AP Practice Test
Hamlet sections 9 and 12
#61 Correct Answer
 E. I, II, and III
 Synecdoche = “face” is referring to Laertes;
part of him is referring to the whole
 Simile = “like a painting”
 Metonymy = “heart” is referring to feelings;
the heart is an item that is related to feelings
and is a stand in for that word
#62 Correct Answers
 B. goodness does not persist indefinitely
 “And nothing is at a like goodness still” –
Claudius is telling Laertes that love “begun
by time” weakens as time goes by, and that
the good intentions spurred by love can
lessen and disappear
#62 Incorrect Answers
 A. Nothing is as good as love – he is saying that
love is nothing like it was in the beginning.
 C. not that nothing is like a lover’s goodness but
that love is always stronger at the onset
 D. Not that no good things can be weakened; he
is saying the opposite
 E. That is not what he is saying either; not that
goodness alone is worthless, but that love will
abate as time passes
#63: Correct Answers
 E. Paradox
 Hurting wouldn’t seem to be something that
would ease pain, but in this case, it is true.
 We change our woulds to shoulds, and that
our intentions are no more than hot air – or
the breath of a spendtrhift – letting go of
things hurts.
#63: Incorrect Answers
 A. Oxymoron – yes, these are opposites,
but an oxymoron are two opposite words
put back to back
 B. Metaphor – Uses like before hand – so
no
 C. Allusion – he isn’t alluding
 Simile – he is explaining the simile – this
is not the simile itself
#64: Correct Answer
 B. The king says that “no place indeed
should murther sanctuarize” right after
Laertes says he wants to cut Hamlet’s
throat in a church – so no place, not even
a church, should give sanctuary to a
murderer.
#64: Incorrect Answers
 A. Not that it should be committed there,
but that churches should give sanctuary
to a murderer
 C. Not that you can’t get revenge there
 D. Not that he wouldn’t be able to kill
there
 E. Not that they are unlikely to be in a
church
#65: Correct Answer
 A. circumspect = watchful, prudent,
cautious, well-considered
 I got this one wrong – I said that he is
malicious…
 However, the king is being cautious and
prudent because he is thinking of preparing
a poison as a back-up plan
#65: Incorrect Answers
 B. Malicious – Full of spite, mischievous
in motivation or purpose; having evil
intent
 The question states “The King’s plan to
prepare the poisoned chalice PRIMARILY
reveals that he is”
 Other parts prove he is malicious – we
already know that, so this poisoned chalice
bit FIRST shows us something NEW
#65: Incorrect Answers
 C. adroit – exceptionally skilled or nimble
 Not really – he’s clever with the poison, but his
devious skills do not stand out as being “exceptional”
 D. Audacious – extremely bold or daring;
reckless
 I do not consider poison a bold move – it is sneaky
and underhanded and weak
 E. Contemplative – Thoughtful and thorough in
thought
 He does not consider all angles of the issue
#66: Correct Answer
 D. Figurative Language – Poignant
means “profoundly moving”, so the
emotionally moving description of
Ophelia’s death is increase by:
 Personification – weeping brook
 Simile – mermaid-like and like a creature
native and indued
 Imagery – muddied death
#66: Incorrect Answers
 A. Colloquial Speech – there is nothing in
the accent, etc. that would sound like the
particular area of the play
 B. Connotative Diction – Okay – I think
this choice is stinky-tricky – connotations
are the emotional feelings and imagery
associated with a word, BUT all diction is
connotative – not specific enough
#66: Incorrect Answers
 C. Metaphorical Allusions – no allusions
to things outside of the text
 E. Euphemistic diplomacy – she is very
straightforward; she does not try to dance
around the fact that Ophelia drowned
herself; she says, “Your sister’s drown’d”
#67: Correct Answer
 E. Laertes’ crying
 He says he is trying to forbid himself from
crying, but that nature makes him. He says
that when the tears are gone, this
“womanish” behavior (the tears), will be
done with. He indicates that he wants to
give an angry speech about Ophelia’s death,
but that he can’t because of the tears: “I
have a speech a’fire that fain would blaze, /
But this folly (tears) drowns it”
#67: Incorrect Answers
 A. Ophelia’s death – the speech he
wants to give is about HER death, so the
death can’t stop him from giving the
speech
 B. Polonius’ murder – he has known
about that for a long time – the “this”
implies something recently mentioned
#67: Incorrect Answers
 C. The Queen’s Account – which is the
news of Ophelia’s death, so it is like A.
 D. The plot to kill Hamlet is already
decided upon – again, not recently
mentioned
#68: Correct Answer
 E. Native – line 89
 “like a creature native and indued” – this
HAS to be an adjective (possibly a verb if
you really had no idea what native meant)
#68: Incorrect Answers
 A. “growing to a plurisy” – you grow into
something (noun)
 B. “set a double varnish on the fame” – you set
SOMETHING (noun)
 C. “Collected from all simples that have virtue”
– it is the object of the prepositional phrase –
noun
 D. “If he by chance escape your venom’d
stuck” – venom’d is describing something = the
sword (noun)
#83: Correct Answer
 B. Hyperbole – exaggeration
 Nothing is exaggerated
#83: Incorrect Answer
 A. Alliteration – “set me the stoups”,
“better breath”
 C. Parallelism – “let the kettle to the
trumpet speak, the trumpet to the
cannoneer…the cannons to the heavens”
 D. Personfication – see above
 E. Imperatives - directives
#84: Correct Answer
 A. he has been holding back because
Laertes dallies and Hamlet wants him to
“pass with your best violence”
#84: Incorrect Answers
 B. not overly violent = opposite answer,
so has to be A or B
 C. Not trying to distract
 D. Dally = is being lazy, so not his best
moves
 E. No anger is indicated
#85: Correct Answer
 D. Trap – He is caught by the trap he set
himself
 “as a woodcock to mine own springe” after
he has been stabbed with his own poisoned
sword
#85: Incorrect answers
 A. Demise – Sure, it is his demise, but this
is not what the word specifically means; it
is what is the result of the simile
 B. Sorrow – not like a bird caught in his
sorrow
 C. Death – Trap – not death – doesn’t fit
the simile
 E. Treachery – good guess as well, but
doesn’t fit the simile
#86: Correct Answer
 B. No, No is what the Queen says right
AFTER the King says “She sounds to
see them bleed” – Claudius is saying that
Gertrude is fainting because of all of the
blood, and Gertrude is saying, NO
Hamlet, it is the drink – Claudius is not
being truthful
#86: Incorrect Answer
 A. Not that she doesn’t want to die – again,
see the line before
 C. Tempting…but see the line before –
Hamlet isn’t getting ready to drink;
Claudius has lied about her condition
 D. Not that Hamlet has poisoned her
 E. That she is probably unaware of
because she didn’t know the swords were
poisoned, and she is dying
#87: Correct Answer
 C. – the answer key was wrong, so if you
got this one wrong, the answer is C –
please check it.
 Laertes is saying that he wants to
exchange forgiveness with Hamlet and
that his death does not tarnish his soul
#87: Incorrect Answers
 A. He knows that Hamlet caused
Polonius’ death
 B. He knows he is going to die
 D. Untouched is too generic – forgiven is
better because it is specific
 E. Too insensitive
#88: Correct Answer
 C. Kill himself – he is going to drink the
cup; we know this because he says the
cup still has poison in it, and Hamlet tells
him to let go of the cup.
#88: Incorrect Answer
 A. He wants to follow Hamlet into death
 B. He wants to die with Hamlet; he
chooses in the end to live in order for the
truth to NOT be silenced
 D. Drinking the poison himself will not
hasten Hamlet’s death
 Killing himself would not be staying loyal
to the state
#89: Correct Answer
 E. reputation of Hamlet himself
 Hamlet says his name will be “wounded” if
things stand “thus unknown”, and if he loves
Hamlet, he will stay alive to tell his story
#89: Incorrect Answers
 A. Not the rights of Hamlet’s blood relatives
– he focuses only on the reputation of his
name
 B. Not the kingdom’s protection from
Fortinbras; he doesn’t mention that at all
 C. Not the honor of his parents – only his
name
 D. Not secrecy around R and G – only HIS
name
#90: Correct Answer
 A. Calculating – IN THIS PASSAGE – not
in the rest of the play, but in THIS
passage – we don’t see him planning
anything; we see him acting – I got this
one wrong too folks…
#90: Incorrect Answers
 B. Truthful: He says that he poisoned Hamlet and
that “the King’s to blame”
 C. Magnanimous: He shows that he is forgiving
when he tells Hamlet he wants to “exchange
forgiveness” with him
 D. Ambivalent: He shows uncertainty when he
says that “yet it is almost against my conscience”
– I shouldn’t have picked this option – this part is
very clear that he has second thoughts
 E. Remorseful: He shows he is sorry when he
asks for forgiveness
#91: Correct Answer
 D. Personification is in line 101 – He calls
Death a “fell sergeant”
#91: Incorrect Answers
 A. Richer than four kings is not
personification
 B. Laertes is comparing himself to a bird
caught in his own trap – not personification
 C. He is describing the poison on the
sword as an instrument and “foul practice”
– not personification
 E. He calls the sounds of war a “warlike
volley” – not personification