Kevin Hardesty performs the famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Act III, Scene I of the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. When the play opens, Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark, has mysteriously died two months earlier, and the King’s brother, Claudius, has assumed the throne and married the King’s wife and Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet meets the Ghost of the dead King, who accuses Claudius of murder. Hamlet must decide the truth of the accusation and what course of action to take. Hardesty opens the segment with a brief introduction to the scene.