Hamlet's famous speech on whether it's worthwhile living or doing anything needs little comment. He says it seems to him that life is not worth living, mostly because people treat each other so stupidly and badly. We also suffer from disease and old age -- even living too long is a "calamity". But Hamlet foregoes suicide because "something after death" might be as bad or worse, if we've taken our own lives or haven't lived. He's saying what many people have felt, especially those who do not assume that the Christian account of the afterlife is true -- or even that there is any afterlife. Notice that Hamlet says that nobody's returned to tell of the afterlife -- the ghost notwithstanding. Shakespeare seems to be saying, loud and clear, "Don't focus on the story. Focus on the ideas." Some people have been puzzled by the lines "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." Not only is Hamlet talking about actual suicide -- he's also talking about "lifelong suicide" by doing nothing, choosing the easy passive approach to life. Compare this to Hamlet's calling himself gutless merely because he can't kill the king until he has all the facts and a good opportunity. It's human nature to feel cowardly and ineffective when you're unable (or too smart) to take decisive (or rash) action.
             "Is life worth living? It depends on the liver!". Seriously, we've all asked this question. Shakespeare offers no answer, only Hamlet's courage and dignity in accepting the human condition, saying "No!" to corruption, and in meeting his own task and his own death.
             Hamlet is called to his revenge "by heaven and hell", i.e., something which Shakespeare thought of as more fundamental than "the struggle between good and evil". Hamlet talks a great deal about the natur...