What is “rotten in the state of Denmark,” as Marcellus tells us? | The King is dead, his ghost has appeared and we also find out the Queen has married Claudius. |
What do we learn about Gertrude, Claudius, and Hamlet in Act 1? What do we also know about their personalities and their moods? | Hamlet is unhappy about their marriage and is depressed while Claudius and Gertrude act like newly weds. |
What is the function of Polonius-Laertes family in this play? Compare and contrast their situation and that of the ruling family. | They seem to have a more normal family. The mother is absent but Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia seem to really care about each other. |
What does Hamlet learn from the Ghost’s speech? | That Claudius murdered his father. |
Why does this act open with Polonius and Reynaldo? What does this tell us about Polonius’s character, and what theme or motif does it introduce in the play? | Is shows that Polonius is nosey and enjoys spying. |
How does the interaction between Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern help to explain what’s wrong with Hamlet? Why are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Denmark? | His is definitely depressed but not crazy. They are there at the request of the King and Queen to see what is bothering Hamlet. |
Do you think Hamlet knows why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are questioning him? How do you know? | Yes, he tells them that there is a “kind of confession in their books.” |
Use your inference skills to determine why Hamlet might be excited to see the group of traveling actors arrive at Elsinore. | Hamlet plans to use them to inact a play resembling his father’s death. |
What is the subject of Hamlet’s second soliloquy, the famous “To be or not to be” speech. | He is contemplating suicide or life |
What does Hamlet suggest might happen after we go to “sleep”? He says “what dreams may come?” | We don’t know for sure. |
What does Hamlet say about the different struggles we face in life? Be specific. | We suffer the pains from disprized love. The laws delay the proud mans contempt, the insolence of office, and the wips and scorns of time. |
Why don’t we all just commit suicide according to Hamlet? | Conscious makes cowards of us all. |
How does Hamlet escape the situation that he is facing in England? | He switches the letter so Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and killed. |
What happens to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? | They are killed. |
What happens to Ophelia? | She’s angry, then carzy, then she falls into a river and drowns. |
Why do you think Ophelia went crazy? | Her father died. She lost a lot of people she cared about. |
Whose skull does Hamley “talk to” in the graveyard? | Yorick’s |
Whose funeral does Hamlet stumble upon? | Ophelia’s |
How does Claudius decide to eliminate Hamlet? | He plans a duel between Laertes and Hamlet and had Laertes uses a poisoned sword. |
What happens to Gertrude? | She drinks from a poisoned cup of wine |
What happens to Laertes? | Hamlet stabs him with the poisoned sword |
What happens to Claudius? | Hamlet stabs him with the poisoned sword and pours the poisoned wine down his throat. |
What famous line does Horatio deliver at the end of the play? | “Good night sweet Prince, and flights of angles sing thee to thy rest” |
Hamlet Prince of Denmark
August 18, 2019