English 4, honors – Hamlet by William Shakespeare Act III Study Guide
Part I – Plot Analysis
Scenes
Plot Developments
Setting
Characters
Conflicts
(internal and
external)
Themes
Part II – Study Questions
Answer the following questions in complete, detailed sentences. Include references
(quotes) from the text to support your answers.
Scene 1
1. What does Claudius admit to himself (and to the audience) about his crime?
2. List the personal grievances Hamlet expresses in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy and
explain what specific events in Hamlet’s life they refer to.
3. What metaphor does Hamlet use in his “To be or not to be” speech to express his
developing understanding of death? How does he further develop this metaphor?
4. What information does Ophelia provide about Hamlet’s character before the beginning
of the play?
5. Explain the ambiguity of the nunnery scene.
6. What is the main emphasis of Hamlet’s diatribe against Ophelia?
Scene 2
7. Why does Shakespeare begin this scene with Hamlet offering acting lessons to the
players? How does this advance the plot, develop character, or help to establish theme?
8. Why does Hamlet trust and admire Horatio?
9. What does Hamlet admit to Horatio and the audience just before the company arrives
to view the play?
10. How does Hamlet’s speech pattern change when the others enter the room to view the
play? Why?
11. Why does Hamlet speak to Ophelia in such vulgar terms?
12. What does Gertrude’s reaction to the play indicate?
13. Explain the metaphor of the recorder.
14. Explain the allusion to Nero in Hamlet’s closing speech.
Scene 3
15. How has the play-within-the-play changed Hamlet’s situation and influenced the
action of the play?
16. How does Polonius’ spying on the scene between Hamlet and Gertrude indicate a
change in Gertrude’s status?
17. In what paradox of salvation does Claudius feel trapped?
18. Why doesn’t Hamlet kill Claudius when he has the opportunity?
Scene 4
19. Explain the ambiguity and wordplay Hamlet and his mother exchange at the
beginning of
this scene.
20. What is Hamlet’s reaction to the killing of Polonius?
21. What does this scene reveal about Gertrude’s guilt?
22. What aspect of Gertrude and Claudius’ marriage still clearly bothers Hamlet the
most?
23. What is the significance of this second appearance of the ghost?
Part III - Famous Quotes - Explain who is speaking, what you think these quotations
mean, and why they are important to the context of the play as well as literary/rhetorical
devices demonstrated by these quotes.
1. “To be or not to be – that is the question:” (III.i.64)
2. “Get thee to a nunnery.” (III.i.131)
3. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” (III.ii.254)
4. “Give me some light. Away!” (III.ii.295)
5. “I must be cruel only to be kind.” (III.iv.199)
Part IV – The Soliloquy Count
How many soliloquies has Hamlet now delivered? (total in the play) What is the purpose
of his “To be or not to be” soliloquy in Act III? Please be specific.