AP English 4
Hamlet: Unit Test
Review Sheet
Your exam will take eighty (80 minutes). Be prepared to address the following material (i.e.
themes, terms, concepts and the like) in full scope:
General Format
1. Multiple Choice
 In addition to general questions, there will be an “AP Prep” section as well.
2. Quote ID
3. Fill-in
4. Timed Writing
Documents
1. Shakespeare, Hamlet: know the plot and the characters. Be prepared
2. Bacon, “Of Revenge”
3. Murphy, “Hamlet and the Four Humours”
 Know the general idea; know—from the table—“humour,” “character type,” and
“phase of life”
4. Murphy, “Differences between Comedy and Tragedy”
 Give a good review here—you’ll see immediate trends and it’s easy to get the
trends/attributes
5. Murphy, “Logos, Ethos, Pathos”
 Know how to read one passage through each lens.
Themes
1. Hamlet as Revenge Play
2. Is Hamlet mad or is he playing with (or affecting an) “antic disposition”
3. Styles of Parental “Advice”: Hamlet Senior, Polonius, Gertrude
4. Courtly/Familial Espionage: Who spies on whom? Why?
5. The Mouse Trap: Why is there a play within a play? What does this aspect of the play say
about Hamlet? What purpose does dramatic art serve?
6. Conscience, prayer, confession, penitence (esp. with Claudius)
7. Hamlet as procrastinator
8. Psychological/Developmental: Hamlet and Ophelia as paragons of adolescence and
adolescent trauma.
9. Alas poor Yorick: Life, Death, Time, and Gravedigging (5.1)
10. Hamlet as Classic Tragedy/ Hamlet as Elizabethan Tragedy/ The Structure of Tragedy
Enrichment
Millais and Ophelia’s Flowers: The online experience from the Tate Gallery
Review Questions (loaded in docs)
“Glossary of Literary Terms” in AP Packet