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Hamlet Act I, Scene 1-2 Questions
1.1
1. What do you notice about the opening question? Who asks it and why is this odd?
2. List the important facts that are established in 1.1.
3. Describe Horatio. Give two or three words to describe your first impression.
4. What does Horatio mean when he says the ghost “bodes some strange eruptions to our state” (80)?
5. What are the three stated reasons a spirit of a dead man might walk? (Read lines 140-150.)
1.2
1. What are the topics of Claudius’s speech? Name them in order.
2. Why are they presented in this particular order?
3. What is Claudius’ true attitude toward Hamlet? Is it the same as his public attitude? Why, or why not?
4. What is Gertrude’s attitude toward Hamlet?
5. What is Hamlet’s attitude toward the King? Toward the Queen? Why does he feel this way?
6. What is the content of the soliloquy? Is it an appropriate response to the occasion? Why, or why not?
Hamlet Reading Guide: Act 1 (cont’d) and Act 2
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1.3-1.5
1. What is the occasion for the conversation between Laertes and Ophelia?
2. What advice does Laertes give his sister? How does Ophelia receive it?
3. What is the substance of Polonius’ advice to Laertes? What is the basis of his concern?
4. What is the ghost’s message to Hamlet?
5. What do the last three lines of the act reveal about Hamlet’s character, his intentions, and the future
action of the play? Make predictions.
2.1
1. What view of Hamlet do we get from Ophelia’s account of his visit to her closet?
2. What does Polonius intend to do with this information about Hamlet? Why?
2.2
.
1. Why are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in court? What impression do you have of their characters?
2. Summarize Voltimand’s message from Norway.
3. In the soliloquy, “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” note the progression of Hamlet’s thoughts,
and a.) point out the lines or words that indicate a change in subject or tone (there are several major
divisions); b.)give a one-line summary of the main point of each section.
4. What do you learn about Hamlet in this soliloquy? What ideas that you already had are confirmed or
denied?
Hamlet Reading Guide
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3.1 To be or not to be—
1. What are Claudius and Polonius planning to do? For what purpose?
2. What does the king’s “aside” show about him?
3. What is the question Hamlet is asking in his famous soliloquy?
What thoughts support the “to be”?
What thoughts support the “not to be”?
4. Does Hamlet know he and Ophelia are being watched? Give evidence.
5. Why does he tell Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery”?
6. What are Ophelia’s reactions to this scene?
7. What conclusions does Claudius draw from this scene?
8. What does Polonius plan to do next?
3.2 The play’s the thing
1. What is Claudius’s reaction to “The Mousetrap”?
2. What do we see about Hamlet from his interchange with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
3. What does Hamlet’s soliloquy at the end of 3.2 reveal about him at this point?
Hamlet Reading/Viewing Guide
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3.2-3 “Now might I do it…”
1. How does Hamlet view Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? What does Claudius ask them to do?
2. Why doesn’t Hamlet kill Claudius when he has the chance?
3. What significance does Claudius’ final couplet (“words without thoughts never to heaven go”) have in
light of Hamlet’s soliloquy?
3.4 “The Closet Scene”
1. What initial arguments does Hamlet use to persuade Gertrude to see herself as he sees her?
2. What advice does Hamlet give his mother?
3. How does the director of this film version of Hamlet incorporate Freudian theory into the scene?
(Answer on separate paper. Write a well-developed paragraph.)
4.4
1. What are Hamlet’s feelings about himself in this soliloquy? (page 203, lines 34-69)
2. What is your reaction to his lines, “O, from this time forth, / My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing
worth!”?
4.5
1. What ideas or patterns do you notice in Ophelia’s “mad” speeches and songs? Why do you think those
particular ones surfaced?
2. In what manner does Laertes enter the court? What is his purpose?
4.7
1. What tactics does Claudius use to win Laertes to his side? What is their plot?
2. What news does Gertrude bring concerning Ophelia? What do the circumstances say about her or about
women in general in this play?
Hamlet Reading Guide Act 5
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5.1 “Alas, poor Yorrick…”
1. What facts do we learn from the gravediggers? How can you characterize their language?
2. What points does Hamlet make when he finds Yorick’s skull? (p.249. lines 190-223)
3. Why does Hamlet leap into the grave after Laertes?
5.2 “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince.”
1. How does Hamlet foil Claudius’ plan? What happens to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? (p.261)
2. Explain how the plot conceived by Claudius and Laertes goes wrong.
3. What is your final impression of Laertes?
4. What is Hamlet’s last request of Horatio?
5. Why does Shakespeare have Fortinbras enter at the end?