1
English 112
Name: ___________
Hamlet Act 1 Assignment
/ 78
Part A: Who’s Who? (Value 15) Use the names provided to fill in the blanks. Names will be
repeated.
Claudius
Hamlet
Old Hamlet
Gertrude
Laertes
Ophelia
Polonius
1. Hamlet's mother is ________________.
2. Hamlet's stepfather is ________________.
3. Hamlet's father is ________________.
4. Gertrude's first husband was ________________.
5. Hamlet's girlfriend is ________________.
6. Old Hamlet was killed by ________________.
7. Ophelia's brother is ________________.
8. Ophelia's father is ________________.
9. Gertrude's present husband is ________________.
10. Polonius' daughter is ________________.
11. Claudius' wife is ________________.
12. Laertes' sister is ________________.
13. Laertes' father is ________________.
14. Claudius' stepson is ________________.
15. Old Hamlet's wife was ________________.
Part B: Fill in the Blank. (Value 20) Write the answers in the spaces provided.
Act 1 Scene 1
1. What is the name of the castle where the play takes place? ______________
2. The guards of the watch are nervous because Denmark is preparing for war and because the
guards have seen a _____________
3. Who have the guards asked to keep watch with them this night? _____________
4. Who is threatening to invade Denmark? ______________
5. When the ghost appears, to whom does it speak? _____________
6. After seeing the ghost, Horatio resolves to find someone and tell him of this walking spirit. Who
is it that Horatio intends to tell? ____________
Act 1 Scene 2
7. At the beginning of Act I, scene 2 we learn that the current King of Denmark is __________.
8. We learn also that Claudius' ______________ has recently died.
2
9. Claudius sends two messengers, Voltemand and Cornelius, to deliver papers to the ruler of what
country? _____________
10. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he compares his ______________to Hyperion.
11. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he compares his ______________to a satyr.
12. Horatio tells Hamlet that the ghost looks like Hamlet's _______________.
Act 1 Scene 3
13. Laertes instructs Ophelia to stay away from ________________.
14. Before Laertes leaves for France, he receives advice from his father, _______________.
15. Polonius instructs Ophelia to stay away from ________________.
Act 1 Scene 4 and 5
16. In this scene, the ghost once again appears. This time it speaks to _________________.
17. Hamlet learns that the ghost is the spirit of his __________________.
18. The ghost reveals to Hamlet that ___________________ is a murderer.
19. Explain how King Hamlet was killed (be specific) (2pts). ___________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Part C: Quotations (Value 18) (A) Use the names provided to identify which character spoke
the lines. (B) Then explain what the quote means in relation to the plot.
Ghost
Horatio
Marcellus
Hamlet
Laertes
Polonius
1. “And then it started like a guilty thing / Upon a fearful summons.” (scene 1)
Speaker:
Meaning:
2. "A little more than kin, and less than kind." (scene 2)
Speaker:
Meaning:
3. "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt/ Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! / Or that the
Everlasting had not fix’d / His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!" (scene 2)
Speaker:
Meaning:
4. “…’tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it
merely.” (scene 2)
Speaker
Meaning:
3
5. "His greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own; For he himself is subject to his birth:" (scene 3)
Speaker:
Meaning:
6. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be: / For loan oft loses both itself and friend," (scene 3)
Speaker:
Meaning:
7. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (scene 4)
Speaker:
Meaning:
8. "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder." (scene 5)
Speaker:
Meaning:
9. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown.” (scene 5)
Speaker:
Meaning:
Part D: Figurative Language / Devices (Value 8) Identify the figurative language/devices in the
following quotes:
Apostrophe, Foreshadowing, Metaphor, Oxymoron, Personification, Simile
1. “…the morn, in russet mantle clad, / Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastern hill…” (scene 1)
______________________
_______________________
2. “…a defeated joy…” (scene 1)
______________________
_______________________
3. “…O most wicked speed…” (scene 2)
______________________
_______________________
4. “The air bites shrewdly: it is cold.”
______________________
_______________________
4
Part E: Notes. (Value 10) Write the answers in the spaces provided.
1. State the main plot of Hamlet: ____________________
2. State the two subplots of Hamlet: ____________________ and _____________________.
3. State the four (4) major themes of Hamlet: ___________________________________,
___________________________________, ___________________________________,
and ___________________________________.
4. According to how the Elizabethans viewed the universe, killing a king was a crime against nature
because it interfered with The Great ___________________________.
5. Define ‘heroic couplet’: _______________________________________________________
6. Give an example of a heroic couplet from scene 2. Write out the lines.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Part F: Short Answer (Value 7) Answer the following questions fully in complete sentences.
1. (A) Define ‘antic disposition. ’ (B) Explain what Hamlet hopes to gain with it. (3pts)
2. (A) Compare Hamlet’s first response to the Ghost’s call for revenge (1.5.29-30) with his
statement at the end of the scene (1.5.190-191). (B) How do you account for the differences
between these two responses? (4pts)