Questions
Alyssa, Crystal, Raz
Quotes
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Claudius: “Have you thy father's leave? What says Polonius?” (Act 1, scene
2, line 57)
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Hamlet: “Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I'll go no further.” (Act 1, scene
5, line 1)
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Polonius: “What, have you given him any hard words of late?”
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Hamlet: “Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free
visitation? Come, come, deal justly with me. Come, come. Nay, speak.”
Guildenstern: “What should we say, my lord?”
Hamlet: “Anything but to th' purpose.” (Act 2, scene 2, lines 275-279)
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Hamlet: “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” (Act 3, scene 1, line 57)
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Hamlet: “What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and
heaven?” (Act 3, scene 1, line 128-130)
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Gertrude: “What shall I do?” (Act 3, scene 4, line 188)
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Laertes: “How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance!
Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare
damnation. To this point I stand, that both the worlds I give to negligence, let
come what comes, only I’ll be revenged most thoroughly for my father.” (Act 4,
scene 5, lines 133-139)
“Who’s there?” –Bernardo (1.1 1)
“The cold middle of the night on the castle platform, the uneasy atmosphere…the
challenges leaping out of the dark, the questions that follow….searching for
identities…for assurance.” (Maynard Mack, The World of Hamlet, 238)
“Am I a coward? / Who calls me villain? Breaks my pate across? / Plucks off my
beard and blows it in my face? / Tweaks me by the nose? Gives me the lie I’th’
throat / As deep as to the lungs? / Who does me this?” –Hamlet (2.2 571-575)
“Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” –Hamlet
(3.1 122-123)
ACT I, SCENE I
Barn. Who’s there? (sets tone of mystery/uncertainty for whole play)
ACT I, SCENE 2
Gert. If it be, why seem it so particular with thee? (introduces us to the
attitudes that shape Hamlet’s behaviour)
ACT 2, SCENE 2
King. ...so by your companies to draw him on to pleasures, and to gather
so much as from occasion you may glean whether aught to us unknown afflicts
him thus, that opened lies within our remedy. (First indication of questioning of
Hamlet… other characters have been questioned [Ophelia, Laertes, the Ghost],
but this is the first time that Hamlet’s motives seriously come into question)
ACT 2, SCENE 2
Ham. A damned defeat was made: am I a coward? (similar to the quote
above, but it’s one of the first times that Hamlet so explicitly examines himself)
ACT 3, SCENE 1
Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the question (this is Hamlet’s
examination of his whole worldview)
ACT 3, SCENE 1
Ham. I did love you once… why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?
(first instance of Hamlet’s polarized worldview. He loved the pure Ophelia, but
now she’s a whore (in his mind), so he loves her not. Or, at least, he pretends that
way.)
ACT 4, SCENE 5
Laer. Where is my father? (This question basically sums up the entire
play. Like, take out father and put in self, brain, moral compass, car, whatever - it
all still works for pretty much every character in the play)
ACT 4, SCENE 7
King. Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you like a painting of a
sorrow, a face without a heart? (This is the issue that Hamlet’s having with
everything: are you for real, or are you putting me on?)
ACT 5, SCENE 1
Ham. Dost thou think Alexander looked o’ this fashion i’th’earth? (A
concrete example of Hamlet’s struggle with the whole mortality deal)
ACT 5, SCENE 2
Ham. Judgement? (Hamlet asking for judgement. Hilarious. The whole
play is about the questions and his own answer to them, and his own inevitable
judgement, and how he resists it, and then he asks Osric of all people for a
judgement.)
Comments
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Shakespeare uses the motif of questions and questioning to show when
characters, such as Hamlet in the play are looking for their next goal to reach.
They wonder what directions they should follow and the answers often helped
them decide on their next course of action. Closer to the end of the play, when
Laertes asks a question about who killed his father, he knows what course of
action he will take.
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Questions lead readers to think about the answers to the questions.
Questions and answers guide the characters to take action. They also guiding
readers to possible future events in the play and making the play flow easier in
the minds of readers following the logic of the characters. The motif of questions
and questioning can also show the characters struggling to make moral decisions
in the play, thus reminds readers to not make light of decisions that involve life
and death.
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Every appearance of the ghost of King Hamlet begins with a question along these lines
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First line of the play—adds air of mystery to the entire play
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Tragedy in the play begins with questions
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Refers to Claudius, after rashly marrying Gertrude—Hamlet still has extreme hatred
towards Claudius
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Rhetorical questions convey Hamlet’s emotions to the audience—anger, sadness
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Questions whether to live or not to live, weighing moral ramifications of life & death
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Realizes through questioning that there is uncertainty in the afterlife
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Connects play’s main themes—life & death, ambiguity of life, appearance vs reality
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Changes the way the audience sees Hamlet & Ophelia’s relationship
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Anger conveyed through questions
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Rhetorical questions allow for Hamlet to shame Ophelia
How does Shakespeare employ/present your motif at various points in the play? Does the
presentation or relevance change? If so, how?
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Questions appear throughout the play, through every character
o
Before every tragedy or appearance of death, several questions are employed (King
Hamlet’s ghost usually appears right after a question is asked & his appearance always leads
characters to ask appearance vs. reality type of questions)
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Most questions are rhetorical, and are used to convey a characters’ emotion during the
scene
o
Anger is a common emotion conveyed through questions
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Hamlet uses rhetorical questions to express his unhappiness with life—contemplating
suicide and his father’s death
o
Also constantly questions life or death—even when deciding whether or not to kill
Claudius
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Other questions are raised throughout the play
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Is Hamlet really crazy or is it just an appearance?
Several parts of the play, it is hard to tell whether it is an act or not (During Hamlet’s
“Get thee to a nunnery” monologue and when he yells at Gertrude for marrying Claudius in Act
3, Scene IV seems genuinely insane out of anger)
What is the overall effect of your motif? How does it contribute to both the play’s meaning and
its impact?
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Adds mysterious feel to the entire play
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Conveys the meaning of the mysteriousness of the world
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The play opens with a question, so from the very beginning of the play, the audience is
left wondering what is real & what is feigned—can we be certain of anything?
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All questions can be linked to other themes of the play
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Questions life & death (should Hamlet kill himself? Should he kill Claudius? What
happens in the afterlife?), the matter of what is true justice (does killing Claudius really avenge
King Hamlet? Everyone dies at the end, how is that justice?), appearance vs. reality (Is the
apparition of King Hamlet’s ghost real? Is Hamlet really crazy? At what parts of the play is he
just pretending to be crazy? At what parts of the play is he actually crazy? Did Hamlet overhear
Polonius and Ophelia planning to deceive him? Does King Hamlet realize the play was meant as
a dig at him? When does Gertrude realize that Claudius isn’t what he appears to be?)
o
play
This leaves an impact on the reader because it makes us question every aspect of the
Relates to the real world as many things are left unanswered & the questions cause the
audience to realize that things aren’t as they
The motif of questions and questioning is employed throughout the play to create an
atmosphere of uncertainty and to call attention to the very cerebral part of the whole play. A
lot of it happens in his head, so these questions are a device to show this whole thought
process. The questions are generally presented as from one to oneself, or one person to
another. The relevance doesn’t really change for the characters doing the questioning, but the
context does. For example, Hamlet’s questions about mortality and the value of life change to a
more concrete context once Polonius and Ophelia die. Perhaps the relevance changes for the
characters, becoming more or less relevant.
The overall impact of the motif is to create an aura of mystery and uncertainty around the story
itself. From the introduction on, the function of these bazillions of questions just help to
confuse us more. Once we get to the end, it’s like driving down a road with hundreds of
switchbacks. You know where you are, but have no clue how you got there. This gives the play a
much greater impact, because instead of a straightforward study in tragedy, we instead have a
play that requires something more of the reader than just comprehension. Questions allow the
reader to answer them, creating a greater impact and more diverse individual meaning for each
person.