What does this Shakespeare Monologue mean?

Question

I have been assigned this monologue for theatre and would like to know what he is talking about so I would know if I am supposed to be acting happy or sad or anything in between.

HAMLET: 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,


Second half below

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 enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

Answer 1

He's wondering whether he should just give up and commit suicide. There's a certain courage in living and dealing with life's problems,"a sea of troubles",and a certain cowardice in taking your own life. Once you're gone you won't suffer and will be able to "end/ The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to". To live equates fighting, a fight that Prince Hamlet was going to lose anyway but was wondering if he shouldn't just give up instead.

Answer 2

Certainly not happy. Depressed and torn - just about out of your mind. He's trying to decide whether to commit suicide or not - on top of all the other messed up stuff that happened to this point.

Answer 3

He's wondering if he should commit suicide.No kidding.
He's talking about the big sleep.