Hamlet Objective Test

Shakespeare Birth/Death April 23, 1564-April 23, 1616
Marriage/Children Anne Hathaway-wife, Suzannah, Judith, Hamnet-kids
Shakespeare Theaters The Theatre, The Rose, The Curtain, The Swan, The Globe
Shakespeare’s Works Sonnets, Plays (Tragedies, Comedies), Histories
Exposition background info (Hamlet Sr. Death, Fortinbras, etc)
Exciting Force one event starts play (Ghost asks for revenge)
Rising Action things look good for tragic hero (play)
Climax tragic hero does something he cannot undo (kills Polonius)
Falling Action things look down for tragic hero (sent to England)
Denouement the unraveling (ready to duel)
Catastrophe tragic hero dies
Characteristics of a Revenge Play 1. Ghost cries for revenge2. Politician who has killed before for lust/power3. Woman who goes mad with grief4. Hero disguises himself (physically of with madness) to get info5. Hero must delay his revenge6. Hero gets revenge, but dies
Qualities of tragic hero born into nobility/wealth, responsible for own fate, have a tragic flaw, doomed to make an error in judgement (hamartia), falls from great heights, realizes he has made a mistake, meets a tragic death, faces/accepts death with honor
Soliloquy A character on stage alone, speaking his/her thoughts
Aside an actor addresses the audience or another character, but is not heard by other actors on stage
Double Entendre a figure of speech, literal meaning is innocent, other meaning is risqué and requires additional knowledge
Motif Recurring idea in a play (death, decay, disease, time out of joint, spying)
Allusion a reference to another work or history (compare ghost to what happened before Julius Caesar’s death)
Enjambment line of poetry with no punctuation at the end
End-Stopped line of poetry with punctuation at the end
Pun A play on words based on similarity of sound between two words with different meanings
Malapropism the misuse of one word for another that resembles it
Foil Two characters with obvious similarities meant to compare the two (Hamlet and Fortinbras)
Situational Irony An unexpected situation
Dramatic Irony The audience knows something the characters don’t know, creates suspense
Blank Verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Iambic Pentameter Five unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables
Meter a rhythmic pattern in poetry wherein stresses recur at fixed intervals
Couplet Two lines with end rhymes that could stand alone
Heroic Couplet a couplet written in iambic pentameter
Prose A form of writing that does not have regular meter or rhyme
Poetry A form of writing that contains rhythm or rhyme
Hamlet Problem Questions not answered in the play (ex. Was Hamlet really crazy?)
Character’s Deaths Polonius-killed by Hamlet in Act IIIRosencrantz/Guildenstern-killed in England for betraying HamletLaertes-Killed after being hit by the poisoned swordGertrude-Killed after drinking the poisonClaudius-Hamlet stabs with the poisoned sword, then makes him drink the poisonHamlet-Killed after being hit by the poisoned sword
Setting of Hamlet Denmark, Elisnore Castle, Hamlet went to school at Wittenburg, Hamlet gets sent to England
Hamlet’s Tragic Flaw Procrastination