Hamlet – Act III Study Questions
Answer each of the following questions in complete sentences on a separate
piece of paper.
Act III, Scene 1
1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Claudius and Gertrude?
2. Explain the specific details of Polonius’ plan to spy on Hamlet in this scent.
3. a) Paraphrase Claudius aside. (lines 50 -55)
b) What does this aside reveal about Claudius?
c) Does this change your opinion of Claudius in any way? Why or why not?
4. What does Hamlet’s soliloquy reveal about his character?
5. Near the end of this scene, Hamlet and Ophelia interact for the first time on stage:
a) Describe their interaction.
b) Why do you think Hamlet becomes so upset?
c) What is Ophelia’s reaction to his behavior?
d) What have we learned about Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s past relationship?
6. Do you think that Hamlet and Ophelia were really in love? State your opinion and provide
examples from the text.
7. After Hamlet leaves, Ophelia describes Hamlet as he used to be:
a) How is he described by her?
b) Does her response change how you feel about Hamlet at all? Why or why not?
8. In this scene, there is no clear indication as to whether or not Hamlet knows that Claudius
and Polonius are spying on him. If you were the producer of the play, how might you
indicate:
a) that he is aware of their presence.
b) that he is not aware of their presence.
c) Why do you think Shakespeare has chosen not to include these stage directions?
Act III, Scene II
1. What does Hamlet ask of Horatio during the play?
2. Describe the dumb show.
3. What is ironic about the Queen’s words: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”?
(p. 163, line 226)
4. When and how does Claudius reveal his quilt?
5. Quote the line that tells us Hamlet accepts the ghost as that of his father’s and not that of an
evil spirit.
Act III, Scene III
1. Claudius’ soliloquy:
a) Why can’t Claudius pray?
b) Why is this scene often considered the climax of the play?
c) Explain Claudius’ allusion to the “primal eldest curse”.
d) Explain the metaphor: “O limed soul”. (p. 183, line 69)
2. Hamlet’s soliloquy:
a) Why doesn’t Hamlet kill the kneeling Claudius?
b) When does he decide to kill Claudius?
c) What is the irony in the “praying scene”?
3. What does Claudius admit at the end of the scent?
Act III, Scene IV
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Explain what happens to Polonius.
What does the Queen reveal that demonstrates her innocence in the murder of Hamlet Sr.?
What is Hamlet trying to accomplish in his conversation with his mother?
What two things does the ghost tell Hamlet to do?
What does Hamlet ask of his mother?
Hamlet – Act 3 Quotations
ELA B30
For each of the quotations below, provide the following:
a) the speaker
b) whom the speaker is speaking to
c) the circumstances (what is happening in the play when the quotation is spoken)
d) paraphrase each quotation
1. “The harlot’s cheek, beautified with plastering art, is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
than is my deed to my most painted word: O heavy burden!”
2. “To be or not to be: that is the question.”
3. “Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst be a breeder of sinners?”
4. I say, we will have no more marriages: those that are married already, all but one shall live;
the rest shall keep as they are.”
5. “O, what a noble mind here is o’verthrown!”
6. “It shall be so; madness in great ones must not unwatch’d go.”
7. “The instances that second marriage move are base respects of thrift, but none of love. A
second time I kill my husband dead when second husband kisses me in bed.”
8. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
9. “Give me some light. Away!”
10. Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.”
11. Let me be cruel, not unnatural: I will speak daggers to her, but use none.”
12. “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;”
13. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without thought never to heaven go.”
14. “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!”
15. “O, speak to me no more; these words like daggers enter in my ears.”
16. “I must be cruel, only to be kind.”
17. “Be thou assured if words be made of breath, and breadth of life, I have no life to breathe
what thou hast said to me.”
18. “Indeed, this counselor is now most still, most secret and most grave, who was in this life a
foolish prating knave.”