Step Four
READING SHAKESPEARE.WEB
William Shakespeare
B2.1
Hamlet, Prince
of Denmark
K E Y S
William Shakespeare
Page 7 – exercise 1
1 Six
2 Because of the plague in London.
3 The best tragic actor in
Shakespeare’s time.
4 Between 1599 and 1602.
5 Unofficial transcripts of
Shakespeare’s plays.
Page 16 – exercise 2
1 The old King Hamlet
2 Polonius
3 The old king’s funeral and
Gertrude’s marriage
4 The old king Hamlet
5 Just before midnight
6 Claudius
Page 16 – exercise 3 (suggested
answers)
CHAPTER 1
1 sensitive 2 ambitious
3 independent
Page 10 – exercise 1
Page 17 – exercise 4
A3 B6 C1 D5 E4 F2
Page 10 – exercise 2
1 Night time
2 Hamlet and the ghost of his father
old King Hamlet
3 (suggested answer) The ghost has
just appeared.
4 (suggested answer) The ghost is
going to speak to Hamlet.
Page 10 – exercise 3
1B 2A 3B 4A
Page 16 – exercise 1
1C 2E 3A 4D 5F 6B
1 refuse to do
agree, decide, expect, hope,
offer, seem
2 want somebody to do
allow, ask, expect, help,
persuade, tell
3 keep doing
enjoy, (not) mind, practise,
spend time, stop, suggest
4 let somebody do
help, make
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Page 17 – exercise 5
1 suggested 2 persuaded 3 decided
4 refused 5 stop 6 spend 7 enjoyed
8 wanted/hoped
Page 18 – exercise 6
1 act 2 appreciate 3 celebrate
4 compete 5 conclude 6 confess
7 confirm 8 converse 9 crown
10 decide 11 educate 12 explain
13 express 14 hesitate 15 inform
16 invite 17 permit 18 react
19 satisfy 20 suspect
Page 18 – exercise 7
1 appreciate/appreciated 2 crowned
3 concluded 4 suspicion 5 expression
Page 18 – exercise 8
1D 2G 3J 4H 5A 6I 7B 8C
9 E 10 F
Page 19 – exercise 9
1 on 2 its 3 but/although 4 very
5 out 6 with 7 one 8 where
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Horatio, who was a close friend of
Hamlet’s, that they had seen a ghost
on the battlements.
3 Hamlet’s letters to Ophelia, which
she kept in a secret place, generally
finished with a short love poem.
4 Hamlet, who thought he might have
imagined the ghost, was confused
and unsure of what to do.
5 Ophelia, who was sewing at the
time, was shocked when Hamlet
suddenly appeared in her room.
6 The death of King Hamlet, which
was completely unexpected,
surprised everyone at court.
Page 28 – exercise 4
1 expecting 2 wait 3 injured
4 damaged 5 sensitive 6 sensible
7 borrow 8 lend 9 took
10 picked up 11 gain 12 win 13 lost
14 missing
Revenge in Elizabethan
Drama
CHAPTER 2
Page 34 – exercise 1
Page 20 – exercise 1
Page 26 – exercise 1
1 The Spanish Tragedy
2 Between 1588 and 1593
3 Violence was shown on stage in
Elizabethan revenge tragedies. In
Roman times it took place off stage.
4 Because law court procedures were
often corrupt and inefficient.
5 Because his themes are universal
and timeless.
1C 2B 3A 4A 5D 6B
Page 34 – exercise 2
Page 27 – exercise 2
1C 2D 3A 4B
1A 2B 3B 4A
Page 20 – exercise 2
1; 2; 4
Page 20 – exercise 3
1B 2B 3A 4A
1 Hamlet refused to go to the wedding
of his mother and Claudius, which had
taken place soon after old King
Hamlet’s death.
2 Two of the castle guards told
CHAPTER 3
Page 35 – exercise 1
1C 2E 3F 4A 5B 6D
2
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Page 35 – exercise 2
Page 44 – exercise 6
1 nodded 2 bumped into 3 stabbed
4 mooching around 5 recite
6 catch ... out
1A 2B 3A 4B 5A 6B 7A 8B
9 A 10 B
Page 35 – exercise 3
1B 2A 3B 4A 5A 6B
1U 2U 3C 4U 5B 6C 7U 8U
9 B 10 B
Page 42 – exercise 1
Page 44 – exercise 8
1B 2A 3B 4B 5A 6B 7B 8B
1 cheer 2 find 3 going 4 cut
5 lighting 6 catch
Page 42 – exercise 2
1 Hamlet
2 Claudius and Gertrude
3 Gertrude
4 Polonius
5 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
6 the main actor (in the company of
actors)
Page 42 – exercise 3 (Suggested
answers)
1 Why did Claudius invite
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to
Elsinore?
2 What did Claudius ask Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern to do?
3 Where did Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern see the actors?
4 Which speech did Hamlet ask the
main actor to recite?
Page 43 – exercise 4
1 Claudius could/might/may be a
good king, but it’s too soon to say.
2 Hamlet must be a popular person at
university because he has a lot of
friends.
3 Gertrude might/may not know that
Claudius killed her first husband.
4 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can’t
be very fit because they never do any
exercise.
5 Ophelia must love flowers because
her room is always full of them.
3
Page 44 – exercise 7
Page 45 – exercise 10
1A 2D 3B 4A 5D 6D 7B 8C
CHAPTER 4
Page 46 – exercise 1
1C 2F 3A 4E 5B 6D
Page 46 – exercise 2
1 sinners 2 summons 3 gestures
4 heir; throne 5 nunnery
Page 46 – exercise 3
1 Ophelia and Hamlet
2 In a passage/In the castle
3 (suggested answer) Hamlet is
thinking, perhaps he’s worried.
Ophelia is surprised or nervous.
4 (suggested answer) Hamlet is going
to speak to Ophelia.
Page 46 – exercise 4
1B 2B 3A 4B
Page 54 – exercise 1
1B 2C 3B 4A 5D 6A
Page 55 – exercise 2
1 despite/in spite of
2 However
3 Despite
4 although/even though
5 despite/in spite of
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Page 55 – exercise 3
1 about 2 at 3 for 4 on 5 up 6 of
7 about 8 on 9 for 10 like 11 to
12 of 13 of 14 about 15 with 16 of
17 to 18 with
Page 56 – exercise 4
1 was made of wood
2 were given to
3 was destroyed in a fire
4 is situated on the
5 is traditionally celebrated
Page 56 – exercise 5
1T 2T 3B 4T 5B 6C 7C 8B
9 B 10 B 11 T 12 B 13 B 14 C 15 T
16 T 17 C 18 C 19 C 20 C 21 T
Page 57 – exercise 7
The Globe Theatre
The original Globe was an Elizabethan
theatre that opened in 1599 in
Southwark, on the south bank of the
Thames, in an area now known as
Bankside. It was the third of three
popular theatres located in the area,
the other two being the Swan and
the Rose. Like all the other theatres
in London, the Globe was closed
down in 1642 by the Puritans, who
thought theatres encouraged immoral
behaviour.
The project to rebuild the Globe was
the idea of the American actor, director
and producer Sam Wanamaker. During
his first visit to London in 1949, he went
in search of Shakespeare’s theatre,
but there was only an old sign on a
wall that said: “This is on or around
where Shakespeare had his Globe.”
Twenty-one years later he founded an
educational charity in order to raise
money for the building of a replica.
He spent the next 23 years working
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closely with researchers planning the
reconstruction. Excavation of the site
began in 1987, but it wasn’t until 1991
that work began on the foundations.
When Sam died in 1993 construction
work had just started on the theatre
itself. Three and a half years later in
1997 the Globe was ready to receive the
public.
So, what did the first Globe look like?
Nobody knows for sure but we can
get a good idea from picture maps, or
panoramas, of the period.
One in particular by Claes Van
Visscher, who probably never visited
London himself, clearly shows the
architecture and location of the old
Globe Theatre. In his panorama, the
Globe is octagonal in shape.
In 1989 a small part of the Globe
itself was excavated. From what they
uncovered, archaeologists were able
to conclude that it had actually been a
20-sided, not 8-sided, building and had
a diameter of 100 feet, that is about
30.5 metres.
As regards the interior of
Shakespeare’s theatre there are no
pictures from the period in existence
of it, but there is one of the Swan. In
1596 a Dutch traveller called Johannes
de Witt attended a play there and
later made a sketch of the interior,
which proved very useful for the
reconstruction of the Globe. However,
almost nothing survives to suggest
what the stage of the theatre was like,
so the architects had to use evidence
from existing buildings of the period.
Huge amounts of research were done
to make sure that the theatre was as
accurate a reproduction as possible.
The builders used the same kind of
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wood the original builders would have
used: green oak. They used the same
techniques and tools to shape them as
carpenters in Shakespeare’s time used.
They also used the same kind of reeds
to thatch the roof. The new theatre
was the first thatched roof building
permitted in London since the Great
Fire of London in 1666.
As in the original Globe, the theatre is
open to the sky and has a stage that
projects into a large circular area,
surrounded by three tiers of covered
seating. Tickets to stand in the yard
– no sitting allowed – are available
for every performance. Due to modern
Health and Safety regulations, only
1,300 people are allowed in during
a show, less than half the estimated
3,000 of Shakespeare’s time.
Plays are normally performed between
May and the first week of October.
In the winter, the theatre is used
for educational purposes. Tours are
available all year round.
1 1599 2 Swan 3 (old) sign on the
wall 4 1997 5 picture maps
6 twenty 7 stage 8 green
9 Great Fire 10 3,000
CHAPTER 5
Page 58 – exercise 1
1D 2F 3B 4E 5A 6C
Page 58 – exercise 2
1 distress 2 ambassadors 3 villain
4 mercy
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Page 65 – exercise 2
1 Hamlet
2 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
3 Gertrude
4 Gertrude
5 The ghost
6 Polonius
Page 65 – exercise 4
1 manage to
2 wisely
3 knelt
4 trembling with fear
5 blind
6 It’s all in your mind
Page 66 – exercise 5
1 ’d better not interrupt
2 ’d better get
3 ’d better do
4 ’d better not tell
Page 67 – exercise 7
1D 2A 3C 4A 5B 6D 7C 8B
CHAPTER 6
Page 68 – exercise 1
A2 B6 C5 D4 E1 F3
Page 68 – exercise 2
1 Gertrude and Ophelia
2 (suggested answer) She’s wearing a
thin white dress and she has flowers
in her hair.
3 (suggested answer) Sad, tired
4 (suggested answer) Gertrude is
going to speak to Ophelia.
Page 68 – exercise 3
1B 2A 3B
1 upset 2 down 3 away 4 ministers
5 prison
Page 65 – exercise 1
Page 74 – exercise 1
1B 2A 3B 4A 5B 6B 7B 8B
A 10 B 5 C 12 D 3 E 9 F 6 G 1 H 7
I 11 J 4 K 2 L 8
Page 58 – exercise 3
5
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Page 74 – exercise 2
CHAPTER 7
1 Claudius 2 Hamlet 3 Claudius
4 Gertrude 5 Claudius
Page 82 – exercise 1
Page 75 – exercise 4
1 completely 2 make 3 careful
4 clench 5 seriously 6 tightly
Page 75 – exercise 5
1 had waited
2 hadn’t told
3 wouldn’t have sent
4 would/might have understood
5 hadn’t killed
Page 76 – exercise 6
1F 2D 3C 4E 5A 6B
Page 76 – exercise 7
1 had no idea
2 in case he is
3 hadn’t been so
4 been made for
5 to allow him to
Page 77 – exercise 8
1 toes 2 mind 3 face 4 fingers
5 eye 6 head
London in Shakespeare’s
times
Page 81 – exercise 1
1 Because they thought theatres had
a bad influence of people.
2 At the Theatre.
3 Because many people died during
the plague known as the Black Death.
4 Because they were not allowed to
live in London.
5 It was a place where merchants
could do their business.
6 Because it was outside the city’s
boundaries.
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A2 B6 C5 D3 E4 F1
Page 82 – exercise 2
1B 2A 3B 4B
Page 82 – exercise 3
1B 2A
Page 90 – exercise 1
1A 2D 3C 4A 5D 6A
Page 91 – exercise 2
1 was it
2 isn’t it
3 hasn’t it
4 don’t they
5 hadn’t he
6 shall we
Page 92 – exercise 3
1 Hamlet is his longest play, isn’t it?
2 It’s got over 4,000 lines, hasn’t it?
3 It wasn’t the first play Shakespeare
wrote, was it?
4 Everyone knows that ‘To be or not to
be, that is the question’ is a quotation
from Hamlet, don’t they?
5 The play has been filmed over 50
times, hasn’t it?
6 Brad Pitt has never played Hamlet,
has he?
1F 2R 3R 4F 5F 6R
Page 92 – exercise 4
1 of 2 about 3 before 4 about 5 in
6 of 7 at 8 like
Page 92 – exercise 5
1 arrangements 2 traditional
3 references 4 symbolic 5 especially
6 openly 7 fashionable 8 friendship
Page 93 – exercise 6
1 her 2 since 3 it 4 However
5 either 6 that 7 by 8 was
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Page 94 – exercise 7
4 G E S T
6
A
7
8
7 B A R E F
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9 T R U S T
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10 N
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B
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E 11 C U R
N
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13 R O S
1
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2
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R E C I T E
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P 5 M U R D E R
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T A I N 12
P
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E M A R Y
CHAPTER 8
Page 103 – exercise 4
Page 95 – exercise 1
1 shake 2 take 3 win 4 make
5 announce 6 act
A2 B4 C1 D3
Page 95 – exercise 3
1B 2C 3A
Page 103 – exercise 1
1B 2A 3A 4A 5B 6B 7A 8B
9 B 10 A
Page 103 – exercise 2
1 knew him
2 forty thousand brothers
3 think twice about
4 it will
5 live to tell
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Page 104 – exercise 5
1 She‘s been looking after
2 I’ve never seen
3 he’s gone
4 I’ve been applying/has offered
5 We’ve been going
6 has been saving up/she’s finally got
Page 104 – exercise 6
1 have been made
2 have been invited
3 has been cleaned
4 have been put out
5 have (already) been brought
6 has ( just) been announced
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Page 105 – exercise 7
Page 109 – exercise 3
1B 2B 3D 4A 5C 6B 7A 8D
1 Ophelia is with Hamlet. It could
refer to page 50, any part from the
top half of the page. Caption: open
response.
2 It refers to page 97, lines 9-11.
Caption: open response.
3 On the right of Mel Gibson, as we
look at the poster, is Gertrude (Glenn
Close, at 43 she was only 7 years
older than Gibson). On the left, in
descending order: Ophelia (Helena
Bonham Carter); Claudius (Alan
Bates); Polonius (Ian Holm); King
Hamlet, Hamlet’s father (Paul
Scofield).
4 The wedding of Claudius and
Gertrude (which is referred to by
Shakespeare but is not a scene in the
play). Hamlet is shown from behind,
and on his own and in dark clothes, to
show how he does not take part in the
celebration and doesn’t approve of it.
5 Open response.
Hamlet on the screen
Page 109 – exercise 1
1 The films by Olivier, Kozintsev,
Zeffirelli and Branagh
2 Olivier’s film, for best Picture and
Best Actor
3 Branagh’s film
4 The films by Olivier and Kozintsev
5 Almereyda’s film
6 The films by Zeffirelli and Branagh
7 Olivier 41; Smoktunovsky 39;
Branagh 36; Gibson 34; Hawke 30
8 open response
Page 109 – exercise 2
Open response. Students might find it
interesting that the Oscar for Best
Actor has only been awarded once to
an actor playing a Shakespearean role
(Olivier), or that the author of Dr.
Zhivago wrote the script for the
Russian Hamlet, or that the ‘action’
actor Mel Gibson played Hamlet.
After Reading
Page 110 – exercise 1
A8 B6 C5 D9 E2 F7 G4 H1
I3
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1 B; 2 D; 3 A; 4 A; 5 C; 6 D; 7 B; 8 A.
2
Open response.
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EXIT
1
TEST
FIRST For each question 1-8, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you
think fits BEST according to the text.
1
In chapter 1, how does Hamlet feel on his return to Denmark from
Wittenberg?
A
Eager to discover how his father has died and avenge him.
B
Offended that his mother has not spent enough time in
mourning.
Surprised that his mother has chosen his father’s brother as her
C
new husband.
So involved in his own grief he can’t think about the feelings of
D
his mother.
2 In chapter 2, how does Hamlet feel after meeting the ghost?
A
He has no doubt that he must kill Claudius and avenge his
father.
He suspects that the ghost might not be real, but feels he must
B
avenge his father.
He feels even more offended by his mother’s behaviour than he
C
did before.
He needs proof of Claudius’ guilt before avenging his father.
D
3 In chapter 3, what is Polonius’s reaction to the relationship between
Hamlet and Ophelia?
A
He thinks that Hamlet’s strange behaviour is caused by his love
for Ophelia.
He suspects that Ophelia has been seeing Hamlet secretly for a
B
long time.
He is surprised when Ophelia shows him Hamlet’s letter,
C
because he hadn’t known about their relationship before.
He is flattered by the idea that his daughter might marry a
D
member of the royal family.
4 In chapter 4, which of the following is the best description of how the
characters react to the performance of the play?
Hamlet is pleased because he has found out what he wanted to
A
know.
Claudius is offended because he is sure that Hamlet wants to
B
insult him.
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EXIT
X I T
C
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TEST
E S T
Gertrude is sad because she suspects that Hamlet might hate
her.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are worried because they don’t
know what to report to Claudius.
5 In chapter 5, how does Hamlet behave in the scene with his mother?
A
He accuses his mother of having conspired with Claudius to kill
his father.
He shows remorse for having killed Polonius instead of Claudius.
B
C
He challenges his mother to explain how she could have married
Claudius.
He tells his mother he is sorry for having spoken so violently to
D
her.
6 In chapter 6, Hamlet meets some Norwegian soldiers on their way to
attack Poland, because Norway and Poland are disputing a small piece
of land. How does Hamlet feel after this meeting?
He thinks it is absurd that so many men should fight over a
A
piece of land so small.
He thinks that Norway and Poland should dedicate themselves
B
to more serious matters.
He suspects that Norway might be planning an invasion of
C
Denmark.
He feels guilty that he hasn’t achieved more in his plans to
D
avenge his father.
7 In chapter 7, which characters suggest using poison in the fencing
competition?
Claudius, Laertes and Gertrude
A
B
Claudius and Laertes
C
Claudius
D
Laertes
8 In chapter 8, which of the following does not happen in the final duel?
A
Claudius accidentally drinks poison that is intended for Hamlet.
B
Laertes is cut with a poisoned sword that is intended to be used
on Hamlet.
Hamlet is cut with a poisoned sword, according to plan.
C
D
Gertrude accidentally drinks poison that is intended for Hamlet.
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10
EXIT
2
TEST
FIRST
You see this announcement in your school’s English-language
magazine.
Reviews wanted
Have you ever read a story in which the main character is looking for
revenge?
Write a review of the story, telling us why the main character looks for
revenge, how he does this and whether or not he is successful.
Tell us whether or not you would recommend this story to other people.
The best reviews will be published in the magazine.
Write your review in 140-190 words.
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