The question of HAMLET — one of the most renowned plays by probably the greatest playwright of all time, William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) — is not "To be, or not to be." Although perhaps the most famous of all questions ever asked in dramatic literature (and whose meaning theatergoers and scholars have long debated), the answer to the question "to be, or not to be" is by no means certain (even when we ourselves feel quite positive that we know what the question is actually asking).