Hamlet Act 4. 5-7
1.
What is Laertes’ respond to his father’s death? How does it compare with Hamlet?
2.
What would Laertes do to get revenge (4.7.124)? How does this compare with Hamlet?
3.
What happened to Ophelia? Was it purposeful or accidental (based on this description. We get a
different side of it in 5.1)?
4.
How does Laertes respond to Ophelia’s death?
5.
Now we have two sons (Hamlet and Laertes) seeking revenge for their dead fathers. How do they
differ in the way they seek revenge?
6.
At this point in the play, why might Laertes seem like a better alternative as king than either Hamlet or
Claudius?
7.
Compare Hamlet’s madness to Ophelia’s:
8.
How do Laertes and Claudius plan to kill Hamlet? How does it reflect the theme of “appearance vs.
reality”?
9.
As we previously established, Hamlet is the tragic hero of this play. However, he is starting to act less
“heroic.” How is it possible for us to continue to sympathize with him and hope for his success?
10. Find a quote from Laertes that characterizes him as a foil to Hamlet.
11. How do we see the failing health of the monarchy being reflected in the increasing instability of
Denmark? Use a quote to support your answer.
12. “Deus ex machina” is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly resolved by
unexpected or seemingly random intervention of a character, situation, object, etc. What deux ex
machina does Shakespeare use in Act Four?
Hamlet Act 4. 5-7
13. How have we seen the “trap” motif expressed in the play up to this point?
Quote Analysis: Identify Speaker & Signficance
A. “He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green turf
At his heels a stone.”
Speaker:
B. “To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Speaker:
C. To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation. To this point I stand,
That both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I’ll be reveng’d
Most throughly for my father.
Speaker:
D. The other motive
Why to a public count I might not go,
Is the great love the general gender bear him;
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,
Too slightly timb’red for so loud a wind,
Would have reverted to my bow again,
And not where I had aim’d them.
Speaker:
E. To cut his throat i’ the church.
Speaker:
Significance:
Significance:
Significance:
Significance:
Significance:
F. Let’s further think of this,
Weigh what convenience both of time and means
May fit us to our shape. If this should fail,
And that our drift look through our bad performance,
’Twere better not assay’d; therefore this project
Should have a back or second, that might hold
If this should blast in proof.
Speaker:
Significance: