Hamlet - Act Three Questions
Answer the following questions in full and complete sentences. Use direct references
from the text in your answers.
Act Three, scene one:
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9.
What have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern found out?
Summarize Claudius’ aside lines 49-54. What does he admit? Does he admit
anything?
What major philosophical points dominate Hamlet’s soliloquy in scene 1?
Summarize what Hamlet says to Ophelia.
Why is he so brutal to her?
Is Ophelia, as far as the text reveals, guilty of any of the “womanly” sins of which
Hamlet accuses her?
What is the purpose of Ophelia’s remembrance of the former Hamlet?
How do Claudius and Polonius view the meeting?
What is Claudius’ plan for Hamlet?
Act Three, scene two:
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6.
Summarize Hamlet’s speech to Horatio, lines 54-85.
How does Hamlet behave before the play begins?
What is Hamlet hoping to accomplish in the speech of the Player Queen to the
Player King?
How does Claudius react to the play?
What message do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring? How does Hamlet react
to this news?
How will Hamlet deal with his mother? (Lines 379-383)
Act Three, scene three:
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4.
What action does Claudius propose in relation to Hamlet?
What is Polonius’ plan?
Summarize Claudius’ soliloquy. What is he not able to do? Why can he not be
forgiven? How is Claudius feeling?
Why does Hamlet not kill Claudius? What is the irony in this decision?
Act Three, scene four:
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4.
What happens to Polonius?
What does Hamlet say to his mother?
At the end of scene 4, Hamlet tell his mother that he is going to England. How
does he feel about this voyage
What is the significance of Polonius’ death to the plot?