经典永垂不朽——走近莎士比亚

To be, or not to be: that is the question,

Whether it's 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, it's 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,

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

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

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the 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 or with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

奥赛罗是威尼斯公国一员勇将。他与元老的女儿苔丝狄梦娜相爱。因为两人年纪相差太多，婚事未被准许。两人只好私下成婚。奥赛罗手下有一个阴险的旗官伊阿古，一心想除掉奥赛罗。他先是向元老告密，不料却促成了两人的婚事。

他又挑拨奥赛罗与苔丝狄梦娜的感情，说另一名副将凯西奥与苔丝狄梦娜关系不同寻常，并伪造了所谓定情信物等。奥赛罗信以为真，在愤怒中掐死了自己的妻子。当他得知真相后，悔恨之余拔剑自刎，倒在了苔丝狄梦娜身边。

两个男青年拉山德、狄米特律斯同时爱上了女青年赫米娅，而赫米娅恋着拉山德，她的好友海伦娜又恋着狄米特律斯。赫米娅为了反对包办婚姻和情人私奔，来到约定好的森林里。海伦娜将这一消息告诉了狄米特律斯，二人也跟着赶到了森林里。这个森林里本来住着仙王、仙后和侍奉他们的小仙、精灵，此时仙王、仙后正因为一个“换儿”（传说中仙人常于夜间将人家美丽的小儿窃去充做侍童）而不和。仙王为了让仙后做出让步，便派小精灵迫克去取来魔汁以戏弄仙后。这种魔汁有这样的魔力：如果它滴在睡者的人的眼皮上，无论男女，醒来一眼看见的生物，就都会发疯似的爱上它。

魔汁滴在睡着的拉山德的眼皮上，他醒来时一眼看见的是误闯进来的海伦娜，因此而“移情别恋”，对海伦娜大献殷勤，这让可怜的赫米娅伤心万分；而狄米特律斯醒来时一眼看见的恰是被精灵引来的海伦娜，因而“旧情复燃”，这让可怜的赫米娅苦恼万分。两个同样美丽、善良的女孩如今一个被悲伤逼得要发疯、一个被惊喜冲昏了头脑，于是开始恶意地揣测甚至中伤起对方。而另外两个痴情的热血青年又在愤怒中为海伦娜而决斗。

幸福的斗争是如此艰难，天命弄人，可是这种斗争的过程并非一种痛苦，一种悲剧，而是一种有着快乐意味的戏剧性的东西。后来因为仙王的旨意，魔力得以解除、情人终成眷属、仙人和好如初，仙界、人间复归太平。