KEY: SHORT ANSWER UNIT TEST ANSWERS
I. Matching/Identify:
1. D
2. G
3. I
4. J
5. A
6. H
7. E
8. K
9. F
10. C
11. B
II. Short Answer
1. Hamlet is upset for two reasons. What are they?
His father has died, and his uncle has married his mother less than two months after his
father's death. It was not a respectable period of time to wait, besides which the marriage
in Hamlet's time was considered incestuous.
2. Hamlet swears Horatio to two things. What are they?
He swears him to secrecy about the events of this evening (seeing the ghost) and to go
along with him should he pretend to be crazy.
3. Why does Polonius think Hamlet is "mad"?
He thinks Ophelia's rejections have been too much for Hamlet, that Hamlet is love-sick.
4. What arrangement does Hamlet make with Player 1?
He arranges to have several of his own lines put into the play (to make the action of the
play as closely related to the actual events of his father's murder as possible).
5. Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy is in scene one. In a sentence or two
paraphrase his main points.
He is pondering whether a miserable life is better than the unknown of death.
6. What was the King's reaction to the play, and what did Hamlet and Horatio decide his
reaction meant?
The King got up and called for the lights. Hamlet and Horatio were convinced that the
ghost was right, that Claudius had murdered King Hamlet.
7. Why doesn't Hamlet kill the King when the King is kneeling?
Hamlet wants the King to die without a chance for a last confession, as his father died.
He thinks if the King is praying, he may not be in sin enough to get eternal punishment.
8. How does Polonius die?
Polonius is in the Queen's room while she and Hamlet are talking. He hides behind the
tapestry but makes some noise. Hamlet runs through the tapestry with his sword (actually
thinking Claudius might be there), killing Polonius.
9. What is the content of the letters the King sends with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to
England with Hamlet?
The King wants Hamlet to be killed as soon as he reaches England.
10. What plan do the King and Laertes discuss to kill Hamlet?
They plan to set up a duel between Laertes and Hamlet in which Laertes will honorably
kill Hamlet, or if Hamlet lives, the King will poison him.
11. Why does Hamlet jump into Ophelia's grave?
He shows that his sorrow is as great as Laertes'.
12. What did Hamlet do to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
Hamlet replaced their letters (which called for Hamlet's execution) with letters which
called for the execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.