I think it helps to put the entire verse from Shakespeare into context. (from memory): To be, or not to be. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms, and by opposing end them.
To me this means that he would gladly suffer the S & A but that he is taking up arms to oppose them. Arms meaning the spirit freedom born into God fearing Americans.
I think it helps to put the entire verse from Shakespeare into context. (from memory): To be, or not to be. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms, and by opposing end them.
To me this means that he would gladly suffer the S & A but that he is taking up arms to oppose them. Arms meaning the spirit freedom born into God fearing Americans.