90 questions about Hamlet
1.1
1. Where are Francisco and Bernardo at the beginning of 1.1?
2. What did Francisco and Bernardo see recently?
3. Why are there such intense war preparations in Denmark?
4. Why does the ghost leave so abruptly?
5. What do the three men agree to do at the end of the scene?
1.2
6. What is Claudius telling the people in the first part of his speech?
7. What does he say about young Fortinbras and his Uncle the King of Norway?
8. What does Laertes want from the king? How does Claudius respond to him?
9. What do Claudius and Gertrude want Hamlet to do that he doesn’t want to do?
How does he respond to them?
10. How long has Hamlet been in mourning? (The normal time period for mourning a
noble woman’s dead husband at the time was one year)
11. According to Hamlet’s first soliloquy what is really bothering him about what has
happened since his father’s death?
12. What is Hamlet’s response to the news from Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo?
1.3
13. What does Laertes warn Ophelia about?
14. What has been the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia?
15. What is Polonius’ response to Hamlet’s interest in Ophelia?
16. Describe the characteristics of the family of Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius.
17. Is Ophelia strong willed? Why or why not?
1.4
18. Why don’t the others want Hamlet to go with the ghost?
19. Why don’t they stop him from going?
1.5
20. Is Hamlet surprised when he learns who the murderer is?
21. How did Claudius murder Hamlet Sr.?
22. What does the ghost tell Hamlet to do about this mother?
23. Given Hamlet’s second soliloquy how soon would you expect Hamlet to go after
his revenge?
24. When the others find Hamlet what does he ask them to swear?
25. Hamlet mentions, “putting on an antic disposition”. What does this mean and
how should we expect Hamlet to act now?
2.1
26. What is Polonius asking Reynaldo to do?
27. What does this request tell you about Polonius and his way of thinking?
28. Does Hamlet’s appearance as a madman come as a surprise to the reader after
what we last heard him say? Is it a surprise to Ophelia?
29. How well has Ophelia obeyed her father’s earlier orders?
30. What is Polonius’ response to what Ophelia tells him?
2.2
31. What is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s relation to Hamlet?
32. What results have come from Cornelius’ and Voltemands’ trip to Norway?
33. Has Claudius’ use of diplomacy, rather than war, been justified?
34. Are Claudius and Gertrude convinced that Polonius has found the answer to
Hamlet’s madness?
35. How does Hamlet behave when he enters the scene?
36. Does Polonius think Hamlet is crazy? Why or why not?
37. Why does Hamlet call Polonius a fishmonger?
38. How does Hamlet behave initially with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern?
39. How does Hamlet change when he realizes that Claudius & Gertrude sent for the
two?
40. What does Hamlet want the players to play?
41. Hamlet complains that he hasn’t acted on his vengeance. Why hasn’t he?
42. What will Hamlet learn from the play?
3.1
43. How much have Rosencrantz & Guildenstern learned about Hamlet?
44. What response does Polonius’ remark get (in an aside) from Claudius?
45. What do we learn from this short speech that we didn’t before?
46. What is the main idea of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy?
47. What is going on in the “nunnery scene” between Hamlet & Ophelia?
48. How does Claudius respond to what he has seen and heard from Ophelia &
Hamlet’s conversation?
49. Is Claudius convinced that love is the reason for Hamlet’s madness?
50. What does he plan to do about Hamlet?
3.2
51. Why does Hamlet say he especially likes Horatio?
52. Does Hamlet see Horatio as similar to him or different from him? Why?
53. How does the play within the play reflect the issues bothering Hamlet?
54. What is Claudius’ mood as he stops the play? How does Hamlet respond?
55. If Hamlet learned that Claudius is indeed guilty, Claudius has also learned
something from the presentation. What has Claudius learned?
56. What message do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have for Hamlet?
57. What lesson does he teach them with a recorder?
3.3
58. What has Claudius decided to do with Hamlet? Who will go with him?
59. What does Claudius admit in his attempt to pray? Why can’t he ask for
forgiveness?
60. What happens when Hamlet enters? Why doesn’t he kill Claudius then?
61. What is ironic about Hamlet’s decision?
3.4
62. Describe the scene between Hamlet and his mother.
63. What item does Hamlet use to force Gertrude to consider her actions?
64. What is the ghost’s message to Hamlet?
65. What does Hamlet think of his upcoming trip to England?
4.1
66. Does Gertrude tell Claudius the truth about what happened between her and
Hamlet? Why or why not?
67. How does Claudius respond to the death of Polonius?
4.2
68. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern learn from Hamlet?
4.3
69. Why does Claudius believe he can’t simply arrest Hamlet?
70. What do Claudius’ letters tell England to do with Hamlet?
4.4
71. Why is Fortinbras’ army passing through Denmark?
72. What sort of judgment does the captain make about the place they are fighting
for?
73. How does Hamlet describe it?
4.5
74. What do we learn about Gertrude’s soul in her aside? What does this say about
how she responded to Hamlet’s earlier accusations and recommendations?
75. The court assumes Ophelia’s madness is caused by her father’s death. Judging
from her songs, are they correct? Is that the only thing that has made her mad?
76. What is Laertes’ approach to avenging his father’s death? How does this
compare to Hamlet’s?
4.6
77. What has happened to Hamlet?
4.7
78. What plan do Claudius and Laertes develop?
79. What happened to Ophelia? Did she kill herself or is it accidental?
5.1
80. Why, according to the second clown/gravedigger, is she really being given a
Christian burial?
81. What does Hamlet realize in his confrontation with the gravediggers and Yorick’s
skull?
5.2
82. What would have happened to Hamlet in England? How did he find out these
plans?
83. What has happened to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern? How does Hamlet feel
about them?
84. What is Hamlet’s reaction to the idea of the fencing match?
85. Hamlet clearly apologizes to Laertes. How does Laertes respond?
86. Given what we know about the plans of Laertes and Claudius, how do you take
Laertes’ promise? Can we say he has any honor at all? Why or why not?
87. What is Laertes doing to his sword?
88. Write down the sequence of events within the match as well as Claudius’ death.
89. Why is Hamlet so concerned that Horatio stay alive to tell his story?
90. Does the Hamlet that Fortinbras describes sound like the Hamlet we have
known?