Hamlet: Act 1, Scene 2
1.2 **
Worksheet One
Page
No. of
lines
Scene
15
257
The Great Hall of Elsinore
Castle
Enter: Claudius, Gertrude,
Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes,
Ophelia, Voltemand, Cornelius,
Lords attendant
Exeunt: Voltemand and
Cornelius
(42)
Exeunt: all but Hamlet (128)
Enter: Horatio, Marcellus,
Barnardo
(159)
Exeunt: all but Hamlet (253)
Exit: Hamlet
1. Visual impact: list as many points of contrast as you can think of between this
scene and the previous one.
2. Plot: What situation is set up in the previous scene? What new information
about the situation is given in this scene? Can the ghost be considered as a
‘complication’?1
3. Language: We need to be reading aloud as well as reading silently. So, work
with a partner on Claudius’s speech in lines 1 – 39. First, take turns to read one
sentence each, then change the order of your reading and read it again. Check
any words you don’t know – word list in your copy of the play, dictionary, or ask
me – and then read again. Then define a purpose (or the purposes) for each
sentence Claudius speaks. (e.g. 1-7: acknowledge former king, and establish
himself as the new king. He needs to smooth over or minimise disapproval of
his marriage. He uses the language of bereavement and the language of
wisdom and power.)
4. Language - Gertrude: Again, with your partner read Gertrude’s words in this
scene sentence by sentence. Define a purpose and language type (diction) for
each of her sentences.
5. Use the suggestions in your book to work on Hamlet’s soliloquy in lines 129 159.
6. Collect a list of all the words used about the ghost and its purposes in this scene
– include information about who says what.
7. In this scene, Hamlet has not yet put ‘an antic disposition on’. What can you
judge about him in the dialogue between Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus?
8. Stage craft: Why, do you think, Hamlet stays on stage after the others leave at
line 253? What is the effect of his final words? Is he speaking his thoughts
aloud or speaking directly to the audience? What difference would this make to
the relationship between Hamlet and the audience?
9. Express these words, phrases, sentences in your own words:
a) You cannot speak of reason to the Dane / And lose your voice [44-5
b) (aside) A little more than kin, and less than kind [65
c) Thou know’st ‘tis common [72
1
Remember the description of narrative structure we have used before: Situation, Complication, Rising Action,
Climax/Crisis, Falling Action, Denouement (or changed situation)
1
d) But you must know, your father lost a father, / That father lost, lost his,
and the survivor bound / In filial obligation for some term to do
obsequious sorrow [89-92
e) For what we know must be, …Why should we in our peevish opposition /
Take it to heart? [98 – 101
f) …inn grace whereof, / No jocund health that Denmark drinks today / But
the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, / And the king’s rouse the
heaven shall bruit again, / Re-speaking earthly thunder [124-8
10 Antithesis and oxymoron - opposing ideas. These are always important in
Shakespeare’s works. These figures of speech make plain the extreme ideas – the
opposites of good and bad, right and wrong, wish and need - that humans need to
reconcile in their actions. Explain in your own words the opposites or
contradictions that are expressed in the words below:
a) So far hath discretion fought with nature
b) Wisest sorrow
c) Of Hamlet our dear brother’s death / The memory be green…together with
remembrance of ourselves [1-7]
d) A defeated joy [10]
e) With one auspicious and one dropping eye
f) With mirth in funeral
g) With dirge in marriage
h) In equal scale weighing delight and dole
i) Clouds and sunshine [65-6
11 Patterns of imagery: List as many examples as you can of the following:
a) Garden imagery
b) Sound imagery
c) Animal imagery
2
Hamlet: Act 1, Scene 3
1.3**
Page
31
Worksheet Two
No. of
lines
Scene
137
Elsinore. A private room
Enter: Laertes, Ophelia
Enter: Polonius
Exit: Laertes
Exeunt
(51)
(87)
1. Scene changes: So far, scenes have been set on ‘A gun platform on the
battlements of Elsinore Castle’, in ‘The Great Hall of Elsinore Castle’ and now, in ‘A
private room’. We have seen that, in the Globe Theatre and in some of the other
places plays were enacted, that there was no provision for changing the set, or
altering the lighting, or of indicating a change of place. Write a paragraph which
includes speculation about the following questions:
 What indication would an audience have in an authentic/original staging that the
place has changed?
 Do you think that the scenes imply that we are seeing selected fragments of
ongoing life in the castle? (Consider the way the scenes begin in the middle of a
conversation or event.)
2. Explain the following in your own words:
a) …do not sleep / But let me hear from you. [3-4
b) …the trifling of his favour [5
c) Hold it a fashion [6
d) For nature crescent does not grow alone / In thews and bulk [11
e) But as this temple waxes / The inward service of the mind and soul / Grows
wide [14-15
f) his will is not his own [17
g) For he himself is subject to his birth [18
h) that body / Whereof he is the head [23-4 (One word answer! D_ _ _ _ _ _)
i) If with too credent ear you list his songs [30
j) precepts [58
k) Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar [61
l) For loan oft loses both itself and friend
[76
m) …a green girl
[101
n) When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul / Lends the tongue vows [126-7
3. Laertes tells Ophelia that Hamlet’s affection for her is false or unreliable. List the
three comparisons he makes in lines 5-10. Then explain in your own words the
similarities Laertes asserts between Hamlet’s love and an early spring violet.
4. Laertes uses images of illness and disease. List as many examples as you can
find in this scene.
5. When speaking to Ophelia, Polonius uses imagery of bird traps and fire to illustrate
what, he says, is Hamlet’s deceit. Read the note about ‘Imagery of Deceit’ (if it
appears in your copy of the play). Explain the trap and fire images.
3
Hamlet: Act 2, Scene 2
2.2**
Worksheet Three
Page
ref
No. of
lines
Scene
67
558
The Great Hall of Elsinore
Castle
Enter: King, Queen,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
others
Exeunt: Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern
(39
Enter: Polonius
(39
Exit: Polonius
[53
Enter: Polonius, Voltemand,
Cornelius
[58
Exeunt: Ambassadors (i.e
Voltemand and Cornelius) [85
Enter: Hamlet
[165
Exeunt: Claudius, Gertrude and
all others
[168
Enter: Guildenstern and
Rosencrantz
[212
Exit: Polonius:
Enter: Polonius
[214
[348
Enter: the players
Exit: Polonius
Exeunt: the players
Exit: Hamlet
[385
[489
[497
1. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: As he welcomes them to court, Claudius explains why
he has invited them there. He says ‘[although] we did much long to see you, / The need
we have to use you did provoke / Our hasty sending’. [2-4] Explain in your own words what
Claudius asks them to do for him.
2. Gertrude tells them that ‘Your visitation shall receive such thanks / As fits a kings
remembrance’. What does this mean?
3. Summarize the responses of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. (And just notice that lines 334 are often interpreted as a hint that Claudius is not certain who’s who.)
4. Between lines 212 and 500 Hamlet is on stage with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Is it
fair to say that the conversation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern consists mainly of
questions and concealment and lies? Do they ‘deal justly’ [262] with Hamlet? Write a
paragraph which includes argument and counter-argument (and evidence – with some
correctly used quotations) to answer this question.
5. What a piece of work is a man! Lines 280 - 290 comprise a famous speech. The
images of ‘this goodly frame’, ‘this sterile promontory’ and ‘this majestical roof fretted with
golden fire’ can perhaps be interpreted as references to the Globe Theatre where the play
was performed, as well as to the earth and sky. The word ‘quintessence’ means the
indefinable element which makes people, individuals, phenomena and things unique and
different from all else. There were thought to be four elements which made up everything
in existence – earth, air, fire, water. The quintessence is the fifth, unknown element.
4
Read the speech and list all the opposites or antitheses you can see.
6. Polonius: Polonius does several things in this scene.
 He introduces the ambassadors returning from Norway [40]
 He tells Claudius and Gertrude that he believes Hamlet’s madness is caused be
thwarted love for Ophelia [40 ff
 He suggests an experiment for testing this hypothesis [157
 He holds a conversation with Hamlet about the ‘words, words, words’ Hamlet is
reading [167
 He directs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to where Hamlet is [214
 He tells Hamlet of the arrival of the players [349
 He comments on the players’ introductory performance
 He takes the players off to be looked after. [489
What hints about his character do you glean from this scene? Use dot points or write a
paragraph – but be sure to use quotations to substantiate your views.
7. Why do you think Shakespeare might have directed that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
leave the stage two lines later than the players? Use your scene summary to identify
specific scenes where a similar pattern of exits occurs – i.e. one character or group
departs only a few lines before the last character or group departs the stage. Write a brief
paragraph about the dramatic purpose(s) of the staggered departures.
8. Hamlet: Try writing out Hamlet’s soliloquy [501-558] in modern English. Remember to
preserve the sentences, and not to worry about the lines of verse. At the end, write a small
comment on whether you think it is possible to read this speech as an indication that
Hamlet is about to succumb to the temptation of killing for revenge?
5
Act Three, Scene One
Worksheet Four
Act and
scene
number
Page
ref
Number Scene
of lines
Characters’ entries and exits (at
line numbers
3.1**
101
182
Enter: King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia,
Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Lords
Exeunt: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
[28
Exit: Gertrude with lords
[40
Exeunt: Claudius, Polonius
[55
Enter: Hamlet
[55
(Ophelia is the only other person on the stage.)
Exit: Hamlet
[143
Enter: King, Polonius
[155
Exeunt
The Great Hall of
Elsinore Castle
1. Explain in your own words:
a) And can you by no drift of circumstance
Get from him which he puts on this confusion
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy? [1-4
a) Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,
But with a crafty madness keeps aloof
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state. [7-10
b) Good gentlemen, give him a further edge, / And drive his purpose on to these delights
[26-7
c) ‘Lawful espials’ [32
d) ‘…that with devotion’s visage, / And pious action, we do sugar o’er / The devil himself.’
[47-9
e) ‘How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience’ [50
f) ‘I never gave you aught’ [96
g) ‘I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have
thoughts to put them in’ [122-3
h) ‘chaste’ [132
i) ‘calumny’ [133
j) ‘wantonness’ [140
k) ‘you jig, you amble, you lisp’ [138-9
l) Haply the seas, and countries different,
With variable objects, shall expel
This something-settled matter in his heart,
Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus
From fashion of himself.
[165-9
2. Polonius
List the things Polonius does in this scene. Write a short
paragraph about his function in driving the narrative forward.
3. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
What evidence appears in this scene
about the role of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: are they friends of Hamlet or spies
for Claudius? (or something else?)
6
4. Hamlet
Reread Hamlet’s soliloquy in lines 56 – 89. Try writing it out in
modern English, again remembering that the sentences are the key units of
meaning. Write a brief comment on whether you think that this soliloquy could be
read as a response to the temptation to the sin of suicide. (The comments on the
opposite page should help with this.)
5. Ophelia’s speech in lines 144 -155 shows us what Hamlet was like before the death
of his father. List and explain the qualities Ophelia attributes to the Hamlet of the
past. Ophelia also uses images of music: what are the images and what do they
imply about Hamlet?
6. Ophelia The conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia occurs in lines 89 – 143.
a. Identify the point at which the verse finishes and the prose begins. Is there are
simultaneous change in the tone or direction of the conversation at this point.
b. Hamlet seems to me to be expressing disgust here for the whole world and all the
people in it. Quote and explain the evidence to support and refute my view.
c. Write a short paragraph about Ophelia’s response to Hamlet’s diatribe: what do her
words show about her? Include a discussion (brief) of the lie she tells.
7.
Quote the final rhyming couplet of this scene.
7
Act Three, Scene Four
3.4**
Worksheet Five
Page
ref
No. of
lines
Scene
141
218
Gertrude’s private
room
Enter: Gertrude, Polonius
Enter: Hamlet
[8
(Hamlet kills Polonius at line 23)
Enter: Ghost
[101
Exit: Ghost
[137
Exit: Hamlet tugging in Polonius. Gertrude remains.
1. Polonius: These are his last moments in the play. Look at what he says to Gertrude in
lines 1 -5. Summarize the speech and comment on the tone of the words, including a
judgement of the attitude he demonstrates to Gertrude and to Hamlet.
2. Gertrude and Hamlet:
a) This conversation begins with verbal sparring, with Hamlet repeating Gertrude’s
words and patterns of speech. Identify examples of this in lines 8 -12, and
comment on the (cumulative) effect of the repetitions.
b) In line 21, Gertrude says “What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?”. There are
no stage directions here, but this line serves to explain to actors and audience the
tone and pace of the scene so far. What does the line tell us about the scene? Is
there any indication in Hamlet’s lines that he is likely to murder his mother?
c) What methods and arguments does Hamlet use to ‘wring [his mother’s] heart’ ?
Look at lines 34 – 88, ignoring the lines in square brackets, and remembering to
read the sentences.
d) Is Hamlet successful in ‘wringing’ his mother’s heart? Explain with evidence.
e) Gertrude says in line 105 ‘Alas he’s mad!’. Why does she say this? Discuss the
immediate context and the context of the play to this point.
f) Comment on the effect of the conversation between Gertrude and Hamlet from line
105 to138. What methods has Shakespeare used to achieve these effects? Be
specific with both conclusions and evidence.
g) Write out Hamlet’s advice to Gertrude, given in lines 140 – 156. Remember to
preserve the sentences and not to worry about the lines.
h) When Gertrude tells Hamlet that he has ‘cleft [her] heart in twain’ - broken her
heart in two – Hamlet uses her words to give her more advice. Explain how this
works. [157 – 9]
i) Choose one or two of the activities on pages 150 and 152 to help you understand
the text on pages 151and 153.
3. Ghost: Comment on the effect and purpose of the ghost’s appearance in this scene.
4. Explain in your own words:
I. ‘You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, / And, would it were not so, you are
my mother’ [15-6
II. ‘You go not till I set you up a glass / where you may see the inmost part of you.’ [19-20
III. ‘I took thee for thy better.’ [32
IV. ‘If damned custom have not brazed it [your heart] so / That it be proof and bulwark
against sense.’ [37-8] (Note that ‘sense’ is used in the ToK sense: sensory perception.)
V. ‘Ay me, what act, / That roars so loud and thunders in the index?’ [39-40
VI. ‘…[Claudius is] A murderer and a villain, / A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe /
Of your precendent lord [96-8
VII. ‘Alas, how is’t with you / That you do bend your eye on vacancy,/ And with th’incorporal
air do hold discourse?’ [115-7
VIII. ‘It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, / Whiles rank corruption, mining all within, /
Infects unseen. ‘ [148-150 You must explain clearly what ‘it’ is – which means you must look
back to the previous lines and work out what ‘it’ refers to.
5. Miscellaneous:
List examples of imagery, pun, parallelism.
8
Act Four, Scene Four
4.4**
Page
167
No. of lines
66
Worksheet Six
Scene
The sea coast near
Elsinore
Enter: Fortinbras with his army
Exit: Fortinbras, army
Enter: Hamlet, Rosencrantz, etc.
Exit: Captain
Exeunt: all but Hamlet
Exit: Hamlet
[8
[8
[30
[31
Use these questions to help you write a coherent commentary on this scene. You
should answer all the questions, but you may vary the order. ( I know that some
questions overlap – there’s no need for you to repeat ideas.)
1. Describe the situation as this scene opens and explain how the situation has
changed by the end of the scene. Use our standard description of narrative
structure (Situation, Complication, Rising Action, Climax/Crisis, Falling Action,
Denouement [or changed situation]) to explain how this scene contributes to
moving forward the plot of the play as a whole.
2. Shakespeare has written part of this scene in prose and part in blank verse.
Identify the elements which are written in prose and comment on possible
reasons for the switches.
3. The tone of the first part of this scene (1 – 31) is achieved partly through the
characters’ politeness to each other. Identify examples of this, and define the
tone created by these exchanges.
4. Comment on the implications of the image Hamlet uses in lines 27 – 29. (Use
the definitions of ‘impostume’ and ‘without’ on p166 to help you.
5. Comment on the use of numbers – costs and quantities - in (the text of) this
scene.
6. Comment on the thought (or thinking process) made manifest 2 in Hamlet’s
soliloquy in lines 32 – 66. Use the information given on page 168 about how the
soliloquy can be divided into section and use the dot point questions if they help
(and if they exist in your edition of the play). You should comment on:
o The contrast he makes between humans and animals
o The contrast he makes between wisdom and cowardice
o The contrast he makes between himself and Fortinbras Fortinbras’s function in
the play is to be a foil for Hamlet: Fortinbras is used as a contrast to Hamlet, though in some
respects their situations are similar. What contrasts and what similarities are apparent in this
scene? How does Hamlet’s close encounter with Fortinbras affect him?
o His comments on the idea of honour.
7. We have discussed in class Germaine Greer’s interpretation of Hamlet as a
morality play in which Hamlet is tempted to commit the sin of murder and does
not give in the temptation. She considers that Hamlet shows ‘spiritual heroism’.
The writer of the questions on page 168 clearly sees Hamlet as simply
indecisive and possibly delusional. Now I agree with Germaine Greer, but I’d
like to know what you think. Explain yourself!
‘made manifest’ means ‘shown clearly’ and it’s often used to describe something which would not ordinarily be
perceptible. (I am seeking to improve your vocabulary here.)
2
9
Act Four, Scene Five
1.
4.5**
Page
171
No of lines
214
Worksheet 7
Scene
The Great Hall of
Elsinore Castle
Enter: Horatio, Gertrude and a gentleman
Exit: Gentleman
[15
Enter: Ophelia, distracted [20
Enter: Claudius
[36
Exit:
Exit:
Ophelia
Horatio
Enter: A messenger
[72
[73
[97
Enter: Laertes with others [111
Exeunt: followers
[116
Enter: Ophelia
[153
Exeunt
1. Explain in your own words:
a. ‘she may strew / dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds’ [14-5
b. ‘some great amiss’ [18
c. ‘Her speech is nothing / Yet the unshaped use of it doth move / the
hearers to collection.’ [7 – 9
d. ‘Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?’ [27
e. Then up he rose and donned his clothes
j)
And dupped the chamber door;
Let in the maid that out a maid
Never departed more
[52 -55
Quoth she, ‘Before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.’
So would I ha’done by yonder sun,
And thou hadst not come to my bed. [62-66
‘The people muddied, / Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and
whispers / For good Polonius’ death’ [80-82
l) ‘And we have done but greenly / In hugger-mugger to inter him.’ [82-82
m) ‘Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, / It could not move thus.’
[168-9
n) ‘Go but apart, / Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will, / And they
shall hear and judge ‘twixt you and me.’ [198 -200
k)
o) If by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touched, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours,
To you in satisfaction.
[201 – 204
a) His means of death, his obscure funeral,
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones,
No noble rite, nor formal ostentation,
Cry to be heard
[208 - 211
2. Using only the scene summary above to help you, describe to the best of your
ability the events of this scene. When you have finished, check your version
against the actual scene, and use a pen of a different colour to make any
amendments or additions.
10
3. What is the situation at the beginning of this scene? What is the situation at the
end of the scene? How has the change been effected? (or, in other words, what
has caused the change?)
4. Suggest reasons why Gertrude at first refuses and then agrees to see Ophelia.
(Look at Horatio’s advice.)
5. In lines 4 – 15, the gentleman describes Ophelia’s madness and the reactions
of the people who hear her words. What is Ophelia saying? What meanings
are the hearers likely to deduce or guess at?
6. Explain in your own words Gertrude’s ‘aside’ in lines16 -20.
7. Ophelia’s question at line 21 can be seen as ironic. Give at least two possible
meanings for the question and two possible answers to it.
8. How does Shakespeare make Ophelia seem mad? Give examples of what she
says and does. What do you deduce about the underlying causes of her
madness? (Alternative question for music students: Set some of Ophelia’s
songs to music which tries to enhance the emotions and contradictions of her
behaviour.)
9. Write about the similarities and differences between Hamlet’s madness (as
shown, for instance, in Act 3 Scene 1, or Act 2 Scene 2) and the madness
Ophelia is showing here [20 – 72]. You should use precise quotations as well
as standing back (metaphorically speaking) for a broader view. Look at the key
ideas of love and death in her words, and the way meaning is implied but not
stated.
10. Describe Laertes’ reaction to his father’s death. Compare his reactions with
Hamlet’s reaction to the death of his father.
11. What is added in this scene to Shakespeare’s characterisation of Claudius?
11