Adversity is defined as a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse misfortune. That said, adversity can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.
“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?” — Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act III, Scene I
For Shakespeare, adversity meant nothing more than the world around him, the only obvious end to it being suicide. However, suicide is a very permanent solution to the often temporary troubles of the world, and Shakespeare understood this to be true. In the aforementioned quotation, his character Prince Hamlet broods over that which is unfair and unpleasant, offering his critique of the human experience but eventually coming to the realization that the alternative isn’t much better. Continue reading