Act III Questions
1. Why does Polonius’s speech give the King’s
conscience a “smart lash”? (III. i. 49)
2. Why does Hamlet want Ophelia to live in a
nunnery?
This encounter with Ophelia can be seen as cruel or
kind — depending on what you feel is Hamlet’s
intention here. What do you think and why?
3. Put the following line in your own words:
“And am I then revenged,
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and season’d for his passage?” (III. iii.
84-86)
Why won’t Hamlet kill Claudius here? Do you think
this is an honest excuse or is he procrastinating?
4. Do you think that Gertrude was in on the plot to
kill Old Hamlet? Defend your position by using at
least one quote in Act III.