Shakespeare: Hamlet

Question 1

When Horatio says, “This bodes some strange eruption to our state” (I. 1. 80), what does he mean by “this”?

Answer 1

The appearance of the king as a ghost

Question 2

“The head is not more native to the heart / The hand more instrumental to the mouth / Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father” (I. 2. 48-50) contains an example of…

Answer 2

synecdoche

Question 3

“It shows a will most incorrect to heaven / A heart unfortified, a mind impatient / An understanding simple and unschooled” (I. 2. 100-101) contains an example of…

Answer 3

Parallel structure.

Question 4

“‘Tis an unweeded garden / That grows to seed” (I. 2. 139-140) contains an example of…

Answer 4

Metaphor

Question 5

Hamlet’s statement that “The funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (1. 2. 187-188) suggests…

Answer 5

Hardly any time passed between his father’s dying and his mother’s remarrying.

Question 6

In Act One, Scene 3, why does Laertes warn his sister?

Answer 6

Hamlet cannot do whatever he wants because he is the prince.

Question 7

Ophelia’s reply (I. 3. 50ff) to her brother does not contain an example of …

Answer 7

Allusion

Question 8

In Act One, Scene 3, Polonius thinks of Hamlet’s “vows” as…

Answer 8

Traps

Question 9

According to Hamlet (I. 4. 26ff), some men…

Answer 9

Are ruined by a single flaw in character.

Question 10

“My fate cries out / And makes each petty arture in this body / As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve” (I. 5. 91) does NOT contain an example of

Answer 10

Allusion.

Question 11

What is the Ghost referring to when he says, “O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!” (I. 5. 87)?

Answer 11

Being deprived of life when his soul wasn’t ready.

Question 12

Hamlet’s 2nd soliloquy is known as the tabula rasa speech because…

Answer 12

He swears to have nothing except revenge on his mind.

Question 13

In the first 75 lines of Act Two, Scene 1, Polonius gives Reynaldo instructions to…

Answer 13

Find out what his son is up to.

Question 14

Why does Ophelia tell her father she has been “so affrighted!” (II. 1. 85) by Hamlet?

Answer 14

He showed up completely dishevelled and didn’t say a word.

Question 15

Claudius wants Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to “draw [Hamlet] on to pleasures” (II. 2. 15) because…

Answer 15

He wants to know what else is going on with Hamlet.

Question 16

Polonius’ lines 92-99 in Act Two, Scene 2, are…

Answer 16

Ironic.

Question 17

According to Polonius, Hamlet’s recent behaviour is

Answer 17

The result of his daughter’s rejection.

Question 18

Hamlet’s lines in “the fishmonger scene” with Polonius are written as…

Answer 18

Prose

Question 19

What is the purpose of the encounter between Hamlet and Polonius in Act Two, Scene 2?

Answer 19

To make it difficult to tell whether Hamlet really has lost his mind.

Question 20

In his conversation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet compares Denmark to…

Answer 20

A prison.

Question 21

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tells Hamlet they were sent for because…

Answer 21

He’s found them out and they can’t hide it.

Question 22

“This quintessence of dust” (II. 2. 331) is a metaphor for..

Answer 22

His human existence.

Question 23

Why does Hamlet say “But my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived” (II. 2. 399-400)?

Answer 23

He might seem unhinged, but really still has all of his wits.

Question 24

Hamlet welcomes the Players warmly because…

Answer 24

He has always enjoyed and admired them.

Question 25

What does Hamlet want the Players to do?

Answer 25

Put on a play with lines he’ll add.

Question 26

When he is alone again, who does Hamlet call a “rogue and peasant slave” (II. 2. 576)?

Answer 26

Hamlet

Question 27

In the 3rd soliloquy, Hamlet does NOT express

Answer 27

Residual anger about his mother’s frailty.

Question 28

“He would drown the stage with tears / And cleave the general ear with horrid speech” (II. 2. 589-590) contains (select ALL that apply)

Answer 28

Synecdoche. | Hyperbole.

Question 29

“For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak / With most miraculous organ” (II. 2. 622-623) contains an example of...

Answer 29

Personification.

Question 30

At the end of Act Two, Hamlet decides...

Answer 30

He’ll act once he sees how Claudius reacts to the reenactment of his father’s death.

Question 31

At the beginning of Act Three, who comments specifically on the way Hamlet keeps his distance?

Answer 31

Guildenstern

Question 32

In the text, Ophelia...

Answer 32

Is planted by Polonius in Hamlet’s path.

Question 33

“To sleep” as it appears in Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy could be considered (select ALL that DONT apply)

Answer 33

oxymoron

Question 34

What does this soliloquy have in common with the “rogue and peasant slave” one in the previous Act?

Answer 34

Hamlet’s thoughts on cowardice

Question 35

What happens when Ophelia tries to return certain things to Hamlet?

Answer 35

He denies having given them to her.

Question 36

What reason(s) can Hamlet have for telling Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery” (III. 1. 131ff)? (Select ALL that apply)

Answer 36

She belongs there where she can’t be “a breeder of sinners”. She’s safer there where “arrant knaves” can’t get to her.

Question 37

Why does Ophelia cry, “Oh, woe is me…” (III. 1. 174)?

Answer 37

She sees what a change has come over the Hamlet she knew.

Question 38

At the end of Act Three, Scene 1, Polonius proposes that

Answer 38

He spy on Hamlet while his mother talks to him.

Question 39

Hamlet wants the Player at the start of Act Three, Scene 2, to be...

Answer 39

Subtle.

Question 40

Who says the line, “If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing / And ‘scape detecting, I will pay the theft”?

Answer 40

Horatio

Question 41

Where does Hamlet position himself during the performance?

Answer 41

By Ophelia

Question 42

At what point does Hamlet ask Gertrude whether she’s enjoying the performance?

Answer 42

After the Player Queen leaves the Player King to sleep.

Question 43

Why does the performance end abruptly?

Answer 43

Claudius gets out of his seat.

Question 44

Lines 394ff, “You would play upon me, you / would seem to know my stops, you would pluck / out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me / from my lowest note to the top of my compass; / and there is much music, excellent voice, in this / little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ’Sblood, / do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? / Call me what instrument you will, though you can / fret me, you cannot play upon me” contain an example of...

Answer 44

Extended metaphor.

Question 45

Hamlet’s 5th soliloquy, “‘Tis now the very witching time of night” (III. 2. 419ff) is mainly preoccupied with...

Answer 45

His conference with Gertrude.

Question 46

Claudius is unable to pray because...

Answer 46

He still has the things he killed for.

Question 47

Hamlet does not kill Claudius when he catches his uncle alone because...

Answer 47

It wouldn’t be revenge if he dies in a state of grace.

Question 48

Claudius’ “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below / Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (III. 3. 102-103) makes Hamlet’s decision to put off revenge

Answer 48

Ironic.

Question 49

When in Act Three, Scene 4 does Gertrude cry out for help?

Answer 49

When Hamlet says she cannot leave until she sees her soul

Question 50

What does Gertrude refer to when she says “This is the very coinage of your brain” (157)?

Answer 50

Hamlet seeing his father’s ghost

Question 51

“I must be cruel only to be kind” (199) is an example of...

Answer 51

Paradox.

Question 52

Hamlet does NOT tell his mother...

Answer 52

The Ghost wants him to kill Claudius.

Question 53

“This counselor / Is now most still, most secret, and most grave…” (III. 4. 236-7) does NOT contain...

Answer 53

Hyperbole

Question 54

What does Gertrude tell Claudius at the beginning of Act Four, Scene 1?

Answer 54

Hamlet in madness believed he was killing a rat.

Question 55

Who does Hamlet call a sponge in Act Four, Scene 2?

Answer 55

Rosencrantz

Question 56

Where will Claudius’ men find Polonius?

Answer 56

They’ll smell him once his decomposing body starts to stink up the lobby.

Question 57

“Do it, England / For like the hectic in my blood he rages / And thou must cure me” (IV. 3. 74-76) contain an example of (select ALL that DONT apply)

Answer 57

Euphemism

Question 58

What does Hamlet learn before departing for England?

Answer 58

Fortinbras announcing his presence in Denmark

Question 59

The 6th soliloquy (IV. 4. 34ff) is similar to BOTH the “too, too sullied flesh” and “rogue and peasant slave” soliloquies earlier on in the play because Hamlet once again launches into

Answer 59

A comparison of sharp contrasts in character.

Question 60

Fortinbras is best read as...

Answer 60

A foil.

Question 61

“O, from this time forth / My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!” (IV. 4. 68-69) sounds most like Hamlet’s resolutions in the following soliloquy:

Answer 61

The tabula rasa speech in Act Two

Question 62

Who is the Queen reluctant to see in Act Four, Scene 5?

Answer 62

Ophelia

Question 63

There is pandemonium at Elsinore because...

Answer 63

Laertes has returned with power to challenge the king.

Question 64

What does Claudius promise to give Laertes?

Answer 64

Help with his vendetta

Question 65

Act Four, Scene 6, reveals that Hamlet is already on his way back to Denmark because of

Answer 65

Pirates.

Question 66

Why doesn’t Claudius make a move against Hamlet himself? (Select ALL that apply.)

Answer 66

Gertrude loves her son too much. The people of Denmark would turn against him.

Question 67

Laertes says he will be ruled by Claudius if it means...

Answer 67

He can be the one to kill Hamlet.

Question 68

How will Claudius and Laertes ensure Hamlet dies?

Answer 68

They will poison weapon and drink.

Question 69

What news does Gertrude bring?

Answer 69

Ophelia is drowned in the river.

Question 70

Why does the person for whom a grave is being dug at the start of Act Five get a Christian burial?

Answer 70

She was a gentlewoman.

Question 71

Who’s Yorick?

Answer 71

Someone Hamlet remembers

Question 72

What does the Doctor tell Laertes (230ff)?

Answer 72

Ophelia has already gotten more than she deserves.

Question 73

How does Hamlet react to news of Ophelia’s death?

Answer 73

He rants with grief.

Question 74

When Horatio remarks, “So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to ‘t” (II. 2. 63), what exactly does he mean?

Answer 74

They go unwittingly to their doom.

Question 75

Hamlet expresses remorse for the way he treated

Answer 75

Laertes.

Question 76

What is Hamlet’s answer to Osric?

Answer 76

He will participate in the King’s wager.

Question 77

What does Hamlet deny?

Answer 77

Intending to wrong Laertes

Question 78

Who scores the first two hits of the duel?

Answer 78

Hamlet, both

Question 79

Why does Claudius tell Gertrude not to drink?

Answer 79

He knows it will kill her.

Question 80

Although Laertes intends to harm Hamlet at the 3rd pass, what happens unexpectedly?

Answer 80

Laertes is wounded by his own sword.

Question 81

Who is first to accuse the King outright of treachery?

Answer 81

Laertes

Question 82

What happens to Claudius?

Answer 82

He succumbs to poison in weapon and drink.

Question 83

Why does Horatio pick up the poisoned cup?

Answer 83

He would join Hamlet, his friend.

Question 84

“O proud Death / What feast is toward in thine eternal cell / That thou so many princes at a shot / So bloodily hast struck?” (V. 2. 403ff) contain (select ALL that apply)

Answer 84

rhetorical question

Question 85

Who does Hamlet signal should be in charge of Denmark?

Answer 85

Fortinbras