Is to be or not to be by Shakespeare metaphoric?

Answer 1

Possibly. But, taken literally, Hamlet was contrasting life ('to be'), with death ('not to be'), which is clearly not a metaphoric concept!

In his speech, Hamlet raises a number of moral issues which, at some time or other, and to a greater or lesser degree, are the concerns of us all.

In the context of Hamlet's subsequent words, where he contrasts 'taking action' with 'not taking action', he is either adding further detail about his dilemma, and therefore the extra information becomes a clarification of his previously stated unresolved problem, (if this is so then his reference to a life and death issue was metaphoric) or he is adding a new matter to his grave concerns.

For more information and opinions about Hamlet's speech, see Related links below.