In Hamlet, what does "To be or not to be" mean?

's
meditation in thisconsists of a philosophical argument:  why do men endure suffering when they
have the means to take action and relieve their suffering by dying.  In some ways this soliloquy
is about suicide, butit not contemplating his own suicide but that of people in general.  He
carefully weighs the pros and cons of living, with the cons vastly outweighing the
pros:

Who would bear the whips and scorns of
time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,

The insolence of
office . . . .

When he himself might his...