Sample Quiz Questions
1. Why, when and where does Hamlet kill Polonius?
2. Why is Hamlet so interested in the play the traveling players have come to put on at the court?
3. Why does Hamlet kill the king in Act V?
4. Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and what role do they play in the tragedy?
5. Who is Laertes and what role does he play in the tragedy?
6. What does the ghost of King Hamlet tell young Hamlet about the former's death?
7. Who is Ophelia and what is her role in the tragedy?
8. Why does Laertes want to kill Hamlet?
9. What does Polonius think has driven Hamlet mad? Is Polonius' assumption correct? What
does he offer as proof of hist theory? How do he and Claudius hope to ascertain the truth of
this suspicion?
10. What are King Claudius' two plans for getting rid of Hamlet?
11. Where (heaven, purgatory, hell) has Old Hamlet's ghost come from? Where will it return to
and when?
12. What is the result of Voltimand's diplomatic mission to Old Norway?
13. From where and why has Hamlet just returned at the beginning of the play?
14. What is the reason both Laertes and Polonius give Ophelia when they tell her to reject
Hamlet's attentions?
15. Why does Polonius want Reynaldo to spy on Laertes? How is Reynaldo to do this?
16. Who did Hamlet think was spying on him from behind the arras (tapestry) in his mother's
room?
17. Give two reasons Claudius offers Laertes for having sent Hamlet away rather than having
the Prince killed outright.
18. Why is Laertes so upset with the way his sister's funeral is conducted?
19. Two people use poison at the end of the play . . . who and why?
20. What are the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
21. What diplomatic mission does Claudius send Voltimand on?
22. How, by whom and where was Hamlet's father assassinated?
23. Where is Laertes going off to at the beginning of the play?
24. How does Hamlet want the actors to speak their lines?
25. What particular skill is Laertes known for?
26. Summarize Hamlet's advice to the players before they perform The Murder of Gonzago.
27. Who replaces Polonius after Hamlet has killed Polonius?
28. How do we know Hamlet truly loved Ophelia? Where in the play is there proof?
29. Who was "Poor Yorick?"
30. What do we learn about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the end of the play?
31. Who will be the new ruler of Denmark? How do you know? In what sense does this
character have a legitimate claim to the throne?
32. What two important events have taken place in the kingdom of Denmark before the play
opens?
33. Who is the ghost? What is his message to Hamlet?
34. Why does Claudius want Hamlet to remain at court rather than return toWittenburg?
35. Hamlet has doubts about the ghost's sincerity. For what reason, according to Hamlet, might
the ghost be lying?
36. How does Hamlet ascertain the truth of what the ghost has told him?
37. Explain why Fortinbras is passing through Denmark. What quarrel, if any, did young
Fortinbras have with the Danish throne?
38. In Act II, the players arrive; Hamlet asks two favors of the first player; what are these favors?
39. Denmark seems to be in a state of military build up; what reasons does Horatio give for the
frenzied activity?
40. In Act II, the queen and the king ask a favor of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; what is the
favor and why do the monarchs ask the favor of these particular young men?
41. At the beginning of Act I, Marcellus, Bernardo and Horatio discuss the "strange eruption to
our state." (dificulties in the nation) What do they think is the cause of the "strange
eruption?"
42. Who is Laertes and what does he ask of the king? Why does he want this favor? What is
the king's response?
43. What advice does Laertes give Ophelia, and about what subject?
44. Describe how Old Hamlet (the prince's father) died. Old Hamlet gives the prince instructions
about how to treat Gertrude, the queen. What are these instructions?
45. Polonius sends Reynaldo to Paris to do what errand?
46. How does Polonius propose to prove to the king that Hamlet is mad for love of Ophelia?
47. According to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, why have the actors, who are arriving at the
king's court, left the city to go on tour?
48. In his last long soliloquy of Act II (O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"), why is Hamlet
so upset with himself?
49. What does Hamlet want Horatio to do at the play? Why?
50. Summarize the player king's and the player queen's dialogue.
51. Hamlet observes his uncle, the King, praying. Hamlet, now certain fo the King's guilt, has a
chance to kill the King. Why does the prince fail to use the moment to take his revenge on
the villainous uncle?
52. What happens to the ship that is bearing Hamlet to England and with what result as far as
Hamlet is concerned?
53. Hamlet meets one of Fortinbras' men who tells Hamlet where the Norwegian army is going
and why. The encounter upsets Hamlet' why? ("How all occaisions do inform against . . .")
54. In Act IV, Laertes has secretly returned from France. Why? What does he think has
happened? What are his intentions?
55. The King offers Laertes the chance to take his revenge. What will be the circumstances of
this revenge; how will the King and Laertes make certain Hamlet dies?
56. In the gravediggers' scene, Hamlet picks up a skull identified as that of Yorick. Who was this
Yorick and of what importance was he to Hamlet?
57. At the end of the play, who of all the characters who were present during the play are now
dead? Who will be the next king of Denmark and why?
58. What answer do Cornelius and voltimand bring back from their diplomatic mission?
59. What does Hamlet want Marcellus and Horatio to swear to?
60. The king berates Hamlet for mourning too long for his father and gives three reasons why
prolonged mourning is wrong. What are the king's three reasons?
61. List four pieces of advice Polonius gives Laertes before the young man embarks on his ship.
62. What advice do Polonius and Laertes both have for Ophelia about her affection for Hamlet?
63. Two men by the name of Fortinbras are mentioned in Act I; what, if anything, do they have to
do with Denmark?
64. What favor does Claudius refuse Hamlet in Act I?
65. In Act II, how does Hamlet treat Ophelia when they meet in the great hall with Claudius and
Polonius hiding behind the tapestry? What does he tell her to do?
66. How does the King act at the play? At what moment in the play does he interrupt the
performance?
67. In Act III, Hamlet goes to visit his mother in her chamber. What tragic occurence happens
during the scene? What essentially does Hamlet have to say to his mother during the
interview between the two?
68. Why does the King send Hamlet to England: what motive does the King give Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern; what reason for the trip does the King give Hamlet; what are the King's
real motives in sending Hamlet to England?
69. In Act IV, the Queen instructs Horatio to watch Ophelia carefully. Why? What has
happened to Ophelia and why has it happened?
70. Laertes wants to start a revolution against Claudius. Why does Laertes want to do so? How
does Claudius stop Laertes from starting the revolution?
71. Why is Ophelia's funeral less elaborate than her brother wishes it to be?
72. What tragic mistakes, at least two, take place in the last act during the duel between Laertes
and Hamlet?
73. Who survives the terrible events in the last scene of the play?