《哈姆雷特》獨白

《哈姆雷特》經典獨白第三幕第一場

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 wished. 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 despised 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 fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered 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 pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

生存還是毀滅, 這是個值得考慮的問題:

默然忍受命運暴虐的毒箭,

或是挺身反抗人世無涯的苦難,

通過鬥爭把他們掃清，

這兩種行為，哪一種更高貴?

死了，睡著了，什麼都完了。

倘若在這一種睡眠之中,

我們心頭的創痛，以及其他無數血肉之軀所不能避免的打擊，

都可以從此消失，這正是我們求之不得的結局。

死了，睡著了，睡著了也許還會做夢。

嗯， 阻礙就在這:

因為當我們擺脫了這一具腐朽的皮囊以後, 在那死的睡眠裡，

究竟將要做些什麼夢，那不能不使我們躊躇顧慮。

人們甘心久困於患難之中，也就是為了這個緣故。

誰願意忍受人世的鞭撻和譏嘲、壓迫者的凌辱、傲慢者的冷眼、

被輕蔑的愛情的慘痛、法律的遷延、官吏的橫暴和費盡辛勤所換來的小人的鄙視，

要是他只用一柄小小的刀子，就可以清算他自己的一生？

誰願意負著這樣的重擔，在煩勞的生命的壓迫下呻吟流汗，

倘若不是因為懼怕不可知的死後，

懼怕那從來不曾有一個旅人回來過的神秘之國，

是它迷惑了我們的意志，

使我們寧願忍受目前的折磨，

不敢向我們所不知道的痛苦飛去？

這樣，重重的顧慮使我們全變成了懦夫，

決心的熾熱的光彩，被審慎的思維蓋上了一層灰色，

偉大的事業在這一種考慮下，也會逆流而退，

失去了行動的意義。

----《哈姆雷特》（英-莎士比亞）中的經典獨白