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Hamlet 1

Summary and critical study
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31 views11 pages

Hamlet 1

Summary and critical study
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hamlet 297) is directly based upon one of the major texts


of the Italian humanists, Pico della Mirandola’s
date of first publication · 1603, in a pirated Oration on the Dignity of Man.
quarto edition titled The Tragicall Historie of
Hamlet; 1604 in a superior quarto edition Charact List

There are Seven soliloquies in hamlet Hamlet - The Prince of Denmark, the title
character, and the protagonist. About thirty years
“The Rest is Silence” is the last words of old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of
Hamlet Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the
nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is
What is the name of play within the play or
what is the name of the play enacted by the melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for
troop in Hamlet? The Murder of Gonzago his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s
What is the name Hamlet given to the play or sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man
what did he calls the play? The Mousetrap. who has studied at the University of Wittenberg,
Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at
Context other times prone to rash and impulsive acts.

Written during the first part of the seventeenth Claudius - The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s
century (probably between 1599 and 1602), uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain of the
Hamlet was probably first performed in July 1602. play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious
It was first published in printed form in 1603 and politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his
appeared in an enlarged edition in 1604. lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of
guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude,
Longest tragedy of Shakespeare for instance, seems sincere.

Possible sources of the play Gertrude - The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s


mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude
The story of Hamlet ultimately derived from the loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak
legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century woman who seeks affection and status more
chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta urgently than moral rectitude or truth.
Danorum,
Polonius - The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s
Subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is
François de Belleforest in Histoires Tragiques the father of Laertes and Ophelia.
Shakespeare may also have drawn on an earlier Horatio - Hamlet’s close friend, who studied
(hypothetical) Elizabethan play known today as with the prince at the university in Wittenberg.
the Ur-Hamlet (Thomas Kyd) Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout
Renaissance humanism, as this movement is the play. After Hamlet’s death, Horatio remains
now called, generated a new interest in human alive to tell Hamlet’s story.
experience, and also an enormous optimism about Ophelia - Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young
the potential scope of human understanding. woman with whom Hamlet has been in love.
Hamlet’s famous speech in Act II, “What a piece Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who
of work is a man! How noble in reason, how obeys her father and her brother, Laertes.
infinite in faculty, in form and moving how Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she
express and admirable, in action how like an gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet.
angel, in apprehension how like a god—the beauty Even in her lapse into madness and death, she
of the world, the paragon of animals!” (II.ii.293–
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remains maidenly, singing songs about flowers Important quotations


and finally drowning in the river amid the flower
garlands she had gathered. “Let me not think on’t,—Frailty, thy name is
woman!—
Laertes - Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body
young man who spends much of the play in
Like Niobe, all tears;—why she, even she,—
France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet. Would have mourn’d longer,—married with mine
uncle,
Fortinbras - The young Prince of Norway,
whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was Acti I scene II, first important soliloquy of
killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Hamlet. Hamlet speaks these lines after enduring
Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to the unpleasant scene at Claudius and Gertrude’s
avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil court, then being asked by his mother and
for Prince Hamlet. stepfather not to return to his studies at Wittenberg
but to remain in Denmark, presumably against his
The Ghost - The specter of Hamlet’s recently
wishes. Here, Hamlet thinks for the first time
deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have
about suicide.
been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to
avenge him. However, it is not entirely certain
whether the ghost is what it appears to be, or
whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates Give thy thoughts no tongue,
that the ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar….
and tempt him into murder, and the question of
what the ghost is or where it comes from is never Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
definitively resolved. Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy
judgment.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - Two slightly …
bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and …
Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange This above all,—to thine own self be true;
behavior.
This famous bit of fatherly advice is spoken by
Osric - The foolish courtier who summons Polonius to Laertes shortly before Laertes leaves
Hamlet to his duel with Laertes. for France, in Act I, scene iii (59–80). Polonius,
who is bidding Laertes farewell, gives him this list
Voltimand and Cornelius - Courtiers whom of instructions about how to behave before he
Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to sends him on his way.
prevent Fortinbras from attacking.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Marcellus and Bernardo - The officers who first
This line is spoken by Marcellus in Act I, scene
see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and
iv (67), as he and Horatio debate whether or not to
who summon Horatio to witness it. Marcellus is follow Hamlet and the ghost into the dark night.
present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost.
…..What a piece of work is man
Francisco - A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore. ! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties!
in form
Reynaldo - Polonius’s servant, who is sent to
and moving, how express and admirable! in
France by Polonius to check up on and spy on action
Laertes.
3

how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a


god!
the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!
And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

In these lines, Hamlet speaks to Rosencrantz and


Guildenstern in Act II, scene ii (287–298),
explaining the melancholy that has afflicted him
since his father’s death.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:


Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,…

This soliloquy, probably the most famous speech


in the English language, is spoken by Hamlet in
Act III, scene i (58–90). His most logical and
powerful examination of the theme of the moral
legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful
world, it touches on several of the other important
themes of the play.
4

ACT 1 SCENE 1

Marcellus and Bernardo have seen a ghost on the castle battlements for the past two nights. Horatio comes
to investigate and Marcellus informs the other guards that Horatio has said '‘tis but our fantasy, / And will
not let belief take hold of him'. Suddenly, the apparition appears looking exactly like Old Hamlet, the dead
King of Denmark. The ghost of the king is dressed in his battle armour. Horatio explains to the other
guards how the ambitious Fortinbras tried to conquer Denmark but was killed by Old Hamlet, ‘who by a
sealed compact, / Well ratified by law and heraldry, / Did forfeit, with his life, all these lands / Which he
stood seized on to the conqueror'.

ACT 1 SCENE 2

King Claudius addresses the court and talks about the sad death of his brother, Old Hamlet. He then toasts
his marriage to his brother’s wife, Gertrude, saying 'With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, / In
equal scale weighing delight and dole' he has 'Taken to wife' his 'sometime sister'. He then continues to
address political problems by talking about Prince Fortinbras of Norway. Claudius gives Laertes
permission to return to his studies in France having celebrated the coronation of the new king and queen.
Gertrude and Claudius then speak to Hamlet and urge him to stop grieving over his father. Claudius says 'to
persever / In obstinate condolement is a course / Of impious stubbornness: ‘tis unmanly grief'. Hamlet is
appalled by his mother’s marriage to his uncle and privately says 'O, most wicked speed, to post / With
such dexterity to incestuous sheets!'. His good friend Horatio interrupts him to report that he’s seen the
ghost of his father.

ACT 1 SCENE 3

Before Laertes returns to France, he encourages his sister Ophelia not to take Hamlet’s wooing seriously.
Polonius then gives Laertes some fatherly advice for while he studies abroad and also tells Ophelia to stay
away from Hamlet.

ACT 1 SCENE 4

Hamlet meets Horatio at night to try and see the ghost for himself. The apparition appears and Hamlet says
'Angels and ministers of grace defend us! / Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned'. The ghost beckons
Hamlet to follow him.

ACT 1 SCENE 5

The ghost tells Hamlet how he was murdered by his brother, Claudius. He reveals that Claudius poured
poison in his ear while he was asleep and managed to seduce Gertrude. He instructs Hamlet to 'Revenge his
foul and most unnatural murder'. The ghost disappears and when Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellus what
5

has happened he begs them not to tell anyone. The ghost reappears and forces them to 'Swear.' The two men
immediately give their word.

ACT 2 SCENE 1

Polonius employs a servant to travel to Paris and spy on his son, Laertes. Polonius then learns that Hamlet
has been behaving oddly towards Ophelia and has been physically rough with her. Polonius claims 'This is
the very ecstasy of love, / Whose violent property fordoes itself / And leads the will to desperate
undertakings'. He believes Hamlet is sick with love for his daughter and intends to report this to the king.

ACT 2 SCENE 2

Claudius invites Hamlet’s childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Elsinore Castle to
investigate 'Hamlet’s transformation’ and find out why he is behaving strangely. Polonius enters and shares
his view with Claudius and Gertrude that Hamlet has been driven to madness because of his love for
Ophelia. Polonius reads from a letter that Hamlet sent his daughter: 'Doubt that the stars are fire, / Doubt that
the sun doth move, / Doubt truth to be a liar, / But never doubt I love'. Polonius suggests the king and queen
spy on Hamlet as he talks to him. Hamlet speaks in riddles, suggesting that he is mad, though his speech also
contains hidden meanings which Polonius picks up on. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter and Hamlet
reveals that he knows they were sent to spy on him. They announce that the ‘tragedians of the city’ are
arriving to cheer Hamlet up. The travelling players arrive and Hamlet asks them to perform a moving
speech from ‘Hecuba and Priam’. He then asks them to perform 'The Murder of Gonzago' for the king
and his guests the following evening. Before they leave he gets their permission for him to write a 12 line
speech that he wants to be included in the play. Alone, he praises the actor who delivered the speech for
connecting to his true emotions when performing and criticises himself for being unable to express his inner
feelings.

ACT 3 SCENE 1

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Claudius, telling him that they don’t know why Hamlet is behaving
strangely. Claudius then arranges a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia so that he and Polonius can hide
and watch them. They believe this will confirm whether Hamlet is sick with love or not. Before this,
Hamlet delivers a soliloquy talking about his own existence and delivering his famous speech
beginning ‘To be, or not to be, that is the question’. When Ophelia enters, Hamlet confuses her with
mixed messages. One moment he says 'I did love you once', the next 'I loved you not'. He goes on to insult
Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery to repent her sins. Ophelia doesn't understand the way he treats her
and can't believe she 'sucked the honey of his music vows' in the past. Having seen all of this, Claudius
decides that Hamlet is not in love with Ophelia and believes 'what he spake, though it lacked for a little, was
not like madness'.
6

ACT 3 SCENE 2

Hamlet talks to the actors before they perform. He wants the play to 'hold a mirror up to nature' as the plot is
very similar to the events leading up to his father’s death. Hamlet instructs Horatio to observe Claudius’
response to the play to see if he shows any guilt. The performance begins by depicting a happily married
king and queen but the player king becomes sick and worries that his queen may marry again. Another actor
enters and poisons the player king. Hamlet announces that this man plots to marry the dead king’s wife and,
at this moment, Claudius rises in fury and calls for 'light' before storming out of the performance. Queen
Gertrude follows him. Hamlet and Horatio take this reaction as proof that the ghost was telling the truth and
Claudius killed his brother. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern summon Hamlet to talk to his mother and he
snaps at them, declaring that he has known all along that they were spying on him. Alone, Hamlet talks
about revenge and says ‘now could I drink hot blood / And do such bitter business as the day / Would quake
to look on'.

ACT 3 SCENE 3

Claudius has grown tired of Hamlet’s antics and tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get ready to go to
England. He wants to send them away from Denmark, with Hamlet. Alone, Claudius sinks to his knees
and prays. He confesses to the murder of his brother, whispering 'O, my offence is rank, it smells to
heaven: / It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, / A brother’s murder'. Hamlet observes him as he prays but
decides not to kill his uncle while he is talking to God.

ACT 3 SCENE 4

Hamlet visits his mother in her closet and threatens her. Polonius is spying on them from behind the arras
and when Gertrude screams, Polonius makes a noise. Hamlet is shocked and stabs through the arras with a
knife. He is surprised when he pulls back the screen to see the dead body of Polonius. Hamlet’s fury builds
as he confesses his disgust at his mother’s recent marriage. The ghost of his father appears and tells him
not to be so harsh on Gertrude. Gertrude either can’t see the spirit or pretends not to. Hamlet demands that
his mother changes her ways and that she doesn’t tell Claudius about their meeting. He also reveals that he
knows about the plan for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take him to England and tells her he has to go.
Hamlet leaves the closet, pulling the corpse of Polonius with him. Gertrude then tells Claudius that Hamlet
is ‘Mad as the seas and wind when both contend / Which is the mightier’ and has killed the ‘good old man’
Polonius. She tells him Hamlet has gone ‘to draw apart the body he hath killed’, and taken the body away.

ACT 4 SCENE 1

When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find Hamlet, he tells them he keeps his ‘own counsel’ and will not
listen to them. He tells them that Claudius is using them like a ‘sponge’ and ‘when he needs what you have
gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again’. He refuses to tell them where the body
is, answering their questions in riddles.
7

ACT 4 SCENE 2

Claudius worries that he cannot punish Hamlet too much because the people of Denmark love him. When
Claudius questions Hamlet over the whereabouts of Polonius’ body, he answers in riddles again before
saying that he will smell the corpse ‘as you go up the stairs into the lobby’. Claudius informs Hamlet that he
must travel to England for his own ‘especial safety’. Alone, Claudius reveals that he has sent letters to
England ordering the ‘present death’ of Hamlet and is pleased that he will be out of the way.

ACT 4 SCENE 3

Fortinbras talks to a captain in his army and orders him to go and see the Danish king and claim their right to
march across Denmark.

ACT 4 SCENE 4

Ophelia visits the queen, who does not want to see her but eventually she agrees. Ophelia sings songs and
when Claudius comes in he and Gertrude agree that Ophelia is sick and he says that ‘this is the poison of
deep grief: it springs / All from her father’s death’. Messengers then report that Laertes has returned and that
the Danish people want him to be their king. When Laertes enters he is in a rage, demanding to know what
happened to his father. He then sees the state of his sister Ophelia, exclaiming ‘O heavens, is’t possible a
young maid’s wits / Should be as mortal as an old man’s life?’ Hearing news that Hamlet is responsible for
both tragedies, he declares that Hamlet will have an ‘obscure burial -- / No trophy, sword, nor hatchment
o’er his bones’.

ACT 4 SCENE 5

Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet saying that he has been kidnapped by pirates but they've taken mercy
on him. Meanwhile, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have gone to England. Hamlet demands that Horatio
meet him at once so that he can impart some shocking news to him.

ACT 4 SCENE 6

Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet left Denmark without being punished for Polonius’ murder because the
Danish people love him. News reaches Claudius that Hamlet is now back in Denmark and he plots with
Laertes to set up a duel between Hamlet and Laertes. Laertes says ‘I’ll anoint my sword’ and plans to dip his
blade in deadly poison before the fight. Claudius doesn't want to take any risks so he says he will also
prepare a 'chalice' of poison for Hamlet to drink in case he ‘by chance escape your venom’d stuck’.
Gertrude then enters with the news that Ophelia has drowned herself. Laertes is too devastated to cry
and says 'Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, / And therefore I forbid my tears'.
8

ACT 5 SCENE 1

Two gravediggers are discussing whether Ophelia should have a Christian burial when she is believed to
have killed herself. As the two characters dig the grave, they throw out the bones of other dead people and
sing songs. Hamlet passes this grave with Horatio and is shocked to see the bones of dead people being
treated so badly. One of the gravediggers shows Hamlet the skull of a court jester. Hamlet is taken aback
saying ‘Alas poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy'. Hamlet
then contemplates how we all turn to dust in the end. The scene is interrupted by the royal family and
Laertes entering the graveyard to bury Ophelia. An argument takes place between Laertes and Hamlet when
Hamlet leaps into the grave and says 'I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers / Could not -- with all their
quantity of love -- / Make up my sum’ and they fight. Hamlet leaves and Horatio goes after him.

ACT 5 SCENE 2

Hamlet reveals that he found the sealed letter Claudius had written ordering his death in England. He tells
Horatio he used his father's seal to write another letter ordering the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
and swapped them. A servant invites Hamlet to make amends with Laertes by fighting him in a duel. The
court then comes together to watch the fight. Hamlet starts by apologising to Laertes and saying ‘Give me
your pardon, sir: I’ve done you wrong’. The men then choose their weapons and Laertes takes the sword
with a poisoned tip. After they have started, Claudius drinks to Hamlet’s health before dropping a poisoned
pearl into the cup and offering it to Hamlet. Hamlet doesn’t drink it but during the fight Gertrude drinks the
wine from the poisoned cup. Claudius tries to stop her saying ‘Gertrude, do not drink’ but it’s too late and
Gertrude slowly dies. The fight continues and both men end up swapping swords. They are both wounded
with the deadly poison. Laertes falls first and warns Hamlet ‘thou art slain’ and that ‘the king, the
king’s to blame’. In a fit of rage, Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the poisoned wine and ‘Follow my
mother’. Before Laertes dies, he and Hamlet forgive each other. Hamlet then asks Horatio to tell his story to
others and predicts that Fortinbras will become King of Denmark. He utters his final breath, saying ‘The
rest is silence. O, o, o, o!’. Fortinbras enters with his army, celebrating the fact they have claimed the land
in Poland and ambassadors also arrive from England saying Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been killed.
Horatio promises to explain the chaos. Fortinbras is moved by Hamlet’s story and orders a soldier’s burial
for the dead prince.
9

Questions
13. Hamlet speaks these words when he and
Horatio are in the graveyard.
1.Who said, "As I perchance hereafter shall think "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
meet to put an antic disposition on"? of -------- jest."?
a)Hamlet b)Claudius c)Gertrude d)Polonius
e)Ophelia 14. inish this quote by Hamlet.
"The rest is -------"?
2. Who said, "O, that this too too solid flesh would
melt"? 15. --------calls "Hamlet an Artistic Failure"?
a)Hamlet b)Claudius c)Polonius d)Gertrude
e)Ophelia 16. Who called "Hamlet” is the "Mona Lisa of
Literature"?
3. Who said, "Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of
unimproved mettle hot and full"? Answers
a)Hamlet b)Claudius c)Polonius d)Laertes 1. Hamlet
e)Horatio 2. Hamlet
3. Horatio
4. Who "may be the devil"? 4. Ghost
a)Hamlet b)Ophelia c)Claudius d)Ghost e)Horatio 5. Claudius
6. Hamlet,Act 5, Scene 1
5. Who said, "Revenge should have no bounds"? 7. The clowns
a)Laertes b)Horatio c)Claudius d)Polonius 8. Willow
e)Hamlet 9. Osric
10. Arrows
6. "I loved her!" "I loved her more! I loved 11. Cruel
Ophelia; forty thousand brothers 12. Marcellus to Horatio
Could not, with all their quantity of love, 13. Eternal
Make up my sum, " who is the speaker, find the 14. Silence
Act and scene? 15. T. S. Eliot
16. T S Eliot
7. According to Hamlet who should not speak
“more than is set down for them”?
1. Whom does Polonius send to France to spy on
8. From what kind of tree did Ophelia fall into Laertes?
the stream? (A) Reynaldo ✔(B) Ophelia (C) Guido,(D)
Marcellus
9.who was “spacious in the possession of dirt”?
2. Where does the ghost appear during the play?
10. Hamlet's most famous speech contains this (A) The castle ramparts and the great hall of
line. What is the missing word? Elsinore
"The slings and ------ of outrageous fortune." (B) Fortinbras’s tent and Hamlet’s bedchamber
(C) The castle ramparts and Gertrude’s
11. What is the word missing from this quote from bedchamber ✔
"Hamlet"? (D) Gertrude’s bedchamber and the great hall of
"I must be ----- only to be kind".? Elsinore

12. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." 3. How did Claudius murder King Hamlet?
Who said this? (A) By stabbing him through an arras (B) By
pouring poison into his ear ✔
10

(C) By ordering him to be hanged (D) By 12. How does Ophelia die?
poisoning his wineglass (A) Claudius stabs her. (B) Hamlet strangles her.
(C) She slits her wrists. (D) She drowns in the
4. Where is the university at which Horatio and river. ✔
Hamlet studied?
(A) Paris (B) Oxford (C) Constantinople (D) 13. Whose story does Hamlet ask the players to
Wittenberg ✔ tell upon their arrival to Elsinore?
(A) Priam and Hecuba’s ✔ (B) Antony and
5. Whose skull does Hamlet discover in the Cleopatra’s
churchyard? (C) Gertrude and Claudius’s (D) Ophelia’s
A)The former court jester’s ✔(B) Reynaldo’s
(C) Ophelia’s (D) His father’s 14. Why, according to Polonius, has Hamlet gone
mad?
6. Which of the following characters cannot see (A) He grieves too much for his father.
the ghost? (B) He despises Claudius for marrying Gertrude.
(A) Marcellus (B) Hamlet (C) Gertrude ✔ (D) (C) He is in love with Ophelia. ✔
Horatio (D) He is jealous of Laertes and longs to return to
Wittenberg.
7. Who escorts Hamlet on the voyage to England?
(A) Cornelius and Voltimand (B) Rosencrantz and 15. Who is the last character to die in the play?
Guildenstern ✔ (A) Horatio (B) Hamlet ✔ (C) Claudius (D)
(C) Marcellus and Bernardo (D) Captain Vicissus Fortinbras
and the one-eyed thief
16. How many characters die during the course of
8. Where do Hamlet and Laertes fight during the play?
Ophelia’s funeral? (A) Two (B) Five (C) Seven (D) Eight ✔
(A) In the nearby woods
(B) Beside Ophelia’s grave 17. Who speaks the famous “To be, or not to be”
(C) Inside the church soliloquy?
(D) Inside the grave itself ✔ (A) Claudius (B) Hamlet ✔ (C) The ghost (D)
Laertes
9. Which of the following characters survive the
play? 18. In what country do Rosencrantz and
(A) Fortinbras, Horatio, and Osric ✔ Guildenstern die?
(B) Prince Hamlet, Polonius, and Gertrude (A) Belgium (B) Denmark (C) England ✔ (D)
(C) Claudius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern Poland
(D) Ophelia, Laertes, and King Hamlet
19. Why does Hamlet decide not to kill Claudius
10. What does Hamlet claim to be able to tell the after the traveling players’ play?
difference between when the wind is from the (A) Claudius is praying. ✔(B) Claudius is
south? asleep.
(A) A flea and a fire log (B) A nymph and a
nihilist (C) Claudius pleads for mercy.
(C) A hawk and a handsaw ✔ (D) A shark and (D) Gertrude is in the next room.
St. Timothy
20. Who killed Fortinbras’s father?
11. In whose history of Denmark did Shakespeare (A) Prince Hamlet (B) Laertes (C) Fortinbras (D)
find background material for his play? Hamlet’s father ✔
(A) Oedipus of Thebes (B) Saxo Grammaticus
✔ 21. Which character speaks the first line of the
play?
(C) Franz Guntherhaasen(D) Dionysus Finn (A) Bernardo ✔ (B) Francisco (C) Hamlet (D)
Horatio
11

22. In which of the following years was Hamlet


most likely written?
(A) 1570 (B) 1601 ✔( btn 1559-1601) (C)
1581(D) 1610

23. Which of Claudius and Laertes’ traps for


Hamlet succeeds in killing him?
(A) The poisoned cup (B) The sharpened sword
(C) The poisoned dagger (D) The poisoned sword

24. Which character speaks from beneath the stage


toward the end of Act I?
(A) The ghost (B) Hamlet ✔ (C) Claudius (D)
Polonius

25. Who returns Hamlet to Denmark after his


exile?
(A) Horatio (B) Claudius (C) A group of pirates
✔(D) A group of monks

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