| What message do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern carry to the King? What is the King’s response? | Hamlet is confused but he doesn’t say why and won’t talk about how he feels. He doesn’t give them straight answers. King Claudius tells them to encourage Hamlet’s interest in the play. They also told him that Hamlet is interested in the theater troop. |
| Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy is in scene one. In a sentence or two paraphrase his main points. | He talks about whether it’s better to live or commit suicide. He would kill himself but he’s worried about what happens after a person dies especially if they commit suicide. It’s against the Catholic religion to commit suicide and that’s why people live and suffer because they are afraid of life after death. |
| Describe Hamlet’s tone when he speaks to Ophelia. | Hamlet’s tone is angry. He tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery because he thinks she can be loyal there. Hamlet is not making sense to Ophelia; it’s possible he’s directing his anger towards his own mother on Ophelia. |
| What do the King and Polonius decide about Hamlet’s condition after eavesdropping on Hamlet and Ophelia? | Claudius doesn’t think that Hamlet is love-crazy. He doesn’t even think he’s crazy. He think’s he’s sad. Polonius still thinks that his madness was caused by unrequited love for Ophelia. King Claudius decides to send him to England to get back the money that the King of England owes to the King of Denmark. Polonius wants Hamlet to talk to his mother to find out his secret and Polonius will hide and listen to their conversation. |
| Why does Hamlet give instructions to the players? | Hamlet wants the players to perform a scene similar to what he thinks happened to his father. Hamlet and Horatio are going to be watching King Claudius to see if he acts guilty. If he doesn’t act guilty then the ghost was a devil and wasn’t telling the truth about his father’s death. |
| What did Hamlet and Horatio decide his reaction meant? | When the King stormed out, they decided that means that the King was guilty of poisoning King Hamlet like the ghost said. |
| What message does Rosencrantz deliver from the queen? | The Queen wants to talk to Hamlet before he goes to bed. The Queen is surprised about Hamlet’s behavior. |
| The King has Rosencrantz and Guildenstern prepare to do what? Why? | The King wants Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to prepare to go to England with Hamlet on diplomatci business. The king thinks that Hamlet is getting crazier and he has to protect the country from the danger of Hamlet’s craziness getting out of control. |
| Why doesn’t Hamlet kill the King when the King is kneeling? | Hamlet doesn’t kill the King when the King is kneeling because he is praying to repent his sins, killing the King and marrying the Queen. If he dies now he will go to heaven. King Hamlet couldn’t go to heaven because he didn’t repent for his sins. It’s better if he waits for the king to sin before Hamlet kills him then King Claudius will go to hell. |
| How does Polonius die? | Polonius dies because he was hiding behind the tapestry. Then, Hamlet heard yelling from behind the tapestry and he stabbed his sword through the tapestry and killed Polonius, thinking its Claudius. |
| What would Hamlet have his mother do? | Hamlet wants his mother to stop having sex with King Claudius. He also wants her to confess her sins to God and repent her sins. He doesn’t want her to tell the King that Hamlet’s craziness is not real. |
| Why does Hamlet repeatedly say to Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery”? | He views the world, people, and especially women as hopelessly corrupt. He tells her to go there because there he believes she will be faithful. |
| Which character does Hamlet ask to observe Claudius during the performance of The Murder of Gonzago? | Horatio |
| Why does Hamlet go to Gertrude’s chamber in Act 3, Scene 4? | He is going to “speak daggers” to her and criticize her for what she has done. |
| How does Claudius react to The Murder of Gonzago? | He storms out just after the player king is murdered. |
| What reason does Hamlet give for his failure to act when he comes upon Claudius praying after the performance of The Murder of Gonzago? | He does not want to kill Claudius while he is praying, because then Claudius will go straight to heaven. He wants to catch him sinning. |
| How is Hamlet’s 4th soliloquy different from the first three? | He is wanting to kill himself, but in the first 3 it wasn’t so deep. Now, as he acts crazier, he is realizing that love doesn’t exist. |
| Who is the “one” referred to in “all but one” | The King. |
| Why does the ghost appear at this point? How is his appearance different from his appearance in act one? Who saw him then? Who sees him now? What is his message to hamlet? | Hamlet has fulfilled the act. Only hamlet can see him. Keep an ion your mother. |
| After the ghost leaves, does Hamlet succeed in what he came to do? What is Gertrude’s state when he leaves? What should she do, and what should she not do? | No he wanted to kill Claudius not Polonius. She is very afraid for Hamlet because she doesn’t know whether he is telling the truth or not. Let the king seduce her |
| “God hath given you once face, and you make yourself another” | A. Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1B. Speaking to Ophelia, shows his frustration due to the uncertainty of trust.C. Implying shes manipulating him. |
| “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go” | King speaks to R&G about sending Hamlet to England. Act 3 scene 3 |
| “The lady doth protests too much methinks” | act 3 scene 2* Gertrude, about the Player Queen while watching the play* Evidence that Gertrude may not know about Claudius’s guilt, since she seems to be innocently watching the play with no idea that it reflects anything in real life. |
| “Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul./ And there I see such black and grain’ed spots/As will not leave their tinet” | Act 3 scene 4. Gertrude realizes that the choices she made (marring Claudius) effects Hamlet and that due to this she is now reflecting at herself in a different perspective. |
| “These words like daggers enter my ears” | * Gertrude, to Hamlet, in her chambers with Hamlet just before he kills Polonius.* The first sign of anguish or guilt that she has shown during the playAct 3 scene 4 |
| What does it mean when Hamlet says the simile about the flute. | … |
| 2 names of the play within the play | Originally its called the “dumb show” they than act out “the mouse trap” which is another name for the Murder of Gonzago |
Hamlet Act 3
August 9, 2019