he addresses Ophelia . In the speech , Hamlet contemplates death and suicide , bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse . The meaning of the speech is heavily debated but seems clearly concerned with Hamlet 's hesitation to avenge his father 's murder ( discovered in Act I ) by his uncle Claudius . </P>
<P> Though it is called a soliloquy Hamlet is not alone when he makes this speech because Ophelia is on stage pretending to read while waiting for Hamlet to notice her , and Claudius and Polonius , who have placed Ophelia in Hamlet 's way in order to overhear their conversation and find out if Hamlet is really mad or only pretending , have concealed themselves . Even so , Hamlet seems to consider himself alone and there is no indication that the others on stage hear him before he addresses Ophelia . In the speech , Hamlet contemplates death and suicide , bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse . The meaning of the speech is heavily debated but seems clearly concerned with Hamlet 's hesitation to avenge his father 's murder ( discovered in Act I ) by his uncle Claudius . </P>
who does hamlet say to be or not to be to
who does hamlet say to be or not to be to
himself
himself