Hamlet: Questions for Study

Act 1 Questions
Scene 1                      
1. Where does this play take place? What time is it? Why is this time significant?

@The play begins in winter night outside Elsinore Castle in Denmark, after late hours like night. Night is at time when people are sleeping or are tired and could have hallucinations about such things.

2. As the play opens, Horatio joins Marcellus and Bernardo at their night watch. Why has Horatio joined them?

@So he can see what the guys were talking a bout, saying that every night they have seen this foggy figure similar to the once dead king.

3. Bernardo says to Horatio that he will “once again assail your ears.” Why use the word assail?

@Because right now Horatio does not believe this whole story of a ghost, but Bernardo attempts to try and get his faith or trusting the story up and going; this is tech. what a sail does on a boat, it gets the boat moving by letting the wind be its guide a.k.a Bernardo the wind and Horatio the sail mentioned.

4. What does Marcellus mean when he says to Horatio, “Thou art a scholar; speak to it…”?

@HE means that you have plenty intelligence to communicate with the ghost.

5. How does Horatio interpret the appearance of the ghost?

     @ AS a copy of the once a live king of their land and that it seemed to be wearing the same armor that the king was buried in.
4. What three questions does Marcellus raise?

     @Why is it up so late? @Is it not like the king? @Shall i strike at it with my partisan?

5. In a long speech, Horatio answers Marcellus. Summarize as briefly as you can the events that have led to preparations for war.

     @The lands that the previous king had won longer wnat to be under your rule so they are leaving. This Guy wants Hamlet to release the lands, but Hamlet wont do it so now they are preparing for war.
6. To what event in history does Horatio allude? What is the connection here? List similarities.

     @Napoleon.Julius Ceaser and his down fall.
Both kings were defeted and both were losing their kingdom that they had worked hard to gain control.

7. What three reasons does Horatio list for the superstition of a ghost's returning from the grave?

     @Their is a an unhappy event doomed to take place.
8. What signals the ghost’s departure?  Explain the Biblical allusion.

     @ when they ask him to talk to them, then try to harm it. IDK!!!!!
9. In light of class discussion, what is the relevance and possible meaning of the statement made by Horatio, “And then it started, like a guilty thing/ Upon a fearful summons.”

     @The ghost began to leave.
10. What myths about Christmas does Marcellus mention?

     @The day Jesus was born.
11. Why do Horatio and Marcellus decide to tell Hamlet?
     @So he can know and they think that the spirit will talk to Hamlet.
Scene 2                      
12.What news does King Claudius announce at the opening of scene 2?

     @his recent marriage to Gertrude, his brother’s widow and the mother of Prince Hamlet.
13. Why does Claudius send Cornelius and Voltimand to Norway?

     @
14. What request does Laertes make of Claudius?

     @He wants to return to France
15. Claudius calls Hamlet, “…my cousin Hamlet, and my son….” What is Hamlet’s response? What does it mean? Why is it in an aside?

     @He was not so happy about tht.

"A little more than kin, and less than kind."

     @That Claudius is not right for his mother or the kingdom

16. What bothers Claudius and Gertrude about Hamlet's dress and attitude? What does each say to him that illustrates their concern?

     @That he is morning to much over his father's death, so they persuade him not to go back to Wittneberg for school.
17. Why does Hamlet object so strenuously to his mother’s use of the word seems?

     @becuase he doesn't think that his mother is getting what he is trying to say.
18. What negative attributes does Claudius accuse Hamlet of having in regards to his mourning his father’s death?

     @that Hamlet's stubbornness is the unmanly way of grieving, Claudius goes on to say that this shows a weak heart with impatiences leading to a conclusion that he is unschooled, displeasing to the heavens.
19. Why reason does Claudius give for wanting Hamlet to remain at court? What might the real reason be?

     @because being so far is making hamlet weak and they need him to be in good shape if he is going to be the next in line for the throne.
20. How does Hamlet show disrespect to the king in the conversation about returning to college?

     @he is sarcastic
21. What is Hamlet’s wish in the first few lines of his soliloquy?

     @to bring his father back
22. About how long has Hamlet's father been dead?

     @about two months
23. How long after King Hamlet’s death did Gertrude and Claudius marry?

     @ within a month, so the first moth.
24. Explain why Hamlet says, "Frailty, thy name is woman!"

     @
25. Hamlet sarcastically says, “Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats/Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.” What does you think he means?

     @
26. After being told about the ghosts, Hamlet asks many questions. List three of them and explain what he might be trying to figure out.

     @
27. At the end of scene 2, what is Hamlet's plan?

     @
28. Explain Hamlet’s last speech. What do his comments suggest?
     @
Scene 3                      
29. Why does Laertes warn his sister Ophelia not to place too much hope in Hamlet's attentions to her?

     @
30. What does Laertes say must govern Hamlet's marriage choice?

     @
31.  What advice does Ophelia in turn give to Laertes?

     @
32. Polonius gives a great deal of advice to his son Laertes. In your own words, explain what each of the following means:
     a"Give thy thoughts no tongue,/ Nor any unproportioned thought his act."
     b. "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;"
     c. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be;/ For loan oft loses both itself and friend,…"

     @
33. What are Polonius's instructions to Ophelia about Hamlet? What is her response?
     @
Scene 4                      
34. What is happening at the court while Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus are on the platform?

     @
35. Why does Hamlet denounce the custom of drunken celebration?

     @
36. What lines best show the two distinct possibilities of the ghost’s nature?

     @
37. Why do the others think the ghost might be drawing Hamlet away? Why does the ghost really want to draw Hamlet away?

     @
38. What action by Hamlet best shows how bold he can be?

     @
39. What happens at the end of scene 4?
     @
Scene 5                      
40. What does the Ghost reveal about the manner of his death?

     @
41. What does the ghost expect Hamlet to do?

     @
42. What does Hamlet mean when he says, “O my prophetic soul”?

43. What are the conditions of the ghost’s purgatory?

44. What does the ghost tell Hamlet about his mother? What does this imply about her involvement in the ghost’s murder?

45. Why might the ghost need to end his speech to Hamlet with the words “Remember me”?

46. What does Hamlet mean by saying that he’ll, “…wipe away all trivial fond records,/All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past/That youth and observation copied there,/And thy commandment all alone shall live,/Within the book and volume of my brain…”?

47. What do Hamlet and the ghost make the others do repeatedly? Why does Hamlet use a sword for this purpose?

48. What does Hamlet imply he may decide to do?

Hamlet: Act 2 Questions
Scene 1:                     
1. At the opening of this scene, to where is Polonius sending Reynaldo?

     @to France
2. Why does Polonius send him on this journey?

     @spy on Laertes’ personal life.
3. By what trick is Reynaldo supposed to get information about Laertes?

     @by entering his life and getting close to him.
4. What does this reveal about Polonius's character?

     @he is not a trustworthy person.
5. How would you describe the effect of Polonius's rambling speech to Reynaldo in lines 50-67?

     @it makes Reynaldo respectful and ends up changing his tone now he has no doubt or is scared.
6. How does Ophelia describe Hamlet's appearance to her?

     @ Hamlet is a mess and he is delirious of suspicion.
7. What is Polonius's conclusion about Hamlet?

     @he is madly in love with Ophelia
8. What is Hamlet really doing? Why Ophelia?
     @trying to confuse them since they were spying on him.
Scene 2:                     
9. At the beginning of scene 2, for whom has Claudius sent? Why has he sent for them?

     @Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. because so to help Hamlet out of this fog he is in over his father's death.
10. What news do Voltimand and Cornelius bring back from Norway?

     @the king rebuked Fortinbras for attempting to make war on Denmark, and Fortinbras swore he would never again attack the Danes; and befriended the king who gave him anrmy so he could attack the Poles.
11. What request does Norway make of Claudius?

     @to let the Prince Fortinbra's armies free and safe passage through Denmark on their way to attack the poles.
12. What is humorously ironic about Polonius saying, "Brevity is the soul of wit"?

     @
13 What plan is formed to test Polonius's hypothesis that Hamlet is mad from rejected love?

     @
14. Hamlet calls Polonius a "fishmonger". Why?

15. What does Polonius say about the contrast between madness and sanity?

16. Why does Hamlet tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that "Denmark's a prison"?

17. What reason does Hamlet give to his friends for his current condition?

18. According to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, why are the players traveling?

19. Why does Hamlet think that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern cannot be trusted? What does he let them know? Explain how they are being used.

20. Why does Hamlet call Polonius "Jephthah"?

21. Hamlet and the First Player recite lines from a play. This play tells how Pyrrhus slays the Trojan king Priam to avenge his father's murder. How is Hamlet like Pyrrhus? How is he unlike Pyrrhus?

22. What two questions does Hamlet ask the First Player? Why does he ask them?

23. What causes Hamlet to exclaim, "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"?

24. What plan does Hamlet devise?

25. Why does Hamlet feel he must have evidence of Claudius's guilt?

26. In thinking about Act 2, list examples of one or more characters spying on another character.

27. Make a list of character traits Hamlet possesses, as seen in Acts 1 & 2.

Hamlet Act 3 Questions
Scene 1:                     
1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Polonius?
2. How does Claudius react when Polonius says, "…with devotion's visage, And pious action we do sugar o'er/ The devil himself"?
3. What plan do Polonius, Claudius and Ophelia now put into action?
4. Briefly explain Hamlet's soliloquy.
5. What is Hamlet's main argument against suicide?
6. Why does Hamlet treat Ophelia as cruelly as he does? What has changed him?
7. What thinly veiled threat to Claudius does Hamlet voice, after he becomes aware of his hidden presence?
8. At the end of this scene, what does the King decide to do with Hamlet?

Scene 2:                     
9. What qualities in Horatio cause Hamlet to enlist his assistance?
10. What does Hamlet ask Horatio to do?
11. Summarize what happens in the play-within-a-play.
12. Why does Hamlet refer to the play-within-a-play as "The Mouse-trap"?
13. What is the King's reaction to the play?
14. To what object does Hamlet compare himself? Why?
15. As Hamlet goes to his mother at the end of this scene, what does he admonish himself to do?

Scene 3:                     
16. What does Claudius ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to do?
17. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern say in support of Claudius?
18. What does Claudius find nearly impossible to do?
19. Why doesn't Hamlet kill Claudius when he discovers him in an attitude of prayer?

Scene 4:                     
20. What does Polonius urge the Queen to do?
21. Under what misapprehension does Hamlet slay Polonius?
22. Hamlet says to his mother, "You go not till I set you up a glass/ Where you may see the inmost part of you." In what way does he do this?
23. Why does the Ghost appear to Hamlet again?
24. What does Hamlet ask of his mother?
25. The climax is the turning point in a story or play when the action changes course and begins to resolve itself. It is generally agreed that the climax of Hamlet occurs in Act Three. When does it occur?
 
Hamlet Act 4 Questions
Scenes 1 & 2:            
1. How does the queen protect Hamlet?
2. What does Claudius ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to do?
3. What does Hamlet mean when he calls Rosencrantz a "sponge"?

Scene 3:                     
4. Why does Claudius say he must hide the haste with which Hamlet is being sent away?
5. In lines 34-38, what does Hamlet tell Claudius he has done with Polonius?
6. What does Claudius arrange to happen to Hamlet when he arrives in England?

Scene 4:                     
7. Who does Hamlet meet in this scene?
8. What purpose unites Fortinbras's troops?
9. What effect does this meeting have on Hamlet?

Scenes 5 & 6:
10. What has happened to Ophelia?
11. Why does the Queen agree to go see her?
12. What are the problems Claudius lists in lines 77-94?
13. Why does Laertes break into Claudius's chamber?
14. What does Claudius tell Laertes to do?
15. What happens to Hamlet during his passage to England?

Scene 7:                     
16. In lines 5-9, what does Laertes ask Claudius?
17. What is the King's response?
18. What scheme is planned by Claudius and Laertes?
19. What is their back-up plan?
20. What news does the Queen bring? Recount the scene she describes.
21. Was Ophelia's death was an accident or suicide? Explain.

Hamlet Act 5
Scene 1:                     
1. What implications are the clowns' making in their opening conversation?
2. Why does the manner of Ophelia's burial cause so much comment?
3. What reason is given for her having a Christian burial?
4. What is foreshadowed in the scene in the graveyard?
5. What is ironic about Hamlet joking with the grave-diggers?
6. What general comment about time is made in the grave-digging scene?
7. In line 222, how does the priest account for Ophelia's Christian burial?
8. What does Laertes do that angers Hamlet?
9. What is Hamlet's response to these actions of Laertes?

Scene 2:                    
10. What did Hamlet do to the commission letters that Claudius had sent with him?
11. In line 62, Horatio exclaims, "Why, what a king is this!" What change (finally) has taken place in Hamlet?
12. What does Hamlet mean when he says, "…by the image of my cause, I see/ the portraiture of his…"?
13. In lines 202-204, how does Hamlet feel about the fencing match?
14. What is the nature of Hamlet's speech to Laertes before they fence?
15. Who accidentally drinks the poisoned wine?
16. How is Hamlet mortally wounded?
17. What long-anticipated act does Hamlet finally complete?
18. What does Horatio attempt to do?
19. Why does Hamlet entreat Horatio to stay alive?
20. What is Hamlet's final act as King of Denmark?
21. Certain actions throughout the final scene of the play can be linked by cause and effect. For every cause that's listed below, give the effect (results) of the listed causes (actions)
    A)Hamlet rewrites Claudius's orders               B)Hamlet agrees to take part in the fencing match
    C) Claudius poisons a cup of wine                   D)Laertes poisons his sword point