<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Wikisource has original text related to this article: Hamlet, Act 3 </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Wikisource has original text related to this article: Hamlet, Act 3 </Td> </Tr> <P> "To be, or not to be" is the opening phrase of a soliloquy spoken by Prince Hamlet in the so - called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet . Act III, Scene I . </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>

When does hamlet say to be or not to be