Plot Summary

Question 1

Act 1, Scene 1

Answer 1

Guards meet with Horatio and ask him the ghost of OKH who has been patrolling the castle. the ghost is dressed up in armour but disapears when Horatio tries to speak to him
“Who’s there?”

Question 2

Act 1 Scene 2

Answer 2

Claudius’ first public address to court the threat of Fortinbras is explained Hamlet is left alone on stage and laments his situation
Soliloquy: “O what too, too solid flesh would melt”

Question 3

Act 1, Scene 3

Answer 3

Laertes gets ready to leave, Polonius gives him life lessons he and Polonius separately warn Ophelia about H intentions
“To thine own self be true”

Question 4

Act 1, Scene 4

Answer 4

The ghost appears to Hamlet and men, H follows despite others warnings
“Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health or a goblin damned?”

Question 5

Act 1, Scene 5

Answer 5

Hamlet speaks w ghost who tells him avenge his “foul and most unnatural murder” H plots to put on an “antic disposition”
Soliloquy: “O all you host of heaven! O earth! And shall I couple hell?”

Question 6

Act 2, Scene 1

Answer 6

Polonius instructs Reynaldo to spy on Laertes Ophelia comes in dishevelled reporting Hamlets’ frightening behaviour. Polonius decides to kill the king
“This is the very ecstasy of love”

Question 7

Act 2, Scene 2

Answer 7

Polonius and the king plot to spy on Hamlets interactions w Ophelia in order to determine the cause of his madness
Soliloquy: “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I”

Question 8

Act 3, Scene 1

Answer 8

Ophelia is “looc[ed]” to Hamlets as the king and Polonius watch she returns the love letters and when H asks “where is your father” he turns violent, he then plots the play
Soliloquy:”To be or not be”

Question 9

Act 3, Scene 2 THE MOUSETRAP

Answer 9

Hamlet and Horatio watch Claudius as he watched the mousetrap. He calls for “light” and leaves after witnessing the murder replicated
Soliloquy: “ Tis now the witching time of night”

Question 10

Act 3, Scene 3

Answer 10

Claudius soliloquises about his guilt, and reveals he is struggling to pray. Hamlet enters behind and, ironically, doesn’t kill him as he believes he is praying
Soliloquy: “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying”

Question 11

Act 3, Scene 4 THE CLOSET SCENE

Answer 11

Hamlet confronts Gertrude about her remarriage to murderer. He stabs Polonius through the arras, believing it to be Claudius
“How now! A rat!”

Question 12

Act 4, Scene 1

Answer 12

The queen, distressed, tells Claudius that Polonius is dead. Claudius decides to take action and sends Rosencrantz + Guildenstern to find Hamlet
“My soul is full of discord and dismay”

Question 13

Act 4, Scene 2

Answer 13

R+G confront Hamlet, who refuses to tell him the location of Polonius’ body.
“To be demanded of a sponge […] that soaks up the king’s countenance, his rewards”

Question 14

Act 4, Scene 3

Answer 14

Claudius confronts Hamlet, reveals he is sending him to England. He reveals to the audience that he will also send a death order.
“Do it, England, /For like hectic in my blood he rages.”

Question 15

Act 4, Scene 4

Answer 15

H sees Fortinbras’ army who are travelling through Denmark to Poland to fight “for and eggshell” - inspiring Hamlet
Soliloquy: “How all occasions do inform against me”

Question 16

Act 4, Scene 5

Answer 16

Ophelia is disturbed - sings bawdy songs. Gertrude is concerned. Laertes burts in seeking revenge, for both his father and his sister
“Is’t possible a young maid’s wits/Should be as mortal as an old man’s life?”

Question 17

Act 4, Scene 6

Answer 17

Horatio reads a letter from Hamlet, where he reveals he was attacked by pirates, and is now getting a lift back to Denmark with them
“I have world to speak in your ear that will make thee dumb”

Question 18

Act 4, Scene 7

Answer 18

Claudius has managed to convince Laertes to work together to kill Hamlet with poisoned foil and drinks. Gertrude comes out reporting Ophelia’s “mermaid-like” death
“There is a willow grows aslant a brook”

Question 19

Act 5, Scene 1

Answer 19

The flows are digging a grave. Hamlet enters with Horatio and muses about death. He then witness Ophelia’s funeral, tells Laertes he loved her ‘more than forty-thousand brothers’ and fights him

Question 20

Act 5, Scene 2

Answer 20

Claudia summons Hamlet to fight Laertes in a friendly wager. He and Laertes wound each other with a poisoned blade, Gertrude drinks the poisoned chalice, and Hamlet kills Claudius. Fortinbras takes over.