“To be, or not to be: that is the question …” (3.1.56-89).
In classic plays and in fiction, the literary motif of the “dramatic question” is often used to provide tension and suspense in a work. This question serves as a controlling structure in a work, one around which the main narrative often revolves. This dramatic question is clearly and explicitly expressed in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet during the Dane’s soliloquy during Act 3, Scene 1. Often, the dramatic question is implied in a work, but in Hamlet, it is posed directly to the audience during the soliloquy in which Hamlet states,
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"The Dramatic Question in Hamlet’s Soliloquy: Act 3, Scene 1".
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 …
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; (3.1.56-66)
The dramatic question expressed by Hamlet and understood by the audience here is “Will Hamlet live to avenge his father’s death?” This controlling question is made far more complex by Hamlet’s mental state, which is understandably unstable due to the grief he has experienced, i.e., his father’s sudden and unexpected death, his uncle marrying his mother soon after and gaining the throne, the appearance of his father’s ghost demanding revenge, finding out his father was murdered by his uncle, etc.
Thus, during this soliloquy, Hamlet wonders if he has the fortitude to carry on and avenge his father despite all the trials presented to him, where seemingly the entire kingdom of Denmark is plotting against him. He cannot trust anyone (save for Horatio), and even his once best friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, have turned against him. When Hamlet wonders, “To be or not to be,” he basically expresses the ideological choice he faces: to carry on and “suffer / the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (3.1.57-58) or to end it all and take his own life. Of course, Hamlet also expresses the paradoxical human condition at the end of the soliloquy, which is also, in some ways, a dramatic question: What if the condition of death is worse?
- Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Retrieved from http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/index.html.
Accessed 17 Apr. 2017.
